CH 44

Translator: “Karaage”                             Editor: “Weasalopes”                

I was called for from the merchant guild, and now I am in the guild’s reception room.

It is a high-class and elegant room appointed with antique furniture.

By the way, the sofa that I was now sitting on, has a fine pattern woven into the fabric. To be honest, I was hesitating on whether or not to sit on it when I entered the room.

For me, who has only experience selling at the counter, this is a different world.

「I’m sorry for calling you when you’re busy, Tauro.」

Santa Claus came in. The tough looking old man as well.

Since both I and Santa are meeting for the same time, we introduce each other. He was the vice guild master of the merchant guild.

After introductions were finished, coffee was carried in.

The female staff who bought in it, looks at me with curiosity, but never makes eye contact with me. I wonder if she thinks that something would happen if she makes eye contact with me.

Putting the rude staff aside, I went straight to the main subject.

「Questioning, is it?」

「Honestly speaking, yes.」

TOP ARTICLES1/5Mercenaries in Apocalypse Volume 1Chapter 29

Santa affirms.

It has been rumored that I have been treating women who were feeling unwell in several brothels in the past few days.

And it is also said that the cause of them being unwell was because of an inferior aphrodisiac.

I picked several women with poor physical condition, give them a perfect treatment which even made them unable to stand, yet not receiving any payment fees, and also advising that the cause is the aphrodisiac.

The brothels are very curious about who I was.

And it turns out that I am a member of the merchant guild because I was using my merchant guild card for payment.

However, the merchant guild doesn’t know anything, so I was called in for questioning.

(This must most probably be the reason.)

I was acting freely without giving any thought. So I never imagined being called in by the merchant guild.

Suddenly, receiving inquiry from the brothels, the merchant guild must have been thinking about what had happened.

(But my actions have nothing to do with the merchant guild. I was just using my guild card as payment though.)

So, I should not be blamed.

As the word says, this should just be a questioning.

I honestly talked about what I had experienced so far.

Originally, I had a technique to cure poor health condition by massage.

With that technique, I cured a woman working at Jayanne.

I studied at Jayanne because I wanted to improve my skill.

In the process, I found and treated a woman with poor health condition due to an aphrodisiac.

At the same time, I found another, and also found out that one of the customers at that time was using aphrodisiac.

「Oh, that matter.」

Santa seems to have remembered it.

The tough looking old man looks at me with a subtle expression.

Maybe he thought about the time when I have an amazed look when he was talking about the aphrodisiac.

I continued my explanation.

I found a woman who was also in poor health in another store, and when I looked into it, I found out that it was the effect of the aphrodisiac.

And, with the reason of treating women who are affected by the aphrodisiac, I went around brothels this few days.

And that’s it.

After listening to my explanation, Santa speaks to the old man.

They must have been satisfied with my explanation, there was no difference with the information that the merchant guild acquired.

「Monitoring the circulation of illegal goods is also one of the merchant guild’s roles.」

Santa says.

「This time, we are sorry that you have helped us clean up our mess.」

Santa and the old man, both bow down their heads.

「We would like you to thank you once more. Thanks to your, Tauro’s, actions, the merchant guild was able to maintain its reputation.」

The control of illegal drugs is under the jurisdiction of the merchant guild.

This time, it can be considered that the inferior aphrodisiacs were circulated in the merchant guild. Anyone who wants to criticize the merchant guild is able state so.

But I, who was a member of the merchant guild even though I was at the lowest rank, was able to counter it and prevented damage.

If it were to be said that I was moving according to the merchant guild’s order, criticism can be sealed off.

「And this is a proposal, with this time’s achievement, I would like to upgrade Tauro’s rank from F to E.」

I am a little surprised.

E rank merchants are considered intermediate.

During F rank you will be doing business and building trust, but in order to rank up a certain scale of commercial transaction has to be made.

Someone like me, who was just in F rank for less than a month, and delivering potions personally with no employee, it’s not a rank which is possible for me. Even if the potions I deliver are a relatively rank D rank one.

For me, there is no merit for going up to E rank.

There would be an increase in the amount that can be loaned and will also receive a preferential interest rate during the time of loaning, but I have no need for a loan.

Even if the frame of margin transaction was to increase, I’m not conducting margin transactions in the first place.

On the other hand, I do not know how much, but it will be my lost with the increase in membership fee.

(But as a merchant guild, they have to provide a reward for those who have done well.)

And for others, ranking up is a reward which is considered too much.

Refusing it will mean crushing the honor of the merchant guild. If someone were to ask for a rank up without achieving anything, they will be looked at disgusted.

(It’s safer to accept it.)

「It’s a extravagant reward for me, but I’ll accept it.」

I bow my head.

The both of them seem to be relieved.

The merchant guild raises my merchant rank.

And it was decided that I was moving under the merchant guild’s order.

And that’s the end of this matter.

「But Tauro, why didn’t you charge fees for the treatments?」

After that, we were talking idly.

Santa asks me about the treatment at the brothels.

「About that, …I did gained value from it.」

「Value is it?」

Santa’s eyebrows express his doubts.

「Yeah, I was feeling good as well.」

I answer while sipping coffee.

「Is there no relevance between the massage and you feeling good?」

Oh, so this question came. Okay, I’ll take this opportunity and explain.

「No, there’s relevance. Rather, they are inseparable.」

「Inseparable?」

「Yes, there are many people who misunderstood, but I cannot cure them with just massage alone.」

「What does it mean?」

I explain.

「Two conditions are necessary for the treatment to be successful 」

Santa and the old man nod while they listen interestingly.

「First, the women have to be satisfied at the final phase.」

「And the other is that I am satisfied. And combining these two, it will form a therapeutic effect. 」

The old man counts using his fingers and his face turned blue.

I think he’s counting the number of bullets I’ve shot during the process of treatment.

(Well, it’s not something I have to say deliberately.)

I continue to explain about the treatment, ignoring the old man who was still counting as his complexion worsens.

「There are people who often say that they only need treatment, and do not need a massage, or when they are cured, they do not have to continue it to the end. 」

I wave my hand in front of me.

「But I can’t do that. If I do not continue to the end, including the massage, the treatment would not be in effect. 」

And that’s the setting of the story.

This way, I’ll be able to retrain those who only seek treatment.

When that happens, I can say 「I also very much want to treat you, but my son is not in the mood.」, and refuse them.

The truth is I do not want to treat someone who is not able to get my son in the mood.

「I see.」

The two seem to be convinced.

After that, we continued idly chatting.

It seems that they are already rapidly narrowing down the criminal now.

It seems like it was thanks to me advising the lower-class brothels on the cause of the poor health condition, which they didn’t know the cause of.

By collating the girls who were feeling unwell and the brothels guest list, the results are emerging.

In addition, by integrating the information gathered by each individual brothel, it is possible to now see the whole scale of the crime; it seems some people have already been arrested.

The large-scale illegal drug manufacturing and sales organization was also appearing and disappearing, and the knights are now also starting to move.

「Em, is it possible that the criminal organization will be aiming for my life? 」

Since the case is getting bigger, I started feeling anxious.

Santa and the old man looked at each other.

「I won’t say that it’s not possible.」

Santa is really saying something scary.

After a while, he says but, and continue.

「You don’t have to worry about it too much.」

Santa says,

In the first place, this all started because of the bad side effect of the inferior product.

I found the cause and treated it, in other words, it wasn’t me at the forefront of digging out the organization.

Now, if they were to take my life, the pursuit will not slow down but rather the opposite.

「 But it is true that Tauro’s name is well known because of this case. So it will be possible if they bare unjustified resentment towards you.」

Santa says strictly to me.

「For the time being, until things settle down, you should stick to only going to brothels. 」

As I thought, there are security problems for facilities below the Go Go Bar.

Fixed stores that manage their employees can greatly improve the quality of their security.

「And also, the brothels are your allies, Tauro.」

「My allies?」

Santa nods.

「The owners of the brothels are deeply grateful to you. If the obligated Tauro was to be injured while visiting one of the stores, that store would be sacked by the others.」

「…Is that so.」

This time I saved a few girls. And I’m also aware that I am a regular who pays properly.

But do they have to go through this much trouble just because of this?

「There is no doubt about it, because that was said by Jayanne’s concierge.」

Santa says and laughed.

And I left the merchant guild.

(What should I do from now on?)

After lunch at a restaurant, I received a call from the guild when taking out my guild card to make payment.

Because of the long stay at the merchant guild, it was now already passed the afternoon.

(Let’s go to Jayanne after a long time.)

From the chat with Santa previously, it seems that the concierge there has goodwill towards me.

(In addition, there is no need for me to go around brothels for treatment.)

Both the merchant guild and brothel industry are moving.

If there is a woman with poor health, the organization will take measures for the treatment.

And so I’m not needed anymore.

I’m only active during the period before things started to move.

(Ok, let’s go.)

I walked towards Jayanne, with the figures of Instructor Light Cruiser and Explosive Onee-san in my mind