Volume 4 - CH 18

“Nngaaaaaaaaahhhhh!! Why! Why are there so many contract cancellations one after another!”

The irritated voice of Rou, the Craftsmen’s Guild guild master, echoed.

(T/N: Changed the name Rowe to Rou.)

In his office, Rou was still fretting over the countless letters from Nobles today requesting the cancellation of their contracts.

But that was to be expected.

The fact that he had made such a poor deal with the royal family quickly spread as a rumor among the nobles.

In addition, the recent work of the craftsmen’s guild itself did not have a good reputation.

The synergistic effect of these factors led to an accelerated loss of trust and even to the termination of the contract.

And then …… Rou, who had fallen into such a situation, was hit by an event that would further push him over the edge.

“–Hey! Is the guildmaster here!!”

“…… Hm?”

A voice calling out loudly from outside Rou’s office is heard.

""

But Rou ignores it, deciding that it is probably nothing more than a trivial matter.

“–Excuse me!”

Then, the door opens forcefully and the man who is the owner of the voice enters the room.

And then, a line of people enters behind him.

“W-What are you people!”

Rou looks at the faces of the people who have entered the room and notices that they are professional craftsmen with Job Skills.

“I can’t take it anymore, so I’ve come to complain directly to you!”

“That’s right! Improve our treatment!”

The men were verbally complaining to Rou.

“Shut up! What are you complaining about! We’re paying you enough!!”

Rou’s argument seemed to add fuel to the fire.

The craftsmen immediately responded with a volley of rebuttals.

“Where are you paying us enough! We’re only getting paid what a rookie would be paid! That’s not what you should be paying us veteran professionals!”

“And the work assignments are a mess! They give all this and that to newbies who are just amateurs, and we’re supposed to follow up on it! Not only do we have to do all the work twice, we even have to train the new workers!!”

As the craftsmen’s frustrations were hurled at him one after the other, Rou’s anger began to build up.

He then exploded and became angry.

“Shuuuuut up! The work you are doing is only work that could be done by someone else! You should be thankful that you are paid more than the newbies! And the newcomers we’re putting in your place are competent newcomers with multiple technical qualifications! They are not like you incompetents who can only do one kind of job! The competent newcomers are working for cheap wages, and you incompetent seniors should return the favor even if you have to give up your holidays!”

Rou’s argument was so messed up.

The craftsmen were taken aback by his insincerity and incomprehensible logic.

However, the man in the lead soon regained his composure.

“…… I see. I now understand what you’re saying.”

“Is that so. Then go back to work and work hard!!”

Rou orders, but the man does not obey.

He walked toward Rou, raised his fist, and punched him in the face with all his might.

“Fubheh!?”

“Who’s going to work here! I’m quitting this shitty guild!!”

With those final words, the man leaves the room.

Following his lead, the other craftsmen announced their resignations one after another and left the room.

“If you hate incompetence so much, I’ll quit! Get along with the competent newcomers as best you can!!”

“I’ll quit too! Even without the guild’s mediation, I can do whatever I want if I go out on my own and get a job!!”

“I never want to see you again!! Die in the streets, you bastard!”

Some of them were just spouting off and leaving the office.

Then all the craftsmen who had come to the office indicated their intention to resign and left.

All that remained was Rou, his face red and swollen from the beating.

“…… Damn these people! They piss me off! Damn it! Damn it!”

Rou kicked his desk repeatedly in anger.

“But, this could be rather convenient! We can assign more work than ever to these low-paid newbies. Our cost-cutting plan is moving along a lot faster than we had planned.”

At this juncture, Rou was still happy and didn’t think he was wrong.

Rou was serious about letting the newcomers do the work that the craftsmen were doing.

Even if they made some mistakes the first time, they would learn and become proficient anyway. If that was the case, it is more convenient for non-professional newcomers who work for cheap wages.

This was one of Rou’s ideas for reforming the craftsmen’s guild.

This would result in the loss of positions and the loss of jobs for those people with Job Skills.

That is exactly what Rou had always wanted.

So, whether or not the current situation would actually work out that way, it was going well from a planning standpoint.

“……But it’s not good that the contract terminations keep happening. We have to do something to improve our relationship with the royal court.”

Rou’s puts his hands in his head as he thinks about it.

“Seriously, why do I have to think about something like this? They have no right to complain just because we failed once, though …… This is all the fault of that incompetent Cyclo who was carelessly handling the royal palace’s Clock repair order!!”

As he thought about it, he began to shift the blame, and eventually his target shifted to Cyclo.

“If this is the case, it would make sense to force Cyclo to come back and apologize on behalf of my son …… If the incompetence of that incompetent becomes well known, the royal court will have to reconsider its treatment of our guild.”

It’s just too convenient an idea, and if anyone were listening to Rou’s soliloquy, they would be too dumbfounded to say anything.

What’s more, he even begins to think about bringing back Cyclo that he himself banished.

Even if he tells him to go back, it’s too late now. He had already begun a new life as an SSS-ranked adventurer.

No matter what means Rou uses, Cyclo will not go back, nor will he go to apologize on their behalf.