CH 41

“Calling that Rust back? Unthinkable.”

Screamed Rihalzam in the president’s office, before being interrupted by the loud sound of a table being smacked. He wanted to say more, but knew to stay quiet.

“Look Master Rihalzam. Look at all these reports! Every department is sending them, and they all say the same things. It’s either excuses that the low quality of the basic materials is making their transmutations fail, or reports that the delay in getting basic materials is making them miss deadlines and the buyers are asking for compensation! I’ve been getting yelled at and pestered by other presidents to honor our agreements!”

The president smacked the table in anger again, this time with both hands.

“Remember what you said Master Rihalzam. You said it wouldn’t make a difference if Master Rust left. How do you justify this state of affairs!? Not only have you not been compensating for his absence, but you’ve been damaging the association! There are large holes in walls all over the building! And the smell still hasn’t gone away!”

“W-well… But I am opposed to bringing Rust back! Not to mention that our sales have hit a historical high even without him here! The large quantity of new-style magic crystals we shipped the other day will soon…”

“I know that! But listen, I’m putting you in charge of filling the hole left by Master Rust’s absence! If you can’t do that, I’m going to make you personally go bring him back!”

The president then turned around, signaling that he would hear no more.

Rihalzam’s face was bright red with visible veins, but he contained himself, and instead of trying to argue he simply excused himself.

His steps sounded rough as he made his way back to the arms transmutation department, and the slight bad smell in the hall became stronger when he reached his destination. His subordinates did their best to clean it up and make it look presentable, but they could not remove the lingering smell.

With his face still bright red, Rihalzam threw himself into his chair.

Some of the apprentices present realized Rihalzam was in a bad mood and lowered their heads, pretending to be completely focused on what they were doing.

The door opened with a bang, and Rihalzam jumped in his seat, probably because he was just yelled at by the president.

“Master Rihalzam! We have a problem!”

Said Sabasa while entering the room.

“…Why all this noise?”

Rihalzam was so surprised by the noise the door made he forgot about his anger for a moment.

“Most of the new-style magic crystals we shipped the other day have been returned.”

“What!? There must be some mistake!”

“But… Look.”

Sabasa pointed to the hallway, where delivery men were stacking up multiple wooden boxes one after the other.

“Sabasa! What’s the meaning of this!? What about the payment!?”

“I don’t know…”

Responded Sabasa with a gloomy expression.

“Use the communication device to confirm with the wholesalers right now!”

Yelled Rihalzam.

“Yes, right away!”

Sabasa then left like he was running away.

“Hum…”

Tortake called Rhialzam’s attention.

“What Tortake!? Do you know anything about this!?”

“I don’t, I don’t! But what do we do with all this? We can’t just throw it away, can we…?”

“Of course not! This is our source of revenue! Just head to storage and throw away things that look old to make room and put it there. I’m going to check with where this was supposed to be delivered!”

Yelled Rihalzam before leaving the room, leaving Tortake and the other apprentices looking at each other.

“What do we do with this?”

“I guess we have no choice but to go check out the nearest storeroom.”

“But can we really just go there and throw away things just because they look old?”

“I guess so. Managing the storerooms falls under the arms alchemy department’s jurisdiction.”

The apprentices talked to each other before leaving as well.