CH 41

Episode 41 – Beginning of the End

TL Note: This chapter is sponsored by Jessie. Thank you so much for your generous support! (1/3)

Note from the Author: This chapter is written from the POV of Brandon Gage, the Healer’s Guild Branch Chief.

It had been a week since I finished explaining the circumstances in the royal capital. With some clever bribing, I was confident in appeasing the royalty to make them forgive the failure of the new potions we delivered. But from the time I had left to the royal capital until today, the cause for the failure of the new potion had remained unknown. On top of that, the healers who were in charge of making this new potion said they were unable to make it anymore!

“F*CK! F*CK! DAMN IT!” (Brandon)

I slammed the desk for the millionth time in this past week, but even though it was chipped and splintering in some places, it still gave a loud, resounding thud. No matter how much I slammed the desk and tore my hair out over this matter, I just couldn’t get rid of my frustration.

Every single one of them… who the f*ck do they think they are, following up the meeting with the royalties with yet another failure?! I kicked the desk for good measure, but I ended up smashing my shin on the corner of the desk, and an intense pain shot through my leg. The sharp pain of hitting my shin coincided with the pain of a harsh, immutable reality, which pissed me off. My head felt like it was going to explode.

…Tch! If only Lewin were here, I could vent my anger on him. Where the f*ck did he run off to, that useless bastard?! When I thought of that pleb’s pathetic face that always looked on the verge of tears, I was able to regain a bit of composure. Picking up the cup of lukewarm black tea that I let sit out too long, I took a sip.

At that moment, a loud, urgent banging came from the door yet again.

How many times did I have to tell this idiot not to bang on my f*cking door?! Where was your f*cking brain? These small things pissed me off, but I ended up letting him in regardless.

“You may enter. Oi, how many times do I have to tell you not to bang on the do–” (Brandon)

“Guild Chief, terrible news!! Just now, I received a call from [Crimson Ley Line] that they would be terminating their contract with us at the end of this month!!” (Employee)

“[Crimson Ley Line]? W-why is that?! This month alone, we already received notices of terminations of contracts from [Armatove], [Steel Wire Guardians]… and now [Crimson Ley Line] too?! What the hell is the reason for this?” (Brandon)

I lost track of the number of times I slammed the desk, and my hands were swelling, but I just kept smashing the desk in unadulterated fury.

WHY?! WHY?! WHAT THE F*CK IS GOING ON?!

No matter how many times I thought about it, I could not come up with a single reason for these happenings. I had been paying more attention than I ever had to the production of the potions. Not only that, ever since [Armatove] terminated their contract with us, we had been buying special Medical Herbs to use in our potions at a deficit! And yet… they were still going to be terminating their contracts…? It made no sense!! Could it be… the supplier was selling us counterfeit goods? If anything, it had to be that!!

“Call over the merchant who sells the best wholesale first class Medical Herbs out there! Right this instant!!” (Brandon)

“N-no… If you do that, you’ll lose them as a business partn–” (Employee

“It’s fine, just do what I say, you f*cking useless dipsh*t!” (Brandon)

“Y-yes! I’ll call them over right now!” (Employee)

I hurled foul-mouthed orders at the hesitating employee, who quickly left to carry them out. Every single one of them was so useless! They were all born as nobles, but they were all total embarrassments to their names!

I wanted to vent my anger, but my hands hurt, my feet hurt, and there was no way for me to vent my anger. I pulled at my hair in desperation, but when I looked at my hands afterwards, I saw large tufts of ripped out hair through the cracks in my fingers. My anger faded, and depression quickly set in. Seeing this unhealthy amount of hair falling out made me realize that I couldn’t continue like this, but one problem after the other kept popping up…!

Just when I wanted to go lie down, there was another knock at the door. I uttered a listless reply, and the door opened slowly. The one standing there was an elven grandmother with a mixture of blonde and gray hair… Irene Everett, the living legend of the elves, who was sung of in folklore as the legendary Medicine Master.

“Everett…! What’s the matter?” (Brandon)

“What do you mean, ‘what’s the matter’? You were the one who called me in the first place, didn’t you? Here are the 300 Medical Herbs you ordered.” (Irene Everett)

“Take your filthy leaves and get the hell out!!” (Brandon)

“A healer calling Medical Herbs just ‘filthy leaves’…? Did I hear that correctly? Kukuku, the failed production of the new potion and the fall in the overall quality of your branch’s potions… is that the reason you’ve started to look like an old man?” (Irene Everett)

“I told you to shut up! If you say anything else, I’ll call the soldiers and have them take you away!!” (Brandon)

“I hate guys who can’t keep their composure. At the very least, I wish you the best in being able to make those new potions again. Kukuku…” (Irene Everett)

After the old lady left the room, I kicked the chair as hard as I could. What the f*ck is up with that?! They’ve got some balls to treat me like a fool!! I’m the Guild Chief of the best branch of the Healer’s Guild in the entire kingdom! I hate it the most when senile, doddering geezers way past their time come and lecture me about sh*t that happened in their glory days in that annoying, self-important manner!

“Hey, somebody come here!” (Brandon)

“–Yes! How can I help you?” (Employee)

“So? What the hell do you want?” (Brandon)

“Guild Chief. A royal messenger, Sebas-sama, is here to see you.” (Employee 2)

The moment I heard that name, the blood that was rising to my face instantly receded and my face turned pale.

A messenger of the royal family. I had been thinking of a way to delay my trip back to the royal capital even for a bit longer, but I didn’t expect the other party to send a messenger here. Legs trembling, I suddenly felt chills run through my entire body. I swallowed my saliva as I tried to maintain my composure. My mind was racing, fumbling around for a way around the situation, but I knew by this point that there was no way any of my ideas would work. Bribes were the most effective method of keeping the major clans at bay, but I no longer had enough funds for bribes due to purchasing too many special and first class Medical Herbs. Unable to come up with any countermeasures, I took a deep breath. With quivering steps, I brought myself to go meet with Sebas.

In less than a month after Lewin’s unfair dismissal, many major adventurer parties and clans terminated their contracts with the Healer’s Guild, and the number of ordinary customers had begun to dwindle. This visit from the royal messenger marked the beginning of the end of the Healer’s Guild under Brandon’s leadership.