#041. The Noble Council is Too Kind (1)

#041. The Noble Council is Too Kind (1)

Another ace party, on par with Teresa’s lot, had sprung up in Sodom Village.

A tragedy born from transforming a sluggish party – assembled for what was supposed to be a month-long banishment-esque break – into the fastest dream team.

“Ian’s eyes are bound to be good. He’s been shadowing Teresa, the Guild’s most skilled adventurer, at every site. How precious is that experience?”

“I thought Teresa’s style was incompatible with that bunch. How did he turn those rejects into an ace team?”

“The kid’s definitely got some incredible talent.”

Adventurers were all crowding around Ian’s reception window.

“Won’t you take us in, too?”

“I can’t. The Guild Master hasn’t given permission yet. The Maria party was already a considerable concession on the Guild Master’s part.”

Guild Master’s wariness had skyrocketed due to Edwin, the Commander of the supervisory team dispatched from the Guild Alliance.

The fact that a request that could have become such a swift, and significant, threat had brushed past the Guild’s doorstep felt to him like a sharp blade that had pressed against his throat, only to be withdrawn.

“Please, just postpone handling Grade 5 adventurers for a bit longer? The roster and information of staff who handle high-level adventurers are submitted to the Alliance. The thought of Ian’s information ending up there… it’s making this old man lose his hair.”

The Vice Guild Master of Gomorrah could perhaps use power as weapon and shield, omitting key personnel information or sending substitutes to protect them from the Guild Alliance’s clutches.

Alas, the Sodom Guild Master, having made enemies on all sides, had neither the power nor the authority to protect me.

He was likely dreading what sudden operation the Guild Alliance might pull next, and the prospect of my mother going berserk if anything were to happen to me.

“It’s alright. I understand completely. You can give permission when you feel secure. Everyone has their own pace, after all.”

“Ian…! You, you’re a genuinely good kid…!”

I made the Guild Master cry again today.

Is this employee life… is it really okay?

* * *

The Noble Council was dumbfounded by the Guild Alliance’s response.

-We poked around. Didn’t find a speck of dirt.

The nobles of the Noble Council leaped from their seats, pounding the dais with their fists in outrage.

“Nonsense! The phrase ‘clean Guild’ cannot exist. We’ve crushed every Guild that dared to be so, and we’ll crush any others. Such impudence must not be tolerated!”

“They’re overstepping. To run a Guild without dirtying their hands… is this Teresa declaring a challenge for a new title?”

“We must not allow the precedent of someone touching a Noble and remaining unscathed.”

The only hint of potential was in the dispatched Inquisitor’s report.

-The Sodom Guild harbors powerful adventurers, so instead of acting rashly, we are collecting information on heretical activities.

-Three months from now, coinciding with the return of adventurers on long-term missions, we will request reinforcements, conduct a swift roundup, and deliver the results of summary judgment.

Eradicate all adventurers who have been corrupted by a dangerous individual like Teresa, without exception.

If you consider that to be the reason for waiting for three months, there’s no reason to not wait.

But three months felt too long.

“If we let this time pass idly, other pioneering villages might adopt a misguided mindset, seeing Sodom Village go unpunished.”

“Now you’re speaking my language. Though I hesitate to say it, the Inquisitors of the Administrative Faction are far too sluggish. Three months is not a small amount of time.”

“Our Administrative Faction has already taken action. Now it is your turn.”

Following the Administrative Faction boss’s move, the Financial Faction boss stepped forward.

“Many houses are indebted to us for the ＜Mass-Produced Hero Party Members＞ project, designed to elevate the prestige of our noble families via Hero Parties. To repay our debt to Ronohe, who granted them the esteemed title of former Hero Party member, it’s time the Financial Faction shows its sincerity.”

“Hoh. You come bearing grand tidings, then. How spectacular a gambit have you been holding back?”

“We will launch an ＜依頼爆弾攻勢 – Commission Bombardment＞ on the town of Sodom.”

Even the Combat Faction boss, who had been displaying a sharp attitude, and the Administrative Faction boss, who had been watching their response with a critical eye, were taken aback by the Financial Faction boss’s declaration.

“A Commission Bombardment…? You mean to bury the guild under an impossible mountain of commissions, driving the commission acceptance rate into freefall and plummeting the guild’s credibility?”

“Hah! As expected, the Administration is quick on the uptake. Precisely. Every Adventurer’s Guild must successfully complete at least 33% of the commissions they accept each month. This is a clause designed to prevent a sudden drop in the commission completion rate of other guilds due to short bursts of unmanageable orders.”

“Is there any reason the Sodom Guild *must* accept such an unreasonable volume of requests?”

Logically speaking, no guild would foolishly accept a load it couldn’t possibly handle.

After all, failing to meet the expected commission completion rate would only harm the guild itself.

In the early days of Adventurer’s Guilds, many rogue guilds would forcibly accept commissions they never intended to fulfill, simply pocketing the applicants’ fees without ever embarking on the actual task.

The mandate to complete at least 33% of accepted commissions within a month was established to curb such unscrupulous practices.

However, it was also a system ripe for exploitation if one were determined to weaponize it.

“We’ll flood them with incredibly simple commissions. Collecting materials from monsters found everywhere, easily defeated by anyone. The allure of easy difficulty and high pay will lead them to accept a mountain of requests, and that’s when their ‘competitors’ will emerge. Multiple adventurer parties whose sole purpose is to exterminate the very monsters they need to hunt in order to hamper commission completion.”

Unless they’re exceptionally swift, the Sodom adventurers won’t even get a glimpse of the monsters being swept away by the adventurers financed by the Financial Faction nobles.

Even if they try to cancel the commissions and return the fees once the monsters are eradicated, it will be to no avail.

The requesters’ goal isn’t monster extermination.

It’s the destruction of the Sodom Guild.

These individuals are being manipulated by the nobles.

If the commissions aren’t canceled and the guild faces the threat of failing to meet the 33% commission completion rate within the month, both the adventurers and the guild will become desperate.

To gather materials.

To protect the guild.

But their competitors are elite parties, masters of monster slaughter.

They will decimate monsters faster and in greater numbers than the Sodom adventurers can even move or hunt.

The moment they fail to achieve a 33% commission completion rate within the month, the Financial Faction can legally plummet Sodom Guild’s credibility and skyrocket the interest rate on the loans they’ve provided.

The result? Insolvency.

The guaranteed collapse of the Sodom Guild.

Running a guild on 100% equity is impossible unless the founder is an exceptionally successful adventurer.

Even more so when considering the dues owed to the Guild Union and the Noble Council.

These loans are obligatory to secure guild establishment authorization; debt that can be forgiven if one remains obedient, but *must* be repaid if one deviates.

A tool for the nobles to keep Adventurer’s Guilds in check.

A kind of shackle.

Sodom Guild borrowed a massive amount of investment funds under the guise of attracting nobles to secure high-ranking commissions essential for guild operation.

Gomora, the overseer, had turned a blind eye, but now that he is gone, there’s no reason to show them any leniency.

“When a dog disobeys, one must tighten its leash.”

Every faction boss nodded in satisfaction at the Financial Faction’s plan.

This time, the Sodom Guild would face its limit.

And it would crumble.

Suddenly, a deluge of requests poured into the guild.

The content of each commission was invariably subjugation and loot collection.

“Those blasted horn-beetles have riddled my wagon wheels! Trade is already delayed, so while you’re at it, collect a hundred of their horns to cool my temper.”

“Horn-beetles putting holes in wagon wheels… Eh? There’s already a request like that? Blasted sod. I was going to put it in. Ah, never mind. You know the rumors that horn-beetle horns are… invigorating? Just want to eat them and confirm so, gather a hundred for me.”

“Our merchant guild was on the way when… Oh? Someone already requested horns from beetles who’d holed a wagon? Then that rumor that their horns are good for… Gah, is that taken too? Er, um, ahem… I just like horn-beetle horns. I’m a horn-beetle horn enthusiast, okay? Just get me a hundred.”

It felt artificial, like the reasons to collect horn-beetle horns were being forced out of thin air, as if some great horn-beetle horn craze had gripped the populace. But these fashion events sometimes appeared even in the game, so I accepted them without complaint.

Though the difficulty was low, the commissions with high rewards were popular, resulting in fierce competition.

“Other adventurer parties will collect the horns. You all focus on the hunting. It’ll increase the number of horn-beetles that can be hunted.”

“Are there adventurers content with such trivial errands?”

“There are those barely shed of their apprentice skin.”

Division of labor was the key to success in the game.

An elite party blitzed the monsters, a moderate party collected the horns, and novice adventurers ferried the horns back to town.

The presence of novice adventurers following Ian, the Teresa Clan’s trustworthiness within the guild, and the Maria Party’s activity made this possible.

“Th-those b*stards, they broke through the encirclement!”

Noble house soldiers were appalled by the Maria Party that decimated the horn-beetles near the town at incredible speed and exited the encirclement.

Though wearing the guise of adventurers, they were, in reality, soldiers of a noble house, and failure meant a stain on the noble’s reputation, an insult to their master.

“Those guys, they’re leaving without even collecting the horns. Heh. In that case, we damage the horns…”

“What do you think you’re doing? These are the spoils our Sodom village adventurers will divide by labor.”

“Division of labor…?”

“An advance party slaughters the monsters, a trailing party finishes the butchering, and a novice party handles the loot transport. There’s no room for other village adventurers to intervene, so unless you want to turn the entire guild of our village into enemies, just pass on by.”

The horn-harvesting division of labor system was functioning without any room for interference!

Thanks to the hole ripped through their formation before it could be completed, the noble house soldiers completely ruined their operation.

“Reporting that the encirclement failed will cost us our heads, won’t it?”

“We’re screwed. What do we do…”

“Ditch them?”

Resignation clouded the impure glances exchanged.

“An Inquisitor is involved. The Order’s a pawn of the Aristocratic Assembly, so we’re tied up with someone high up. This isn’t something we can cover up.”

If they couldn’t silence them, they needed an excuse.

“The guys who planned the division of labor are just too good. It’s not our fault. Let’s report honestly.”

“Whose actions do we attribute it to?”

“I heard it was an idea of a young male receptionist named Ian…”

The commander struck the veteran soldier’s head.

“You pathetic fool. Getting outdone in the first place is worthy of beheading but to say we were manipulated by a man and even a kid at that. Huh? If kids are so smart, do you think we shouldn’t use our kids as well by immediately cleaning out all soldier family and dragging their children to use them as child soldiers!”

“S-sorry.”

“Push it all on the highest-ranking guy. This is Sodom Guildmaster’s divine strategy.”

The commander gathered the soldiers, lowered his head, and spoke in a low voice.

“Say the Guildmaster saw through our movements and suspicious requests, and this is all his doing.”

“!”

“Make sure your stories align when the investigators question you. Don’t breathe a word about the kid, and blame everything on the Sodom Guildmaster. Got it?”

And so, in a twist of fate, Ian found himself using the Sodom Guild Master as a shield, rather than becoming a target of the Noble Assembly.

A truly wicked outcome, where he didn’t even have to bother with the effort of brainwashing anyone.

Though the greatest victim, of course, was not the Sodom Guild Master, but the head of the Noble Assembly’s Financial Faction.

Thanks to the failed operation, he’d ended up splurging a fortune on a flimsy request.

The cherry on top being forced to cough up the full, generously inflated completion fee – originally offered with little expectation of success – thanks to the Maria Party’s unrestrained and dazzling success.