Chapter 529:
The Guild Master Candidates
I WENT OVER my recent memories.
There’s no mistaking it. Their job was from the merchant guild, and Zinal said it was “to transport evidence to stop this one requester from ever requesting gigs again.” So why did they just mention the adventurer guild?
“Could the adventurer guild possibly be in on it?” my father asked.
“Ever since we took this gig, something about it has felt off the whole time,” Zinal said. “We thought about it a lot and finally remembered. The guild master of Okanke Village—the place we’re about to go—is gone.”
There’s no guild master?
“He’s gone?”
Wait, what’s that weird look on my father’s face? Did he not know?
“That’s right,” Fische said. “Either somebody’s hiding him or he got killed in a cave collapse. Anyway, they haven’t picked a successor yet. Last I heard, people were fighting over who would take over the job. So that made us think that just maybe the guild master candidates were somehow part of this job. Worst-case scenario, there’s a mole in the adventurer guild.”
The guild master candidates… But how would a frenzy over a magic item getting broken help in nominating a guild master? Is it about the money?
“This is purely a theory—I have no evidence to back it up—but I suspect the guild master candidates are trying to get the support of the adventurer who keeps getting stuck with the botched jobs from the nobleman.”
“Trying to get him on their side, you say?” I asked.
“That’s right. The adventurer being used by the nobleman isn’t very well-liked, and people don’t want his bad karma to rub off on them. If his little problem can be resolved before it’s brought to light, wouldn’t he feel indebted to whoever helped make that happen?”
Zinal was right. Adventurers had a weakness for aristocrats, and this was true even of the highest-level ones. If a nobleman targeted one of your fellow adventurers, you’d distance yourself from him. Nobody wanted to stick their neck out. So if somebody gave a helping hand in his hour of need…and resolved his problem, too…
“I think he would feel terribly indebted,” I agreed.
When you thought about it logically, it definitely didn’t add up, but you probably wouldn’t notice if you were in a desperate state.
“The adventurer who thought he was saved would support the one who saved him becoming guild master, and the support of an adventurer means a lot. It would bring our aspiring guild master one step closer to his goal.”
Now that makes sense. But to be honest, the scheme Zinal just described sounds a little…
“That’s a real sneaky way of doing things,” my father said.
My thoughts exactly. It really makes us feel like nobodies… If someone like that became guild master, that would bring all kinds of trouble.
“Ha ha! You said it.”
“But didn’t this gig request come from the merchant guild?” my father asked. “I don’t think the adventurer guild would speak out much about it.”
My father was right. The adventurer and merchant guilds collaborated sometimes, but they hated speaking out of turn. Worst-case scenario, I’d heard that sometimes big brawls erupted between employees from both guilds.
“That’s why we didn’t notice at first, but now we think they may be in cahoots. The guild master of the merchant guild got switched out two years ago, and I hear he’s a little problematic.”
My father rolled his eyes. So I guess moderately problematic people do sometimes rise to the top.
“Is Okanke Village shorthanded?” I asked.
Fische shrugged his shoulders. “Not shorthanded; it’s more like there’s too many people who are easily bribed. Okanke Village has a history of that.”
So basically, the merchant guild master was bought and paid for. But was it really okay for somebody so problematic to be in a leadership position? When you considered all the bad things that might happen to a village, it only filled me with worry.
“I feel sorry for the people in Okanke Village,” I said.
Zinal nodded. “Yeah, when somebody with a weakness for money leads a village, it’s the villagers who suffer.”
Zinal’s eyes narrowed to sharp slits, and I felt my spine straighten in response. Had something happened to him? He looked angry…very angry. As I stared at him, I noticed him take a shallow breath in and out.
“We’ll go ahead to Okanke Village and do a quick and dirty survey, so you all should wait here with the serpents.”
It was a relief to see that his quiet angry tension had faded.
“Got it. We’ll be on standby,” I said.
Oops! Except we can’t be if the serpents are in a hurry.
“Excuse me, Snakey, but are you in a hurry?”
The serpent shook its head no.
“Oh, good. We’re all going to wait here for a little while, okay?”
Zinal looked happy at Snakey’s reply. I also detected a vague merriness in Fische’s eyes, so I really was happy we didn’t have to rush.
“Are you going to go to the village right now?” my father asked.
“Yeah, the faster the better. We can catch the rumors right away, but it’ll probably take some time to get intel from both guilds.” Zinal patted the nose of the Snakey he’d rode all this way, and it happily butted its nose back. This time, it showed some restraint, so Zinal wasn’t blasted away. Happy about this, Snakey thwapped its tail against the ground. Then the ground shook.
“Agh!”
“Whoa!”
“Eek!”
Zinal’s, Fische’s, and my frantic cries echoed through the forest. I felt myself falling and squeezed my eyes shut…then I felt an embrace. I opened my eyes to find that my dad was holding me and Snakey was holding him up.
Wow. They did all that in just one second?
I was so impressed, I gave both Snakey and my father a round of applause.
“Thanks, Dad and Snakey.”
My father looked at me in relief, and Snakey gently leaned in and bobbed its head softly up and down.
“Thanks, Serpent. You saved us from a tumble.” He petted Snakey’s nose, which was well received.
“Ouch!”
I looked in the direction of the voice to see Zinal and Fische both on their butts.
“These guys are strong. They literally started an earthquake,” Fische said as he shot a glance at the serpent’s tail and pulled himself off the ground. The serpent who’d caused the earthquake was shrouded in an air of discomfort.
Zinal laughed and gave its nose a pat. “Don’t worry about it, buddy. We’re okay.”
Snakey softly nuzzled its face against Zinal’s midsection, which seemed to be its way of saying sorry.
So cute.
✦ ✦ ✦
