One afternoon, when the cold of winter had gradually begun to subside, Lou and I headed to the old castle on Tabuchi’s summons.
“I’m terribly sorry to make you come here when you’re so busy,” Tabuchi began.
“Hello!” I greeted him.
“It is an honor to see you, heavenly beast of the west.”
“Mhm,” Lou responded.
“I called you here today because I wanted to ask for your advice. We here in Marsche are finally beginning to see a path to a new system.”
“Wow, congratulations!” I replied.
“But before that, I want to revive the guilds.”
That makes sense. We need to gather people in order to rebuild, and guilds are essential to managing people fairly and honestly.
“I want advice from you two on that.”
“Can’t you use the people from the former guilds?” The reason Marsche’s guilds had fallen apart last time had been because of the royal family, not the guild members.
“I’m sure most of them were sincere workers, but there were some guild members in Tohkun Guild—which oversaw Marsche Guild—who were doing favors for the royal family. They leaked information about you.”
I see. The guild here was involved in that incident that I got wrapped up in.
“How about a three-pronged approach, then?” I suggested. “First, a paper test on general knowledge and calculations. Next, an interview with you, me, and Lou. Lastly, a general election to choose a guildmaster!” We won’t make them buy a CD to vote for the guildmaster they stan, though.
“That would be a lot more difficult than our past practices. I wonder if we can gather enough people...”
“I wouldn’t mind at all if you rejected the idea, but I think with that level of strictness, you could confidently announce to the world that Marsche Guild has been reborn.”
“That makes sense.”
“To be completely honest, whether or not you can gather people depends on one thing: money! You’ll attract plenty of people as long as they can have a steady income.”
“Ahh, I hoped you wouldn’t say that. We don’t have very much capital at the moment, as you can imagine. I’d like to ask them to work hard for the sake of reconstruction for the time being, but that’s just idealistic thinking.”
Yes, it is! You’re just about the only one who would work yourself into dust and give yourself dark circles over an ideal.
I chanted Appraisal! in my heart. Tabuchi glowed blue.
“That’s a convenient new technique, Sere,” Lou commented. “Tell me all about it later.”
Tabuchi (Leader of the new government, former Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Marsche, Prime Minister of the provisional government)
Status: Chronically fatigued, sleep deprived, on the verge of death by overwork
Skills: Earth magic, fire magic, world-weary
He has “world-weary” in his skills... I felt a bit like crying.
“Well, all right then. I’ll help you out!” I took a brown sphere out of my Magic Room.
“Sere?” Lou wasn’t sure what I was doing.
“My brother Larouza Granzeus is well known as an explorer and collector of secret books. He dug this ten thousand-year-old fossil out of an iceberg! It’s the only one in the world!”
“Is that...?” Realization set in to Lou’s features.
“It’s in good condition, and if you knock on it, it gives off an ancient scent!”
Lou was visibly alarmed. “No, I don’t think you should sniff that!”
“Let’s put this up for auction and use the profit to fund the guild!”
“No way you can sell that!” Lou exclaimed.
“Don’t worry, Lou! There are fanatics in every place and age. Just watch!”
The next day, it sold for two hundred million gold!
We attracted about four thousand people using deceptive flyers that said things like “Recruiting guild members nationwide!” “Salary guaranteed for one year!” “Pay based on work from your second year on!” “Newcomers, come on and become heroes!”
As I had suggested, the first thing we did was give a paper test, narrowing it down to a hundred people. Today, we were going to use interviews to narrow it further to just fifty. We planned to start by setting up five guilds in Marsche with ten members each. We would then elect five guildmasters.
The applicants came up to me, Lou, and Tabuchi in order and sold themselves to us.
“Interviewee number one, come up!” The person managing the proceedings was of course Tabuchi’s eternal servant, Yamada.
A shrewd-looking middle-aged man came up and started a long spiel about how he was highly experienced as a guild worker.
“This guy has a dark side, Sere,” warned Lou. “He preys on fledgling adventurers.”
Clang! I rang the bell to end the interview.
“Thank you for your time. Interviewee number two, come up!”
Tabuchi was overjoyed. “We’re making such fast progress thanks to the holy beast!”
Number two was a young man with a side part. He told us that he was a former civil servant and skilled in math.
“He’s killed somebody,” Lou said. “Over something small.”
Clang!
“This isn’t a good sign,” I said. “Does this country only have this kind of person?”
“The wise have long left this country...” Tabuchi was nearly crying.
“S-Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that so early on! Yamada! Let’s move on to the next one!”
“Okay, interviewee number three, come up.”
We proceeded to efficiently sort through the candidates based on their interviews, Lou’s judgment, and my appraisal. They had all passed the written test, so we hired them as long as they were otherwise normal.
“Interviewee number seventy-four, come up!”
A hunched-over old lady entered. Yamada rushed over to help her.
“Hmm. This one has potential, despite being worn down,” said Lou.
Her interview had no issues, but age is age... I wasn’t sure just yet.
Appraisal! She shone blue.
Gengoro (Former A-rank adventurer, Francis of Purgatory)
Status: Decreased stamina due to old age, disguised as a woman
Skills: Fire magic, acupuncture, disguise, frugality
Frugality under skills... That takes a certain amount of hardship to get...
“I don’t even know where to start...” said Lou.
Clang, clang, clang! I rang the bell three times. “Okay, Francis, you can come wait over here!”
As Yamada guided Francis to his place, a scary-faced man pushed his way up to the interview desk. “Wait a minute! How come this old hag gets in and we don’t?!” He was the only one making a fuss about it, but many of the other rejected candidates were also glaring our way and nodding. “I don’t know what you are to the prime minister, but I won’t let the likes of you decide who passes and fails!”
“Yeah! What he said!” another man shouted from the crowd.
I could see how it was irritating to put your success in the hands of a little girl, but that attitude disqualified him as a guild member. I stood up.
Tabuchi sighed. “Just try not to do too much damage to the building.”
I shot Tabuchi a quick glare and flicked a finger into the forehead of the man, who was leaning in threateningly. Bam! He flew across the room, straight into the wall.
“I can definitely decide who’s strong or weak, regardless of who passes or fails.”
“Ahhhhh!” Some of the other men screamed.
“Have you heard this story?” I asked. “Once, there was a country that collapsed all because they crossed one fourteen-year-old adventurer girl.”
“Th-The legend of the Twilight Lady of Destruction!”
The legend?
“Well, apart from that, there was also a town on a small island where a man who had been taking advantage of others crossed a fifteen-year-old adventurer. He met his demise, and the town had to start over from scratch.”
“Th-The legend of the Lady of Typhoons and Twilight!”
“What? I haven’t heard that one! Tell me!” Tabuchi leaned in excitedly.
One of the rejected candidates nervously began to speak. “There was a scummy adventurer named Bacas on Regan Island in the north. He had the island under his thumb. Nobody was strong enough to stand up to Bacas, who would go after your wife and children if you disobeyed him. When the whole town was at his mercy, an adventurer dropped by and struck back! He wasn’t able to recover. The town was finally freed from his curse. That adventurer who stopped him came to be known as the Lady of Typhoons and Twilight! She was like a storm!”
“Wow...” Tabuchi and Lou both gasped.
Stop watching so intently, you two! I didn’t know Regan Island was in that state, though...
“Ah-Ahem! My point is, people who judge by appearances are not fit to be guild members! Would anybody else like their forehead flicked?”
Ahh, they finally shut up. “Let’s continue, Yamada.”
“Well, then, moving on! Interviewee number 75, come up!”
“Hello! I’m Yoko. I run an inn in Tohkun!”
“Mrs. Yoko? Why are you here?”
“Well, I act as the receptionist for your requests, Fio. Couldn’t this be an extension of that job?”
She was right. Clang, clang, clang!
We held an election for the fifty people that we chose, and five new guildmasters were chosen. Yoko was one of them, so our inn was now the third guild in Tohkun. Convenient!
“Hey! Typhoon girl!” called Lou.
You know, Lou...I have limits too...