Home/How to Survive in a Good Small Guild/ch 15

Chapter 15

"Sigh... By the way, you said earlier you learned noble crests at that family-like company? What kind of work did you do there?"

"W-well, everything..."

"So what kind of company was it?"

When I asked that, Cedric's pupils shook. After a moment, he stammered out an answer.

"It was, uh, a company that handled complaints."

"Ah, like a call center?"

That did sound like a tough place. With difficult customers and difficult coworkers combined, this information guild probably seemed like a blessing in comparison.

"Anyway, Cedric, let's solve this problem together now."

"Yes, where should we start investigating? As expected, infiltrating the Marquess's residence..."

"Excuse me? What are you talking about?"

"Isn't that what we do?"

"Just follow my lead."

He seemed to have some grandiose fantasies about information guilds.

"Cedric, we just need to work at our guild's level."

"You mean the level of doing art homework for someone else?"

"Yes, exactly that level."

As Cedric looked at me with a strange expression, I began explaining.

"From what I can see, an outside force approached the Marchioness, and she's hiding it to avoid causing trouble for the Marquess."

"How do you know that?"

"You learn these things when you become an assistant manager."

"Indeed..."

"What matters now is who that outside force is. We're going to investigate that."

Fortunately, we had the bundle of papers the Marquess had left behind. We might be able to find clues there.

I read through the first document. It was an ordinary sketch of how to design the Marquess's garden.

"Could this be some kind of code?"

"Cedric, drop the fantasies."

I began flipping through the papers one by one. Letters the Marchioness had exchanged with others, records of her movements kept by servants, and even the contents of her bank vault...

"She really has a lot of money. Completely different from our company's stingy wages."

As I muttered, momentarily distracted by her account, I stopped when I noticed something odd.

"This is..."

04.13 +10 pesos Depositor: Park808

04.17 +10 pesos Depositor: Bank310

04.21 +10 pesos Depositor: Bookstore205

"Deposits of 10 pesos each, with suspicious depositor names..."

"Isn't that just the usual system? Using bank vaults for identity verification."

Ah, so this world had that system too. However...

"No, this isn't for identity verification."

"Why not?"

"For identity verification, they'd send 1 peso! Who would send a large sum like 10 pesos?"

"A large sum..."

"This is definitely a code!"

"Yes, that makes sense."

Other people might see this and think, like Cedric, that it was for identity verification. But in fact, this was likely a code only the Marchioness could understand.

Two letters for a location and three numbers.

"This means 'meet at the park at 8:08.' This one means 'meet at the bank at 3:10.' That's probably how the system worked."

"That seems correct."

Cedric's eyes also began to sparkle at my deduction.

"Then who sent this code?"

"To find that out, we'll have to go there ourselves."

We had the dates, locations, and times... There might be witnesses.

---

We arrived at the bookstore.

There was one famous bookstore in the capital, so I assumed that was the one mentioned in the records.

"Why the bookstore instead of the park or the bank?"

"There are too many people coming and going there—it's more likely no one would remember."

On the other hand, this bookstore was known for its beautiful exterior, but not many people actually went inside.

"Excuse me, may I ask you something?"

I stopped a bookstore employee.

"What is it?"

"By any chance, did you see a noble-looking woman inside this bookstore around 2 PM on April 21st?"

"Why would you ask..."

The employee looked at me suspiciously. A quick lie came out of my mouth.

"We're looking for a missing person."

"Well, we don't remember every customer..."

"Is there any unusual customer that stands out in your memory?"

"Sigh, how would I... Ah."

At that moment, the employee paused as if something had come to mind.

"Right, that time..."

"That time?"

"There was one extremely difficult customer."

"Difficult?"

"A young man—he was really troublesome. He bought a book, got a handwritten receipt, and then returned it, you know? It seemed like he was trying to embezzle, and I was so exhausted because of it."

That just sounded like an ordinary difficult customer...

"But after that, a beautiful woman came in and talked to that difficult customer. They seemed to have an appointment. It was curious that such a difficult customer knew such a pretty woman, so I watched for a bit."

At that, Cedric and I exchanged glances. In context, it was highly likely that was the Marchioness in disguise!

"Do you remember what book that difficult customer bought?"

"Of course. It was a book that doesn't sell well, so I remember."

The clerk disappeared to the back of the store and soon returned with a book.

"This is the book."

The title was The Secret to Ashbourne Family's Success: A Day That Starts at 5 AM.

"A self-help book."

Cedric said in a calm tone.

"Was he aiming for success or something?"

But I focused on a different aspect.

"You said this book doesn't sell well."

"Yes, it's not a well-known self-help book at all."

I felt a hunch forming.

"Cedric!"

After thanking the clerk, I quickly pulled Cedric out of the bookstore.

"The man the Marchioness met bought an obscure book published by House Ashbourne. What does that mean?"

"Um, he probably wants to succeed. Buying a book on success secrets..."

"That's not it!"

I opened my eyes wide and looked at Cedric.

"If that were the case, why would he return it? He wasn't interested in the book itself—he just needed a record of having bought it!"

"Why would that..."

"Because his superior must have ordered him to buy the book!"

"Excuse me?"

"That difficult customer was an employee of House Ashbourne!"

I knew this from my own experience at the trash company.

All of us employees had to buy at least five copies of Mr. Park Geo-seong's essay with our own money. Just thinking about it made my blood boil.

Likewise, that customer must have been an employee of House Ashbourne.

And due to pressure from Mr. Ashbourne, who published the book, he was forced to buy it! That's why he returned it, keeping only the receipt.

"So the one who approached the Marchioness was an employee of House Ashbourne?"

"Yes, that's it. I don't know the reason, but she must have been blackmailed by them."

"Making subordinates buy books by force..."

"This is the trash company mindset."

Cedric looked at me with a bewildered expression, but I didn't care.

"Cedric, do you know anything about House Ashbourne?"

"I've heard that Count Ashbourne's family is one of the most active in social circles. They're a conservative, traditional noble family that considers marrying their children into good houses as the greatest virtue."

"Social circles..."

I recalled the factions of this world from the original story.

The Imperial Family, the Temple, and House Kaliad each possessed a special ability, and people called them the Three Powers.

Again, please don't ask how an ordinary noble family could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Imperial Family and the Temple. The heroine's family being overpowered is just the law of childcare stories.

Anyway, there were four groups that balanced between the Three Powers. They didn't have abilities, but they wielded power in their own ways.

· The Red Rose Salon: the social circle of the nobility.

· The Golden Scales Society: the Empire's largest trading company.

· The Star Tower: where renowned scholars gathered.

· The Platinum Mercenary Corps: united by martial force.

"Cedric, have you heard of the Four Groups?"

"Yes, I know of them."

"Then you also know that the owners of the Red Rose Salon and the Platinum Mercenary Corps are not publicly known."

"Yes, that's correct."

The reason Marquess Heindel was an important supporting character in the original story.

Marquess Heindel was the owner of one of the Four Groups, and the original heroine would win his favor by winning him over.

"Perfect. I think I know what to do."

A few days later, I was saying this in front of Marquess Heindel.

"Marquess Heindel, this is an interim report on our investigation. It appears the Marchioness has been blackmailed by an employee of House Ashbourne."

"I'll deal with them immediately—!"

"No, we don't know exactly which employee it is yet. We need to assess the situation before acting. So..."

I met the Marquess's eyes and said.

"Please invite us to the Red Rose Salon."

With his male-lead-like appearance, one might have mistaken him for the owner of the Platinum Mercenary Corps, but surprisingly, he had a different affiliation.

Marquess Heindel was the owner of the Red Rose Salon.

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