Home/How to Survive in a Good Small Guild/ch 41

Chapter 41

"Is there no other information besides this?"

When I asked, Sir Vane let out a sigh.

"A few weeks ago, wanting to finally let her go, I burned all the letters we'd exchanged during her lifetime. They were things her family had kept. But among the burning letters, I found this one and retrieved it immediately."

"Because it wasn't a letter addressed to you?"

"Yes, you're quick-witted. People seemed to assume it was a letter to me, but I've never received such a letter."

"Is that all the information?"

"For now, yes."

"There must be a reason you came to this mercenary corps to argue."

"That's..."

Sir Vane hesitated before continuing.

"Look closely at the end of the letter. There's a drawing she made herself."

"Ah, so there is."

It was a shield-shaped drawing. But what did that have to do with the Platinum Mercenary Corps?

Just as I tilted my head, Cedric interjected.

"On closer inspection, it looks somewhat similar to the Platinum Mercenary Corps' emblem."

"Exactly. That's why I believe the person my lover was trying to send the letter to is connected to the Platinum Mercenary Corps."

"But if it was over ten years ago... I understand the Platinum Mercenary Corps only appeared four years ago and expanded at an astonishing rate. The timing doesn't match. Couldn't it just be a coincidence?"

"Perhaps, but don't you think it's too similar to be mere coincidence?"

"Indeed, not just the shield but even the patterns inside it are identical to the Platinum Mercenary Corps' emblem."

Listening to Sir Vane and Cedric's exchange, I organized my thoughts.

Hmm, romance fantasy tropes alone weren't enough to guess this one.

Anyway, over ten years ago, Sir Vane's lover had sent a letter somewhere, with strange talk about keeping secrets, and it had the Platinum Mercenary Corps' emblem on it.

"Alright, it would help if you could tell us more about that lover. Please formally commission us."

"Can I trust you?"

To Sir Vane, who still looked uncertain, I decided to play my trump card.

"100% refund if we fail."

That was the kind of statement only someone truly confident could make.

But I genuinely wanted to succeed in this commission. That way, I could build a connection with Sir Vane, who would eventually become the owner of the Platinum Mercenary Corps.

Impressed by my remarkable confidence, Sir Vane finally nodded.

"That's the kind of thing only someone with real confidence would say. Very well, I accept."

---

The next day, we received various information about Sir Vane's lover from him, who had officially visited the Arclight Guild.

"Maria Anje, childhood friends, but she had been ill. As she grew older, her condition worsened..."

"Guild Master, how did you manage to land such a big commission?"

"I have great respect for you."

Susanna and Morian, who'd stuck close to me, also examined the information with interest.

We reviewed Maria Anje's information together, but we couldn't figure out where she'd sent the letter.

"This is interesting, isn't it?"

Just then, Susanna pointed to something.

"She made huge donations every month! Even for a noble, that's quite impressive!"

"Couldn't a noble just donate like that?"

"Even if I were a noble, I don't think I'd donate that much money, you know?"

When Susanna answered Cedric's question, his expression turned subtle.

"True, I've never experienced it myself... Judging this by my own standards would be elitist..."

"Cedric, what are you muttering about?"

"Nothing."

Susanna's words made me pay attention to Maria Anje's donation records. She'd donated to various places, though the names weren't fully listed, and her taxes...

"Here, her charitable donations were tax-deducted on her year-end tax settlement."

"Oh, even nobles manage their money thoroughly."

Morian made an irrelevant comment. As I scrutinized the records with burning eyes, looking for anything suspicious, I sighed.

"Looking at someone else's tax deductions isn't going to help us... Let's think about it some more."

With that, I stood up to go to lunch, but Susanna waved her hand.

"I'll skip lunch today. I'm on a diet."

"Ah, okay."

I didn't try to stop Susanna.

She'd done this three times already—skipping lunch to diet, only to order spicy rose cream pasta the very next day.

Just then, Morian suddenly exclaimed in an unusually energetic voice.

"Oh, I'll have lunch on my own today!"

"Excuse me?"

"It seems he wants to eat alone."

When Cedric said that, Morian winked one eye and spoke.

"That's right. I'm a very smart person. I have good intuition, so I know exactly when to make myself scarce."

What was he talking about? I looked bewildered, and Cedric let out a long sigh for some reason.

"No, this is a real misunderstanding... No, never mind."

"Well... then shall we two go eat?"

"Yes."

I went to lunch with just Cedric.

We sat at the pasta place we usually went to and ordered our usual dishes.

It was a bit awkward, just the two of us. Normally, Susanna would be throwing out topics left and right.

"By the way, Cedric, where do you live?"

I asked first to break the awkward atmosphere.

"Um... I live in District 1."

"Excuse me? Isn't that an expensive town where nobles' houses are concentrated?!"

"I-I'm renting a spare room cheaply..."

I thought of Morian's place and nodded. Yes, there were bound to be such places in District 1 too.

Susanna lived in an illegally extended unit, and Cedric and Morian were the same—as social newcomers, they all had poor housing situations.

"Sigh, finding a place to live is really hard. I shouldn't be the one to say this since I have a house, but other guild members seem to struggle with housing too."

"This is truly a problem that needs to be corrected."

"Do your parents live separately?"

"Yes, my parents... live far away..."

"Oh, so you also came up from the provinces like Assistant Manager Morian?"

"Um... I'm a native of the capital, but my parents moved away... and I don't have a good relationship with my family..."

"Ah, some people do spend their retirement in the provinces. Anyway, it must be lonely living away from your parents. I don't have much to do on weekends either, so let's spend more time together from now on."

"Yes, thank you..."

Then I realized I was prying too much into Cedric's personal life.

"Sorry, this must be boring. Ah, is there anything more interesting to talk about..."

"It's fine. I wanted to hear this kind of conversation."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, I wanted to hear about the Guild Master's... Oh, never mind."

As soon as I narrowed my eyes and stared at him, unable to control my expression, he seemed to realize how strange his words sounded and quickly added.

"B-because I also want to get promoted."

"Ah, I see..."

Quite honest... That mindset of getting close to the boss for a promotion meant I wouldn't misinterpret things...

Just then, our food arrived, and we ate our meals in silence.

As we walked back to the guild, we noticed a booth set up in the plaza, unlike usual.

"What's that?"

"I heard it's a government subsidy center."

"A government subsidy center?"

"Yes, the newly opened government subsidy center this quarter analyzes each person's income and circumstances comprehensively and tells them what subsidies they're eligible for."

What was that—that tone like a promotional spokesperson?

...Wait a minute.

"Government subsidies!"

"Excuse me?"

"The tax deduction from earlier! The deduction rate varies depending on where you donated, right?"

"Ah, that's right! There aren't many places where donations are tax-deductible."

"That means it's a government-recognized facility."

"That's..."

Cedric's eyes widened as if he'd realized something.

"This tax deduction rate...! It must be an orphanage! It can only be an orphanage!"

"An orphanage?"

"I've memorized all the tax deduction rates!"

"Why would you..."

"Um... I learned it at my previous company."

"Ah, I see..."

It must have been that kind of company. Cedric probably had to handle HR, administration, general affairs, customer management, sales, and even design all by himself.

'An orphanage...'

Could Maria Anje's donations to an orphanage be related to the letter...

At that moment, a novel came to mind.

Since it was occasionally referenced in romance fantasies, maybe here too...

'Daddy-Long-Legs!'

What if Maria Anje had sent the letter to a child at an orphanage?

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