Home/How to Survive in a Good Small Guild/ch 58

Chapter 58

Unable to refuse her offer, I led the Lady of Kaliad to the office. She had put her earrings back on to hide her identity again.

When I opened the door and entered, I found not only Morian, Susanna, and Cedric, but also two unfamiliar men standing there.

"Cedric, what happened?"

"As you instructed, I investigated the situation and found suspects."

So those two were the suspects?

"I asked an employee working in the building next door, and they said they saw a cleaner looking into our reception room. The man on the left is the cleaner."

"Yes, and the one on the right..."

"When I asked the cleaner, he said he actually saw a newspaper deliveryman loitering around the guild. The one on the right is the deliveryman."

At least we'd caught some suspects through the investigation...

"Guild Master, but is it okay to show this to our client?"

When Morian asked, I finally introduced the Lady of Kaliad to the guild members.

"Our client offered to help. Hmm... she's quite clever, you see."

"Clever? My IQ is only 100 out of 100..."

Ugh, please have some self-esteem.

Just then, Cedric's gaze turned to the Lady of Kaliad. His eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"......!"

"What's wrong?"

"Ah... it's just that she's wearing a dress from the Musique Salon."

"Yes, that's right."

Cedric seemed to have recognized her identity, and Susanna and Morian also seemed to sense that she was of high status.

Now we returned to the question of who had stolen the money.

"Well, then, would you care to explain?"

When I said that, the cleaner and the newspaper deliveryman began to speak.

"Ugh, I'm innocent! I was just passing by while cleaning and got curious about what this place was... I mean, look how shabby this information guild building is. So I couldn't help but take a peek. I swear I didn't steal anything!"

The cleaner grumbled.

"I'm innocent too! I heard this was an information guild that subscribes to a lot of newspapers... and since there's a new newspaper company that just opened, I was checking to see if anyone was here to offer a subscription!"

The deliveryman also voiced his grievance.

"Hmm..."

As I narrowed my eyes at them, Susanna spoke up.

"I think the cleaner is lying! It's suspicious that he was just 'looking around' the guild!"

"No, it's the deliveryman. If he was here to offer a subscription, he would have come to the office."

Morian pointed to the deliveryman as the culprit.

No, that wasn't the answer. So...

"They're both lying. The two of them probably met beforehand and conspired together. So they're accomplices and collaborators."

When I said that, the Lady of Kaliad added from the side.

"That seems likely... Though my insight is modest, just now both of their pupils shook, they looked to the left uneasily, and their hands trembled slightly. Of course, it could be my imagination, but..."

"No, you're probably right..."

I said in a calm tone.

"Normally, if a private company with no authority accused someone of being a criminal, they'd get angry and refuse to cooperate."

At that, everyone's eyes widened.

"That's right. If I were falsely accused, I'd be furious and tell them to call the guards."

Morian agreed. And at the same time, when they looked at the cleaner and the deliveryman...

"Damn it!"

They tried to run as if they'd rehearsed it, but Cedric blocked their way faster.

"Huff!"

Cedric first secured the entrance and blocked them. The two men tried to push Cedric aside with force, but he didn't budge.

When Cedric grabbed the cleaner, Morian used the opening to grab the deliveryman. I quickly brought some rope from the corner, and we succeeded in binding them completely.

"Guild Master, what should we do?"

"Damn it! This is illegal confinement! I'm going to report you!"

"Of course, if you report this, we'll also be punished. However..."

Cedric looked down at them with cold eyes.

"You'll also have to tell the guards who your backer is."

"......"

They fell silent. It was clear they had a backer.

"What is this about?"

The Lady of Kaliad seemed surprised, so I answered in a calm tone.

"Our guild has made some enemies, and this appears to be the work of one of them."

My gaze turned to the two men kneeling on the floor.

"Well, if you don't want to talk, fine. I already know who the backer is."

"......?"

Someone who held a grudge against our guild and could orchestrate this kind of thing.

It was quite simple.

"It's the former Guild Master, isn't it? What was his name again..."

"Hubert Heim."

Cedric answered from the side.

"......!"

At the same time, their gazes, which had thought I was bluffing, turned to shock.

"How did you...!"

"You tried to infiltrate the guild to do something, but you couldn't open the office lock, so you settled for the reception room. You rummaged through Susanna's bag, but there was nothing important inside—just a small phonograph and a boring essay..."

"A boring essay!"

"Instead, you found the money envelope and took that. Hmm... I'm not sure why the two of you tried to blame each other, though."

I signaled to Cedric.

"Cedric, let them go."

"Are you sure?"

"I don't know the exact details, but... we've found out that the backer is the former Guild Master, and now we need to counterattack him."

I smirked at them.

"I'll report both of them to the guards as accomplices in the theft."

"Goodness, such a shocking incident... Though I happen to know the current capital guard commander, I'm not sure if that would help..."

As soon as the Lady of Kaliad said that in a shocking tone, the two men, apparently frightened, shouted.

"W-wait!"

"Please!"

Sure enough, they began to plead.

"Please have mercy!"

"We didn't know it would escalate this far!"

"We were just told to mess with you a little!"

"We were just following orders for money!"

"Hmm, what was the situation?"

"I-it was nothing much... they paid us a little to steal any information that could be used as leverage... they said it wouldn't blow up. The only thing we saw was an envelope, so we grabbed it quickly—we didn't know it was money..."

"We never meant to steal money! I just met that guy as a day laborer, and he offered me money to do a job... I took it because they said it wasn't dangerous..."

The way they spoke and thought showed they weren't professionals. They were clumsy amateurs.

And since they said they met as day laborers and took the job, it was likely the backer had recruited people who needed money.

'The former Guild Master is scheming...'

This could be useful later.

"Shouldn't we report this to the guards?"

I shook my head at Cedric's suggestion.

"No. I have a better idea."

"Then..."

"Let's use them as double agents instead."

I handed them the envelope containing my bonus.

It was more money than the former Guild Master had promised them—their eyes widened.

"Deliver this document. Pretend you stole it. Then you'll get the money he promised you. Since you're also getting paid by us, you'll be earning double."

"Then we'll..."

"Nothing will go wrong. Now go."

Grateful that we hadn't reported them to the guards, they grabbed the documents and quickly left.

"Whew, I wasn't much help..."

Watching the Lady of Kaliad sigh, I felt a strange mix of emotions.

Actually, it seemed like things had gone smoothly because she mentioned knowing the guard commander and scared them...

"Anyway, I'll contact you as soon as the investigation yields results."

After bowing to the Lady of Kaliad, I saw her out.

Now only the guild members remained. Cedric, still on edge, asked.

"Guild Master, what was that document you gave them?"

"You'll find out soon enough..."

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