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Chapter 70

7. The true duty of an information guild: strike before you are struck

One day, as I was finishing up guild work and preparing to leave, Morian spoke up.

"Would it be okay if I invited you all?"

"Invite us?"

"Of course, normal humans wouldn't want to spend time with business colleagues, but since it's a special occasion, I thought I'd muster up the courage."

When we looked at Morian with puzzled expressions, he continued.

"Actually, I moved houses."

"Wow!"

Knowing better than anyone about Morian's living situation, I clapped.

"That's great, Assistant Manager Morian!"

"Yes, I'm happy too."

"Getting out of that horrible place!"

"You know about my previous house?"

"No, I, I couldn't possibly. I just thought with how expensive rent is these days, you must have been living somewhere terrible."

I quickly made an excuse, feeling guilty. I didn't want to get caught having looked into Morian's background...

Fortunately, Morian didn't seem to mind and continued.

"We received a big sum from the House of Kaliad this time, didn't we?"

"That's right, I was so happy too!"

Susanna's face lit up with joy.

"Thanks to that, I could put the latest phonograph in my house!"

Why was Susanna so obsessed with music...

"I used mine to move to a new place. This time, it's a proper lease with no deposit fraud."

"Wow, that's great!"

"Oh, by the way, what did you spend your money on, Cedric? Don't tell me you donated it again?"

At Susanna's question, Cedric flinched.

"W-well, I didn't donate this time... I just saved it."

"Tch, boring."

"Assistant Manager Susanna, don't treat Cedric like a source of dopamine..."

Anyway, Morian, who'd moved to a new house, wanted to invite us to a housewarming party.

Morian usually kept a moderate distance from his guild members, leading a normal office life, but he seemed genuinely happy about moving to a better place.

"I don't have any other friends to invite besides you all."

"What about the roommates you knew when you first came to the capital?"

"The conditions there were so bad that they turned even normal people into demons. In the end, everyone just ended up fighting."

"Ah..."

I supposed that even if they'd fought over noise issues, the ones who built such shoddy housing were more to blame than the noisy residents...

"Of course, Assistant Manager Morian. We'll definitely come. It's great to spend time with guild members even after work!"

"Then I'll go too."

"I'm not surprised about Cedric, but the Guild Master's personality seems to be changing..."

"So, Susanna, you're not coming?"

"My free time is important to me!"

Susanna shrugged. Well, it was understandable to not want to see coworkers after work. I decided to respect Susanna's opinion.

"Great. Just having Guild Master Odrette and Senior Staff Cedric come is good enough."

"What should we eat that day?"

"I was thinking of having a pig party."

A pig party? They used that phrase in this world too?

"Actually, I've always been interested in cooking. My previous place was too small to have space. Now that I can, I'm thinking of lamb steak, salmon tartare, a hearty Eastern-style soup, and for dessert, those trendy chewy soft cookies..."

"W-wait a minute!"

Susanna raised her hand.

"How can you have a pig party without me! I'll come too!"

As expected, no one could resist a pig party. And so, we decided to go to Morian's housewarming party.

---

Friday evening, after work, we headed together to Morian's place.

"This is my new house."

"Oh."

This time, it was a proper, normal apartment.

The kitchen wasn't shared, the bathroom wasn't floating in midair, and it didn't have a cemetery view.

It was smaller than my house, but perfectly fine for a single person—truly an ordinary place. But I knew well how difficult it was to find an ordinary place in this world.

"Wow, Assistant Manager Morian moved to a nice place! My lease is ending soon too, so I've been thinking about moving."

Just then, as Cedric was looking around the house, he said.

"Is this place considered a good house?"

"Are you dissing me right now?"

"Ah, no."

Realizing his words could be misunderstood, Cedric quickly added.

"I don't really know what constitutes a good house, so I wanted to use it as a reference..."

"Ah, I see."

It seemed Cedric, as a social newcomer, also had poor housing conditions.

We handed Morian the housewarming gifts we'd brought. All three were diffusers.

"...Usually, at least one person brings tissues, don't they?"

"Ah, I thought someone else would bring tissues."

"Hmph, this is trendy."

"I heard tissues were too common..."

Receiving three diffusers, Morian looked bewildered but placed them around the room. Wow, three scents mixed together.

Soon, Morian truly began cooking for us. We hovered around, asking if we could help, but he just told us to sit.

After a while, an array of gorgeous dishes appeared on the table.

"Wow..."

For someone with this cooking skill to have been unable to cook because of a shared kitchen—that was truly unjust... Ah, I was starting to sound like Cedric.

We chatted lightly as we ate. The main topic was the guild.

"We have money from the House of Kaliad now, so I'm thinking of renovating the guild building."

"That reminds me, Marquess Heindel pointed out the uncomfortable sofa. A very elite-noble way of thinking."

"No, Cedric. Please stop with the dangerous remarks..."

"I also support renovating the guild building! I'd love to have a separate meeting room!"

"Right now, we just sit at our desks and shout for meetings."

Our dreams for the new guild building grew bigger and bigger.

Morian even served us wine, so I found myself talking about my dream guild while tipsy.

"Give me a martini with an olive."

"...How did you find this place?"

"A hidden guild with secret codes like that!"

"Guild Master, something's changed about you."

"She's secretly a lightweight."

Hmm, with the money from the House of Kaliad, we probably could renovate the guild. And if we needed more, they'd likely give it to us.

But this guild building had originally been acquired by the previous Guild Master through a terribly named government project...

Even now, I occasionally had to write government submission documents—would we need another permit to renovate?

When I voiced this concern, Cedric said.

"As long as we report it, there shouldn't be a problem. But in my opinion, instead of using our own money, it might be better to receive support."

"Ah, like investment?"

"Yes. Arclight Guild has grown a lot, so there might be nobles willing to invest."

Just then, I recalled something I'd seen on a street bulletin board recently.

"Ah, there's a new government support project available! Since double support is allowed, we'd qualify too!"

"Government support projects? That means more money for our guild!"

Susanna, who did manual calculations and knew the guild's finances better than anyone, also reacted positively.

"I think I saw that too. It seems like a very helpful project for us."

Just as we were all reacting positively to the government support project, Cedric muttered with a hint of reluctance.

"It feels like cheating somehow..."

"Excuse me? What do you mean?"

"Nothing..."

"Hmm, I've never applied for that kind of project before. But if the previous Guild Master could do it, I probably can too. Oh, come to think of it, Cedric, aren't you good at this kind of thing?"

Remembering his extensive knowledge of nobles and the Temple, I asked. Cedric flinched.

"I, I do know a bit... but it feels a bit unjust..."

"Huh? Want to work on it with me?"

"Actually, I sometimes enjoy unjust things. I'll prepare the project with you, Guild Master."

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