How to Survive in a Good Small Guild - Chapter 15

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Survive in a Small-Scale Guild
Chapter 15
“Well then… you mentioned earlier that you learned about noble emblems at a family-like company, didn’t you? What exactly did you do there?”
“I, um… everything….”
“So what kind of company was it?”
At my question, Sedric’s pupils flickered. After a moment, he stammered out a reply.
“It was, well, something like a company that handled civil complaints.”
“Ah, like a call center?”
It must have been grueling work. With unreasonable customers mixed in with unreasonable colleagues, this Information Guild probably looked like paradise by comparison.
“Anyway, let’s work through this problem together now.”
“Yes, where should I begin investigating? Perhaps by infiltrating the Marquis Residence….”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
“You just need to follow my lead.”
He clearly harbored some grand illusions about the Information Guild.
“You can work at the level appropriate for our Information Guild.”
“Are you saying the level of doing someone’s art homework?”
“Yes, work at exactly that level.”
I began explaining while Sedric regarded me with an odd expression.
“As I see it, an outside force approached the Marquis’s wife, and she’s been hiding it from the Marquis to spare him the trouble. I’m certain of it.”
“How do you know that?”
“You learn these things once you reach management level.”
“I see….”
“What matters now is figuring out who this outside force is. That’s what we’re going to investigate.”
Fortunately, I had the stack of papers the Marquis had left behind. We might be able to find information there.
I began reading the document at the very front. It contained sketches of how to landscape the Marquis Residence’s garden—nothing unusual.
“Could this possibly be some kind of cipher?”
“Let go of such fantasies, Sedric.”
I started flipping through the pages one by one—letters exchanged between the Marquis’s wife and other people, records of her movements kept by servants, even the contents of a bank safe deposit.
“She really does have a lot of money. It’s on a different level from our company’s meager wages.”
After muttering that while my attention lingered on her account, I stopped, having noticed something odd.
“This is….”
04.13 +10 Peso Depositor: Park 808
04.17 +10 Peso Depositor: Bank 310
04.21 +10 Peso Depositor: Bookstore 205
“Deposits of 10 Peso each, and these suspicious depositor names….”
“Isn’t that just the identity verification system? Using a bank safe deposit to confirm who you are.”
Ah, so they have this system here too. But….
“No, this isn’t for identity verification.”
“Why not?”
“Because identity verification naturally requires depositing 1 Peso at a time! Who would send 10 Peso—a fortune—like that?”
“A fortune….”
“This is definitely a cipher!”
“Yes, that does seem plausible.”
Most people would look at this and think like Sedric—that it was for identity verification—but in reality, this must have been a cipher known only to the Marquis’s wife.
Two characters for location and three for numbers.
“This one means ‘meet me at the Park at 8:08.’ This one means ‘meet me at the Bank at 3:10.’ That’s how the system worked.”
“That appears correct.”
Sedric’s eyes began to gleam as I laid out my reasoning.
“Then who sent this cipher?”
“To find that out, we’ll have to go there in person.”
With the date, location, and time all known, there might be a witness.
***
We arrived at the Bookstore.
The Capital had one famous bookstore, so we reasoned that the one mentioned in the record was that place.
“Why the Bookstore and not the Park or the Bank?”
“Those have so much foot traffic that people are more likely to have forgotten.”
Whereas this bookstore, though renowned for its beautiful exterior, didn’t draw many people inside.
“Um, I have one question to ask.”
I approached a Bookstore employee.
“What is it?”
“Did you happen to see a noblewoman in this bookstore around 2 o’clock on April 21st?”
“Why would you…?”
The clerk eyed me with suspicion. A quick lie tumbled from my lips.
“I’m searching for a missing person.”
“Well, we don’t remember all our customers, I’m afraid….”
“Is there perhaps anyone unusual you do recall?”
“Sigh, how would I…? Oh.”
The clerk seemed to remember something and trailed off.
“That’s right, back then….”
“Back then?”
“We had quite an unreasonable customer.”
“Unreasonable?”
“A young man, and what a handful he was. He bought a book, received a handwritten receipt, and then returned it for a refund—tried to pull off an embezzlement scheme, I think. You wouldn’t believe how exhausted it left me.”
Just an ordinary nuisance, then….
“But after that, a beautiful woman came in and spoke with that troublesome customer. They seemed to have an appointment. It was so odd seeing such a rude man acquainted with such a lovely woman that I watched for a moment.”
At those words, my eyes met Sedric’s. From the context, there was a strong likelihood that woman was the Marquis’s wife, concealing her identity!
“Do you remember what book that difficult customer bought?”
“Of course. It’s a book that doesn’t sell well, so it stays with me.”
The clerk disappeared toward the back of the bookstore, then returned moments later carrying a single volume.
“This is it.”
The title was The Secret to Ashiphone House’s Success: A Day Starting at 5 AM.
“A self-help book.”
Sedric spoke in a measured tone.
“Perhaps he aspired to success?”
But my attention fixed on something else.
“You said this book doesn’t sell well.”
“Yes, among self-help books, it’s hardly famous at all.”
A pattern began to form.
“Sedric!”
After thanking the clerk, I pulled Sedric out of the bookstore quickly.
“The person the Marquis’s wife spoke with bought an obscure book published by Ashiphone House. What could that mean?”
“Well, he must have wanted to succeed. Judging by the self-help book purchase….”
“That’s not it!”
I fixed Sedric with wide eyes.
“Then why would he get a refund? He wasn’t interested in the book at all—he only needed proof of the purchase!”
“But why….”
“Because his superior ordered him to buy it!”
“What?”
“That troublesome customer was an employee of Ashiphone House!”
I knew this from my own past experience at X Company.
All our employees were forced to purchase five or more copies of Park Geo-sung’s essay with their own money. Even now, thinking about it makes my blood boil.
Similarly, that customer must have been an Ashiphone House employee.
And due to pressure from Ashiphone himself, who had published the book, the man was forced to buy it! That’s why he only kept the receipt and returned the rest.
“Are you saying the person who approached the Marquis’s wife was an Ashiphone House employee?”
“Yes, exactly. I don’t know the reason, but whoever it was must have had leverage over them.”
“Forcing subordinates to buy your book like that….”
“That’s precisely what I call a Good News Scandal.”
Sedric looked at me incredulously, but I pressed on regardless.
“Sedric, do you know anything about Ashiphone House?”
“The Ashiphone family is said to participate in social circles more eagerly than most. They’re a conservative, traditional noble house—their children’s marriages to distinguished families are considered their greatest virtue.”
“Social circles, I see….”
I recalled the factional structure of this world as I’d read it in the original work.
The Empire, the Temple, and the Calliard Duchy each possessed a special ability, and people called them the Three Powers.
But again, don’t ask me how an ordinary noble family manages to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Empire and the Temple. By the laws of parenting novels, the female lead’s family is naturally overpowered.
In any case, there existed a Four Factions maintaining equilibrium among the Three Powers. They had no special abilities, yet each wielded considerable influence in the empire in their own way.
The Red Rose Salon—the social circle of the nobility.
The Golden Scale Society—the empire’s greatest merchant consortium.
The Tower of Stars—where the foremost scholars gathered.
The Platinum Mercenary Corps—united by martial might.
“Sedric, have you heard of the Four Factions?”
“Yes, I’m aware of them.”
“Then you must also know that the owners of the Red Rose Salon and the Platinum Mercenary Corps have never been publicly revealed.”
“That’s correct.”
The reason Marquis Hendrik had been such a crucial supporting character in the original work.
Marquis Hendrik was the owner of one of the Four Factions, and the original heroine gained his favor by conquering him and winning the goodwill of his organization.
“Perfect. I think I know what to do.”
Days later, I found myself standing before Marquis Hendrik, saying this.
“Marquis Hendrik, I have an interim report on my investigation. It appears the Marquise has been compromised by someone in the employ of Ashiphone House.”
“Then I’ll have them eliminated at once—!”
“No, we don’t yet know precisely which employee is involved. We must assess the situation before acting. So…”
I met Marquis Hendrik’s gaze as I spoke.
“Please extend an invitation to us at the Red Rose Salon.”
Though his appearance was so distinctly that of a male lead in a romance novel that one might have mistaken him for the owner of the Platinum Mercenary Corps, he in fact commanded a separate power altogether.
Marquis Hendrik was the proprietor of the Red Rose Salon.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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