How to Survive in a Good Small Guild - Chapter 25

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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 Good Small Guild
Chapter 25
“Good morning, Guild Master! It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Christine.”
Instead of telling her that I’d caught her Sowing Discord, I devised a different strategy.
Christine was the type to spread rumors easily, so if I fired her outright, she might harbor resentment toward our guild and spread nasty gossip about us.
So rather than have us push her out, I needed to make her think she’d left our guild of her own accord. That way, she wouldn’t bother spreading bad rumors.
“Christine, you did such excellent work yesterday. I was really impressed.”
“Oh, that’s all thanks to you, Guild Master! I’m so grateful you helped me adjust.”
“So I think we’re ready to put you on real assignments starting today!”
I caught Cedric’s eye, and he rose from his seat to hand Christine a sheet of paper.
“Since you’re now a real member of our guild, we’ll need your signature first.”
“A signature?”
“A Confidentiality Agreement. In an Information Guild, security is everything, after all.”
“Ah, of course.”
Christine took the Confidentiality Agreement without much concern. She opened her bag, seeming to look for a stamp.
But Cedric pointed toward the wall with a gesture.
“We don’t use regular stamps in our guild. Would you mind checking the wall?”
“What? Oh no!”
Christine gasped when she noticed papers on the wall that hadn’t been there yesterday.
The wall was covered in fingerprints marked in blood—a gruesome color that made anyone think of death.
“Of course, the Confidentiality Agreement must be signed in blood. If you would.”
“I, um…”
“Well, you only need to do it before you leave today, so take your time. We don’t want you getting dizzy from blood loss since you haven’t clocked out yet.”
“Y-yes…”
Christine’s pupils trembled.
“Let’s start with today’s assignment. Susanna and Cedric, you both know what you’re doing, right?”
“Yes, Guild Master! Today I’m infiltrating as a maid in Marquis Heindel’s household while he’s staying in the Capital to steal information!”
“You know how thorough Heindel is? The last operative was caught by him and lost their head. Be careful, Susanna.”
“You know I’m skilled at this!”
“Wait—do you do Infiltration operations directly…?” Christine asked, her voice shaking.
Christine cut in hesitantly.
“I thought I was hired for office work…”
“As the job listing stated, we’re a business with fewer than five employees, so everyone here does ‘a bit more work.'”
“Ah, I see…”
“But Christine, why are you still standing? Your legs must be tired! Sit down!”
Susanna spoke in a bright voice, and Christine sat down as if she were perching on a bed of nails, her expression twisted with disgust.
“And you, Cedric?”
“Yes, Guild Master. Today I plan to ‘dispose of’ the man we interrogated for information last time.”
“Just be careful not to get tracked by the imperial authorities. Security’s been tight lately.”
“Of course. The imperial guards normally change shift at six o’clock, but on the third Thursday of each month they change at eight to catch careless criminals. I’m also aware that extra personnel are hidden at the western guard tower. I won’t leave a trace.”
Wait—is he joking around? That information he just rattled off isn’t actually real, is it?
I nodded with a composed expression, and Christine suddenly jumped to her feet again.
“D-dispose? What does that mean?”
“Ah, you’ll find out soon enough. Just sign the Confidentiality Agreement.”
“Um, well…”
She remained standing awkwardly as she asked.
“So what kind of work would I mainly be doing? I’m still in office work, right?”
“Come on, I told you—everyone in our guild does ‘a bit more work,’ even office staff. By the way, Christine, are you good at Sowing Discord?”
“What…?”
“It just so happens we have two targets we’ve captured, but they trust each other too much to talk. If you could use Sowing Discord to turn them against each other and get them to open up…”
“I see…”
A sudden look of determination crossed Christine’s face.
“I’m just going to use the restroom!”
“Oh, just a heads up—there isn’t actually a toilet in the third stall of our restroom, so be careful.”
Christine suspiciously grabbed her bag and disappeared into the bathroom.
And she never came back.
“…Guild Master, did you really have to go that far?” Susanna muttered in a dissatisfied tone.
Susanna grumbled quietly.
“Couldn’t we have just fired her instead?”
“We can’t damage the reputation of our guild. And honestly, working with Susanna was fun too.”
“That’s true.”
Still, when our guild grows larger down the line, we’ll genuinely need to establish actual information sources. Hmm, how should I go about that….
Setting aside worries about the distant future, I sank back into contemplation.
In any case, our guild was understaffed, and we had to hire someone immediately.
But I no longer had the confidence to face any more villains, and there wasn’t a single decent applicant among the submissions already received….
“Guild Master, might I take a look?”
“Of course.”
I nodded readily at Cedric’s request. Not that his looking through them would change anything, I thought.
Then he pulled one sheet from the pile and began reading it intently.
“This person doesn’t seem to lack ability, does he? Seems quite promising.”
Applicant: Morian Krauzer
Education and Experience
– Capital Royal University, Self-Directed Major, Graduated
– Barista, 6 months
– Hotel Communications Manager, 6 months
– Small-Scale Commercial District Analyst, 6 months
– Stenography Freelancer, 6 months
– Goldblack Guild, 2 years
Reason for Application
I have long harbored a deep conviction that information is the power that drives an era.
Through working across various sectors and meeting diverse people while engaging with information, I came to understand something vital.
When countless organizations lose their direction and wander in a flood of information, someone must read the flow and grasp the essence.
I understand that the Global Information Network Guild is currently undergoing rapid growth and requires the establishment of new structures, enhanced accuracy of information, and innovation in internal processes.
I wish to manage the flow of information as our guild advances toward the future.
My intuition, insight, and information-processing abilities honed across diverse backgrounds will be a decisive foundation for the guild’s growth.
“It’s laying it on a bit thick, isn’t it?”
This wasn’t a cover letter—it was fiction. Honestly, the real motivation was probably “earn money,” but even so, the packaging was overdone.
Six months as a barista? That sounds like a café part-time job. Hotel communications manager sounds like front desk work. Stenography freelancer is just typing work. And “small-scale commercial district analyst”—I have no idea what that even means!
“In any case, he’s the only applicant who stayed consistently at one guild for two years.”
“Hmm, that’s a fair point.”
At least he seemed better than Garrick or Christine.
“We don’t have much choice. If this person doesn’t work out either, then we’ll just have to work among ourselves….”
In the end, I decided to call Morian Krauzer in, clinging to one last hope.
***
“Hello, Morian Krauzer.”
Morian Krauzer was a man in his mid-to-late twenties. His glasses gave him quite an intellectual appearance, but I had decided to stop trusting appearances.
“Why did you change jobs?”
“Well, I thought I’d like to feel a sense of purpose working alongside a guild preparing for new development, and to grow together.”
Sense of purpose—in other words, he wanted to make more money.
“By the way, what exactly is a small-scale commercial district analyst?”
“I managed a fruit shop in a neighborhood commercial district that was losing out to larger ones, taking charge of management, data analysis, and customer relations. Through this work, I contributed to the nation’s economy by thinking about how to revitalize small commercial districts.”
Ah, so it was a fruit shop part-time gig. This guy’s talent for packaging is remarkable.
But somehow his self-aggrandizing narrative reminded me of how I used to be in my previous world…. I felt a twinge of sympathy.
“There will be a probation period—is that all right with you?”
“How long is the probation period?”
“One month, though it may be extended depending on circumstances.”
“Would the probation period involve receiving only eighty percent of the salary?”
“No—you’ll receive the full salary.”
“Then there’s no problem.”
No matter how much of a villain I pretend to be, I can’t touch the salary.
“Is there anything else you’d like to discuss regarding the job change?”
“Given my background, I was wondering if I could transfer in at a mid-level position.”
“That’s possible.”
Once we’d negotiated to some degree, I asked him to start work tomorrow.
“Thank you. I recently left my previous job and was doing temporary work while preparing for a career change.”
“Oh, what kind of work have you been doing lately?”
“Home protection.”
…….
That should be fine… right?

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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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