How to Survive in a Good Small Guild - Chapter 60

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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
Episode 60
“So, could I meet with prisoners in the Prison in secret?”
Even after the Guild staff had clocked out, I remained at the office. Since there was nothing waiting for me at home anyway, I’d decided to put in some voluntary extra hours.
The moment I dialed Sedrian’s number, I was lucky enough that he—not Eric—picked up immediately.
—Yes. I’ll help you.
“Thank you, Sedrian. When would it be convenient for me to visit?”
—Weekdays are difficult. Let’s make it the weekend.
“The weekend is alright with you?”
—I have important duties during the week.
Right, the Crown Prince would be busy handling his responsibilities on weekdays. I accepted this and agreed to meet him on the weekend.
“By the way, Sedrian—there’s something I wanted to ask. What’s important when awakening an Ability?”
—An Ability?
My sudden question seemed to catch Sedrian slightly off guard, but he answered kindly enough.
—You can awaken an Ability when you feel the necessary emotion appropriately.
“What emotion did you feel, if I may ask?”
—In my case, I felt an intense sense of responsibility to protect.
From those words, I could infer that Sedrian had awakened his Ability around the time the Empress was assassinated.
“Thank you, Sedrian.”
After hanging up, I fell into thought.
“Hmm, what should I do now….”
I decided to postpone the prisoner interrogation to the weekend and use the time to do what I could in the meantime.
‘The character in the original who helped expose Princess Calliard as the true daughter was… ah.’
That name immediately came to mind.
‘The Tower of Stars, Luna Moor!’
Just like me, Princess Calliard gained favor at the Red Rose Salon, the Tower of Stars, the Platinum Mercenary Corps, and the Golden Scale Society, conquering them one by one.
So she received help from the Tower of Stars scholars, and in that process, the brilliant scholar Luna Moor gave invaluable assistance.
‘I should follow the original and seek Luna Moor’s help as well.’
Although I hadn’t yet reached the stage of winning favor from the Tower of Stars scholars like Princess Calliard had, I still had every right to visit the Tower of Stars with confidence.
After all, I held a Master’s Degree in Cactus Spine Evasion Studies!
***
“Hello, Luna Moor.”
“Who are you?”
Apparently she’d completely forgotten my last visit. As I knocked and entered her laboratory, Luna Moor narrowed her eyes.
“I’m Odret Lavendel, a Master’s graduate in Cactus Spine Evasion Studies.”
“What? Get out.”
She spoke curtly, but I didn’t let it bother me.
“Starting now, I’ll be spending time reading your Master’s thesis….”
“Ack! Wait!”
The moment I exploited her weakness from last time, she fell into line.
“What do you want! Tell me right now, and I’ll listen!”
“Well, you’re a Doctor of Criminal Investigation, aren’t you, Luna Moor? An authority in that field.”
“That’s right. And in that field, no one can keep up with me.”
As I flattered her, Luna Moor’s mood seemed to brighten immediately.
“So, would you take a look at this map?”
It was a map of the Cliff, where a low-ranking member of a Crime Organization was known to have fallen.
The people of the Calliard Duke household believed that a newborn child had fallen there along with the member….
“Now, let’s suppose this: there was a low-ranking member of the organization who had asthma, couldn’t bring their inhaler, and was fleeing with a newborn. Since this member was merely being exploited, a superior from the Crime Organization appeared and pushed both the member and the newborn off the cliff.”
“Hmm?”
“In such a situation, if the newborn survived instead of dying, what would that mean?”
“Ha, you should go ask someone with a degree in creative writing if you want that kind of speculation.”
Grumbling as she spoke, Luna Moor didn’t take her eyes off the map.
“If what you’re saying is true… the newborn couldn’t have survived on their own. Someone must have rescued that child.”
The same deduction I’d seen in the original novel was flowing from Luna Moor’s lips.
“By the circumstances, it’s likely that whoever was attacking the member had a change of heart—they attacked only the member and rescued the child.”
“Why would they do such a thing?”
“You could reason it this way.”
Luna Moor’s blue eyes gleamed with an icy light.
“If they were members of the same organization, the superior would have felt it. Just as they used their subordinate’s life as a means, their own life could be used the same way.”
“I see.”
“That’s precisely why he would have needed room to negotiate, a way to preserve his own life in an emergency. If that were the case, he would have kept the child alive.”
“And where would he have sent her after that?”
The Calliard Duke’s household had already investigated two orphanages near the cliff where the low-ranking operative had fallen, in case of contingencies.
But there was no record of a child arriving that day.
“It wouldn’t be one of these orphanages.”
Luna Moor stated it flatly.
“If it’s a secret only he should know, he wouldn’t hide her somewhere she could be discovered.”
“Then where could she have gone?”
“Somewhere she couldn’t be found. A small facility, then. Somewhere with limited funding and staff….”
Luna Moor’s eyes moved swiftly across the map.
“I need information about who the perpetrator is.”
“Well, I’m not entirely certain about that….”
“People in crisis seek out what’s familiar to them. Among small facilities, he likely chose one he knew well.”
“Ah, that crime organization was composed of people who grew up in District 19.”
“Then we have our answer.”
Luna Moor opened a drawer and unfolded a map of District 19.
“All we need to do is find an orphanage in this district with limited funding and staff. Between these two locations… ah, this one is a government-official facility.”
“Then that means….”
There were two orphanages in District 19, and since one was a government-official institution, there was only one small-scale facility as Luna Moor had described.
Luna Moor pointed to one location on the map with her finger.
Sprout Orphanage.
“As it stands now, this is the most likely place where he would have left the baby.”
She spoke with certainty.
And in that moment, I knew the name of the orphanage.
It was the orphanage where Calliard had been adopted.
***
The next day, I sat across from the Orphanage Director. Her brow was already furrowed, apparently many people had come asking about Calliard’s childhood.
“If you’re here to pry into the young lady’s past, I’m afraid that won’t be possible. Many factions have already targeted her, and I made a promise to the Calliard Duke’s household that I wouldn’t speak carelessly about such matters.”
“I’m not trying to uncover any weaknesses of the young lady.”
I spoke in a measured tone.
“Seventeen years ago, you discovered a baby abandoned in front of this orphanage. Where is that child now?”
“Pardon? That story already made the newspapers about ten years ago. It was such a remarkable occurrence.”
The director opened her eyes wide in surprise as she spoke.
“That baby was none other than young lady Calliard. An extraordinary change in fortune—ah, I shouldn’t say such things. But that’s how the story ran in the papers.”
“…So the very day after the Calliard Duke’s true daughter went missing, a child was abandoned at the orphanage. And by coincidence, that child came to be adopted as young lady Calliard.”
“Yes, that’s right, isn’t it?”
The orphanage director seemed to regard the matter as mere coincidence, naturally enough.
But her reasoning was correct. The true daughter of the Calliard family was adopted into the household through that very method.
All this time, people had dismissed it as simple chance. The revelation that the adopted daughter was actually the true daughter had been far too dramatic to be anything else.
But for me, having read the original work, even this was sufficient proof.
Of course, unlike me, the Calliard household would refuse to believe it, citing insufficient evidence. It was merely the speculation of one person who held a Master’s Degree—Luna Moor.
But there was the simplest possible way to prove that Calliard was the true daughter.
If, after hearing my words, Calliard came to see herself as the true daughter.
If she gained confidence and conviction in herself.
If she awakened her Ability—the power of “falsehood.”
That would be the proof that Calliard was indeed the true daughter.
In other words, what I needed to do from this moment forward was….
‘I have to convince Calliard.’
So that she could gain confidence in herself.
So that she could be certain she was Calliard.
So that she could ultimately awaken and manifest her Ability.
That was precisely what I had to do.

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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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