Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054922300995/episodes/1177354054922399461
The next day, Guild Master Daniel announced that Ryu’s punishment would be lifted in its entirety.
But…..
It was now too late for many things.
Adventurers were no longer stopping at the Adventurers’ Guild, as they were now receiving requests from the Commercial Guild.
Requests from merchants and even lords began to go to that guild.
Eventually, other odd jobs from the general public were also sent to them, and the number of people bringing requests to the Adventurers’ Guild had dwindled to a trickle.
Daniel had hoped that adventurers would gather for the dungeon, but the dungeon had been trudged through by Ryu.
Daniel had vaguely hoped that the presence of the A-rank party “Red Meteor” would change things, but Ryu reported that the Red Meteor had died in the dungeon.
The core had been destroyed, Ryu said. Then the place where the dungeon had been is now just a cave.
The people in town who had been attacked by monsters were relieved, but many adventurers and merchants who had hoped to find materials from the dungeon were disappointed.
*Ryureported to Daniel that he had destroyed the dungeon’s core, but that was a lie, although in fact Ryu had brought the core back.
The dungeon died because the core was taken away, but it will come back to life if the core is placed again. Alternatively, a new dungeon could be created by installing the core in another location.
Ryu is currently in the process of hunting down the Adventurers’ Guild, but he thinks that if he succeeds in punishing Daniel, he can revive the dungeon later. Dungeons are still a valuable resource.
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After the withdrawal of the punishment, Daniel approached Ryu about moving up in rank.
He said now that he would give him a rank of E, or even D or C if he wanted.
But,
[Isn’t it against the rules to move up a rank without a test?]
Ryu refused.
Daniel told him that it was up to the guildmaster’s discretion,
[You yourself said that I should strictly follow the rules from now on, didn’t you?]
Daniel was met with sarcasm.
Daniel asks him to take the test, but Ryu refuses, saying, [I’m not interested in increasing my rank, I have no intention of taking the test.]
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It was some time later that an auditor was dispatched from the guild headquarters.
The headquarters finally took a serious look at Daniel’s inappropriate behavior, which had been reported for some time.
The auditors arrived and easily uncovered Daniel’s various past misdeeds. The guild officials testified about Daniel’s past misdeeds in full.
The guild was already on the verge of bankruptcy. The relationship of trust between the staff and Daniel was completely lost, and this was a natural consequence.
As a result, Daniel was removed from his position as Guild Master and his adventurer rank was demoted, but that was not the end of the story. He was also required to pay compensation for the enormous damage he had caused to the guild. If he could not pay, he would fall into debt slavery.
However, Daniel, who had been an excellent adventurer during his working years and had “amassed” a large amount of wealth through bribes and other interests after becoming a guild master, managed to escape enslavement by using all of his wealth to pay his debts.
This still left a large debt, but it was an amount that could be forgiven by working to pay it off in due course.
The guild decided to put Daniel to work as the guild’s resident adventurer (and scullery worker) until the rest of the debt was paid. From now on, Daniel would live in extreme poverty, working as a scullery maid at the bottom of the Adventurers’ Guild while continuing to pay off his debts.
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The guild master was absent, so Catherine, who had been dispatched from headquarters as an auditor, temporarily took over as acting master.
However, the situation surrounding the Adventurers’ Guild was not good.
Catherine was left scratching her head.
The decline of the Adventurers’ Guild due to the rise of the Commercial Guild.
…If this trend continues, it could spread not only to this city, but to other cities and countries as well. Commercial guilds are already moving to do so.
Catherine hurriedly reported to the headquarters. In response, the guild headquarters would consider how to respond, but she was instructed to stay in Mimru and somehow revive the Adventurers’ Guild.
“Wiping our asses out of this situation…….if only they had at least dispatched us a little earlier…..]
There was no point in lamenting. First of all, the segregation of work between the Adventurers’ Guild and the Commercial Guild needs to be restored properly.
But the problem is the lords.
In this world, although each country has its own “laws of principle,” the laws governing the autonomy of each region are left largely to the discretion of the lords who govern that region.
There is no concept of separation of powers in this world, and the lord who governs a territory determines all judicial, legislative, and administrative matters.
The lords should forbid the Commercial Guild from taking away the work of the Adventurers’ Guild, but the current situation is such that the lords are encouraging the Commercial Guild to take over the guilds.
The guilds have succeeded in winning over the lords by offering to cover part of the cost of running the city, such as by bearing part of the rewards for defeating demons outside the city.
Originally, the town of Mimru was not adjacent to the border, and although it was in the countryside, it was not deep in the mountains where ferocious demons roamed, but rather a rural agricultural area, so the lords were not so strongly conscious of defending the town.
The lords were not very willing to accept requests for the defeat of demons that would only result in the loss of money. The fact that the Commercial Guild were willing to bear even a small percentage of the cost was a welcome development for the lords.
It was also beneficial to the Commercial Guild. It became possible to promptly send out requests for the defeat of demons that appeared along the trade routes taken by merchants.
However, this had the disadvantage that requests for the defeat of demons in places where merchants did not pass by were not often sent out…….
Adventurers’ Guild cannot compete with Commercial Guild in terms of financial resources.
The only way is to make the lords understand the danger of relying on the Commercial Guild instead of money.
Merchants are only interested in pursuing profits. For profit, they have no morals or pride, and they will betray you with impunity.
If all adventurers were to be enclosed in Commercial Guild, acting solely on the principles of business, we would be in trouble when the time came.
For example, when a neighboring country launches a war of economic aggression, adventurers may take advantage of their “commercial interests” and take over the country.
If a war were to break out, strong adventurers would naturally be obliged to participate in it, but adventurers who have lost their patriotism and become profit-driven might abandon their country and flee.
Many merchants believe that in doing business, it is better to have neither borders nor taxes. It would be very dangerous for the ruling class to allow such thinking to permeate the adventurers.
Adventurers, indeed, have a mercantile side. It is a profession in which risk is a commodity, so to speak. Basically, they are pursuing their own interests.
However, the pride of an adventurer is closer to that of a craftsman than to that of a merchant, and they do not necessarily work solely for monetary gain.
Adventurers are also a force for the protection of the country and its people.
Whereas armies (knights) and guardsmen are there to crack down on human crime and fight invasions, the Adventurers’ Guild is a defensive force to deal with roaming demons.
And when emergencies arise, adventurers naturally fight not only monsters, but also bandits and sometimes soldiers from foreign countries. The Adventurers’ Guild is an organization that plays a part in maintaining public order. Many adventurers take pride in their work.
In particular, high-ranking adventurers are expected to be proud and patriotic. When push comes to shove, they must have the will to fight and protect their country without regard to profit. (Only those with such a spirit can be given the rank of B or higher.)
But the Commercial Guild does not have such a noble spirit. There are ranks for those registered in the Commercial Guild, but they are determined solely by their business performance.
Such people cannot be expected to take pride in protecting their country or territory without regard to profit.
Some adventurers are registered with both the Adventurers’ Guild and the Commerce Guild, but if adventurers become too closely aligned with the merchants and too steeped in their way of thinking, there is a possibility that there will be no adventurers left to maintain security.
If, in times of crisis, an army withdraws from a town because it is “in the red,” the town cannot be protected.
This must be understood by the lords.
(*These are just Catherine’s personal thoughts.)
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For now, Catherine began by investigating the cause of this series of disturbances.
Of course, the root cause was sloppy management by former Guild Master Daniel, but it was an incident involving an F-rank adventurer who had been left behind in a dungeon that led to the discovery of the incident.
According to the information she obtained from Daniel, the F-rank adventurer in question, Ryu was a ‘person of interest’.
However, Daniel’s information was unreliable to begin with.
This Ryuujin might be dangerous, but Catherine’s intuition told her that if she could take advantage of him, she might be able to turn the situation around.
She needed to put aside her preconceived notions and assess this adventurer Ryuujin.
For now, she wanted to meet Ryuujin, so she instructed the staff to bring him to the office if he appeared.
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