𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟖: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
The girl introduced herself as Meg.
She has chestnut hair and eyes that are almost red, giving off a somewhat small animal-like impression.
She’s a member of the thieves’ guild, but she prides herself on being a righteous thief.
A righteous thief shouldn’t be targeting the wallets of poor adventurers.
Ah, the term “thieves’ guild” sounds really bad, but it’s not exactly a group of vicious criminals.
How should I put it, they’re like a necessary evil.
They themselves are villains, but they bring a certain order among these villains.
They prevent the number of stingy criminals from increasing too much, adjust the territories of prostitutes so that strange diseases don’t spread in the noble district, pick up street children and raise them to be pickpockets or prostitutes.
The last one might make decent people furious, but if they don’t do that, the street children will die immediately.
They don’t have anything to eat for the day, and they don’t have a way to withstand the cold.
Although it’s far from ordinary, it’s also a way of giving them a job.
The occasional soup kitchens in the slums by the lords and nobles can’t save anyone.
So, while the thieves’ guild is not officially recognized, the authorities turn a blind eye.
As long as they don’t cause any major incidents.
Meg is also one of the street children picked up by the thieves’ guild. She’s an orphan like me and the three girls, but being left in front of an orphanage and being picked up by a thieves’ guild are quite different circumstances.
What we were taught to make a living was reading and writing and how to fight. What Meg and the others were taught was thieving skills.
She didn’t grow well, so she didn’t end up becoming a prostitute.
Even though she’s seventeen (full sixteen) years old, her body is about halfway between Miliaria and Asuka.
However, she herself doesn’t resent her circumstances that much.
It’s the same as us not belittling ourselves for being adventurers.
Even if we’re called ruffians, we don’t care.
“But. . . if things continue like this, the guild’s rules won’t be upheld. . .”
Meg explains.
One of the thief groups that make up the thieves’ guild, the head of the Hawk Blade, has changed and seems to have started acting on his own.
He arbitrarily exempted the protection money from the restaurants, and arbitrarily wrote off the debts of the prostitutes.
At first glance, it seems like a good deed, but if he does that, the underworld won’t function.
For example, many prostitutes can only make money by selling their bodies. Because they don’t have a job. Even if their debts are gone, they can’t stop selling spring.
Then, they will have to lower the price that was added for debt repayment and do business.
Customers are selfish, so they will go to the cheaper side.
It’s the same with restaurants.
In other words, only the territory of the Hawk Blade will prosper, but the Hawk Blade, whose main income, the protection money, has been cut off, is also in a tight spot.
Frankly, no one benefits.
So, naturally, assassins were sent from other thief groups that form the thieves’ guild.
“They all got beaten back.”
Meg shakes her head weakly.
Well, that’s probably the case.
The new boss of the Hawk Blade is undoubtedly Luke.
Even a common assassin wouldn’t be able to win, even if they caught him off guard.
“The only one who can beat him is you, right? Lionel-san, the former vice-captain of the Gold-lined Butterflies.”
Meg said decisively, looking into my eyes.
Jennifer and I look at each other.
Regardless of whether I’m the only man who can beat Luke, it’s not good for the adventurer’s guild to stick its neck into the internal strife of the thieves’ guild.
It’s not good, but it’s even worse that the one causing the internal strife was the clan leader of the Gold-lined Butterflies.
If this was done by an unknown adventurer, it would be fine to ignore it, but Luke is too famous in many ways.
“What should we do? Jennifer.”
“Even if you ask me what to do, I can’t decide on my own.”
Right.
Unless there’s some secret agreement between the Thieves Guild and the Adventurer Guild, our involvement would be nothing short of territory infringement.
The basic principle is non-interference.
“But, if you’re saying you’re going after the murderer who killed adventurer Fīna, that’s the job of the Adventurer Guild. Will you take it, Lionel-san?”
“What a logical acrobat. You’re cunning, aren’t you, Jennifer-san?”
At my words, she shrugged her shoulders as if to say, “What can you do?”
In other words, this is what it means.
In the process of pursuing the murderer who killed Fīna, it just so happens that the culprit is revealed to be the boss of the Thieves Guild, Hawk Blade. After capturing or killing him, it turns out that it was Luke, a former member of the Gold-lined Butterflies who was expelled from the Adventurer Guild.
That’s the plot.
With this, the Thieves Guild’s reputation remains intact.
The Adventurer Guild didn’t act to resolve the internal conflict of the Thieves Guild, they just pursued a murderer.
Everything is, by chance.
“So, Meg. I’m going to ask you a question now. I’ve got information that the murderer who killed Fīna has become the boss of some Thieves Guild. Do you have any idea who it might be?”
I ask very deliberately.
The grinning pickpocket girl responded.
“If that’s the case, I have a little information. Sir.”
And.
・・・
『”ᴬᵂᴱᴮˢᵀᴼᴿᴵᴱˢ.ᶜᴼᴹ” – ᴰᴵˢᶜᴼᵛᴱᴿ ᴬ ᶜᴬᴾᵀᴵᵛᴬᵀᴵᴺᴳ ᵂᴼᴿᴸᴰ ᴼᶠ ᴸᴼᵛᴱ, ᴾᴬˢˢᴵᴼᴺ ᴬᴺᴰ ᴬᴰᵛᴱᴺᵀᵁᴿᴱ, ᵂᴴᴱᴿᴱ ᵞᴼᵁ ᶜᴬᴺ ᴵᴺᴰᵁᴸᴳᴱ ᴵᴺ ᴬ ᶜᴼᴸᴸᴱᶜᵀᴵᴼᴺ ᴼᶠ ᵀᴿᴬᴺˢᴸᴬᵀᴰ ᴺᴼᵛᴱᴸˢ ᵂᴵᵀᴴ “ᴰᴬᴵᴸᵞ ᵁᴾᴰᴬᵀᴱˢ” ᴬᴺᴰ ᴱˣᶜᴸᵁˢᴵᵛᴱ ᴬᶜᶜᴱˢˢ ᵀᴼ “ᴬᴰᵛᴬᴺᶜᴱᴰ ᶜᴴᴬᴾᵀᴱᴿs”.』
・・・
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