The Tin Knight-Chapter 69: The Tin Knight and The City of Clockwork — Act 4 (3)

Well, he hadn’t expected such a major drift as “legendary magical beast”—which was herself, but he had no way of knowing that—but that was more because Sophia was strange rather than Peter being wrong, so it should be viewed with a merciful eye.

Humming a tune, Peter began preparations to complete the request.

It was a somewhat pitiful sight if one knew the truth, but at least he was happy, so that was fortunate.

***Meanwhile, if there was someone happy in the world, there was also someone unhappy—that was the way of the world.

Unlike Peter, whose laughter wouldn’t stop, the employees of the Schwartz branch couldn’t laugh.

“How on earth did you handle this job!!”

With the branch manager’s shout, the stack of documents on the desk scattered into the air.

While the employees summoned to the branch manager’s office all shrank back and looked around nervously, the direct subordinate who felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu in this situation opened his mouth as a representative.

“...We’re sorry.”

“Sorry? Sooorry? Yes, you should be sorry! You have to be! If you don’t feel sorry after messing up the job like this, you’re not human, you’re a damn son of a bitch!!”

The employees all had to resist the urge to show the branch manager a mirror as they saw him growling with his eyes rolled back.

Well, they say you see what you want to see, and it seemed that since he had become a dog himself, he saw people as dogs too.

The branch manager didn’t notice the subtle gazes of his subordinates.

In fact, it was questionable whether he would have cared even if he had noticed.

The branch manager didn’t have the luxury to worry about such things right now.

“How, how on earth did you handle the job...! Incompetent fools! Pathetic fools!”

He couldn’t understand the current situation at all.

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The quasi-knight level force sent for silencing had been completely annihilated.

Strictly speaking, one guy was still alive, but that one guy had not only betrayed them and joined the enemy, but was also exposing all the dirty secrets of the Schwartz branch, so it was a situation worse than if he had died.

In the northern part of the Empire, the “malicious, petty, and vile conspiracy” of the Schwartz branch was being chewed on like dried squid legs as a drinking snack, and even in the social circles near the capital, stories about this were gradually spreading.

On top of that, White Gold of the Weiss branch, far from fighting together against the crisis of the guild’s reputation falling, was scratching at his insides telling him to quickly reveal the truth, and the other branch managers had entered a spectator stance as if they were just there to watch the show and eat the rice cakes.

As the guild that should have united its strength entered a state of civil war, the Halder Company started legal battles saying, “That’s right,” and other companies that had been cautious in the face of the Adventurers Guild’s prestige, realizing that they only had to deal with the “Schwartz branch” and not the entire guild, were swarming in like a pack of wolves.

“The great lord of the north, Count Tik-Tok, has handed a request to the Adventurers Guild headquarters asking to ‘reveal the purpose of infiltrating an armed group with malicious intent into Tik-Tok.’ There’s no particular reaction from the headquarters yet, but we don’t know how they’ll respond if public opinion in the north intensifies.”

“Don’t worry about the headquarters! What great lord! He’s just the boss of a toy alley in a toy city famous for toys!”

“It seems that the silver-rank adventurer Kumara and his party are sending letters to adventurers they have past connections with, informing them of the circumstances of this incident.”

“Issue a warning not to be swayed by rumors! No, just capture them! They might be the culprits of this incident for communicating with the traitors!”

“Adventurers are leaving the branch one by one. The number of bronze-rank and below adventurers who find it burdensome to move their activity area is relatively small, but the atmosphere among the silver-rank adventurers, who originally had connections with Kumara’s side and have relatively high economic power, is not good. If we don’t deal with this quickly, only the chaff and youngsters will be left in our branch.”

“Due to the company union stopping the supply of various goods, we’re running out of stock of various necessities.”

“Damn it all!!”

Bang! Thud thud thud.

As the branch manager kicked the desk hard, various objects on it rolled onto the floor.

“Incompetent fools. Pathetic fools! Don’t just chirp here, solve this somehow! You parasites!”

“...”

Objectively speaking, this incident was not without the branch manager’s own responsibility.

It was the branch manager who escalated this to such an extent when it could have been resolved by negotiating nicely with the Halder Company and receiving the treasure.

It was also the branch manager who kicked out or relegated to unimportant positions any employee who didn’t please him even slightly, and promoted flatterers or those who offered bribes to important positions, driving the overall health of the organization into the ground.

Usually, using the prestige of the Adventurers Guild as a shield had been enough, but once they fell into a situation where that shield didn’t work, the organization itself fell into chaos.

It was to the extent that the Weiss branch was rather confused, wondering why they were reacting like this when they had only thrown a light jab.

“Haah, Haah.”

After driving out the employees as if chasing them away, the branch manager, left alone, rummaged through the shelf to soothe his burning stomach.

Finally finding a bottle of wine he wanted, he turned around and—

“Eek?!”

He screamed and collapsed, facing a strange person who had somehow appeared behind him.

Crash!

The contents of the broken wine bottle soaked his pants, but the branch manager couldn’t think of wiping it off.

No, he couldn’t even get up, just sweating profusely.

Towards the branch manager in this state, the strange person wearing a green mask asked.

《The master, is waiting for results.》

It was a truly bizarre voice.

Although it was speaking human language, it was not a human voice.

Wind passing through rock crevices. Wind shaking tree branches. Wind making high-hung flags flutter.

It felt as if all kinds of sounds that wind could make in nature had gathered in one place, mimicking human language.

While feeling his spine instinctively stiffen, the branch manager pretended to be brave, as if not wanting to admit that he felt fear.

“Well, well, barging into the room without any notice, what kind of rudeness is this? I’ll specially forgive you this time, but be careful next time.”

The masked strange person tilted their head.

It was an action as if they didn’t understand what the branch manager had said.

《Labyrinth. Treasure. Recovery. Not yet?》

The branch manager frowned at the strange person who seemed not to have heard what he said and only spoke of their own business, but soon answered gruffly, “Tsk, it seems that person needs quick money. Alright. I’ll show sufficient sincerity. So go back for today.”

《The master is waiting for results. The master wants the treasure from the labyrinth.》

“Hey, I said I understand! I said I’ll send money generously, didn’t I!?”

《You are really stupid.》

At the suddenly fluent speech, the branch manager’s body trembled.

The color of the mask had changed at some point.

The overall color scheme was still green, but the part corresponding to the mouth was painted over in blue.

The type of sound had also changed to something that seemed to mix water sounds from nature rather than wind.

《Stupid human. Greedy human. Incompetent human. What the master wants is not mere wealth. Don’t treat him the same as a materialist like you. It’s disgusting.》

“W-what are you saying!?”

The branch manager tried to grab the strange person’s collar in anger, but his intention was not fulfilled.

Several streams of water that had somehow sprung up from under the branch manager’s feet were wrapping around his entire body like ropes.

“Ugh, gack!”

The branch manager tried to loosen the water streams tightening around his neck, but it was meaningless.

No matter how much he tried to grab the rope around his neck, it only distorted the shape of the rope with splashing sounds, but the pressure choking his neck didn’t decrease at all.

Just before the branch manager was about to lose consciousness, a gust of wind blew and disrupted the water rope choking his neck.

With the mouth part of the mask painted green again, the strange person said.

《Human. Subordinate of master’s friend. We. Master’s subordinates.》

As if refuting this, the mouth part of the mask changed to blue again.

《Don’t be ridiculous. Even among subordinates, there are ranks. We are the master’s precious right hand, and this pig is just one of many minions. Not knowing his place and trying to lay hands on me, he should naturally be disposed of.》

《Must not bully. Master did not order.》

《In the human world, isn’t it a sign of competence to do things even without being ordered?》

《Lie.》

It was as bizarre a sight as could be, with the strange person who outwardly looked like just one person conversing in different voices.

After a while.

Finally, it seemed a conclusion had been reached between the strange person, or strange people.

《Treasure location. Tell.》

《You’re fired. Get your hands off this matter. It seems you’ll only be a hindrance if you stay.》

The branch manager, who had barely regained his breath after nearly suffocating, reddened his face upon hearing this sentence.

He struggled as if squeezing out his last bit of pride.

“...T-this matter will not be overlooked! Our family is the center of the imperial faction! We are the most loyal of loyal subjects supporting Her Majesty! No matter how much that person—“

The branch manager’s words stopped.

As if his tongue root had suddenly become paralyzed, it wouldn’t move at all.

No, not just his tongue, but his entire body was in that state.

Only then did the branch manager realize what he had done.

A mask split exactly in half between green and blue was staring at him indifferently.

《Human. Violated the contract.》

《Didn’t your family explain well not to babble carelessly about the master?》

“──”

The fear of suffocation that he thought had receded once came back to him again.

This time, even struggling was impossible.

《Don’t know treasure location. Troublesome.》

《Can’t be helped. Honestly, this isn’t our fault, is it? It’s the fault of the ‘friend’ who put such an incompetent person in this position. Ah, no? Was he pushed to this lowly position because he’s incompetent? Ahaha!》

Leaving behind echoing mockery in his ears, the strange person’s form scattered and disappeared.

The next day.

The corpse of the branch manager, stiffened from rigor mortis, was discovered, and the Schwartz branch was turned upside down.

Two days later.

The Adventurers Guild headquarters announced the Schwartz branch manager’s “suicide by poison”.

People whispered that the branch manager had made an extreme choice due to the pressure from rumors circulating in the world, or that the Adventurers Guild had initiated a tail-cutting operation.

Three days later.

The Empire’s Guardian Duke. Duke Lennart made a statement saying, “There are bastards sprinkling filth on the garden that His Majesty the Emperor has neatly arranged.”

The Duke did not specifically mention what that garden was, but people understood it to refer to the Adventurers Guild.

Four days later.

A major personnel reform began at the guild headquarters and the Schwartz branch.

However, as both the Stenheim family that had been dominating the guild headquarters and the Filene family that newly occupied the core were people of the Empress’ side, there were many voices questioning its effectiveness.

Five days later.

An official apology from the Adventurers Guild was delivered to the Halder Company.

Also, the new Schwartz branch manager officially purchased all the treasures that had become the root cause of this incident through official procedures.

Six days later.

The new branch manager declared that he would use the purchased treasures for those who had suffered due to the “former” branch manager’s misconduct, and introduced many welfare systems.

Many adventurers who had left or were about to leave the Schwartz branch returned once again.

A week later.

The pinnacle of the Empire’s mages.

Algind Goodwitch, protégé of the Witch of the South, left the Empire’s capital.

And so, a great incident that would involve the entire Empire...

“Now that I’ve finished my business, I’m going to leave this place.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ protests that he hasn’t finished all the side quests yet!]

...did not begin.