"What?! A complaint from the Adventurers' Guild too?! They say the potions we supplied are completely useless and they're cutting off all future dealings?!"
Rest, the president of the Rest Trading Company, buried his head in his hands at his subordinate's report.
Just a few days ago, the gold coins and large gold coins locked away in the safe had mysteriously vanished, replaced with silver coins and copper coins.
The safe should have been accessible only to himself and those he trusted.
Shortly after that, customers started showing up demanding returns.
The magic tools they had purchased weren't working.
He naturally had them bring the items in for inspection — sure enough, they didn't work.
He handed over replacement products and sent them on their way, but the very same customer came back that same day to report that the replacement didn't work either.
In the end, he had to refund that customer, but similar cases started piling up and the money set aside for refunds dried up fast.
He couldn't touch the funds earmarked for the next procurement.
To make matters worse, he received a unilateral notice from the Adventurers' Guild that they were terminating their business relationship.
The potions they had delivered had been inspected and found to be nothing more than tinted water. When the guild checked every new batch the trading company had supplied, nearly all of them turned out to be the same.
Impossible. There was no way.
The Adventurers' Guild had scrambled to cobble together potions from other trading companies in a panic.
He had no choice but to go crawling to the viscount for help, but the guards told him flatly to sort it out himself.
After all the money he had funneled to the man over the years — this was exactly the kind of moment those connections were supposed to pay off. But a noble was a noble. Push back too hard and his head would end up on the chopping block.
That was when a strange boy walked into the room.
"Who are you?! What report do you have this time?!"
"No, I came to hear your side of the story."
"Hm? A child with a golden left eye… Alan?!"
"That's right. First, take a look at this."
The boy pulled a human head out of his magic bag.
"This is from the guy who came to kill me. He told me your trading company hired him to take my life and steal the Elixir, so I came to hear it straight from you."
"Someone! Guards! It's an intruder!"
"You're the one who's the crook. There's a commotion going on downstairs right now — nobody's coming. Now, here's my question. You pressured the Commercial Guild and who-knows-what-else to try and steal the Elixir from me, all because you couldn't get your hands on it? Over something as trivial as an Elixir?"
"The viscount desires the Elixir. Something like an Elixir may be beyond the understanding of a brat like you, but a medicine that can regenerate lost body parts is in extremely short supply right now."
"It's just an Elixir, isn't it? Your trading company only offered two silver coins for it. If you'd put forward a fair price, none of this would have happened. Well then, goodbye. My next stop is the lord of this domain."
"Wait, what are you—"
"My life was targeted. So I'm going to kill you for my own safety. Otherworlders are untrustworthy by nature. You put a price on my life, so you'd better be prepared to lose yours."
"Don't tell me this whole mess was also—"
"That's right. You tried to swindle an Elixir from a kid who doesn't know left from right. You people love money so much, so consider this payback. I've decided I'm done being pushed around."
"What on earth are you talking about…"
"You don't need to know."
And so the boy raised his sword and charged forward…
◇◇◇
Phew. It really does lead back to the lord in the end.
Just like the Commercial Guild master said — they're all in each other's pockets.
Maybe the guild was just groveling on its own, but either way, none of that had anything to do with me.
I left the trading company president — dead from countless stab wounds — where he lay and walked out of the Rest Trading Company headquarters, still in utter chaos.
My next destination was the Adventurers' Guild.
Why? Because I needed an identification card.
The Commercial Guild had made one for me before, but I'd had to return it, so I figured I'd get one made at the Adventurers' Guild instead.
The Adventurers' Guild on the west side of the City of Momentum had a real otherworld light-novel vibe to it — no Western-style doors, but once inside it was packed with all sorts of people.
I headed to the reception desk.
Oh — the receptionist was a beauty by local standards.
Good omen.
Time to register.