Chapter 256:
Different Positions
“My deepest apologies,” said Priya, the adventurer guild master, as he bowed deeply to me and Druid. I was satisfied with the apology, but Rose sneered at Priya, looking very menacing indeed.
“Um, Rose, don’t you think we can let this go now?” Druid gently asked her. He probably thought it was a lost cause, but I admired his courage. I wouldn’t have been able to say anything to Rose at all.
“Criminy… Druid, you and Ivy are way too forgiving.”
Er, but anybody would be confused if one problem after another kept popping up when things were already so crazy. Especially when
the merchant guild master was suspected of committing a crime when Hatow was already busy preparing for a harsh winter as quickly as possible.
“Everything’s okay now. Apology accepted, so please stand up.”
“Thank you very much.”
Priya was worried about our meeting here today, and he had found a window in his busy scheduled to reread the documents about the criminal organization. When he saw my name right there on the list of persons of merit in the incident, he hurried over to tell Tableau, but he was a little too late. Soon after Priya arrived, Vice-Captain Pith of the village watch arrived to fetch Captain Tableau back since he had been gone longer than expected. When he saw the state the shop was in, he asked Captain Tableau for an explanation. And now the captain was a few meters away from us, receiving quite an earful from Vice-Captain Pith.
Apparently, both Captain Tableau and Priya were new to their positions. Both of them were skilled enough as fighters and leaders, but Pith told us that they still needed some training before they could be considered first-class. Pith seemed to be a sort of watchdog who helped guide people to greatness. The only problem was that the weather had suddenly turned cold right when Hatow was already facing all sorts of problems, so he’d been out in the forest checking for anomalies instead of manning his post. Captain Tableau and Vice-Captain Pith had simply fallen on a string of bad luck—that’s all you could say about it.
I glanced around the room looking for my creatures as I hadn’t seen them for a while. I’d panicked a little when Priya stormed into the shop, but they had already hidden themselves by then. They were good hiders…too good, in fact. Druid calmly looked around for them, but he didn’t seem to have any better luck than I did.
“Good grief.” The scolding finally over, Vice-Captain Pith walked over and sat in the chair Captain Tableau had been using.
“Sorry about that, hon. Have some tea.” Rose was in good form. This kind of thing probably happened a lot.
“What’s this?” Pith froze when he saw the bag of red magic stones we gave to Captain Tableau.
Everyone seemed to react the same way. Were they really that rare? Oh, that’s right, I put the really high-level magic stone that Flame regenerated a little while ago in there. That definitely would give anybody a shock.
“Um, so these are…”
“The magic stones they sold us.”
“No…no, no, no, that can’t be right. You’re mistaken, aren’t you?” Vice-Captain Pith vehemently insisted.
“No, these really are the magic stones we sold him.”
Pith wouldn’t believe us. Meanwhile, Priya was staring at the magic stones in silence.
“Captain! Didn’t I say you had to explain how selling works to them?!”
“Yes, well, I did explain to them…didn’t I? Wait, did I?”
He hadn’t explained it, but Druid had already gone over the basics with me, so I didn’t think there were any problems.
“It’s quite all right. I know how it works,” Druid smiled awkwardly, jumping to Tableau’s defense.
“That’s nice and all, but this is far from the first time he’s forgotten to do that.” With a heavy sigh, Pith took a sip of tea. Both Tableau’s and Priya’s eyes were shifting wildly.
“But are you sure you’re all right with selling these magic stones to us?” Pith continued. “They’re quite high-level.”
“Of course. Magic stones are only valuable if you use them.”
“Might I ask where you found them?” Pith said.
“We settled that with Tableau,” Rose answered gruffly. “Sorry, but we’re not telling anyone else besides the captain.”
Pith looked at Rose, Tableau, Druid, and me in turn. Finally, he nodded. “Very well. If the captain has concluded that there are no problems, then that’s good enough for me. But we really just can’t accept this one.”
He removed the clearest magic stone from the bag and gave it back to Druid. That was a shame, but it was nice to hear Pith speaking so calmly.
“Guild Master Priya told me most of the details, but about how much progress have you made in your investigation of Guild Master Hisaza?”
Guild Master Hisaza? Was that the head of the merchant guild?
“This is my store, not your office,” Rose cut in. “Don’tcha dare get Ivy and Druid caught up in somethin’ dangerous.”
“Oh…so you’re on to us?” Vice-Captain Pith asked.
Get us caught up in what?
“Of course I’m on to ya. Now get your asses outta here.” Rose pointed outside. With a shrug of resignation, Pith left the shop with Priya and Tableau. Since they took the magic stones with them, I hoped they would serve somebody well.
“Thank you for that,” Druid said to Rose.
I gave Druid a questioning look.
“Ya gotta keep your wits about ya when that damn Pith is around. When he saw your name on the list of persons of merit, he probably wanted to rope ya guys into helping them fix their problems. Criminy.”
Person of merit…that’s me, right? And they wanted my help?
“But I couldn’t possibly do that. It was just a fluke when I helped take down that criminal organization.”
“Was it really just a fluke, hon?” Rose stared into my eyes.
My heart raced a little as I nodded.
“Pu! Pu, puuu.”
“Ack!” I jumped, looking frantically around the floor for Sora. I spotted it at my feet, doing its stretching exercises.
“Oh, thank goodness! Sorry I couldn’t take care of you. Those guys came in when I didn’t expect it.”
Mrrrow.
“Teryuuu.”
Ciel leapt onto the table from behind me, and Flame oozed out of an item on a shelf a few meters away. It was a relief to see them all.
“Sorry, everyone. I forgot to lock up the shop,” Rose said, scurrying away to lock the door.
“It’s okay. I forgot, too,” Druid said.
“Sorry about my son, though.”
“He couldn’t help it. He’s overwhelmed with all the emergencies that are going on.”
The captain of the watch seemed to wear many hats. Then again, the same could be said of the guild master.
“But emergencies are when ya really can’t afford to mess up.” There was a lonely look in Rose’s eyes.
“So, um, what kind of person is Priya?”
At first, I’d gotten the impression Rose disliked him, but I was starting to think I was wrong.
“He’s a good kid, and I mean it. He cares for his friends a great deal.”
So Rose did like Priya. Then why did she act that way around him?
“But being a good guild master doesn’t mean always caring about people,” Druid said.
Rose nodded sincerely. “Exactly. He still doesn’t get that.”
Oh, now I see! The guild master is in a position where he has to make tough choices… Sometimes he has to choose to save the town even if that means his friends will die. I thought back to the guild master of Oll. He’d shown his strong commitment to protecting the town, and his adventurers answered by pledging their lives to serve him. Nobody died because Ciel was there, but he told me that there would have been many casualties if Ciel hadn’t rescued them.
“Besides, I’m worried about him and Tableau. I’m glad they’ve helped each other out for so long, but they don’t get
that they’re in different places now. Tableau is the head of the watch, Priya is the head of the adventurer guild. End of the day, they gotta make different judgment calls sometimes. And I’m worried that when the time comes to make tough decisions, their friendship is gonna blind them from knowin’ what to do.”
Different places… That sure sounded complicated.
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