The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 9 - Chapter 437.6

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The Guild Master and the Traitor, Part 1

GUILD MASTER ULIGA’S PERSPECTIVE

“UHH, WAIT A MINUTE.”

I completely forgot. If Ilya looks in the cell, he’ll find Sol’s magic stones. Am I really that sleep-deprived? I need to pull myself together.

“Don’t come down yet—we don’t know what’s in here. You can talk from up where you are.” With a sigh of relief, Ilya backtracked up a couple of steps. I chuckled lightly at the sight of it, then walked closer to the stairs so I could get a better look at him. “What did you mean when you said Bishop Gupinus was creepy? What happened?” I looked behind me and saw that light was still spilling out of the cell. We had to clean up everything in here somehow, but I had a feeling Sol’s magic stone would make it all work out.

“Well, when I told him his accomplice activated a summoning circle in here, he laughed and said, ‘Soon I will be free.’ Then what happened afterward was, well…he was terrible.”

“In what way?”

“He just ran off at the mouth, sir… ‘Take off my slave bands. Do you know who the hell I am?’ and ‘If you let me go, I’ll take care of you.’ When I ignored him, he had a tantrum in his cell. He destroyed his bed, threw the fragments at me—it was horrible, sir.”

Ilya’s description of Gupinus’s behavior made my jaw drop. I had no idea things had gotten that bad. That wasn’t the way a man of faith should behave. Either he thought it was safe to drop the act, or maybe the summoning circle had affected him…

“The words coming out of his mouth—well, they were just strange. Then there was his expression…how should I put it…he was smiling, but it was the creepiest smile. The last time I saw him, he didn’t give off that impression at all.”

So his expressions changed, then.

“He probably used the summoning circle too much and went mad,” I said. Even assuming Gupinus had gone mad, his statement that “Soon I will be free” was concerning. That probably meant somebody would come rescue Gupinus if Salify activated the summoning circle carved on his body.

“Add more guards around Gupinus,” I told Ilya.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, sir. When he said, ‘Soon I will be free,’ I was so concerned that I doubled the guards around him.”

Ilya truly was an asset. He wasn’t cut out to be the guild master, though. Despite being a tough guy, he wasn’t any good in a fight…a shame, really.

“That’s my Ilya.”

Ilya beamed proudly at my praise.

Okay, Gupinus is contained for now… Then again, since we probably have a traitor among us, I can’t say he’s completely contained.

“Any progress on the traitor front?”

“As you said, Guild Master, I noticed a few people who were behaving strangely: three adventurer guild employees and four adventurers. But some of them were hard to read, probably because they were confused by the bishop’s arrest.”

Yeah, if you’re a devout churchgoer, your bishop getting arrested would be hard to believe. I only hope those people don’t lash out.

“And who were these hard-to-read people?”

“Two adventurer guild employees, sir. They were getting too close to the dungeon, so I gave them a warning.”

Two employees… Not as many as I thought there’d be.

“Got it. Thanks for the prompt investigation.”

“Of course, sir. I just love detective work.”

I know. He was the first guy who ever begged to be the dungeon master because it would give him “the fun of watching criminals all day.” He’s a great talent otherwise. Truly a shame.

“Guild Master?”

I turned around at the sound of Piarre’s voice and heard a scuffling on the stairs. I looked up to see that Ilya had retreated to the top step. Not that it mattered…

“What’s up?” I asked.

“The summoning circle stopped glowing, sir.”

So it’s done? I walked over to Salify’s cell and looked inside. Indeed, all signs of light had disappeared from the summoning circle, and the cell was dark again. Salify was sprawled on the floor, his body twitching and convulsing.

“I’ll just take a look at him, sir.” Piarre started to step inside the cell.

“No, I’ll—”

“Don’t, sir. If anything were to happen to you, the consequences would be much greater,” Piarre said curtly, slipping into the cell. Then he rolled Salify onto his back and checked his pulse. After examining his complexion and eyes, Piarre came out of the cell.

“How’s he looking?”

“Unconscious, sir. His eyes aren’t red and I don’t think his condition is critical, though his face is pretty pale.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Maybe the shock of activating the summoning circle had knocked him out, but we couldn’t be too sure of that yet. I should be able to talk to him once he’s woken up…but only if he hadn’t lost his mind.

“Ilya, go to Appas’s house and tell him the summoning circle is off now.”

“Yes, sir.”

I heard Ilya leave the stairway.

“I’ll just put him in bed, sir.” Piarre returned to the cell and moved Salify from the floor to the bed.

Oh, damn it. I found out how many possible traitors there are, but I didn’t get their names. Argh, what a stupid mistake to make.

“Should we station a new guard, sir?” Piarre walked out of the cell and locked the door.

“Good idea—but we’ll need a security team, not just a guard. Somebody may show up to take Salify away.”

Deciding it was best to leave the dungeon, we began to climb up the stairs leading to ground level.

“Is this the place? Guild Master, are you there?”

“Who is it?”

The voice sounded familiar, but it didn’t seem to belong here.

“Sorry. It’s me, Garitt.”

Ahh, Garitt. He’s on Zephyr, Zinal’s party.

“Something happen?” I asked. His voice had sounded a bit flustered. I gripped the stairway rail as I looked up. Garitt was standing on the top step, waving at us. When we got to the top of the stairs, I noticed something at his feet. I curiously approached it and realized it was human. A closer look at their upturned faces revealed two men who looked like a guild employee and an adventurer. As I gave the unconscious men a quizzical look, Garitt slipped me a tiny bottle of something. I hesitantly took it. “What’s this?”

“They were carrying a drug that causes instant paralysis. We usually use it when we’re ambushed by monsters more powerful than us.”

Did he take me for a fool? Of course I knew what it was, from the color of the substance. Monster-numbing drugs had a clear aqua color.

“Hey, don’t glare at me. These poor bastards were gonna throw it at whoever jumped out of there. They probably figured they couldn’t win if they attacked you fair and square.”

Hm? By “there,” did he mean the door at the top of the stairs to the dungeon? And by “whoever jumped out,” did he mean me and Piarre?

“Well, guess these are two of the traitors,” Garitt said.

“Yeah…” I sighed. I’d known they would come for me, just not this quick.

“Thanks for saving us.”

“No problem. The captain said you were in danger and asked me to check in on you. There’s still a lot of people under the spell here, aren’t there?” Garitt asked.

I nodded. There weren’t just a lot—most of the people here were still under the spell.

“We’re almost done at the village watch station, by the way.”

“Whoa, wasn’t that a bit fast?”

“They drew up another summoning circle and doubled the people operating them.”

“But that would put the people operating the summoning circles in a lot of danger.”

“Hm? Ohh, right, don’t worry. The ones breaking the spell asked for the second summoning circle.”

Piarre yelped in surprise from behind me when Garitt said that. I didn’t blame him. We were already running the summoning circle at a tremendous pace, and yet they were asking for more.

“How are they doing?” I asked.

“Fit as fiddles. Everyone’s delighted; they say the summoning circles are easy to operate and can be used plenty of times in a row.”

I gave Garitt a look—his explanation was quite strange. Then I sensed a presence nearby. I wasn’t sure if it was friend or foe. Well, since they’re hiding and spying on us, they must be one of the traitors. Piarre cautiously peeked out from behind me. He’d probably noticed our stealthy friend, too.

“Good. Glad to hear it. By the way, is the sun up yet?” I asked, making my voice louder.

“Yeah… Wanna go eat some breakfast?”

Garitt was clearly torn on what to say. I stole a glance at Piarre, who then masked his aura and crept toward the hidden presence.

“Good idea. Pfft…! Before that, I need to get some guards for Salify.”

Garitt glared back at me as I tried not to laugh. “That can wait until after breakfast. Come on, there aren’t any problems here anymore!”

Garitt…you don’t have to sound so angry. Our little spy friend will pick up on our charade.

“True, we did catch all the traitors, after all.”

Conk!

“Augh!”

I looked toward the noise to see Piarre pinning a man onto the floor of the hallway. When I saw who it was, I could feel my face twitch. “Wow. I didn’t think you’d be a traitor.”

“You know this guy?”

“Yeah… He’s an old friend.”