Protagonist Knows Everything

The first working day after the relocation, I woke up early.

My new comfortable house… I was a bit far from the workplace. Which annoyed me a bit. But I couldn’t do anything about it so I didn’t think much about it.

When I reached the new building, I saw Sain staring blankly at the new entrance.

“Sain. What are you doing?”

“Ah. Mr. Tay. Did you sleep well last night?”

I replied, while stroking the back of my head.

“Thanks. It’s the first time my bed was this soft.”

“It feels really good to wrap up your day and just fall on it.”

She asked, while looking into my eyes.

“But, why did you come here so early?”

“I came just on time.”

Then Sain opened her mouth slightly, it seemed that she was surprised a bit.

“Is that so? It’s already that time?”

“You must’ve been staring at the entrance for quite some time then.”

“Yeah.”

She turned her gaze from me and looked up at the building. To be precise, she looked up to our guild’s new sign.

“Hagnut Guild.”

Written beautifully in bold but elegant lettering, making it quite appealing. It suited our guild’s new found reputation.

“How amazing.”

I knew what she meant, but asked anyway.

“What?”

“To think that our small guild has grown this much.”

“……”

“I came here many times during the renovation, I didn’t feel a thing. Even when I fell asleep last night and after waking up this morning, I didn’t feel like much.”

She was speaking in a hazy tone.

“But when I stood in front of the building this morning, it caught up to me.”

“Sain.”

“Then, I suddenly I felt a bit stupid…ugh . No. It’s nothing.”

She turned around and rubbed her teary eyes with the back of her hand.  It’d be better if I pretended not seeing her like that.

“So, Shall we go in then?” 

“Yeah. We have a tough day ahead of us.”

That was the right answer.

We smiled at each other and approached the door. Sain first reached out to a fairly large door.

At that time, a familiar voice called out to us from behind

“Tay! Mr. Sain.”

It was Kasha along with Elena.

Kasha came to the guild early due to Elena. She slapped my back and asked.

“Hey. Did you sleep well last night? Tay.”

I replied with a bright smile.

“Yeah. That was a really soft bed.”

“Of course. I chose it after all. Did you like it?”

“No way… Thank you.” I replied wearing the widest and grateful looking smile I could manage.

“Uck..!”

Kasha made a weird sound and swiftly turned around. Her ears were red from embarrassment.

I chose the expression most suited for this situation. So I didn’t understand why she was embarrassed. Was it me?

Then she looked up at the building, bending her neck. Due to her being so short I almost thought that her neck would break from bending that much.

“Anyway, this is our home now.”

“No. Not really.”

“Don’t ruin the mood Tay.” She hissed.

“It’s just common sense. This is not a home, but a workplace.”

Even after my remarks, she was happy, so happy that her eyes lit up while looking at the new building.  She looked just as happy as Sain.  Like an exemplary employee who becomes happy with the advancement of the company.

***

A few days passed after I started working in the new building.

The guild’s physical size almost quadrupled…but it didn’t feel like that at all.  Adventurers came flowing into the new building like a wave.  The guild was always crowded, I could barely move through the crowd.

‘I don’t know how the previous building accomodated this many people.’

It was really a mystery.

“Ms. Sain. You got a letter.”

Elena, who was working on the mail along with Limer handed out a letter to Sain.

“Ah. Thank you.”

“Huh?”

Sain asked, while turning the envelope back and forth.

“The sender is not mentioned.”

“Yes. I asked about it, but the delivery man didn’t know anything.”

“How fascinating. It’s been quite a while since something like this… Oh.”

She muttered as her face contorted into an amalgamation of happiness, fear and then a bit of anxiety.

Then she suddenly jumped out of her seat and said.

“Mr. Tay. Could you please take over this seat?”

My boss cared about her appearance and etiquette around the rest of the workers. The exceptions being Kasha, Elena and myself of course.  So her words somewhat surprised me.

I was a little puzzled, but for now, I nodded.

“Something urgent?”

“Ah, something like that.”

Sain just looked around and then went into her room in a hurry.

This time she even built a guild master (leader) room that did not exist in the previous building.

Elena whispered to me, tilting her head.

“Ms. Sain, why did she look so…scared?”

Elena was worried, I was as well, but I replied without showing it.

“Nothing much, she’ll be fine.”

“Hmm, If Mr. Tay says so. What… I had a question, why does Mr. Tay continue to talk to me so formally? You talk quite comfortably with my sister.”

“Because I’m a person who changes their way of talking depending on the other person.”

She was asking why I talked so casually with Kasha, but I didn’t have the answer to that myself.

“Huh. I envy noona.”

“Eh?”

“Then I’ll go to my seat. My sister went to bed late yesterday, so she is still dreaming. I think she will be up by afternoon.”

Elena returned to her seat after telling me about Kasha’s current situation, which I never asked for.

After being left alone, I stared at the guild master’s office.

“….”

“Human Resources.”

I checked Sain’s information.

[Currently: Reading a letter written by Notel Rhime.]

“……”

That name came out once again.

It was a letter from her father.

I was curious about his identity, but that wasn’t something I could uncover right away, so I just let it go.

The next thing I was concerned about was the letter that made Sain go to her room. What was in that letter that she’d need to read under absolute secrecy.

‘What is written in it?’

At that moment, the records were updated that made me impulsively scroll up.

This time, it was the personnel records of Wyvern’s guild master, Sain’s half brother, Von Lebeck.

[An hour ago: Read a letter written by Notel Rhime.]

[30 minutes ago: Discussion with Dirk Perchen. Brutalizing him badly.]

[20 minutes ago: Dismissed Dirk from his post.]

Huh?

Dirk is out?

Hmmm… I wonder what happened.

Tada.

“I went to the Hagnut Guild building. It was beautiful.”

Tada.

“The butler Zen was kicked out? You couldn’t stop it?”

[Thwack]

Von kicked Dirk to the floor. Looking down on him with cold eyes he said.

“What were you doing last year?! How did the Hagnut Guild beat us so easily?!”

“……”

“As for the bet, we were winning. You were the one who provoked them.”

Dirk would have wanted to protest like that.

“You are the one who provoked Taylor Mason.”

Even though those claims were true, in front of Von they wouldn’t help much.

Von looked at Dirk with an icy cold glare and said.

“I can’t leave it to you anymore.”

Dirk’s cheeks were swollen from all the ‘punishment’ that Von delivered.  Dirk’s feelings were that of relief.  Relief that he could take his hands off from the guild’s dirty work.

“Then the guild operation is…”

“Make someone else the leader and it’s done.”

“……”

“If the Hagnut Guild is taken care of then we’ll become the top guild in Kelk again. I don’t need your help for that. I’ve done it once. I’ll do it once again.”

Dirk laughed bitterly. Only to receive a kick to the face from Von who didn’t like his reaction.

“I will take care of my skin. Needless to say, now you’re dismissed, don’t even think about revealing the guild’s past operations in public.”

“You know what’ll happen. You know it better than anyone else.”

“Yeah. Don’t worry.”

“Now off you go”

Dirk nodded and started to walk away.

But before leaving the guild master’s office, he asked Von.

“That letter. Is it from Nortel?”

“……”

“That guy didn’t even bother mentioning himself.”

Von didn’t answer, and Dirk himself added a word, even though it was quite absurd.

“As you know, the condition of the bet is not to touch each other’s guild members. Keep that in mind.”

“Dirk. You are a loyal one, I’ll give you that.”

“……”

“To give such advice to the guy who just dismissed you. Had you been a little more competent then I would’ve kept you beside me.”

Dirk was never incompetent. Even he knew it.  In this case, the opponent was just too competent.

“I know about the conditions.”

“Guild master.”

“But just when the Wyvern guild was at its weakest, that guy sends a letter mentioning that he’ll visit us shortly.”

“……”

“If this goes on like this and I lose the bet, then there will be big trouble.”

Dirk said nothing more and just left.

***

A few days after that I was in work, looking at the records.  Recently, I have been paying attention to the Wyvern Guild.  

Originally, my primary goal was Dirk Perchen’s loyalty.  The executive of our competitor was unjustly sacked. So it provided me with a good opportunity to recruit him.  Moreover, it goes without saying that the sacked executive knows the core skills and secrets of our competitor.

If I could pull him into the Hagnut Guild, then I’d might even be able to disband the Wyvern Guild making sure that it doesn’t get in our way.

However, no matter where I looked in Dirk’s personnel records, I couldn’t find any information to contact him.

‘The recent history was empty.’

In this category, where only 24 hours of activity are recorded, only information that is helpful to me is registered.

It resembled my file entry from my previous life.

If Dirk was stuck in his house or a bar looking at others then there was no way for the records to get updated.

‘Once again I have to give up on meeting him.’

It wasn’t productive to hold on to things that you couldn’t change.

Next, I looked at Dirk’s concerns.

[Concerns: Worried that Von Lebeck will cross the line.]

‘Cross the line?’

If I was in Von’s position then I too would make a gamble, considering that he’ll lose anyway that’d be better than doing nothing.

‘More than that. You are really loyal.’

Next, I went over to Von Lebeck’s Personnel Records.

‘Let’s see. What line do you want to cross?’

[1 hour ago: Broke the stone of Secreed.]

‘Stone of Secreed?’

‘What is that?’

Then I heard Sein’s voice.

“Haaaaaaa…..”

No. To be precise, I heard a sigh, an exhausted prolonged sigh.

I peeked into her office.  Her eyes are red like a rabbit and dark circles under her eyes.  

That’s the look she was brandishing for the past few days.

‘She’s been like that since the day she received that letter.’

I wanted to leave her alone, but it seems that it was time for me to get involved.

‘Health care is also part of my job.’

“You must be very tired. Sain.”

Sain, who was holding back her yawn, replied while flinching a bit.

“Yeah? Ugh, No.”

“Don’t you sleep at night?”

“I have had mild insomnia for the past few days.”

“Insomnia is when you want to sleep, but you cannot sleep. Are you overworking?”

Then, embarrassment adorned her face.

I kept speaking in a plain tone.

“I am well aware of the fact that you are holding your books and administrative documents each time you leave your office.”

“……”

“It seemed like you were looking for something wrong.”

I thought it was going to be any tax audit.

She still couldn’t open her mouth. She wasn’t going to answer so I took the initiative.

“Is someone important coming for a visit?”

‘For example, someone like the founder?’