I Became the Guardian of Big Shots in the Game

Early morning.
Levi was sitting on the mansion’s roof reading a report.
[Target processing complete. No risk of detection. Awaiting follow-up measures.]
To plant influence in northeast Etrion.
She helped the weakest and eliminated the strong.
“If they’re perceptive, they’ll quickly realize who helped them, right?”
She sincerely hoped so.
She detested having to personally visit to educate ungrateful beasts.
“I’ll keep watching the northeast region for a while longer.”
She bit her index finger.
After writing a simple directive in blood on the back of the report.
She put it back in the mana messenger ball and sent it off.
“This report is…”
One from the capital, Etre.
Levi snorted while reading the report.
[Left traces as instructed. They took the bait.]
“How adorably foolish.”
She engraved letters in blood on the back of this one too.
But it was more concise than the first report.
[All standby.]
It would be easy to wipe them out by unleashing the Special Forces.
But she thought of a better method.
“Gaining experience is important after all.”
Saying that.
Levi gazed at Ponya swinging her sword in the yard and.
Hwaryon watching Ponya’s swaying tail.
*
Kingdom of Etrion, Etre.
If you turn right at the Lace Tavern at 15 Gilbert Street.
A solid wall appears at the end of a gloomy alley.
Though it doesn’t look like a passage at all even upon close inspection.
About a dozen hooded men rushed there.
A passing drunkard giggled and asked a merchant.
“What’s there that people keep going in and out?”
“Mister, what did you see?”
“Hmm? You’re a young person but… Huh!? How can your eyes be worse than mine?”
The merchant asked again with a dark expression.
“Mister, I didn’t see anything.”
“Huh? What do you mea… Ack!”
Two large men surrounded the drunkard from behind.
“Let me ask again. What did you see?”
“N-Nothing! I didn’t see anything!”
The drunkard, now suddenly sober.
Begged while rubbing his hands together, but.
“‘Didn’t see’… That makes it sound like you saw and are lying.”
“N-No, I’m telling you…”
The merchant pushed aside the meat he was trimming.
He stabbed his knife into the chopping board and said.
“Boys, we have a guest. Take him inside.”
“Yes, boss.”
“P-Please spare… Mmph! Mmph!”
In the now quiet street.
Only the sounds of merchants clicking their tongues could be heard.
At the noise from behind.
Lauren, who had passed through the wall, muttered.
“It’s noisy outside.”
“Isn’t it obvious? Someone saw something they shouldn’t have.”
“Well, seeing is one thing, the gatekeeper would have let it slide. They only do that when someone is tactless enough to blab.”
That’s because.
This was the entrance to the Black Market that only authorized people could enter.
The dead-end alley was just under an illusion spell.
People can just pass through if they walk straight through.

So beyond the wall was an entry office.
“Please present your entry pass.”
“Have you filthy Scavenger bastards gone mad? Don’t you know our boss’s face?”
“Entry pass. Present.”
The man wearing dirty rags and bizarre goggles wiggled his fingers but.
Aimed a short crossbow at the group with his other hand.
“Non-compliance, shoot to kill.”
“You son of a…”
“Stop it, Jake. Rules are rules.”
Lauren obediently presented his entry pass.
Normally he would have drawn the sword on his back and half-destroyed the entry office.
But given how unsettled the underworld has been lately, he decided there was no need to create unnecessary trouble.
“Confirmed. Hehehe.”
A circular entrance that people could pass through opened in the barrier.
The stench, rotten smell, and drug odor wafting from inside.
“It’s been a while.”
“It’s an unsettling place no matter when you come.”
He agreed with his subordinate’s words.
A dark space where no sunlight enters at all.
He thought ‘No wonder the Scavenger bastards go crazy living in a place like this’.
At that moment.
A Scavenger popped out of a manhole in the floor.
“Welcome, Lauren-nim. Please follow me.”
Though he wasn’t too keen.
Since there was a reason he came to the Black Market.
“Alright.”
He followed the creature.
The deepest part of the Black Market.
When they arrived at the , the guide opened a thick iron door.
“You’re late, one-armed cripple. Did you just find your lost arm? Huh?”
The four people seated around the round table all started mocking at once.
“…Sorry I’m late.”
“If you’re sorry, I wish you’d hurry up. A noble’s time is more valuable than yours, you know.”
“He’s rea~~~lly an audience member with not even a speck of manners. There are always people like that. The shameless ones who demand ticket refunds after being late themselves!”
The five pillars of Etre’s underworld gathered in the meeting room.
“Now, now, Scavenger Captain, Baron Degron, Traveling Troupe Master. Please calm down a bit.”
A middle-aged man calmed the crowd with a benevolent smile.
A fat man wearing pure white priest robes.
Lauren roughly pulled out a chair to sit and spat on the floor.
“Tch, annoying priest bastard.”
“Hahaha, God would probably like to crush you to death with a mace too, Lauren.”
Regardless, Lauren arrogantly put his feet up on the table.
-Creak! Thud!
As the vault was locked from outside, Lauren opened his mouth.
“Shut up and get to the agenda. We’re not as free as you.”
“Well said, arm cripple! I need to go exercise too!”
“…What, did the Scavenger change heads again?”
“That’s right! The last guy had less muscle than me! So I replaced him!”
“The vulgar ones are noisy.”
“I understand you’re all excited to meet after a long time, but let’s start the meeting now.”
The head of the Secret Order.
Winston, the high-ranking priest of Etre’s parish, began explaining.
The recent power struggle between organizations to take over Serdin.
He first revealed that the Secret Order’s advance team was annihilated.
“I heard you all went through similar hardships, but let’s skip that. So the Order has given up on Serdin.”
At those words, the 4 bosses smirked.
It was a reaction that this was obviously a lie.
Winston expected that, so he added.
“Instead, we aimed to advance into the mines and great forests of northeast Etrion. We tried to make a profit by setting mineral prices a bit higher.”
“And?”
“To conclude, we failed. After the young lady of Count Sharian visited Serdin, our partners met their demise, and recently our members were killed without even being able to resist.”

“Puhahaha!!”
The Traveling Troupe Master laughed raucously.
“Pft! Puhaha! N-Now! Pft! What are you trying to do? Huh? Hahaha! What does you lot dying like dogs have to do with holding a pillar meeting? Huh?!”
“I agree with that opinion. Why are you reporting your losses to me? It’s a waste of time.”
“You’re in no position to call me crippled, you crippled priest bastard.”
“Oh, Lord. Please look upon these poor imbeciles!!!”
The Order leader prayed with an exaggerated expression, pointing at each of the four leaders.
“Be grateful for God’s great will to forgive and love even fools like you.”
“Cut the crap and get to the point. You think we came here to listen to your sermon?”
“The Serdin bastards destroyed our business sites in the northeast, and furthermore infiltrated our Order’s headquarters in Etre.”
“!”
It didn’t matter much that they destroyed external business sites.
That was the Order’s fault for taking the risk to advance.
But.
“What did that bastard do in Etre?”
“Raided the Order’s headquarters?”
If an enemy appears that could crack the underworld of Etre where the five pillars are intact.
They band together to face the threat anytime.
Because they had learned in the past that it’s cheaper than the chaos that would occur if one organization collapses.
“Are you sure?”
“We have evidence.”
At the Order leader’s gesture.
The priests standing by the wall brought a magic device.
“There was quite a bold intruder. The alarm magic recorded the bastard’s actions.”
Indeed, as he said, a man in black infiltrated the office.
Though his movements were very subtle and careful, he didn’t seem to have found the magic device.
The man searched through ledgers and various documents, then sent something using a mana messenger ball.
The sphere visible through the window flew precisely eastward.
“Towards Serdin.”
“I’m not convinced by just this.”
“That’s right. But I’m certain. Because God told me this is an opportunity!”
What does it matter if it’s not certain?
The justification was established, and an opportunity arose to divide equally without having to watch each other.
‘Anyone who hesitates here isn’t qualified to be a boss.’
Baron Degron stood up, laughing madly.
“Alright. Time is precious, so I’ll leave first.”
“As expected, the Baron is most wise.”
Next, the Traveling Troupe Master looked displeased, but.
“What’s the distribution ratio after the curtain falls?”
“Divided exactly into five. As always.”
“Understood. Please maintain manners on stage too.”
He soon accepted and left.
“What about the Scavenger side?”
“There’ll be a big fight?”
“Of course.”
“I’m in.”
Only Lauren was left.
“Let me ask one thing.”
“Yes.”
“The advance team was slaughtered in an instant without even being able to report. Moreover, I heard they built a tower of heads in the center of the market where many people pass by.”
The Order leader also knew this from reports he received.
The one who seized Serdin’s underworld is certainly no ordinary person.
“Are you perhaps scared?”
“Scared? Who are you mocking now? They’re certainly formidable, but how could we lose when the five pillars of the underworld are united?”
Lauren said as he unfolded his legs and stood up.
“The problem is what comes after. The implicit custom that ‘the underworld’s enemies are dealt with together’? That’s fine. However, the Inspection Bureau has been gearing up lately.”
The previous bureau chief who had fattened up on plenty of bribes was demoted.
The new chief is a mad dog who can’t be bribed.
Because of him, the underworld’s business sites are being raided.
Even the nobles who cover for them are under pressure.
The atmosphere in the underworld is not good in many ways these days.
“One misstep and the underworld collapses. Are you really confident enough to gather us?”
The Order leader answered with the same benevolent expression.
“Of course.”
The benevolent smile gradually changed.
It turned into a greedy, voracious grin.
As the Order leader was the quickest among the bosses at calculating gains and losses.
Lauren guessed the benefits would outweigh the risks.
“To bring down the common enemy of the underworld.”
“To bring down the common enemy of the underworld.”
While chanting the same slogan.
The leaders harbored completely different thoughts inside.
*
“You worked hard, Ethan-nim. You’re a bit late today?”
“It’ll probably be like this for a while. I might even have to stay at city hall all night…”
Ethan was miserable.
He tried to quickly process the work Ailey gave him using and leave work.
Ethan belatedly realized that was too naive a notion.
-You do work too well? Good, do this too.
That when you finish work quickly, new work is given.
He only realized it now.
Recently, Ailey mistakenly put documents that should be submitted to the mayor in Ethan’s pile.
Because they were processed so neatly, Ethan was being semi-forcibly dragged into Ailey’s overtime work.
‘Well, it’s good that the fluorescent root is strengthening that much, but.’
[The World Tree’s First Root strongly protests that it is not a fluorescent root.]
Still, he does have concerns.
That his work-life balance is collapsing too much.
“Isn’t it difficult?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. If I learn the hard way at first, it’ll get easier later.”
Levi muttered ‘Those city hall people are treating you unfairly. Should I sweep them away once?’
Fortunately, Ethan didn’t hear it, but.
“Anyway, I’ll be late tomorrow too.”
Just as he said.
Ethan came home late the next day, and the day after that too.
On the third day, he couldn’t come home at all.
Of all days, that was the day they were supposed to have a simple gathering with Sir Rashid, Yuria, and the servants to build friendships.
When the appointed time came.
The people gathered in the basement’s lounge found a note left by Ethan.
-I might be late or absent, so enjoy yourselves if that happens.
“That’s too bad.”
“Since it’s turned out like this, let’s have some time to talk among ourselves. It’s a place Ethan-nim kindly made for us after all.”
The tea party that started in the basement lounge in the evening.
Soon turned into a drinking party thanks to the basement’s wine and cheese.
And.
“Hehe.”
Levi, who received a report via mana messenger ball.
Lightly laughed while burning the note with a candle.
“How fast. They’ve already gathered.”
Fortunately, it was a day when He was away from home.
Levi was relieved that she didn’t have to cause unnecessary worry.
Malos revealed himself from the shadows.
“…Shall we intercept?”
“Filter out the chaff at the Special Forces level and let in the suitable ones.”
“Yes.”
In the corridor left alone after the Special Forces members disappeared.
Levi walked with clicking steps and sat on the windowsill.
“Now then. Shall we see the results?”
Levi was curious.
To see how well the children He chose would perform.