Protagonist Knows Everything

After signing an exclusive contract with Kasha, Sain got quite busy. First, she officially informed the Guild association of our exclusive contract with an A-class adventurer. After that, she announced the details of the rumoured A-class on the bulletin board at the main gate of the guild.

A-class adventurer affiliated: Kasha Flame.

This was a natural course of action. If you make a new product ahead of its time, but don’t advertise, then it’s not gonna work. However, even after two weeks, the Hagnut Guild did not request a single A-class quest request.

“Was it all in vain?”

Kasha said while looking very disappointed and she touched the podium of her desk with her feet.

Sain, with a blank face, was not sure what to do.

“I’m sorry. Ms. Kasha. It seems that the highest rated quest requested of Hagnut Guild was a B Plus grade… seems like people are yet to trust us.”

Then Kasha replied, while correcting her slacked posture.

“You don’t have to apologize, all of this is because of that trollhead.”

That was another one of her original insults. I don’t know who he is, but the person must feel bad. Kasha shrugged that off.

“Besides, it seems like my efforts were in vain, it’s not that I want the money. But… I am aiming for an S-class quest.

“But you don’t have to worry about it. There’s someone else who should be doing that”, Kasha said that while glaring at me.

I wiped the slight smirk off my face and said, “And who’s that incompetent person?.”

“It was you!”

“I told you. When an A-class quest comes in, I will deliver it to you directly. I know where you live.”

That’s a service exclusive to A-class adventurers only.

I continued, “Those things aside, Why are you coming to the guild every morning? Was there such a clause in the exclusive contract?”

At my words, Kasha shrank and started mumbling like a preschooler who was just scolded.

“I…..I don’t have anything else……anything else to do.”

What? Did you get aphasia at such a young age?

She kept mumbling but then spoke up and said:

“Why? Do you have a problem with me? There was no article saying that I can’t come.”

“I didn’t say anything like that.”

“Hmph…”

“I am leaving then!”

“I envy the work life of an A-class adventurer who goes home whenever she pleases.

“You’re getting paid monthly, can’t you clean the guild for once? Or are you one of those people who don’t know how to do daily tasks?”

Kasha froze for a moment after hearing that. After some time she turned to me with a flustered face, then left the guild while deliberately thumping her feet.

However, the door flung open after 3 seconds.

“I will come back for lunch. Let’s eat together.”

Kasha didn’t even wait for an answer and left after saying that.

“Huh, seems like Mr. Tay has it hard.”

Sain covered her mouth and giggled.

I answered calmly, “I know. She’s a kid who goes out regularly but doesn’t have much to do.”

“……”

“Okay, I’ll update the terms of the contract, it would be better to change the contract. Like putting a clause stating that the guild can direct certain tasks.”

“I didn’t mean it that way.”

Sain’s face expression changed to that of genuine surprise. Why?

It is difficult to clean the whole guild, but it is more difficult to look at a child doing that. Even though she is paid, we don’t have the right to order her around. Watching children work was already hard enough for me in my previous life.

“How about giving her a B plus quest? At least she’ll have something to do.”

“The thing is…”, Sain let out a sigh full of exhaustion. “It breaks my heart to say this, but B plus quests are quite rare as well.”

“……”

“Even if they come in, you’ll have to accept it before the other B-class adventurers or else you’ll miss it.”

Well. That’s definitely a problem. However, it’s not a problem that can’t be solved. If customers don’t come to us first, then we’ll go outside. In other words, we’ll have to run sales.

“Where do the quest requests generally come from?”

“It varies. Village chiefs, merchants, travelers…”

“Who requested the highest rated quest so far?”

Sain, who is quite clever, seemed to recognize the intention of my question.

She replied with a thoughtful glance, “Of course, it is our very own viscount, who governs this Kelk estate. Specifically, the requests are put up by the butler.”

“Ms. Sain has met the butler, right?”

“Surely……”

“Can you please write a letter of introduction for me?”

“If the high quest doesn’t come in, you’ll have to go out and follow it.”

Sain’s eyes widened. None of the receptionists had ever thought of doing that.

She replied with a worried tone, “I hired Mr. Tay as a receptionist. You don’t have to go out of your way to do that.”

“It’s not like that. I’ll go there whenever I get some off-time”

In fact, it was to increase the personnel evaluation points. When Sain signed a contract with Kasha, I remember the ecstasy I felt when the points increased by 100 at once.

‘If I can lead the A-class quest, the points will increase a lot.’

Getting the promotion is essential, it will let me access more information. I can’t stand the fact that there is information out which I don’t know about.

I said calmly, “You don’t have to worry. I won’t do this every day.”

“……”

“But two weeks have passed since Kasha came in, but in that time Hagnut guild hasn’t received any requests.”

“Yes, that’s the case.”

“If only one completes the A-class quest, then it will be rumored. I won’t even have to go out then.”

Sain hesitated for a while and then gave in. After that she immediately started writing the letter.

While handing out the letter to me, she said, “Thank you very much and I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?”

“In the end, you’ll have to go out to look for quests due to my incompetence.”

Her hands were shaking. It seems that she had the illusion that her skills weren’t enough.

I laughed at the letter of introduction.

“The fact that the employee moves voluntarily means that Ms. Sain has led the guild well.”

With that Sain’s smile returned. “I look forward to working with Mr. Tay in the future as well.”

“Yeah.”

Seems like the thought of me leaving was weighing on her mind. While giving the letter of introduction, Sain said that meeting with the butler would be possible only after a week.

She said while giving me some money, “No matter how small the province is, nobles are nobles.”

If he was working as the nobleman’s butler, his head would be above the clouds. But I knew a shortcut. Of course, I have no intention of using the money. I even refused the purse of money Sain was handing to me.

Sain said as if she was trying to appease a child, “Mr. Tay. It’s not good for me to take care of things with money. Still, if you’re going to do it, you should be sure.”

“……”

“If you don’t give this, you won’t be able to meet him in a month, let alone a week. His head rose well above the clouds while working in a modest noble house.”

Sain laughed lightly, quickly regained her usual demeanor and looked around.

“Don’t worry no one saw you laughing.”

“That’s fortunate… thank you…”

“Anyway, the butler’s name is Zen, right?”

Sain nodded her head.

“Yes. Actually, no one from our guild has met him in person.”

That’s all I know.

That day, we ate lunch with Kasha, who actually came back to the guild. After eating, she noticed me heading in the opposite direction to the Hagnut Guild.

“I tell Sain everything.”

“Like what?.”

“I mean, you’re trying to play a joke now. That’s not the way to the Hagnut Guild.”

“I’m going out to get a rice bowl.”

Kasha looked confused. I changed the topic and asked another question.

“Are there any quest types that you are particularly reluctant to do?

“No…”

“Don’t lie. No matter how strong one becomes, there are always certain preferences.”

Kasha fidgeted a few more times and finally admitted honestly.

“Since I use fire magic… it’s good to have weak guys as enemies, so that I don’t have to use fatal spells.”

“Okay.”

“Do you understand? You speak as if you already knew that.”

“You’ve already signed a contract with the Hagnut Guild. I can’t disappoint you anymore.”

I said that inadvertently, but unexpectedly, Kasha replied seriously.

“You…..You didn’t do anything disappointing.”

“I haven’t given you any quests in these two weeks.”

“That’s true but… instead, the guild atmosphere is really good. I know just by looking at the faces of adventurers looking for the Hagnut Guild.”

“……”

“Everyone where I was before was shady, so there were a lot of behind-the-scenes talks and behind-the-scenes dealing of quests. I like the Hagnut guild because there doesn’t seem to be anything like that here.”

A broad smile came to her face while saying all that. Good thing that she could still smile like that after her betrayal. Children should keep smiling.

“Well, isn’t it good that you joined our guild?”

However, I knew it looked that way because there weren’t that many high class adventurers in our guild. Of course, I don’t need to say this to Kasha right now.

I turned and said, “Just you wait, I’ll make the guild even better.”

“I’ll wait.”

After splitting up with Kasha, I headed to the fruit shop. There is no cafeteria in the Hagnut Guild, but there is still a small lounge that Sain created. Fruits bought from this fruit shop every morning are on display at the corner of the lounge. Mostly it was mostly Limer, but sometimes I bought fruits on my way to work.

Of course this shop is quite famous. The owners of this shop are famous for their healthy relationship. And for having a welcoming attitude…

“Oh. Mr. Tay. What are you doing here at this time?”

The store hostess was registered in my personnel register.

[Name: Stella Chase]

[Gender: Female]

[Age: 35]

[Occupation: Hostess]

[Family Relations: Wood Chase (husband),Dane Chase (son)……]

“It’s my offtime.”

I replied so and kept looking through the personnel records.

[Human relations: Zen Mecal (lover)……]

So she’s still having an affair.

It was something I knew from the personnel record for a long time, but at that time, I didn’t know who Zen was, so I wasn’t very interested.

However, the moment Sain learned that the butler of the Kelk Territory VIscount was Zen, it turned into useful information.

“You’re pretty close to our guild manager, right?”

“Of course. I’ve been a regular for several years already. I’m always grateful.”

“Ms. Stella has a good reputation in the Hagnut Guild. You prepare high quality fruits every morning.”

Those words seem to make her feel better. She opened her mouth to promote her store as always.

“My husband runs an orchard. The fruits come from there every morning.”

“Hmm.”

“No matter where you go in the Kelk city, you won’t see fruits as fresh as our store.”

“I See. Your husband must have a lot of trouble. Orchard work wouldn’t be easy.”

Stella nodded.

“Would you like to hand over these fruits to Mr. Zen for free?”

She was cheating on her husband, but she was pretty clumsy with her acting. She was already turning pale.

She opened her mouth, pretending to be somehow calm with her trembling voice.

“Zen? who is Mr. Zen?”

“Your lover.”

“What! How do you know that?”

“Stella. Did I say you have a good reputation in the Hagnut Guild?”

I walked up to her and whispered, “Don’t you wanna keep it?”

“If you want me to keep this a secret then do me a favor. Please deliver this one to Mr. Zen. Then your hard earned reputation will be maintained.”

I handed out the letter of introduction written by Sain. There are two sheets of paper in the envelope. One that Sain wrote, and one that I wrote without Sain’s knowledge. Of course, on the paper I wrote, about their affair and the position they were in. Stella struggled to accept the letter.

After I finished my business, I said in a soft voice, “This apple is really fresh.”

“……”

“I’ll take three.”

And the next day, as soon as I went to work in the morning, Zen sent a carriage to the Hagnut Guild. The coachman informed me that Mr. Zen wanted to meet as soon as possible. The other receptionists had a weird expression, but Sain’s was ridiculous.

“What the hell. How did it come in a single day… the letter takes more time than this to get delivered.”

“I know, right. I’ll go ask him directly.”

“……”

“Then, I’ll take my leave.”

I put the apples I bought yesterday in a basket and boarded the carriage. An hour later I sat in Viscount’s butler’s room.

‘He must be quite anxious, but making me wait is a poor choice.’

But it’s a pointless struggle when you think about sending a carriage yourself after a day. After a bit more time the door of the butler’s room opened.

Zen Mecal. The man serving as the butler for the viscount. Even Sain never met Zen in person. All she did was receive quest requests with Zen’s signature on them. In other words, I was the first person to meet this precious money line in the Hagnut Guild.

Zen sat in the chair opposite me and started speaking, “You said you wanted to see me?”

He was a pale old gentleman, but his eyes were pretty sharp. Thinking about having a married woman as a lover at that age. People really shouldn’t be judged by their appearance.

“Yes. Good morning. I am Talor Mason from the Hagnut guild.”

“I don’t need your name, just get to the point.”

He speaks as if he’s a noble himself. He’s going to be keeping his attitude intact? Knowing that I know his wife, He should be under quite a lot of pressure.

But I didn’t intend to let go of that leverage just yet. I am going to use this situation to my advantage for as long as possible

I took an apple out of the basket I brought in the morning and handed it over. Of course, it was an apple from a store Stella worked in.

Now let’s begin our conversation.

“Recently, I bought an amazing apple.”