Just as I returned to the innâŚI was contacted by a slime.
âYuji!â
âWhat is it?â
âThe people at the guild are talking about something strange!â
âŚTalking about something strange?
As nothing suspicious had happened, no matter how long we waited, I had been ready to write them off as innocent⌠So, what could it be now?
I wondered this as I used Shared Senses to borrow the senses of the slimes.
And thenâŚI was able to listen to the conversations in the guild.
âŚAs the slimes were hidden under the floor, I couldnât see who it was, but it was the managerâs voice.
When I listened carefullyâŚI could make out another voice as well.
âThe plan is moving along quickly. Currently, nothing unexpected or irregular has happened.â
It was just as I had suspected.
So the guild was responsible for making it rain and angering the Fire Dragon.
âHow many candidates have you narrowed it down to?â
âRealistically, given the distance to the townâŚthere is only one.â
Candidate?
What were they talking about?
Was it the reason that the Fire Dragon vanished?
Did they know that it was me who killed the Fire Dragon?
âOnly one⌠Do you mean the Ordarion branch?â
âYes. They refused to submit their Rainmaking Device. The other branches were clean. Ordarion is the only candidate. âŚIt is not terribly surprising.â
ââŚAye. I knew that they would not cooperate.â
âŚIt didnât seem like they were searching for the reason for the Fire Dragonâs disappearance.
From what I could tellâŚthey were looking for a culprit.
Submitting the Rainmaking Device.
That probably meant they wanted to know if everyone still had theirs, or if there were traces of them having been usedâŚ
And all of the neighboring branches with the exception of Ordarion had come out clean.
In any case, it seemed that it was safe to say that the rain had not been the will of âGuild Headquarters.â
They wouldnât be looking for a culprit if they were the ones who had done it.
I was a little relieved to find out that the guild wasnât my enemy.
âSo, you believe that the Ordarion branch are responsible?â
âTo be honest, I have no idea. They told me that âthey have no obligation to cooperateâ and that headquarters must send out an official order if we want to see their Rainmaking Device.â
ââŚWell, they are always like that. As for having headquarters make the orderâŚthat would be difficult.â
Apparently, it was quite common for the Ordarion branch to be uncooperative.
This was getting pretty complicatedâŚ
âIt will be difficult to have them send out an order without a good reason to doubt the Ordarion branch. Things are already very complicated politically when it comes to them.â
âIf I go to headquarters directly and take the time to slowly persuade them⌠They might be convinced to send the order. However, I donât know if there is enough time.â
âYes. Even if it was them that used the Rainmaking Device, they would cover up the evidence with enough time.â
So they had a time limit to gather evidence.
This was a difficult problem.
âWeâll have to give up then. This isnât the first time the Ordarion branch hid information from us. So we canât be too suspicious that they did it this time.â
ââŚThere have been incidents in the past where the devices were taken out of the guild. Is it possible that one of those devices was used?â
âTo be honest, that seems like the most likely. ButâŚthere is no way to find information about devices that have gone missing. We should just end the investigation here.â
ââŚThatâs unfortunate.â
Apparently, the investigation was to end without ever being resolved.
In any case, it was worth sending the slimes here. Even if all I had learned was that the guild wasnât my enemy.
I could continue to accept quests here.
ButâŚthis Ordarion branchâŚbothered me.
It seemed like a very special place, so refusing to give information did not mean they were the culprits⌠But it still seemed quite possible that they were the cause of the Fire Dragon attack.
If there was something suspicious about the place, I should probably go look. That way, I could be an Adventurer without worrying.
It would be a lot better to have information beforehandâŚcompared to suddenly being attacked by a Fire Dragon, as I had been.
If it turned out that there was no problems with Ordarion, my life as an Adventurer would feel much safer.
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