/
Chapter 20 – Information gathering and the Guild Master
The next day Luce and I headed for the innermost parts of the adventurer’s guild, where the Guild Master’s office was located.
I had something I really wanted to confirm in regards to the Raid Quest issued by Marquee Harden.
The adventurer’s guild will serve as the cornerstone for the countermeasures against the conspiracy making use of those Mourning Trapezohedrons.
Guild Master Hallein should be the one most informed about it.
“Uhm, well
.Hallein-sama indeed said that you could come to see her anytime you wish, but
.. we didn’t really think that you would do that.”
Maltida, the receptionist girl that led us here, stopped in front of the office door, turned around to see us, and let out a sigh.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I just had some trouble making up my mind, so I’m cutting it closer than I should’ve. I wanted to call ahead, but I don’t think there is too much time left.”
The Raid Quest might even be announced today.
I wanted to discuss some things before that if possible.
“Weell, I think it will be fine if it’s you two, but
..I will ask to make sure.”
Maltida then knocked on the door.
“Hallein-sama, it’s Maltida.”
“What is it? Come in.”
Hallein’s voice came back.
Maltida entered the office by herself.
“There are two adventurers here saying that they want to talk to you right now
.”
“Right now, you say? How rude of them
. If I try to meet every single adventurer that wants to meet me then there will be no end to them. Why did you even bring them this far?”
“Ah, n-no, but, well
..”
“I’m swamped with paperwork right now thanks to those incidents. If I was free I may have met them anyway, but there will be a meeting after this with a high ranking merchant, then another one with someone from the Howlod main family regarding the upcoming Raid Quest. Truthfully, I’m wasting precious time even talking to you right now. If I had ten minutes right now, I would try to use it to take a nap instead. Please use your own judgment to deal with something like this.”
“I-I’m sorry
..”
Maltida’s voice became smaller and smaller.
“Hmm
..it sounds like a bust.”
Luce muttered under her breath.
“Well, we really did come here out of the blue
. Since what I wanted to talk about is about those incidents, we can’t even ask someone to pass a message to her, so I guess we have no choice but to come back another day.”
It would’ve been better to do this as soon as possible, that’s for sure, but it looks like Hallein is also busy working on something related to those incidents as well.
The door opened up again, though barely half-way this time.
Maltida had an apologetic expression on her face.
“I’m sorry, Elma-san. It seems she is too busy right now
.”
Maltida told me reluctantly.
Right at that moment, the sound of a chair being toppling over could be heard from behind her.
“Hallein-sama!?”
Maltida turned back to the office in a hurry.
Shoving aside the girl, Hallein showed up in the door.
“Ooh, so it was Elma-dono and Luce-dono! 
.Maltida, say that sooner!”
After smiling at us, Hallein turned to glare at Maltida with narrowed eyes.
“I-I’m sorry, Hallein-sama.”

.what the heck is up with her.
She’s supposed to be this capable woman, but somehow she always gives off an impression of being scatterbrained.
“Here here, please come in. Did you come here to perhaps accept the job as staff members here in the La Colina adventurer’s guild branch?”
“Uhm, no. We aren’t here for that
.”
“I see
.”
Hallein’s shoulders dropped, leaving her with an utterly dejected expression.
“Khm
.I’ve heard that you managed to save the Howlod main family’s Snow-ojousama in a Dungeon. I give you my thanks for it as well. Who could’ve predicted that you two would be able to perform such a meritorious deed not long after the incident at the Graveyard of Sorrows.”
Hallein said as she returned back to her desk.
“
..are you aware of what Marquee Harden asked of us?”
“Mhh
.”
Hallein stopped on a dime.
“Maltida, please step outside.”
“Eh
..? Ah, I understand.”
Maltida bowed towards us, then left the office.
It seems Hallein was able to guess what I wanted to talk about just from that.
“
..I see, so you want to talk about that one. I’ve heard about it from a messenger. That Harden-sama asked you to ‘discover the traitor participating in the Raid Quest’.”
“I don’t know if I can indeed accomplish that one though
.”
Obviously, a task like looking for an inside man is better done by someone close to the Marquee family.
He must’ve wanted to have someone from purely the adventurer side do the same as well, but if so, he should’ve had plenty of others, more qualified in terms of both strength and trustworthiness than us, to do this for him
..
Or perhaps he put his faith in me because I’m obviously of noble descent
.or who knows what that Marquee Harden could be thinking at any time.
“It’s already became a rumor within the Guild, but recruiting for the Raid Quest to clear the Dungeon by the name of ‘Sunken Utopia’ is scheduled for tomorrow morning ”
“Sunken Utopia
.”
It’s quite a high level Dungeon.
This will most likely turn into a difficult battle.
“Same as with the Graveyard of Sorrows, an irregular spawn of monsters could be observed within, and those crystals
.those Mourning Trapezohedrons were found as well.”
Trying to mess around in that one by planting a bunch of Mourning Trapezohedrons or triggering a Wandering Lord should be simply too risky, even for our opponents
..
“Utopia
..? Is that really a Dungeon?”
Luce asked, sounding dubious.
I nodded.
“Anything goes for a Dungeon, really. It’s because they are simply the dreams of Alzaroth in the end. Even in the Phantasmal Beast Tower you saw that fake but enormous sky, right?”
“Now that you mention it
.”
That being said, if you think about it, then this world was also created by the God of Creation, Alzaroth, so this world and the Dungeons are very much similar.
“However, that Dungeon is a problematic one. With a Monster Calamity happening in that one, we can’t let in adventurers below a certain level threshold.”
Even without anything out of the ordinary happening at all, taking down the Dream Lord of that Dungeon is not an easy feat.
If they can cause an Evolution once again, then La Colina would definitely get caught up in this incident.
“But, what is that you wanted to talk about regarding this topic?”
“The Guild investigated the identity of who could’ve triggered the Wandering Lord in the Graveyard of Sorrows, right?”
“Indeed. However, when the Wandering Lord was set off, there was no adventurer that was acting alone. Nor was there anyone who managed to escape from the Dungeon during that time either. It’s either that there was more than one traitor and they coordinated their story, or the one who triggered the Wandering Lord lost their life in the process.”
“I would like to see the report of that investigation.”
“You want the record? I also looked through that one, but I couldn’t find anything suspicious. I haven’t really seen an instance of known suspicious people teaming up and acting together either
. A group of four signing up is rare to begin with, but then the parties were decided by the Guild itself, so it’s kind of unlikely that they would end up colluding just like that
.”
“It’s just to make sure. When delving into a Dungeon, people normally have their hands full dealing with the monsters, so they might not remember every little detail. It’s possible there could be a hole in their story by honest mistake or from simply misremembering something. There is also the possibility that some of them ended up lying, but not out of malicious intent.”
“I-I see
..mhmm
..I understand
..?”
Hallein furrowed her brows and covered her mouth with a hand in contemplation.
“It looks like you don’t quite get what I’m talking about, but
.”
“Well, I don’t think that reading it will be any help, but
.Oh, yeah, I should show you two the roster for the last Raid Quest as well. If someone signs up for this one right after the other Raid Quest, then that by itself will be suspicious. I can give you that list under my own authority, but please don’t talk about it to others, not even the fact that I gave it to you.”