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The Disbandment of『Falcon Sword』
「This is not a blunder that can be overlooked, Master Elgart. Of course, I think you understand that even without someone like me telling you. I mean, you’re an active 1st tier adventurer after all」
The moment she heard the sarcastic and infuriating voice, Lidelle, who was standing behind Elgart, raised her eyebrows in anger.
She almost spoke out without thinking, but she remembered the other party’s status and stopped herself in time.
If Elgart is the guild master of the adventurers’ guild of Ishka branch, this other person would be the guild master of the Horus branch(Canaria’s royal capital).
Sergey Woolley. He is a capable young noble who got to the seat of guild master while still in his 20s.
It would be presumptuous of Lidelle to butt in a conversation between 2 guild masters. For that reason, she had no choice but to stay quiet.
Whether Sergey knows what she is thinking inside or not, he continued to say things that have a sting to them.
「You discarded an adventurer who could tame a dragon, making him go independent as a clan, and then several important clients of ours were even taken from us. Have you heard? That adventurer named Sora has developed friendly ties with the house of Dragunaut in the capital. And this is only a rumor, but I heard that the duke’s daughter, Lady Claudia, will be moving into his home in the near future. Naturally, that means we will have to take the possibility of them marrying in the future into consideration」
Claudia Dragunaut’s marriage with the crown prince was called off due to the curse, and her status within the noble society lowered incredibly.
That being said, it doesn’t change the fact that she’s still Duke Dragunaut’s daughter.
There are countless nobles who dream of marrying Claudia. Especially the low to mid-class nobles. Sergey himself knows that as he’s right in that bunch.
It was clear to him what the duke was trying to do by entrusting his daughter to a man who is single.
It’s either to take a better look at Sora’s character, or to take an independent dragon rider into his family.
Regardless of which it is, he has no doubt that the duke thinks highly of Sora.
「You have thrown away someone like that, Master Elgart. He’s a young man who would be very, very useful to the guild」
「I’m painfully aware that I’m responsible for it, Master Sergey」
「Of course you are. What’s important is how will you make up for your blunder? Sora won’t have any good feelings left about the adventurers’ guild after he was thrown out by you. In the worst-case scenario, we will turn the house of Dragunaut, the greatest noble family of our kingdom, into our enemy. It’s a blunder that really, really hurts. And now, we have the incident involving “Falcon Sword” this time」
This is probably the main topic Sergey wants to talk about, as a glint appeared in his eyes.
Elgart squinted his eyes slightly, and Lidelle pursed her lips.
『Falcon Sword』――An emerging party of young people that everyone who belongs to the adventurers’ guild of Ishka knows about.
Right now, rumors of that party disbanding are quietly going around between adventurers as if it will happen for sure.
「”Falcon Sword” failed the gryphon subjugation quest that came from Earl Elbe. Their leader retreated back to Ishka, and the Sauzar company’s daughter who remained on the mountain alone was rescued by Sora in the nick of time. I heard the leader of “Falcon Sword” begged Sora on the day he returned from the capital, and then Sora went to save her right away. That’s a praiseworthy act, don’t you think? Now then, what did you or the branch of Ishka do during that time, Master Elgart? Well, it’s fine even if you don’t tell me. Looking at the result, it was clear that you didn’t send a single rescue team out at all」
「――Please wait a second here! We had organized a rescue team!」
Lidelle suddenly interrupted the conversation without thinking, but Sergey did not scold her.
He simply shook his head left and right.
「Organized? That’s not right, miss Lidelle. You guys tried to organize one. Also, it was too late in the end, so it doesn’t cut it at all. It’s true that it wouldn’t be fair to compare normal adventurers to Sora who rides a dragon, but if you are going to say that, the branch of Ishka knew about the situation days before Sora did. You could have acted before him. Am I wrong?」
「That’s…!」
「Master Elgart. Chairman Sauzar was furious after he heard about what happened. That’s not surprising though, since you left his daughter to die. We have been receiving large amounts of donations from the Sauzar company so far, but that’s going to come to an end too. Oh right, I was at Earl Elbe’s place before I came here, and he wasn’t too pleased either, you know? Well, that’s only natural as well. The one who rescued the adventurer who was in trouble because she wanted to finish his request and the one who killed the gryphon was both Sora, who had nothing to do with the guild. He even mocked us saying things like “Ohh, the adventurer’s guild is quite an irresponsible and cold organization”」
After he said that, Sergey had a triumphant look in his eyes as he looked at Elgart.
「And I don’t know if you heard, but some of Falcon Sword’s members joined Sora’s clan―― “Blood Spraying Sword”, was it? This doesn’t just hurt us. This is a fatal blunder. I think you already know this but even the headquarters in the holy kingdom is looking at this incident as a problem. Master Elgart is one of the only three 1st tier adventurers in this kingdom. No matter how many adventurers look up to you, be ready for the inevitable penalty that’ll come from the incident this time. I want to cover for you as much as I can as well…but I can’t lie to the headquarters. Please don’t get your hopes up」
◆◆◆
「Lidelle, please don’t pout like that. You’re going to ruin your good looks, you know?」
「I’m not pouting, master!」
Lidelle instinctively raised her voice from Elgart’s teasing.
Sergey has already left, and the only ones remaining in the room are Elgart and Lidelle.
「But I have to say, Master Sergey’s manner of speaking was too rude. In the first place, this is not something he should come to you to talk about until the mess in the royal capital caused by the undead attack from before is cleaned up. He doesn’t know what’s important and what isn’t! 」
「Haha, if I had left the conversation to you, even Master Sergey would lose face. Well, I don’t deny that I was fed up with his crap as well」
Elgart smiled bitterly.
In contrast to Elgart who had made a name for himself as an adventurer, Sergey had no achievements as an adventurer.
Sergey’s abilities are demonstrated not in adventures, but on the negotiation tables.
His achievements in things like bargaining with nobles, negotiating with other organizations, and acquiring sponsors are unparalleled; that’s why he was selected to be Horus’s guild master despite his young age.
However, that is why he was ignorant of what it means to be an adventurer, making him not so popular in the field.
Sergey is also aware of that himself, so he did not hide his unfriendliness towards Elgart who is a renowned, currently active adventurer who is admired by other adventurers.
「That being said, most of what he said regarding Sora’s case was true. It can’t be helped that I would be viewed as the problem」
「The expulsion was legitimate according to the rules. He shouldn’t be blaming you for that!」
Even though Sora made a name for himself after, it doesn’t change the fact that he broke the rules, Lidelle thought.
However, people like Sergey who are trying to drag Elgart down won’t look at it like that. Rather, they would see it and then ignore it. That’s what makes her angry.
The incident regarding “Falcon Sword”  wasn’t Elgart’s fault either. They handled the service of the gryphon extermination quest properly, and the daughter of the Sauzar family――Miroslav, chose to remain on Mount Skim herself. Not only was it confirmed by their other party members who traveled together, Miroslav admitted it herself after she came back on a wyvern.
Despite all that, people won’t stop blaming Elgart. While Lidelle wanted to do something about it, she couldn’t do anything at all to this day.
Lidelle excused herself from Elgart’s room while keeping the frown on her face.
Because of that, her colleagues did not try to talk to her even after she returned to her post.
Normally, Parfait would say something like “Senpai, your face! You look scary!” to tease her, but right now that girl is lying on her own desk and she didn’t even realize that Lidelle returned.
Parfait, who is in charge of “Falcon Sword”, is one of the people who was completely affected by the impact of the commotion this time, so she was especially worn out, both mentally and physically.
After Lidelle returned to her desk, she looked back on the situation of 『Falcon Sword』 while she worked on her current tasks.
Miroslav had also left the guild and joined 『Blood Spraying Sword』, following Lunamaria’s footsteps.
Although Larz did not leave the guild, he told them “I’m going to go back to the basics and start over”, hinting that he’s going to take a break from being an adventurer.
She heard that he’s going to go back to his home village of Melte and spend some time off there for a while.
Parfait seemed quite persistent in persuading Larz to stay, but looking at the way she is acting right now, it was clear that she did not succeed in persuading him.
The only member left in 『Falcon Sword』 is Iria.
However, judging by how Iria normally acts, it’s unthinkable that she would part from Larz and continue being an adventurer.
――『Falcon Sword』 has practically disbanded.