Chapter 100 - Conquerors (3)

Bang—clatter—! 

Thud!

The sound of shoes pounding on the floor broke the peace of the Conquerors Guild.

"Ah... those two again."

"Margie, Angie, you'll get hurt if you fall while running!"

"Leave them. The floor will get hurt before they do. They're Explorers too, they'll manage something before falling."

"But those guests who came earlier, it's them, right?"

"The ones who brought back Dexter?"

"Yeah yeah! And I heard they're from the same school as Cattlelow!"

"Ugh... Devil Sorcerers? I'm not sure about that."

"Watch your mouth. They're our benefactors who returned Grant to us."

Of Conquerors' 58 guild members, less than ⅓—just 15 members—currently remain in the guild house Castra.

Only 10 people followed the limit point grand expedition led by Guild Master Sullivan Evans.

Adding the 4 recent deaths including Grant Dexter, exactly half—29 members—were down in the Abyss.

This was the Conquerors' original guild rule.

An exploration team of 10, primarily composed of top guild members led by Sullivan Evans, the guild's head and strongest force.

Excluding the exploration team, a maximum of half the guild could descend into the Abyss.

This meant at least 19 members must remain guarding the guild house.

Additional members could be sent down for special circumstances, like Union cooperation requests or hard-to-refuse designated missions.

Grant and three guild members participating in the Second Floor closure operation were in this context.

With the remaining 15 guild members plus resident employees, various comments popped up everywhere whenever Margie and Angie ran around.

While employees wouldn't speak easily without being quite close, fellow guild members spoke freely.

"Margie, Angie, come here a moment. How are those people from earlier? Ah, I just got some freshly baked cookies, let's eat together."

One guild member tried fishing for the twins' love with chocolate chip cookies, but today's twins weren't the sea bass that would bite at every cast.

"We're busy!"

"Yes, working."

"What is it~ I'll help!"

Castra had been gloomy since Grant, one of the guild's core forces, died.

Explorer funerals were rarely properly held, and even then, unlike normal customs, everything ended in a simple one-day ceremony.

Yet the wounds left by death ran deep, and the lingering sense of loss wasn't easily erased.

Though Explorers were used to farewells, ironically, Conquerors had grown distant from loss because they were too strong.

Roman's group, arriving when the solemn atmosphere was becoming unbearable, was like rain in a drought for them.

Not just any visitors, but those who returned Grant to them—they deserved a warm welcome.

Among them, the twins were definitely the most excited about the situation.

They'd been standing guard at the main gate since hearing from Ref about sending an invitation to Roman's side.

"Move! Move~!"

"Coming through!"

Running non-stop as if playing train, the twins were truly runaway tanks!

Margie led, waving both arms to clear the way, and Angie greeted people who stepped aside with words that weren't quite greetings.

Perfectly in sync like true twins, they dashed through Castra's vast interior, reaching the artifact storage.

"Door!"

"Open sesame!"

Knowing they already had Ref's authorization, the storekeeper opened the artifact storage as soon as he saw the twins.

There are two storage areas anyway.

The real treasures, S to A-rank artifacts, were kept separately in the special artifact storage.

Though B and C-rank items were hard to get for Explorers, at Conquerors they were considered supplies.

"Where is it~ Ah! This is what I wanted!"

Margie, who seemed to be diligently searching for the Contract of Truth at first, quickly got distracted by other artifacts.

Used to her sister's behavior, Angie didn't even sigh, she just did her job.

While Margie was lost in window shopping, Angie started searching for the Contract of Truth alone.

"Wow~! When did this come in? I thought it was on permanent loan since it wasn't here. Angie, should we secretly take just this one?"

As Margie shook a small orb-shaped artifact in her hand, the response wasn't her twin's voice with just a different tone.

"What are you taking secretly?"

"Eek! W-when..."

"Did you arrive?"

Unlike the startled Margie, Angie remained calm.

Somehow she'd already gotten hold of a scroll that wasn't there when they entered.

"Just now."

"Hehe, good work. Training was tough, right?"

"Did you come here right after returning?"

"Yeah. Your voices carried so well. But Margie, why do I still see something in your hand?"

"I-I'm not the only one holding something!"

"I'm getting what the Vice Guild Master asked for."

"Is that so?"

"Uuugh...!"

With trembling hands of regret, Margie returned the artifact and whispered mournfully, "Bye-bye, my pretty orb..."

"It wasn't yours anyway."

Pushed out by the sharp rebuke, Margie left the storage room cleanly, leaving behind both resentment and lingering attachment.

"So we're going back up, coming?"

"Want to come with us?"

"Hmm... sure. I needed to see them anyway."

§

Conquerors would plant people in our guild?

"That doesn't seem to mean simple dual membership."

Ref answered with a smile visible even under his beard.

Not the guild itself, but attaching someone to us.

Meaning they'd join our three-person team—Leaf, Rei, and I.

"The one knowing the secret would be the dispatched person, not you, Ref sir. Is that correct?"

"Yes," Ref spoke confidently.

This doesn't make sense easily.

Sending someone on dispatch?

That I understood.

Right now, Rei's growling beside me and Leaf's fidgeting nervously with her fingers, both clearly wanting to object, but...

Making such a significant decision as Vice Guild Master while not knowing the secret himself?

That didn't make sense.

"Don't worry. I don't go back on my word."

"...Can we know who it is?"

"Well, they'll be here soon."

Though we saw some faces on the way, the only Conquerors guild members we properly met and spoke with were those twins.

Ref hadn't called anyone else either.

But it definitely wouldn't be the twins.

Did he use some artifact with calling functionality?

While I was considering the possibilities of Ref's "soon" comment, he added, "I'll tell you one thing. This is the person I trust second most in the world."

"Is the first Conquerors' Guild Master?"

"Correct."

Then the second is...

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"They're here."

Right after Ref's words, commotion arose outside.

"We're back~!"

"Yes."

"Then right away..."

"Stop. Mind your manners."

A new voice interrupted the twins' conversation.

Following those words testifying to a third person's presence came a polite, disciplined knock.

"May I come in?"

A stiff tone.

The somehow familiar resonance strengthened my hypothesis.

"Yes."

With Ref's permission, the door opened.

Ponytail Margie slipped through first.

Like thread following a needle, twintail Angie followed close behind.

And finally.

Seeing this completely new face we hadn't encountered on our way, I upgraded my hypothesis to a theory.

Ref's deep auburn hair.

Raise the brightness and saturation, and one would get this crimson hair.

If I had to draw a comparison, while Alexandra's familiar red hair was more of a bright scarlet, this was closer to a deep crimson or burgundy.

Above all, those eyes.

Though the shape was clearly different, the large, deep eyes were identical to Ref's.

Family?

Such a condition was more than enough to be the second most trusted person.

Rather, putting the Guild Master in first place was more surprising.

Such trust and respect must be why Sullivan Evans made Ref his representative, his Vice Guild Master.

"Let me introduce. My daughter, Lana Gromadin."

At Ref's introduction, she, Lana, introduced herself again.

Very concisely.

"Svetlana Gromadin."

"Roman Sun."

"Yes, well. Please speak comfortably. I'll take my leave."

"No. Sit. This concerns you anyway. Angie."

"Yes."

Angie spread the paper on the table.

That was the Contract of Truth.

Though it was my first time seeing it directly, the mana I sensed was definitely from the Abyss.

This was undoubtedly genuine.

"These people, as you've heard Lana, are our benefactors who brought back Grant. However, separately from that, they've requested we accept their guild-to-be as our subsidiary."

Ref paused briefly as if checking if she understood the background.

When Lana didn't object, he continued, "However, they've made the same request not just to us but to Frontier and Enigma. They want to become a joint subsidiary guild of three guilds."

At these words, Lana's eyes trembled slightly.

Lana, too, was a Conquerors member.

Moreover, her father was the Vice Guild Master.

It would be difficult not to have pride as a member of one of the top five guilds, a leading guild.

My request must have sounded quite unpleasant to her.

"But the previous two guilds accepted this. Because they have that much value."

"Frontier did?"

Is Enigma irrelevant?

Well, they're the type to accept rather than try to understand anyway.

"Yes. But while their Pelletier knows their secret and accepted based on that, we know nothing. You'll need to verify and assess their value."

The background noise of "Aah-! We wanted to do that!" came from one of the twins behind us, but sadly no one here was seriously listening to that complaint.

"Wouldn't it be better for the Vice Guild Master to verify?"

"Ah, about that. If you judge their value sufficient, I'm thinking of dispatching you to their guild."

A sudden dispatch mission.

Though it was surprising, Lana seemed unexpectedly accepting.

"Should I verify now?"

"Yes. That alright with you?"

"Of course."

How should I explain this?

Since experience is easiest, maybe I should give her a taste of Blink...

"Then I'll prepare for combat. The training room I was using is empty, we'll use that."

Well, that's straightforward.