[Vol. 9] Chapter 112: An Unexpected Gain
After all, no matter who sat in power above, as long as those groups didn’t take part directly in the fight between the two sides, the rulers had no reason to go after these civilian forces, which were useful and not harmful to their rule. So, as long as they made preparations early and stayed out of trouble that didn’t concern them, everything else could go on as usual.
After what happened yesterday, many people in the guild were no longer unfamiliar with the young priestess’s face. As she walked through, several attendants cleaning the counters even nodded politely to her. After asking where a certain vice president was, she easily found Gladys again without much effort.
However, she didn’t expect to see the knight looking completely swamped. Gladys’s wide office desk was buried under a pile of documents, and the knight was bent over, frowning deeply as she wrote quick notes with a quill pen. The scene looked rather messy and exhausting.
Gladys also didn’t expect Violet to return so soon. When she suddenly saw Violet and the blue dragon girl enter her office, her pen paused slightly, and a hint of surprise appeared on her face.
“Miss Violet? Did something happen?”
Seeing the mountain of papers in front of the knight, the young priestess shook her head lightly.
“It’s nothing serious, really. But it seems like you have your hands full.”
“Speaking of which, where’s the president of Salzburg’s Mercenary Guild? Yesterday or today, it’s always you, the vice president, handling everything alone.”
“This…”
Meeting the priestess’s calm silver-blue eyes, Gladys hesitated for a moment. In the end, she didn’t try to hide it and spoke honestly.
“Well, actually, Salzburg has been quite unstable lately. It’s said that even before my squad arrived, there were already rumbling sounds underground nearby. These tremors came in waves, big and small, and have happened over ten times so far. The worst ones were strong enough to collapse weak houses and have caused hundreds of deaths and injuries. It’s made the people very anxious.”
“And the Preston officials are completely useless. All they know is how to bully and exploit the common people. When something serious happens, they do nothing. Those so-called investigation teams just walk around pretending to work, and in the end, the tremors keep happening without pause. When questioned, they just keep saying, ‘We’re still looking into it… still handling it…’ Sigh.”
“The nobles’ big stone houses are strong, so they don’t care. But the common people can’t live like that. Since they can’t rely on the government, they can’t just sit and wait to die, so more and more people have started sending requests to the Mercenary Guild, hoping we can investigate and deal with the problem.”
“What’s strange is… according to the records and reports…”
Gladys casually pulled out a thick file from the pile beside her. It was full of dense investigation notes.
“Here, take a look. These are the records. The guild has actually sent several teams of people who understand geology to investigate. But every time, something ridiculous happens right at a key moment, and the mission ends in failure.”
“Oh? What do you mean by ‘ridiculous reasons’?”
“Many things. For example, one investigation team found an underground cave that seemed to be connected to the source. But not long after entering, the cave suddenly collapsed for no reason. Some died, others were seriously injured, and of course, the whole investigation had to be abandoned.”
“For example, sometimes people finally find a lead and are ready to follow it up, but then the informant seems to vanish into thin air. All that’s left is a little pile of gray-black ash. Or the person suddenly goes mad or becomes like a fool, only mumbling strange, prophet-like words, so there’s no way to continue the investigation.”
“Wow.”
Although these stories sounded strange and even scary, the priestess showed no fear. Instead, she smiled with interest and didn’t interrupt Gladys.
“And then?”
“And then…” Gladys sighed, her expression growing stranger.
“The Mercenary Guild leader in Salzburg slowly realized something was very wrong. Not only was some power blocking the guild’s investigations, but the cause itself was very strange. After thinking it over, he decided to secretly ask the [Eternal Winter Temple] in Salzburg for help.”
“Although I don’t much like prophets either, compared to those useless nobles, the [Eternal Winter Temple] at least does real work. I heard that after the guild leader told them the situation, they quickly made some kind of agreement. I don’t know the details, but after that the old man became mysterious and stayed out of the guild’s small matters.”
“When I came here, the whole guild was a mess, piles of trouble everywhere. That old man didn’t even try to help, he dumped everything on me and ran off. I haven’t seen him for three days now, he’s probably dead somewhere in a corner.”
Gladys’s words carried strong resentment and complaint. Violet couldn’t help but smile and shake her head.
“That actually works out well. ‘Silver Claw’ wants to use the Mercenary Guild’s power to check the north. While you handle these piled-up tasks, you’ll also learn this kind of information fastest. Win-win.”
“That’s true…” Gladys rolled her eyes and, as if letting out her anger, slammed the desk and stood up.
“But I’m busier than a dog lately! Yesterday I had to handle that mess again. If I didn’t have to care about the guild behind me, I would have cut down those useless Ice Wolf Guards with one swing!”
The priestess smiled, knowing Gladys was not joking. Gladys was a legendary fighter in her twenties, a rare top talent even in a strong empire like Austre Empire. With Gladys’s strength and backing, even if she truly killed a few reckless Ice Wolf Guards, King Preston might not dare punish her.
“All right, we can hear the rest of your complaints later.”
With a puzzled look, Gladys watched as the priestess stepped to the desk and casually picked up a file that recorded the earthquake events. She flipped through it briefly.
“Actually, I came to ask ‘Silver Claw’ for a favor today, but now…”
Her fair fingertip traced the cover of the file, leaving a tiny ember of flame that ordinary people could not see. Her smile grew more mysterious.
“It seems we’ve found an unexpected gain~”