Chapter 37 Part 2: Commission – Head Removal

“Haaam….”

“What, newbie. Sleepy?”

“Ah, no, I’m not!”

Seeing his junior, who had yawned, hurriedly shut his mouth and deny it in surprise, his senior smiled slightly.

He must be very bored. Well, it’s understandable.

Because he’s just standing and watching the people who are passing by.

He’s standing guard because he was told to stand guard unconditionally, but seeing that he can’t stand the boredom, old memories started to come to mind.

I also had times like that.

…Thinking about it again, it doesn’t seem like a good memory either.

The senior’s face contorted, thinking about the time when he was standing guard with his former boss, who he wanted to chew and swallow.

I shouldn’t become such a person.

With that resolution in his heart, he patted the shoulder of his awkward junior.

“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything about something like this. To be honest, I’m bored too.”

“Is that so?”

He struggled to suppress the laughter that was about to burst out as he watched his junior, who was pretending not to, but making an expression that he sympathized with him as he told him his impressions from the past.

No, no. If I want to be a trustworthy senior, I shouldn’t laugh here.

“To be honest, isn’t it like that? As you also know, the Hresvelgr Guild is a guild recognized in the world. There are several S-class awakened people besides the Guild Leader. The location of the headquarters here is also downtown, right? Who would invade here?”

“Th, that’s true.”

“Then you’re making an expression as if to ask why you’re doing this here.”

‘…Yes.”

“It’s nothing special. It’s doing it to show.”

His junior’s eyes widened as if he had heard an unexpected answer.

I used to think vaguely that there must be a reason for doing everything.

But, the fact that I realized after spending a long time here was quite different from what I imagined.

All I learned was the reality that being a famous company doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good.

“You know the Guild Leader, right? That old fart.”

“O, Old fart, you say. You shouldn’t say such a thing….”

“It’s okay, we’re just talking among ourselves. It’s not exactly wrong, right? An old man who is behind the times. How old is that human?”

“That old man is making us do it. So that people can see.”

He felt like his heart was stuffy even though he said it himself, so he unknowingly tried to take out the cigarette he had put in his arms, but stopped his hand.

Come to think of it, that guy doesn’t smoke.

Shall I just endure it a little now?

“It used to be effective. It’s said that there were actually a few people who tried to sneak in. But what about now? Have you ever heard of such a story?”

“I haven’t.”

“Right. There’s no one brave enough to come here. If they come in, it’s a war with our guild.”

“That’s true, but…”

“So don’t worry and just kill time. I knew this would happen, so I brought some cards. Shall we play poker?”

“Senior….”

“Why? You don’t want to?”

“It’s the best.”

He took his junior, who hadn’t noticed the abnormal situation, and subtly made a passage that one person could pass through.

Then, as if it wasn’t wrong that he had misseen, the scenery was slightly distorted again, as if heat haze was rising again.

…There’s no need to catch him.

It’s not like I have nowhere to go if it’s not this guild, and it’s not a situation where I’ll be told that I was negligent in my work.

“Hey, what are you going to do if this place goes down?”

“Yes? What do you mean all of a sudden?”

“You never know. If the Guild Leader here suddenly dies, it’ll collapse in an instant. There are two bad things stacked on top of each other. Besides, that human’s age is also old. Who knows when he’ll die of a chronic disease?”

“…I guess so. What should I do.”

“If you have nothing to do, let’s start a guild together. The motto is… to live a thin and long life. How about it?”

“That’s like you, Senior. I like it.”

“F*ck, I almost got caught….”

No, is the phrase “I almost got caught” the wrong phrase to use?

Because I was actually caught.

I put away the wire that I had taken out in advance, thinking that a battle would break out, and let out a sigh of relief.

[H, how did they know?]

“Optical camouflage can blend in perfectly with the scenery on the surface, but the blending rate decreases when moving, so it flickers a little. I thought there wouldn’t be a big problem because you wouldn’t notice it unless you had a good eye for it….”

Did I underestimate them too much because the abilities of the awakened people I’ve met so far were so low?

I didn’t even think that the gatekeeper would be skilled enough to notice the optical camouflage.

The rookie next to him didn’t seem to have noticed it at all, but it’s certain.

That person, he noticed it and let it go.

“I should be grateful that the Guild Leader’s reputation is at rock bottom.”

I should have noticed from the point that the son was acting like that.

Apparently, the leader here wasn’t a person who was respected by other people.

[Then what should we do now? That person turned a blind eye and let us in, but there’s no way to go without being caught.]

“There isn’t no way. There’s one.”

[…?]

“Go into the ventilation shaft.”

[Th, there’s no way that’ll work!]

Ugh, it’s noisy.

When I covered my ears at her voice, which was suddenly shouting, Haran’s voice started to be heard like a machine gun.

[It’s not a movie! Ventilation shafts are things made to circulate air, not things made for people to pass through! If you get stuck, no one can help you!]

“I appreciate you worrying, but it’s possible, you know?”

[It’s possible?! How?!]

“Just pull out your arms.”

[…Eh?]

“You, you forget that I’m a machine quite often, don’t you?”

Most ventilation shafts are not large enough for people to pass through. If you go in wrong, it’s not strange to get stuck, like Haran said.

But that’s a story that only applies to people who can’t solve it when they get stuck.

It’s not that big of a problem for me, who can disassemble the stuck part.

“Leave your common sense to me. That’ll make it easier for you.”

[I think it would be better to do that….]

Haa.

When I sighed one more time in a different sense than a little while ago, Haran asked me with a questioning look.

[Why are you doing that?]

“I don’t…want to ride in the ventilation shaft….”

I know that there’s no other way but the ventilation shaft.

If I move using optical camouflage, the speed will be too slow, and if I move a little out of frustration, the work will become troublesome the moment I get caught.

So using the ventilation shaft is a rational method, but…

I really don’t like it.

The reason why I didn’t use the ventilation shaft from the beginning and moved with optical camouflage is because the ventilation shaft is quite dirty.

It’s not a passage for people to move through, and it’s a place that’s not usually cleaned, so dust and insect corpses are piled up.

To be honest, unless there’s no other way, I didn’t want to head there.

“It’s so dirty…. Cockroaches, gnats…. And how bad is the smell?”

[I’ll prepare new clothes and bath salts.]

“Please.”

Having to crawl through the ventilation shaft was ultimately the result of the actions I had committed, but…

Instead of admitting my fault, I decided to pass it on to someone else.

That b*stard, making me crawl through the ventilation shaft.

I won’t forgive him.