「I’ll be the boss.」
I declared thus.
Like the most ambitious snake in the world.
And Oliver’s response...
"Ah, yes, be the boss. Whatever."
Was lighter than expected.
Though I feel like I lost somehow, he’s letting me be the boss.
Then the two had a serious conversation.
Rae who wanted to create a new guild.
And Oliver, the returned vice guild master. Stay connected through freewebnovel
"I don’t plan to use the name Poison Path Guild."
"Right, that’s for the best."
"But I’ll inherit its spirit."
Seems she hasn’t even named the guild yet.
As boss, I bestowed a name.
「Let’s call it Snake Path Guild.」
Honestly, Poison Path Guild is a bit, no, quite a tacky name.
If we name it Snake Path Guild, I could say that line when gathering the kids.
"Snake Path Guild..."
This time Oliver couldn’t just say ’Ah, well, whatever.’
His face twisted - doesn’t he like it?
"No."
Rae cut in firmly.
Shouldn’t have returned that gold bar.
"But well, I had thought of a similar name."
What!
"The symbol of Poison Path Guild was a snake after all."
I learned a shocking fact.
To think such an excellent guild was destroyed.
It must have been a great loss not just for the sewers, but the entire empire.
"Using the Hiral character meaning snake... Sa Path Guild."
Still think Snake Path Guild sounds better.
"I’m thinking of Sa Path Guild."
It doesn’t seem like a terrible name either.
And so the guild master would be former Under Circle head Rae.
And Oliver a temporary guild member.
I would be Sa Path Guild’s Supreme Elder.
That structure was established.
For reference, Obern was nothing.
"Please wait a moment. I’ll get the information you requested about the underground auction house."
She rose from her seat saying this.
Then called people to clean up the ambushers’ corpses and left. Quite the capable woman.
For a while, just the three of us - Oliver, me, and Obern - remained.
’Oliver, seems you have quite a colorful past.’
’Yes...’
Oliver was a man with many secrets.
I don’t know how he ended up as a hunter in the great forest of a distant kingdom, in the borderlands at that.
’Explain everything to the Supreme Elder.’
’Supreme... what?’
Oliver made a troubled expression, then sighed deeply.
Even a man of steel has moments when his heart softens.
Especially when facing a painful past, which seemed to be the case for Oliver now.
He explained his past.
"Before, I was vice guild master of a guild called Poison Path."
Even then, Mud House and Two Rings ruled the sewers as the two major rogue guilds, he said.
Oliver and his guild grew at an incredibly fast pace.
Finally, when Poison Path Guild’s name was mentioned right after Mud House and Two Rings in the lower district, and as the two guilds were about to become three guilds.
Disaster struck.
Perhaps the existing powers of the sewers didn’t want a new guild to flourish.
Moreover, since Poison Path Guild’s ultimate goal was to reach the surface.
The rulers of the fish tank wouldn’t welcome fish trying to leave.
It started with Oban VanKloss’s terrorism.
Absurdly, Oliver’s wife was caught in that explosion and died.
"Bad luck. That’s the only way to describe it."
Though the death was empty and meaningless, its aftermath wasn’t short and clear.
Oliver, the vice guild master and problem solver of Poison Path Guild, became a broken man.
And the entire sewers were turned upside down.
"The empire lost Oban VanKloss. But someone had to bear the empire’s wrath."
They needed someone to hang and burn to appease the empire’s anger.
Naturally, sparks flew to the lower district and sewers.
"The guild masters of Heaven Medicine Party, Mud House, and Two Rings made a decision."
’What decision?’
"To offer us as living sacrifices."
When the imperial capital’s guard corps was turning the lower district and sewers inside out.
Poison Path Guild was hunted by their fellow sewer dwellers.
Dozens, hundreds died then.
The guild house burned, and many children died too.
The survivors were bound and sent to the guard corps for execution.
"I ran away. Leaving behind many who survived."
’I see...’
I felt a bit sorry for such an Oliver, and could understand Rae’s feelings.
’No wonder she resents you.’
"Rae...?"
Obern beside us nodded.
"He is indeed a traitor."
’Yes, honestly it would be understandable if she pretended to get information but set fire to our room instead.’
"Haha..."
We were silent for a moment.
’Surely not...’
"..."
"...Ah."
Just as we felt something ominous and stood up simultaneously.
Click-
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The door opened and Rae returned with a stack of documents.
"Why is everyone standing?"
"Ah, no..."
Oliver and I played innocent.
"Just looking around the room."
"Stop doing unnecessary things and sit down."
She started laying out the documents.
Only then did I notice Rae was somewhat excited.
Fortunately, it seemed she hadn’t planned to burn us to death.
"There’s an opportunity. Closer than expected."
Skimming through the documents she brought, they contained complex accounting ledgers and records of goods movement.
"And it’s probably an opportunity that won’t come again."
"Ssasak!"
I urged her to get to the point.
The new sect master respected the Supreme Elder’s opinion.
"The items leaked from the vice president, they don’t seem to have been sold yet."
’Oh!’
"Look here, there’s a list of people suspected to be from the imperial bank."
No matter how secretly and quietly you try to sell items. Records remain in ledgers like this.
"Recently received items are like this. Just small things."
’It probably wasn’t a small item.’
"Yes. There’s just one big item. It has no value listed and has been pending for over a month."
An item came in but isn’t being sold.
There could be several reasons, but what if it’s not that they won’t sell, but that they can’t sell?
"There are two possibilities. Either the item’s value is so high they need to gather people who can afford it. Or the item is extremely dangerous or illegal so they need to find a buyer secretly."
And Rae added, ’Or it could be both.’