Protagonist Knows Everything - Chapter 48

The place was the yard of the Hagnut guild.  Surprisingly, our guild had an area big enough to hold a banquet.  While coordinating the placements of the seats and the podium I called out to Dirk who was standing right next to me.

“What are you just standing there for?”

“I don’t know if I can be here”, Dirk politely replied to me.

After I decided to accept him, the first thing I instructed was to address me with utmost respect.  Because Dirk worked directly under me.

“Don’t know if you can be here or not? I remember telling you your role.”

“……”

“Dirk.”, I spoke to him in a rather strict tone, “Straighten your back.”

“Yes, deputy guild master.”

“If I see you slouching your back again in front of me, you’re out.”

Then Dirk consciously straightened his back.

I laughed satisfactorily and said, “Are you done with the thing that I asked?”

The first instruction was to address me with respect, the second one was a bit more practical.  As Dirk originally handled all the behind-the-scenes work of the Wyvern guild, he understood the meaning and nodded.  I originally wanted to give this role to Burns.

“Well done.”

“……”

“Huh……”

“Don’t be nervous. I know.”

It’s already recorded in my personnel log that he did the job well.

Dirk nodded his head, “I see. There is nothing that the deputy guild master doesn’t know.”

“Are you complaining about that now?”

“No I didn’t mean it like that…”

“Ok then. Do as I said. Today is an important day.”

“Okay.”

He paused while stepping back.

He hesitated for a few moments and then said, “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Just…”

“Weird guy.”

Dirk didn’t say anything and just smiled. I didn’t know that someone like Dirk could smile like that.

“The Hagnut Guild is really very different.”

“……”

“I’ll be going.”

I stared at his back.  Then I heard Kasha’s voice.

“Tay! Tay!”

“What?”

“Try this. It’s really delicious.”

‘Did she get her hands on the food even before the event started?’

Thinking that I calmly put my hand out towards Kasha.  And then flicked her forehead with my fingers.

“Oww. That hurt. What is it?”

“The party hasn’t even started yet, why are you eating that right now?”

“Sorry, sorry. I’ve been starving since morning.”

“Try to be like Ms. Jeriel a little. Polite, modest…”

‘Never mind.’  I stopped talking.

From one side, Jeriel squirmed out of one the rooms with food stuffed in her cheeks and more of it wrapped around her arms.  After suddenly making eye contact with me, she shuddered.

“What is it Jeriel?”, Kasha asked with her mischievous smile.

As I kept silent, Kasha offered me a sausage that he had on her fork.

“Would you like to try this Tay?”

Then, before I could answer, she shoved the sausage into my mouth.  Needless to say, it was delicious.

***

A lot of big shots were invited to the party.  The most prominent among them was Ron Dowen, the head of the northeastern branch of the Siris Chamber of Commerce.  But even if he wasn’t there, a lot of people gathered for the party.

In addition to the big shots, Hagnut and Wyvern Guild’s B-class adventurers were also crowding the place.  Amidst the crowd, Sain climbed onto the podium.

She brought the sound amplifying beads close to her mouth.

‘They said normal people wouldn’t be able to acquire them.’

It was all money.

“Welcome. Distinguished guests. I am Sain Jenel, the Guild Master of the Hagnut Guild.”

[Clap clap clap]

“Thank you very much for attending this party amidst your busy schedule.”

Sain’s speech was sounding quite good.  For reference, I didn’t touch that speech at all.  It was because Sain wanted to prepare the speech all by herself.

For the initial part, everyone was listening to Sain’s speech quietly.  But when it reached the middle.

“So boring!”

A monotonous cry interrupted the speech.  It was Check Demisen.  An A-class adventurer belonging to the former Wyvern Guild, and a foolish guy who picked a fight with us the other day in the adventurer’s bar.

‘Good. Good.  Everything’s going smoothly, just as planned.’

His cries attracted the attention of the crowd.

Check got up from his seat and started rambling, “Obviously she’s using tricks to make her plain speech boring!”

Obviously? She’s making plain speech sound boring? How do you put two contradictions in a single sentence like that?

Anyway, good. It started.

Sain said in an embarrassed voice, “You’re being rude.”

“Ha! You think that’s rude?!”

Check continued to raise his voice, gathering even more attention.

“The Hagnut guild destroyed the Wyvern guild and is now absorbing it. That’s rude!”

“That……”

“Everyone thinks so. What kind of shady deals did you get involved in? There’s no way a guild the size of a nail grew this big so quickly. There’s obviously something fishy going on. Isn’t that right, everyone?”

Then the middle of the crowd murmured.

The guards tried to apprehend him. But I stopped them with a gesture.  Check’s voice grew even louder after that. To the point where he was practically screaming.

“Now is the time.”

“……”

“Do you know why I am here?”

‘Yeah I actually know.’

I pretended to be oblivious to his underlying intentions and asked, “What do you want to say?”

“This is not a place to celebrate the new start of the Hagnut Guild. This is the place to declare the inauguration of our Dirk guild.”

The murmur grew even louder.  Check turned around and pulled out a piece of paper.

“Look at this!”

“……”

“It is a certificate of establishment, officially approved by the guild association. Dirk Perchen, who was the deputy guild master of the Wyvern Guild, established this guild!”

‘Is it really that big of a deal?’

Sain was embarrassed as she said, “I haven’t heard of anything like this…”

“Stay.”

“I haven’t finished talking yet.”

Check was waving his hands as he elaborated on his ‘scheme.’

“Dirk Vice-Guild Master, no… he’s the Guild Master now. The Guild Master has been promised a whopping 10,000 gold funding from the association. It’s also firmly written on the certificate here.”

“……!”

“That’s not all!”

“……”

“We have decided to pay a whopping compensation rate to those who join our guild right now. So, don’t loiter around in this boring guild and come, join us.”

‘Oops’.

Okay. This was exactly as I instructed Dirk.

‘Let’s see then.’

I relaxed and looked at the crowd.

“Is that for real?”

“Can’t you see this certificate?”

“If so… I’ll be with you!”

“Me as well!”

Some of the adventurers who attended the party jumped up from their seats.  The number is one, two… five. Ten.

‘Well. There are twelve.’

Most of them are Class A and B-plus adventurers.  Needless to say, all of them were from the Wyvern Guild.  Thirty one adventurers came in from the Wyvern Guild.  A bit less than half is moving.

It’s not bad.

Check yelled at the top of his lungs, “There will be no more chances!”

“……”

“Don’t miss this opportunity. If you don’t join now then the compensation rate will be lowered!”

No one was moving. Not anymore.  I smiled and glanced at Sain.  She gave me a meaningful smile and handed me a sound amplification bead.

I brought it towards my mouth and said, “Are you done? Check.”

“What’s the matter? You seem oddly relaxed.”

“Yeah I knew about this already.”, I said in a nonchalant voice.

Check’s face hardened up.

“You knew? What?!”

“About this fuss that you were going to make.”

“What……”

“It’s a bit complicated. It’s like this.”

“Dirk!”

Then Dirk, who was mixed among the audience, arose from his seat.  He took off the hood that covered his face.  Everyone’s faces, especially Check’s face, turned full of amazement.

“Mr. Dirk? Why are you here?”

“……”

I once again brought the beads close and said, “Come up to the podium.”

“Yes.”

Dirk slowly made his way to the podium.

Then, in a calm manner, I asked him, “I’ll have to change the order a bit. Today I’ll introduce them to a new Hagnut guild member. Would that be okay Dirk?”

“Of course.”

“Everyone, I would like to introduce Dirk Perchen, now a part of the Hagnut Guild. Please kindly welcome him with a warm applause.”

At first, not a single soul clapped.

‘Well, should I lighten the atmosphere a bit more?’

But then.

“Ahaha! I knew something interesting was about to happen.”

One of the guests suddenly burst into laughter.  It was Ron.

“That’s weird, even a bit creepy.”

“I do not know. What do you mean?”

“Congratulations anyway. Mr. Dirk Perchen.”

Then Ron began to clap vigorously.  At that moment I felt really glad of having a friend who could speak well.  When the largest hand clapped in this place, everyone’s face turned attentive.  Everyone realized what was going on.

[Clap clap clap]

The applause began to grow louder.

Check stood there, surprised. And eventually he stumbled onto his chair.  The adventurers who were banding up with him and bit their lips in frustration.

Eventually the applause halted and I spoke.

“Do you understand the situation now?”

Trembling, Check replied, “No way, this… this was a trap!”

“Trap? I don’t know what you mean.”

I’m not stupid enough to put rotten apples in my basket.  Those guys who were banding up with Check moments ago are the rotten apples.  One has to pick them out one-by-one and dispose of them. So that none of the fine pieces get affected.

Check cried out in a pathetic voice, “Mr. Dirk! How can this be? I only believed in you……”

“Believed in me? What did I do?”

Dirk replied calmly, nonchalant to some extent, “You did this! You asked me to make a scene today!”

“What are you talking about? Do you have any proof?”

“……”

“More than that, you’re trying to insult me. I only recall having a drink along with you before coming here.”

Check desperately fluttered his so-called certificate as a proof.

“This certificate! Look at this!”

“……”

“You handed me this. The association approved it. proves it all!”

“Hmm…”

“This is clearly a forgery of official documents. If I report this,then you’ll be behind the bars in no time!”

[Snap]

Kasha smiled and lightly snapped her fingers.  She’s become smarter.  I didn’t even give a signal and yet she realized what she had to do.

Check was about to cry out again, but I interrupted, “Are you saying that is the official document approved by the association?”

“What… aren’t your eyes working? Look at this! Uh, huh?”

The official document he fluttered was now a promotional poster for the Hagnut Guild.

Dumbfounded, he rubbed his eyes.  Kasha’s transformation magic.

Kasha was primarily proficient with fire mana, so naturally she was quite specialized in it and knew advanced spells as well.  She could alter a person’s whole face, so there was no way she couldn’t alter the appearance of a single sheet of paper.

“Puff. Ugh. You can’t laugh. You can’t laugh.”, Kasha muttered and pinched her thighs.

“You are promoting our guild party so hard. Thank you.”

“This is… What the hell…”

“Check Demisen. And those twelve stupid adventurers, Stand up right now.”

“……”

“Get out of here right now. There is no place for the likes of you in our Hagnut Guild!”

All of them flinched.  Check literally looked like his soul had left his body.  Then those rotten apples glanced at each other with fear in their eyes.

Then one of them shouted, “Please forgive me. I was mistaken.”

“Sorry.”

“It won’t happen again. Please reconsider!”

The HR teams struggled with the likes of them.  Each of them bowed their heads and asked me for forgiveness.  Ironically, the most passionate among them was Check.

“Please… I have nowhere else to go.”

“You’re an A-class adventurer aren’t you.”

“You even caused such a ruckus in our party? Surely someone must’ve noticed your talent and will be willing to hire you. Please take a look around you!”

“Ah. Yes.”

I smiled and said before he turned, “As I said, you made a scene in front of such esteemed guests.”

“……”

“What if things went your way? What would’ve happened to the Hagnut guild’s reputation if those adventurers rallied out of here after that commotion?”

His face grew even darker.  I kept talking while maintaining my authoritative voice.

“You planned for that to happen, so you should’ve been prepared for the consequences as well.”

“Please…”

“Get out. If you can’t get out on your own feet, I’ll call the guards and have them carry you out.”

Eventually, after five minutes of begging, they were dragged away by the guard.  Their cries echoed for quite a while.

I looked around and scratched my head.

“Hmm. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

The atmosphere was dampened.  I achieved my goal but I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad about the commotion and the inconvenience it caused to the guests.

But as I said, people have rational and emotional ways of perceiving things.  So, it was time to appeal to the emotional part.

“Where was I? Oh, we were introducing our new family. I will continue.”

“……”

“Next is Sophia Iai, who’ll be assisting us in office work. Sophia, please come forward”

The guests, especially the adventurers who were particularly close to the Burns, began to murmur.

“It’s Sophia, not Mr. Burns…”

“Huh? Really?”

“No. Why is she here?”

“Did you not hear it? He just said that she was now part of their family.”

“Did they hire her? Sophia?”

As expected, Burns’ popularity was quite high.  I could see the previously tensed up faces of the adventurers easing up.  Sophia bowed and then I handed her the beads.

“Hi. I am Sophia Iai.”

“……”

“As everyone knows, my husband went missing all of a sudden. And no one has any information regarding his whereabouts. During those troubled times, Mr. Taylor here contacted me.”

She had already arranged her story for the speech.

“He offered me a job. He said it was because I was a necessary talent for the guild, but …… maybe it was because he was worried about me and the children as he was quite close to my husband.”

“Then……”

“I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Deputy Guild Master Taylord Mason, Guild Master Sain Jenel, and the Hagnut Guild.”

Sophia put her hands together and bowed in gratitude.  Everyone began to clap once again.

Earlier, everyone reluctantly followed Ron. But this time it was different.  This applause was real.

“He’s a strange person. That man named Taylor.”

“I thought he’d be way more ruthless, terrifying.”

“Seems like he has a human side to him after all.”

Okay, the gossip was good and bad at the same time.

Sophia thanked everyone attending the party and then descended from the podium.

I handed the beads back to Sain.

Sain took them and said with a soft smile, “Mr. Tay. You did really well this time.”

“We’re in the middle of an event. Guild Master.”

“Oh. That’s right. Deputy Guild Master.”

We laughed at each other.

She again began her speech that had been cut off in the middle.  I sat behind her in my chair on the podium.

Kasha whispered to me, “Deputy Guild Master. Hehehe.”

“What’s so funny about it?”

“Tay is really cool.”

“Huh?”

There were several ways that Kasha addressed me. But it was the first time she had called me, cool.

Kasha noticed that too, and suddenly her face turned red.

“No. I said that aloud.”

“……”

“Ah! Is it time for the feast already?”

She turned her head while fanning her hand for some reason.

It was then.

[You have earned 2000 HR evaluation points from Sain.]

[You have earned 1000 HR evaluation points from Kasha.]

[You have obtained 500 HR evaluation points from Jeriel.]

[You have earned 500 HR evaluation points from Dirk.]

[The employee can be promoted to fourth year. Would you like to accept?]

Of course I would.  Even in reality, I became a Deputy Guild Master.  I nodded.

[Level: 4th year Employee/ Next level: 1st year Assistant]

[Points required until the next promotion: 3380/8000]

[Newly available information: Current location]

[Professional ability 1: Please also ask for this.]

(T/N: Changing ‘Permit’ to ‘Please ask for this.’)

[Trait 2: You can do that too.]

[Trait 3: Who can do this?]

[Trait 4: You have to be honest with me.]

Promotion. The last year as a regular employee. In reality, the Deputy Guild Master.  The Guild doubled in size and new employees joined.

New abilities.

‘Quite a long day I’d say.’  I looked up at the sky.  ‘But it’s still far away.’

Everything is just starting.

Admin Note: Hello everyone! We have gotten somebody to start translating these chapters again, so we will see how the frequency is but I will post them as I get them. Please enjoy this weeks chapters :)~Makarovfey