Process or Results

Adol-san had given us the whole rundown on the Insurance Association.

For an organization that was surprisingly obscure given its scale, even learning the basics had filled in a lot of gaps.

Even with the various motives involved, pivoting from adventurer protection to developing the Adventurer's Guild itself and succeeding at it was no small feat.

We had undeniably benefited from it.

The other things we'd learned were that while the Association had strayed from its founding ideals, it hadn't engaged in anything illegal.

And there was the matter of friction with the moneylenders' guild, sparked by the Association launching lower-interest loans, even if they were limited to adventurers.

It wasn't hard for even me to imagine that the moneylenders weren't happy about their best customers being snatched away wholesale.

Relations had apparently deteriorated to the point of nearly escalating into open conflict.

When I asked how it was resolved, Adol-san explained that the Insurance Association had bought up guild shares from smaller moneylending operations that were struggling financially, gaining significant influence from the inside.

In the end, the Association agreed not to lend to anyone other than adventurers, and the friction subsided.

According to the Finance Minister, it had been a cheap purchase.

The scale of it all was simply staggering.

After the Insurance Association discussion wrapped up, Elza-san began listening to Adol-san's troubles in her capacity as a priestess.

He'd been avoiding human contact due to exhaustion from the grueling work, but it turned out he had a lot on his mind. Once he started talking, he didn't stop.

He lamented that his relationship with his son, the one who'd chased after me, wasn't going well, either.

Still, I thought he was a far better person than my parents.

Those people had seen me as nothing more than a tool that could move…

Just remembering it made me feel sick.

I'd been thinking about it less and less compared to before, so I wished the memories would just disappear entirely.

By the time Elza-san finished listening to his grievances, the sun had begun to set.

"I'm sorry for going on so long."

"Not at all. Even outside of confession, listening to people's troubles is part of a cleric's duty."

"Thanks to you, my heart feels much lighter. I think I'll try to have a proper talk with Nigd again. Maybe his bizarre behavior was because he had no other outlet for his emotions."

"Y-Yes, that could be it."

I responded with a strained smile, but honestly, that soldier was probably just like that.

I wished his father would teach him some common sense along with having that talk.

It had only been an attempt, so I'd settled for restraining him without raising a hand, but depending on the circumstances, I might have cut him down in self-defense.

I couldn't exactly say that, though, so I kept up my polite smile.

It seemed difficult to get anything more out of this conversation.

If Master had been here, he might have thought of something to ask, but nothing came to my mind.

Alexia-san and the others didn't seem to have any ideas either, so we decided to call it here for now.

"I'm sorry I couldn't offer better hospitality."

"No, not at all. Thank you for speaking with us despite our sudden visit."

"This much is nothing. Having someone listen to my troubles really helped. Again, I'm sorry about my son. I'll have a stern talk with him."

"Please do. Truly."

We stepped outside.

My head was spinning from all the new information I'd taken in at once.

I'd always left the thinking to Master, but I was realizing I needed to at least understand things well enough to process them on my own.

Just following orders wouldn't cut it.

The proof was right in front of me: Finn, who thought for herself, had the skills to back it up, sure, but she was also entrusted with all sorts of tasks.

Orleans, too, had been given charge of the trade company's operations, practically treated like a right hand.

I was the one who'd been at Master's side first… I couldn't deny feeling a twinge about that.

That was exactly why I needed to keep growing.

Think for myself about how I could be useful to Master, and decide for myself.

Ramiza-san looked over at me while stretching and loosening up her body.

"So we're completely done with work now? We can finally head back tomorrow."

"Ramiza-san, thank you so much for everything this time. It would have been much harder without you."

"Ha ha. Getting praised does feel nice. You can keep the compliments coming. You're all basically family at this point, so this much is nothing."

"Come to think of it, Ramiza-san, you used to work at the royal castle too, right?"

"That's right."

"Did you ever meet the Finance Minister?"

"Not really, no. I didn't have much contact with the Finance Minister or his faction… Ah, actually, I did talk to him once."

Ramiza-san rested her chin on her right index finger and thought it over.

"He asked me if I could create gold with alchemy. You know how gold transmutation is the famous thing associated with alchemy."

"And what did you say?"

"I told him I could make gold, but the cost would be higher than an equivalent amount of actual gold. He burst out laughing and walked off."

"Why do you think he laughed?"

"Beats me."

Ramiza-san spread her hands and shook her head.

"Maybe he wanted to know if it could be used to make money? Potions are far more profitable than making gold, though."

"He sounds like the embodiment of moneymaking. Our Master loves making money too, but something about it feels different."

"I think it comes down to whether you love the process or the results. Yohane-kun is the type who thinks, 'Wouldn't it be fun if this made money?' The Finance Minister is all about how to produce results. There's no romance in it, but that's precisely why he gets results. If all you wanted was to make as much money as possible, there are far better ways than buying slaves and having them work as adventurers."

"That makes sense… Master does have that experimental streak to him."

Like when he'd put Kazusa-chan in charge of the inn.

You wouldn't normally entrust an entire business venture to someone just because they were your slave's friend.

That had clearly been about creating work for Kazusa-chan and her younger brother, who'd been on the verge of ending up on the streets.

His attitude was more along the lines of "as long as we don't lose money" or "it'd be nice if it works out."

"Come on, let's get to the inn before it gets dark. We can pick up something to eat on the way."

"You're right. There's no point standing around here thinking about it."

I nodded at Alexia-san's words, and we headed for the inn.

Adol-san's house was a fair distance from our lodging.

By the time we arrived at the inn, the red light of evening had enveloped the city.

Night would be falling soon.

On the way, we bought flatbread stuffed with various fillings as a light meal, and that became our dinner.

Relieved by the successful completion of our assigned task and the unexpected intelligence we'd be bringing home, I settled in for the night.

… I woke in the middle of the night.

The muggy heat made me throw off the blanket and get out of bed.

Something felt terribly wrong.

The next instant, a massive earthquake shook my body.