By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 11 - Chapter 13

Chapter 7, Episode 33: Small Talk on the Way Home, and the Current State of the City

I met up with my bodyguard Hudom at the reception area of the guild.

“I’m sorry for the wait.”

“Oh. Meeting’s over?”

“Yes. It went smoothly.”

I had him wait for me in the reception area during the meeting.

“Th-Then, I should be getting back to work,” said one of the receptionists. Apparently, she and Hudom had been speaking.

“Did I interrupt?”

“Just chatting. And gathering intel. What’s next on the agenda?”

“Cleaning the streets in the afternoon, but there’s still some time. I was going to stop by the security headquarters. I’ve left capable hands at each post, but I need to review and sign some paperwork.”

“Roger that.”

Just as Hudom reached for the front door of the Merchants’ Guild, I made eye contact with a man walking into the building. Disgust flashed on his face for a split second before it immediately snapped into a smile as he called, “My, my. Long time no see.”

“Hello, Wanz.”

“We haven’t spoken since the unfortunate conclusion to our conference. You seem well.”

“Yes, thank you. Have you lost some weight, by any chance?”

“With the cold weather coming in quickly... Fancy seeing you here.”

“I came by to see a friend.”

“I see. It’s the same for me. Excuse me.”

“Take care.”

Wanz headed to the reception desk as we headed outside. He apparently wanted to avoid conversations with me as much as I did with him. Just an ostentatious greeting out of obligation.

“Boss, you called him Wanz?”

“He’s the one.”

“He is the one you ferociously debated back when you were all on edge. Glad that it went peacefully.”

“I wasn’t going to start arguing with him then and there. Looks like he wants to keep playing the innocent, law-abiding citizen.”

“Oh?” Hudom peered into my face. “And why are you feeling down? I’m sure you didn’t want to meet that guy, but did he get you that upset?”

“Do I look that upset?”

“Yes.”

It must have been written all over my face. “Well, I hadn’t seen him since the debate, and I don’t understand why I went as far as I did against someone like that. I can’t really explain it... But when I first met him, I felt this pressure...like I had to stop him at all costs.”

“Pressure from him?”

“I’m not sure. I just felt like I couldn’t let things go like he wanted them to.”

But I didn’t feel that way at all when I bumped into him. I couldn’t understand why I was so stressed out about it in the conference. It even felt excessive to me for me to have reacted so drastically. It was excessive, I suppose.

“It’s like I was facing a single goblin with plenty of allies on my side, and I should have gone at it with enough caution to prevent injury, but I went in ready to die trying, somehow imagining that the entire nation would come crashing down if I would lose... I overreacted so badly to such a small threat that I want to go crawl in a hole! The more I think about it the more embarrassed I am, and I could say that I felt cornered or—”

“Got it. I understand that it’s embarrassing for you to think about it.”

I felt like this incident would be my worst memory of this life.

“Out of personal and professional curiosity... Should you do something about him?” Hudom asked after giving our surroundings a once-over.

I looked around myself before answering, “Our enemy is planting all sorts of traps to increase crime in Gimul. We’re not going to beat them by eliminating lowly agents like Wanz.”

Let’s say we could get rid of Wanz, either legally by obtaining solid evidence of their wrongdoing, or by force without anyone knowing. What then? Unless we went after the nobles who controlled agents like Wanz, and the leader among them, there would only be more agents sent into the city until they gave up on the whole scheme. At this time, there is close to nothing that we could do against the nobles lurking behind the agents. Make a hasty attack against a noble, and we could easily be painted the villains. That being said...

“I have been told that the duke and duchess are already working on that front in the capital. There’s no need for us to take a risk by jumping into action. They will unmask the puppeteer.” Leave it to the experts, I’d say. “What we can do in this city now is to mitigate the crime in Gimul and the damage caused by it as much as possible until the duke and duchess accomplish their mission, hopefully bringing crime down to where it was before the large influx of workers. Otherwise, we will prepare for the worst-case scenario. In other words, we don’t need to rush to cure the disease, only treat the symptoms.”

Even during today’s meeting, Dameyer had mentioned that the crime rate had dropped almost to where it was before the workers had come in. “There are still minor fights and conflicts attributed to the increase in population, but those are prevented from escalating because the patrol teams of the security company are using their large numbers to an advantage by making frequent rounds.”

“Some of your staff are the laborers coming in, right? No wonder you have a lot of members.”

“We’re still regularly hiring.”

Speaking of them, we just happened to pass a patrol unit as we were talking. A few paces later, I heard someone call to the team and thank them. My patrol officers had nearly become homeless themselves, but their honest work had garnered them a decent reception from the people of Gimul.

“I feel like the city has regained its old tranquility. We would need to keep our guard up, but I think we’ve avoided the worst-case scenario. Now, we just need to focus on preserving this state and trust that the duke and duchess will get to the source. The city is more important than dealing with that little puppet.” Although, I had only reached this conclusion after hearing what Hughes and the other staff members had to say. “I’ve been told that the showdown will be during the year-end ball season, and victory is ours if we can make it that far. I took it as a show of confidence that they are going to nail the puppeteer within the year.”

“Oh, it’s because things have progressed that far.”

“What is?”

“How calm you are compared to before. And no offense, but you don’t seem as busy. Just a quick impression from my first day as your bodyguard, but...”

“It’s not as bad as you thought?”

Hudom gave a timid nod, but I took no offense to it.

“I’m much calmer thanks to everyone coming over from the duke’s, and I’m really not busy anymore. But I don’t think that affects what’s going on with the city.”

“You’re a central figure in the city now, Boss.”

“Well... I gave my opinion here and there, but that’s it. I did build the security company and the trash plant, and the slime product factory with the Morgan company, but I just gave my opinion and my money, and signed a few papers. I completely delegate the actual work to whoever’s in charge.” I really was doing this. All I had to do as owner was sign a summary of the business progressions, which didn’t take much time at all. “I could say morning strolls like this are part of the job if I say I’m double checking that the notes I receive are accurate... Anyway, I definitely have enough breathing room that I wouldn’t say I’m busy. I actually never feel like I’m working lately. For the most part, I use my time for my hobbies like researching slimes, or farm work, or studying for the license exam at the Tamers’ Guild.”

“You were just in a meeting.”

Even those meetings were just an opportunity for me to listen to what they had to say and give my opinion on them. The ones putting in the real work would be the guildmasters and their people. Even before I built the security company, there were constables defending the city, and many people were working to enact policies that would help it. Even when crime was on the rise, the city’s self-cleansing system was there in the form of people trying to improve their own situation. This time, however, the influx of workers had shut down those mechanisms, like a server overloaded with a flood of cyber attacks. I just had to lessen the load on each department. If the city was running out of jobs and lodgings to take these workers in, I just had to build more receptacles. Once the environment recovered enough for its self-cleansing mechanics to function, the crime rate would naturally improve.

“I suggest things like that, and push it through with money, power, and connections. When it’s all said and done, I toss the project to capable hands. I’m definitely not as busy as everyone seems to think I am.”

Since I had done a lot of flashy work on my own, people who knew what was going on might see me as a central figure of the city, but I doubted there was going to be much yield for him in trying to gain information from my life. In fact, wouldn’t he lose time and effort, the more he put his focus on me? I voiced this concern, and Hudom returned a long sigh.

“Do people ever tell you how surprisingly evil you are?”

“Excuse you. Not that it’s anything to be proud of, but I am easily manipulated and taken advantage of.” That was only because I was surrounded by manipulators over my thirty-nine years on Earth, so I had learned their techniques by experience... No, that surely had nothing to do with this. “I’m not evil, come on. Let’s return to the topic we were discussing before the meeting.”

“Pretty obvious deflection, but all right. Weren’t we talking about the moves I used in our match?”

“If you don’t mind talking about it.”

“None of them are secret techniques, and I was taught them by my trainer at the academy, so I don’t mind sharing them.”

“Thank you. If you’re willing to teach me your techniques as well, I’ll set a time and place for it. There’s a lot I want to ask about, but I want to start with the one where you shot your energy at me.”

“If you figured that out, there’s not much I can tell you about... But you did use energy to strengthen your whole body.”

“Yes. That’s how I was taught to use energy.”

“The first step is being able to fight normally while strengthening your whole body. It’s the foundation, and you do that well. If you’re able to beat your opponents with that, great. But you never know what will happen in battle. You could face an opponent much stronger, or harder to deal with. The necessity to prepare for the worst invented the moves I was using the other day. That’s what I was told, anyway. The one where I shoot my energy at you, for example, is used to attack enemies outside the range of our fists or weapons. With enough skill, you can use that to fight against flying monsters or distant archers. Of course, nothing beats proper preparation. There are others, like one that strengthens your fist or weapon to hit monsters covered in hard shells. But the best master can only fully utilize his strength when his weapon is brought to its full potential. All of these techniques start with strengthening your body, and mastering them brings you back to strengthening your body. It’s the foundation and ultimate goal of this series of techniques.”

I was just about to mention how interesting that was when he continued, “And I made myself sound like an expert, but I’m far from it, so that was all hearsay. But, according to the legend of Tigar the Warrior God, his skin became an impenetrable armor with the use of energy, and his fists broke dragon scales. I say legend, but there are several documents to back this up.”

“Oh...” It was a surprise to hear (as far as everyone knew) my grandfather’s name out of nowhere. Hudom continued to tell me interesting stories about famous military men and adventurers of history. He was even more of an entertaining conversation partner than I had expected, making the walk back to the security company feel very short.

When we arrived, I was about to regretfully hit the pause button on our conversation to return to work when Lilian the maid called to us.

“Master Ryoma.” She was standing at the reception desk, just out of the way. “Orest Moulton of the Moulton Slave Trading Company is here to see you.”

“Orest?” The suspicious and good-looking president of the company? I was sure we didn’t have an appointment.

“I told him of your absence, and he said it wasn’t a problem, and that he had come without an appointment. He asked to wait for your return... He is in the meeting room now. Should I dismiss him?”

“No, I’ll see him if he’s waiting for me.”

I wanted to know what he wanted, and I owed him one from last time... Still, I had a feeling that our meeting wasn’t going to go too easily. With my guard up, I headed up to the meeting room.