" The Public Guild...Isn't this place very crowded?" Dave asked Iris, he had heard that the commission that a Public Guild charge is more than double what a Private Guild charges so he was shocked to see such a crowd.
" Most of them are not adventurers but handymen, alchemists, engineers, masons, and people with other professional talents. A public guild is not meant to serve the adventurers only, they have all kinds of work requirements listed here." Iris answered, Dave once again looked at the people in the Guild.
There were hardly any people who carried a weapon with them. He could also see that people were checking large noticeboards, Dave asked Iris about it and found that those were the list of public quests. The staff in this office wore a black & white uniform and had badges on their chest so it was easy to recognize them. Being here reminded Dave of the office in which he used to work in.
It was hard to tell but maybe that was the case as some of them looked incapable of fighting monsters. Iris and he walked into the hallway where a sign with the License Department written over it was hanging.
" Excuse me we are here to file an appeal..." Iris started to speak with the person at reception. Meanwhile, Dave was standing in the waiting area.
When Iris was done she also came and sat there, Dave noticed how nervous she looked.
" Here, you can eat this!" He handed her a snack that was on the table.
"...I don't like these. They don't taste good." She spoke, but Dave was successfully able to distract her thoughts from whatever made her nervous.
" So, What happens now?" He asked.
" They said to wait, the official will come to meet us." She answered.
" Alright,"
They waited for someone to come for a long time but no one came to meet her. She got up to check what is the matter and was once again told to wait. After some time Dave saw an officer walking toward them with the papers that she had submitted.
" Why does it have to be that guy?" Iris whispered as she saw which officer was assigned to their case.
"...If it isn't Miss Iris, Long time no see, pretty lady!" The person walked in front of them and sat on the chair near Iris.
" Officer Gon, As you have read the documents and Appeal that was attached with it. I request you not cancel the license for the time being." Iris spoke without even greeting the person.
" What's the hurry? Why don't we talk somewhere in Private?" Dave quickly realized Why Iris was upset after seeing this officer.
" Mister Gon, stop with th–" Iris spoke but was interrupted.
" That would be nice, Where should we talk in private?" Dave spoke.
" Who is this man?" The officer finally noticed Dave and spoke.
" I am Jin, the manager of The Wolf Slayer Guild, Nice to meet you." Dave smiled and offered a handshake.
" M- manager?" Gon spoke in a surprised tone.
"...Yeah, so about the License–" Before Dave could finish speaking Gon got up from his with an irritated face.
" It can not be approved." He spoke. " Enough time has already been given to your guild."
" Then we would like to re-register," Dave spoke.
" That's not possible either, Would you please stop wasting my time? I have things to do–" Gon was walking away but Dave grabbed his hand.
" You, What are you doing?" Gon spoke angrily.
" Nothing, I just want those papers...You see my assistant had worked hard to write them." Dave effortlessly pulled him towards himself and tightened his grip to free the papers from his hands.
" We can't give this back...give them back." He protested but Dave pushed him away and simply started to walk away.
" Let's go, Iris, we are done here!"
*****
" Did you think that person would have ever approved it? They are harassing you, and only wasting your time..." Jin scolded Iris, " I can't believe you worked so hard for this."
"...I know, but what can I do, I have to save Oscar's guild and I have no other way." She answered.
" ...Fine, but why are they acting like that? Did you or Oscar ever offend them?" He asked.
" No...We never did anything like that."
" We have four days before the license cancellation, right?" Jin asked.
" Yes,"
Something didn't make sense about their current situation. Why did people not want to work as an employee with them? Iris told him that she had tried to hire employees several times, even offering huge sums as salaries but all of them denied to work without giving her a reason.
' She is hardworking but dumb, someone is sabotaging the guild on purpose. I should try to investigate what's the truth...' Jin thought and suddenly an idea came to his mind.
He started to explain what might be the reason behind everything that was happening to the Guild. She kept denying that the Guild ever had an enemy who was influential enough to do something like this.
" Are you sure?" He asked.
" I am sure...I have been managing the guild branch since the day it opened here." She answered.
" It happens...Sometimes you don't even who are your enemies. You should have figured out by now that someone doesn't want this guild branch to be successful. Maybe a competitor wants that, and bought that guy to create trouble for us."
" If that's true, What are we supposed to do?" She asked.
" Is there any detective you know?" Dave asked.
" There is an information guild but they work in the shadows and only a few people know how to contact them. Even if we find them, they will never give us the information that we are looking for. They choose who they want to sell the information to, I don't know where to find them and we don't have time." She once again started to blubber whatever came to her mind.
" Don't stress, yourself I know a way to find them," Dave spoke.