Blood still gushes out of the fallen men. Seemingly not stopping anytime soon.
Noticing the sound of flowing water, the two who went to stand watch came back.
But they screamed and froze when they saw the scene before them.
Yet they managed to pull themselves together and called out to the man standing in stupor.
"Eltros-sama, are you all right?!"
The hoarse voiced man called, yet there was no reply. The person in question has frozen stiff with his mouth wide open.
Can't blame him. He couldn't tell what was happening before his very eyes, only that his subordinates were covered in blood by the time he realized.
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Eltros. He's an executive of a certain syndicate. One of the people working in the underside of this city.
He climbed up to his position in this crime syndicate from a [Mere Member].
During his underling days, he gathered thugs under his commands and made them do evil deeds.
He seized money from the weak through violence, worked as a loanshark, organized bandit gangs, did backroom dealing of weapons, small or bigtime, all of it he did.
He paid his tribute little by little to climb up the ladder. Without dirtying his own hands all while, only issuing orders from behind the scene.
Then two years ago, his superior died of illness, relinquishing the position to him.
However, to him the only change was that he got more subordinates and a bit more freedom.
Things are getting done just by him issuing orders. That was no different even before he took the executive seat.
The only reason someone like him came to this site was merely a whim, a simple stroll he felt like having.
It also matched with the timing on the missing tally for the scheduled [Spot] of the dealing his subordinates failed to bring back even though he had made a prior underside arrangement in the association.
In reality, this was due to the association chairman finding out the scheme and inserting his own plot.
Which Eltros was none the wiser.
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Association Chairman, Bonats. He has always been on guard of the [Underside]. Knowing they're an obstacle in doing business.
All the more with the increase of accidents related to the [Underside] in recent years.
He discovered a suspicious staff member taking part in the tally allotment this time.
It started when he caught sight of a man who looked like he never once took part in business dealing all his life.
Despite having no other proof besides his hunch as a longtime chairman, Bonats started an internal investigation from that.
His guess proved right. There's a high chance that one of the staff members they hired in the past year is connected to the [Underside].
This member is a talented woman who can chew through paperwork.
Bonats decided to leave her alone until she made her [Move].
She'd keep doing her job and live her life like usual. Yet he never let up on monitoring.
And today, that woman staff member put in her shift to work as a receptionist for tally allotment. Just for that day, that one day.
She never took part in tally allotments until today.
Bonats came early in the morning, checked on the tally being allotted that day and performed a shuffle just before the association opened. For the specific tally the woman was supposed to hand out.
Indeed, he was the person who made it so the [Spot] would be handed out to Aryl.
That [Spot] was the worst site possible for doing business. And must be the reason the [Underside] chose it.
"Well then, how will Randolf's outlook turn out I wonder?"
He spoke in amusement of the young man Randolf had a match with yesterday.
A wicked person at heart, Bonats wanted to see that young man dealing damage to the [Underside] or perhaps doing even more interesting things for his own amusement.
He had no way of knowing at this point.
His ploy was going to be short lived as his face quickly turned dead pale from the reports the watchmen he sent there later.
≠＝＝＝ ≠＝＝ ≠＝
A huge jolt ran through Mercenary Guild. Guildmaster and Sub Guildmaster opened their eyes wide to hear the report from their employee.
"Oy! You sure there's no mistake?!"
Ginbelt beat his desk, 'Bam!', as he stood up.
Ginbelt almost couldn't believe the report he heard while part of him was relieved from having one less problems.
The man detailed in the report was once a member of Mercenary Guild, but he was banished for his criminal activities and blacklisted in every other guilds.
The man's name is Zolden. He became a thorn on the guards' side after all the crimes he committed. And now, they just received the report of his death from the guard station.
Once he calmed down, a doubt arise.
"That guy is good, that is for sure. What's the cause? Accident? Illness?"
Vilma urged the reporting guild employee to read the detail on the document.
A hooligan who couldn't be arrested through brute force like that must have died from getting caught up in a disaster, an illness or perhaps even a divine punishment.
They can't see that man dying otherwise. Can't imagine a human doing him in.
"That man had skill and luck on his side. There's no way he'd get killed easily."
Ginbelt groaned, and the answer came to them while they were still in disbelief.
"The one who did it is a young man working as a bodyguard of a merchant by the name Aryl. It was a personal contract, not mediated by the merchant association."
Ginbelt's eyes squinted trying to remember that familiar name before he shouted in surprise.
"With the girl asking compensation yesterday! It's that young man!"
"I'll go send someone to look into it."
Vilma said that and left the room.
"Alright, good work. You may go now."
Ginbelt dismissed the employee who brought the report.
"My hunch wasn't wrong after all. I'm not gonna let Vilma live it down now."
His expression didn't change despite his joking tone.
"Is this a harbinger of some sort...?"
The guildmaster put aside his ominous hunch, and collected all the scattered reports to give his order to their covert operatives.