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Full-Blown Family Feud – Part 02

“So? Did you gain some insight?” Unken asked, observing Hikaru lost in thought.

“Yes, thank you.”

“Thank you for what? ‘I wasn’t of any assistance’ is written all over your face.”

“No, not at all.”

“You could keep going at it, or if you fully disclose the circumstances of the problem, I might be able to think of something.”

Fully disclosing everything meant sharing about House Taylor, and discussing House Taylor meant revealing why Hikaru was fixated on the Four Elementals Fusion Theory. And that was something he wanted to avoid. The information would be traced all the way to Silver Face and Kujastria.

“I’ll count on your help if I run out of options,” Hikaru said.

“I see. Leave it to the pros, I suppose.”

“Hmm?”

“If we’re done here, please leave. I’m quite busy myself.”

Unken seemed to have other plans, ushering him away.

Leave it to the pros…

Leaving the guild through the back door to avoid Gloria, Hikaru racked his brain. Unken seemed to believe that he was getting involved in some kind of trouble. Hence, the words “leave it to the pros.”

Ah, I get it.

Who were the pros in this case?

“It’s been a while since I dropped by.”

Hikaru headed towards the Thieves Guild, based in the underground of Pond. For backdoor businesses, it was best to consult with the experts.

As Hikaru strolled through the town of Pond, memories flooded back to when he worked here. Back then, he was just focused on staying alive. The Count’s assassination, escaping the mansion with Lavia’s help, earning money through the Adventurers Guild.

“Huh? Mister?”

He ran into a familiar girl, the one who gave Hikaru directions to the Adventurers Guild upon his arrival in this world. The next time he saw the girl—Rana—he used her Soul Board for an experiment.

“Long time no see. I hope you’ve been doing well.”

“You too. I haven’t seen you in a while, and since you were an adventurer, I thought you might’ve died.”

Straight to the point. However, to Hikaru, a child’s unpretentious words were refreshing.

“Oh, remember when you gave me money?” she said.

“Did I?”

“Yeah! I got scolded by Mom for receiving such a large sum.”

Hikaru had discreetly unlocked one section of Rana’s Soul Board and learned that his ability had full access to others’ skill trees. Considering that, the money he gave Rana was a small price.

“Is that so? Sorry about that,” Hikaru said. “Is there something you want to do or a talent you want to develop?”

“Huh? Where did this come from?”

“I can use magic that can examine your talents.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Feeling somewhat guilty about tampering with her Soul Board, Hikaru wanted to grant Rana’s wish.

“Well… I wanna be a great singer!”

“Singing, huh? That’s nice.”

“Yeah! Dad says my singing gives him energy.”

Hikaru opened Rana’s Soul Board.

【Soul Board】Rana Valcon
Age: 4 | Rank: 0

【Vitality】

【Instinct】
【Insight】
【Music】1

Hikaru had spent one point to unlock her Vitality board before. He used two points to unlock Intuition and its substat Insight, then put one point into Music, leaving Rana with zero available points.

“All right, it’s done.”

One point alone elevated her from amateur level. If Rana possessed talent in music, there was an increased chance of gaining Blessings related to it on her guild card. Should her passion grow, she would likely refine her skills, naturally increasing the level of her Music stat.

Rana looked confused.

“Thanks for everything,” Hikaru said. “You’re the second person I owed a debt to.”

“I don’t really get it.”

“Makes sense. Good luck with your singing.”

“Thanks! Don’t die out there.”

“Hahaha…”

With a dry laugh, Hikaru parted ways with the girl.

Only the gods knew whether her talents would blossom in the future.

“Now, then.”

He was close to his destination now.

Walking along a small path beside the flowing canal, Hikaru entered the underground passage. This area, known as the underground sewer district, housed the hideout of the Thieves Guild.

Hikaru advanced with his Stealth on. He had his Mana Detection scanning a wide area; there were noticeably fewer people compared to before.

Beside the waterway where purified sewage flowed, an iron door stood, illuminated by a single magic lamp.

Hikaru deactivated Stealth and knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” asked a muffled voice.

“My name is Hikaru. I’ve previously commissioned a job for Mr. Kelbeck, and I’ve come to see him.”

“What’s your business with him?”

“To buy information.”

“Wait there.”

After waiting for a few minutes, the door opened with a soft creak.

Hikaru entered to find what seemed like a waiting room, but it was empty. The door inside led to Kelbeck’s office.

As usual, they have people hidden behind the secret doors on both sides.

Hikaru’s Mana Detection revealed the position of the people.

Not many knew the existence of a residential area in the sewers. Despite what their name might imply, the Thieves Guild was not an organization that dealt with illegal activities. They operated in a gray area, careful not to cross the line into the black. That’s how the organization survived.

“Come in.”

Upon knocking, a familiar voice sounded. It was deep and menacing, enough to bring a little girl like Rana to tears.

Opening the door revealed a room much more luxurious than the waiting room. The couch in the reception area looked better than Unken’s office, and the painting on the wall was quite large. Its motif, a blue sky, felt ironic for an underground space.

Kelbeck was lounging on the couch, legs nonchalantly propped up on the table.

“It’s been a while,” Hikaru said.

“Yeah, didn’t kick the bucket, huh?”

His face bore red flame-like tattoos running from his forehead to his right cheek, neck, and body. His comfortable, laced-up boots and sleeveless shirt were still the same.

“You’re the second person to tell me that today.”

“Hmph. You could think of it as a greeting in this industry.”

A disturbing industry at that.

“That painting looks nice,” Hikaru said. “Business must be booming.”

“Cut the jokes. Why are you here?”

“A bit of small talk doesn’t hurt, does it?”

“I’m a busy man,” Kelbeck said, not hiding his irritation.

“Fine, I’ll cut to the chase. I came to buy information about Ballast Trading.”

Kelbeck’s eyebrows twitched. “The Ballast family again…”

Again? What does that mean?

“Is your grumpiness related to the Ballast Trading Company?”

“They’re not a proper company. Just a bunch of thugs. The Ballast gang, maybe.”

Hikaru didn’t really care about what they were called. Seeing this as an opportunity to gather intel, he agreed with Kelbeck.

“Yeah. Seems like they’re involved in some risky stuff.”

“They’ve been growing like crazy lately, taking jobs at lower rates than various guilds, and even though the quality of their work is shit, they still manage to get jobs. Thanks to that, we lose manpower, jobs, and it’s infuriating.”

Hikaru understood. Ballast Trading and the Thieves Guild probably had overlapping areas of work. The Thieves Guild handled commissions in the gray zone, and they hired the same group of individuals as Ballast Trading—thugs.

Ballast Trading took on more acceptable commissions, while the Thieves Guild took on darker ones. The two organizations that had somehow coexisted until now clashed directly as Ballast Trading tried to expand its influence.

Edward is struggling with failed jobs. The guy is not making anyone happy. We had things like this in Japan too.

Hikaru found it reminiscent of the nightmarish aspects of the IT industry—constantly accepting projects at low prices, hiring anyone available, including those without experience, just to have the numbers, ultimately leading to failed projects with zero profits.

“You didn’t have any sort of agreement with the Ballast family?”

“An agreement? Like, ‘this is our territory, and that’s yours’? No way we’d actually stipulate something that could be traced to us.”

That made sense.

“So, what’s the reason behind the recent rise in influence of the Ballast family?”

“The change in leadership, of course.”

“Right. The distinguished father retired. I heard the eldest son was an exceptional guy.”

“If you know that much, you should understand. Edward, the younger brother, is desperate. No matter what he does, he’s compared to his predecessor and even to his older brother who left for the capital. All he can do is handle the finances. Well, being able to manage finances in this industry is an important skill. But that alone won’t keep the business going. Edward just keeps trying to gather numbers because he knows he has no charisma.”

“…”

Hikaru recalled Edward’s figure from last night. Troubled by failed jobs, the man seemed like a hard worker.

Ironically, his distress might be obvious to people in other organizations. Edward was doing his best to follow the footsteps of his outstanding father and brother, to gain respect, but his efforts were in vain.