Chapter 61 – Glasses boy distractedly thinks

“One set of grilled duck with herbs incoming!” A waiter said.

I slowly soaked in the hot water, washed off the fatigue and dirt from the trip, then thought about various things.

Like yeah, duck meat is good too. Sauce made with herbs and chopped onions is also great.

After I had enough of the bath, I left it, put my clothes on, then went to a restaurant, sat down at a table and ordered some food, which arrived shortly after.

As I ate it, I started thinking about my current circumstances.

I was told to visit the assassin’s guild, so I don’t think it’s possible for the guild to not exist here.

I’m not in a distant foreign country that is half a year away from the assassin’s village, but at a nearby town that can be reached in two or three days. There is no way the village is behind on what is happening here.

I think it’s quite possible that they knew that the hunter’s guild had collapsed even.

Mmmm, vegetables go well as a side dish. When I was young, I didn’t really like vegetables, but now… Well, I still don’t like them, but I can eat them normally.

There aren’t many ingredients in this dish, but the herbs make it smell particularly nice. The pale amber soup, which is of the same color as my eyes, is also quite delicious.

Is this just seasoned with salt? But there is a faint taste of something else… Fish, maybe? Perhaps. Maybe it was a fish that changed the soup’s color.

The amount of information I have is limited. Both for the soup and for the assassin’s guild.

I know the hunter’s guild has collapsed.

But I also know the assassin’s guild exists.

If I were to connect both things without creating a contradiction, then it means that the assassin’s guild exists without the hunter’s guild working as a cover.

Maybe they use some other establishment as their cover now? Or are they proudly working alone at the underworld in here.

… Well, working proudly in the underworld doesn’t sound right.

Also, this possibility is unlikely to be true.

While I sunk the hard bread into the soup, I listened to the conversation of two women sitting next to me.

“Oh, this fruit gelato is quite different!” One woman said.

“Eating this after a bath feels perfect!” Another woman said.

A fruit gelato…? I’m curious.

In any case, I think the assassin’s guild does too little to be existing only in the underworld.

Weiss said that there are almost no assassination jobs these days, after all. I don’t think this kind of organization can proudly stand over the underworld.

My master told me that the underworld is more about connections and how much money you can make, than about ability itself.

Master said that he had interacted with the underworld before, but his skill alone wasn’t enough to survive there, so he gave up on it… I thought that it was all just nonsense though, so I ignored him, but maybe there was some truth in his words.

Well, it doesn’t matter if it was true or not.

In any case, the current group of assassins are people who originally worked for the country, but were, at least on paper, dismantled.

Right now, the assassin’s guild is an organization formed by Weiss and other assassins, who have been unable to find work from the kingdom, so they started getting work from the private sector instead.

So, in that case-

“Excuse me, one gelato please.” I asked a waiter who was passing by.

I mean, I don’t know when I’ll have another chance to eat this, so it’s fine to splurge a bit.

So, in that case, since the assassins aren’t making money due to a draught of work, it’s not possible for them to be ruling over the underworld, as there are simply no jobs for them there.

Besides, if the assassins were in charge of the underworld, then there would be no reason to create an assassin’s village. They’d definitely train new assassins within the city itself, instead of in a remote village, if they had this kind of power.

In other words, assassins don’t have much money nor jobs, so they can’t rule over the underworld.

Therefore, they certainly have something, that is not the hunter’s guild, working as a cover for them.

As soon as I finished eating the meal, the fruit gelato was brought to me.

Is this an ice-based sweet? What even is this?

I scooped some colorful fine ice and brought it to my mouth, “… Sweet.”

A cold feeling permeated my body that had been warmed up in the bath… Yeah, this is good.

How do they prepare the ice though? We’re not in the season for snow or frozen lakes.

“Excuse me.” I asked a nearby waiter about it as I thought about the assassin’s guild.

If they’re hiding under something that isn’t the hunter’s guild, how do I expose them?

Huh? The ice comes from a magic core? How come?

… The waiter couldn’t share the details, but there is apparently a monster called White Spider, whose cores can be used to make the sweet.

Well, as long as my direction has been decided, it shouldn’t be too hard to find them. I just need to find an informant, someone familiar with what happened since the hunter’s guild was dissolved.

And I already know where an informant might be.

While tasting the cold dessert, I decided to go there as soon as I finished eating.

******

After eating another serving of the dessert, I left.

Seems like thinking while eating ends up distracting me a bit too much.

But well, after thoroughly enjoying Haidiga’s cuisine, I left the restaurant. Right now, the sky had started to darken.

It’s almost night.

I don’t know if this time is convenient or not, but it should be fine to go take a look at least. Let’s go to the place where an informant should be at.

My destination is the slums.

This is the perfect time for people who want to start drinking, so plenty of people are coming and going through the streets.

It’s also a bit too early for most stores to close, while taverns are starting to get filled up.

Today I ended up having to walk quite a bit to get the information I wanted, so I now have a rough map of the city in my head.

I walked through a lively street, made a turn, and gradually moved in the direction where there were no stores.

Once I reached a point where the hustle and bustle had completely subsided, I started seeing people sleeping in shabby rags.

Yeah, there is no doubt about it. The informant is here.

When I was in the capital, as soon as I understood the meaning of the numbers that the glasses showed me, I started looking around the capital to see people’s numbers.

The reason behind it was… Well, I think it was mostly curiosity.

That number was my winning percentage when using a surprise attack, most likely.

It’s interesting to compare the high numbers of ordinary people with the extremely low numbers of skilled people.

Sometimes though, people that appear to be skilled actually have fairly high numbers.

But more interesting than that, is when I look at someone that seems to be perfectly ordinary, but that has an extremely low number… To put it simply, some strong people are concealing themselves.

This is particularly noticeably in the slums, as the people here live only in the extremes. I either see “99” or “1”.

The 99s are undoubtedly hungry people who are tired of life.

But the 1…

“… Huh? What is it, boy? Will you help me?” A man asked me.

He had long hair and beard, and he was laying on a tattered rug that seemed to be have been originally made of leather.

It’s hard to be sure of how old he is. He is thin, skinny, has a lifeless face, smells bad, and absolutely looks like a homeless man.

But his number is 1.

I showed him a bit of bloodlust, then the man instantly stood up and gained distance with an unbelievably fast speed.

It was amazing how fast he was. Had I played poorly here, I would surely be in a bad spot now.

The man laughed creepily, “What is it boy? Won’t you greet me at least?”

Seeing that I didn’t do anything else, the man just gave me a wild and terrifying grin… Oh, wow, scary. This person is undoubtedly strong.

His number also changed to 0.

I don’t know if he is an informant or not, but this person is surely someone who lives in the underworld.

Therefore, he should at least know who is the informant.