Chapter 54: We Have A Problem
Shinozaki drank some tea, placed the cup on the coffee table, and lit a cigarette.
Himura hated the smell of cigarettes, but at that moment, he was a little more tolerant.
"How much money was spent on this entire plan?"
"More than forty million gold coins on the loans and the purchase of monster drops. We recovered two million by reselling some items, and we plan to spend another five million."
"That’s a huge waste of gold coins."
"Why do you think that?"
"Simple, there are easier and faster ways to destroy a dungeon. I’m destroying Masaru’s dungeon myself."
"But I’m already doing that, I mean, I’m destroying all of them at the same time."
"You’re very disconnected from the world, aren’t you?"
He did not answer.
"Masaru is currently holding an event at the guild. He’s selling a lot of crystals to the electric company. Your plan to destroy their source of income had no effect whatsoever on Masaru’s guild."
"It doesn’t make sense, but even so, the amount of coins he can make is barely enough to pay the debt."
Shinozaki looked at Kanzaki Kazuma.
"That’s not quite how it is. Masaru has already paid the debt in full, that’s the information we have."
Himura picked up his phone and called someone.
"I want to know the status of Kurosawa Masaru’s debt."
Shinozaki stared at Himura while he waited for the answer. Kazuma took some more tea.
Himura hung up the call and sat down.
"How did you know that before me?"
"Your employees are very noisy."
"How did he manage to pay four hundred thousand gold coins all at once?"
"There is another question you should be asking: how did he get five thousand gold coins to give as a prize? Besides those coins, he’s going to buy all the drops at a higher price."
"Someone is acting without us knowing. Who could it be?"
"Kazehara. I thought of them, only they would have that much money and, at the same time, some desire to help the city’s guilds, although I don’t think it’s them."
"Why don’t you think it’s them?"
"Understand, it’s not that I’m certain of it. I just think Kazehara wouldn’t use that much money to save a vassal family that isn’t even really a vassal, but at the same time, I can’t think of anyone else."
"And what are you doing differently?"
"I’m causing some events in his dungeon, and right now, a massive stampede is occurring across fourteen floors."
Kazuma wanted to tell the truth, but he remained silent.
"Have you considered that these events are destroying my plan?"
"What do you mean?"
"Before I explain, tell me exactly what you have been doing to destroy Masaru and why exactly him."
"Two of Kazuma’s employees are using magical artifacts to induce the appearance of some stronger monsters and some boss events. But they are larger events that are difficult to deal with. This way, the guild will lose the rest of the customers they still managed to keep.
And the reason it’s him, well, there’s nothing special about it. I just wanted to start with someone and noticed that he was doing relatively well. He could still sell a lot of slime crystals and other weak monsters. Even though they were few, this would help delay the entire plan."
Himura stood up and went to the window, then he sat down. He could not put everything he was thinking into words. He spent a few more seconds thinking.
"You’re idiots, aren’t you?"
"But what are you saying?" Shinozaki asked, she was angry, but still remained calm.
"Not once did you think that this would make more money for him?"
"..."
"He’s level 95, his strength is enough to kill any monster below the fiftieth floor with a single blow, he can deal with dragons. These boss events must be what gave him so much money."
"Impossible, even he couldn’t deal with that many monsters."
"That’s your problem, people who don’t live in guilds don’t know how everything works. Fatigue and other problems are quickly avoided, and he’s very good at alchemy, his sister is too. You should know that."
"But what does that have to do with him getting so much money?"
"He can make a lot of potions, the cost of a bottle is very low, and because of that, he wouldn’t save potions just to keep fighting all day. You literally gave him more money."
Himura stood up and once again went to the window, he was trying to calm down.
He remembered something. He sat down and searched for a spreadsheet, looked through all the data, and opened another spreadsheet.
"Found it," Himura said, pointing at the monitor.
"What did you find?"
"I hadn’t noticed it until now, but I bought a lot of boss crystals, and when I say a lot, I mean an amount I had never seen in my entire life. I spent more than fifty gold coins on these crystals, not counting many extra crystals that were purchased. Two weeks ago, the number of crystals purchased increased by more than 50%."
’Two weeks?’, Shinozaki thought.
Kazuma looked at her, and she looked back.
"What happened?"
"..."
"Let me guess, you started the plan two weeks ago, am I right?"
"Yes, you’re right."
"Now I need to think a little more. Adventurers who got those kills, or is Masaru selling them to me?"
"The second option is more likely," Kazuma replied.
"Explain."
"Masaru’s guild prohibits the sale of items to third parties. They do allow it, but there is a limit on crystals. There is a system that detects the crystals adventurers brought in and took out. If someone enters with five crystals and leaves with six, the system considers that the adventurer is leaving with one crystal. This way, it prevents problems with crystals the person already has for some reason. I sold the system to him myself."
"So he found someone willing to do all the dirty work for him. If that’s the case, the plan is almost ruined, at least for his guild."
Kazuma received a message.
"All because of you."
Himura was angry, but he was much more disappointed by the stupidity of the two.
"We have a problem," Kazuma said, looking at Shinozaki.