kscans

Chapter 234 - All of Humanity, Friends

After a tearful farewell to the great politician Shindo-sensei, I entered the Guild Headquarters. I then headed for the only reception desk.

Just like last time, a young receptionist was there.

"Hello. Oh? You weren't fired?"

As I said that, the receptionist flinched.

"Don't bully my staff too much. She's still a new employee, you know."

I heard a voice and looked to my side to see the Branch Chief standing there.

"How amusing. The last time I was here talking to the receptionist, someone else was standing right where you are. And then I was taken to see the great politician Shindo-sensei."

"That's not funny at all."

I'll bet. Speaking of which, this girl was a new employee? Seriously, don't put a new employee in charge of such an important reception desk. This place is a corrupt company.

"Hmm, oh well. Where's Satsuki-san?"

"This way. And this isn't funny either, but it's that meeting room over there."

The room the Branch Chief indicated was the very same one where I had negotiated with Shindo-sensei.

"I sense some malice here."

"It's the only meeting room we have, so it can't be helped. There won't be any rip-offs this time, so there shouldn't be a problem."

Well, there's no way for them to rip me off. The headquarters just lent us the space, they're not involved in this auction.

"By the way, what happened to that staff member? The one with the glasses."

The guy who looked like my old boss.

"Who would that be? No such man works here."

Ah...

"Never mind, then."

So he got fired... He's one of us now... Serves him right!

"And Shindo?"

"He was taken away by the police."

"So he's finally gone... I'm sorry to have asked this of you. Thank you."

Not at all. I got to see something good, and it put my mind at ease, so no problem.

"I want to protect myself, too."

"Indeed. Well, quite... This way."

The Branch Chief started walking, and when we reached the door right there, he opened it.

"I'll tell you this first, in addition to Sakurai, another person has joined at the last minute. Well then. I have to go deal with Shindo."

Another person? The Director?

Since the Branch Chief had left, I peeked into the room through the open door.

"Hi there!"

"It's you..."

Inside the room was a cheerful Claire.

"Well, don't just stand there, come sit down."

Claire patted the spot on the sofa next to her.

"Shouldn't I be sitting across from you?"

I approached with a sigh and sat down next to Claire.

"You think so?"

"I do... But since I'm always sitting next to you, this feels right."

We're always next to each other in the taxi and at the ramen counter.

"More importantly, Eleanor, how was it outside?" Satsuki-san, sitting across from us, asked.

"Nothing much. They ran away as soon as the police showed up. Just as the informant said, the kind of people who would take on a job like this are on that level."

Apparently, no one wanted to do this job, and all the established groups, including my old neighbor's, had refused. That's probably why they could only find thugs of that caliber.

"Hmm... So there was no need for me to step in, after all."

This woman had been saying she would go out and teach them a lesson herself. She's retired, she should really try to fix that aggressive personality of hers.

"You would have been arrested for excessive self-defense, you know?"

There were tons of police officers there.

"That's true... Oh well. Eleanor, sign here."

Satsuki-san said, handing me a document.

"...It's in English."

Should I drink a Translation Potion...

"I've already checked it, so it's fine. It's just a consent form to confirm you agree with the results of the auction."

"In that case, fine."

I wrote 'Eleanor Ocean' in the signature field of the document and handed it back to Satsuki-san.

"Katakana is fine, right?"

"It is. Well then, I'll send this to the WGO Headquarters. That's all from me. You can discuss the handover and such with her."

Satsuki-san put the document in her bag and started fiddling with her phone.

"Playing social games again... Claire, are you here to explain things?"

"Yep. Originally, one of the bigwigs from my country was supposed to come, but they started arguing over who should go. Then Norman just said, 'You go'."

Is that really how it works, Norman? As expected of the man who smokes while showering.

"Well, I don't care about your country's squabbles. More importantly, did you really team up with Japan?"

"Apparently so. We won because of it. Russia was surprisingly lukewarm, but it was a close call with China."

"I feel like we're going to get complaints about that later."

There will definitely be trouble when they find out we teamed up with Japan.

"Who knows? It has nothing to do with me, that's the government's job."

Well, even though she's a former soldier, she's an adventurer now.

"So? How is the handover going to work?"

"I'll be handling the delivery. The usual taxi, you know."

So that's why they designated Claire...

"By the way, where's the muscle-fool?"

"The fool went to Hokkaido to eat ramen. There's no reason for him to be staking out Ikebukuro now."

He really is a fool.

"He's probably going to travel all over the country, isn't he."

"Wouldn't be surprised. I can't be bothered to go with him."

So true, so true.

"Putting the ramen muscle-fool aside, how many installments for the payment?"

"Let's see, I'll relay the President's words. The handover will be done using the 2,000-kilogram item bag we received as a Christmas present. So, 300 tons divided by 2 tons means it will be 150 installments. If we had more item bags, we could deliver it faster..."

She's definitely hinting at something...

"Give me another 10 tons of gold, and I'll trade you a 10-ton item bag."

A single rubber band for a kilogram of gold!?

"Hmm, hmm... This is a case for me, your contracted agent. You stay quiet. I'll handle the negotiations with the President."

Claire's eyes gleamed.

"Are you sure?"

"That's my job. You just have to say you delegated it to me. Got it?"

Everyone is so greedy. Money, money, money. Well, I'm one to talk...

"Alright. I'll leave it to you. 10 tons for 30 installments. We have other deals to make anyway, so the taxi is fine."

"Roger that. Leave it to me. See, it's good to have friends."

I really can't trust the 'friends' you people talk about. The country of business is a scary place.

"That's fine... Well, are we done here? Let me know when you're ready."

With that, I stood up.

"You got it."

Claire waved.

"Satsuki-san, are you leaving too? Yoshino-san's car is outside."

"No, I have something to discuss with the Branch Chief, so I'll take a taxi back."

"Oh, alright. See you, then. I'll be in touch."

We still have to have our victory party.

"Yeah. See you later."

I waved to Satsuki-san and Claire, left the room, and then the Guild. Then, I got into Yoshino-san's car and headed back home.