Volume 18 Side Story 3, Inspectors (Part 2)

Rodogel finally came to his senses when Ghazala’s words had been heard by the adventurers.

“Inspectors! What are they?”

“Oh~. Hmm… I’m not sure. Just please give your best regards to the inspector. …Oops, as for you, stay put.”

The conversation, which Ghazala thought was cool, ended up being tossed to Lisa.

His final words were directed at Geric, who tried to escape.

As for Geric, another fellow who was working with Lisa immediately kept an eye on him.

Lisa, now being the center of attention, couldn’t help but sigh.

“I don’t want to be the center of attention. Why didn’t you just stand out and continue on? Instead of tossing it to me… Haa… well, I was going to identify myself anyway, so I guess it’s fine.”

After complaining to Ghazala for a moment, she turned her gaze to Rodogel.

“What’s an inspector… well, it means exactly what it says: a person who has the authority to punish anyone who commits any crimes within Crown.”

“I, I’ve never heard of such a thing!”

“Of course not. Why should I bother to tell you when you’ve been committing crimes since the beginning?”

Lisa cut off Rodogel’s nonsensical defiance.

“But I’m the branch manager! It doesn’t matter if you’re an inspector or what, but you can’t punish me as a slave!”

At Rodogel’s words, Lisa let out a sigh.

Rodogel was right, Lisa was a slave. But….

“Indeed, I am a slave… But still, you don’t understand Amamiya Tower’s main principles at all, do you?”

“What are you talking about?

“Well, I’ll let you all hear it for yourselves. One of our basic principles is the treatment of slaves. Even if they are slaves, depending on their work, they are treated the same way as normal people, understand?”

Slaves, to begin with, could not defy their masters.

Conversely, they would never envy their masters.

Depending on the time and occasion, these characteristics could make them good for any organization.

“In Amamiya, for example, the treatment of slaves is incredibly good. I’d love to see if any slaves who don’t take things seriously or don’t work even exist.”

Gradually, Lisa’s tone became more and more enthusiastic.

Ghazala saw this and admonished her with a wry smile.

“Hey, hey, inspector. You’re getting off-topic.”

Lisa’s expression turned into a gasp, and she cleared her throat with a cough once.

“Ah, anyways, as long as I am an inspector, even if I am a slave, it means that I am entitled to do whatever I want to you. No, rather, you could say that it is because I am a slave?”

“…”

“That’s why you should just give up.”

“…Kakakaka.”

Rodogel, who had been listening silently until then, suddenly burst out laughing.

“Do you really think any of these people would believe you, a so-called ‘inspector’ after being told something like this out of the blue?”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing. All I can say is that I have never heard of inspectors. I am the branch manager and I have never heard of them. Your story is crazy. No one is stupid enough to take such a story seriously!”

Rodogel’s words caused a stir around him.

It was only natural.

It was unbelievable that Lisa, a slave who had suddenly appeared on the scene, had such authority.

In this case, Rodogel’s words were more credible.

If the inspectors were known to the public, Rodogel’s strong argument would not have been accepted.

But when Lisa and Ghazala heard Rodogel’s words, they looked at each other and laughed.

“No, no. It’s really funny when it’s so much like I imagined.”

“In this case, let’s just call it a quirk.”

Rodogel responded to their dialogue as if he had known from the beginning.

“What do you mean?”

Ignoring Rodogel’s words, Ghazala produced a card from his pocket and flicked it toward the receptionist.

“Take this card to the machine and read it.”

Before Rodogel could stop him, one of the receptionists picked up the card and placed it on the machine to be read.

Unbeknownst to all but the people involved, the person who picked up the card was also a slave. One of the people in charge, who also had the responsibility of reporting regularly on the status of the branch.

During this time, Rodogel hesitated to stop him because he did not know what the card was about.

If he had known, Rodogel would have tried his best to stop him. However, the suspicion of everything the other party stated had delayed his decision.

That time would evidently turn out to be crucial.

The woman at the reception desk scanned the card and the other female receptionists who were watching were stunned to see what was displayed there.

They had never seen anything like it before.

Rather, they just heard stories about it.

Crown cards, apart from those of other guilds and official guilds, are marked by color to indicate something other than the usual ranks.

If someone was a regular adventurer, the color would be blue, if they were recognized as a contributor to the Crown, the color would be red, and so on.

The first thing any would-be receptionist would have heard about, were cards that were coloured platinum.

The person with such a card was considered an important person in Crown.

However, they had never seen a card with such a color before.

Another reason why the people holding such cards were considered important, was because it had an essential authority attached to it.

“Platinum card…”

“….Huh!!!??”

One of the receptionists muttered, and Rodogel couldn’t help but exclaim.

Of course, Rodogel knew what that card meant.

“You seem to know what that quirky card means.”

Ghazala said, but only those in charge of operations had any reaction. The adventurers outside the counter were simply confused since they did not know what this meant..

For those adventurers who had been left behind, Ghazala continued his explanation.

“Simply put, one who holds that card can revoke the permission to use the transfer gate to Amamiya Tower.”

Ghazala explained it simply, but it took some time for its meaning to sink in.

However, the adventurers were gradually getting a sense of what it meant to have such an authority in Crown. Especially when the headquarters was located in Amamiya Tower.

“In a nutshell, it means you would lose your position and never be able to set foot into headquarters, right?”

Conversely, it meant that anyone with this platinum card occupied a position of considerable importance to Crown.

“Just so you know, it’s no use trying to get rid of that card, okay?”

Lisa said to Rodogel, who was about to move to do something about that card.

“Many people have misunderstood, but the card itself is just something that allows you to see your status. Even if it is lost or destroyed, the person’s personal information has already been registered, so another card can be reissued at any time.”

Naturally, it would be impossible to impersonate someone, which was common sense, so she didn’t mention it.

“I’ll prove that it’s mine, so can I have it back?”

Lisa said and walked toward the receptionist.

“Wait a minute…!”

“Whoa, hold it right there”

Rodogel’s actions were quickly stopped by Ghazala.

One of the receptionists shakily offered the card to Lisa, who took it back.

Upon accepting the card, Lisa immediately proved that the card belonged to herself by applying magic power to it.

The reason why Ghazala was holding the card and not Lisa was solely for precaution.

“Now we have proof, right?”

Undoubtedly, Lisa’s magic power had activated the card.

No one would have thought that Lisa was a fake after all this.

Naturally from now, only Rodogel’s own people would follow his orders. Furthermore, Rodogel’s crimes could no longer continue.

Eventually, Crown was able to install a new branch manager without losing credibility at the last minute.

The new branch manager was selected by Crown, and because of Rodogel, it would be a long time before another branch manager would be selected from the people of the northern town.