The Dark Side of the Adventurer's Guild

Orleans returned from the front door.

In her hand was a single business card.

It seemed she had come back to confirm something before proceeding.

The guest was probably waiting at the entrance.

"Sir, a visitor has arrived. Here you are."

"Ah, let me see."

He took the business card from Orleans.

It read: Adventurer Insurance Association.

And it wasn't just a messenger. A director had come in person.

The name… didn't ring a bell.

"Is this separate from the Adventurer's Guild? I've never heard of an organization like this. It seems rather suspicious."

"No, it's a real organization. It's not that they're passing off some made-up organization."

"Is that so? I apologize for my ignorance."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. There's no question that this organization has low name recognition, so it's perfectly understandable that you haven't heard of it."

He consoled the dejected Orleans.

The Adventurer Insurance Association was a subsidiary of the Adventurer's Guild, an organization that provided insurance to adventurers.

That's right, insurance.

It was operated with the purpose of providing compensation in the event of injury or disappearance.

Its funding came from a portion of the fees the Adventurer's Guild collected from adventurers, and normally those funds would be put toward lending and similar activities.

Things like commission fees and monster material purchase fees.

Each individual transaction was small, but the sheer volume was enormous, and high-ranking adventurers dealt in large sums per job.

The Adventurer's Guild wasn't just an organization that skimmed off the top.

They did things like this too.

It was a massive organization with branches across the entire continent.

The amount of money they handled had to be staggering.

He gave them a brief overview.

After hearing it, Azu let out a thoughtful "hmm" and fell into thought.

"Just hearing that, it sounds like a really wonderful organization for us adventurers. So why is it so unknown? I'd think every adventurer would know about it."

"That's precisely the problem…"

At first glance, it seemed like an excellent organization.

Adventurers who ventured into unknown places, fought bandits on escort missions, or battled monsters in labyrinths were constantly exposed to mortal danger.

The payoffs could be big, but the risks were equally significant.

And when fewer people wanted to become adventurers, it was the nation that suffered.

Countries wanted adventurers to take on those dangerous tasks.

That was exactly why there was a persistent call for a safety net.

The Adventurer Insurance Association was born in answer to that call, but…

"First of all, the number of compensation cases is extremely low. The paperwork to apply for insurance is filled with difficult terminology, and if you can't read or write, it's impossible. They don't accept proxies either. In other words, it's been designed so that the people who need compensation the most have the hardest time getting it. And the reception desk doesn't even tell you about it."

"What… what is that?"

Elza, who had been listening nearby, looked shocked.

Even her usual smile had vanished, showing just how taken aback she was.

Azu and Orleans also had strained expressions after hearing what Yohane said.

"Then it's not compensation at all! The money is being deducted from what adventurers earn. To think they won't use it for the adventurers… Master, how do you know all this?"

"I'm a guild member, after all. You know how I pay the membership fee so they send commissions our way without having to go to the guild in person? It was written in tiny print in the corner of the documents I received."

He showed the three of them. Look.

"This… part?"

What Azu pointed to was text written in small print at the bottom.

The explanation was written in a way that was hard to make out.

"There's no way anyone could understand this from just one reading."

"Exactly. Even if an adventurer saw it, it's written so they'd skip right over it. In other words, they don't want to pay out. If nobody knows the Association exists, nobody applies. If the application process is difficult, claims don't get approved. There's even a rumor that having fewer applications is viewed favorably in personnel reviews."

"That's terrible… You said the leftover money goes to lending?"

The money collected as a portion of fees under the pretense of compensation was, in reality, lent back to adventurers and lining the Adventurer's Guild's pockets.

Loans for high-end equipment were apparently the most popular.

"Ah, my head is starting to hurt… At that point, isn't it just exploitation?"

"The lending part isn't all bad on its own. The interest rates are lower than regular moneylenders, and for adventurers whose equipment directly affects their results and safety, it's actually a helpful system. The problem is still the fact that it doesn't function as insurance."

Yohane had researched adventurers extensively when he first purchased Azu as a slave.

How to turn a profit, safety concerns, and how the Adventurer's Guild itself made money. He'd looked into all of it.

That was when he noticed this dysfunctional skimming and chose to become a guild member receiving commissions rather than taking jobs directly from the guild.

He figured that this way, he'd eventually end up with more in his pocket even after accounting for the membership fee.

From the guild's perspective, the membership fee was a stable source of income, so they wouldn't complain.

It wasn't as though he never sold materials or took direct jobs, but the results had been satisfactory.

Lately, since he hadn't been sending Azu and the others out on adventures, he'd been passing along the remaining commissions to Kazusa's Cat's Paw Inn.

That had been well-received and contributed significantly to the inn's revenue.

Since the inn's profits came back to Yohane, it was a nice source of income as well.

"You've really thought about a lot of things, haven't you, Master."

"At worst, I figured I could just run an agency. It's thanks to all your hard work that we're doing this well."

He praised the impressed Azu.

This was a business he'd started by going into debt. It had to succeed.

"I'm starting to feel sick… It's utterly disrespectful to the people risking their lives against monsters."

"Someone probably decided that paying out every time would drain the principal. That person was surely the type who only cares about numbers on paper. An unpleasant character, no doubt… But what could someone from that kind of organization possibly want with us? I can't just turn them away since I'm a guild member, and it'd be rude to keep them waiting any longer. Let them in. Elza, tell the two in the kitchen not to bring any food out until the guest leaves."

"Okay…"

"Understood, sir. I'll bring them in."

Elza headed to the kitchen, holding her head.

Orleans went to the front door.

Well then, let's see how this goes.