Exploitation

“Cysh grass, gathered lots.”

High-grade medicinal herbs were piled higher and higher on the reception counter.

The receptionist Pilitza found herself frozen in place at the sight.

“These, not stolen. If this many got stolen, that person, would notice. Right?”

The one piling up the mountain of herbs while saying this in halting fragments was the black-haired, black-eyed cursed child Emi, the same one Pilitza had treated so harshly and kicked out of the branch office yesterday.

Emi had thought it through.

Was there a way to prove she had gathered the Cysh grass herself without a companion to act as a witness?

In the end, there was no such convenient method, but what she came up with instead was to ‘show so much ability that accusing her of stealing would look ridiculous’.

This receptionist thought Emi was just a vagrant child who couldn't get enough to eat.

......Well, that perception might not have been all that wrong, but anyway, she was underestimating Emi's abilities.

That was why she treated her so carelessly.

This cursed child is strong and capable.

If Pilitza could be made to think that, then instead of brushing her off and kicking her out of the Adventurers' Guild, properly making her an adventurer and putting her to work would be the better deal for the guild too.

Surely that was the judgment she would come to, Emi had thought.

“So these, I gathered them. Me, can I become adventurer?”

“W, w, w, wait just a minute!”

Right now, the only people in the branch office were Pilitza and the cursed child across the counter.

The only other staff member, the vice-chief, was on his lunch break.

Pilitza hid the submitted Cysh grass where it wouldn't be seen, and placed an ‘On Break’ sign on the counter.

“You, come over here for a moment.”

Pilitza led the cursed child into a small meeting room used for interviews with adventurers or business negotiations with vendors.

Normally, Pilitza would absolutely refuse to be alone in a cramped room with a cursed child, but the circumstances were exceptional this time.

She guided her carefully, making sure the cursed child didn't notice her body trembling.

That trembling came from neither fear, nor disgust.

It was ecstasy.

Pilitza was trembling with joy.

(It was worth enduring life in the boonies! My luck is finally turning around~!)

......Under normal circumstances, Emi's plan would have undoubtedly succeeded.

Had her opponent been anyone but this fallen receptionist Pilitza.

Emi was exceptional.

She really did have the ability to gather high-grade medicinal herbs in bulk.

That fact had definitely gotten through to Pilitza.

But what mattered most to Pilitza, always, was herself.

Nurturing a capable child as an adventurer.

Indeed, by doing that, she could certainly make a great contribution to the guild.

But what benefit would Pilitza get from that?

At most, she'd get a small bonus.

Ridiculous.

Rather than that.

Trick this cursed child.

Squeeze her dry.

Exploit her for all she was worth.

That was the only picture that came to Pilitza's mind.

The other party was a cursed child anyway.

Even if she exploited her unlawfully, no one would lift a finger to help.

Incidentally, Pilitza still didn't really understand Emi's strength, so the possibility of Emi retaliating never even crossed her mind.

She didn't feel a shred of guilt.

For a while after being demoted to Yoshanka, Pilitza had stayed quiet and refrained from fraud, but that wasn't because she was reflecting on her actions; it was because she was being cautious.

Then, once she became convinced that the checks on her were looser than she thought, she began committing fraud just as she had when she was in the Royal Capital (though her methods had become more sophisticated than before).

Skimming rewards, fraudulent processing of requests, inflating expenses and travel costs......

Since nobody ever caught on, she had been doing pretty much as she pleased.

There was no way such a person would feel guilt now.

In any case, Pilitza's nose, the intuition she had honed as a small-time crook, was calling out to her.

That this, was a chance to make money.

Pilitza decided to act on that intuition.

◇ ◇ ◇

“So, you discovered a colony of Cysh grass in Kaise Forest. Is that correct?”

“Yeah.”

Thanks to her life at the Baron's house, she had become a bit more talkative recently, but Emi was still not very good at conversation.

Irritated by how slowly the interview was going, Pilitza finally got as far as the facts above.

While scribbling on the interview sheet, Pilitza continued her questioning.

“A colony of Cysh grass in the outer zone of Kaise Forest...... There is such a thing, yes, reports like that have reached the guild before. However, that area should be Lovely Bunny territory......”

“Beat them.”

“Hm, I see, I see......”

Let me say it again: Pilitza did not understand Emi's strength.

She judged the statement ‘Beat them’ to be a lie told to save face.

(The leader of the Lovely Bunny pack probably changed. And they moved their territory along with it. This brat just happened to find the spot they left empty. Lucky her~, and lucky me.)

As for why ‘me too’ was lucky: if another adventurer had found that safe colony of Cysh grass, Pilitza would have had to pay them a fair price.

With a young cursed child, she could deceive and exploit her all she liked.

“Also, many poisonous snakes called Yasago inhabit the forest; how did you deal with them?”

“Beat them.”

“Hm, I see, I see......”

The fact was, this cursed child had gone into Kaise Forest and come back alive.

If so, she must have definitely done something to deal with the poisonous snakes.

That method was likely some survival wisdom she'd picked up while living as a vagrant.

Pilitza wanted to obtain that information if possible, but she was getting tired of talking to this conversationally challenged cursed child, so she decided not to dig deeper into the topic.

“......Hey, can I become an adventurer? Me.”

“Hmm, let's see......”

To begin with, Pilitza had ordered the Cysh grass gathering as the ‘task’ for becoming an adventurer, so now that Emi had done it, not making her an adventurer would be strange (well, it was strange from the start, since you don't actually need to complete a ‘task’ to become an adventurer, but let's set that aside).

But the moment she made Emi an adventurer, Emi would be protected by the “Adventurer Rules.”

The “Adventurer Rules” were the various rules laid down by the Adventurers' Guild.

Among them were clauses meant to keep adventurers from being unfairly exploited.

So there was no way Pilitza could make Emi an adventurer.

Pilitza could do whatever she liked with Emi only because two conditions overlapped: she was a socially despised “cursed child,” and she was not yet an adventurer.

“......It is a fact that you gathered Cysh grass and completed the ‘task’.”

“......Then.”

“However, most unfortunately, I cannot recognize you as an adventurer based on this alone.”

“............”

With her eyebrows lowered and a regretful expression on her face, Pilitza delivered the news.

In response, Emi remained expressionless.

Pilitza couldn't tell what she was thinking.

What a truly creepy brat.

But she was frustrated, she was disappointed.

Pilitza felt that this must be the case.

“I will explain the reason. First, regarding those herbs you gathered, 90 percent of them are not Cysh grass, but a different species of herb called ‘false Cysh grass’. They are certainly medicinal herbs, but their value is significantly lower.”

“That can't be.”

“It is a fact. As a guild receptionist, I have confidence and pride in my material appraisal skills. There is no mistake.”

A blatant lie.

Everything Emi had brought in was undoubtedly Cysh grass.

“Normally, bringing in fakes as the requested items can get you charged with making a false report. I'm sure you had no such intention, but you submitted a false report to the guild. If this had been an actual request, you would be facing penalties right now, you know? Naturally, this means you cannot be said to have achieved the ‘task’. Do you understand?”

“............”

Pilitza rattled off lies as they came to her.

The other party was just a vagrant, a cursed child, after all.

Someone with no schooling, no education.

There was no way she'd notice Pilitza's lies.

“......However, it is a fact that you gathered real Cysh grass, even if it was only 10 percent. I think it would be far too wasteful to simply cast you out like this.”

“............”

“Therefore, I think I shall give you a chance.”

“......A chance?”

Pilitza pressed her advantage.

“That's right. A new ‘task’. For the next month, please submit at least 3 stalks of Cysh grass to me every day. This is unrelated to guild requests, so...... let's see, how about delivering them to my house around 8 at night? I live on the ground floor of the house with the triangular roof behind the main street. There, I will determine if they are real or fake and tell you the result. By doing so, you can learn how to distinguish the herbs, so it's not a bad deal, right?”

“............”

“Ah, of course, I'm not saying you should do it for free. Since it's not an official request, the guild cannot provide a reward...... but I shall give you some pocket money myself. Here is the portion for this time.”

With that, Pilitza took 5,000 enn from her pocket and handed it to Emi.

Emi stared at the money, silent for a while, expressionless, thinking something over, then looked up at Pilitza again.

“If I do that ‘task’, can I become an adventurer?”

“Yes, if you work hard for a month, I'll negotiate with the higher-ups and see what I can do!”

Another lie.

In another month, Chief Dakkante, the head of this branch office, would return to Yoshanka.

Even with a cursed child on the receiving end, he would never tolerate this kind of exploitation by a guild employee.

He was sharp on top of that, so it would be hard to keep exploiting Emi while hiding her from him.

There had already been several times where Pilitza's fraudulent bookkeeping and accompanying embezzlement were nearly discovered.

Pilitza intended to dispose of Emi before Chief Dakkante returned.

“Now, do you understand? I can't spend any more time on you and leave the counter empty. That is all.”

Cutting the conversation short, Pilitza kicked Emi out of the meeting room.

◇ ◇ ◇

“......If I work hard, make me an adventurer, okay?”

“Yes, yes. Of cooourse.”

Looking back at Pilitza, the cursed child made sure one more time, then left the guild.

Pilitza gave a distracted reply while staring at the herbs the cursed child had brought with a smirk.

(Yesterday's Cysh grass sold for 50,000 enn per stalk, so...... wow! Today's sales, 10 stalks of Cysh grass, is 500,000 enn!?)

A full 2 months' worth of Pilitza's salary.

Incidentally, the Cysh grass Emi had submitted yesterday had long since been sold, and the money had been pocketed.

Of course, Pilitza didn't take the full amount.

She properly paid the guild's commission and took the amount that should have been paid to the adventurer as a reward.

This way, the books balanced.

“Ufufu...... ufufufufu......!”

She couldn't stop laughing.

Thinking back, it had been 5 hard years since she was sent to the town of Yoshanka.

Putting up with the cold sea wind, Pilitza had gritted her teeth through a country life she didn't even like.

This was surely the gods rewarding Pilitza for all her hard work.

Suppressing the urge to do a little dance, Pilitza returned to her desk and resumed her duties.