Chapter 37

Normally, Iiria was a mess without Kururu taking care of her, but apparently she could at least seem every bit the lord while she was holding her breath.

Once Iiria received the sudden visitors in audience, the circumstances quickly became clear.

“They seem to be master craftsmen with struggling workshops and not much skill to speak of.”

It seemed the magic stone processing master craftsmen, having learned that we had barged into the guild, had grown uneasy and were listening in, wondering whether something had happened again.

After the meeting with the guildmaster, when Kururu left the hall and turned her gaze toward the back alley, it seemed she had already noticed them.

“They believe that just like you took Nodon’s seat, you’re going to take over the guild.”

“Huh!?”

The guildmaster had certainly said as much, but I had clearly denied it.

“So they moved first and came to show their submission.”

As Kururu muttered that in understanding, Iiria shrugged her shoulders.

“That’s because you went and told the master craftsmen to become apprentices.”

I still felt like the concept of division of labor had not gotten across at all, but in any case, it was apparently true that I had caused unrest and division among the artisans.

“That’s why I told you it was impossible.”

While Iiria said that, Kururu gave my shoulder a couple of pats.

“Well, now it’s obvious, isn’t it?”

“Hm?”

“Just like you wanted, you should take over the guild.”

Kururu was wearing an almost refreshing smile instead.

“If you do that, you can do as you please. Drive out those fools who go on about honor, honor while clutching at something they can’t even protect, and take command yourself. Iiria-sama wouldn’t object either, right?”

Iiria, having untied the hair she had bound up for the audience and letting the back she had straightened start to slump again, drew in her neck a little.

“I’ve come to understand in my bones just how important the magic stone trade is, so if Yorinobu were to lead the Magic Stone Processors’ Guild, it’s true I’d feel at ease.”

Production was being overseen by Kengo, and sales were naturally handled by me, the one who had taken over the Nodon Company.

If I gained the processing side as well, I would control everything.

“And besides, a guild is just a place where only the people at the top get to profit. They bind everyone up with membership fees and petty rules and act all high and mighty, yet that guildmaster couldn’t do a single thing back to Nodon, could he? From the perspective of the low-ranking master craftsmen, it’s only natural they’d think it’d be better to have you on top than someone like that.”

“…”

As I hesitated, Iiria put on a serious expression and spoke.

“It would certainly feel strange for someone who isn’t an artisan to become guildmaster, but… if it were you, I’m sure you would run it honestly.”

Iiria was usually a selfish and slovenly young-lady type who was constantly being scolded by her attendant Kururu, but whenever the talk turned serious, there were moments when one caught a glimpse of her noble blood.

More than anything, there was also the fact that she trusted me.

“I’m… glad to hear you say that…”

At my answer, impatient Kururu bared one of her fangs.

“What’s with all the dithering? That’s not like you. Just lead them already.”

Shrugging a little at Kururu, I still thought that idea was no good after all.

“If that happens, won’t the other guilds panic too?”

“What?”

Kururu furrowed her brows, and Iiria realizing something happened almost at the same time.

“Ah, I see. They’ll think ours might get taken over too.”

“Yes, exactly.”

“I see… I hadn’t thought of that.”

Kururu, unable to follow the conversation, looked at Iiria, who was understanding me, with the face of a sulking dog whose master had left it behind.

“And besides, it’s not like I want to rule this island the way Nodon did, and I don’t have that kind of talent either. I’m not even sure yet whether I can manage the company well.”

Taking on the management of the Magic Stone Processors’ Guild too was clearly more than I could handle.

“Even a juggler starts by spinning only two swords, after all.”

After using a turn of phrase that sounded fitting for this world, Iiria let out a small sigh.

“But even so, then what are we supposed to do?”

What was there now was not Lord Iiria, but the face of the slightly sloppy girl she always was.

“The fact that those unskilled master craftsmen came to us has probably already been conveyed to the other master craftsmen too, right? Which means the split inside the guild is already plain. In that case, even if we tell those low-ranking master craftsmen to stop, they might still band together, drag the guildmaster down, and clear out the seat for your sake.”

Because I had gone and made an unnecessary suggestion.

Iiria did not say it that far, but her eyes were telling me more or less exactly that.

At this point, before the guild collapsed in internal strife, it might actually be better in the long run to seize control of it by force.

But if we did that, the other artisan guilds—and not only them, but the other merchant companies as well—would surely become wary that I or Iiria and the others might take them over too. That suspicion would throw the Jirenu Territory into utter chaos.

It might even spark a rebellion, and to suppress a rebellion and still push through our rule was something our morals would not permit… or rather, more simply, we did not have the military strength.

Kururu might be able to use that composite magic stone and blow everything away as a magician, but there would be no point in obtaining an empty burnt wasteland, and we could not seat Iiria upon a bloodstained throne either. That was not what we had risen up for.

So then, what should we do?

“Ugh… please let me think about it for now…”

Kururu drew in a breath as if to say something, but then closed her mouth and puffed out her cheeks.

The reason Iiria looked unhappy was probably not so much that she was exasperated by my indecisiveness, but that she had realized that from now on she too, as the lord, would have to get involved in matters like this, and the thought had drained her.

“For now, I suppose we have no choice but to ask Marks to persuade the master craftsmen not to take rash action.”

If it was Marks, who had influence among the town’s lower classes, he probably had acquaintances even among those low-ranking master craftsmen who lacked skill and were struggling to keep their workshops afloat.

“Or maybe we should just have Marks take it over?”

At Iiria’s remark, impossible to tell how much of it was a joke, I bitterly tore off a bite of meat.