At the same time the branch leader in charge of the Howling Caverns Dungeon was anxiously waiting for the reinforcements from the headquarters to show up while also keeping an eye on any unexpected developments taking place inside the dungeon, a small figure was curiously looking over a letter that had just been handed to her by one of the guilds emergency messengers. Only ever used in case that the situation of a branch was dire and in need of immediate assistance.
However, different from the normal capital branch imprint that would be on this kind of emergency request, it instead bore the imprint of a far lower level branch that should normally never have sent this kind of emergency request, as it would normally have been on the capital branch to assess the situation and sent a request for reinforcements if needed.
Unexpected as this was, it wasn’t entirely unheard of, but... Any situation where something like this happened normally didn’t bode well for the capital branch that existed above the lower branch sending the request. After all, for a lower branch to take this kind of action meant that the capital branch had experienced some kind of desperate situation that prevented them from requesting help or they were incompetent and had messed up so much that the lower branches under them couldn’t hold on and were essential forced to bypass them to send a request for help to the headquarters.
"An emergency report from the... Great Sky Kingdom? A dungeon management branch encountered a situation that the local capital branch couldn’t deal with and ended up requesting help directly from us? Why didn’t a request from the capital branch of the Great Sky Kingdom come through? Did something happen?" Muttering this to herself as she curiously observed the letter, the small figure located inside a large room in a corner of the Adventurers Guild’s main headquarters in the Free States, began to open the letter before looking over the content inside with an increasingly focused gaze the more she read.
"This... The capital branch encountered a dungeon break that destroyed a dungeon management branch and didn’t inform us!? Not to mention, the Holy Flower Sect is involved as well and attempted to cause monster stampedes across several other dungeons throughout the Great Sky Kingdom!?
What in the world are these idiots doing!? No wonder a dungeon management branch decided to bypass them and inform us, as it seems like that branch is already having a difficult time holding on due to lack of skilled adventures, with most being focused on trying to restrain the fall out from the dungeon break."
Narrowing her eyes dangerously as she finished reading through the letter and managed to grasp the general situation of the Great Sky Kingdom, it was clear from a glance that she was less than pleased with the situation. Knowing full well that the capital branch should have informed the headquarters about the situation and requested assistance the second a dungeon break occurred.
For them to not have done so and instead attempted to solve the situation on their own, it was clear that this little capital branch didn’t want to see the headquarters getting involved, something that could mean that they were attempting to hide something from the main headquarters.
"But... If it’s just embezzlement, they wouldn’t go this far to try and hide the situation. Meaning... This little capital branch might have something to do with the dungeon break and wants to hide their dealings with the Holy Flower Sect." Narrowing both her eyes as she came to a conclusion on what might have happened and why the capital branch in the Great Sky Kingdom would have wanted to avoid the headquarters getting involved, the small figure jumped up from her seat before making her way out of the room to inform others about this little situation that was taking place and making sure that someone would be sent over to deal with the situation and do a proper cleanup of the capital branch in the Great Sky Kingdom.
As for why a capital branch would work together with the Holy Flower Sect even knowing the potential risks involved... That likely had to do with their special resources, some of which were rumored to have the ability to extend life, something that would be hard to resist for someone about to reach the end of their natural lifespan.
Thinking about it as her small figure quickly made its way through the long halls filled to the brim with staff members running back and forth, it wasn’t difficult for her to recall the little information she had about the different branch leaders in charge of the different capital branches of the Adventures Guild located throughout the world.
From this information, she recalled that the branch guild leader in charge of the capital branch in the Great Sky Kingdom was by far one of the oldest among the capital branch guild leaders. Having reached the age of 196.
Although far older than normal people, he was reaching his limit as a S Rank Adventurer, with most such adventurers living to around 200 with the help of the Endless Vitality Skill that almost all S Rank Adventurers possessed. The only exception being those from special long-lived races, like herself, or those with special abilities and skills that allowed them to live longer than the two hundred years that was the limit for most S Rank Adventurers.
Growing desperate with the end-of-life nearing, it wasn’t hard for her to see why a figure like that might have decided to work alongside the Holy Flower Sect to use their special resources to extend his own life.
In a way, it was because of this that most of the upper echelons of the Adventurers Guild had certain restrictions when it came to appointing anyone advanced in age who might be tempted by powers like the Holy Flower Sect to act against the interests of the Adventurers Guild.
Only individuals who had proven themselves trustworthy enough could continue keeping a high position inside the Adventurers Guild after their age exceeded a certain threshold, the one in charge of the Great Sky Kingdom was one such individual, but... In hindsight, it looked like the past judgement of this person had been wrong.
Even if he had not conspired with the Holy Flower Sect, the fact that he had failed to report a dungeon break to the headquarters and had instead needed a branch below him to do so, was a clear indication that the past judgement of the guild had been wrong.
"Hmph! How troublesome..." Shaking her small head as she thought about the failure of the guild to spot this kind of troublesome individual in the past, she turned around a corner before barging into a room that was far larger than her own and decorated in a far more- Well... it was decorated nicely, while her own office or room was mostly bare, with nothing but the essentials in it for her to do her job...
"Ah, Senior! What are you doing here? Did something happen?"
And right as she waltzed inside the room, a towering muscular man with a large beard covering most of his rugged face rose from behind the desk at the center.
"Hmph! Something happened? I was just informed that a dungeon break occurred in the Great Sky Kingdom and the one to inform wasn’t the capital branch, but instead a dungeon management branch that is having a hard time holding on and about to experience a dungeon break as well.
Not just that, but apparently those annoying pests from the Holy Flower Sect were involved as well. If I’m not wrong, it was you who vouched for that old fellow in charge of that place to remain in place despite his advanced age..."
Not even bothering to greet the towering man, she just directly glared up at him with a look of annoyance. Making it clear that she was blaming him for this situation.
"Huh...? That... Impossible, Old Rick was a good friend of mine, I don’t believe he would do something like turning to the Holy Flower Sect just because his lifespan was about to run out. After all, the Holy Flower Sect were the ones who killed off his son in the past..."
"Whatever the case, you will be the one in charge of dealing with the cleanup, I will arrange for someone to take over your work while you are gone." Rolling her eyes in response to this, there was no hesitation as she directly threw the matter over for the muscular man to handle. Wasting no time after saying this before turning around and leaving the room.
"Huh? Wha... I..."
Not giving the man any time to respond, as he was left completely speechless at how a case that should have been something his senior had to solve had suddenly ended up in his hands before he even had the chance to complain or say anything about it...