How to Survive as a Mage Inside a Game-Chapter 34: Information Guild (3)

He could’ve offered to help clean up the bodies, but Karl decided not to stick his nose in any deeper than necessary.

The corpses were cleared out, a few guild members left to report the attack, and once the situation was more or less under control...

Karl sat face to face with Scarlett again in the same room where they’d first talked.

Only this time, no sword was pressed to his throat, and tea had even been brought to the table.

“Thank you very much for rescuing our people.”

Gone was the wary look she’d first had. She bowed her head respectfully.

He had saved an entire guild branch from complete annihilation. That kind of gratitude was expected.

She had also taken off her mask, revealing a striking face framed by deep violet hair and eyes.

“Allow me to formally reintroduce myself. I’m Scarlett, branch leader of Herlando’s Ormantis division. May I ask your name...?”

“You can call me Karl. I’m a mage from the Altius School.”

There wasn’t much need to hide it now.

Scarlett owed Karl a massive debt. She had no right to be asking anything of him at this point.

Still, Karl told her anyway.

Not that he expected it, but if she did break their agreement, the name Altius would make her think twice.

Besides, it’s not like hiding it really mattered.

Even if she looked into him later, it’d all come out anyway.

After the firepower he’d just shown, and the reputation he’d built on the Empire’s border, a guild of this scale would easily trace it back to him.

Scarlett looked slightly surprised when he said "Altius."

“So you’re a mage from the Altius School... In any case, Karl, thank you again.”

She bowed again, then continued carefully.

“I know I’m in no position to ask for anything after all you’ve done, but... there is one favor I’d like to ask.”

Karl nodded, already guessing where this was going.

“I don’t care about your organization’s business. I couldn’t care less what kind of intel that bald bastard was talking about. I’m not going to go around spreading it, so don’t worry.”

“...Thank you for understanding.”

“There’s only one thing that matters to me right now. You keep your end of the deal. Use every tool at your disposal and find the person I asked about. You’re not planning on ghosting me, are you?”

She quickly shook her head, flustered.

“Of course not. Just as you said, we’ll do everything we can.”

Then she added:

Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.

“We’ve already sent guild members to contact HQ. People from the main office should arrive soon, so we ask for a little more patience until then.”

* * *

Karl stayed at a nearby inn in the meantime.

About a week later, a branch member came to fetch him.

“Welcome, Karl.”

Scarlett greeted him as he arrived at the guild again.

Next to her stood a group that clearly stood out from the usual branch members.

Karl immediately recognized them as people sent from ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ the main office.

At the center was a man with the same violet hair as Scarlett.

[Lv.46]

[Team Leader – Herlando HQ]

“My name is Ludon. I’m this girl’s older brother, and I’ve been told everything. Thank you so much for saving my sister and this branch.”

He bowed deeply to Karl.

Karl, having waited a long time, cut straight to the point.

“You heard about the person I’m looking for, right? Did you find anything?”

“Ah, yes. We did look into it.”

Ludon glanced at the stack of papers piled on the table.

“Name: Fluren. Surname: Acid. Occupation: mage. To be honest, that’s not much to go on—it’s practically impossible to find someone with just that.”

“......”

“But I got lucky. The name ‘Acid’ rang a bell in relation to magic. I dug around and found something. I think we’ve got a lead.”

He guided Karl to the table and handed him a sheet of paper.

“There used to be a mage school called Seion near the borders of the Moulton Kingdom. The family name ‘Acid’ has been passed down among its leaders for generations. It was a small school, but one with deep history...”

That sparked hope in Karl—only for suspicion to creep in a moment later.

Ludon had used the past tense.

“...It collapsed five years ago. Most of its members left, and the few who remained disappeared with the last head of the school. That much, we’ve confirmed in our records.”

“......”

Karl felt a wave of disappointment and muttered,

“So the last head of the Seion School before it fell was Fluren Acid.”

“That’s right. If this is the person you’re looking for, we’ll do everything we can to track them down.”

“Doesn’t sound easy. How long do you think it’ll take?”

Ludon paused, clearly calculating. Then he replied,

“I can’t give you a solid estimate. The Moulton Kingdom isn’t exactly next door... I’d say at least two months, maybe more.”

A long time—or a short one, depending on your view.

‘Didn’t think it’d be easy to find him anyway.’

Still, just identifying the guy already felt like a major win.

Even Karl hadn’t expected much from just a name and “mage” as search criteria.

He’d wandered this world for years now. Waiting two months was nothing.

“Understood. Then please do your best to find him.”

Ludon gave a small smile.

“Information guilds like ours live and die by trust. We run tighter books than most merchants. We owe you big, so believe me—we’ll track down Fluren Acid as fast as possible.”

With that, their conversation ended.

Karl left the branch with Scarlett and Ludon seeing him off.

“Oh, and one more thing, just in case...”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Ludon stopped Karl at the entrance.

“Are you planning on going to other information guilds and giving them the same job?”

“Huh? Well, I mean...”

Karl hesitated, caught off guard, because that was exactly what he’d been thinking. He wasn’t convinced they’d actually find Fluren Acid, and the more people looking, the faster it would go—or so he figured.

But Ludon’s next words quickly made him realize that wasn’t such a great idea.

“I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Why not?”

“We don’t mind, since we owe you a debt... but giving the same job to multiple guilds at once is something that’s... unofficially forbidden in this business. There are profit issues, and if different informants dig into the same thing, it can cause conflicts.”

“Ah...”

So, other information guilds would not take kindly to that. At all.

Karl gave up on the idea right there.

Trying to shave off a little time at the cost of pissing off all the guilds? That’d be beyond stupid.

Anyway, with that, Karl left the guild and stepped outside the tavern.

He’d arrived in broad daylight, but after all the talking, it was already dusk.

Back at the inn, Karl found a seat in the hall to grab some dinner.

“......”

Now what?

He looked around the increasingly crowded inn, lost in thought.

‘Two months, huh...’

There wasn’t much for him to do while waiting for them to find Fluren.

It wasn’t like he was about to set off for Hirloren to chase down the main quest either.

And he couldn’t just wander off, not knowing when Herlando might send word.

Since getting stuck in this game world, this was the first time in ages he had absolutely nothing to do for such a long stretch.

“This kind of free time really doesn’t suit me.”

Karl gave a short laugh.

At first, he’d been busy just trying to survive. Then, once he could manage that, it was one quest after another.

He’d been running nonstop ever since. No wonder it felt weird to suddenly have to sit still for a couple of months.

Weird was putting it lightly—he already felt restless. A bit like a workaholic going through withdrawal, though he didn’t realize it himself.

‘Isn’t there anything to kill some time?’

He dipped some bread into his soup, casually watching the people filling up the hall.

“Ha! Drink up! We just scored big, so we’re drinking till we drop tonight!”

“Hey, did you see that? There’s a werewolf extermination request up at the main office.”

“So then I just snatched that arrow right out of the air like a ghost, I swear...”

Loud, drunken laughter echoed from the nearby tables.

Mostly mercenaries.

This city had a lot of mercenary traffic, so it wasn’t strange for the inns to be packed with them.

Higher-ranked ones apparently had rooms reserved at the guild buildings themselves, but most didn’t.

From what he could tell, most of them were around level 10. Nobody here even hit 20.

Karl glanced around, half-bored, casually checking their info screens.

But after a bit, he stopped.

‘This probably isn’t great, huh.’

Looking at their levels, their titles...

If he kept observing people like this, treating them like NPCs, he’d start seeing the whole world as just a game again.

Better to avoid doing that unless absolutely necessary.

Karl focused back on his food.

‘I wonder what my info looks like.’

He was level 53, sure, but what about his title? Would it show “Mage of Altius”? Hopefully not something dumb like “Earthling” or whatever.

As he drifted through those pointless thoughts, he noticed someone approaching.

A few men in leather armor, swords at their waists—just like any other mercenaries around here.

Karl didn’t even bother to care. Figured they were just passing by.

But then one of them suddenly stumbled into his table, crashing to the floor dramatically.

“...Whoops!”

The noise turned heads all around.

Karl just stared at the guy, dumbfounded.

“You son of a bitch! Who tripped me, huh?!”

The man scrambled to his feet, making a big scene, and started rummaging through his coat.

Out came a dagger—with its handle snapped in two.

His buddies saw it and let out exaggerated groans.

“Damn, it’s totally wrecked!”

“Didn’t you say you paid good money for that? Now you gotta fork out for repairs already!”

As if on cue, all of them turned their eyes on Karl.

The fallen guy glared at him and shouted.

“You asshole! What are you gonna do about this, huh?! This is your fault, you broke it!”

“......”

Pathetic, self-inflicted extortion attempt.

Karl just stared at them, utterly unimpressed.

What the hell is this bullshit?