Warming Two Dishes of Wine, a Plate of Fennel Beans

He had recognized at a glance that I was the president of the Giant Umbrella Merchant Guild. Just who was this young man?

Behind his mask, the elderly face shifted through a storm of expressions. Yet Carlo Joy had weathered all manner of trials in his decades in business, and he quickly composed himself.

"What, a guild president can't come personally to welcome guests?"

Carlo Joy had come in person partly because he attached immense importance to this mission, and partly because he wanted to see for himself what kind of youth Tella had described.

"No, I know you take this mission very seriously. But..."

Yang Yu stopped halfway through. He could hardly say that he had mistaken Carlo for an ordinary old man and assumed their guild was so small that it even forced its elderly to work.

The atmosphere suddenly turned awkward.

At its root, Yang Yu's occupational habit was to blame for this atmosphere.

As a professional streamer, even if he was not good at it, he still had to know how to spout cheeky lines and raunchy jokes. When streaming games, he often made teasing remarks about NPCs.

But in a game, such things were not meant to be said to someone's face. Especially not to the president of a merchant guild. He could not mock the man's guild for being small right in front of him.

"I'm sorry. I spoke out of turn. President Carlo, at your age, you still work so tirelessly. It must be hard on you.

"I have indeed received your sincerity. Leave this mission to me without worry. Once it is complete, I hope you will properly develop your merchant guild.

"Of course, expanding the guild is a good thing, but not every method is acceptable. Do not casually let the guild lose its credibility.

"This is an opportunity, but I hope there will never be a second opportunity like this. If you fail to recognize that, one day you will be caught by the handle just like they were.

"Take care of yourselves."

You'd better expand your guild properly. Otherwise, if my discount can't buy much when the time comes, I'll have words with you.

And absolutely no corruption. I have no idea how long it will be before I return. By then, I don't want to see your merchant guild shut down, leaving me with nowhere to use my discount coupons.

Carlo did not know Yang Yu's true thoughts. He merely carefully pondered the implications hidden between the young man's words.

"Whether your guild will rot like the Silver Orchid Merchant Guild is beside the point. President Carlo, you have worked tirelessly for this guild. As long as the Silver Orchid Merchant Guild is eliminated, your guild will achieve unprecedented growth. Can you truly rest easy entrusting such an important mission to an outsider?"

The answer was that he absolutely could not.

Otherwise, Carlo Joy would not have come here personally to confirm things.

So that was it. When he first saw me, he asked whether our guild had no one left. He did not think the person handling reception was an ordinary old man and that the guild had no one capable. After seeing through the fact that I was the guild president, he was mocking us for handing such an important matter to an outsider.

Carlo's gaze grew melancholy. It was not that their guild lacked people skilled at infiltration, but those people served only their respective families. In the end, he had no choice but to propose having adventurers infiltrate instead.

Despite being so young, he reminded and mocked me in such a roundabout manner. Perhaps this mission really can be completed if entrusted to him.

Originally, Carlo had already prepared himself for the mission's failure and planned to use it as leverage to demand that the other families in the guild send personnel.

Now, it seemed he needed to consider what to do after the mission was completed. After all, if he chopped vegetables poorly, he could hardly blame the knife for being too sharp.

"It's all right, it's all right. Thank you, Lord Yang Yu, for offering us such valuable advice. Let us discuss the infiltration plan for the Silver Orchid Merchant Guild in greater detail."

"No need to discuss it. We've already studied everything thoroughly these past few days. If there's no new information, we'll begin directly. Many things we don't understand can only be investigated after we reach the research institute."

These past few days, Yang Yu had been suffering from being level-capped and had long been impatient to get started. In particular, he still had the reward for a Source Extermination mission to claim: a full 100 free attribute points and 50 skill points. With them, Yang Yu could enter the upper ranks of ordinary combatants.

Only a few steps remained before he became part of this world's backbone.

"All right." Carlo nodded and led Yang Yu and Bai Jin deeper into an alley, arriving at an underground employment agency.

The underground agency was extremely well concealed. Above it was merely an ordinary, deserted noodle shop. In one corner of the shop was a hidden passage. At its end lay an agency that resembled the noodle shop above, yet was completely different. Many people from the Silver Orchid Merchant Guild had been referred there through this underground agency.

The agency staff had already been bought off by the Giant Umbrella Merchant Guild. In addition, two guards from the Silver Orchid Merchant Guild's research institute had also been bought off, and they had resigned two days earlier.

To find new guards, the Silver Orchid Merchant Guild's personnel department would definitely come here.

After quietly saying a few words to the shopkeeper, Carlo promptly left. Yang Yu and Bai Jin changed into tattered adventurer outfits and sat in the hall to wait.

To make themselves look even more down-and-out, Yang Yu asked the server to warm two dishes of wine and brought a plate of fennel beans, quietly waiting in the agency for the big fish to take the bait.

After an unknown amount of time, a man in a grayish-brown robe appeared at the agency, an exquisite longsword hanging at his waist. Without looking around, he walked straight to the old man at the agency and said in a low voice, "The usual."

The old man impatiently dug at his ear and replied irritably, "Again? How many times has this been now?"

The robed man said apologetically, "You know how it is. The pay over there is high, but so is the danger. If we went to a normal agency, word about our place would be exposed soon enough. We don't want people calling us a cannibalistic company, so we can only trouble you. In a few more months, once our factory's safety issues are resolved, we won't need to come here anymore. For the sake of production, I'm counting on you again this time."

As he spoke, the robed man slipped something into the old man's hand. The old man weighed it, and his expression immediately turned pleasant as he smiled.

"Since you're being so courteous, I'll do my best to help. But let me make this clear: most of the people here may be illegal workers, but don't treat them as less than human. If there are fewer and fewer illegal workers, this line of business will become difficult for us."

"I know, I know." The robed man smiled obsequiously.

The old man at the agency took out a stack of résumés from a drawer and carefully searched through them. As he flipped through them, he muttered under his breath, "Every time you come looking for people with such high requirements. There aren't many illegal workers here who meet them anymore."

After searching for a while, the old man pulled out two résumés and placed them before the robed man.

"There. Will these two do?"

The robed man picked up the résumés and examined them closely. One belonged to a young-looking boy, while the other belonged to a girl with messy hair.

"Th-these two don't look very reliable. Can they really do it?"