Chapter 132 - 131: Long-Term Disability Pension

Chapter 132: Chapter 131: Long-Term Disability Pension

Inside a cellar, a sign hanging by the door read: "Thorny Nettle and Night Fragrance Cat Grass Herb Shop (Temporarily Closed)."

Wilson stood on an overturned beer barrel, trying to make himself appear taller.

"Ahem! Quiet, quiet, my dear colleagues! Elites of the Shadowless Team!"

Below him stood a dozen or so scattered Stalker Apprentices. Some were distractedly fiddling with a bent Lock Picker, others were yawning, and one was trying to pick cat hairs off his trouser leg one by one.

"First," Wilson said, spreading his arms in a gesture of heartfelt embrace, "I, along with a few of our unfortunately... er, temporarily on-leave core members, have returned! Thank you all for holding down the fort while we were... hmm... ’conducting an in-depth off-site study of the town’s security system.’ You’ve allowed our business... uh, to keep flowing!"

"Flowing? Boss, this month we could barely even afford moldy black bread."

"Aha! That brings me to my second point!" Wilson exclaimed as if he hadn’t heard. "I hear that in our absence, certain external forces... people who don’t know the rules... have been engaging in malicious competition! They’ve severely disrupted the harmony and stability of the market!"

He scanned the room, his gaze turning sharp as he tried to imitate the imperious air he’d once seen on Steward Ford.

"I’ve received very reliable intelligence—"

"The Adventurer Guild has some complaints about the recent ’surge’ in our business!"

"That new Guard Captain, Ande, has even slandered us, claiming we orchestrated the whole thing! He said we ’make our clients’ jewels vanish, only to have them miraculously reappear.’ Absurd! This is a grave insult to the professional integrity of the Shadowless Team!"

A female apprentice timidly raised her hand. "Captain, but... for Lady Menti’s pearl necklace last month, didn’t we get paid twice? Once for ’borrowing’ it to study, and again for returning it..."

A flash of embarrassment crossed Wilson’s face, but was immediately replaced by righteous indignation. "That was an accidental operational overlap! A dual affirmation from the market of our efficient service! We must look beyond the surface and see the essence of the matter!"

"And the essence is that our business model is being tested! Our ’Client Need Creation Department’ may have been a bit too proactive recently!"

The lanky fellow repairing the Lock Picker in his hand raised it slightly, smiling shyly as if he’d just been praised.

"But!" Wilson’s voice boomed again. "This... hmm, ’research’ experience has helped me figure a lot of things out! Starting today, the ’Shadowless Team’ will undergo a complete strategic upgrade! We will transform from an Adventurer Squad that lives by its skills into an advanced ’Integrated Urban Ecosystem Service Provider’!"

He pulled a grimy piece of paper from somewhere and unfurled it as if it were a treasure map.

"Listen up. New rules of engagement. First, sustainability! For example, when we help Boss Dark at the general store find his watchdog, ’Big Hammer,’ we can’t just find him this month and have him go missing again next month. That’s too obvious! We need to guide our clients to upgrade their service. Suggest that Boss Dark take out a ’Monthly Disappearance Insurance’ policy for ’Big Hammer,’ underwritten by the Shadowless Team. This gives us a steady income and the client peace of mind."

"Second, we must proactively promote talent resource integration and optimize the industry ecosystem! We can no longer engage in disorderly price wars with those hacks who have no professional integrity. Competing in low-end markets like unclogging sewers severely diminishes our brand’s class!"

A burly young man with a nose like a Giant’s immediately spoke up. "Boss, does that mean we’re just giving them those jobs? The sewer-unclogging job over at the widow Hanna’s place has always been mine, but lately, some guy on the market named Maurice has been stealing my work."

He paused, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. "It’s not that I care about a few copper plates. It’s mainly... Lady Hanna’s plumbing is rather unique. It’s full of twists and turns. Only I know it best. I wouldn’t feel right about anyone else going."

"He stole your jobs too?" a weaselly-faced companion beside him cut in. "Mine too! That punk snatched up my roof repair jobs! It’s like the guy’s never seen money in his life—he’ll work for a single copper nail! He’s completely breaking the industry rules!"

Wilson slammed his hand on the barrel beside him, producing a dull THUD. "Let me finish!"

"I think we should take the initiative and approach our competitors... for instance, by recruiting them to join our organization."

At these words, the members below immediately broke into a buzz of discussion.

"Recruit them? Wouldn’t that mean the jobs still don’t come back to us?"

"I don’t agree! I won’t let anyone else defile Lady Hanna’s plumbing!"

’The Boss gets taken in for a bit and comes out a coward? Looks like it’s time to find somewhere else to work...’

Wilson slammed the barrel again. "Everyone, shut up!"

"What I mean is, after we recruit them, we arrange for them to have the good fortune of receiving a spot in our ’Long-Term Disability Pension’ program. And just like that, the market environment is naturally ’optimized,’ isn’t it? It’s called strategic attrition, you see? A necessary measure to maintain a healthy industry ecosystem!"

"Boss, what does ’Long-Term Disability Pension’ mean?"

Wilson shot them a look that clearly said, ’You don’t even get that?’

"It means exactly what it says. We ensure their injuries are very ’long-term,’ so naturally they’ll need us to ’provide their pension.’ For the detailed implementation plan, see Rupert after the meeting."

The words had barely left his mouth when the brief silence in the cellar was shattered by gasps of admiration.

"Brilliant, Boss! Absolutely brilliant! Lure them here to get jumped—no, I mean, to become ’long-term pension recipients’—and the jobs will be ours again! You’re really something else!"

"I knew your ’in-depth research’ trip wasn’t for nothing, Boss! The vision, the big-picture thinking! We were all just grunts before, but look at you, Boss. That’s... that’s what you call strategizing!"

"Just listen to him! ’Talent resource integration,’ ’optimize the industry ecosystem’! Boss, did you take a course from the Royal Business College in the dungeons or something? You’ve got all these phrases down. It’s so sophisticated!"

Wilson stood on the beer barrel, listening to his subordinates’ clamorous flattery. Though he knew at least half of it was bullshit, he couldn’t help but puff out his chest and press his hands down in a gesture of feigned modesty.

"Ahem, all in a day’s work. Standard procedure. In short, everyone needs to fully grasp the spirit of our new strategy and properly implement our services and optimizations! Alright, meeting adjourned!"

Laughing and joking, his subordinates filed out of the cellar.

The smug look on Wilson’s face vanished instantly, replaced by a grim expression.

’He knew full well that these guys knew he’d been arrested.’

’Morale is shaky. I have to take some drastic measures, or I’ll never keep them in line.’

’Of course, the best-case scenario would be to find that swindler, Galen, and teach him a good lesson in front of everyone. That’s the only way to re-establish my authority.’

’I already had Rupert look into it. That kid just got lucky. He tricked that young lady by putting on a whole song and dance, played the role of a guard the whole way, but in reality, he’s a total nobody.’

Just then, the sound of hurried footsteps interrupted his thoughts. The cellar door was thrown open.

Wilson looked up. "What is it, Dimi?"

"Boss, I found the kid!"

"He’s still got that stupid dog with him, and he’s carrying some kind of weird monster head on his back. Probably just another one of his scams."

Wilson leaped down from the beer barrel, a vicious glint in his eye.

"So he’s still with that ’Undead Dog,’ is he?"

"The kid’s full of clever little tricks."

"Excellent. We’ve decided on the first recipient of our Long-Term Disability Pension. It’s him!"