Helping with Adventurer Party Management - Chapter 409

With no more questions coming, I had the craftsmen leave for the day.

They needed time to think over everything. They’d likely have to consider their current employment, and discuss it with their families. It wasn’t something they could talk over lightly at a bar.

As I watched the craftsmen bow and leave, I thought, Even if only one of them comes back, that’ll be a win.

Just then, one of the helper boys shouted “Ah!” and chased after them. 

Perhaps someone had forgotten something.

But the craftsman didn’t stop. Instead, he started walking faster.

The boy shouted louder, “Hey!” and chased after him.

Still, the craftsman kept walking—quicker and quicker.

“Stop him!” I shouted. 

Just as the craftsman reached the workshop exit, there was a loud thud—he had been brought down.

Kiriku, our guard, had pinned him using the sheath of his sword.

“Boss! One of the shoemaking tools is missing!” the boy said breathlessly.

Kiriku rummaged through the craftsman’s pockets and pulled out a complex iron rod with a blade—one of our specialized tools. “Is this it?”

It was unmistakably one of our company’s tools.

What a fool.

Maybe he thought that just because I’d kindly shown him around, we weren’t managing things properly.

“So this guy not only tried to steal our secrets, but also a tool on top of that? Boss, what do you want to do with him?”

The craftsman, pinned to the floor, was groaning, “N-no, you’ve got it wrong! Help me!”

Caught in the act, and yet he pleads innocence. He must’ve been truly desperate.

Normally, theft in town meant losing an arm. Even a lenient sentence might involve losing a finger. The logic being—the finger did the stealing.

And for a shoemaker, losing a finger would be the end of their career.

This wasn’t some starving beggar acting out of desperation.

This was a skilled craftsman with a future—and he risked it all.

“What an idiot. Why did you do it?”

“I-It wasn’t me… The kid planted it on me…” His denial was pathetic.

I signaled Kiriku with my eyes. 

For some reason, the man’s screams grew louder.

“I’ll ask you again. Why?”

And this time, he confessed. “M-My boss… told me to investigate…”

Exactly what I suspected. “But I told you our process. Maybe your master won’t be able to reproduce it, but that’s beside the point. Why steal?”

“Because… the tools were too well-made…”

“And you thought we wouldn’t notice? That kid and the other assistants carefully line up tools every day. If even one is missing, it stands out right away.”

Praising Toma, I called Sara over to give instructions.

“Good job, Toma. Sara, can you take him to his mother?”

Sara gave the boy some sweets and pocket money, taking him by the hand.

The boy looked up at her, cheeks flushed, beaming.

It was a heartwarming sight.

Then, I turned my gaze back to the man groaning on the floor.

From here on out, this was a cold and ugly adult matter. I didn’t want the children to hear it.

Our company is backed by the Sword Fangs Legion.

Our own craftsmen were also watching.

We couldn’t just let this crime slide.

Now that he’d confessed, we had to make him—and the master who sent him—take responsibility.

In this world, responsibility often means losing life, property, or both.

What a damn fool.