Helping with Adventurer Party Management - Chapter 122

Lately, there are strange rumors spreading among the city’s adventurers about the Adventurer’s Guild.

Nothing has significantly changed. The counter staff have become slightly more courteous, and the opening hours have been extended a bit. Since adventurers only interact with the guild through the counters, they don’t know what’s really happening.

It’s a positive change, but it does throw them off a bit, leading to speculation.

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So, what exactly is happening inside the Adventurer’s Guild? What has changed?

It all started with a bureaucrat who created a groundbreaking report and presented it to the nobles in the royal capital.

Previously, adventurer business reports were simple, detailing only income and expenditures. The new report, however, is revolutionary. It analyzes the state of adventurers from various angles, sets up indicators, and uses numbers to gauge what’s happening.

Reports used to be interspersed with noble pleasantries and personal notes, boasting about the report creator’s competence. Losses were often blamed on divine whims or unfortunate coincidences, and the final report would only contain the financial results.

Bureaucrats, being nobles themselves, treated documents exchanged with influential people like reports as opportunities for political maneuvering. It was normal to hide weaknesses, exaggerate achievements, and use various strategies to secure better positions.

This approach meant that the exact state of the business was often unknown. Increasing profits was seen as the responsibility of commoners, and if someone couldn’t do it, they could easily be replaced. There were always more commoners ready to take their place, and adventurers from farming backgrounds would appear if there was a poor harvest.

However, the report presented by the sharp bureaucrat at the Adventurer’s Guild shatters conventional wisdom.

In traditional reports, the only information provided was whether the business was profitable or not. The new report, however, includes various intermediate indicators aligned with the flow of the business, such as the number of adventurers, the retirement rate of adventurers, and the profit margin per request. This allows for a comprehensive view of where the business has issues and what needs to be done to improve it.

This approach is akin to modern management accounting.

The report is groundbreaking not just in content but also in its presentation, which impresses the officials in the capital. Instead of describing numbers in prose, it presents business-related figures in a table format similar to a merchant’s ledger, making the overall picture instantly clear. Additionally, by using bar and pie charts, it allows even nobles and military officers lacking mathematical skills to visually and intuitively understand comparisons, proportions, and trends related to the business.

“What on earth is this report? Who wrote it?”

The report and the sharp-witted bureaucrat Urbano who created it become the talk of the bureaucrats overseeing the Adventurers’ Guild in the capital. The report eventually becomes a sensation and is presented before the highest-ranking nobles in the business.

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Urbano, the guild’s official, is on top of the world. He feels an unprecedented level of fulfillment and confidence in his life. The people who once looked down on him now respect him. His previously ignored opinions are now being considered. He is seen as a capable and respected individual.

For Urbano, who had long been labeled as incompetent and lazy, this is a long-held dream finally coming true. Interestingly, when people are expected to perform, they often become motivated to fulfill that role. Urbano, respected and seen as a competent and dedicated official, is indeed working energetically.

The respect and admiration from those around him, coupled with their expectations, create a positive feedback loop that motivates him further. Once Urbano experiences this happiness, he fears losing it, so he works diligently. Seeing his efforts, others continue to respect him, fueling his ongoing positive spiral.

The fact that the report that changed his life and supported his current authority was created by an enigmatic adventurer does not bother Urbano. He rationalizes it as the nobles making good use of commoners’ achievements. He even thinks the adventurer is quite promising and is willing to listen if there is anything that person needs to consult about.

There are even rumors that Urbano might soon be promoted to deputy guild master of the city. Urbano, the guild official, is happy.