Around two o'clock in the morning, Lucia was still drinking coffee when a suspicious message arrived on her Butterfly.

Come to the guild office right now. --AMB

It was a private message, which meant that no one else had received this message aside from her. 

The message was signed with three initials and a mysterious signature, but Lucia recognized the symbol. It was a glowing black butterfly in the shape of monogram, and it flickered in the faint candlelight. In a couple minutes, the shimmering message would evaporate into thin air, and then the evidence would be completely gone.

The 27-year-old receptionist frowned.

Receiving one of these was never a good sign.

In fact, it was two o'clock in the morning in the dead of night. Lucia did not want to walk all the way to the guild office in the pouring rain, and she hated being called to work when she didn't have a shift.

However, ignoring the message was a horrible idea. Lucia would probably end up on the chopping block (in a literal sense). As innocent and friendly the Adventurer's Guild seemed on the surface, it also had its darker side. Scary things happened in the shadows late at night.

Lucia got up and grabbed her raincoat.

+ + +

A well-known fact about the Adventurer's Guild was that it buys and sells information. Knowledge came in many forms, such as maps and information about random job openings, but these superficial transactions were only a small part of the guild's overall business model. In the grand scope of things, these 'bread and butter' quests were not particularly profitable, and the organization made most of its income from alternative sources.

One particularly lucrative form of business was the purchase and sale of secrets.

The Adventurer's Guild possessed many secrets.

Some of them were particularly dark and disturbing. Very few individuals knew the full scope of all the secrets that the guild kept, and there was a tight chain of secrecy to guarantee that no single individual would know too much. Common receptionists were not informed of these secrets, and even the highest ranking guild members were only aware of one or two bombshells.

Whenever the guild learned of a particularly valuable secret, hidden agents would approach potential buyers, offering to sell the information.

Compromising photos of a certain popular celebrity?

Information about the king of Sal'alaqsue's illegitimate son?

The true weakness of the Demon Lord Aranchar's mind control spell?

Of course, if someone did not want their secrets to be disclosed by the guild, they were forced to pay exorbitant sums to keep Adventurer's Guild silent. It was effectively a form of blackmail, and the Adventurer's Guild made mountains of profit from the sale and exchange of deadly secrets. Once, Lucia even witnessed the shipment of a quarter million gold pieces delivered to the guild's treasure vault. Although Lucia knew nothing about the secret that had earned that price, the 27-year-old receptionist was not naive.

The Adventurer's Guild was most likely involved in very bad things.

Its shadowy puppet strings were spread far and wide all over the world.

+ + +

Lucia was very unhappy by the time she reached her guild office at 3 o'clock in the morning.

She had a shift in the morning starting at the 7AM, which meant that she would have to come back here in a few hours anyways...

The 27-year-old receptionist placed her hands in the pockets of her coat. The heavy bags underneath her eyes were clearly miserable, and it was plainly evident that Lucia was chronically sleep deprived. She had a spectacularly grumpy face, and her mood was clearly foul. Unlike Chantilly and many of the younger receptionists in the guild, Lucia wasn't cute at all.

She was basically an alcoholic middle-aged hag.

Lucia did not have friends, and she spent way too many hours working.

A shadowy figure was sitting on the window ledge of the office.

"Say, you want a promotion, Lucia?" The cloaked figure asked her casually.

Although the man had somehow gotten into the office without a key, Lucia hardly blinked. Apparently the 27-year-old receptionist was used to this type of occurence, and she did not look surprised to see then man. If anything, she had been expecting him.

"No way. I refuse." Lucia answered grumpily.

"Huh? But you would get a pay raise."

"I don't want to sign a Death Contract." Lucia said.

The secret agent grinned.

"Eh? But think of the benefits of a Black Butterfly~ What if I told you there was a way to obtain coffee in this world?"

"That's a cheap trick. I'm not going to sign away my entire life in exchange for some coffee. I'm not that easy to bribe."

"Although it's hardly like you had a life to begin with?"

"Fuck you."

"Heh. Maybe I'll ask again when your 2000 kg reserve of coffee beans run out."

Lucia was already very antagonistic.

As an ordinary guild receptionist, she did not have good impression of the guild's secret operatives. Many of them were bound by special magic contracts that prevented them from revealing the secrets they dealt with. There were many rumors of horrific contracts that would automatically kill the contract holder if they let anything slip.

"So you asked me to come here at 3AM just to offer me a promotion?" Lucia snapped in annoyance.

"Nah. I got other business."

"Get on with it, then."

"Interdepartmental intelligence transfer. Classified file. There are assassins after Duke Grogar. We've received bounties on our network three hours ago from multiple different sponsors. Depending on how much the Duke is willing to pay, we may decide to tip him off — or not, depending on how much gold is on the table. The Duke always pays well though, so it's basically free money."

"What the hell do you want me to do with this info?"

"Inform the Duke and file a classified report. Go and milk our favorite golden goose for some extra cash. :P"

"...This isn't part of my job description."

The cloaked figure winked questionably at Lucia.

"It is now."