I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild

Masters from across the country had gathered to discuss blue powder, and I had caught someone who possessed it.

Was that a good thing?

Or had I made a mistake?

In this unclear situation, I decided to apologize first.

"I'm sorry..."

"...For what?"

"I think I might have interfered..."

"No need to apologize. You did well."

"I see..."

Fortunately, it seemed I wasn't going to be scolded.

After confirming the not-so-bad atmosphere, I tugged at Master's clothes and asked:

"But what is the blue powder?"

"It's an illegal stimulant."

The one who answered my question was Chae Juyeon, the Sacred Guild master.

The combination of the words "illegal" and "stimulant" sounded quite dangerous.

"What's an illegal stimulant?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. When you inhale the powder, even ordinary people can fight like adventurers."

A powder that turns ordinary people into adventurers.

Despite its impressive capabilities, there was a reason it was illegal.

"The side effects must be severe...?"

"Very severe. Ordinary people with low resistance can suffer permanent mana damage from just one use."

"I see..."

I didn't know what permanent mana damage meant.

But from Master's expression, I could tell it was serious.

"Could you tell us what happened? Even a small clue is important in this situation."

"Yes."

I told the masters everything that had happened before coming here.

I explained in detail how we caught the fleeing vehicle and found blue powder in it.

"He threatened to bill you for repairs...?"

"Yes, it was a really expensive car..."

"...He must have been out of his mind from the side effects, seeing how he couldn't even control his body properly."

Hmm.

Our Master nodded in agreement with Chae Juyeon's words.

"It probably won't happen, but if he does bill you for repairs, I'll pay it for you."

"But the repair costs..."

"It's a reward for bringing us this clue."

Chae Juyeon patted my head.

I couldn't resist her gentle touch and found myself answering, "Okay."

"I think we should meet the person Gyeoul caught."

"Let's do that."

After the masters' meeting ended, a simple meal began.

While eating, I belatedly remembered why I had come to find Master.

It was about whether the divine beasts could go hunting on their own or form parties with adventurers.

Master's answer to this was that it didn't matter.

**

After eating, we returned to the park.

The masters left briefly, saying they had business with the person who had the blue powder.

'Hmm...'

Sitting on the park lawn, I took some time to think.

I couldn't get the blue powder the masters had mentioned out of my head.

"Blue powder..."

A magical powder that could turn anyone into an adventurer just by using it.

It was unlikely to be a coincidence that the man with the blue powder was caught near our guild.

After all, Yeomyeong was a neighborhood where many adventurers roamed.

'I wonder if there are people using the powder mixed among the adventurers.'

The thought that there might be users of illegal stimulants mixed among the adventurers coming and going from our guild made me feel uneasy.

Would they really need to use illegal stimulants that destroy their bodies?

Hmm.

Levinas must have found my long sigh strange, as she plopped down beside me and asked:

"King, what are you thinking about?"

"I was thinking about the blue powder. They say it's really dangerous..."

"Dangerous blue powder! Levinas knows dangerous blue powder too!"

"...You do?"

"Yeah! Levinas was going to show you but forgot! Wait a moment!"

Levinas stood up and ran toward the convenience store.

A while later, she came out of the store holding 'popping candy' in her hand.

'That's...'

Small blue candies that pop in your mouth.

Levinas showed the blue candies to everyone and shouted:

"This is dangerous candy that only prepared children can eat!"

"Dangerous candy?"

"Candy...?!"

Bom and Gaeul showed interest in the candy.

Saebyeok, who seemed to know what kind of candy it was, just silently watched the children.

"Last time Levinas ate this, she went kyaa! It's dangerous candy, so children who aren't prepared should step back!"

Levinas held out her palm toward the children.

In this somewhat tense atmosphere, Gaeul, with raised eyebrows, approached Levinas boldly.

"Gaeul ready!"

"Are you prepared?!"

"Nyeng...!"

Levinas handed the candy to Gaeul, who was fully prepared.

Gaeul unwrapped the candy and without hesitation poured it all into her mouth.

Pop-! Pop-!

Todododok-!

The sound of candy popping could be heard from inside Gaeul's mouth.

With the grand explosion of the popping candy, Gaeul's body bounced around.

"...!"

Up and down, left and right.

After shaking her head in no particular pattern, Gaeul twisted her waist randomly left and right, like she was doing waist stretches.

"Gaeul?"

Crunch crunch-!

The sound of crunching candy and popping noises came simultaneously.

It looked quite difficult, but in the end, our Gaeul was victorious.

"Gaeul ate it."

"Yes. Gaeul is amazing."

Beast-kin tongues are sensitive, yet she ate it all.

I patted Gaeul's head, telling her she did well.

"I want to try it too!"

"Yes! Everyone have one!"

Levinas distributed the popping candy she had brought to everyone.

Bom giggled at the candy popping in her mouth.

"I should buy some of these and carry them around."

"These?"

"Yeah. If someone eats it thinking it's normal candy, they'll be surprised when it pops in their mouth."

Kekekeke.

Bom laughed like an evil villain.

Unfortunately, her actions weren't that villainous.

"Hmm..."

Eating the blue candy made me think of the blue powder again.

As I fell into thought, Saebyeok came over and tapped my shoulder.

"What are you thinking about?"

"The blue powder. I was wondering who might have made it."

"Worried?"

"Yeah. Since it's related to the guild."

It was an inseparable relationship.

As an adventurer myself, I couldn't help but worry about the blue powder, an illegal stimulant for adventurers.

"Then let's try to find out."

"How can we find the powder?"

"Let's ask someone who might know."

"Someone who might know?"

Even the masters didn't know the source of the powder.

Who could possibly know about this?

As I tilted my head, Saebyeok pointed outside the park.

"Those scary men live over there."

"Scary men... the tattoo guys?"

"Yeah. The carp tattoo and dragon tattoo guys."

"...I don't think they'd know much since they're really nice people."

In response to my answer, Saebyeok silently patted my head.

My tail wagged at the pleasant touch, as always.

"They are nice people, but let's go ask them anyway. You want to find out something, right?"

"Yeah. That's true."

I wasn't sure if they'd know anything, but there was no reason to reject Saebyeok's suggestion.

We decided to head to the alley to find them.

**

We all walked toward the alley together.

Levinas started singing, as if she thought the process of finding the tattoo men was a fun adventure in itself.

"Invincible horned rabbit! Supreme horned rabbit! Bom is! Bom issss!"

She mixed the horned rabbit song with Bom's song.

The two songs blended surprisingly well.

"Which way do we go from here?"

"Probably that way."

Following Saebyeok's guidance, we arrived at a deep alley.

The smell of cigarettes wafted from beyond the alley.

Cigarettes are something that adults smoke.

We decided to follow the smell.

"Hey, over there I..."

In front of a five-story building in the alley, men in black suits were gathered smoking cigarettes.

I could see carp tattoos extending from their shirt collars onto their necks.

"Hello."

"Carp beast-kin!"

We ran toward them with the children.

Surprised, they quickly extinguished their cigarettes.

Perhaps they thought the children might be exposed to secondhand smoke?

They really were nice people.

"Kids, you shouldn't come to places like this..."

"Why not...?"

"Well, um...?"

A man in a black suit looked around at his colleagues.

Frustrated by their silent exchange of glances, Levinas raised her stick high.

"Do carp beast-kin know about blue powder?"

"Blue powder?"

A subtle but definite glint appeared in the eyes of the man with the carp tattoo.

He seemed to know something.

"Do you know about blue powder?"

"That's a really dangerous thing, how did you... Oh, you're from Yeomyeong."

"Yes."

"...Just to be clear, it's not us, okay?"

"Of course. You guys are nice."

Flinch.

The men twitched and smiled awkwardly.

The man talking to me also smiled, revealing a gold tooth that shone between his white teeth.

"That's right, we're nice."

"No one's nicer than us."

Ha ha ha.

The man who had been laughing non-stop eventually cleared his throat.

Then he spoke in a small voice, almost whispering:

"Actually, we were just discussing that topic."

"Discussing it?"

"Yeah. We were talking about what if we got suspected."

"Why would you be suspected...?"

"...Well, we're nice people, but we look a bit scary. We were discussing what if we get mistaken for a bad organization because of our appearance."

Certainly, with the carp tattoos and all, they did look intimidating at first glance.

Even knowing that one shouldn't judge people by their appearance, they were still a bit scary.

"Wouldn't you be fine if you're innocent?"

"Hmm... There's still a possibility we might get caught up in it."

"Caught up...?"

"Ah, it's nothing. Anyway, we've been doing our own investigation."

"Yes."

"We don't know exactly where the blue powder is being made, but there are a few organizations we suspect."

They had organizations they suspected?

My tail shot up in surprise at this unexpected information.

I clasped my hands together in anticipation, almost as if praying.

This kind of information might be enough to help the masters.