Chapter 3

Coming With Me or Dying?

Run.

If I got caught, it was over.

To escape Lowfang’s grasp, Ethan pushed off with all his strength, pulled up his hood, and put on a mask.

Rustle!

The curtains were drawn over the windows, and the room was instantly plunged into darkness.

At the same time, thieves wearing masks and hoods descended rapidly from the gaps in the dark ceiling using ropes.

Before their feet had even touched the floor, more guild members kicked open both doors and began flooding into the room.

Moving with trained precision, the guild members quickly took up positions. Several of them moved simultaneously, deliberately disrupting Lowfang’s line of sight.

Their movements were faster than expected, almost like a perfectly choreographed performance.

Ethan skillfully slipped between them, concealing his presence.

“Tch! Slippery little bastard.”

Lowfang clicked his tongue after losing sight of Ethan right before his eyes.

The moment Lowfang drew his sword, the thieves scattered in panic.

They had never intended to fight Lowfang in the first place. They were simply running for their lives.

“Please, spare me!”

“We were just doing what we were told!”

“Get out of my way!”

Amid the chaos, Lowfang grabbed several thieves and punched them.

He didn’t have time to listen to every cowardly excuse they came up with.

He had to chase the culprit behind all this commotion—Ethan.

Clenching his fist, he looked around at the scattered guild members.

They had fled in terror without even putting up a proper fight.

And yet, amidst all the chaos, Ethan had managed to escape completely.

“Hmph. He’s better than I expected.”

Lowfang swung his sword and drove it into the arm of a fallen guild member.

“Gaaaaah!”

“Did someone say they were going to kill you? And you call yourselves a Thieves’ Guild?”

The guild members cowered and didn’t dare argue.

They could only look at him pleadingly, begging with their eyes to be spared.

Lowfang looked up at the ceiling again.

The direction Ethan had escaped.

The way he’d thrown himself toward a prepared escape route without the slightest hesitation.

That wasn’t an improvised escape. Every move had been calculated in advance.

Lowfang walked toward the escape route Ethan had prepared and muttered quietly,

“He might be more useful than I thought.”

His gaze grew considerably more intense.

As he pondered the meaning behind his own words, he immediately began tracking Ethan.

Drip.

Meanwhile, just as Lowfang had predicted, Ethan was swiftly making his way out through the emergency escape route.

He slid down a passage designed like a chute and quickly reached an exit connected to the sewers.

From there, he emerged into an old ruin on the outskirts of Arvan.

Creak!

Grabbing hold of a vine, he barely managed to make his way down to the floor of the ruins.

He gasped for breath.

“Hoo~.”

Exhausted, Ethan took a moment to catch his breath.

The escape had required him to bet—and accomplish—a great deal.

Without the assistance of the guild members, he wouldn’t even have been able to attempt it.

The reason he had dared to execute such a plan was that he believed there was little chance Lowfang would slaughter the entire Thieves’ Guild.

Most of the guild members would probably surrender out of fear anyway, so Lowfang wouldn’t have much reason to get his hands dirty.

And his subordinates wouldn’t betray him either.

Still, I can’t let my guard down yet.

It had been a flawless escape using the element of surprise, but Ethan continued to question himself.

Did I really escape completely?

If he had been dealing with knights or mercenaries, he would have been confident.

But when it came to a tax collector, that was a question he couldn’t answer so easily.

There was even an old saying about their persistence:

“Squeeze even dried jerky, and you’ll get water out of it.”

It had supposedly come into being because of how relentlessly tax collectors pursued their targets.

“I don’t have time to rest.”

Ethan immediately stripped off his foul-smelling clothes and wiped himself down with a towel.

Then he changed into the clothes he’d prepared in advance and took the ledger he’d hidden in a wooden box, stuffing it into his clothes.

He smiled to himself and muttered,

“I won… Now I can live however I want.”

The unknown voice that had made the wager with Ethan.

The condition of that wager had been simple.

Escape from Lowfang.

He had escaped successfully.

Now it was time to enjoy his reward for winning.

I already went through hell in Korea. There’s no way I’m going through hell all over again.

In high spirits, Ethan left the ruins and walked along a quiet country road.

Just then, he spotted a passing wagon.

A donkey was pulling the cart, which was loaded with hay.

“Excuse me, could you give me a ride to the village?”

The driver nodded, and Ethan gladly climbed aboard.

As the wagon swayed gently beneath him, he spread his arms and shouted,

“I’m free!”

At that moment, the driver sitting beside him slowly removed his hat.

And beneath it was a familiar face.

With a look of pity on his face, he said,

“Well… I wouldn’t exactly call voluntarily climbing onto the road to hell ‘freedom.’”

Ethan’s face froze.

Can I escape?

A great deal of turmoil stirred within him.

Lowfang dismissed Ethan’s agitation with a single sentence.

“If you try anything funny, I might have to cut you down myself this time. Keep that in mind.”

“Lowfang…? How did you…”

“Do you think this is the first time I’ve dealt with criminal organizations like yours? Most people like you tend to prepare one or two emergency escape routes.”

Lowfang continued casually.

“You hid yours particularly well, but when there’s a suspicious-looking ruin sitting around, we can’t help but investigate. We call those rabbit holes.”

He smiled nonchalantly.

“A tax collector has to be good at everything. It’s not a profession where you can get by just because you’re good with a sword or good at calculations. The most important quality is the ability to analyze and predict your opponent.”

His gaze remained seemingly indifferent, yet sharp as he looked at Ethan.

Ethan stared back at Lowfang, tense from head to toe.

The outcome of this fight had already been decided.

There was no way Lowfang was going to let him go.

Lowfang crossed his arms and looked down at him with a low chuckle.

“Still, you’ve got a pretty impressive record for a thief.”

Ethan frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“The members of the Thieves’ Guild in Arvan.”

Lowfang continued slowly.

“Most of them were abandoned children left behind by prostitutes in the red-light district as commerce flourished. They started out as pickpockets, but things changed after you became guild master, didn’t they?”

“…”

Ethan pressed his lips together.

“You gave up stealing. Instead, you laundered money and organized information about stolen goods, selling that information. And you donated the money to orphanages for abandoned children and even paid for their education.”

Lowfang gave a brief laugh before adding meaningfully,

“Quite admirable.”

“You desperately trying to avoid paying taxes is probably for the same reason.”

Ethan’s expression tightened slightly.

Because I had possessed him, those actions technically weren’t mine.

Still, I reluctantly answered,

“…Yeah. That’s right.”

At that moment, Lowfang’s hand moved like lightning.

The ledger disappeared from Ethan’s clothes.

Ethan immediately tried to take it back, but Lowfang casually twisted his body and evaded him.

“What are you doing?! Give it back!”

But in the next moment, Lowfang raised the ledger and slammed it down hard on Ethan’s head.

“Gah…!”

His head rang.

Ethan staggered and clutched his head, but Lowfang remained completely unfazed.

Holding the ledger in one hand, he looked at Ethan with interest.

“As a First-Class Tax Collector, I’ll grant you a special tax exemption. But there’s a condition.”

Ethan raised his head.

“What?”

“Work under me. If you do that, you’ll be able to protect the things you’re trying to protect.”

Lowfang’s words were firm.

“If the nation is to prosper and maintain welfare for the poor, enormous amounts of tax revenue are necessary. The Unified Empire is constantly working to build and maintain such a system.”

Ethan fell silent as he listened.

For a moment, he couldn’t understand.

But what about the original owner of this body, Ethan?

He had been a tax collector.

And only now did I realize what he had been proud of.

Is this some kind of trick question? If I refuse here, I’ll just become a piece of garbage.

“…Understood.”

In the end, Ethan had no choice but to nod.

There was no other option.

If what Lowfang said was true, this was the only path Ethan had if he wanted to protect the ideals he had dreamed of.

「Quest: Escape from Lowfang!」

• Success: You may choose the life you desire.
• Failure: You must become a tax collector and follow Lowfang.

[You have failed the quest.]

[Due to quest failure, you have changed your class to Temporary Tax Collector.]

Ethan returned to the Thieves’ Guild headquarters.

The inside was already in an uproar.

At the sight of him, the guild members immediately looked up.

They stared at him anxiously, asking whether the rumors that he was leaving were really true.

“Boss, is it true that you’re leaving?”

“What will happen to our guild now?”

Their voices were filled with fear and confusion.

For a long time, the Thieves’ Guild had been like a family to them.

Now that its central figure was disappearing, it felt as though everything might collapse.

But Ethan simply smiled.

“Do you really think I’d abandon you? You’re my hands and feet. Of course I’m going to take care of you.”

The guild members grew teary-eyed at his words.

But they were soon bewildered by what Ethan said next.

“The Thieves’ Guild will disappear as of today. Instead, we’ll be reborn as a new guild.”

He paused.

“An Information Guild.”

The guild members began murmuring among themselves.

An information business rather than thievery?

It was a completely unfamiliar concept to them.

But Ethan was firm.

“From now on, we’re no longer simply thieves. We’re an organization that creates value through information. I’ll become the head of the Information Guild, and Jack will serve as its master.”

“M-Me?”

Jack’s eyes widened.

He looked flustered, yet deeply moved.

The other guild members, however, still looked confused.

Ethan slowly explained the operating principles of the new guild.

1. Theft and robbery are prohibited.

2. Information will be sold at a fair price, and any commissioned information must be thoroughly and accurately investigated.

3. Providing false information is strictly prohibited, and anyone who violates this rule will be punished.

4. Guild members will operate according to legitimate contracts, with the client’s trust taking top priority.

5. Guild members may take on various occupations in order to acquire information.

6. When necessary, the guild may cooperate with public institutions.

7. Taxes owed to the state must always be paid.

“Pay taxes…?”

One of the guild members asked incredulously.

“That’s right. We have to pay our taxes. We’re not thieves anymore. We’re a legitimate guild now.”

The guild members were shocked, but they decided to follow Ethan’s decision.

Transforming themselves from thieves into information brokers would not be easy.

But as long as Ethan remained by their side, it didn’t seem impossible.

After reorganizing the guild, Ethan set off with Lowfang.

Ethan walked silently, his expression complicated.

“What exactly does a tax collector do?”

Ethan asked.

“The worst.”

Lowfang answered seriously before explaining some additional details.

“The starting salary for a rookie is eight gold a month. There’s additional compensation based on performance, but there are a lot of variables. The benefits aren’t bad. Since you’re a government official, you get housing assistance, and some medical expenses are covered as well.”

He paused.

“But…”

Ethan raised an eyebrow slightly.

“But what?”

Lowfang sighed before delivering the final piece of information.

“The average mortality rate for tax collectors is seventy percent. It’s literally an extreme-risk profession.”

Ethan froze.

For a while, he couldn’t say anything.

He simply rubbed his forehead.

Then he let out a deep sigh.

“I chose the wrong job…”