落とし穴９８堀：永遠判子と偽物事件 (Part2)
"That wouldn't do, would it? This Adventurer District is built in accordance with the Adventurer Guild's intentions. If the police were to intervene in a problem that only concerns the Adventurer District, it would be like Weed saying that the Adventurer Guild isn't capable of managing this area, wouldn't it?"
"That's the problem. The issue is that the general public who come here for requests don't suffer from this, so the police can't move. For some reason, only adventurers are being targeted."
"……And, the rest of the story?"
"Ah, I got a bit sidetracked. The result of that investigation is the fake Yuki."
"What do you mean? A fake Yuki? You mean a doppelganger?"
"No. The flow is almost always the same: the victimized adventurers are approached by someone claiming to be Yuki, who asks them for a loan and promises them status in Weed in return. Then, right on cue, a moneylender appears, lends the adventurer money, and they hand it over to 'Yuki'."
"Huh?"
What is that? I don't understand.
"I didn't understand it at first either, but to put it simply, it's a situation where Yuki is going around borrowing money from adventurers. And since they're borrowing from a moneylender, the interest is astronomical, the collection is harsh, and the distressed adventurers are crying out for help."
"……There's no way our Yuki would be in financial trouble."
"That's true. There's no way Yuki would be strapped for cash. If anything, Yuki would want a day off more than money."
That much is true. We all want time to relax with Yuki and the children more than anything.
"But strangely enough, no such talk or commotion has surfaced at the Adventurer Guild."
"Yes? No, wait, I heard rumors... ah, so it was just rumors."
"Exactly. Since it was only rumors, the police couldn't act. There were no victims coming forward to file a complaint. That's why I issued an investigation request to Ovik and his team."
Rock-san said this while looking at Ovik and the others. Receiving that gaze, Ovik opened his mouth.
"Uh, as Rock-san and Lari said, we confirmed that there's an idiot taking advantage of Yuki-san's position."
I see. So there's scum in Weed using Yuki-san's name. They must not value their lives.
"Milly. Calm down. I know you're angry, but it's hard for us to talk, and the rest of the story is quite anticlimactic."
Told by Lari, I suppressed my killing intent. I shouldn't. The fault lies with that scum. The people here are innocent.
"As Lari said, it's a bit of a letdown, but we succeeded in making contact with the person suspected of being the fake Yuki. Honestly, they don't look like him at all. I mean, photos of Weed's key figures are displayed at the Adventurer Guild, so anyone who doesn't know Yuki-san's face is either an adventurer who just arrived in Weed or an utter fool who doesn't pay attention to anything."
"I see. So they took advantage of those who know nothing. To those who do know, it's an absurd story."
"Yes. That's likely what they were aiming for. And when we made contact, the moneylender appeared right on cue. I suspect they're in cahoots, squeezing money out of ignorant adventurers."
"So, when they actually come to the Adventurer Guild, they realize it's not Yuki-san, and the end result is just that they borrowed money from a moneylender and lent it to a complete stranger."
"……Uh, are they idiots?"
That was the only thing I could manage to say.
"Idiots, indeed. But in that case, how has that fake Yuki not been killed yet?"
"Apparently, from what we've heard, the fake Yuki changes their appearance every time. They're likely being hired by the moneylender."
"I see. The moneylender hires a fake to act the part, then makes a profit by collecting on the loans."
"……No wonder there's no talk of this in the Commercial or Residential Districts."
We explain Weed thoroughly in those areas. Conversely, adventurers are just here to earn money in the dungeon, so we let them through with only simple warnings about Weed. If they were targeting tourists in the Commercial District, it would be over once they returned home, and they couldn't collect the money. It makes sense that it's easier to target adventurers who stay in Weed for long periods.
"It would be exposed as a fake immediately outside the Adventurer District. Or perhaps the problem is the low level of recognition of Weed's key figures. Should we introduce the VIPs at the gate to outside adventurers who come to the guild?"
"We can figure out future measures later. The problem is how to apprehend that fake and the moneylender."
I can't just let an idiot using Yuki-san's name run wild. Especially not in my backyard. But if we don't catch them in the act, they'll just deny everything. It would be conspicuous for me to go out myself, so I should ask Ovik and the others again...
*BANG!!*
Just as I was thinking that, the door suddenly burst open. Startled by the sound, I turned around to see Dressa and Vilia standing there.
"What's wrong, you two?"
"Ah, Milly!!"
"Milly-onesama!! Please listen!! We found a fake using Onii-sama's name, so we caught him!!"
"That's right!! And we got the moneylender too!! That's that fraud everyone's talking about, right!! We even have the evidence recorded!!"
At those words, everyone in the room shouted at once.
" " "Well done!!" " "
Evidence secured, and the perpetrators already in custody. It seems they mistook Dressa and Vilia for rookie adventurers. Well, they *are* rookies, but they clearly didn't expect them to be adventurers from Weed. Given the timing, they were likely people who weren't well-versed in Weed's affairs, so this result was inevitable.
Afterward, it was confirmed that the fake Yuki was played by one of the moneylender's subordinates, and that the moneylender was the mastermind. The contracts were not standard loans but slave contracts; they were scamming adventurers who couldn't read properly and plotting to eventually sell them off as slaves. It became one of the most malicious incidents in Weed's history. Fortunately, the moneylender hadn't been active for long, so the saving grace was that no adventurers had actually been sold into slavery yet.
"Sigh. Uh, this document is... a stamp?"
"Milly, get a grip!! That's not it!!"
But as a result of that commotion... it goes without saying that I ended up in an even deeper hell of paperwork.
*Thump, thump, thump...*
Ah, that one. *Thump.*
Ahaha, it's starting to get kind of fun.
"Millyyyyyy!?"
You end up like that when you're doing the same work, don't you? Well, because of my job, I notice things during the verification process. The documents follow the same pattern every time, so it gets tough when they pile up.
When you're just writing "yes, yes" and stamping things, you often think, "Huh? This document is different from usual." Everyone is like that, right!!
Also, be careful of fraud!! These kinds of stories happen all the time, after all.