Chapter 03

Run.

If he got caught, it was over.

To escape Lowfang’s grasp, Ethan pushed off with all his might, pulled his hood over his head, and put on his mask.

Whoosh!

Curtains fell across the windows, plunging the room into darkness in an instant.

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

Before their feet even touched the floor, more guild members began pouring into the room, kicking open both doors.

The guild members took their positions with practiced movements. Several of them moved simultaneously, deliberately obstructing Lowfang’s field of vision.

They moved faster than expected, like actors performing in a meticulously choreographed play.

Ethan slipped deftly between them, concealing his presence.

“Tch! You little rat.”

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 away to survive.

“Please spare us!”

“We were only following orders!”

“Get out of my way!”

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

He had no time to listen to the pathetic excuses of these cowards.

He needed to pursue the mastermind behind this entire commotion: Ethan.

Clenching his fist, he surveyed the scattered guild members.

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

Yet amid all the confusion, Ethan had managed to escape flawlessly.

“Hmph. You’re better than I expected.”

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

“AAARGH!”

“Did someone try to kill you or something? At this rate, can you even call yourselves a thieves’ guild?”

The cowering guild members dared not argue.

They could only look at him with pleading eyes, begging for their lives.

Lowfang turned his gaze toward the ceiling again.

The direction Ethan had escaped in. The way he had thrown himself into an escape route prepared in advance without the slightest hesitation.

That wasn’t an improvised escape. Every move was calculated beforehand.

He walked toward the escape route Ethan had prepared and muttered under his breath.

“He might actually be… useful.”

His gaze grew more intense.

Reflecting on the meaning of his own words, he promptly began tracking Ethan’s trail.

Drip!

Meanwhile, just as Lowfang had anticipated, Ethan was making a swift escape through the emergency exit.

He slid down a passage designed like a giant slide and emerged through an exit connected to the sewers, eventually reaching some abandoned ruins on the outskirts of Arvan.

Creak!

Gripping a vine, he barely managed to reach the floor of the ruins before collapsing into breathless gasps.

“Phew…”

With his stamina completely depleted, Ethan panted for a while, trying to steady his breathing.

He had risked quite a lot to pull this off, but his efforts had paid off.

Without the guild members’ assistance, he would never even have been able to attempt it.

The reason he had dared to carry out such a reckless plan was that Lowfang was unlikely to slaughter the entire thieves’ guild.

Besides, most of the guild members would probably have been too frightened to do anything but surrender. Lowfang wouldn’t bother getting his hands dirty unnecessarily.

And his subordinates wouldn’t betray him, either.

Still, I can’t let my guard down yet.

Although his escape had been flawless, thanks to the element of surprise, Ethan continued to question himself.

Did I really get away cleanly?

He might have been confident if he were escaping from a knight or a mercenary, but it was difficult to be certain when dealing with a tax collector.

There was a reason people had come up with the saying, “Squeeze dried jerky hard enough, and even water will come out.” It described just how relentless tax collectors could be.

“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 had prepared in advance and retrieved the ledger from a wooden box, tucking it inside his clothes.

A faint smile spread across his face as he muttered to himself.

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

The mysterious voice that had made a wager with Ethan had set a simple condition.

Escape from Lowfang.

He had succeeded in escaping. Now it was time to enjoy his reward.

I went through hell in Korea. No way am I going through another round of hell here.

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

Soon, he spotted a passing cart. It was pulled by a donkey and piled high with straw.

“Excuse me. Would you mind giving me a ride to the village?”

The driver nodded, and Ethan gladly climbed aboard.

As the cart rocked gently beneath him, Ethan spread his arms and shouted,

“I’m free!”

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

Beneath it was a familiar face.

With a look of pity, he offered a single remark.

“Well… I wouldn’t exactly call climbing aboard the road to hell of your own free will ‘freedom.’”

Ethan’s face stiffened.

Could I still escape?

His mind was thrown into turmoil.

Lowfang dismissed Ethan’s hopes with a single remark.

“If you try anything funny, I might just 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 prepare one or two emergency escape routes in case they need to flee. You hid yours particularly well, but when there’s a suspicious-looking ruin nearby, I can’t help but investigate. We call those rabbit holes.”

Lowfang smiled casually as he spoke.

“A tax collector has to be good at everything. It’s not a job you can do just by swinging a sword well or being good with numbers. The most important qualification is the ability to analyze and predict your opponent’s actions.”

He looked at Ethan with a seemingly indifferent yet piercing gaze.

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

The outcome of this confrontation had already been decided.

There was no way Lowfang would let him go.

Crossing his arms, Lowfang looked down at Ethan and chuckled softly.

“Still, I have to admit, you’ve got quite an impressive track record for a thief.”

Ethan frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“The members of Arvan’s thieves’ guild.”

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 guildmaster, didn’t they?”

“…”

Ethan pressed his lips together.

“You gave up stealing, started laundering money, and organized information about stolen goods to sell it. Then you donated that money to orphanages and other institutions that cared for abandoned children. You even provided them with an education.”

Lowfang chuckled briefly before adding with a meaningful look,

“That’s why you’ve been so desperate to avoid paying taxes, isn’t it?”

Ethan’s expression tightened slightly.

Although those deeds weren’t technically his own, since he had possessed someone else’s body, he reluctantly answered.

“…Well, yes.”

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

The ledger disappeared from Ethan’s clothes.

Ethan immediately tried to snatch it back, but Lowfang effortlessly twisted his body and dodged him.

“What are you doing?! Give it back!”

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

“Ow!”

His head rang.

Ethan staggered and clutched his head, but Lowfang remained perfectly calm.

Holding the ledger in his hand, he regarded Ethan with an expression of interest.

“As a first-class tax collector, I’ll grant you a special tax exemption. There’s just one condition.”

Ethan looked up.

“What?”

“Work under me. Then you’ll be able to protect the things you’re trying so hard to preserve.”

Lowfang’s words were firm and decisive.

“Maintaining a prosperous nation and providing welfare for the poor requires enormous amounts of tax revenue. The Unified Empire is constantly striving to build and maintain that system.”

Ethan listened in silence.

For a moment, he couldn’t quite understand what Lowfang was getting at.

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

He had been a tax collector.

And only now did Ethan finally understand what the man had taken pride in.

Is this some kind of rigged moral dilemma? If I say no here, I’m basically a piece of trash, aren’t I?

“…All right.”

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

There was no other option.

As Lowfang had said, this was the only path that would allow Ethan to protect the ideals he had dreamed of realizing.

「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 been temporarily assigned the Tax Collector class.]

Ethan made his way back to the thieves’ guild headquarters.

The place was already in an uproar.

When he appeared, the guild members all looked up at once. They stared at him with anxious eyes, asking whether the rumors that he was leaving were true.

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

“What’s going to happen to the 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, with its central figure about to disappear, they feared the whole organization would collapse.

But Ethan simply smiled and said,

“Do you really think I’d abandon you? You’re my hands and feet, after all. Of course I’m going to look after you.”

The guild members’ eyes filled with tears, but they were soon taken aback by Ethan’s next words.

“Effective today, the thieves’ guild will cease to exist. In its place, we’ll establish an entirely new guild. An Information Guild.”

The guild members began murmuring among themselves.

An information business instead of thievery? It was an unfamiliar concept to them.

But Ethan remained firm.

“From now on, we won’t be mere thieves. We’ll be an organization that creates value through information. I’ll head the Information Guild, and Jack will serve as its master.”

“M-me?”

Jack’s eyes widened.

He looked both flustered and deeply moved.

The other guild members, however, still looked bewildered. Ethan calmly began explaining the operating principles of their new organization.

Theft and robbery are prohibited.
Information must be sold at fair prices, and any commissioned investigation must be conducted accurately.
Providing false information is strictly forbidden. Anyone who violates this rule will be punished.
Guild members must operate under legitimate contracts, and the trust of their clients must be their top priority.
Guild members may take on various occupations to obtain information.
Cooperation with public institutions is permitted when necessary.
All taxes owed to the state must be paid.

“Paying taxes…?”

One of the guild members repeated the words in disbelief.

“That’s right. We must pay our taxes. We’re no longer thieves. We’re a legitimate guild now.”

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

Transforming themselves from thieves into information brokers would not be easy. Nevertheless, as long as Ethan remained by their side, it seemed possible.

After settling the guild’s affairs, Ethan set off with Lowfang.

He walked silently, his expression troubled.

“What exactly does a tax collector do?”

Ethan asked.

“The worst job imaginable.”

Lowfang answered with a serious expression before explaining a few more details.

“The starting salary for a new recruit is eight gold coins a month. You can earn additional bonuses based on performance, but there are a lot of variables. The benefits are decent, though. Since you’re a government official, you receive housing assistance, and some of your medical expenses are covered. But…”

Ethan raised an eyebrow slightly.

“But what?”

Lowfang sighed before delivering the final detail.

“The average mortality rate among tax collectors is seventy percent. It’s an extreme occupation, to put it mildly.”

Chapter 3: Coming with Me? Or Do You Want to Die?