9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 27 - Modern Man's Physical Improvement (2)

“You have informants? Who?”

Everyone’s heads whipped around.

“My little brothers.”

“Georg, you have brothers?”

His younger brother Theodore Roman had already gone far away and was living happily. Since the family registry they’d found last time listed his parents as deceased, he essentially had no family left.

Georg had told me on the train ride back that no one knew he had a younger brother.

He’d only revealed it to me because he had no choice when searching for his brother, and asked me to keep it secret.

In that case…

“You mean the kids who sell newspapers like you, right?”

I asked with a slight smile, and Georg nodded vigorously.

“Not just newspaper sellers. There are lots of kids doing other work too. Shoe shiners, chimney sweeps, things like that.”

“Ah, you mentioned having friends you live with.”

Oscar said as if remembering, but everyone seemed a bit puzzled.

“Newspaper sellers, shoe shiners, chimney sweeps. Those are certainly good jobs for hearing rumors. But I thought you’d been keeping them hidden until now.”

“I wasn’t hiding them.”

Georg bristled slightly at Richard’s words.

“No, I just didn’t think there was any need to mention them. If any of us gets caught, it’s better if we know as little information about each other as possible.”

“That’s true. Though we’ve already come too far…”

Erika said skeptically.

“So Georg, you mean to use those kids as informants?”

Daniel asked carefully.

“I’ll be the informant. I won’t tell the kids anything about the White Raven Order. I’ll just ask about stories they’ve heard.”

“But you’re too—”

“Don’t you dare say I’m young!”

Cutting off Daniel’s words, he looked at me and spoke clearly.

“Brother, my little brothers and I walk the streets all day. We talk to customers a lot, so it’s easy to extract information. The other people are busy and too conspicuous to actually step forward. No matter how I think about it, there’s only me. Please let me do it.”

“I didn’t recruit you hoping for something like this. You don’t need to feel burdened.”

“No, that’s not it. I want to be helpful too.”

Though Daniel tried to dissuade him gently, Georg was adamant.

I rubbed my chapped lips and shrugged when my eyes met Daniel’s.

“If not that, then what were you hoping for when you recruited Georg?”

At my casual question, I could see Daniel’s pupils dilate slightly.

“If you were going to protect him because he’s just a kid, you shouldn’t have brought him into the organization in the first place. The danger started from that moment. Right?”

Georg was nodding enthusiastically. Daniel hesitated as if troubled.

“That’s true, but to make excuses, I wasn’t the one who brought Georg in first. Georg was the one hiding with a flyer who caught me. He said he wanted revenge against Kruger. I told him he was too young, but he was stubborn.”

I glanced toward Georg, then looked away.

“He’s got a long tongue. Once you’ve accepted him as a member, you should treat him equally. We’re not comfortable enough to throw away the cards we have, you know that?”

“So this is what you meant by dropping the half-hearted attitude…”

Pfft, a deflating sound escaped from my mouth.

“That’s so obvious. What’s the point of establishing the White Raven Order if you’re going to be half-hearted about it? No, Georg was already with you when you made and posted those flyers. Wasn’t that dangerous?”

“Still, I tried to be as careful as possible—”

“Brother.”

Georg called out to him in a serious voice.

“You don’t need to be so considerate. Really.”

Daniel met the boy’s eyes.

After exchanging glances like an eye-wrestling match for a while, after a moment’s hesitation, he finally nodded slowly.

I lowered my hands, interlaced my fingers neatly, and looked at the members.

“We need to become ruthless. You know that?”

“Hmm, how much?”

I casually ignored Oscar’s question.

***

And so we established the White Raven Information Network (tentative name).

Georg took advantage of another newspaper seller quitting to redistribute territories with his colleagues and changed his morning delivery route.

In other words, he adjusted it so that Mrs. Schmidt’s boarding house would fall within his territory. Very naturally.

“Newspaper!”

Inside the newspaper he threw over the fence every morning was a small note.

When Colin, who had grown quite a bit now, brought in the newspaper, I would be the first to unfold it and secretly retrieve the note.

Since Mrs. Schmidt knew I enjoyed reading the newspaper, there was no risk of suspicion. After discussing with Georg, we decided on this reporting method.

The information obtained this way was recorded in a notebook. After Mrs. Schmidt finished reading the newspaper, I would cut out photos and articles at night and make scrapbooks like that bastard Lucas used to do.

The rumors Georg brought were quite varied.

So-and-so businessman was having an affair with so-and-so movie actress, the Ossel had raided some house, some family had gone completely bankrupt and fled in the night to avoid creditors…

Stories that seemed trivial and whose truth couldn’t be verified. I recorded every single one without exception.

I’d learned painfully through my working life that any information becomes powerful when accumulated.

After Mrs. Schmidt went to sleep, I would sit in the kitchen pretending to drink with Daniel and Oscar and share this information, and Daniel, being a freelance journalist and columnist, would verify the rumors while going around for interviews.

The rumors Oscar picked up from colleagues and supervisors at the factory were also quite rich.

“Try to drink and gamble with them like before as much as possible. Listen carefully to what stories come out. Please.”

“Is that a request or coercion?”

Though Oscar grumbled, he followed the request and jumped into gambling dens with his ears wide open.

Sometimes he lost big, but most days he came back having won even a little and bragged about it. I was certain.

This guy’s a card shark.

I also asked Erika and Richard to remember anything they heard.

Erika said she always went around alone and didn’t really talk to others, showing reluctance. Still, since she was a rich family’s daughter, I thought there would be gains just from eavesdropping on conversations between her parents and servants.

Richard accepted with his usual gentle smile.

As it turned out, many patients would unload their stories on him since he was kind and listened well to everything. I’d expected as much.

I also continued my work of digging through the archive room at the office.

Except for the very occasional times when other employees came looking for materials or left something for me to proofread for typos, it was a repetition of reading documents until my eyes ached and organizing them.

As a result, even though I’d built up some stamina now, I would collapse exhausted after work.

“Ugh, I’m dying…”

“Here.”

Today too, as I sprawled on the sofa making groaning sounds, Daniel approached and placed a towel soaked in cold water over my eyes. Since there was no refrigerator in the boarding house, this was a substitute for ice packs.

The cool sensation somewhat reduced the burning pain in my eyes.

“Thanks. I’ve been reading documents even in my dreams lately.”

Light laughter and a sigh reached my ears.

“Aren’t you being too impatient? You’ve been like this ever since you changed, but I just don’t understand.”

“It’s because that crazy dictator bastard might cause some incident at any time.”

“That’s true, but. Anyway, take care of your health while doing it. Oh right. You couldn’t have heard, but Oscar—”

Bang!

With a loud noise, the front door flew wide open.

“Lucas! I’ve decided to live here starting today! Help me move my stuff!”

“I don’t have the strength, get lost!”

On the first day of December, Oscar finally cleared out his original room and moved into the boarding house.

Mrs. Schmidt had thought about it for a while, but Oscar had charmed and persuaded her with his friendliness.

The rent was cheaper and the factory was closer, good in many ways.

And not long after that, I scattered documents in the air and let out a cheer.

“It’s… finished…”

Very quietly, almost in a whisper.

I had finished the work of reading all the documents and extracting only the essence after several months. It was truly miraculous.

‘Now I can quit this damn job!’

Of course, materials would continue coming in the future and there was no other job as stable as this, but I had long since decided to quit once I had acquired all the data.

The increasingly severe glances and pressure from colleagues. The office manager’s attitude of treating me like an invisible person, not even calling me on payday and just throwing me my envelope.

The atmosphere made it seem like something would explode if I dragged it out any longer, so I wanted to leave this crazy group as soon as possible.

Of course, it wasn’t a simple matter.

‘If I just resign, they’ll definitely be suspicious. And where would I transfer to?’

After kicking away a civil servant position I’d gotten through connections, who would accept a semi-invalid with no stamina or skills?

There was one thing that seemed worth trying though…

***

“Are you serious?”

On a day when the first snow was falling heavily.

The White Raven Order gathered after a long time. In the corner of a grimy, bustling tavern, Erika looked at me as if dumbfounded and asked.

“You want to open a tavern? When you first joined, you bragged about being able to get lots of information because you were a civil servant. And last time you argued strongly to us about needing to gather information. But suddenly you want to quit being a civil servant? What the hell are you doing?”

Erika’s eyes as she angrily spoke in a small voice held 10% worry and 90% reproach.

I quietly listened to the scolding, then raised my hand to stop her words.

“You’re completely right. But I have my reasons for what I’ve been thinking about, so listen first. First, I’ve already extracted all the information worth extracting. I read through about 50 years’ worth of accumulated records completely. Amazing, right?”

Erika snorted dismissively.

“The latest materials will keep coming in the future, but I can’t do it anymore.

Because second, I’m already their enemy. I didn’t expect to be hated this much either, but the degree to which people who were laughing and joking just a few days ago are pushing me out—you guys can’t even imagine how severe it is.

Don’t tell me to become friends again. I can distinguish between people where that’s possible and where it’s impossible. Especially that bastard office manager—if he ever notices my suspicious activities, he’ll try to kill me.

Third, they even seem to suspect me so much that the important documents don’t go through me anymore and go straight to higher-ups. Compared to before, the amount of documents they assign me has drastically decreased. At this point, promotion is obviously out of the question. Now they’re just giving me hints to leave.”

“Then it’s not resignation, you’re just getting fired.”

Erika shot back tartly.

“Right. That’s what it is. So what, satisfied with your curiosity now?”

She still looked displeased but kept her mouth shut for now, and Richard, who had been quietly sipping his beer, suddenly asked.

“But why a tavern specifically?”

“First, it’s a good profession for hearing rumors, and we can also establish the hideout we needed so much. Most importantly, that’s what I learned to do. I practically lived in taverns a few years ago, so I roughly know how to run one.”

Erika made an expression mixing light contempt and disgust.

“How proud.”

“Of course I’m proud. It’s my only skill. Should I tell you about it? How to handle it when a drunk and a drug addict fight. Or how much it hurts when you drink rotten alcohol. Not curious?”

When Georg, who had been just listening while drinking milk, couldn’t help but giggle, Erika glared at him. Scary.

“Hic, but brother. What about funding? It takes a lot of money to open a shop.”

“That’s right. That’s the problem. That’s exactly why I’m consulting with you guys. I need to quit without arousing suspicion from the office manager and colleagues, and somehow make a lot of money. It’s not easy.”

“Hmm, I think it’s almost impossible.”

Daniel said gently. What a good friend.

“Isn’t there anywhere money might come from? Though if we knew that, we probably wouldn’t all be living like this…”

As we were putting our heads together like life’s losers, dejected and racking our brains about making money, the tavern door jangled open and cold winter wind rushed in.

“Phew, sorry I’m late. There was a problem at the factory so I worked overtime. It’s snowing heavily too.”

Oscar entered, waving the poetry collection selected as today’s disguise. In his other hand, he held what looked like a piece of paper with a picture on it.

“But I picked up this flyer on the way. Isn’t this guy in the picture you, Lucas?”

“Ha, ha, ha.”

I snatched the paper Oscar held out and tore it to shreds. Then I smiled sweetly and asked the stunned him back.

“Huh? What flyer?”