Chapter 335: The Negotiation, and Solving the Problem.

“.. Alright, guess that’s finished.”

In front of the entrance to the high-class brothel “Moonlight Parlor”, a bunch of suspicious looking black-clothed men were lying on the ground without moving an inch. Several dozen thin-ish golems encased in ice were besides them.

Of course, none of the men were actually dead, and I didn’t damage any of the golems either.

Several guardsmen who came out of the Moonlight Parlor tied the unconscious men up with ropes and brought them away. Handing them over to the city’s knight order.. No way they’re doing that, I guess.

No matter how you look at them, these guys aren’t your average innocent citizens. Their attire basically screams of them being some sort of special corps, and they were releasing enough killing intent for me to feel it while inside the brothel. Hmm, that point would make them second-rate as assassins, I suppose? Oh, wait, they’re not actually assassins; their actions are more like that of a head-on raid.

Those guardsmen bringing them away are probably going to torture them in order to find out who’s behind this attack. Well, they probably already have an idea as to the mastermind, but just in case, I guess.

“To think you really took care of them all.. Are you a member of the [Red Cats]?”

“Nope, I’m not. I am friendly with them, however.”

While watching the men being brought away, Silhouette-san said that with a bit of a dumbfounded voice.

“Still.. If he’s already making big moves like this, I guess there’s no longer any room for negotiations between us..”

“The Zavit guy you talked about earlier?”

“That’s right. Zavit Grant. The man running the underground businesses of [Papillon].”

Just as I thought. Coming to kill Silhouette-san who’s a thorn in his side.. No, judging from the thuggish impressions the men sent here gave out, he probably wanted to threaten her. Silhouette-san is a beauty after all. It’d be a shame to kill her, is what the other side was thinking, I bet.

Well, with this, I can have the talk I wanted with the other side as promised. When I returned to the hall I was in earlier, for some reason it was full of people; all of them turned their eyes towards me as I walked in.

“Fu, ee!?”

I solidified on the spot upon seeing the hall before me. There were men there as well, but more than half of them were women, and almost all of them were half-naked.

I could see all of their underwear through their see-through mini slip dresses, and some of them aren’t even wearing bras. Is it that!? Don’t tell me they were in the middle of it!? Wa-Oi, there’s even people not wearing anything!?

“Amazing—! You’re strong, aren’t you?”

“Thank you for saving the shop! You saved us!”

“Ufufu, how about I spend a night with you as thanks? I’ll keep you company throughout the night.”

“Ah, not fair! I was aiming for him as well!”

“A, no, I’m—Business! I have some business after this!”

While being jostled by the group of women, I tried my best to escape but was foiled time and again by the hands that stretched out from god-knows-where and clung onto me.

Uaa. There’s a nice smell around here! Something soft is being pushed against my back! And I just got kissed on the cheek!? (Note: *munches popcorn*)

“Alright alright, leave it at that you girls. That kid and I have a talk to conduct. All of you, go back to your rooms.”

When Silhouette-san clapped her hands with a *pan pan* sound, the onee-sans, muttering things like “Tsk” and “The Boss alone, not fair..”, returned to their rooms. The men who went into those same rooms must be guests, I guess.

Ah, I’m saved..

“Are you alright? Seems like the stimulation was too strong.. Perhaps you’re not very familiar with these kinds of things?”

“.. I’ll leave that to your imagination.”

While averting my eyes from Silhouette-san who’s snickering slightly and looking like she saw through me completely, I tried to calm down my flushed body. Ahh, that surprised me.. It’s as she said, that was a bit too much stimulation for me.

While feeling the awkward mood, Silhouette-san led me to the highest floor of the brothel. I was guided to a luxurious-looking room after passing through a pair of large doors; seems like this place is her private chambers. It looks almost like room for royalty use with all the high- class furniture and other daily tools. Not even the palace back in Brunhild is this luxurious.

As I sat down on the sofa after being invited to take a seat, I looked up to see a large round skylight installed on the roof and the full moon that lies beyond the glass.

Next to me who sat on the sofa, there’s a black cat who’s curled up into a ball and sleeping away soundly, as if I’m not even there. Is it Silhouette-san’s pet cat?

“Is fruit juice fine? Or some alcohol?”

“Fruit juice, please.”

Silhouette-san brought some drinks to the low table in front of the sofa before sitting down across from me. In front of her, a champagne-like drink is slowly fizzing away inside a glass.

“So, what may this talk of yours be? Actually, before that I don’t think I’ve heard your name yet?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. My name is Mochizuki Touya. Right now.. I’m a traveller, I guess.”

“A traveller, eh? Well, that’s fine. For now, let’s listen to your story.”

I then conveyed the key points of my request to her. About the golden monsters that are randomly appearing all over the world, the fact that I have a method to detect their appearances beforehand, and that I want her and her organization to help me in gathering that information.

historical

“The golden monsters, huh. It’s true that recently there have been witness reports of those things in all kinds of places. There was a country that lost an entire village to them, and another that had to sacrifice several dozen golems belonging to its knight order in order to subjugate a separate group. It’s still hard to believe that they’re invaders from another world though..”

“You sound pretty informed.”

“Naturally. I’m the one responsible for all information gathering activities conducted by [Papillon], you know? I receive reports of things before anyone else do. From movements made by countries, all the way down to the family tree of insignificant thugs.”

I guess I should say, as expected of [Papillon]’s surface group representative. It’s not just limited to this world; as long as it’s not some tiny frontier village, any settlement would have an inn or a brothel, or perhaps both.

And if members of the organization mix themselves into the staff, or perhaps if the shop itself is run by the organization, it would be exceedingly easy to gather information from all over the world and pass them onto their boss, Silhouette-san. I wouldn’t say every single city in this world has [Papillon] influence in it, but still their activity range must be immense.

“And then, what would I gain from helping you?”

“Early warning for the appearance of the variants—the golden monsters—means you can evacuate that much faster, no?”

“It isn’t guaranteed that they would appear near a town every time, right? If it’s only this much, it isn’t a very good deal for me.”

Well, that’s true. Even I thought that’s the case as I said my reply.

Still, when the variant attacks become more frequent and severe, that should become an attractive advantage. Not that I’ll wait long enough for that to happen.

Now then, what would she gain from this, huh. In this case it’s that, isn’t it? The other side having something they want me to do. She’s smiling a bit too, for some reason.

Speaking of something she wants me to do, I can’t think of anything else..

“So, I’ll go and do something about that Zavit guy you mentioned; would that be enough?”

“Mm, I like smart children like you. The talk’s faster that way.”

While a meaningful smile is floating on her face, Silhouette-san crossed her legs. The beautiful legs that can be seen through the slits of the cheongsam-like dress is bad for my eyes..

“Now that I think about it, could you perhaps be involved in the war between Primula Kingdom and Trihalan God-Empire the other day?”

Ooh, she even has that kind of information, eh. Well, there was a bunch of eyewitnesses at the abduction scene, so I guess it can’t be helped.

Since it’s not as if I need to hide it, I told her how I had decided to lend my strength to Primula Kingdom, kidnapped Trihalan’s second prince (well, it’s actually a princess), then captured their senate chairman. Also, how I plan to have the two countries cooperate with me as well in the future.

“Transfer magic.. I’m amazed, to think you can even use that kind of thing. Then, if I ask you to kidnap Zavit and bring him to me, could you do it?”

“It’s not like I can’t, but what would you do with him once I bring him here? Kill him and then you become leader of [Papillon]?”

If Silhouette-san wants to take over the underground section like assassination and thievery as well, then I’ll have to reconsider maintaining a relationship with her.

Papillon isn’t a morally just group like the chivalrous thieves Red Cats. I wouldn’t ask for them to become upright citizens, but I’d like to be spared from unwittingly supporting those kinds of activities.

Perhaps having sensed the change in my expression, Silhouette-san leaned back into the sofa and waved her hands while laughing bitterly.

“Me, the leader of [Papillon]? Don’t make jokes like that. You know, I actually want to sever ties entirely with the [Papillon] of the other side. To be honest, if they had never made their move against us, I would have left them alone and carried on with my own work. The only reason why things have progressed to this stage is because that greedy idiot Zavit tried to get his hands on my businesses as well.”

“So you want to focus on just the managing of inns and brothels?”

“No. Information is money; hence, I intend to continue providing intelligence services in the future. I have no intentions to use that to threaten or rob others, however. Let’s see, maybe I’ll do something like exposing the evil deeds of some dishonest merchants or corrupt nobles?”

I see. It’s not like she’s washing her hands completely from criminal activities, but that much is within acceptable range. They’ll become a group similar to Nia and the others from Red Cats.

“For the moment, is it enough to make the other side unable to do anything to your group?”

“Well, that’s good. Do you have any good ideas, Mr. magician?”

“Let’s see, I can go the simple way and curse them..”

“.. That went deep into suspicious territory all of a sudden. What do you mean ‘curse’..”

Silhouette-san furrowed her brows slightly. Well, I understand how she feels. It’s possible using magic under the darkness attribute to force a curse onto the target which makes him incapable of doing anything to us. I think this should be the simplest and most effective way.

Ah, but if the top simply changes to a different person it would become useless, wouldn’t it?

“Do you know where that guy called Zavit is at?”

“You don’t even need to search. He’s right here in this Cantarre. His residence is in the northern sector, within the tallest tower in the city.”

When Silhouette-san stood up and pulled open one of the curtains on the wall, there in the distance stood a tall tower shining brightly in the night.

I already saw that once when I first came here, actually. I thought it was a clock tower, but guess I’m wrong.

The shape of the tower reminds me of that one building. Ryounkaku, the twelve-story tower that existed in Asakusa during the Meiji and the Taisho eras. I’ve seen pictures of it in history textbooks. Well, I’m pretty sure Ryounkaku wasn’t lit up that gaudily in the past.

Still, to think he was this close..

“Sure is a flashy place to live in for a criminal organization boss.”

“He has a surface persona as a merchant as well. I’m publicly the owner of this brothel too; it’s the same thing. Well, most people in this city probably doesn’t even know that much.”

Just as Silhouette-san finished speaking, a knocking sound came from the doors of the room before a maid entered with a “Pardon the interruption”. After murmuring something to Silhouette-san, she left the room.

“Something happened?”

“The guys from earlier confessed. As expected, they came on Zavit’s orders. Their job was basically to threaten, and if possible kidnap me, apparently.”

And we have the verdict. I don’t need to hold back now, I suppose.

“Well then, could you teach me some of Zavit’s characteristics? Physical ones are fine.”

“Eh? Let’s see, he has thin hair, a long moustache and gold-framed glasses. Age is over thirty, and has a middle-aged man’s physique. Also, his eyes are dirty.”

I think the last one is limited to Silhouette-san only but, well that much is enough for me.

Like usual, I projected a 3D map of the tower in midair and searched for that Zavit dude. Oh, got a hit. He’s in a room on the highest floor.

Silhouette-san was surprised at the aerial projection but I’ll leave her alone. Hmm, the distance is this and the angle is like that.. Alright.

“Then I’ll be gone for a bit.”

“Eh?”

Using [Teleport], I moved instantly from Silhouette-san’s room to the top floor of the tower, where Zavit is.

As my vision shifted, I found myself staring at the eyes of an old man with thin hair who’s about to dig into a thick slice of steak.

“Wh, wh, wh—”

The moustache that extends to both sides under his nose like a catfish’s whiskers and the tasteless gold frame glasses. This guy, who’s wearing Chinese changpao-like clothing, must be Zavit.

As I judged that to be the case, I grabbed him by the back of his neck without delay and brought him back to Silhouette-san’s room via [Teleport].

“Gua!?”

“Kya!?”

The voice of Zavit who was suddenly thrown onto the floor and that of Silhouette-san who was shocked at our sudden appearance overlapped. Hai, abduction complete. I think it didn’t even take me 5 seconds overall. I sure have gotten used to this..

“Wha, who are you!? Where is this!? Who the hell do you think I am!?”

Zavit who was brought here pointed the fork he was holding in his hand—which still had a piece of meat on it—at me and howled.

When he caught Silhouette-san in his eyes, he directed a voice that was still seeping with some anger at her even while slowly backing away.

“I see, so this is your doing. What a fool. I would’ve let you keep your current position if you had shut up and obeyed me. To think you would wish for your own destruction like this.”

“I’ve said it many times already, but I don’t have any intentions of working under you. This will be your last warning. Don’t get involved with us again.”

“Fun (Note: sound of him snorting), there’s no space for two leaders in [Papillon]. If you won’t obey, I’ll just erase you. Oi, you there!”

Upon suddenly being called out, I unintentionally pointed a finger at myself for confirmation. Eh, me?

“Get rid of this woman. I’ll give you as much gold and women as you want. A position as one of my close aides too. You’ll become an executive of [Papillon], so—”

“Idiot.”

“Guhoa!?”

Pulling out Brunhild, I shot a paralysis bullet straight into Zavit’s stomach. With his whole body paralyzed, Zavit slowly fell face-first onto the floor.

“Did, did you kill him?”

“I only paralyzed him. Not only is he alive, he’s still conscious right now. He’s just unable to move at all.”

When I turned the face-down Zavit over with my foot, his eyes were still moving with small twitches. Since he’s still conscious, he should be able to hear our voices too. While crouching down and staring him in the eye, I started talking to him with as much of an emotionless voice as I can muster.

“Oi, listen up. After this, I’m going to put a ‘curse’ on you. As long as you don’t betray our promise, nothing will ever happen to you. The promise is thus: do not raise a hand against Silhouette-san and her group. Not only you yourself, but also all your subordinates. If even one of them does something, the curse will activate, and slowly paralyze your entire body. Eventually, the paralysis will reach your heart.. You know what happens then, right?”

The color of fear appeared in Zavit’s eyes. Seems like he understands properly.

“Of course, if you don’t do anything that’ll break the contract, the paralysis won’t progress. It should be easy for you to live a normal life. Be careful, ok? Even in the case of one of your subordinates harassing Silhouette-san’s group without you knowing, or even if they asked someone unrelated to do that, the curse would still activate on you. Better keep your group in check.”

The promise bound to the curse is “to not interfere with Silhouette-san’s group”. That’s it. It’s not that harsh a curse. The chances of it activating will drop considerably with only a relocation out of this city, after all.

“[O Darkness bind, give punishment to the sins of man, Guilty Curse].”

The curse magic activates, and a pattern appears on the forehead of Zavit. The proof that he has been cursed.

Using [Recovery], I removed the effects of [Paralyze] from him. Zavit who jumped up immediately was glaring at me with eyes filled with rage and fear.

“You, you bastard, what did you do to me!?”

“Didn’t I just say I ‘cursed’ you? And anyways, is it fine if you stay here? That already satisfies the condition of [interference], you know?”

“A, a curse!? What sort of foolish.. U, uaa! M-my fingers! I can’t feel my fingers!!”

Zavit went pale in the face while grabbing at his right thumb with his left hand. So it activated. Well, we already knew he had done things against Silhouette-san before anyway. With this, he would literally understand it not with his head, but with his body.

Since I think I’ve already threatened him enough, I opened a [Gate] to the room at the top of the tower Zavit was staying in, and returned him there.

Mission accomplished.

There’s no way he can meddle with the affairs of Silhouette-san’s organization now, and he will also have to manage his subordinates so they don’t do the same.

Furthermore, if they know of the details to his curse, there might even be betrayers who would intentionally cause troubles for Silhouette-san or her subordinates in order to activate the curse on Zavit. As such, he shouldn’t be able to talk about the curse with anyone except those he trusts deeply. I doubt if he has people like that around him, though.

“Well, something like that, I guess. Now he should never cause problems for your group again. As long as he wants to stay as the leader of [Papillon], he would have to maintain indifference towards your side with all his strength.”

Silhouette-san stood there with a blank expression for a while, but eventually she seemed have caught up with the situation, and gave a small nod.

“A ‘curse’ indeed. With this [Papillon] can no longer do anything against us. On the contrary, they would probably actively avoid us.. Goodness.. A problem that had me holding my head for so long, and you just went and solved it so easily.”

Silhouette-san spoke with a half-amazed half-impressed voice.

“Now then, would you cooperate with us as promised?”

“Of course. I’ll help as much as I can.”

Alright. With this, I now have connections with a large-scale intelligence-gathering organization in this world. Next would only be the actual forces required to subjugate variants when they appear.

There’s no Babylon over on this side, after all. Now then, what to do..

“By the way, do you have any plans after this? If you’re free, want to play a bit downstairs? I can even reserve the entire place for you if you want.”

“Play downstairs? Reserve the entire place?”

For an instant, I didn’t get what Silhouette-san was talking about, but upon seeing her mischievous smile, I was reminded of the paradise just now.

“I can even serve you personally if you want..?”

Silhouette-san came closer while bending down in a pose that emphasizes her chest. Nuoo, this destructive power is too much!

“N, no, well—since it’s already late today, I’ll be e-excusing myself here! I’ll talk about the details on another date! Well then good night!”

“Ara, a shame.”

While feeling her seductive and somewhat mischievous eyes on my back and listening to her chuckles, I escaped back to the Surface World with [Dimensional Transfer].

I’m bad with the sexy onee-san types since it feels like I’ll just get toyed around by them..

It’s not like I dislike them though. I need to say this clearly upfront. I don’t dislike them. It’s important so I said it twice.

.... Haa.

- Pixel