5
The VIP room was enveloped in silence.
Everyone in the salon stopped moving, all glancing in the same direction in terror. The mountain of chips constructed on the mahogany tabletop. The curtain had closed on the game: an overwhelming victory for one girl. An unimaginable result that would leave anyone shocked, especially the Grand Casino’s owner, Terry.
While calmly maintaining the pretense of the count and countess, Lyu and Syr looked over at him.
“Mr. Cervantes, as you promised…will you listen to my husband’s request?”
As Syr smiled, Terry clenched his fists tightly. He had promised to fulfill the victor’s request before the gamble had started. In front of all the VIPs, not accepting the request would just be a disgrace. Glancing at Anna Kreiz, the flaxen-haired girl at his side, he responded, biting his lip in humiliation.
“Very well…I’ll discharge the girl for a little while. Since she just came from a foreign country, I’m sure she is tired.”
Terry returned Anna, for whom Lyu had been searching. He seethed as he watched Anna fearfully walk past him, still completely bewildered. In reality, he was letting her go. He had just bought her and hadn’t even had the chance to enjoy her yet.
“Are you satisfied, Lord Maximilian?” He spat his words as he stared at the elf who stepped in front of Anna as Syr stood up.
This damn greenhorn…just you watch. You’ll regret embarrassing me like this.
While Terry was just barely managing to contain his hatred, Lyu responded.
“No, not yet.”
At those words, Terry felt his eyes twitch again in rage.
“…What’s that? You aren’t satisfied with just Anna?”
Thinking back, he realized that Lyu had never actually said “Return Anna” as her request. However, asking for more at this point amounted to little more than spite.
Ignoring Terry’s expectations, the eye-patch-wearing elf looked straight at him.
“Oh dear, you are quite greedy for an elf, Lord Maximilian. Just how many of my lovers would you have me divorce?”
Ignoring the sarcasm dripping in his words, Lyu responded:
“ All of them .”
At that, the VIP room instantly fell silent.
“The ones you paid those men to steal. You will free all of these women.”
Lyu’s pronouncement broke the silence. The women in the room immediately turned around, eyes filled with surprise. Even Syr seemed shocked. Gazing in wonder, her expression gradually changed back to a smile, her shoulders starting to shake as she suppressed a giggle.
“My dear husband certainly is greedy. Hee-hee.”
The blue-and-silver-haired girl giggled, her mood somewhere between happiness and hilarity.
“…Y-you…!”
Stunned, Terry’s face turned a purplish red, his anger breaking through the shock. Slowly rising to his feet, the dwarf’s stony face was menacing with no further attempts to hide his true nature.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, greenhorn…”
His threatening voice was unsuited to the VIP room.
As rage tinged his eyes, Anna, the girls, and the VIPs cowered.
“Maybe you’re misunderstanding something? Who do you think you are? All you did is win one game!”
“…”
“Do you really think you’ll survive if you make an enemy of me?! If you think the Guild will protect you, you’ve made a big mistake! I can just go back to Santorio Vega if—”
“Wrong.”
Lyu quietly interrupted his threats.
“You aren’t a citizen of Santorio Vega. Your name isn’t Terry Cervantes, either.”
The dwarf froze.
“Your name is Ted.”
At that declaration, the man’s face changed drastically.
“In the past, you were the bookie for an establishment that repeatedly ran illegal gambling dens in Orario…Even though the goddess you contracted with was exiled from Orario and returned to the heavens, that Status is still engraved on your back.”
Lyu took a small vial containing a scarlet liquid and fragment of crystal. Status Thief was an item that revealed the Status engraved by a god onto their faction. When used, the identity of a person’s patron deity and their real name would appear on their back as proof. Lyu held out the vial to back up her assertion.
A strange mood took over the VIP room. As if the room had frozen over, no one moved a muscle. Left in the lurch, the guests, girls, and even the waiters looked on in confusion as the elf and dwarf stared at each other.
“…Ho…ho-ho. That a pretty wild accusation you’re making there.”
Finally, the owner opened his mouth. He was striking a calm pose, but there was a hint of unease in his voice that had not been present before. At the same time, his glare was overflowing with bloodlust.
“I have no intention of wasting my time with pointless delusions…More importantly, I can’t allow people who go around impugning me or the reputation of this establishment with nonsense stories to leave alive.”
Terry raised his hand, and the men who had been loitering moved at his signal. Starting with a murmur, a large commotion roiled around the room. Black-suited men surrounded Syr and Lyu. The hired guards followed his orders obediently, driving away the flustered old animal person, the rich prum, and the other participants away from the table with a sharp glance.
He intended to eliminate the Status Thief item—along with the one who had made the allegations about his identity.
“Once…yes, just once before I kill you, tell me who you really are, you bastard,” Terry demanded, smothering his agitation.
As Anna cowered, Lyu held out her hand to Syr.
“You don’t remember me?”
She took the stole from out of Syr’s arms. Using the long, narrow cloth, she wrapped it like a turban. Other than her uncovered right eye, her entire face was covered. A puzzled look appeared on Terry’s face—then as he stared into the one uncovered eye, he gasped. He started sweating heavily.
“I-it can’t be—”
A sky-blue eye peered out from inside the stole, a veiled look that matched someone in his memories. The sharp gaze pierced through him, and the next instant he shouted in a loud voice:
“—Leon?!”
An adventurer who had once made villains quiver at the sound of her name: Leon of the Gale Wind.
A notorious second-tier adventurer who always wore a veil to cover her face and whose identity was never discovered. Someone whose strength could even be compared to the Sword Princess’s. The executioner of justice who had condemned more evil than anyone else in Astrea Familia .
It was her second coming. The color drained from Terry’s face as the follower of the goddess Astrea revealed herself.
“ You’re alive …?! That means, you really were in that War Game…?!”
Terry had heard that Gale Wind had turned to revenge after losing her comrades in the familia but had been mercilessly killed in the battle with the target of her fury. A corpse was never discovered, but Terry had believed the rumors when Gale Wind stopped roaring through the city.
Until today.
“I heard rumors that you were back, using a false name.”
The beautiful elf woman in men’s clothes stared at Terry as she removed the veil. Lyu had vaguely suspected that the dwarf she had once chased down had changed his name and appearance and resurfaced in the Casino Strip. As she gathered more information and learned more of his characteristics, she had a sense of déjà vu at the modus operandi. And when they met face-to-face today in the casino’s hall, she was sure of it.
“Did you ever wonder why I overlooked your evil deeds?”
Lyu’s eyes narrowed as the dwarf’s heart pounded, his mouth opening and closing silently.
“There were two reasons. The first is that I don’t have the right to talk about justice. And the other is…” Her eyes widened as she raised her voice.
“…Goddess Astrea offered you one more chance when you prostrated yourself, begging for forgiveness.”
Terry’s—or rather, Ted’s—face paled.
When he was younger, he had dirtied his hands with crime and been caught in a roundup of criminals by Astrea Familia . Caught red-handed, Ted had fallen down in front of the goddess and put his forehead to the ground, begging to be spared. The goddess Astrea listened to his request with compassion. Perhaps she wanted to believe in the children’s ability to improve and rehabilitate, hoping that the residents of the mortal realm who were not eternal might change.
Lyu laid bare her fury at this man who was only free due to the goddess’s kindness and yet still cultivated more evil in service of his selfish desires.
“G-get her already!”
Ted finally shouted as he stood under a just gaze that had not weakened after all these years. Having lost his composure, he ordered his bodyguards to dispose of Lyu.
“There is no more room for leniency with you.”
The sturdy men advanced to pin her from all sides, but she easily knocked them back.
“Gah!”
“Guh!”
While moving in a circle covering Syr and Anna, she used kicks to send their large bodies crashing into the wall and the table.
As the bodyguards who had fallen victim to her techniques hit the floor, the female VIPs in the room cried out.
“I’ll judge you in her stead.”
In an instant, screams filled the VIP room. Trembling in terror in the center of the noisy room, Ted finally pulled out his trump card, no longer carrying about appearances.
“Faust! Lolo! Kill her!”
At their employer’s order, the two bodyguards standing behind him moved—a medium built, burly human and a slim catman. As the two men came rushing toward her, Lyu’s expression tightened.
“Syr, take her and get back.”
Her eyes signaled that she would not have enough leeway to protect them as she leaped into the fray, challenging the skilled fighters coming to attack her.
“Okay. Good luck, Lyu.”
Closing the distance in an instant, the human and catman drew their specialized weapons.
Black steel gauntlets and two knives. As the enemy made contact, unleashing a sharp punch and slash, Lyu leaped over their heads, avoiding their attack. Landing behind them, she immediately kicked at their heads.
“!”
The black gauntlet repelled her kick, and the knife swung in from the side with perfect timing. Twisting her body to dodge, Lyu’s formal outfit was lightly cut.
“Faust and Lolo are the famous Black Fist and Black Cat! I’m sure you’ve heard of them before!”
Watching the ebb and flow of their fight, Ted wiped his sweat and smiled ferociously. Lyu knew the names well. They were the aliases of a menacing bounty hunter and an assassin.
From a time when Astrea Familia was still alive, the Dark Age when the Evils ran rampant in Orario, countless bounty hunters and assassins had been hired from outside the city in order to dispose of wanted men and enemies. Guided by Guild members who colluded with the Evils, they invaded the Labyrinth City and, like mercenaries, they determined their enemies and allies based on their reward, becoming one of the sources of turmoil in the city.
Among them, the names and strength of Black Fist and Black Cat resounded through the underworld. Their contract success rate was basically one hundred percent. Their names became a synonym for terror at the time, having even fulfilled contracts on second-tier adventurers.
When Orario’s Dark Age came to a close, like Lyu they had disappeared.
I see, they’re strong…
She acknowledged the might of the two men in front of her, while ignoring Ted’s boasts that they had been at his side since the Dark Age. These two had the skills to prevent a Level 4 like her from attacking carelessly. They combined their moves flawlessly.
Quickly and accurately analyzing the situation, they aimed for her eye patch—her weak point—constantly alternating attacks from the blind spot it created.
If I take the eye patch off, I might be able to get in a surprise attack…but first I need a weapon .
The bodyguards reentered the fray from the front and back while Lyu was unarmed and under pressure from her enemies’ weapons.
“While they’re pinning him down…!” the dwarf snapped with a husky voice that had lost all composure.
Ted could not relax as he watched Lyu go toe-to-toe with Faust and Lolo. The scariness of Astrea Familia had seeped into his bones.
“You waiters, grab Anna and that woman!!”
The waiters from Santorio Vega were flustered but did not disobey as he ordered them to get hostages. Shady though he may be, the owner’s orders were absolute.
As the surrounding guests kept screaming, they corralled Syr and Anna near the wall.
“Uh…ummm…?!”
“…”
Anna became fearful as the ring of people closed in around them and Syr quietly took in the situation with the waiters. She surveyed the surroundings, ignoring Anna’s gaze that seemed to be urging Syr to just leave her behind and escape.
Lyu did not react to them. Trusting her colleague, she just focused on her own fight.
Finally, without any warning, Syr raised both of her hands. A sharp noise rang out as she clapped her hands once in front of her chest.
“!”
Shocked at the loud, sudden noise, the waiters stopped moving, and even the other people nearby focused on her. Remembering the mysteriousness she displayed in the game just a little while before, they unconsciously readied themselves as Syr spoke in a restaurant staff’s voice that carried well in the crowd, smiling with her hands together.
“Everyone who was kidnapped by this awful owner: You aren’t just caged birds waiting for the hero to save you, are you?”
The mistresses, who had been left standing in confusion as the situation took such an unforeseen turn, were shocked when the idea of escaping was brought up.
Talking to those girls, Syr continued.
“You don’t look that way to me. You are all very strong people. People who didn’t lose to adversity. Because you all are pure and have a determined spirit. I know you all have people waiting for you.”
The women’s eyes wavered, as if they were remembering who they used to be. With each word, Syr stirred up a longing for freedom in their hearts.
“Also, if that hero wins…everyone will be free.”
She pointed to the eye-patch-wearing elf who was even now fighting the bodyguards. Watching the elf gallantly fight, the women’s eyes, which had been dyed with resignation, brightened, and then filled with the pent-up fury along they had accumulated. Seeing that, Syr smiled brightly.
“So let’s run wild! ? ”
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login