THAT IS A BENEVOLENT TAVERN: ~GIRL MEETS GIRLS~ 1 “A contract? Again?” Runoa Faust was a bounty hunter. Ever since the head god of the familia she belonged to had left this realm, she had traveled from place to place, changing factions as she went, getting contract requests every day. Hunting bounties was how she covered her traveling expenses. At the moment, the wandering girl found herself in the Labyrinth City, Orario. Because of her strength, she was known as Black Fist in the underworld here. “Gale Wind’s killing spree wiped out the last of the Evils. Isn’t the power struggle already over?” She was in a tavern on the outskirts of the outskirts. Buried in a back alley, down a flight of stairs, several demi-humans were having secretive conversations. When she took contracts, she always used this bar. “Gale Wind is the target this time.” Runoa wore a scarf to cover the bottom half of her face. Across from her was a human merchant. Catching wind of her real strength, he had ignored the other people in the bar and brought the contract to her. Runoa’s clientele tended to bring unwelcome favors. “I heard Gale Wind kicked the bucket in the cross fire from that.” “Gale Wind is still alive, and she left us a clue in the end. Right after the Evils’ hideout was destroyed, someone saw a bloodstained elf running away.” A detailed likeness was lying on the tabletop. The parchment showed the instant the elf ran past, a side view of a haggard face through broken pieces of a mask. Sunken sky-blue eyes, beautiful golden hair—an elf woman. “My men investigated, and we know where she fled to as well. She’s at The Benevolent Mistress.” Saying this, the merchant put a small bag with the advance payment on the table. “One of the men under my protection was injured during Gale Wind’s most recent spree. Not only that, she might have found out that our Bruno Corporation was connected to the Evils. Before that gets out, erase her.” He got up without waiting for a reply, letting his words and the gold speak for themselves. After the client left the bar, Runoa took a deep breath. “…Well, I said I’ll take care of anyone as long as I get my reward, but…” Runoa had gotten this far on brute strength alone. She had captured bounty after bounty in order to make an easy livelihood. But she was gradually getting tired. “Orario’s adventurers are a little too strong…” The adventurers in the Labyrinth City got an order of magnitude stronger once you crossed a certain line. Even for Runoa’s almost one hundred percent success rate on jobs, second-tier adventurers and above were inevitably difficult fights. First-tier adventurers were an instant no. Orario was a hive of superhuman monsters, sunup to sundown and beyond, fighting every day. It was a negative feedback loop where she crushed her targets, raising her reputation, leading to more crazy jobs coming her way. Her nerves were wearing down more and more with each passing day. Even the mead that she had liked so much at this bar had lost its flavor. “Argh. I’m already tired. I just want to be able to settle down and find someone to take care of me. I could lie around a small house all day, and he doesn’t have to be attractive…” Runoa Faust. Seventeen years old. She grumbled like someone twice her age as she looked up at the ceiling. “Maybe I should quit being a bounty hunter…?”
“Another contract? How many is that this month?”
Chloe Lolo was an assassin. She had belonged to a certain crime familia, and after getting sick of the endless stream of compulsory jobs, she had completed the unreasonable task set by the head god and been allowed to leave. As she traveled, she earned her living as an assassin. Currently, the stray cat found herself in the place known as the Center of the World, Orario. Due to the success rate of her assassinations, her name spread in the underworld under the alias Black Cat. “Well, if you prepare a proportionate reward, I’ll do the job, but…” Wearing a hood, Chloe was in a belfry that had been abandoned years ago. The long-silent bell hung from the ceiling as tranquil moonlight poured through the arch. It was one of the places she used for meetings when she took contracts. “Ah, of course. The target this time is Gale Wind.” The man standing before Chloe was a dwarf merchant. He seemingly had many enemies, and he was also greedy. Sensing opportunities for money, he was a business connection who gathered contracts for her. “Hmm, Gale Wind…is still alive?” “Yeah. If you take the job I’ll give you the details. It’s a first-class wanted person this time.” He handed over a single wanted poster. Drawn on it was a masked adventurer wearing a deep hood. The sum written above the likeness was 80,000,000 valis. “A bounty worth that much is unheard of. We got it before anyone else. The money’ll be an even split—” “Forty million in advance. And I’ll take seventy percent of the reward,” she cut in, shutting down his proposal. “W-wait. Even for you…it should at least be sixty-forty…” he responded, suddenly flustered. “No. You can say she’s gotten weaker, but this is the monster who destroyed the Evils single-handedly…Taking out someone like her…if I don’t get at least that much, it isn’t worth it.” Chloe stubbornly stood her ground. The hood she wore fluttered in the night breeze. It was deep enough to cover her eyes, with two little peaks from her cat ears befitting the name Black Cat. The crescent moon illuminated the small movements of her lips. “I can just do it myself, you know? I could always drag the information out of you.” “O-okay, I got it…we’ll split it how you said.” The dwarf gulped and assented, disinclined to argue with an assassin who specialized in torture. He handed over the parchment with information about Gale Wind and left the belfry as if running for his life. “…Easy, meow.” Once she was alone, Chloe’s tone of voice changed, and she heaved a heavy sigh. “That killjoy had a no backbone, not tasty at all, meow…Bringing back the contract sooner would be better, meow.” Chloe had gotten here on just her assassination ability. Business was business, so she put on a facade that could not be looked down on and threw herself into the business of the night. But she was increasingly tired. “Assassination here just doesn’t pay off, meow. All the money I work to earn ends up going to pay for the preparations for the next job, meow.” As far as Chloe and her almost one hundred percent success rate were concerned, Orario’s adventurers were too strong. The elaborate preparations required to assassinate them ate up all the rewards. Once, she had gotten lucky and taken out a second-tier adventurer. After that, the jobs were all challenges, and by the time she had painstakingly set up a gravestone, people were coming with new coffins for her to fill. Her painstakingly groomed tail that she took so much pride in was whipping up a storm. “Ahhh. I want to live an elegant life with a handsome boy waiting on me already, meow. I want a slice of heaven where he pats my tummy and butt and makes my heart race until I’ve had my fill, meow.” Chloe Lolo. Sixteen years old. Secretly filled with desire, the young catgirl whispered as she looked up at the moon. “Maybe I should quit the assassination business, meow…”
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