Let’s Head Out Into The Night City!

The adventure city, Agatra.

A key point of the Southern Territory, boasting a population and economic power on par with the Imperial Capital, the capital of the Empire.

It was also an important city for Imperial industries, beginning with the Adventurers’ Guild.

A great city where many people gathered, much money was born, and even more was consumed. Then, as long as it was a city of people, countless desires naturally writhed there.

“This is Fire 1. Target sighted. All squads, report status.”

“This is Fire 3. Target sighted as well. She has changed her hair color and makeup, but it is unmistakably the target. She cannot hide the habits in her walk and mannerisms. I am clever, so I understand.”

“…This is Fire 2… Hey, Naruhito. What exactly are we doing right now?”

The district where the desires of the night writhed was called Color Town. It was a great pleasure quarter where a fever that seemed to fester the night, the love and deception of men and women, and money all swirled together.

Among that town crowded with provocatively dressed women, drunken men with lecherous faces, and grim-looking guards, shadows moved.

Neither the lanterns nor torches illuminating the streets could illuminate those shadows.

“Hey, Lazaar, use your call sign during the operation.”

“Tooyama, you too. Lazaar is not Lazaar right now, he is Fire 2.”

“Oops, sorry, Stolu—no, Fire 3.”

“No, even you people aren’t fully committing to it.”

Those shadows cloaked wrongdoing. Tooyama and his group had set out into Color Town as soon as the sun set in order to tail a certain person.

Through Lazaar’s familiar skill, Shadow Guidance, the three had blended their bodies into the shadows and followed a single woman who was walking through the town with a somewhat excited gait.

The three were walking openly down Color Town’s main street, and yet no one recognized them. Not even sharp-eyed touts and callers could notice Tooyama and the others.

Of course, the disguised woman sneaking around in high spirits did not notice them either. Poor thing.

“What’s wrong with you, Lazaar? You’re no fun. Aren’t call signs cool?”

“I rather like this roll slice thing.”

“It’s call sign. Hmm, do you have no intention of remembering it?”

There was no tension at all for people who were tailing someone. However, no matter how much pointless chatter they repeated, the shadows concealed them.

The shadows hid the friends of the lizard man beloved by the familiar of wrongdoing, just as he willed.

“No, I mean, why are we even tailing someone in a town like this at this hour?”

Lazaar grumbled with a sigh. He also seemed somewhat exhausted by the sight of Color Town.

“Did you forget? It’s for opening the bakery. For us to start a proper and quick business in this city, participating in the Dragon Festival is the condition. You’re fine up to there, right?”

“Ah.”

“Yes.”

At Tooyama’s words, the two nodded.

Under the streetlights made by swaying lanterns, the scent of perfume from women inviting men pricked the nose.

“And unfortunately, the deadline for opening a stall at the Dragon Festival has already passed. We were a bit too late to participate normally. We need to take a special participation method different from the ordinary one. Okay?”

“Ah.”

“Dis, dis, and dis.”

Based on the information they had obtained from Dromora Trading Company during the day, Tooyama and the others had begun moving the moment the sun set.

In order to obtain the right to participate in the Dragon Festival for the sake of opening the bakery, Tooyama had already finished planning his scheme.

“Special method equals using the power of this city’s authorities to have them force us in as participants. Lazaar-kun, if I say this much, you understand, right?”

“No, I do not understand at all.”

Tooyama pointed at Lazaar, but Lazaar mercilessly shook his head.

“Why did Tooyama suddenly start talking like a woman?”

“Well, basically. From here on, we need to grab that money-grubbing woman’s weakness, use it as leverage, and obtain the right to participate in the Dragon Festival. There, argument refuted.”

Ignoring Stolu’s purehearted retort, Tooyama rapidly explained the plan. The plan was simple and scummy.

“No, you have not refuted anything. You said you had a good idea, so I followed you this far, but why do we need to grab her weakness in the first place, Naruhito?”

Lazaar voiced an extremely natural question. To that question, Tooyama thought for a moment before opening his mouth.

“Lazaar, think carefully. That woman and we are indeed not hostile to each other. But unfortunately, we’re not close buddies either. We owe her one for the whole mess with the knight order the other day. I want to avoid owing her any more.”

“…Wait, Naruhito. I truly cannot make that connection. Grabbing the weakness of someone we already owe is, well, how is that humane?”

“Hmm, well, if you bring up humanity, I’ve got nothing to say. But that woman is capable. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like we can negotiate with her through straightforward means. We’d only end up increasing our debt. Are you with me up to there, Lazaar?”

“Mm, w-well, I understand what you are trying to say. I can also accept that she is the sort of person one should avoid owing too many debts to…”

“Right? I don’t want to owe that woman more than necessary. But we need that woman’s cooperation. Hmm, what should we do? That’s what I thought about. But I didn’t know what to do. So I reversed it. I thought about it the other way. I thought of a method other than creating a debt. And then I came up with it.”

Thinking in reverse was important. It was all right to give things away. That was life.

While intoxicated by the atmosphere of Color Town, Tooyama grinned.

“Right, instead of increasing our debt, we can grab that money-grubber’s weakness, threaten her with it, and make her cooperate.”

He spoke those words, intending to sound as refreshing as possible.

Lazaar silently pressed his fingers between his brows, while Stolu blinked her round eyes open and shut.

“Ooh, as expected of Tooyama. A bloodless, tearless scumbag. If not for the Church’s orders, you would be a purge target for the knight order.”

Stolu, who seemed to have already become used to him, said something that was impossible to tell whether it was a joke or serious.

Tooyama’s ethics and common sense were rather broken, so he was aware that he was grazing the edge of the First Knight’s justice switch. Even so, he continued speaking without hesitation.

“But Stolu, the one we’re threatening this time is that bishop. Don’t you want to see the woman who’s been a thorn in your knight order’s side panic?”

“…Dis.”

At Tooyama’s words, Stolu closed her mouth. Tooyama once again formed a grin he should not have directed at a younger girl.

“It’s too late to play the good girl now, Stolu-chan. To begin with, you were the one who told me the rumor that money-grubbing woman is hiding her night life from the saint who serves as her close aide. Be honest with yourself.”

Tooyama pressed her.

Yes, to begin with, Tooyama’s plan would have been hopeless unless he had an idea of the weakness or scandal of that money-grubbing woman, Bishop Kanosa Tier Field.

Stolu had cleared that point for him. As a member of the knight order that had been hostile to the bishop faction, Stolu knew a likely “weakness.”

“Mm. Mmm, but I truly did not think that bishop-sama was sneaking into a place like this. A report had been submitted from the knight order’s spies, but no one took it seriously. They said there was no way that bishop would do such a thing.”

“She must have one amazingly fine mask, then. The goal this time is to catch clear proof of that night life and have her listen to our request.”

Based on the tip about the bishop’s scandal that he had obtained from Stolu, Tooyama had drawn the outline of his scheme.

From ancient times to the present, east to west, the masses had demanded purity from those in power. That bishop understood that. If so, this night outing could certainly become a weakness for her.

The fact that she had gone out of her way to disguise herself so thoroughly made that obvious.

“…Make efforts to fulfill your wishes, is it? Just for tonight, allow me to interpret the teachings of the Angel Church conveniently. Naruhito, Stolu. There are several people hiding around us in the same way we are. They surround the bishop-dono… Judging by their movements, they are guards.”

Apparently having settled things within himself, Lazaar pointed at several buildings lining the main street as he walked.

It seemed that, other than themselves, there were also people hiding nearby.

“Oh, Lazaar, you’re getting into it.”

“Hmph. Ever since I began associating with you, I feel as though I am accumulating more and more vice. Well, I do not hate it. But Naruhito, how do you plan to secure her weakness, meaning the scene of her hiding her identity and playing around at night?”

“Hm?”

“Honestly, her name is known throughout this city, no, throughout the Empire. Even the image of her being greedy with money has only spread as a rumor circulated by those who oppose her. Basically, the majority of Imperial citizens believe Bishop Kanosa Tier Field is a pure and upright person.”

“Yeah.”

“No, do not just say ‘yeah.’ Even if we confirm that she is spending lavishly in this pleasure quarter, if she feigns ignorance, it is over. No matter how you think about it, her credibility and influence are far higher.”

Lazaar’s question was correct. Indeed, he was right. The public evaluation of the bishop and of themselves could not even be compared.

What people valued was not truth or the truthfulness of words. It all came down to who said what.

Even if they went around telling others about the bishop’s night life under the current circumstances, there would likely be no one who believed them. It should not hurt that woman at all.

“O-oh! Lazaar is right! I-I was going to say that too! The knight order ultimately reached that same conclusion.”

In this world, position was everything after all. It was extremely difficult for the weak to threaten the strong.

In this world.

“Hahahaha, what, is that all? Hihihihi, it’s time for modern technology supremacy for the first time in a while.”

However, the modern world where Tooyama had lived was different.

Even if one’s birth or position was weak, it was not necessarily a dream for the weak to drive the strong into a corner.

Technology, created through human obsession and accumulated fixation, had twisted the power balance between the weak and the strong.

Anyone could become a broadcaster. Anyone could obtain information. Anyone could become able to influence someone else.

What should originally have been permitted only because one was strong had, in the modern world where Tooyama lived, become something literally anyone could do.

The item created by the technology that made that possible was—

“Mm?”

“Dis?”

“Ta-daa! Explorer device! The latest 2028 model, with solar battery!”

What Tooyama pulled out from inside his robe with a broad smile was a necessity for modern people.

A thin, square, small board. A multifunctional communication terminal, commonly called a smartphone. The one issued to explorers had far more functions than civilian models.

“That is… If I recall, is it Naruhito’s personal belonging that you recovered from the workshop people the day before yesterday?”

The explorer device that had been gone when he noticed it after dying in the modern dungeon had miraculously been found inside the Tower by a certain adventurer.

After passing through the Guild, an auction, and various other hands, Tooyama’s device had ultimately ended up with an organization centered around dwarves called the Workshop. Through Drako’s cooperation and a full-force transaction between the Workshop and Tooyama, it had returned once more to its owner.

“What is that? A small hand mirror?”

“Fu, fufufu. Tremble, you uncivilized primitives, before the technology of 2028. Lazaar, here, look this way.”

Tooyama excitedly showed off the device to the pure, innocent otherworlders.

Even in this world without communication technology, that device still had several usable functions.

Tooyama aimed the device’s small camera and tapped the screen.

“Mm?”

“Here, take a look.”

On the screen he held out, Lazaar’s photograph had been recorded clearly. Even within the shadow, his puzzled lizard face was shown clearly.

“…By the Teeth. Naruhito, what kind of trick did you use this time?”

Apparently strangely used to Tooyama’s absurdity, Lazaar replied with more exhaustion than surprise.

“Ah, I want to see too. …Eh, eeeeeeeh?! L-L-Lazaar! Lazaar’s picture appeared in an instant! Eh, a-amazing! When did you draw it?!”

The one who jumped in surprise was Stolu. Her eyes shone as she peered into Tooyama’s device. Her light-blue cowlick bobbed up and down.

“Stolu, lower your voice a little. Even if we are in the shadows, there is a chance we could be noticed.”

“Mufufufufu, wow, what a good reaction. It’s a pain to explain, so I’ll skip it, but basically, this is a function that can record the surrounding scene as a picture in an instant. It’s called a photo.”

Feeling slightly pleased by their decent reactions, Tooyama gave a simple explanation of the smartphone’s function.

“Pho-photo?”

“…I have never heard that word. Naruhito, just what are you…?”

“Well, if you’re interested, I’ll explain it when we have time some other day. Basically, if I use this to snap a picture of her night life, the operation succeeds. She won’t be able to talk her way out of it, right?”

Tooyama’s plan was extremely simple. However, it was also preparation that the people of this world could not yet perform.

“I shall name this operation using smartphone photos Operation Gossip Cannon.”

Thus, the first paparazzi in this world was born.

A truly malicious paparazzi who could use shadows for stealth and mist for disruption, even by modern standards.

“Ooh… What an evil face. Tooyama, if you held even a bouquet of flowers, I am sure you would think of some wicked use for it.”

“Your IQ only goes up when you’re insulting people, huh? Oops, fire team, look. The target has stopped.”

While they were enjoying their chatter, the bishop, their target, stopped in front of a certain building.

Tooyama widened his eyes.

It was a large mansion.

Among the varied shops lining Color Town, that building was utterly massive.

Its front had a large gate, and on top of that, intimidating gatekeepers. The surroundings were enclosed by high walls. Despite that, the presence of the building visible within the grounds was not diminished.

The lantern streetlights dimly illuminating it gave the building a fantastical look. Even amid that feverish town, the shop still stood out.

It seemed similar to a social hall he had once read about in a textbook, the Deer Cry Pavilion.

“It seems she has arrived at her desired location. What shall we do, Naruhito? Sneak into the shop? Or enter properly?”

“Ideally, I’d like to sneak in. Lazaar, how much longer can you maintain your shadow?”

“If I continue using it continuously like this, about ten minutes.”

“Hmm, if possible, I want to save your power a bit longer. Should we wait a little after she goes in and then enter normally?”

“Mm. I would appreciate that if possible, but… To think it is the night lounge, Rain Inn. As expected of the bishop-dono, even the place where she plays is different. This is a little troublesome.”

“Rain Inn?”

“It is one of the most popular night lounges in the adventure city’s Color Town. A shop used by the upper classes. I sneaked into it during a previous job. With our earnings, we would probably go bankrupt just by spending one night here.”

“I see. So it’s a celebrity-only kind of shop. And what’s troublesome?”

“It is simple. That shop is membership-based. Ordinary customers cannot enter. It would be different if we had an invitation from a member, though.”

“I see, something like a high-class lounge or exclusive entertainment. Then infiltration is the only choice, huh. That really is a pain.”

Tooyama and Lazaar watched the mansion from a distance. Using these shadows, infiltration would probably not be impossible, but it would be troublesome if they were exposed.

He did not want to commit a crime in this situation. As Tooyama twisted his head slightly and thought about the method—

“Muffuffuffu, dis.”

“…What is it, Stolu?”

The fool began grinning. His head hurt a little. This was what one called a bad feeling.

“The time has come for me to be useful once again. Tooyama, Lazaar. I am clever, so I understand. From here on, you will say, ‘Stolu-sama, you are amaaazing.’”

“…Lazaar, should we have left this one in the room after all?”

“Hmm, she is a chicken who is shy around the children. Perhaps we should have left her there so she could be forced to get used to them.”

At Stolu’s words, Tooyama and Lazaar stabbed her with calm remarks.

“Wha—hey! Th-that perception is extremely regrettable! It is definitely not because I have never had friends my own age before and feel embarrassed talking to them!”

“Thanks for the self-introduction. So, Stolu, what do you mean by being useful?”

Tooyama asked the socially awkward fool. It would be troublesome if she did not get used to the children soon, but interpersonal relationships were not so simple.

“Mufufu, Tooyama, have you forgotten? Despite how I look, I am a little famous.”

““Huh?””

While twirling her light-blue hair around her fingertip, Stolu made a smug face.

“Mufufu, I shall teach you. The negotiation of a knight.”

The moment she said that, Stolu dashed off at once.

“Ah, hey! Idiot, wait, idiot! I’m begging you, don’t act on your own!”

“It is no use, Naruhito. She is outside the shadow’s range. Stolu is coming out.”

“Damn it! Lazaar, we’re going too. There’s no telling what’ll happen if we leave that idiot alone.”

“Understood, Naruhito.”

After blending once into the crowd, Lazaar then released the shadow. Seeing the two suddenly appear, several drunkards laughed loosely.

In this Color Town, that was all. The feverish people noticed nothing.

“Good evening. Thank you for your work.”

Stolu waved her hand lightly at the gatekeeper. Their physiques were far too different. A large man wearing bulky armor mixed with leather and iron glared down at Stolu.

Brushing that gaze aside, Stolu approached the gate. With a rough step, the large man blocked her path.

“…Please wait. Do you have a reservation for today? Unfortunately, our establishment operates on a complete reservation and membership system…”

“Hm? Ah, did you recently join? You do not know my face? Heh, it seems Rain Inn’s education is lacking as well.”

“What?”

“You are not worth speaking to. Where is Horai, the head of the guards? I will scold him for failing to educate newcomers properly.”

She was totally picking a fight!

Tooyama and Lazaar, who had rushed over, held their heads at the same time. As expected, Stolu was Stolu. Negotiation, intellect one.

“…Hey, little lady. Sorry, but I don’t have time to play house. Are those older guys with you? Take her home quickly. If you don’t want to get hurt.”

“Stolu-san, Stolu-chan? You’re kidding, right? What? What are you thinking? Come on, let’s step away from here once, just once, okay?”

Tooyama grabbed Stolu’s shoulders and shook her repeatedly, but Stolu remained unconcerned. She put both hands behind her head challengingly and whistled.

“I would rather not cause a disturbance here… The people monitoring the bishop will notice us too.”

As Lazaar watched and grumbled—

“Hey, what’s going on, Nikolai? Some kind of trouble?”

Step. From beyond the gate, another large man appeared. He had a large diagonal scar on his face, and the way his muscles had built up was not bad either.

Tooyama frowned slightly.

“Ah, Horai-san. No, sorry. This young lady and these older guys are saying something a little unreasonable.”

“…Naruhito.”

“We’re surrounded… What do we do? We shouldn’t have brought intellect one.”

At Lazaar’s warning, Tooyama realized they had been surrounded by burly men. They were probably the usual guards for this kind of town. Among them were even some holding things like large clubs.

“Oops, gentlemen, this is troublesome. Bringing such a young lady and standing in front of this shop… Hm?”

The scar-faced man who seemed to be their leader suddenly stopped speaking.

His eyes caught sight of Stolu and began to waver.

“…Ah, perfect timing. Horai, it has been a while. Have you already forgotten me?”

Stolu opened one eye in a distorted way and grinned. She was a dangerous person who possessed both foolishness and cruelty.

“…Huh? Ah—hih?! Y-you, don’t tell me, you’re that crazy—k-knight?! Wh-why are you in a place like this again?!”

“I am glad you remember me. It has been since the Association two months ago. It seems your arm has already healed.”

“H-hold on! W-wait! W-we were in the wrong that time! B-but the matter back then was settled between the knight order and the Association, right?!”

“Oh, the atmosphere has changed.”

The scarred man’s composure vanished. Unease began spreading among the men around them as well.

“Yes, of course. You are still a man who trembles like a fawn despite your large body. Be at ease. I am no longer the knight you fear.”

“Hey, brat, cut it out already. Horai-san, may I throw them out?”

From among the men, one brave fellow appeared. Shaking off the others trying to stop him, he stepped toward Stolu with open anger.

“…It seems your subordinate education is excellent, Horai?”

Without even glancing at that man, Stolu merely looked at the scarred leader as if licking him with her eyes.

“Hey, I said, brat! You’ve been running your mouth since earlier, you little—gabala?!”

“Shut uuuuuuuuuup! Don’t talk fresh to this person! S-Stolu-san!! We are terribly sorry!!”

The young man was sent flying. The scarred man, not Stolu, had punched his own subordinate, then gave Stolu a splendid, deepest bow.

““““Huh?””””

The men’s eyes bulged.

“H-hey, did Horai-san just say Stolu…?”

“That knight who supposedly beat down the Association all by herself…”

The men who had surrounded them clearly began to murmur. It seemed Stolu’s name was well known in this city. In a not very good direction.

“Y-you lot!! What are you doing?! Everyone, bow!! Show respect to Stolu-san, of course, and to her companions too!”

““““Y-yes, sir!!””””

Step. All the men bowed their heads together. Tooyama and Lazaar looked at Stolu with serious faces.

“I am glad, Horai, that you remembered various things. Now then, I would like to consult you about one thing…”

“Y-yes!! I-if Stolu-san says so, then this Horen will do everything he possibly can!”

“Fufu. In that case, it seems my friends are somewhat interested in Rain Inn. We have not made a reservation in particular, nor have we received an invitation, but it is all right for us to enter, yes?”

“Th-that is…”

“That is?”

Stolu tilted her head slightly. It was a cute gesture, but apparently the scarred man did not see it that way.

“No!! It is nothing! H-hey, you, go tell Madam Haroto that three guests will be admitted by gatekeeper recommendation! Run the hardest you have ever run in your life!”

“Y-yes, sir!!”

“S-sorry for the wait, Stolu-san. P-please allow us to guide you to the main hall! Y-your companions as well, please. We deeply apologize!”

“““““W-we deeply apologize!!”””””

Another deepest bow.

The men lowered their heads and opened the way.

Rain Inn’s heavy gate opened.

“—Fufun?”

Snap. Stolu turned back toward Tooyama and Lazaar, then gave them a terrible wink. It was so bad that she closed both eyes.

““Scary.””

…………

……

…

“I wanted to introduce him to you. He is the only son of Mellow Trading Company, which currently has the greatest momentum in the Western Territory—”

“Oh! What an amazing person. Your connections always surprise me.”

“Hey, hurry up and reverse-request me already. You know how I feel, don’t you?”

“Oh my, fufu. Then, I’m thirsty, so if you’ll toast with a thirty-year Fine wine, I wouldn’t mind talking a little.”

Dazzling.

There was a radiance glittering in the night city that made it hard to believe this was a world without electricity.

A great hall where even a large crowd did not feel suffocating at all. The glossy marble reflected faces when looked into, and the red carpets laid out at key points made shoes slowly sink into them when stepped on.

Chandeliers were arranged across the high ceiling, and the flames swayed, intensifying the light through glasswork.

They were in a space where even the ugliness of men and women’s nighttime desires simply melted into the radiance.

“Whoa, amazing.”

“This shop is the same as ever.”

“Ooh, men and women are getting all heated up. Tooyama, shall we drink while using men bad at flirting as snacks? This shop is famous for a liquor called Luck Shine. The wild mint flavor punches you from your throat up into your head.”

“You’re not gonna become a decent adult, Stolu.”

At the center of the hall, Tooyama and the others sat on a sofa seat placed beside an indoor fountain, looking slightly out of place.

“Ah, I believe drinking is permitted from age thirteen in the Empire. Do not drink too much.”

“Actually, don’t drink right now. We’re working, working. But wow. I heard this was a lounge used by the upper classes, but this is practically a royal party.”

Tooyama looked around restlessly. To put it simply, it felt like he had wandered into a ball held at a castle.

Men and women in glittering dresses with exposed chests and glossy tuxedos with crisp starch mingled together.

It greatly resembled the atmosphere of the explorer commendation ceremony held once a year on Babel Island.

“That is this shop’s selling point. The clientele is basically wealthy upper-class people. Great merchants, landowners, and even titled nobles are probably here. And the interesting system is…”

Lazaar stopped speaking midway. With a sharp look, he turned his gaze toward a presence approaching their sofa, and Tooyama also looked that way.

“Hello, cute young lady. Did you come with your friends today?”

“Huh?”

Tooyama muttered blankly.

He was an incredibly handsome man. He was 180 centimeters tall, and his figure wrapped in a white tuxedo was truly that of a beautiful man.

Seeing a man who looked good in a white tuxedo for the first time in his life, Tooyama froze at the sheer level of his handsomeness.

His oval face was arranged with beautiful features that could be mistaken for a woman’s, and on top of that, his face was small. If one were careless, he might have had an eight-head-tall proportion.

“This.”

Lazaar shrugged and turned his gaze to Stolu.

“Ah, sorry, older brother. Right now, I still want to enjoy myself with my friends…”

Stolu shook her head with a wry smile at the handsome man who had spoken to her. So this one could make a wry smile and communicate like that. Tooyama was honestly impressed.

“Oops, my apologies. A Lizardonian-san and a black-haired gentleman, too. You are quite remarkable, young lady. If you change your mind, please call on me at any time.”

It seemed even the handsome man’s heart was handsome. Though he had been bluntly rejected, he showed no irritation whatsoever and merely smiled calmly.

“Okaay. Ah, can I have just that drink?”

Stolu pointed to the small silver board the handsome man was holding and the champagne glass on top of it.

At that little brat move, Tooyama widened his eyes and twisted his mouth.

“If I may receive the name of your beautiful self in exchange.”

“Hah. I shall take it as payment for sharing a little of my time with you. Is there a problem?”

“Haha, I cannot win against that. Please, lady with the light-blue eyes. This is a Squall Fizz, the same color as your eyes. If you like the taste, I would be glad if you remembered me.”

“Yes, I shall remember you. Until I forget, that is.”

He was a perfect handsome man. Everything from his entrance to his exit was perfect.

“…What was that handsome guy?”

Tooyama murmured dazedly as he watched the handsome man’s departing back over the sofa.

“Ah, that was a cast member reverse-requesting Stolu. This is what is interesting about this shop. The customer does not nominate the cast; the cast chooses and nominates the customer.”

Lazaar muttered while chuckling in his throat.

“Uh, so, what? The one who chooses isn’t the customer, but…”

“The shop side, in other words. Well, to be accurate, each individual cast member chooses a customer they like.”

“Eeh… Can that even work as a business?”

“It can. Look, Naruhito. You see the men and women wearing silver brooches on their chests, right? Those are the employees of this shop, Rain Inn. What do you think?”

Following Lazaar’s gaze, Tooyama looked at the people coming and going through the dazzling main hall.

Small faces, well-balanced figures, all of them with long legs and large eyes. Their appearances were so good that just looking at them seemed enough to make one fall in love.

“Ah, they’re all stupidly good-looking. Their faces and visuals alone seem good enough to make a living.”

“Exactly. Everyone wants to be liked and acknowledged by someone, do they not? Especially if that someone is a beautiful man or woman. The reason this shop is favored by the upper classes is that it satisfies people’s self-esteem.”

Lazaar’s eyes narrowed slightly. His low yet clear voice could be heard properly even amid the lively voices of the main hall.

“Being reverse-requested by a cast member of Rain Inn is, so to speak, a sort of medal. Well, something like status. Everyone spends money freely in order to be reverse-requested by their favorite cast member.”

Lazaar smiled softly.

With his eyes pleasantly tilted, he quietly pointed around them.

“Fullmaria! I have a gift procured from the Kingdom for you! It is a craft made from Hitoda wood!”

“Oh my, how very beautiful. Fufu, but is it truly all right for me to accept something like this?”

“Jay! This is an anklet made with Flare Stones, the same color as your eyes. Would you wear it?”

“Wow, madam! Is it really all right for me to receive something like this?”

“Whoa… Seriously? Beautiful women and handsome men are getting showered with gifts…”

When Tooyama turned his eyes one by one to the places Lazaar pointed at, there were scenes of customers and cast members playing together for one night.

It certainly looked as though the customers were trying to be liked by the employees, or rather the cast side.

“No one knows whether they will be rewarded even if they go that far. However, once people are charmed by this shop, they become more and more hooked like that, dreaming of the day they will be reverse-requested by the cast member they admire.”

“I see. It’s a well-made, no, truly terrifying system. It’s like a warped modification of idol business, host clubs, and hostess clubs… Come to think of it, there was a similar night establishment on Babel Island too.”

A memory of hearing a similar story from a colleague before crossed Tooyama’s mind. If he remembered right, it was a shop called Ameliya, a pseudo-restaurant where one could enjoy private-room entertainment.

Several explorers and people connected to the island had supposedly fallen into that shop’s swamp and either gone bankrupt or nearly done so.

Either way, it was a shop with a terrifying system. It seemed there were people in any world who thought of similar things.

“That is how it is. Their job is to show dreams. Everyone easily throws away money for the sake of dreams.”

“What’s wrong, Stolu? Did you eat something bad? If your stomach hurts, go to the toilet right away.”

“…It seems Tooyama’s perception of me is somewhat misaligned. Lazaar, what is wrong with your friend?”

“It is all right. You will eventually get used to Naruhito’s carelessness too.”

Lazaar let out a tired breath.

“Ah, by the way, Stolu, give me a sip of that. I’m thirsty.”

Ignoring that assessment, Tooyama carefreely followed his own desire.

Looking at the dripping glass and the light-blue fizz made him feel unbearably thirsty.

“Eh?”

“What are you freezing up for? Just one sip. I won’t drink all of it.”

“…No, that itself is fine, but… If you do that, it would be… a-an indirect…”

Stolu had already put her mouth to it.

“Huh? No good?”

“…ッ… Dis…”

Stolu’s eyes darted about, but as if suddenly resolving herself, she thrust the glass toward Tooyama with both hands.

Inside the dripping glass, the light-blue fizzy drink was licking against the ice.

It was indeed similar to the color of Stolu’s eyes.

“Oh, you sure? Thanks. I’ll take one sip… Ooh, delicious…”

What freshness. A refreshing scent pierced from his throat up into his nose, like mint and yet not quite.

When he took another sip and rolled it over his tongue, he found a slight sweetness within the sharp dryness. His dry throat felt instantly moistened.

“Hey! You drank too much! It’s mine!”

“Ah, sorry.”

With a quick motion, Stolu snatched the glass back from Tooyama’s hand.

Her eyes wandered, and her gaze went back and forth several times.

She looked at Tooyama, then the glass, then Tooyama again—

“………Dis!!”

After hesitating for the umpteenth time, she tilted the glass back in one gulp.

Stolu’s thin white throat moved, gulp, gulp, and the light-blue liquid vanished all at once.

“Ah, hey, hey, chugging is dangerous. What’s with you? Were you that thirsty?”

Stolu’s face was slightly red. Her glass-bead-like eyes, with star-shaped irises, were distorted. Tooyama guessed it was because she had taken alcohol all at once.

“…Uu. Uu, I’m the only one who looks like an idiot, aren’t I?”

Seeing Tooyama’s attitude, Stolu groaned resentfully.

“Naruhito…”

Lazaar quietly stared at Tooyama.

“Eh, what is it, Lazaar? What’s with those eyes? Are you looking at a fly or something?”

“No, how should I put it… No, it is nothing.”

Mumbling with his mouth, Lazaar ultimately chose silence. Tooyama tilted his head at his friend’s strange attitude.

“Hah… Well, since Lazaar the Lizardonian trusts you this much, you are probably not a bad person.”

Stolu muttered with a sigh.

“As if there could be an honest villain like me. …Now then, break time is over. We need to start looking for our target.”

Tooyama stretched and looked around. He had been moving nonstop all day and was growing tired, but the soft sofa had helped him recover a little.

“In any case, it is large. Even this main hall alone has quite a number of people. I cannot see the bishop-dono at a glance.”

“Hmm, as expected, a VIP as great as bishop-sama may have been guided to a private room.”

Even after they roughly looked around the main hall, they could not see the bishop they had originally followed. In the midst of that, Stolu quietly murmured those words.

“A private room?”

“Yes. Customers reverse-requested by cast members can enter the private rooms assigned to each cast member. Well, basically, rooms. If it is bishop-sama, it would not be strange if she has already seduced several of Rain Inn’s cast members.”

“I see. So that’s why we can’t see her. Now, what do we do, Naruhito?”

“What do we do, huh? Even if we try to sneak into the area with private rooms using Lazaar’s shadow, we don’t have a sense of the location, right? Stolu, how many of those private rooms are there roughly?”

“They are on the third floor of this Rain Inn mansion. I do not know the number, but there are quite a few, and the security is strict.”

“Hmm, sneaking in is high risk. If we mess up in this matter, we’re completely the ones in the wrong. …Hm? Stolu, so, in other words, if we can get reverse-requested by a cast member, we can also enter that third floor, the building with the private rooms, right?”

“That is how it would be. Well, we are all what one might call first-time customers. For an extremely clever and cute girl like me, being reverse-requested even as a first-timer would be easy, but…”

Stolu stared intently at Tooyama’s face. Her expression was vaguely melting.

Looking at her this way, Stolu had a face as beautiful as the cast members, not losing to them.

A small face and pretty eyes like glass beads. For some reason, her irises were shaped like stars, and her thin, cherry-colored lips looked soft.

Her light-blue hair was tied into a ponytail, and it swayed smoothly whenever she moved. It made sense that the handsome man had spoken to her.

If their first meeting had not been so terrible, and if he had not seen her usual intellect-one behavior, Tooyama would probably have treated her properly as a beautiful girl.

“Fu…”

That beautiful girl, intellect one, looked at Tooyama’s face and laughed.

Softly, her twisted lips and eyes stared teasingly at Tooyama.

“Hey, Lazaar, this brat just looked at my face and laughed.”

“Calm down, Naruhito. Your pupils are dilated.”

Tooyama, unusually opening his eyes wide, spoke to Lazaar in order to calm his anger. He would make this damn brat cry someday. Tooyama, whose boiling point was low, faced off against the child with no adult composure.

“Now, now, do not be so angry. I see. I am beginning to understand. Tooyama, you are trying to seduce a cast member, aren’t you?”

“…Your head is unusually sharp today. Keep that up, Stolu.”

Temporarily putting aside, without forgetting, the fact that his face had been mocked, Tooyama nodded at Stolu’s observation.

Rather than blindly searching for the bishop, it seemed faster to follow this shop’s customs.

“Hmm, seduce a cast member and legally enter the private room area, is it? It may not be a bad idea. We can gather information at the same time. If the bishop is a regular at this shop, there may be people in this main hall who know how she usually plays and which cast members she favors.”

“Wouldn’t the employees of this kind of shop usually keep their mouths shut about that sort of thing?”

Tooyama interjected at Lazaar’s words.

“In an ordinary brothel, important people tend to hide their identities. But this shop, Rain Inn, is different, Naruhito. Coming to this shop and spending lavishly here is itself a status symbol for the upper classes. Do you remember what I said earlier?”

At Lazaar’s words, Tooyama slapped his knee.

“Ah, so there’s nothing to feel guilty about. I see. Then the employees, no, the cast members, wouldn’t keep their mouths that tightly shut. Man, information literacy sure is difficult.”

In short, it was a difference in perception.

“Well, even so, there will not be many people willing to chatter about all sorts of things to someone they have only just met. That part depends on—”

“How much you can lower their guard. Well, in short, it depends on that person’s charm, Tooyama.”

“I see. So, to reach that narrow-eyed woman, we need to seduce these beautiful men and women.”

“That is how it is. Hmm, rather than moving around as a group, I feel it would be easier if we split up and each acted separately. What shall we do, Tooyama?”

“Oh, that’s unexpected. I didn’t think you’d check with me every time.”

“H-hmph, well, even I am, um… making an effort to become more fitting. …I want to get used to things quickly too.”

“Sorry, all I can hear is ‘Dis.’”

“Naruhito…”

“…It is nothing. Then, Sir Inquisitor. As Stolu Pula, First Knight of the Angel Church, now attendant to the Inquisitor, I await your command.”

After sighing, Stolu respectfully bowed her head toward Tooyama. Her movements were elegant, but her face bore a loose grin.

“Naruhito, shall we give it a shot?”

Lazaar rotated his shoulders and blinked his eyes. It seemed to be a Lizardonian way of psyching himself up.

“Yeah, let’s do it. For the founding of the bakery, we’ll seduce beautiful people. Whoever can get close to the money-grubbing woman wins. This is also for the bakery, so you won’t call it cowardly, will you, bishop-dono?”

Tooyama stood up and slowly stretched.

Toward the luxurious scene spread before him, and toward the beautiful men and women overflowing with celebrity aura, he twisted his thin eyes, like those of a Tibetan fox, into a broad grin.

“Lazaar Bakery, fire team. Operation Popularity begins.”