The Shadow of the Holy Land (5)
I chose Larilura through a simple process of elimination. Franc couldn’t act to save her life, and her aptitude for transformation magic was even worse than mine. Dana had the most solid identity in our party, so it made far more sense for her to investigate in the open. Veronica needed to stay ready to use Space Shift for emergency escapes, like the goddess in those isekai hero-summoning stories. So asking Larilura to come with me was the obvious choice. Of course, I didn’t say that out loud.
Even if my wives had been more available, the fact remains that Larilura is the best actress and quickest thinker in the party.
Besides, she was a local. That was an enormous advantage. Most of all, her aptitude for transformation magic was higher than mine, perfectly matching the clown outfits she usually wore. The moment I handed her Adelaide’s necklace, she transformed into an entirely different person.
Which meant the underground investigation team consisted of me and Larilura.
“While you were talking with the previous investigator, senior, I stopped by the circus troupe~. They said it’ll be a few more days before the tour ends~.”
“So after splitting up with us, they’ve just been traveling the whole time?”
“Probably? They usually schedule things on a one-year cycle. There are lodgings… or maybe villas?… set up all over the world through cooperation between several circus groups. The Flan Kung Kla Circus uses Lucregens as their home base~♡”
Larilura spoke while keeping her hood pulled low. Her circus troupe, which had left on a world tour several months ago, still hadn’t returned. Seeing that made me realize not that much time had actually passed since I ran away from Carmine University.
I muttered through telepathy.
“That’s convenient. Once we’re done here, we can go see them.”
“Ahaha♡ Really? I’m suddenly full of motivation~!”
Even though her telepathic voice was bright and cheerful, Larilura maintained a haughty stride. We were strolling through the entertainment district of Lucregens. Honestly, we had already gone so deep inside that “pleasure quarter” would have been a more accurate term.
A few male prostitutes—or maybe gigolos—nearby beckoned to Larilura, but she didn’t even spare them a glance.
“Two blocks left from the red-light district. Remember?”
“Yep~.”
We moved according to the information we’d squeezed out of the mid-level mafia boss. The place was a shabby tavern with a sign that read ‘Closed for Business.’ Ignoring the sign, we stepped inside. What greeted us was a clean, stylish bar that completely contradicted the rundown exterior.
There were quite a few customers—about ten. A quick scan with my senses told me they were all above-average fighters.
—Shak-shak. Shak-shak.
The tavern owner was shaking a tumbler, probably mixing a cocktail, when he looked our way and scowled fiercely.
“Hey, miss. Didn’t you see the ‘Closed’ sign?”
“For a place that’s closed, you’ve got quite a few customers left.”
The reply came from Larilura. Her voice had completely changed—husky and curt, nothing like her usual tone. It was the acting Franc had approved, saying no one would recognize her by voice alone. The idea of applying transformation magic to her vocal cords had never even occurred to me. What a sneaky genius of a junior.
“If I chased off regulars just because I didn’t feel like working, why would I even be in the food service business? Of course, since this seems to be our first meeting, I can’t exactly call you a regular. Would you please leave?”
“Just one drink.”
Larilura sat down at seat number three on the right side of the counter. The owner, who had been acting difficult, clicked his tongue and set the cocktail shaker down.
“If you’ll drink and leave, fine. What’ll it be?”
“Bloody Mary. Make it blue.”
“Blue tomatoes are expensive, you know.”
“There are more important things in this world than money. As you can see, I’m confident in my skills.”
—Clink.
A golden necklace landed on the counter. The owner picked up the adventurer plate and smirked.
“Kahaha! The name section is badly damaged. Did you burn it?”
“Are there really people who do dirty underworld mercenary work without getting their hands dirty? I don’t like that brokers also act as informants.”
“Whoa, don’t take it the wrong way, pretty lady. Still, the fact that you even know the new password we changed a few days ago means you’ve at least got the basics down.”
The owner chuckled as he poured liquor into a fresh cocktail shaker.
“I won’t ask how you found out. It’s not important.”
“For something that’s not important, the procedure was pretty annoying.”
“I told you, it’s the basics. Whether your head works better than others, or you beat up other customers with strength or money, just keep coming until I remember your face. That’s how things work in this business.”
“How admirable.”
“We respect the privacy of our customers and mercenaries, after all.”
Under her hood, Larilura twisted her lips into a cynical smile. She was practically deep in method acting now.
“Of course, that sometimes causes problems. For example, idiots who pull out a plate they picked up somewhere during the ‘prove your ability’ step and try to inflate their own value.”
The owner slid the Gold Class adventurer plate—obviously a fake I had created with transformation magic—back to Larilura. He had noticed exactly what was going on, but Larilura snatched it back without showing any reaction.
Then she spoke through telepathy.
“Senior, I’m sorry!! It went wrong right from the start!!”
“Just say what I told you to say beforehand.”
That kind of comment was within the expected range. Besides, we hadn’t actually been caught. It was just a probe. Larilura switched into acting mode without changing her expression, as if flipping a switch.
“Skill isn’t proven with objects, but with results. From what I hear, there’s an overflowing amount of work right now.”
“You even know that much. That accent… you’re a Romania native, aren’t you? You must be familiar with the disputes between dark societies.”
Since it was meaningless chatter, Larilura didn’t answer. She was simply following my instruction to stay silent on things that didn’t need a response.
“If we’re going to respect privacy, building trust is important. Especially over drinks. Wouldn’t it be awkward if only I showed my bare face while talking to customers or mercenaries?”
“Hehe. Our dear owner, you have a taste for beating around the bush, don’t you?”
—Swoosh.
Larilura seductively lowered her hood. She now appeared as a woman with white hair and blue eyes. The moment this mysterious beauty who looked like she came from a snow country revealed herself, the tavern’s atmosphere gained a touch of refinement.
“Whew~♬”
The owner whistled playfully. It seemed the face Larilura had created herself was quite effective. At the very least, we definitely hadn’t been caught.
I was right to accept Larilura’s suggestion.
I recalled the conversation we had at the inn a few hours earlier.
—Wouldn’t it help in many ways if I based it slightly on Tirsi’s sister~?
The face Larilura had transformed into after saying that looked believable enough to pass as Tirsi’s older sister. People tend to sense similarity just from roughly copying skin tone, hair color, and eye shape.
If the attackers knew Tirsi’s appearance and had targeted her from the beginning—
They wouldn’t be able to completely ignore Larilura operating with this face. It was a low-risk attempt even if it failed.
“If I don’t warn our customers properly, another table that’s only been here a few months is going to get smashed. If you come back alive, I’ll give you that service for free.”
The owner poured the drink from the shaker he had been shaking.
“Whether you’re a former Gold Class or just an ordinary person pretending to be one, it doesn’t matter. There are more than enough assassination requests that require you to prove your skill.”
“I don’t even get to choose the request?”
“Not until you make a name for yourself. Don’t worry. To me, both clients and mercenaries are customers who pay commission. I’m not going to send you to your death. If I did that, I’d have been killed in retaliation long ago.”
—Clack!
The owner placed a blue cocktail in front of Larilura’s seat.
“There’s exactly one private poker house in the third block of the entertainment district. It’s run by some Kitai bastards called the Wolhyang Family. Even if you add up all their members, there aren’t even twenty of them. They’re just thugs pretending to be a family.”
“That’s an odd name. Are they Kitai people?”
“The boss and a few of his subordinates are. The rest are just vagrants and dropouts working under them. Maybe because the head of the organization is stupid, they crossed the line way too early.”
The owner clicked his tongue. He genuinely seemed displeased. This man was a broker who mediated jobs for Romania’s underworld forces. He kept ledgers but didn’t write formal request forms. It was in case enforcers came to trash the place. That was why he supposedly memorized every request in real time. It must have been stressful, having to remember every detail while getting angry at the contents.
“I can overlook not bribing the guards and leaving corpses lying around, but human trafficking that leaves traces is something even our friend the guard captain can’t turn a blind eye to.”
Listening to him talk made me feel exactly like my jaw would drop at the state of Larilura and Tirsi’s country, but anyway.
“Several damaged families have anonymously put up bounties. Whether you hand them over to the guards or wipe them out, just deal with them. They say the request will be considered successful as long as you properly crush the boss.”
“A simple request.”
“It’s also simple in that you don’t have to worry about any fallout if you fail. They might even come to pick a fight with me, the mediator, ignoring the unwritten rules of this world, but those who ignore the ‘rules’ face massive retaliation. You remember that too.”
In other words, Larilura was being treated like a monster released into enemy territory. If she died? That’s just how it is. If she survived? Good, she must be skilled. Something like that.
It’s exactly like a monster subjugation request.
The only problem was that the targets were people, but a mafia that engaged in murder, human trafficking, and ran illegal gambling dens wasn’t all that different from ogres that could talk.
“Understood. I’ll go right away.”
Larilura stood up immediately. The owner simply shrugged even though she hadn’t touched the drink he had poured.
“I’ll ask your name when you get back. My brain’s busy right now.”
“Hehe. Then I suppose I won’t be able to ask yours either?”
“It’s Lawrence. If I can’t even tell a beautiful woman my name, I’d be disqualified as a Romanian gentleman. By the way, I’ve been wondering since earlier—is that snake scale on your neck perhaps a living snake?”
“It’s my pet. Cute, isn’t it?”
Chuckling softly, Larilura left the tavern. She climbed the old stairs, stepped into the back alley, and turned her head as if checking for observers.
“There’s no one. Nobody’s here.”
“……Haaaa…. That was exhausting….”
Playing the albino black widow must have been quite taxing. Larilura leaned against the wall as if tired by my words.
—Slither.
I, who had transformed into a snake and wrapped myself around Larilura’s neck like a necklace, poked my head out.
“Good work. An illegal mercenary who looks like a lone Tirsi. It was the perfect character for gathering information in the shadows, or conversely, spreading the information of her appearance.”
“Even though it was my own suggestion, it was really hard…. Senior. Did I do well?”
“Yes, yes. Our Larilura did great. It was better than I expected.”
I moved my snake body in what I hoped felt like stroking her head.
“Ahaha♡ It tickles~!”
Even though a snake’s tail tickling her neck should have given her goosebumps, Larilura, who liked reptiles, laughed and hunched her shoulders. The cold, composed aura from earlier had completely vanished.
Anyway, deciding to stick with her in snake mode was an excellent choice.
If Larilura and I had entered the tavern together as two people, the conversation probably wouldn’t have flowed so smoothly. Two complete strangers, both claiming to be Gold Class? That would have been suspicious as hell.
And if we went around recklessly flipping over families, we’d end up as public enemies to all the mafia in this city.
Whether they were customers or ‘targets,’ we would find them appropriately, beat them senseless, or interrogate the soul of a thoroughly beaten mafia member and ask about Tirsi. This kind of search couldn’t be finished in a day or two like a game. Since Dana was moving while revealing her identity, she couldn’t openly ask about Tirsi. Acting like a scholar who came to the mages’ guild to obtain research materials and gathering information that way was the right approach.
And it’s also our job to create topics for Dana to bring up on the surface—like whether she’s heard anything about a white-haired, blue-eyed someone lately.
It would be perfect if Dana could casually mention something about a white-haired, blue-eyed person on the surface as well.
“But isn’t a snake a bit unusual? A cat would have worked too.”
“Who brings a cat to work? In my hometown there was even a Heavenly Cat, you know. A snake expert isn’t anything new.”
“Leaving aside what a Heavenly Cat is, aren’t you a master’s degree holder, senior?”
“Shut your mouth.”
I was having that telepathic conversation with Larilura when I frowned at the sound of approaching footsteps. Wrapping myself around her neck like a necklace again, I muttered.
“Larilura. We have guests.”
“Wow~♡ Could they be my fans already? A stalker right from the start—that’s quite the success for an underground mercenary!”
Spouting a joke that didn’t sound like a joke at all, Larilura turned around. From that direction, armed men were stealthily gathering. They were the ones we had seen in the tavern.
Larilura whispered.
“Do you think this is a test sent by the owner?”
“Why would that guy do that?”
“Right?”
—Crack!
Larilura laughed as if delighted and cracked her knuckles.
“Then since their eyes look so lewd, shall I beat them to a pulp☆!”