Chapter 79: Katarina
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 79: Katarina
On the day of the festival, Owlheim was bustling with life.
The smiles blooming on the citizens' faces and the sheer number of people strolling the streets were on a completely different level compared to the Four-Way Martial Contest I'd attended last year.
As I was getting lost in the festivities, guards began pushing through the pedestrians to clear a path.
Then, someone shouted.
That the dancers were coming.
Peering carefully between people's heads, I could see a large structure approaching from the end of the street. In a moment, the dancers' parade would be in view.
"By the way, weren't you supposed to be hiding?" I asked Shedia, who was looking forward to the parade with great anticipation.
This was the same girl who'd thrown a tantrum, insisting she'd die if she came to Owlheim. Yet, the moment we arrived, instead of hiding, there she was, happily enjoying the festival.
"It's fine, I'm in disguise."
"A thick coat and a low-brimmed hat just make you look suspicious, you know."
"...I'll hide after I see this."
It seemed she was determined to watch the parade, no matter what. She exuded such a murderous aura when she came to kill me at night, but at times like this, she was just like a kid.
I chuckled and slipped my hands under her arms. Then I lifted her straight up and set her on my shoulders.
"?!"
Startled, Shedia began to struggle, trying to get down.
"Stay still. You're too short to see well anyway."
"I'm not short."
"If you're shorter than average, you're short. Besides, look over there. The dancers are here."
Shedia, who had been glaring at me with a pout, snapped her head up.
Her face lit up.
I smiled and turned my gaze toward the parade as well.
Music and singing filled the air.
To its rhythm, dancers in revealing outfits performed.
Fast for the cheerful parts, slow for the somber ones.
The music, the song, and the dancers' movements wove together to create an exquisite harmony.
‘The three women in the center of the wooden structure are the 1st-rank dancers, and the ones surrounding and accentuating them are the 2nd-rank dancers.’
And the dancers on the ground, their faces covered with veils, were the 3rd-rank dancers.
While the crowd cheered for the beauty of the 1st and 2nd-rank dancers, I focused on the 3rd-rank dancers.
I had to find Katarina among them.
‘It would’ve been easier if their faces weren't covered.’
Only 2nd-rank dancers and above were allowed to reveal their faces.
To show one's face was to reveal oneself to the world as a true dancer.
The still-unskilled 3rd-rank dancers were not afforded that privilege.
Katarina's case, however, was different.
She had enough skill to be a 2nd-rank dancer, perhaps even aim for 1st-rank. The reason she remained a 3rd-rank dancer was due to certain circumstances.
I searched for the most skilled dancer among the 3rd-rank group. At a glance, they all looked similar. That was natural, as they would have synchronized their movements for this parade.
But a closer look revealed the differences.
There was a vast gap between simply mimicking memorized moves and understanding the meaning behind those moves and imbuing them with that meaning.
‘Found her.’
Only one of the 3rd-rank dancers was emitting a faint aura from her dance.
(King's Senses)
I focused my enhanced senses on my vision.
A slim, firm, bronze-skinned waist.
Full breasts.
A lock of orange hair that peeked out from under her veil before disappearing again.
All of them were features of the Katarina I knew.
"Shedia. That dancer over there... What are you doing?"
Shedia was watching the parade while furiously crossing things off some piece of paper. Feeling my gaze, she hastily stuffed the paper into her coat.
"...It's nothing."
Nothing, my ass.
It was obviously a bucket list.
"You're silly. Anyway, do you see that dancer over there?"
"Yeah."
"I need you to follow her."
"Until when?"
"Until the festival ends."
"..."
Shedia's shoulders slumped dejectedly.
She had said the parade would be the last thing, but it seemed she had more she wanted to enjoy.
"If this job goes well, I'll give you a Moonstone."
"!"
Her slumped shoulders shot up, and her eyes widened as she stared at me.
Her gaze was filled with a single question: Really?
"For real. So please, do this for me. Got it?"
Shedia nodded vigorously and slid down from my shoulders. She slipped into the crowd and vanished without a trace.
‘I can leave tracking Katarina's movements to Shedia...’
I broke away from the crowd and walked down the street.
When people think of entertainment, they often imagine things like alcohol, gambling, drugs, and nightlife.
But the true meaning of entertainment is simply to have fun, so it includes not only the things mentioned but any enjoyable activity.
And the Alitia Kingdom is the kingdom of entertainment.
Thanks to its uniquely liberal atmosphere, all sorts of amusements have flourished here.
The dance of the muhee [dancers] was one of them.
How many men could resist the alluring dance of a beautiful woman?
Men captivated by the dancers' enchanting performances wanted to see them again and again. They were more than willing to open their wallets for the chance.
And a dancer's profession is to sell her dance.
The place born from this perfect alignment of interests was here, the Starlight Hall.
Here, one could pay to watch the dancers perform. You could watch alone in a private room or on a stage with other patrons. The choice was up to the customer.
Naturally, the private rooms were more expensive.
"Welcome. We're glad to have you at the Starlight Hall."
A beautiful woman dressed as a dancer greeted me with a smile.
"Are you here to enjoy the services of the Starlight Hall?"
"Yes, I am."
"Is this perhaps your first time visiting?"
"It's my first time, but I have a general idea of how things work."
"I see. Is there a particular dancer you are looking for? If not..."
"There is."
"Ah... I see."
The dancer licked her lips in disappointment. She quickly recovered her smile and asked for the name of the dancer I wished to request.
"Katarina."
"Yes, Katarina... Katarina...?"
The dancer furrowed her brow, lost in thought. Then her expression cleared.
"I'm sorry, but there is no dancer by the name of Katarina at the Starlight Hall."
"Are you sure?"
I asked, placing a money pouch containing 500,000 Gold on the counter.
"I'd very much like to meet a dancer named Katarina."
"Uh... uh, just a moment. I might have forgotten, so I'll go check the register. Please wait here for a moment!"
Her eyes widened at the sight of the money pouch, and she hurriedly disappeared into a room behind the counter. After a slightly longer "moment" than she'd implied, she came back out.
"...I'm sorry. There really is no one named Katarina."
"Are you certain?"
"Yes. I checked three times, but her name wasn't in the register. I'm certain."
"I see."
I nodded.
As expected, her name wasn't registered here. That meant the game's settings hadn't changed.
‘Good, I don't need to alter my plan.’
With that thought, I tucked the money pouch back into my coat. The dancer, who had been swallowing hard while staring at the pouch, opened her mouth.
"Um... I've been working on a new dance lately..."
"Oh my? Look what we have here, a handsome young man."
Her words were drowned out by a seductive voice from the floor above. I looked up to see a woman with pure white hair leaning against the railing, looking down at me.
Her attire was extremely revealing; the front and back of her lower body were covered by cloth, but the sides were held together only by strings.
Thanks to this, her ripe, bronze thighs were fully exposed as she descended the stairs.
"L-Lady Catherine."
The dancer who had been trying to pitch herself to me flinched as the woman approached.
Wait, Catherine?
‘That's Gis's mother's name.’
I took a closer look at Catherine.
Her pure white hair cascaded down to her waist, and her bangs were swept to the side, revealing her forehead.
She had alluring eyes, and her body was ripe and firm.
She was, in a word, a woman overflowing with sensuality.
And she was one of the 1st-rank dancers who had been at the center of the wooden structure during the parade.
‘Gis's mother is a 1st-rank dancer? She wasn't a prostitute?’
Of course, Gis's mother never actually appeared in the game. The genre of the Hero's party was NTR, not a story about married women.
All the information I had about Gis's mother came from an argument between Gis and Lorian late in the game.
An enraged Lorian had mocked Gis's lowly bloodline by bringing up his mother. Judging by the tone of the conversation and Gis's reaction, I had assumed the parental insult was a taunt based on truth.
But what was this?
They called her the greatest courtesan in the kingdom, but she was just a 1st-rank dancer.
‘No, she could just be someone with the same name.’
But was it really a coincidence that she had the name Catherine and the title of the best in the business?
I decided to run a little test.
"Catherine. A beautiful name. Would you permit me to call you by your first name?"
"My, what an interesting boy. Be my guest."
Catherine smiled.
"Thank you. Catherine, how old are you?"
The seductive laughter died. Her smile froze, and her eyebrow twitched.
The probability of her being Gis's mother just shot up.
"...Asking a lady her age, isn't that a little rude, dear?"
"Ah... my apologies. The memory of your dance from the festival came to mind, and I spoke nonsense for a moment. That wasn't what I meant to ask."
"You saw my dance? Well then, what did you think of it?"
"It was incredibly captivating. So much so that I hope to see it again someday."
"Is that so...?"
Catherine drew closer to me.
Closing the distance until we were barely apart, she ran a lewd hand over my chest.
She whispered into my ear with her lovely lips.
"Would you like to see it again? For you, I could make it very cheap."
Her bewitching voice sent a shiver down my spine.
"I'm sorry, but I have a prior engagement. Could we postpone it for another time?"
"My, you've got some nerve, don't you? This is an offer born purely of my goodwill. Do you really think I'll extend the same favor to you the next time we meet?"
Her pride seemingly wounded, Catherine frowned slightly.
I placed a hand on her waist. Gently stroking her slender waistline, I whispered into her ear, just as she had done to me.
"So, you're not going to do it for me?"
The hand that had been stroking my chest flinched and stopped.
A moment later, she spoke.
"Cassia."
"Hm?"
"That's my real name. Next time you request me, use that name. Then I'll dance for you."
But it'll be a little more expensive then, she added, licking her lips.
I had stopped by the Starlight Hall and confirmed that the game's settings were unchanged. All that was left was to make contact with Katarina. That was precisely why I'd had Shedia follow her.
The problem was how to initiate contact.
For this, I opted for a rather classic method.
"Is she coming?"
"Yeah."
"Tell me exactly three seconds before. I'll start running then."
I was currently waiting at an alley intersection.
When Shedia gave the signal, I would run out and collide with Katarina as she emerged from the other alley.
It was a cliché straight out of an old-school cartoon, but what could I do? There was no better way to create a connection with a complete stranger.
"Run."
At Shedia's signal, I immediately kicked off the ground. I wasn't running at full tilt, just fast enough that we would both fall upon impact. Three seconds passed, the intersection appeared, and something suddenly shot out in front of me.
It was Katarina.
I closed my eyes and prepared to act.
Thump.
"Kyaa?!"
Crash. Crack. Splinter.
...Huh?
Aren't those sound effects a little too heavy for such a light impact?
I opened my eyes.
The wooden fence across the way was shattered, and in the middle of it lay an unconscious Katarina.
"...What the?"
I had controlled my strength assuming Katarina was at least as durable as Shedia.
But for her to go flying like that...
‘Why is she so weak?’
I scratched my head and approached the fallen Katarina.
"Excuse me, are you okay? Ah. She's passed out."
I crouched beside her to check her condition.
Fortunately, she wasn't seriously injured. Just a minor fracture in her arm bone.
I was about to take out a potion to heal her but paused.
A young breadwinner, unable to work for a while due to a broken arm.
A rich man hiding his identity, who feels guilty and helps her with her work.
I pondered for a moment before quickly reaching a decision.
‘Totally doable.’
I scrapped the original script and wrote a new one.
The genre of the new script is drama.