Chapter 253 The Ones Who Walk in Shadows
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
In the frontier settlement at midnight, when most people who work during the day are asleep, a man enters a brōtḥel called Toys of Preference (Shikou no Gigu), which is still open at this late hour.
The man’s name is Luck, a member of Spear of Shouhyou. He smoothly moves through the crowded store without slowing down and calls out to a woman who looks bored at the counter.
”Cany, I’m back again.”
”Luck, right? I thought you wouldn’t come today since you didn’t show up at your usual time. Just finishing work?”
”No, I’m just getting pumped up before work. So, have any good girls come in lately?”
”In what way do you mean?”
”Of course, both ways.”
Cany sighs dramatically at Luck’s response.
”Ugh… I always say this, but there’s no girl who can match your special tastes.”
”Isn’t that what this place is known for, catering to special tastes?”
”There are limits, you know.”
When Cany silently extends her hand, Luck takes out 5 platinum coins from his pocket and places them in her palm.
”Honestly, we’re a brōtḥel, not a matchmaking service. Don’t keep asking me.”
”It’s only natural to ask the people in the know about that kind of thing. So, who do you recommend?”
”Well, there’s a new girl named Manal who just joined One Night Performance (Ichiya no Engi). She came from Theocracy and wears outfits that you can’t see in the empire. She’s been getting a lot of praise for her seductive dancing on stage.”
”Oh, that sounds interesting. Alright, I’ll go with her today. Thanks, I’ll be back again.”
As Luck leaves Toys of Preference with excitement, Cany watches him closely. From behind the counter, a woman named Remia comes out from the back of the brōtḥel.
”Cany, how’s the customer flow?”
”Remia… it’s not good today. We haven’t had any customers for the brōtḥel, not even regular toy buyers. Just had one annoying customer show up.”
”I see.”
Remia quickly looks around and moves closer to Cany, speaking in a low voice.
”What about that girl Manal you mentioned?”
”She’s dark-skinned, but I’m not sure yet. That’s why I asked Luck to check it out.”
”Seems like Theocracy spies have been sneaking in a lot lately.”
”The issue of bringing in priests who can use healing magic to the frontier settlement is probably related to that. It’s really annoying.”
Because outsiders are poking around the frontier settlement, it’s become harder for them to operate.
Cany feels frustrated about this situation but suddenly remembers something and pulls a piece of paper closer from the counter.
”Oh right, Remia, you really liked Neil-sama, didn’t you?”
”…What are you talking about?”
”You don’t have to play dumb. After you saw Neil-sama, you looked sad and said, ‘I wonder if he’ll come again?’.”
”I don’t know what you’re talking about. You must be mistaken.”
”No, you’re the only one who’s been with Neil-sama, so it can’t be anyone else.”
”Pui.”
Remia turns her head away, trying to act like she doesn’t know, while Cany covers her face with the paper she pulled.
”What’s this?”
”It’s a letter sent from the mansion today, asking if we could lend them some help.”
”Why us?”
”The reason is written in the letter.”
Hearing this, Remia takes the letter from Cany and reads its contents.
It explains that the people who came to help are leaving soon, and they will be short-staffed. Most of the workers at the mansion are sl*ves, and they don’t want to hire anyone who can’t get along with them. It also mentions that the girls from Toys of Preference treated the sl*ves well, so they are asking for help.
”…I see.”
”Well, since Neil-sama isn’t coming here anyway, why don’t you go over there yourself?”
”Because I──ugh.”
Remia tries to argue but knows she can’t win against Cany, so she swallows her words and lets out a sigh instead.
”I’m okay with this for now. By the way, speaking of the mansion, what happened with their mental resonance magic issue?”
”Oh, that? They’re trying to keep it unclear.”
”Why?”
”When I applied to Neil-sama, he said that just having the license isn’t enough; he also need to bring the magician themselves. You know how it is with us, right?”
Cany tried to speak vaguely. Neil had mentioned before that getting a license for mental resonance magic is very difficult. Normally, you need both the license and the person who got it to be present to get permission. However, many places were operating with just one license while the actual work was done by someone without a license.
It’s rare to find a brōtḥel that has properly obtained permission to use mental resonance magic, and ‘Toys of Preference’ was one of those firms that was deceiving people with just one license.
”If they’re asking for the person who got the license, we will definitely do surprise audits, and that would be a problem.”
”Did the manager really just give up on that?”
”Of course not! When the application was denied, they were already planning to bribe, so I had to stop them with everything I had. Neil-sama isn’t someone who can be swayed by bribes, and doing that would only make him think poorly of them.”
”Cany, you have it tough.”
”Really, why do I always have to play this role? Ugh, I wish someone would switch roles with either ‘Toys of Preference’ or the other role.”
Cany said this while giving a meaningful look at the letter in Remia’s hands, and Remia also looked down at the letter.
”…Yeah, I’ll think about that too.”
While living in the frontier settlement, those who work behind the scenes are steadily increasing their power and getting closer to Neil.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.