Part 9
—At the same time, Location: [Thousand Eyes], Outer Gate Number 2105380, a branch of the Community’s shops.
After confirming that the shop front had been closed, Shiroyasha walled along the gallery[4] towards the west side of the shop to arrive at a spot that was far deeper than the position of her room to visit a room that was located at a different courtyard. Although that was a room that was used to entertain VIP guests; currently, the person inside wasn't a guest.
The person inside was someone who was just like Shiroyasha, one of the cadres of [Thousand Eyes]. He was a lean guy who had flaxen hair while wearing a snakeskin jacket. This man who wore a snakeskin jacket must have requested for two women to serve him while waiting. For one could see that he had deliberately held out his cup to the woman in a courtesan style kimono to refill his cup with wine while smiling to say to Shiroyasha:
“To let me wait for so long. Dumping your Community’s comrade aside to receive a customer, I bet it must have been some important guest right?”
Shiroyasha scratched her head of white hair as she replied in disdain:
“Hmph, what comrade are you talking about, what utter rubbish. How dare a mere upstart like you request for my girls to serve you, you have quite some spunk there, boy! Okay, that’s it from you guys! Stop right now, it’s enough! Return to your stations of accounting the transactions.”
“Yes…Yes madam.”
The girls started to straighten out their rumpled clothes as they hurried out of the room.
“What a pity. It’s because they told me that they would accept all kinds of request that I allowed myself to indulge a little. After all, [Perseus] doesn’t have that sort of docile girls with that kind of standard. Could you count on our connections as cadres to sell them to me?”
“……Regarding matters of insult, I will reply with a duel you know? Laius-san.”
Shiroyasha’s white hair began to quiver and her anger was obvious as it leaked into her tone in a threatening manner. For Shiroyasha who placed her comrades as her top priority, the request of ‘Trading comrades with the use of money’ could only be taken as an insult.
The guy called Laius only gave a shrug of his shoulders while replying insincerely:
“Pardon me. If I’ve ruffled your feathers the wrong way I will offer my apologies then.”
“Hmph. Then, what brings the young master who has inherited [Perseus] over today?”
“I think you should know the answer, right?”
The both of them stared at each other. Needless to say, the reason for Laius’s visit would be regarding Leticia.
Even if it wasn't about that matter, there had already been a rift between their relations from the start.
Although Shiroyasha and Laius are from the same Community, the difference between the main branch and the side branch could be said to be miles apart, just like Heaven and Earth.
The original [Perseus] wasn't a part of [Thousand Eyes], but was a Community that originated from a knight in the Greek mythologies.
Back in the long past, the Knight Perseus was assumed to have ascended to the Heavens as a constellation after having enjoyed his later years. But in reality, he had been invited over to this place, which was the world of Little Garden. The name of the Community [Perseus] was to represent the members who were the direct descendants of Perseus himself. In Little Garden, where it amassed many Gods and demigods from all over, people who were similar to them with such a special and specific legend behind them weren't in the minorities.
After many years past, due to the division or destruction of the original organization, they had also often taken action to seek protection from the other Communities.
Shiroyasha gave a harumph as she snapped open her favorite folding fan.
“If it’s about Leticia, I did not intend to hide it from you either. It was you guys who had made the first move to bring shame upon the Twin Goddess Flag. To actually withdraw a Gift Game that you had been announced to Host? If it were to be dealt with in the normal procedure, this would easily cause you to be demoted in level as a punishment.”
“Hm about that, I’m also aware of it. That’s why in the face of such insidious, despicable and petty, who knows where or what caused such a troublesome, behavior, I can only swallow my tears and quietly respond like this, you know?”
(I oppose any use of authority to harass me!) Laius raised his hands in mock surrender as he laughed, clearly in an insult.
Although Shiroyasha was angry to the point where her veins were throbbing at her temples, she wasn't foolish enough to rise to his mediocre taunt.
Laius gave a laugh as he continued:
“And I did withdraw the Game only after consulting and receiving the consent of the Participants who had registered with us earlier on. I reckon that I’ve done the minimum courtesy.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Shiroyasha was also too lazy to ask what kind of method that Laius had used to achieve that end.
For she was sure that even if she clarified and obtained the answer, it would only spoil her mood even more.
“Anyways, the Leticia in question is no longer here. Hng Hng, you are almost two steps behind on the matter.”
“Of course I know of this trivial stuff. Anyways, I also have an inkling on where she ran to, I do have a perfect grasp on the past of all my possessions, you know?”
Facing the Laius who wasn’t the least bit in panic, Shiroyasha’s expression had distorted in surprise.
“……Then why did you come to this place? Shouldn’t you have gone immediately to bring her back with you? That would have been easier right?”
“I’ve already dispatched my men to go over there, so I don’t think it will take long to find it.”
Picking a piece of the refreshments to place into his mouth, Laius exuded an odd sense of calm. This strange behavior only served to give Shiroyasha an uneasy premonition.
As Shiroyasha got to her feet silently, Laius threw the plate that was originally used to hold the refreshments at the doors, clearly a sign to stop her from leaving.
*Crunch* Shiroyasha stomped on the plate fragments to grind them to dust as she asked with open hostility:
“Boy, what do you mean by that?”
“I’m just thinking that I should at least prevent such a thing from happening again, for I consider that to be the best arrangement. The success of that staged dramatic escape is due to the dedication to its former Community. If this dedication were to be severed, maybe it might just bring trouble to the trading partners right?”
Shiroyasha realized that the anxiety in her chest wasn’t unfounded.
“You bastard……Could it be that you’ve sent your men to attack the [No Name]?!”
“What attack are you talking about? That sure is a rude way of putting it. I’m just going to mete out punishment to the [No Name] who have stolen our possession!”
“Hm, that sounds good, I think I will use that. After all even if a nameless Community were to be destroyed, nobody will miss them right?”
Laius gave a shrug as he didn’t take Shiroyasha’s angry roar seriously. Though Shiroyasha really wanted to strangle that twerp, but it wasn’t the time for that sort of thing. She reached out to the doors with the intention to leave but found that the door wouldn’t budge.
“Ah, I forgot to say this but the doorway has been tampered with by me already.”
“You insolent kid……! I think you really want to die, right?”
“Ara? You want to kill a comrade? Killing a comrade is quite a serious offense you know?”
“Hmph! If I kill a low-life bastard, there won’t be anyone who will miss him! You fool!”
“Woah Aiyo! Indeed, if it’s you who’s known as the [Demon Lord of White Night], Shiroyasha-sama makes a move, I guess even I will die right?……But before getting killed, I will at least try to make this shop of yours disappear from this world you know? Let’s see. It will be quite heart breaking to see your kawaii subordinates being beaten to pulp right?”
Laius made a show of pulling out the golden necklace that hung around his neck to display it clearly. This necklace that had a skull-like decoration was a power that was sufficient to match up with Demon Lords. The Greatest Gift that [Perseus] possessed.
“Uu…” Shiroyasha clamped her teeth as she stared at Laius and Laius squarely faced that stare with his own.
Both sides maintained this position of a stalemate for a while before the first person to step down turned out to be Shiroyasha.
“That’s right. That’s right. If you’re less stubborn, we do not need to bear any losses. After all, we are all Communities that worship the Twin goddess Flag.”
“……”
“Don’t worry, I won’t kill her. I will just moderate the discipline she gets to make sure that she won’t dare to put up such resistance in the future.”
Wearing his snakeskin jacket once more, he revealed a grin on his clean cut face.
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