“Now then, everyone, eat to your heart's content! Ah, today is a marvelous day. Pwahahaha!”
The dinner party kicked off with Mr. Guster’s boisterous laughter.
We were in a private room within the VIP area of Rainanorn. I’d originally intended to ask Mr. Guster for a hand regarding the twins, but somehow, while we were talking things through, it turned into this.
To explain the sequence of events: we had first captured all the men at the scene, starting with the villainous-looking guy who had been barking orders. I’d had the Petit Golems use Enchanted Magic Tools of Stone Wall to seal off the entrances and exits, so no one should have escaped.
The reason I refused to let anyone go was that I was wary of the men’s backers.
Usually, illegal casinos manage to stay in business because they’re connected to local influential figures who look the other way regarding "gray" activities. Since I didn't know the exact standing of the person they’d referred to as "that gentleman," I’d instructed Allen and the others not to let a single soul slip away. It would have been a massive headache if word reached some big shot and they had time to take countermeasures.
As it turned out, that was the right call. I mean, they’d even brought out Collars of Subjugation.
Normally, there’s a limit to how far an influential backer can protect someone. Illegal slavery is an issue that blows right past that limit; if a backer tried to intervene poorly, their own head would likely end up on the chopping block.
The fact that they’d used those collars anyway suggested their backer was a serious heavyweight.
Well, it was hard to say if he was a "heavyweight" himself, but he was certainly related to one. There’s a group called the Dolkis Clan, one of the powerful families of Zephyrson, and the man was apparently the third son of a branch family. According to Mr. Guster, he was a famous, good-for-nothing profligate. It seemed he had come all the way to Orcus specifically because his parents kept too close an eye on him in cities where the Dolkis Clan held sway.
However, that same third son had been found dead drunk in the very VIP room of the casino we’d just trashed. When I first saw him, it never crossed my mind that he might be the mastermind. Still, his presence in the VIP room meant he was undoubtedly a person of importance, so I’d contacted Mr. Guster.
Lowell—who had failed to teleport with the Dream-Viewing Mirror—had anticipated this and made the necessary arrangements, so Mr. Guster moved fast. He’d rushed over immediately after the message, which was how the third son’s identity came to light.
Given his track record, the profligate son was immediately suspected of involvement. He denied it, of course, but after the perpetrators on the ground started singing, he was hauled away.
Mr. Guster had long found the man a nuisance for acting like he owned the place within Guster's sphere of influence, but until now, he hadn't been able to do much more than complain. Now that the man had been caught with illegal slaves, Guster could openly hand down a sentence. Moreover, this put the Dolkis Clan in his debt. Even if he was from a branch family, a member of their clan had been caught red-handed in a slave trade within another clan’s city. That was a blatant act of hostility. Since the Dolkis Clan wouldn't want to go to war with the Reinos Clan just to protect a wastrel, they would likely offer a formal apology.
Politics, man. I didn’t really get the finer details, but Mr. Guster was clearly pleased with how things had turned out, and his mood was through the roof. He’d started shouting about having a "banquet," and here we were. Officially, it was to celebrate shutting down a corrupt casino, but in reality, it was probably a victory party for outmaneuvering the Dolkis Clan.
“Whoa, it looks so good! Kira, what’s that?”
“Eat it and find out! Right, Demuad?”
“Ah, yeah...”
I wasn't the only one there; Mr. Demuad was with us, too. He and the twins had received "apology money" from Mr. Randy. They called it an apology, but it was almost certainly hush money to make sure they didn’t go around telling the story of this incident in some inconvenient way. Well, that wasn't really our concern.
“Oh, they have hamburgers.”
『Oh, it's true! I'll eat! I'm gonna eat!』
I didn't know much about the dining etiquette here, but food was being piled onto the massive table in constant waves. Among the dishes was a platter of hamburgers.
“Oh? You’re familiar with them? These 'hamburgers' are a new dish that made its way here from the Kingdom of Lievril. A hamburger shop opened in Orcus just recently, in fact. They’re gaining quite a reputation for being delicious and easy to eat. Supposedly, the dish was created by a young boy for the sake of a Wingfolk girl he cared for... Wait. A Wingfolk girl and a boy?”
To my shock, a hamburger shop had apparently opened in Orcus without me knowing. And it had even picked up a weird legend along the way!
It was true that the hamburger stalls were partly a front for gathering information to find the Wingfolk Village, so I had technically done it for Halfa’s sake. But hearing that repeated back to me by a third party was incredibly embarrassing. Besides, hamburgers were originally something the Wingfolk ate; I wasn't the one who’d invented them.
Wingfolk rarely leave their home, so they are a rare sight. Looking at Halfa, Mr. Guster seemed to realize that we were the very people from the story. I decided to take the opportunity to set the record straight.
“Hahaha, I see! These stories do tend to get a bit exaggerated as they travel! But from what I hear, the tale isn't entirely off the mark, is it? Still, I never expected to meet the actual figures from the legend! It sounds like you've had some fascinating experiences. If you're willing, won't you tell me more?”
At his request, I shared a few stories. I didn't do it on purpose, but the conversation somehow drifted toward takoyaki and ginger ale.
Mr. Guster seemed quite interested in the takoyaki, too. If possible, I wanted to introduce them to Orcus as takoyaki, not "muscle-yaki." However, there didn't seem to be any octopuses in the waters around Zephyrson. If we had to source them, the nearest place would likely be Aingurna... which meant it might be impossible to escape the influence of the "muscle-yaki" name.