The paper she had received from the corporation that supposedly had the profile of Gale Wind did not even have a description of the person.
Useless. Runoa grimaced.
“Dammit, Guild, don’t publish worthless information…”
The Guild was covering for Gale Wind. She was the last living member of Astrea Familia, who had worked with them to maintain the peace and order of the city.
No, protecting her isn’t quite right. Maybe a final mercy is a bit closer.
Gale Wind had lost herself in revenge, exacting retribution against all the merchants and adventurers who supported her enemies—even the Guild members who had worked with them—so they could not get away without punishing her. They had revoked her status as an adventurer and registered her on the blacklist. The organization had kept up appearances.
“It doesn’t seem like there’s any more information, though…Guess I have to check it out myself.”
Once she decided, she jumped into action. That was Runoa Faust, bounty hunter. Grabbing the scarf she always wore, she stood up. Her destination was the tavern The Benevolent Mistress, where Gale Wind had been taken. Quickly finishing her preparations, she opened the door and headed for that bar.
“Astrea Familia…That faction’s rank was B. Eleven members, all of them second-tier adventurers. They reached the forty-first floor, cleared twenty-one floor bosses…Mrrow, the more I read, the more monstrous she looks.”
Lying on a bed in her underwear, Chloe murmured. Her single stone room had an extravagantly plush carpet, a bed with a canopy on it, a chandelier-style magic-stone lamp, and magic-stone fireplace, everything heavily customized in order to be more luxurious. It was without a doubt a palace for Chloe alone, the epitome of bad taste and wasteful spending.
For the price, the room was perfect…other than that from time to time she could hear the dull sounds of something being struck in the room next door.
This was the secret address of the one feared in the underworld as Black Cat.
Propping her cheek up as she lay on the bed, her black cattail wriggling from her similarly colored lingerie, Chloe sighed as she looked down at the parchment.
“You can tell how tough she is just from the Guild’s public information, meow. This familia caught a lot of the Evils.”
The information sheet spread across her pillow was not about Gale Wind herself, but about the faction she belonged to—the no-longer-extant Astrea Familia.
“According to the Guild’s public information, Gale Wind was a Level Four. But if you add in that she destroyed the final ally of the Evils, Rudra Familia, by herself…then she is top class among Level Fours, no doubt, meow.”
Ah, I don’t want to kill her, Chloe thought as she lay facedown on the pillow.
Level Fours are hard to do, and if I’m not careful, I’ll get killed in the cross fire.
Regret over jumping the gun welled up in her chest.
“…Oh well, meow. This is my last job anyway, meow. I’m getting a lot of money for this, and after I run away from here, I can live easy with lots of cute boys to take care of me, meow.”
Chloe giggled evilly to herself as wicked ideas ran through her mind. Losing herself in wild daydreams for a little while, the catgirl rolled on her back and held her slender hand up to the light.
“Finishing off Gale Wind will be my crowning glory, meow.”
She hopped to her feet and put on the tunic and robe that lay carelessly on the floor.
Facing someone truly strong head-on was suicide. Therefore, assassination—the ability to freely use poison, traps, and the like at the right time and right place to take someone out unaware. To do that, it was necessary to understand the target’s habits and area of activity.
She was not going to be lazy about gathering information on her target. This was Chloe Lolo, assassin. Her target was the tavern The Benevolent Mistress, where Gale Wind had escaped. Wearing her hood for disguise, Chloe opened the door to her room.
““Uhn?””
As the two doors thudded closed at the same time, Chloe and Runoa saw each other. Both were dressed up like they were going out. Neighbors who had not met before today.
Who’s that sick-looking human, meow?
Who’s this degenerate catgirl?
They kept their opinions to themselves. Chloe snickered at the human who did not care about her appearance, and Runoa made a dubious face at the mysterious catgirl hiding her eyes.
“…”
“…”
Both silent, they locked their doors and proceeded down opposite hallways. They recognized each other as having guilty consciences and knew nothing good would come of interacting. Their backs to each other, they left the apartment building by different routes, but they were headed toward the exact same place.
“No…”
Lyu stood in front of the dresser murmuring in shock. A waitress was reflected in the mirror.
She was wearing a light green dress that went below her knees with a white apron wrapped around her body. Feared as Leon of the Gale Wind, Lyu felt incredibly out of place in a cutesy uniform like this. If her comrades in the lost familia were here now, they would burst out laughing, no doubt. Goddess Astrea would definitely be trying to hide giggles.
Her shining gold hair had even been dyed a light green color.
“It looks good on you, Lyu! You’re super-cute! Just to be safe, I dyed your hair so that no one will recognize you as Miss Gale Wind.”
While Lyu was shocked, Syr was enjoying herself, an affable tone in her voice. It was several days after that fateful day when they had decided she would work at the tavern. Lyu had finally gotten healthy again and was reborn as an employee of The Benevolent Mistress. Mostly because of Syr. By force.
Lyu found Syr’s unreserved smile and praise unbearably detestable right now. She wanted to take off the white cap on her head and pummel it into the ground.
“Allll right, let’s get right to work. Time to pay back that expensive meal, right?”
“Kuh.”
Smirking, Syr warned her that unapproved movements would not be allowed. As a duty-bound elf, it was calamitous for Lyu. If she ran away without returning the favor to people who had made so much effort to heal her, not to mention fed her, the honor of her proud forest species would be sullied.
Because of that, even if she had been treated badly, Lyu’s morals would not let her run away, no matter how much she wanted to do so. Even for the peculiar members of Astrea Familia, such a thing was unheard of.
“I’ll introduce you to Ahnya and the others later, but first I’ll teach you the job.”
“Hey, what do you say when someone teaches you something?”
There was nowhere to run.
Lyu was pinned on either side by the smiling Syr and Mia with her arms crossed.
“Thank you…in advance…” Her voice quivered as she whispered, her cheeks turning bright red in embarrassment.
Thus began Lyu’s daily struggle.
Everyone’s first job at The Benevolent Mistress—was peeling.
“Newbie, can you peel vegetables, meow?”
“…Where I was before, it was usually catered.”
“People always think it doesn’t look that bad, meow. Here, if you just hold the knife like thi—”
“—Don’t touch me!”
“Fugyah?!”
“Kyaah! Lyu knocked Ahnya into the vegetables!”
“What are you doing, you dumbass!!”
“Kuh!”
Thanks to her aversion toward being touched, she had knocked her coworker down—failure.
Her second job at The Benevolent Mistress involved going shopping.
“Okay, Lyu? When you’re buying ingredients, give a cute smile. And it’s fine to beg a bit.”
“Give a cute smile…beg…”
“Yep, if you do that, they’ll give you lower prices. It’ll be okay; the old guys at the shop are nice! So
good luck!”
“Understood…Shopkeeper.”
“Oh, that uniform—The Benevolent Mistress, eh? What do you need today?”
“Those fruits. Please give me a discount.”
“Eh?”
“I said discount, please.”
“Um, that’s…”
“Please do it quickly. Are you trying to insult me?”
“Y-yikes?! Help me—!”
“Lyu! That’s not pleading, that’s threatening! And cramping your face isn’t smiling; you look like a hit man!!”
“Kuh!”
Banned from the greengrocer—failure.
The third job at The Benevolent Mistress was serving customers.
“…The menu.”
“Oh, a new staff member? Quite the beauty, too! But kind of blunt.”
“Kuh!”
The guests did not like her expression—failure.
And the jobs after that, too: failure, failure, and failure. A storm of disappointments.
“You’re more useless than I thought…” Mia sighed heavily.
“Kuhhh…!”
When Mia called her out, Lyu endured the humiliation.
This is wrong. It’s because I only just started. I’m just nervous because it’s an unknown experience. Even refined adventurers make big mistakes in the face of the “Unknown.”
Lyu was decidedly not useless, she reassured herself with a loud voice in her head.
…No, it was like this when I was with Alizé, wasn’t it?
When she had joined Astrea Familia, Lyu had constantly made mistakes. At the time, she had caused problems for the chief goddess Astrea and her friend Alizé.
When I’m not used to things, I always make mistakes.
“At this rate, instead of paying back the food, you’re just acquiring more debt.”
“Kuhh…”
Ashamed, Lyu continued her trials.
Why is Gale Wind working as a waitress…?
Outside the window, the sun was setting in the blue sky. Going undercover as a customer at The Benevolent Mistress to gather information, Runoa was confused at the spectacle she saw. The elf was wearing a waitress uniform, interacting with customers and taking away plates with a gloomy face.
A wanted person who’s even on the Guild’s blacklist suddenly got a part-time job at a bar…No way, I don’t understand at all…
The elf matched the description and likeness she had received from the corporation. Her hair seemed to have been dyed, but it was unmistakably the same person.
However, Gale Wind—who once sent tremors down the spine of all the villains in the city—had exchanged her bloodstained battle clothes and hood for a waitress uniform and white headpiece…
What is that look? I want to laugh, but I can’t.
“…Hey, hey, waitress, is that elf employee new?”
“Yes, meow. So new that she needs to be watched constantly, meow. At the moment, I’m taking of her myself, meow!”
But you’re messing up orders, too, you stupid cat.
Annoyed at the waitress’s self-satisfaction when she had brought coffee instead of the black tea she had ordered, Runoa peeked over at Gale Wind again. She was moving around the tavern with a distinct lack of familiarity, and even writing down the orders from the patrons was a struggle. She was somehow managing with the gallant help of a blue-and-silver-haired girl.
A ruse to throw off trackers, or a trap…? But this looks too stupid.
While watching the ill-tempered elf from the side, she sipped her coffee. Looking around at the smiling women guests, she struggled to figure out how to handle the situation.
Why is Gale Wind doing chores at a bar, meow?
Under the same setting sun…
Chloe was pretending to be a messenger and sneaking glances through the back door of the store. The scene unfolding before her eyes shocked her. She watched as the elf was called to the back of the kitchen and scolded by the dwarf mistress.
“It seems pretty busy, but what’s wrong with that elf girl?” She tried probing a bit while handing over a letter addressed to the tavern.
“Ahh, sorry. She just started…She messed up a bit, so she’s getting some advice.” The blue-and-silver-haired girl answered with a hint of a wry smile.
Chloe was confident that the elf was Gale Wind when she heard “just started”…but just like a certain bounty hunter, she could not shake her confusion.
Also, that dwarf…she’s super-scary, meow. Don’t want to make that frumpy woman mad…
Even from afar, she could recognize the dangerous potential of the mistress’s anger.
Gale Wind was quietly nodding and putting up with the scolding, her expression like that of a monk in training who had endured several hours under a waterfall.
“Miss Courier…are you new? Are you that interested in our tavern?” The girl smiled sweetly as Chloe quickly confirmed Gale Wind and the layout of the bar.
“…Aaah, that was rude of me. As you guessed, I’m a provisional employee. Anyway, I’ve confirmed the letter has been delivered.”
Acting normal, Chloe returned the smile and left via the back door. She jogged through a back alley where the sun did not reach.
“Whew, that was dangerous,” she whispered to herself as she pulled down the brim of the hat she wore as a disguise. “I can’t let my guard down in there, meow…The footsteps of the chefs in the kitchen were awfully quiet, it seemed…“
From my perspective, that platinum haired girl is dangerous, too.
This was Orario. People were trained to deal with wild hooligans, including adventurers, but…
“A bar that puts Gale Wind to work…that place might be bad news, meow?”
Making an odd face as she whispered, she wondered if she might have hit the bull’s-eye—
“Ha-ha, no way.”
The skilled assassin couldn’t help but laugh away the absurd thought.
Yes, she foolishly laughed it off.
“Haaa, I’m tired, meow. Mama is rough with both people and cats, meow.”
Ahnya complained as she and Lyu carried groceries.
No comment on the cat part, but she does use people roughly, Lyu agreed silently.
Several days had already passed since she had started working at The Benevolent Mistress. She had repeatedly messed up, but she was working as an obedient tavern employee.
“Ah, Lyu. Hold the basket properly! If the vegetables fall, Mama will yell at you again, meow!”
“…I think it’s fine.”
“Letting your guard down like that will cost you your life, meow! I’ve slipped countless times! I’ve been doing this longer than you, so you should listen to what I say, meow! Fufun!”
Falling down and holding a basket aren’t related, though. Plus, you’re awfully proud saying that.
After Syr, this Ahnya girl was the next person Lyu had gotten to know. She seemed cheerful and simple. An idiot…or at least lacking in some way. The way she kept trying to touch Lyu’s hand, no matter how many times the elf countered by knocking her away, was good evidence.
She tried to give off an air of seniority and experience, but no matter how Lyu looked at it, she was still better…on paper. Objectively, maybe. By a slim margin.
”…At any rate…”
“?”
“You still look so gloomy, meow. Kind of…depressed, meow? It’s concerning, meow…”
Lyu was at a loss for words as Ahnya spoke bluntly, placing the basket of vegetables on the table.
For better or worse, the thoughtless catgirl had no restraint. Recognizing she was right, Lyu could not respond. She had been made to work plenty at this tavern, but there was still a gaping hole in her heart. It would unintentionally reveal itself, and her expression would darken.
“…Sorry for making you worry.”
Maybe Ahnya has been paying so much attention to me because she is worried about me. Thinking this, Lyu a
pologized.
“Why should I worry about you?”
But Ahnya made a stupid-looking expression—or rather a deeply confused one as she tilted her head.
“N-no…but you said I was depressed.”
“Depressing things are depressing, meow. But Mama definitely uses elves roughly, too, so you’ll forget about the things bothering you, meow.”
Lyu went wide-eyed at her words.
“Look at Mei over there, meow. She also had a lot of things happen and looked suuuuper-depressed at first, but now she doesn’t have the time for that, meow.”
Ahnya pointed to one of the catgirl chefs. She was shorter than them, scampering around like a prum. She did not even have the time to adjust the chef’s hat slipping off her head, a busy whirlwind as she moved around the kitchen.
“So feel free to feel down, as long as you get back up again, meow. Everyone at this tavern was like that, meow. And you’ll get there, too, meow.”
She crudely and carelessly said this. She did not have any proof. However, her words made Lyu’s heart feel several times lighter, so much so that she was jealous, wondering how much easier it would be if she could be like that.
“Ahnya…were you like that, too?” Lyu asked, suddenly curious.
“I—I…” The catgirl all of a sudden started to get flustered.
Her eyes darted to the left and right, making suspicious movements. The slender tail coming out of her back started quivering as though it could not stay still.
“I—I just remembered a chore, meow! I need to go for a bit, meow!” Awkwardly excusing herself, she disappeared.
Even that carefree girl had special circumstances. Lyu felt bad for bringing it up.
“Lyu, if you are back from the storehouse, then hurry up and come here.”
She was briefly glancing in the direction that Ahnya had fled when Mia stuck her head into the kitchen and called her over.
“Next is washing the plates. Even a clumsy elf like you can do that, right?”
“…Understood.”
Lyu nodded and headed over to the washing area. Noting the stacked-up tableware, she started washing them with water.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu Page 14
