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Chapter 334: The Black Butterfly, and the Shadow Lily.

“It’s a hard-to-believe story to say the least… However, if we accept it, it would solve a lot of our questions.”

“Wow… I thought you were a weird guy already, but you’re even weirder than I had ever imagined…”

“Leave me alone.”

The abandoned fortress which serves as the hideout of the [Red Cats]. Currently, I’m talking about various matters regarding myself and the world within a large tent set up in the inner courtyard.

The fact that I’m from another world, that I’m the sovereign of a dukedom over there, that the variants have appeared in my world before and are now laying waste to this world as well, and that I’m now moving in order to stop them, I spoke about all that.

Surrounding a table in the center of the tent, four people—the [Red Cats]’s chief Nia, the vice- chief Est-san, and two executives, the ponytail girl Yuni and the fluffy wave girl Yuri—sat there with a dumbfounded expression.

“Then, those golden monsters… Variants, as you called them. They will continue appearing in this world from now on?”

“I’m afraid so. In our world, we’ve made a cooperative structure where each member is informed of any appearances in advance. But over here, there’s absolutely no countermeasures. I’d like to do something about that. This time the numbers were on the small side, but if a larger group appeared they can easily destroy a country or two, you know?”

“B-by larger group, how much larger would it be-ssu?”

“It could go up to the ten thousands, at worst. It’s not something any one country can deal with by themselves, no matter in this world or in ours. That’s why we took to cooperating to deal with them.”

When facing invaders from another world who is bent on destroying this world, countries have no choice but to work together. If we do not cooperate and match our steps, the only thing awaiting us would be the destruction of the world.

It’s not gonna be easy to start getting countries to cooperate over here too. In fact, there was already that war between Primula Kingdom and Trihalan God-Empire that I had to deal with.

“Wait just a minute, ten thousands… Oi oi, things like those with that number!? There’s no way in hell we can win!”

“You remember that Frame Gear thing that you guys saw earlier? Those were originally developed to defeat the Phrase… The originals of the variants. We have several hundreds of them standing by to defeat those variants if they ever appear.”

“Several hundreds of that thing earlier… Is it.”

Well, it’s not that we have a few hundred Reginleivs, though. Unfortunately, since the only Frame Gear I have in my [Storage] is Reginleiv, I can’t show them other models.

“And, what do you want to do now?”

“To put it simply, I want to meet with groups who can help me gather information on this side, as well as countries that would be willing to lend me its strength. I’ve already made connections with Primula Kingdom and Trihalan God-Empire, but that’s only a portion of this world’s countries, so.”

“But, would the other countries believe your talk so easily? Even if you tell them you’re from another world and stuff, I think they’ll just laugh at you…”

What Yuri said is true. Excluding special cases like Primula, I don’t think there’s a country out there who can easily believe my talk.

Still, they will be forced to believe in time. When the variants attack their own countries, they’ll have no other choice.

But that is too late a solution. If the country perishes before I get them to cooperate, there’s no meaning in my actions.

“Let’s see… It’s not like we have no ideas of an information dealer that could serve your purposes…”

Hoho. As expected of Est-san. Seems like she has a few thoughts.

“Was there such a place? Is it a place I know too?”

“It’s the [Papillon].”

“[Papillon]… The organization which runs the black market we went to the last time?”

The black market where I bought the three legacy golems, the Etoile group. I’m pretty sure the name of the criminal organization running that gig was called [Papillon].

Nia said it was an organization that does anything for money last time…

“Actually, that [Papillon] is in a divided state at the moment. Apparently, after that attack at the black market by the purple [Crown], assassins were sent after her in retaliation; but all of those attempts failed, and the top of [Papillon] were even hunted down and killed by [Purple].”

The purple [Crown]… Fanatic Viola, was it. And its master, the lady of madness, Luna Trieste.

Those guys are a mass of chaos, basically. A pair I would very much like to avoid.

“As a result, [Papillon] split into two groups. Broadly speaking, they are the surface group and the underground group, respectively.”

According to Est-san, the surface group operates inns and brothels as their main business; under that cover, they do works such as information collection, manipulating public opinion using rumors or news reports, and spy activities.

And the underground group, as its name suggests, mainly deals with assassination or destruction activities, thievery, and illegal businesses. The black market which deals with a lot of stolen goods fall under their jurisdiction as well.

The executives in charge of the surface works and the underground works respectively have been openly opposing each other for a while, and the tension between the two groups are high. A fight over the inheritance of the organization?

“As the previous leader had, unfortunately, no children, it’s expected for the next leader to be one of those two executives. However, apparently they are opposed to the ideas of each other, and the situation is only turning worse, or something like that.”

“I see. And l should approach the executive in charge of the surface group…”

“Exactly. They should become a great strength in terms of information gathering. The inns which [Papillon] has ties with are spread out basically everywhere within all the countries after all.”

That is indeed very attractive. With a network that large, they can probably acquire information with a speed and quality that isn’t inferior to the Adventurer’s Guild back in the Surface World.

“—Wait a minute, Est. Isn’t the executive for the surface group of Papillon…”

“Yes. Silhouette Lily. The ‘Kageyuri’.” (Note: “Shadow Lily”. I felt that it looks more natural this way instead of typing the English meaning out every time. If you guys think otherwise, let me know.)

“N-no no no! Try letting someone like Touya go to that woman’s place! He’ll be sucked dry in one night, you know!?”

Nia waved her hands around in a flustered way while voicing her objection. What’s that supposed to mean? Also, the surface group executive is a woman?

“… Is she a scary person?”

“In a sense. The woman called Kageyuri is the manager of [Papillon]’s brothel business. She’s a hell of a woman, apparently. It’s said that there’s no man who would not fall to her charms

and wiles. I’ve met her once before, and I’m certain the phrase ‘devilish woman’ exists to describe people like her.”

A brothel, is it… Umumu. I feel a bit daunted, but for the moment I still feel like I should have a talk with her anyway.

“Kageyuri, who’s leading the surface group, doesn’t have much in terms of direct combat power compared to the executive leading the underground group. However, their number of personnel is far above the underground group. I’m sure they can become a great help for you if you manage to pull them to your side.”

“And how should I meet that executive?”

“We can probe around for the location of Kageyuri using [Red Cats]’s connections. After that, well… I think you can just go and meet her forcefully.”

Shouldn’t we go about this in a steadier way… I’d like to avoid as much trouble as I can, you know. Well, I’m used to getting into troubles so I don’t really mind, but…

In the northern lands, the second capital of Strain Kingdom, commercial city Cantarre.

I arrived in front of the “Moonlight Parlor”, the city’s premier high-class brothel situated in the center of the pleasure district.

The large pavilion-like building was lit up by various lights giving it a gleaming look, and neon decorations (which are really just magic light stones) glow in all seven colors of the rainbow around, creating a fantasy atmosphere around the building.

“This place definitely looks expensive…”

I wonder just how much do they take for one night? One platinum coin (around 1 million yen)? It’s not like I can’t pay that much, but I didn’t come here for that kind of purpose… Un. I didn’t come here for that kind of purpose, but I wonder why I am feeling so nervous…

Next to the stairs leading up to the entrance are two well-built men standing guard. This sense of intimidation is no joke…

Well then, nothing will happen if I just keep standing here. And I’m probably going to get treated as a suspicious individual soon, so I better get a move on.

While receiving the gaze of the guards, I stepped onto the stairs before the entrance. As I proceeded through a hall decorated by stained glasses on both sides before arriving in front of a counter, a black-clothed man behind it greeted me with a smile.

“Welcome to the ‘Moonlight Parlor’. Pardon me for asking, but are you perhaps a first-time customer?”

The man, who’s in his thirties and has a short beard, directed a perfect smile towards me. No matter how you look at it, that’s a business smile; honestly, I’m bad with this type.

“It is my first time, but I’m not a guest. Is there a person named Silhouette Lily here?”

“… Please go back if you’re not a guest. Before you meet some painful experiences.”

His business smile vanishing, the man returned a sharp threat to me. Oh, judging by this reaction, I presume this place is a hit?

“She’s here isn’t she? I just want to have a talk with her, you know. Just a little bit is fine.”

“Oi, you guys! Throw this guy out!”

Hearing the man’s voice, the two guards at the door rushed over here. One of them stretched out a thick arm that looked like a tree log towards my collars, but I grabbed his arm instead and paralyzed him with [Paralyze].

“Gufu!?”

Leaving the guard who crumbled to the floor alone, I casted [Paralyze] on the other guard as well. Sorry about this, I’ll undo it later so stay like that for a bit.

“You, you bastard! Are you one of Zavit’s goons!?”

The manager-looking man took out a dagger from under the counter and swung it towards me. Who the hell’s Zavit? Ah, could he perhaps be the executive in charge of [Papillon]’s underground group? Est-san said the tension between the two groups will go critical soon, after all.

“Go to hell!”

“[Slip].”

“Guha!?”

The man who charged at me while holding the dagger at waist height did a splendid midair flip when I used my magic on him. The dagger he was holding slipped from his hand and stabbed into a nearby pillar. That was dangerous. Even if he’s part of the surface group, it still doesn’t change the fact that he belongs to a criminal organization, I suppose.

“I have no idea who this Zavit-san of yours is, but anyway, could you let me meet with Silhouette-san? I just want to talk with her about something.”

“Ugugu…”

The receptionist man kept glaring at me while lying on the floor. This seems that it’ll be difficult… Given the kind of place this is, I don’t want to force my way in…

Towards me who’s thinking, a woman’s voice came down from above.

“I wonder if you can hold your hand with that. It’s a problem for us if you raise any more commotion.”

“Bo, boss!”

A woman was standing on top of the gently curving stairs that lead from the hall to the second floor.

Long flaxen hair and hazelnut-colored eyes. Her age is in the early twenties, and on her well- proportioned body is a white cheongsam-like dress. The beautiful hair clasp in the shape of a white lily is eye-catching, but even that fades when compared to the beauty of the person herself.

So that’s Silhouette Lily. “Kageyuri” huh.

She’s indeed quite the beauty. For me, however, it’s the type of beauty that makes me hesitate to approach. I wonder why, but there’s a sort of atmosphere around her that makes me raise my guard.

“Are you Silhouette-san?”

“That is so. I don’t know who you might be, but it’s rude to come in without a prior reservation, you know? I have my own plans too, after all.”

“I’ll apologise about that. It’s just, I’ve been told that even if I normally called up beforehand, I wouldn’t get a meeting, so.”

“By whom?”

“The vice-chief of the [Red Cats], Est-san.”

When I answered that, a slightly surprised expression surfaced on Silhouette-san’s face, before she replaced it with a smile and came down the stairs.

The bare legs peeking through the slits in the dress are blinding. Umu, as expected I’m bad against onee-san types like her.

“Doesn’t seem like you’re one of Zavit’s assassins. And so? What business may you have with me?”

Silhouette-san got down from the stairs, and asked me that question while standing in front of me with an archaic smile.

However, at that moment, I wasn’t paying attention to the beauty in front of me, but was focusing on somewhere else. I took out my smartphone from my breast pocked to confirm. Hm, seems like it wasn’t my imagination.

“… Before that, a question. Right now, there’s around 40-50 people surrounding this place from the outside, but do you perhaps have a group reservation scheduled today?”

“…!”

Silhouette-san was shocked at my words. At the same time, the stained glasses at the sides of the hall shattered with large sounds as three people jumped in from outside.

Or not; they are shaped like humans, but they’re not living. Those are thin-ish golems, with black clothes wrapped around their bodies.

I can see blades with lengths of about 30cm attached to their gauntlets. Upon landing, the three golems did not even look in my direction as they assaulted Silhouette-san without any hesitation.

“Boss!”

The men who are still lying on the floor raised their voices when they saw their master in danger. While listening to those voices behind me, I concentrated on my magic.

“[Shield].”

As I raised my hand towards Silhouette-san, an invisible wall materialized between her and the three golems, blocking all of their strikes completely.

“This, is…”

Silhouette-san stood there petrified as she took in the blades of the golems that almost cut her apart. The golems continued hacking away with their arm blades, but forget Silhouette-san, they couldn’t even make a single scratch on the shield.

“[O Ice envelop, an everlasting sarcophagus, Eternal Coffin].”

When I finished the incantation, ice began appearing and expanding from below the three golem’s feet, and within an instant they were enclosed within three rectangular pillars. Ancient magic [Eternal Coffin]. Stay there for a while.

Silhouette-san who’s surrounded by the ice pillars got out between them and came towards me.

“… Was that you just now?”

“Was it unnecessary?”

“No, you saved me. That just now was dangerous… I think these golems are… No, more importantly, you say that this building has been surrounded…”

“Ah, should I clean that side up as well? Would you free up some time to listen to my story after that?”

“… Sure. If you can really clean them up, that much is a cheap renumeration.”

Alright, got the agreement. Well then, time to do some outdoor cleaning.

-Pixel