The Otherworld Antique Bookstore is a Life-Risk Chapter 17

 

Chapter 17: Kaien and Yoshua Again

 

It happened suddenly, throwing the female employees working at the main store in the royal capital into a panic.

"Manager, it's terrible! There's a scary person glaring at us in front of the store, demanding to see Yuki!"

Meel, I don't know who's come, but isn't that a bit rude to say suddenly?

"Should we call the vigilante group?" Natalia calmly asked me.

"Isn't Huey outside?"

"Huey is outside, but he's just standing there with his eyes rolled back."

"..."

"Alright. I'll handle this for now. Everyone, feel free to run if it gets dangerous."

"Do your best, Manager!"

Encouraged by everyone, I opened the store door.

Standing right in front of me was a familiar face. I remember seeing this man among the four general-like figures in the Abyss Labyrinth. His name was...

"I am Kaien. You must be Yuki."

"Ah, yes. I'm Yuki. What brings you here today?"

"I need you to come with me to the labyrinth immediately."

What? Suddenly asking me to show my face? Is this some kind of hazing for newcomers? Is that a custom here?

Anyway, the correct response here is to politely decline, right?

"I'm sorry, but I'm in the middle of work. Would it be alright if I hear your request another day?"

"My apologies, I forgot. Then I shall visit your mansion tonight."

Hmm, no escape. But if it's at the mansion, Bergana and the others will be there, so it should be fine.

 

* * *

 

Night has fallen.

However, I'm standing alone with three Dire Wolves in front of the pitch-dark entrance of Bergana Mansion. The usually lively household staff and Bergana herself are now taking shelter in the mansion's basement.

Hey, is Kaien really that scary? Someone tell me.

Kaien arrived, radiating an intense aura. He passed through the mansion gates and walked up to me waiting at the entrance.

Even the Dire Wolves who were trying their best to protect me couldn't bear it and ran away.

"Good evening, Kaien."

"A fine night, isn't it, Yuki?"

"Why are you so worked up? I should warn you, I can't fight."

"My apologies. There's something about Yoshua that I simply can't stomach."

Yoshua... that's the gothic lolita kid, right? Did they have a fight or something?

"When I mentioned this to Nagaren, he told me to refer the matter to you."

That minister-like person, huh? Geez, he's just increasing my workload.

"Well, let's hear what you have to say."

"It would be quicker to show you rather than explain. I request that you come with me to the labyrinth."

I have no right to refuse. No sooner said than done, Kaien tucked me under his arm and started running at an incredible speed. We're flying, running across rooftops. I can barely keep my eyes open and grit my teeth. There's no time even to scream.

And so we arrived at the fortress surrounding the entrance to the Abyss Labyrinth in the eastern district of the royal capital.

Kaien and I presented our adventurer cards at the guardhouse and received permission to pass. So you can enter the labyrinth even at night.

"We're heading to the fifth floor. There's a special path there."

Kaien said it would be quicker to go from here.

We proceed, slashing through the attacking monsters. I'm also holding a big knife, just in case.

We don't have any lights, so both of us have activated our night vision, making our eyes glow red. If any adventurers saw us now, they might faint from shock.

Although the Abyss Labyrinth is technically my base too, this first dungeon is still scary. Unlike the newly constructed book management area, the monsters that naturally spawn here aren't under Lady Laviola's control.

And they attack us humans without hesitation. It's ironic that the undead in the book management area have more discretion than these creatures.

The Abyss Labyrinth is publicly known to have twenty underground floors, but in reality, there are thirty-one floors. The ten floors before Lady Laviola's chamber on the lowest level serve as living quarters for her subordinates.

My official residence isn't there, but Kaien told me they'd build one if I asked. Yeah, no thanks.

There are generally three secret entrances for those associated with the Abyss Labyrinth:

1. A route through the book management area full of undead, disguised as an old book warehouse in the warehouse district.

2. A route that goes underground through a magic circle on the fifth floor of the dungeon.

3. A location I don't know yet, but apparently there are magically concealed magic circles set up outside the royal capital, used by specially authorized collaborators of the labyrinth.

 

As we walk through the dungeon corridors littered with corpses as if strolling through an empty field, hm? I hear human voices coming from ahead.

"Everyone, wait! Don't leave me behind!"

"Sorry, Shima. We, the 'Silver Wings,' can't end here. So we decided to use you, the weakest, as bait."

"We've been together all this time. Why are you doing something so cruel?"

"We'll become high-ranking adventurers someday. When that time comes, we'll at least raise a toast to you for your help."

"You're just dead weight, so at least be useful this one time!"

"We won't forget you, Shima."

"No, wait!"

And then a group of four adventurers crossed in front of Kaien and me. Looking in the direction they came from, I see a cat-eared girl adventurer crawling along the dungeon corridor, crying and seemingly injured, illuminated by the light of a fallen torch.

Behind her, a horde of monsters led by a Minotaur is approaching. It seems they've triggered what's called a "train" phenomenon.

"Hmph!"

Kaien leaps into the horde, swinging his sword with incredible force. Blood and flesh from the monsters scatter, but even in this situation, Kaien moves as if strolling through an empty field.

"Hey, are you alright?" I take out a healing potion from my bag and offer it to the cat-eared adventurer.

"Don't kill me, don't eat me!"

Probably because my night vision is on, she seems to think I'm a dangerous monster. She's curled up with her eyes closed, not moving. I'm a bit shocked.

I leave the potion in front of her and hurry on.

Shima, was it? I wonder if she'll seek revenge on them if she makes it back safely.

Well, it's not my business.

And so we arrived at the fifth underground floor. We pass through the magic circle exclusive to subordinates and jump straight to the twenty-first underground floor.

The twenty-first floor is a vast space with a ton of dark knights for defense.

When they confirm the presence of Kaien and me, they line up in formation, raising their swords to make a path for us.

Dark knights, thank you for your diligent guard duty.

Between the twenty-first and thirtieth floors, apparently only Yoshua on the twenty-seventh floor and Oriza on the thirtieth floor live there among the subordinates. The rest is just empty caverns.

We've come to the twenty-seventh floor, our destination, but it's rather bleak. There's a lot of stuff scattered on the floor.

I was walking next to Kaien, but I didn't notice when he stopped and kept walking, bumping into something. At my feet is a mountain of garbage, incomparably larger than before.

"What could this be?" I pick up one and see it's a wooden doll. It's so poorly made it's hard to even call it a doll. There's a mountain of these scattered or rather piled up.

"This is Yoshua's nest," Kaien says.

When I ask where Yoshua is, Kaien points to the wall in front of me. I tilt my head and step back about a dozen paces before I finally understand.

Right in front of my eyes, a huge black dragon is lying on its back with its limbs sprawled out, sleeping soundly in a spread-eagle position.

"Yoshua?" I point and ask Kaien for confirmation, and he nods.

This certainly isn't good. For a girl her age to be in such an unguarded and slovenly state.

Kaien, you're asking me, another girl, to scold her about this, right? Huh? That's not it? I knew that.

I'm not surprised to see a giant dragon right in front of me. The impression of the real zombies I saw up close on my first day after reincarnation is still strong. A dragon just looks like a big, cool lizard to me.

Kaien picks up one of the wooden dolls from the floor and crushes it in his grip, looking at it as if it were his mortal enemy.

"Yoshua has been obsessed with these 'Grand Prize Lotteries' for the past few decades. She buys lottery tickets in various towns, but these are the losing prizes."

"All of these? How many thousands are there?!"

You know, usually a dragon's lair is supposed to be overflowing with gold and silver treasures, right? But here, there are tens of thousands of losing dolls from the "Grand Prize Lottery" scattered around.

This is just like those stalls you often see at festivals, where they display luxurious prizes as a show, but the winning tickets are never actually included. It's the same thing.

How much is this Yoshua kid being ripped off...

"Kaien, you know that there are no winning tickets in these 'Grand Prize Lotteries,' right? Why don't you tell Yoshua?"

"If I told her, Yoshua would shake with anger and rampage..."

"Oh."

If an enraged dragon goes on a rampage, it would destroy the town. We can't tell her.

"Is there a 'Grand Prize Lottery' in this royal capital too?"

Kaien nods. And he says Yoshua has been going there recently. This is a serious matter. It could unexpectedly lead to a crisis for the entire royal capital.

And this is certainly within my domain.

"I understand. I, Yuki, will resolve this issue."

 

* * *

 

The next day, I left the store right after finishing the morning preparations at the main store in the royal capital. My destination is the "Grand Prize Lottery" stall on Adventurer Street in the East District.

There's already a girl in gothic lolita clothes who must have come as soon as the stall opened...

"Yoshua. What are you doing? Do you remember me?"

"Hm, Yuki. I'm aiming for that." Yoshua points decisively at a suspicious-looking stuffed toy among the winning prizes. Then she immediately droops her shoulders.

"It didn't work today. Maybe if I come back tomorrow, I'll win."

With that, she trudges away, dragging a sack full of losing dolls into the crowd on Adventurer Street.

Meanwhile, the stall owner has a triumphant grin on his face. How much has he made from Yoshua alone in these few days?

I know the nature of this "Grand Prize Lottery" business.

Usually, customers realize what's going on and run away, or after making a certain profit, the owner puts in some fourth or fifth place winning tickets to let the customers have a little taste of success. That's how the business barely manages to keep running.

But this guy is getting too greedy, taking advantage of Yoshua's slowness to squeeze every last coin out of her. This is no longer "business," it's "fraud."

Educating Yoshua is out of the question. So I decide to put on an act to intimidate this owner.

"Hey, Mister, I need to talk to you for a bit."

"What is it, little miss? You seem to know that girl from earlier, but I haven't done anything wrong. It's a legitimate business."

"I'm a merchant too, so I have no intention of interfering with your business. Today, I'm here as a messenger from the White Trading Company."

"White? There's no way such a big company would have business with me. Don't lie."

Well, this was expected. So I show him my adventurer card. Being registered with both the adventurer and merchant guilds is proof of being associated with a big company. This finally seems to convince him.

"So, what business does a big company have with someone like me?"

"There's a commotion going on among the big companies right now. A foreign nobleman's daughter is spending money recklessly, and the servants are investigating what's happening. Naturally, the White Trading Company was also contacted. They asked, 'Has a girl in black clothes been making expensive purchases?' When our company investigated, we found out that the girl has been frequenting a stall on Adventurer Street."

"That girl is just buying lottery tickets at my stall. What's wrong with that?"

"You don't get it, do you? How much have you made from that girl? You've made a fortune, but you still haven't given out a single winning ticket. In other words, you've become a 'fraudster' because of your greed."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"I'm telling you to do business properly. Sell some losing tickets and make your profit, then give out a winning ticket. That way, you're happy because you've made money, and the customer is happy because even though they spent a lot, they got what they wanted. That's how both parties can be happy. That's the basics of business, isn't it?"

I lower my voice and point to a spot on Adventurer Street, telling him to look. There, the butler Yuke, whom I brought as an extra, is looking this way with a stern expression.

"You've been sniffed out. Mister, you'll either be floating in the royal capital's sewers or become monster food in the forest soon."

I explain that for that nobleman, it's easier to get rid of one stall owner than to scold his beloved daughter. At this, even this stubborn owner turns pale.

"Little miss, please help me."

"There might still be time. That girl said she'd come back tomorrow. So tomorrow, you better make sure she gets a winning ticket, even if it kills you. If you can just give her a winning ticket, they might understand that you're doing legitimate business. It's a gamble, but I think that's the best way."

"I see, you're right. I'll give it a try."

On the way back, after thoroughly scaring the stall owner, Huey, my bodyguard, says with an exasperated look:

"I'm amazed you could lie so smoothly. It was hard for me to hold back my laughter."

"If I hadn't gone that far, that guy wouldn't have been scared, right?"

"True. But I was a bit shaken when you said it's not fraud but business."

"Making both the seller and the buyer happy. That's the basics of business, isn't it?"

"Well, I wonder how many merchants actually practice that."

Tomorrow, I'll go to Adventurer Street earlier than today and watch over the "Grand Prize Lottery" stall with Huey.

 

* * *

 

The next morning, the sound of a celebratory bell rings out on Adventurer Street, accompanied by shouts of "Big winner!"

"I won. For the first time, I won."

The girl in black clothes clenched her fist tightly, received the first prize (though of questionable quality) offered to her, and hugged it close to her chest.

"Thank you. I'll come back when you have new prizes."

The stall owner's face inadvertently softens as he's charmed by the girl's beaming smile as she thanks him.

As the girl disappears into the crowd on Adventurer Street with a spring in her step, the stall owner watches her for a while. Then he turns to the girl and young man watching from the corner of the street and gives them a thumbs up, signaling the success of their plan.

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