Chapter 316: The enemy of my enemy

“I am having Mio continue the investigation over there. Lime is running around with the adventurers.” (Makoto)

“That guy, suddenly clinging to Waka in tears. Good grief.” (Tomoe)

“Even though I said I would be going with you, Tomoe, he didn’t show any signs of wanting to come too. Now that you mention it.” (Makoto)

“He must be feeling bad about it. He must think of it as embarra.s.sing to the point that he can’t meet face to face with me.” (Tomoe)

Lime said something about it being inefficient if he were to be there, but it was probably in part that he found it hard to look Tomoe in the face.

After notifying us that he had gotten an arrangement with the Weitz Orphanage for just past noon, he said he would deal with the rumors we had, and is going around the city with adventurers.

Judging from his state, he must be planning on running around quite energetically.

“Isn’t it because you have been working him to the bone lately, Tomoe?” (Makoto)

“…Haha, I thought I had been quite lenient with him though. Looks like I have been a bit too soft on him.” (Tomoe)

“Answering your expectations continuously must be a hard path. I would say he is working hard.” (Makoto)

He was originally an adventurer that didn’t have that much difference from Toa and the others.

When taking that into consideration, Lime has worked really desperately, and has obtained the ability.

I try to be careful not to promote his difficulty to ultra hard lunatic mode with my words.

If it still ends up increasing despite me trying to be careful…I am sorry.

“Just the thought of asking for Waka to follow-up for him is already insolent, and yet, he was also bested by a mere childhood friend. Moreover, it was his former home, his former home.” (Tomoe)

“Now now, thanks to that, we can try making a yoseba.” (Makoto)

“That’s…! I am indeed looking forward to that though.” (Tomoe)

“Right? There was no need for a labourer stop in Asora, but when thinking about the Tsige orphanage, there’s possible things that can be done.” (Makoto)

“There’s no future for the orphanage at this rate after all. The adventurers, merchants, and the people with money just make babies without thinking about the future. It would be one thing if the parents died at a young age and the child ended up an orphan, but there’s a lot of children that were abandoned because they were a hindrance… Tsige may be a place where desires swirl, but this is just troubling.” (Tomoe)

“That’s why I was thinking about changing a li~ttle bit the orphanage that has been receiving our support with the plan our company has. That’s if you are into it, Tomoe.” (Makoto)

If I am the main player, I am confident in getting soft.

In a lot of meanings.

And it will probably end up in a result that won’t be beneficial for any side.

I think the spider web of Futsu-sama is something that must not be cut.

It is exactly because it is cut heartlessly at times that there’s meaning to it.

Mio is a literal spider, but I feel like she would cut those up without hesitation.

Shiki is busy in regards to the Academy, and I feel like he would show a similar softness as me. With children involved, I think Shiki would get weak too.

If we are talking about fitting candidates, there’s Sari and Tamaki, but I have no intentions of bringing them out from Asora.

Tomoe is a qualified one too…

…Well, you could say that I am being dependent on Tomoe here.

“You said that I would find it fun, Waka. Then there’s no way I would say no.” (Tomoe)

“Thanks, it helps me out.” (Makoto)

“…Did you think up that matter about the yoseba when you were taking a bath with Lime?” (Tomoe)

“Yeah. Now that I think about it, I have simply been receiving reports of the orphanage, it wouldn’t be strange at all to show my face once. But just going there to fix a misunderstanding would feel insufficient. Cause you know, there’s nothing that would trouble us from them investigating us.” (Makoto)

“That’s exactly right.” (Tomoe)

“Then, I was thinking about a way for them to know us well, and on top of that, give us something in return. If it were to work as a fancy hara.s.sment, it would be great.” (Makoto)

“Fufufu, I see. I have seen a peek of something similar in your memories. Was it your father? In a childbirth celebration of your father, a friend of his gifted him a 2t truck worth of paper diapers.” (Tomoe)

Truck…

It was a small 2t truck, but even with that, they wouldn’t be able to use all of them up.

I feel like that was not the fancy kind of hara.s.sment, but the actual kind of hara.s.sment.

If it is a memory of mine, is it at the time of my little sister, Mari’s birth?

Can’t really call it a memory, huh…

It is a memory that I have almost no recollection of. This is the first time I have heard of it.

A friend, huh. My father didn’t give me the impression that he had many friends aside from the people at work.

Who is it, I wonder. Someone I know too?

“That’s way too many. Or more like, I am surprised that you properly remember things from my memories aside from period dramas, Edo, katanas, and history.” (Makoto)

“…Really? Anyways, one whole room of the Misumi household was completely used up by those paper diapers, and it was amusing.” (Tomoe)

“Must have been.” (Makoto)

“The fact that they managed to use them all up speaks a lot about the plannings of the person that sent them.” (Tomoe)

“None remained? Seriously?” (Makoto)

“Seriously.” (Tomoe)

“Ah, it is there, huh. The Weitz Orphanage.” (Makoto)

“Looks like it.” (Tomoe)

“By the way, Tomoe, about this…” (Makoto)

I take out a bottle that fits perfectly in my hand and has an intricate design.

“…A perfume bottle.” (Tomoe)

Tomoe showed vigilance for a second, but she soon took the bottle from my hand with relief.

“I don’t feel any magic power from it. It looks like it is just a simple perfume.” (Tomoe)

“…Yeah. Just that, I received that from that Dusk Street Top. Before I departed, when I was with Mio.” (Makoto)

“Fumu…” (Tomoe)

“It is a perfume that has been popular in Tsige for a long time with men in the upper cla.s.s, and he himself uses it, is what he said.” (Makoto)

But it is perfume.

I felt like it was strange he would give me the same thing he uses as a present.

I tried smelling it right at that place to see what kind of smell it had, but I honestly felt like it wasn’t that good of a perfume.

It was to an extent where I wondered if elves like this kind of scent.

I don’t have a scent I am normally using, so since I got a present, I even wondered if I should try putting it on as much as possible to show that I am using it.

But it is perfume.

The magic tool that gave me the worst memory I had recently was a perfume.

Even after understanding that it is an item with no magic power, my doubts still remained.

Just in case, I removed the lingering scents of it before meeting with Tomoe, and was thinking about asking for her opinion on whether to use it or not.

“Hmm, I don’t remember there being a story like that at all. It is certainly a scent I know of though… That Top was an elf, right?” (Tomoe)

Tomoe confirms the scent.

So she knows it.

So it is not some original blend perfume.

“Yeah, by the way, it is a man.” (Makoto)

I feel like gifting a perfume between men is strange.

“It would enter in the expensive category, but I would say it is the kind that’s sold normally. But there’s no practice in Tsige of giving perfumes to others, and elves don’t like perfumes too much to begin with.” (Tomoe)

“I see.” (Makoto)

“I can’t tell what his objective is, but there might be some bad underlying reason for it.” (Tomoe)

“Right? The Dusk Street did feel uncomfortable. It seems they do have different tastes and factions, but it disgusts me in foundation. It is the den where people who are even more crazy loyal to their desires in Tsige stay, so there…might be things that only you can do there though.” (Makoto)

Like stealing, for example.

It is clearly a crime, but it is one of the light ones in the Dusk Street.

It is not that you steal because you don’t have money, you steal because it is fun to steal. They love to see the troubled person that got stolen from.

Those kinds of people gather.

It is a similar situation with deceiving, killing, and kidnapping.

If it were on the vector of simply bettering their skills, I personally wouldn’t have felt that much disgust towards it.

“Then, let’s move with the number one case in mind.” (Tomoe)

Tomoe blows away the scent that was wafting around her and her surroundings.

Being able to blow away the scent that’s on her in such a free manner like this, magic is more handy than modern science.

There might actually be something that can eliminate scents with one push though.

Like the powerful ones of the toilet—wait, that’s not important.

“Number one?” (Makoto)

“The case where there might be some kind of meaning to the people we are about to meet. The people may have had some bad memory towards a person that had this kind of scent.” (Tomoe)

“I see…” (Makoto)

From my perspective, Rio and Kanta are people that are temporary allies as guides of the Dusk Street.

But the two of them must definitely have some sort of hidden special criminal l.u.s.t.

There’s no way a person that’s the leader of those people is a normal person.

A long-living elf has been hiding there for a long time on his own choice.

It is certain that he is not a decent person.

Kanta has blood seeped in his scent, so he is probably something like a thief, killer, or a torturer.

I don’t know what Rio might be.

At a glance, he doesn’t give the scent of a criminal.

The easy to understand would be a scammer.

If that’s the case, even a temporary alliance is dangerous.

“Once the talk is settled, we could have a chief person of the orphanage smell it and see what they say.” (Tomoe)

“If it brings about a bad memory, wonder if they will speak about it honestly…of course they would. If it is Tomoe, there’s not even the need to question that.” (Makoto)

The sense of smell and taste are deeply linked to memory.

The moment they smell it, if there’s something, it will surely surface in their mind.

And Tomoe won’t miss that moment.

It is a good move.

“Oya, looks like they have come to welcome us.” (Tomoe)

“The gazes of children have been piercing us for a while now though.” (Makoto)

It really must be rare for there to be guests from outside.

They probably have separated them in rooms and have been ordered to stay inside, so they don’t meet us directly.

I hope there won’t be any escapees until the main talk is over.

After we pa.s.sed through the gates of the orphanage and walked on the stone pavings leading to the building, an adult that seemed to be a staff member hurriedly ran to where we were.

One person.

Deep inside, there’s also a pretty elderly man.

There’s adults gathered around him, so he must be the director.

I thought for sure they would be waiting in front of the gate, but they were all gathered at the entrance of the building.

It slightly feels as if they are defensive here. Why?

And the one who ran up to where we are is a young woman.

She is dressed in a proper and presentable manner.

Or more like, it is the clothes made in Asora.

The fact that she took the initiative to come here alone must mean that she is Seina?

The childhood friend of Lime.

“Is she Seina?” (Makoto)

“Yes, I have met her a number of times.” (Tomoe)

We conversed in a low voice, and confirmed this before Seina arrived.

“Thank you for coming here! Kuzunoha Company’s Tomoe-sama, and the representative Raidou-sama! Nice to meet you, I am Seina!” (Seina)

She lowered her head vigorously and a clear and nice-sounding voice resonated.

……

Her feelings of wanting to give us a warm reception can be felt, but…yeah, it is clear as day that she is not used to this.

Now that I think about it, I don’t know how much support they are receiving from other places aside from us. Was this okay for the other places?

Wait, maybe they knew beforehand that I look favorably at these types of people?

“Waka, she is actually a bit more of a competent person than this.” (Tomoe)

“Ah, I see.” (Makoto)

Looks like that wasn’t the case.

Tomoe was honestly amazed.

Chestnut-color hair. Is that called a brunette?

From what I can see, she looks like a model without make-up.

A person from an orphanage wouldn’t have perfect make-up.

Considering the circ.u.mstances, she wouldn’t lose to a well-off female receptionist of the Adventurer Guild in terms of look.

“…Waka?” (Tomoe)

“Hm?” (Makoto)

“…Nothing.” (Tomoe)

“Uhm, Raidou-sama.” (Seina)

“Eh, aah. Nice to meet you, Seina-san. I am the representative of the Kuzunoha Company, Raidou. I apologize for not showing up. Chances to do so were not showing up.” (Makoto)

“! Here as well! We apologize for suddenly calling you! I told Lime it wasn’t that urgent, but that guy, he suddenly came yesterday night and told us to make time tomorrow. Geez.” (Seina)

“We are relying on him all the time in a variety of jobs in the company. Due to this connection, we learned about the Weitz Orphanage, and thought about providing some small support, but it looks like Seina-san and the people working here have ended up misunderstanding this.” (Makoto)

“Seina-dono, this is a matter that I took in my hands and ended up with Waka simply being reported about it. To think this would bring forth a misunderstand in such a manner. I am truly sorry.” (Tomoe)

Tomoe matches my words and lowers her head.

Seina got visibly fl.u.s.tered.

I can understand.

She probably hasn’t seen Tomoe lower her head ever.

Tomoe is evil, she is purposely doing it knowing this full well.

But it is already too late.

I will be having the Weitz Orphanage stand out. Fufufu.

“E-E-Eh?! No no no, there’s no need to mind it!” (Seina)

“Is the person there the one in charge?” (Makoto)

I look at the man that seems to be the director, and ask Seina.

“Yes! The director, Kimaro Hanza! Due to a distant connection with a big company, this orphanage also—” (Seina)

“…Right, Seina-san. Since you have invited us here, we have brought a present.” (Makoto)

I felt like the conversation would lengthen with a topic of no importance, so I had it cut.

It is the instinct of a man that had two sisters in between.

“A present?! No, we are always receiving gifts from Lime already.” (Seina)

“That’s something that Lime-kun himself prepares. This is from the Kuzunoha Company. Tomoe.” (Makoto)

“Yes. Here, Seina-dono.” (Tomoe)

“Ah, thank you very much! Heavy!!” (Seina)

Tomoe gives Seina a cloth bag.

Tomoe was holding it up with one hand, but that’s just because it was Tomoe.

Seina held her ground with both legs, and was somehow managing to hold it up with both hands.

Now then, let’s go in.

“Then, is it okay for us to intrude now?” (Makoto)

I ask Seina with a nonchalant expression.

“Y-Yes. I will guide you!” (Seina)

“Yeah, we also thought it was about time to harvest. Your invitation came in good timing, so we are truly grateful.” (Makoto)

I purposely mix in ominous words and follow her with a smile.

By the way, this was the suggestion of Tomoe.

She told me ‘let’s go with the slightly courteous but kinda evil type’.

Thanks to this, Tomoe, who lowered her head to Seina and was using her as a present carrier, was in a good mood.

On the other hand, Seina’s shoulders jumped at the word ‘harvest’.

“Waka, that’s a nice Echigoya.” (Tomoe)

With the voice of Tomoe at my back that I could even hear slight giggles from, we entered the Weitz Orphanage.

Right right, there’s apparently 216 children here.

This building feels cramped for that number of children…no, it is quite the coincidence that that number is double that of worldly desires.

Tomoe told me ‘that’s just a technicality’ and kicked down that thought of mine.

Now then, the remodelling of the orphanage into a yoseba by Echigoya, will begin.