“Hey, young man, I’m glad you kept your word and came back. And thanks for buying so many!”
“No problem. I’m the one that should thank you for knocking down the list price for me.”
I thanked the old guy wearing a baby bonnet and left his accessory shop.
I’d really gone wild on this shopping trip, and it had cost a pretty penny. Not that it mattered, of course. I felt confident that accessories with such high stats would be well worth what I had paid for them.
I’ve gotta admit: The stuff on sale here sure is quality.
Lali-Lali was a pretty great place to shop. Yeah, the prices were a little overwhelming, and the customer service offered by the weirdos running the shops could get pretty intense, but as long as you didn’t let that get to you, it was totally fine.
Our next battle against Keraunos would hinge on the strength of our equipment, and I knew Lali-Lali was the best bet if I wanted high performance goods. On this trip, I’d managed to gather most of the gear I’d need. I’d even picked up some new combat logic cartridges from Guren.
Though, it pains me to say good-bye to this den of perverts, I’m afraid I must take my leave. Next time, I think I’ll skip the rest of these shops and go straight to Guren.
I walked cheerfully out of Lali-Lali, overjoyed to be free of the oddball atmosphere. The air outside felt incredibly refreshing by comparison.
“Hello, hello, Kyouichirou. I trust you’re doing well?”
I received a call from Szilard on my way home.
“Oh, Mr. Szilard. Hello. It’s been a while.”
We spent a few minutes exchanging pleasantries. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to check in on me or what. But just as I was about to ask why he’d called, he beat me to the punch.
“Do you have time to meet up right now?”
It was a rare invitation from the master of Rosso and Blu. Obviously, I agreed to see him right away. As a hardcore Dungeon Magia fan, I wasn’t about to pass up such an amazing opportunity.
✦ ✦ ✦
When I got to the restaurant, I found Szilard daintily working his way through a thick sirloin steak.
“Hey, Kyouichirou! Good to see you again. Hah-hah-hah!”
The Rosso and Blu clan master let out his trademark laugh as he stabbed a fork into the slab of expensive-looking steak. I couldn’t believe how suave he looked even in the middle of a meal.
Damn it, handsome dudes look good no matter what they do. I think my heart just skipped a beat.
“It’s a pleasure to see you again, Sir. What can I do for you today?”
“Forget that for now. How about we have a bite to eat? Feel free to order whatever you like. It’s on me.”
“Oh. Thank you, Sir.”
At Szilard’s suggestion, I ordered a steak lunch. The extra-thick meat sent my taste buds to heaven. Szilard had apparently booked the whole place, too. What could be better than eating a free steak in a restaurant with no other customers?
“So? Not bad, right?” he asked.
“It’s amazing! It’s so thick yet so tender and delicious!”
The Japanese-style apple and onion sauce really brought out the flavor of the meat. I was always a grated-daikon-and-citrusy-ponzu-sauce kind of guy, but this was almost enough to change my mind.
“The owner of this place is foreign-born and hails from the federation. He’s a bit of a local celebrity for pioneering a new taste by blending flavors from his homeland and the empire.”
That made a lot of sense. I could see this sort of food being really popular with imperial citizens. It wasn’t just the Japanese-style sauce, either. The garnish and seasoning were well suited to this country’s tastes. And the chef had pulled it all off without sacrificing the traditional flavor of his homeland.
It was an exquisite dish, proof of the chef’s ingenuity. The more I ate, the more elated I became.
“I can see why this place is so popular.”
“Hah-hah-hah! I couldn’t agree more. The food is geared toward the customer’s tastes, the owner is a great businessman, and more than anything else, the empire’s tolerant attitude toward outsiders has been a great help.”
“Tolerant”? “The empire”? I thought I must have heard him wrong.
“What do you mean by ‘tolerant,’ exactly?”
“You look surprised.”
No kidding. I would’ve never expected someone like you, the face of foreigners in this country, to say a line like that.
“I mean, I’m just a kid who knows nothing about politics, but I always felt this country was incredibly strict when it came to people of other species and nationalities.”
“All countries are strict when it comes to foreign nationals. Compared to other developed nations, the empire is quite progressive.”
“What makes you say that?”
Szilard wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “Despite being a foreigner, I was accepted as a clan leader and allowed to operate in Sakurabana, the home to many of the empire’s dungeons. Similarly, this restaurant has been successful and has a good reputation despite the owner’s nationality. What’s more, I pay into the same tax system as natural-born citizens. Back in my home country, all foreigners pay extra just for the luxury of living there.”
The large, ashen-haired man casually laughed off this grim factoid.
I’d had no idea. In Dungeon Magia, the plot often focused on the darker side of the empire’s policies toward foreigners, so I’d always assumed it was pretty bad. It seemed I’d been a bit prejudiced. I started to feel guilty.
“That said, you are correct that this nation can be quite strict, particularly when it comes to crime. Should a foreigner break the law, the empire will stop at nothing to make their life miserable… But you already knew that, I imagine.”
“…Yes, I did.”
Basically, it was black and white. As long as you worked hard, you would be treated as a good neighbor. But the moment you slipped up, you’d be labeled a spy or a terrorist for life. There was no gray zone for foreign nationals.
“Jupiter was in quite the tough spot. If she sustained even the slightest injury or felt even a little stressed, that beast of black lightning would go berserk. Not that I don’t empathize with her harrowing past, but she was like a bomb waiting to go off. I’m afraid she posed far too big a risk to our clan.”
The way he was talking sounded like a confession. I could sense that he was disappointed in himself and deeply regretted not being able to help the girl.
“There were several incidents where she lost control while exploring dungeons. And I’m not talking once or twice, either. Countless clan members have suffered severe injuries at the hands of the beast.”
Despite all that, Jupiter’s outbursts had never been made public. I had always wondered why.
“So you were covering for her?”
“It was nothing quite so admirable. We were simply afraid that her transgressions would come back to haunt us. It’s true that we covered up her crimes. I can’t deny that.”
I could tell he was lying. If he was truly only concerned about his clan’s good standing, the smart thing would have been to turn her in to the police and play the victim. The risk of being caught harboring a dangerous foreigner would be too great for most. Yet Szilard and his clan had protected Jupiter.
“I always thought it was strange,” I admitted. “Why would someone of your standing propose such a risky bet to some newcomers like us?”
At first, I’d assumed he just came up with it on the spot. It had felt as though he was trying to add stakes to our match to bring out our true abilities. But thinking back on it now, I realized that was pretty naive.
Szilard had likely planned the entire thing out from the very start—even before we went to meet him. And then there was what Eliza had said to me: They were “judging our worth.” She hadn’t been lying.
“If you won, we’d have to clear the tenth floor with Rosso and Blu. And if we won, you’d have to provide us with your best bombardier. I didn’t notice it at the time, but both outcomes are exactly the same, aren’t they?”
Win or lose, the result would be this: We’d join forces with a member of Rosso and Blu. The whole thing about clearing the tenth floor was a smoke screen to throw me off track. In reality, it was totally irrelevant. The whole purpose of meeting us and conducting a virtual battle was to see if we would be a suitable party for Jupiter.
“I finally understand why you fought us so straightforwardly, without using any underhanded tricks. During our battle, you were pretending to be Keraunos, weren’t you?”
The overwhelming firepower, the barrages of energy attacks fired off at machine-gun speeds. It all made sense.