Chapter 8
If only things were so simple.

Looking back at my former life, I'm sure, without a doubt, that I wanted to be a light novel protagonist for the entirely wrong reasons.

The chuunibyou me from the past wanted to be a light novel protagonist because it was the perfect escape. Instead of having to endure the day-to-day monotone of going to school and coming back, I would be in a fantasy world experiencing new things every single day. Instead of having no one to talk to, I'd have a party of trusted companions that I could easily interact with. So on, so forth.

Some may be wondering why I've decided to take a moment to conduct a reflection of my past desires, when instead I should be focusing on the problem that's appeared in front of me to interrupt a normal, run-of-the-mill shopping trip with Flova.

The reason was because the problem was one that only light novel protagonists could easily solve.

Why? That's easy.

Generally, there are 2 types of isekai light novel protagonists: The imperfect person living in an ideal world, or the ideal person living in an imperfect world.

But neither of those types of people needed to worry about killing other people.

In light novels, even if the main character was an imperfect person, the world would be kind to him. Killing would never be required, because it was never the right thing to do. Instead, after defeating an enemy, he would extend a hand to his fallen opponent, we'd get hit with a tragic backstory about the bad guy, the bad guy would see the error of their ways, and then everyone would get along. An ideal world was where the power of friendship was truly at its finest.

And if it was an imperfect world that the main character had been tossed into, they suddenly transformed from "an ordinary corporate slave" into "the perfect main character". Someone who had absolutely zero remorse killing people, causing acts of genocide, and using weapons of mass destruction, etc. etc. These types of characters were designed to let the readers stroke their own egos, so of course they had absolutely no compunctions about killing. They were, after all, "perfect"; they could do no wrong in their own eyes. In the name of victory, they were willing to do anything to ensure a flawless win.

But I was an imperfect person in an imperfect world. The world required me to kill–even if it was just monsters–and I'm sure that I wasn't perfect. After all, finding flaws in others was one of the greatest skills in my toolkit.

So for someone like me, was taking the life of another person necessary?

Though I had hoped I would never have to make that choice, the body lying in front of me told me differently.

~~This is a Line Break~~

It had started out simple enough. Flova and I had been instructed to buy the necessary supplies for tomorrow and get back before 5. Unfortunately, Flova had decided to visit some other shops, which eventually resulted in the two of us sprinting down a shady alley that Flova insisted was a shortcut as rain battered at our backs.

Things became much less simple as soon as I spotted what seemed to be a pile of wet, green cloth on the ground. I felt a chill run through me as I stared at the figure on the ground.

That green. I had seen it before.

–Gale Wind.

My hand spasmed violently at the memory, and I gripped my wrist tightly in an effort to dull the phantom pain. It wasn't real. It wasn't real.

Behind me, footsteps splashed on the water as Flova finally caught up, albeit a little out of breath. "Flova. Listen very carefully." I motioned for her to stay quiet, but she was unable to stifle her gasp as I drew out my sword. "If I don't indicate something along the lines of 'All Clear' within the next minute, don't bother looking for me. Instead, head back to the tavern as quickly as you can. Take another shortcut." Shoving my own groceries into her hands, I ducked around the corner and slowly made my way towards Gale Wind.

Gently, I crouched over their prone body, careful to obscure myself from their field of view. Gale Wind was, as I had suspected, a girl–and an elf, at that.

A quick glance showed me she was near death. Her pale skin was nearly translucent in the rain, and her breaths came out in shallow, short wheezes that told a tale of broken ribs. Blood flowed from numerous gashes and slashes on her body, mixing in with the rainwater around her and turning it a dull red.

In the rain, her figure looked small and broken, like that of a child's. It was a far cry from her appearance when we first met.

And yet, I couldn't forget what she had been like on that day. The dual shortswords hanging from her waist were enough to clear any doubt.

Gale Wind was the one who had tried to kill me.

I sucked in a deep breath as the thought finally registered. I felt the vague thumping inside my chest turn into a pounding, my ribs seeming to rattle with every breath I took as my left hand pulsed again with that familiar pain. Slowly, inch by inch, I positioned my sword above Gale's neck.

Gale Wind was the one who had tried to kill me.

Could I do the same to her?

As I watched, the elf's eyelids fluttered as a slow smile spread across her face. She looked at someone I couldn't see, murmuring reassurances that I could only catch snatches of. "... Alise… that you? Be… you soon… Wait for me…"

My hands trembled–whether in fear or in anticipation, I didn't know.

It would be so easy. All I would have to do was drive my sword through her throat like she was a monster from the Dungeon and flick my wrist 1 of 2 ways. She'd bleed out onto the street, and no one would ever need to know. I'd make my way back to Flova and tell her that Gale had already died when I got there.

Everything would be solved, too. Gale Wind wouldn't come back to kill more innocents, since she would be dead. I could even cash in her body at the Guild for the 80-million Valis bounty and put myself quite ahead of the curve compared to other adventurers.

The only question now was whether I could live with my decision.

The answer was obvious.

I couldn't.

Not killing had been drilled into the core of my moral code–and yes, I had one, even if someone would tell you otherwise–and understandably, it would be near-impossible for me to do it now.

Killing monsters, I could deal with–even though it had taken me a while to get used to it. Those were AIs running on batteries with shiny things I could sell. Robots made of meat, as you will. They possessed exactly zero sentience and therefore, as a consequence, deserved exactly zero of my mercy.

Gale Wind was a completely different matter.

I removed my sword from her neck and lowered it to my side, breathing out a quiet sigh as I did so.

Even though she had attempted to do the same to me, I couldn't bring it upon myself to end her life.

But I wouldn't help her, either. I'd do what I had always done: remain a bystander.

On the off chance that she did somehow make a comeback, I would simply have to live with my decision, alone. But it was better than taking a path that I knew I would regret.

I sighed again, turning around to head back to Flova. I'd tell her that–

My eyes locked onto the bluish-gray head of hair that was slowly peeking around the corner, slowly revealing the rest of Flova's face.

Her eyes widened as I saw her gaze shift to the side, and instinctively I threw out a hand to stop her from coming closer, hissing a whispered warning. "Flova, no!"

I wasn't nearly fast enough. Despite my efforts, Flova refused to budge, eventually pushing past me and rushing to Gale Wind's side.

"Are you okay?"

I felt my grip on my sword tighten as Flova knelt beside the elf.

"Flova, we should go. It's not safe." Flova ignored my warnings, instead holding up Gale's gloved hand in her own. As I watched, tears welled up in the elf's eyes before she fell unconscious.

"Hikigaya-san, we need to help her." When she looked up again, Flova's eyes were filled with a steely determination.

"You're kidding, right?" I knew she wasn't, but I asked anyways.

"She's a good person, Hikigaya-san." Even though her words were full of conviction, I couldn't bring myself to believe her.

After all, the phantom pain in my left hand told me the truth, and I held it up in front of her.

"She tried to murder me out of nowhere, Flova." The girl flinched as she remembered what had happened to me last week, but she didn't back down. "Do you really think that some words are going to make her change her mind?"

The cliche where 'I saved your life after you tried to kill me, thus making us the best of buddies now' was completely false. 100% a scam, don't ever try it. Oftentimes, such situations usually occurred right after a blindsiding betrayal, the death of loved ones, or something equally devastating that forces the person right over the edge, right into the abyss of despair and insanity. Main characters might be able to come back as long as they can receive encouraging pep talk and become motivated to fight for what they believe in, but more often than not they never actually cross that insanity threshold.

In real life, however–once you're past that, you're gone. Someone who goes past that point either throws themselves into a reckless, vengeful campaign of murder, maiming, and painful retribution until they personally kill the perpetrator, or, more often, simply lays down and lets death take them. By the looks of it, Gale Wind was going to do both– embark on a murderous campaign of revenge, then after her work was done, succumb to her wounds and die.

Until, by a ridiculously, infinitesimally small chance, Flova and I just happened to take the alley route in the rain that would, by sheer coincidence, just lead us to the bruised and battered body of the Gale Wind. This was practically a plot out of Zaimokuza's novels–cliched, overbearing, and railroaded. What's next? She's going to turn into a dere archetype because we fill her full of the human kindness and love that she was secretly looking for all along?

I resisted the urge to sigh as Flova pleadingly looked at me. "Hikigaya-san, she's a good person. Even if she's made bad choices."

"No. She tried to kill me. Even if I don't decide to kill her right here–" at that, Flova flinched "–I don't intend on giving her a helping hand just for it to get stabbed again." I wanted no part of Gale Wind's vengeful crusade. In fact, if I could forget this encounter ever occurred, I'd be on it faster than I could even think about it.

Despite my objections, however, Flova wanted to try. As a result, I watched as Flova attempted to heave the elf onto her back, only for her to fail and topple over as she lost her balance, both of them landing onto the ground. The shortswords from Gale's waist detached with a loud clacka-clack, the sound loudly echoing through the alley.

Both of us stiffened as the silence swallowed up the echo. Gale remained unconscious.

"Flova, leave her and let's go. It really won't be safe if someone finds us." Anyone who could wound a Level 4 this seriously was someone I definitely didn't want to make an enemy out of.

Flova continued to ignore my urgings, struggling to pull Gale's limp, unyielding body along the cobblestone, her progress slow and futile.

If I didn't save Gale, odds were that whichever Evilus person tried to kill her would find us and finish the job before disposing of us. If I did save Gale, odds were that she would try to kill me after remembering who I was.

Dammit, these two were going to be the death of me. And I preferred living very, very much.

I heaved another sigh before stopping Flova. I had a feeling that was going to be happening a lot in the next couple of days. "Take the bags, Flova. I'll carry her instead."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Hikigaya-san!" Flova leapt at me with a hug, but I managed to avoid it.

"Just take the bags and go. I'll follow right behind you." Slowly propping the elf against the wall, I slung her body over my back in a fireman's carry before taking off in a sprint towards the tavern.

I was going to regret this.

~~This is a Line Break~~

Daedalus Street wasn't so much a street as much as it was an area. Named for the famous Greek inventor, which of course was translated(READ: copy-pasted) from my world, it was a slum. Winding, twisting, and filled with random areas, any first timer would get lost in the streets if they aimlessly wandered into here. Buildings were haphazardly stacked atop one another in bizarre fashions that brought to mind the term 'mad architect', which Daedalus was known as in this world.

If I didn't know better, I'd say that it would be the perfect hideout for something along the lines of an "evil villain association". Good news is, said "evil villain association" was so far gone down the drain that even if they regrouped here, they probably couldn't do anything against the top gangs in this area! Well, I probably shouldn't have said that.

After all, that's just tripping flags that will come back to poke me in the ass later.

Normally, I wouldn't be here. Moving through shady slums to meet a shady information dealer wasn't particularly high on my list of priorities when isekaied. In fact, it ranked between "fight a monster bare-handed" and "get a harem"–that is to say, the lowest of the low.

But Gale Wind was in the tavern now. I didn't trust Flova's assumption. I couldn't afford to. Gale Wind was Level 4, had an 80 million bounty on her head, and had tried to kill me in the past. Flova's wishful thinking of the power of the friendship was nice, but that was all it was: nice.

And naive, to boot.

Therefore, I needed to be informed and poised to act.

The person I was looking for went by the epithet of "Spider", who was known for being one of the top information dealers in Orario. Supposedly, the nickname came from the fact that he sat at the center of a massive information network which allowed him to access the information before selling it to anyone who wanted it.

Enter from Exit 3A, turn towards the Gulley, then take the route on the right twice, then head for the tunnel with 5C inscribed on it. At 5C, turn left-right-left-right-right-left before making your way to building 452, Floor -1. Once there, you'll be confronted by 2 large guards. One of them will ask you a part of a sentence, to which here is the answer:

Large indeed. At the bottom of the stairway which led underground, two burly, muscular guards stood on either side of the double-doorway. Those two guards towered more than a head and a half above me, their stony faces impassive as they stared down at me. The one on the left paused for a second as I almost passed him with my black cloak still on before a low voice boomed out. "The spider sits in the center of its web…"

A two part riddle. If you didn't answer or answered incorrectly, you'd get thrown out. Well, these two minor characters wouldn't stop any adventurer from Level 2 and above, but it would probably buy enough time for whoever was inside to make their escape. Well, I had no need to worry. I had the code.

"... waiting for the flies to come to it." How original, right? A two-part line about a spider, so you can gain entrance to meet with an information dealer named "Spider" that waits for information to enter his "web"?

As I opened the double doors and stepped in, still shrouded by my black cloak, I immediately noticed the man sitting at the table, as well as the 4 guards standing in each corner of the dimly-lit room. With a crisp black suit with white shirt and a black tie, as well as the mask over his face which had the image of a black spider emblazoned on it, I knew that this man was the one I was looking for.

Spider. Name: Unknown. Level: Unknown. Affiliation: Unknown. Specialties: Orario's top underground information dealer.

"So, you're the customer." A thin voice, reedy and a bit on the higher side. This man couldn't be past his early 20s–though, knowing Statuses' physical benefits, he could well be pushing 40 already. "Payment?"

Wordlessly, I took the sack of gold coins–worth 20,000 Valis total, with a little extra for next time–and slid it over the table. The man nodded at me before motioning to one of the 4 guards in the room, who reached into his cloak and threw a thick manila folder onto the table towards me.

"You'll find everything you need in there. Everything you need to know about Gale Wind, her past, and what she did."

"Thanks. What about the other request?" One request averaged 10,000 Valis. It was expensive, I know–but with Vidar's gift, I had more than enough to spare. And Spider's expenses were lower than that of other dealers, too–I had checked. Even though the difference was by mere hundreds in comparison, money saved was still money saved.

"Still working on it. It'll take some time since it's an advance order, but we'll handle the transfer to you."

"Alright."

The exchange concluded, I turned back towards the exit.

~~This is a Line Break~~

Combat, techniques, and such had never been my strong suite. On the other hand, when it came to strategy and subterfuge, I was a master.

The path for dealing with anyone after Ryuu Lyon's head–and thus, disrupting the peace and safety of life at the Hostess–was very, very clear. Now, if I could properly devise countermeasures against the potentially incoming threats, I could go about my day as an ordinary adventurer seeking an ordinary life in the Dungeon again.

It was supposed to be a simple pickup. I was supposed to head to the crowded Market Area during my break time to pick up the package amidst the bustling crowd and avoid suspicion.

In, out. Easy as that.

Except it had been raining, which meant that the Market Area hadn't been as crowded as I had expected. It had also meant that I had needed to bring my backpack to make sure that the contents weren't ruined.

The envelope made its way into my pack easily enough. There wasn't any water damage, either, since I had been quick and my cloak was waterproof.

I had even managed to slip into my room without Mia spotting me. It seems that Anya's clumsiness had acted up again, saving the day. Nothing wrong so far.

As I set the manila folder on the desk, however, I felt a bloodcurdling presence moving up the stairs. A bloodlust that made me think of a certain Level 4 elf the first time I had met her.

I unfurled my cloak and threw it at the doorway as I sucked in a deep breath. "ANYAAAAAAA!" As I yelled for my Level 4 instructor/coworker, I dove to the side.

Unfortunately, just like last time, I wasn't nearly fast enough.

2 kitchen knives tore through the air, clipping me in the shoulder and the side and sending me off-balance as I flew through the air. It was obvious where they had been originally aimed: my chest and my stomach.

Lyon really wasn't taking chances, was she?

I clamped my mouth shut to suppress the instinctive cry of pain and made a run for the window.

However, instead of bursting through the window in an explosion of glass shards, I bounced off the metal frame and landed on the floor painfully as the impact knocked the wind out of me.

Damn it, the movies made it look so easy.

There was another burst of killing intent that sent chills running down my back and I rolled before getting to my feet, now face-to-face with Lyon, who was terrifying. There was a black, murderous aura around her that was almost tangible in its thickness.

Faced with such an unbeatable opponent, I picked the only feasible option. A trump card used by my corporate slave parents in my old world, it was as effective back then as it would be here. There were 4 steps required for this to be fully effective!

1st, get down on your knees!
2nd, place your hands in front of your body!
3rd, put your head to the floor so that the forehead is in contact with the surface of the ground!
Finally, scream at the top of your lungs, "HAVE MERCY!"

That's right, this trump card was the Hachiman 108: the Dogeza!

At least, it would've been if Lyon's foot hadn't interrupted it somewhere in between steps 1 and 2 and sent me crashing into the wall with a resounding CRUNCH. Whether that was my ribs or the wall, I couldn't tell.

My vision flickered as I struggled to suck in another breath. My body felt like it was on fire; white-hot flames licked at the inside of my torso.

Something stabbed into my right leg, and this time I couldn't hold back a scream. In front of me, the elf raised her arm. Something gleamed in the light.

Was this the end?

"RYUU, NO!" Flova's shriek jolted the elf's descending hand to a halt, her knife whistling to a stop less than a centimeter away from my neck. I watched through half-lidded eyes as Flova tried tugging at Lyon's dress, trying to pull her away.

"Syr, let go." Lyon's voice was firm and wrathful. "You have no idea what this man is capable of. I need to kill him before he causes any more harm to Orario." The cold metal pressed into my neck, and I felt the skin split open with a sharp sting. Blood trickled down the side of my throat. It burned.

"Ryuu, he saved your life!" Flova's words seemed to startle the elf. "Ryuu, please. Please, just... please... put the knife down. Hikigaya was the one who found you. If he wanted you dead, he would've killed you right then and there!"

Lyon's breathing was uneven as she hauled me up by the collar, her knife still pressed to my neck. Her eyes were wild, the darkness within them unsettling. "Then why did he lure me into an ambush by them?!"

"That wasn't an ambush! Hikigaya-san was out shopping that day and he took a shortcut!" Flova tried tugging on Lyon's sleeve, but to no avail. The elf's grip was like that of iron. "Please, just let Hikigaya-san go! We can talk this out!"

Talking things out, huh… ? If only things were that simple.

That was never going to happen with Ryuu Lyon. She had arrived at her final answer already. The issue was over and done.

Once someone decides that "this is my answer", there's no going back. If Ryuu Lyon had decided that I was "an evil that needed to be eradicated", then excuses were meaningless.

No matter how innocent I was, she would kill me despite that fact because she was unable to reconcile her personal feelings and reality.

27 organizations, 4 gods, and over 100 dead. Why would she stop now?

I had read Lyon's file and seen what she had done. It was more than easy enough to put together her mindset. In the eradication of evil, absolute justice without mercy was necessary for her.

That's why Flova's thoughts were only wishful thinking. "Talking things out" wouldn't change anything. If we could talk things out, I'm sure everything would've been cleared up and forgiven, a long time ago.

But you can't unbreak an egg that's already been broken. Even if you have all the King's horses and all the King's men, you can't put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

–There was a clatter. Something metallic landed on the floor as the pressure on my neck disappeared.

… Huh?

As I slowly blinked away the spots in my vision, I realized that Ryuu Lyon had collapsed onto her knees. There was an expression of surprise and horror on her face, as if she had seen something particularly horrible.

...Wait, she was staring at me. That was just rude.

The world shifted. In front of me, Flova and Anya's faces appeared. Their mouths opened and closed, but I couldn't hear anything.

Just… what is… ?

~~This is a Line Break~~

I awoke to a familiar ceiling. That is, my own.

A sharp, stabbing pain accompanied my returning consciousness. My entire body hurt. At a simple wiggle of my body, I could tell that numerous places in my body had been tightly wrapped with bandages.

"You seem to be ending up in bed often lately, Hikinya," Anya's voice floated in from my right.

Twisting my neck, I looked over to see the catgirl nonchalantly sitting there, a cup of coffee in her hands. There was a silence, which was only broken by a loud sluuuuup as Anya slurped from the cup in her hands.

Then she blinked. "Ah. This was meant for you, nya. Sorry, Hikinya." There was a long silence as a sweatdrop slowly formed on her forehead. "Erm… do you want me to get another one for you, nya?" With your track record? I don't think so.

"I'll do it myself." Slowly, I eased myself up into a sitting position, doing my best not to falter unless I wanted to drop to the floor.

"Here, Hikinya." Anya passed me a pair of crutches. "You'll probably need these for the rest of today. Do you need help, nya?"

"I'll... manage," I breathed out, doing my best to ignore the fire in my leg and in my stomach. Once the crutches were firmly situated under my arms, I was able to slowly hobble towards the door, careful not to put any more weight than necessary on my injured leg or strain my bruised torso.

As we walked along, Anya began explaining what had transpired while I was unconscious. Her recollection made me shudder. Level 4s really were monsters… but Mia was even scarier. While the details weren't exactly clear, apparently "that stupid, touchy elf's debt just got heavier by a couple million for assaulting an employee, nya."

Anya had managed to restrain Lyon as soon as she had arrived, but for some reason the elf had lost all resistance and had let herself be dragged away without even a whimper. Flova and Mia had been the ones to treat me (again), and so we had ended up here. Lyon's punishment, on the other hand, was so harsh that it bordered on the comical.

Once I had finished brewing my own cup of coffee and fine-tuning it to my preferences, I sat on the bench, watching as the perpetrator of the entire incident became increasingly burdened with so much work that she seemed to progressively shrink and hunch over more and more with every task she completed.

It was like something out of an anime. I sighed as I watched Lyon stumble around pitifully, completely messing up every single task that she had been assigned. The elf wasn't even able to properly peel potatoes anymore, let alone do something like serve the customers. In fact, she was probably making even more errors than she was on her first day.

I watched as Lyon peeled the potato, flinched as she removed a large chunk of it, and then sighed, turned towards me for a brief moment, and then looked away again. This happened many, many times.

This was honestly getting ridiculous at this point. If she wasn't able to do the most basic of tasks, then she wasn't getting any closer to helping the tavern at all.

Mia seemed to have realized this too, if her order was any indication. "Ryuu, go take a break." The elf looked like she wanted to protest, but Mia's gaze hardened and her shoulders slumped in resignation as she slowly shuffled over to the bench and sat down.

Consciously, of course, I wasn't supposed to have a problem with her. However, even though she definitely looked like she wasn't going to murder me anytime soon, I couldn't help but tense up.

Both of us sat there for a while in complete silence before I decided to try and break the ice between us. "So, Lyon–"

She moved, and it took me a while to realize that she had merely flinched as I addressed her. I myself, for that, had instantly scooted all the way to the far side of the bench, instead of lounging in the middle. "... Ah…" her voice died before she could finish responding to my query. She fidgeted and then looked downwards, clearly still despondent about what had occurred.

I slowly, forcefully made my hands unclench. Keep calm, Hikigaya. Lyon's your ally. Your ally. Blowing out one long breath, I tried to address her again. "So, Lyon, do you want a cup of coffee?"

"Coffee...?" The elf was confused, and predictably so. Coffee wasn't something common in Orario, after all. And even if she had attempted to brew it–attempted, because what had come out of that pot had most definitely not been coffee–she had never tasted it herself.

"Yeah, hold on." Pushing myself off the bench, I hobbled over to the pot and poured Lyon a cup of coffee. "I'll set the milk and sugar for you, but you can adjust it by yourself the next time you get it."

As I returned to the bench with a cup of coffee, Lyon tentatively accepted my peace offering before sipping it. As she did, her eyes opened wide in surprise and I spotted a crack of emotion inside those dull eyes of hers. Coffee, truly almighty, indeed.

On my part, I returned to my side of the bench and continued to drink my coffee, the sweet, creamy texture of the coffee quenched my thirst as it slid down my throat and replenished me just as well as anything else in this world could.

While neither of us made any more attempts to bridge the gap between, the silence in between us was much more bearable now than before.

~~This is a Line Break~~

… This was bad.

It was the tavern's afternoon break, which meant that all of us were free to wander around until the nighttime rush began.

2 Level 4s. Of all the monsters Lyon's pursuers had to send in, they just had to toss in people completely out of my weight class. To be fair, anything above Level 1 was out of my weight class. Well, if we really wanted to be realistic, experienced Level 1s were also out of my weight class, but the issue was Lyon, not me, so I was moving on with that.

Black Fist. Real name, Lunoire Faust. Level 4 bounty hunter that's taken out multiple Level 3s and 4s in the past, with a near-100% success rate. Specializes in head-on confrontations where she can pummel her targets to death.

Black Cat. Real name, Chloe Rollo. Level 4 assassin that's taken out multiple Level 3s and 4s in the past, with a near-100% success rate. Specializes in poisons, drugs, and the like to weaken the opponent before ultimately killing them.

One of them was weak to poisons, drugs, and the like, and the other was weak to head-on confrontations. The worst part was that they had both been hired to go after Lyon's head, which meant that both of them covered for each other's weaknesses perfectly, thus leaving me with no options to level the playing field.

The only good news was that Spider didn't skimp on his services. They had even included a page on the client.

The Bruno Trading Company. Suspected of ties to Evilus in the past, but never confirmed to be an explicit part of the organization. They had even managed to survive Lyon's purge. If I had to guess, they had traded with Evilus and were out to save themselves.

Fortunately, that problem would resolve itself once I managed to get my hands on some papers regarding some… rather compromising transactions.

Unfortunately, I severely doubted whether or not Spider would be able to obtain the necessary papers in time for me to dissolve the company before the two made their move.

This was impossible for me, straight up. But this was the Hostess of Fertility. Anya herself was already Level 4, meaning she could take on either Faust or Rollo by herself. Add that to Lyon, who was already able to fight back by herself, and it was pretty much an even fight.

Then, there was Mia. From the times I had(n't) heard or seen her move, she had to be at least Level 5, if not 6. That basically meant that even if the battles got out of hand, she could come in and stop them easily. Except the only problem was that Mia wouldn't be here at the tavern in two days. She had to go with Flova to run an errand which took them to a completely different section of Orario. The tavern would be closed, which invited many opportunities for attacks and attempts on Lyon's life.

I rubbed my forehead as I began to plan for what I needed to do. Another request to Spider, maybe some preparations for poison of some sort if needed for Faust or Rollo to ingest, if possible, that could bypass their Abnormal Resistances, and throwing a wrench into the enemy's plans, such as alerting Lyon and Anya.

~This is a Line Break~

"There are currently two Level 4s after Lyon's bounty." I placed the papers onto the table, addressing Flova, Anya, and of course, Lyon herself. "Right now, they don't have any intentions of attacking–reports are that the request was sent barely 12 hours before I got this. These two are professionals, so they'll probably attack after they finish scouting."

"Can't believe we're already getting attention for this, nya." Anya murmured. "You hear that, Ryuu, nya? You have people going after you already, nya."

"Um, about that…" Flova raised her hand timidly. "Would now be a bad time to say that Mama is taking me out to run some errands in 2 days?" The room's mood darkened considerably. Without Mia, after all, it would be much more difficult to protect Lyon if bounty hunters attacked.

Lyon, meanwhile, opened her mouth to respond. "I–"

"No, I'm stopping you right there." I shot down her protest instantly. "If this is some sort of statement about how you should leave to protect us, forget it. Neither Flova nor Mia are going to let you quit. In fact, Mia would probably be extremely angry if she found out."

With that statement, everyone around the table shuddered at the mental image of the elf with her head buried in between the floorboards, smoke curling in a wispy loop above her head.

At least, that was my mental image. I didn't know about the others, but judging by the way Anya mewled before clutching the top of her head and the way Flova groaned, they probably remembered.

Flova's expression deepened into a frown.

"Ryuu, was that what you were really thinking?" Lyon was silent, her eyes refusing to meet Flova's gaze. "Ryuu, please. We're friends, aren't we? Please, trust us." The room was deathly silent as Flova pleaded with Lyon, while the elf steadfastly refused to answer.

It wasn't too hard to tell why.

"Hikigaya." I jolted to attention as Flova's voice called me to attention. "Hikigaya, what do you think?"

"I think… that we should get back to planning about how to deal with the two Level 4s." My answer wasn't an answer, really. I knew that Flova had wanted me to answer in a different way.

But I wasn't the right person to ask, and judging by the way Lyon steadfastly refused to meet my eyes, I would probably never be.

"So, what do we do, nya?" Anya asked.

"What is the best way to deal with an attack that we see coming?" My question was greeted by dead silence. Dammit, I even went to the trouble of making this into a quiz format! I sighed and answered my own question. "It's to attack first."

"So are we gonna beat them up, tie them up, and then bring them here, nya?" I paused and pondered Anya's suggestion. It wasn't like I had anything better, honestly. We did have the numbers to go for a 2-to-2 straight-up battle.

"That probably won't work." Lyon's voice rang out in the room, and everyone froze. I could hear her take in a deep breath before speaking again. "We don't know where they live, and attempting to track them is too risky. Even if we have the necessary strength, it's still too risky and it might tip-off their client." She stood up from her seat. "I have…" her voice faltered, but Flova gripped Lyon's arm and it steadied again. "I might have a plan."

I walked off to the side, sat down, and gestured for the elf to continue. My part here was done. Lyon was the one who had experience here. I highly doubted that anything I could come up with would be on par with anything she could come up. So instead, I would watch and learn.

"... Syr."

"Yes?" Flova piped up.

"You and Mia won't be at the tavern in two days, correct?"

"Yes."

"So we'll have to manage a preemptive strike by tomorrow." Lyon knitted her eyebrows together. "I think we need to strike them by tomorrow. Any objections?" With the silence, the meeting continued as Lyon began laying out the outline of a plan.

As the final touches were laid out, everyone split off to their respective assignments in the tavern and to prepare. Being a "crippled invalid", I instead turned to the door. I had a lot of things to do tonight.