episode_0077

“Hmm….”

I decided to go to the office, but when I got there, my feet wouldn’t move.

“Chris?”

Lund and Silas came to my side.

It’s only natural since we came down from the second floor together!

“Lund, what should I do?!”

“What do you mean?”

It was Silas who called me, but I actually asked Lund.

This time, she was riding Scylla on her back in her wolf form.

“I’m going to the office… but it’s probably dangerous to do it alone, right?”

“What goes in the form of a bat?”

“Oh… It’s okay, but I think it’ll be a bit lonely.”

“….”

Lund seemed to have a lot to say to me.

However, unlike when we first met, now it felt as if a golden retriever was giving a yellow card.

“Chris, why the office?”

“Because I have to meet Sylvia and Laia!”

As soon as I could answer Silas’ question, Lund tapped my knee with his front paw.

“So, why do we have to meet?”

“No, you will find out about that when you go to the office anyway.”

Tap, tap. I obediently opened my mouth before Lund’s front paws touched me further.

“I think Laia has changed her mind now! Sylvia and I have something to talk about about the quarry we saw on the news the other day!”

“Good.”

Only then did Lund nod his head as if he was satisfied with my answer.

“Let’s go together.”

“Just the three of us?”

“Do not contact me. Because one cup of tea is enough.”

“…Huh?”

The car Lund is talking about will not be just a car.

It would be like a maglev car flying through the city sky at a height where the gargoyles wouldn’t react.

Plus, it clearly has the Tetracaine Association’s emblem or mark attached to it!

“Wouldn’t that be too noticeable?!”

When I spoke with an expression as if I was dying of anxiety, Lund remained silent for a moment with an indifferent expression.

Even in his wolf form, there was a small chip next to Lund’s eye, and lights were coming on here and there.

“Don’t worry. Just disguise it so it has nothing to do with us.”

“Well… then it doesn’t matter.”

It seemed like Lund saw my reaction and called the car right away.

“Then when is it coming?”

“It will take a few tens of minutes.”

“Really?”

It seemed like they had secured a suitable maglev car around here, as it was coming faster than expected.

“Chris.”

“Huh?”

Before I knew it, Eslok, who looked like a giant mole, came to my side and asked.

“Do you mind if I don’t accompany you?”

“I think it’ll be okay since I’ll be back soon, right?”

Some guys might come looking for the bounty on my head.

However, there were more than one guy aiming for my head, so I had to overcome tremendous competition.

‘Plus, the church’s Frank and the comments unit disturbed my location.’

“Eslok is here.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Lillian started to say something, so I mentioned both Eslok and Lillian.

“…Yes.”

Martin and Lina seemed busy enough even if they weren’t.

“Johnny, come to think of it, we don’t need any more bartenders?”

“What? I think the current number of people is enough.”

Johnny could be used as Martin, Lina as Lillian, and if Jeong wasn’t enough, Esloc could also be brought in.

But then, there were three men and two women, so it was unbalanced.

“Sila~?”

“Yes?”

A surprising thought crossed my mind. Meanwhile, Silas, who was called to me, answered without knowing anything.

“Would you like to come here for a moment?”

“Good!”

***

At my call, Silas quickly got off Lund’s back.

Lund looked at Silas with anxious eyes, but it was already too late.

After a while…

“Um, Chris?”

I and the other bartenders were talking about various things while looking at Scylla in human form.

“Who dressed you up?”

“Of course… me!”

Martin asked, pointing to the outfit worn by Scylla in her anthropomorphic state.

The top was a white knit halterneck that clearly exposed the outer part of the collarbone and armpits, and it also had separate sleeves.

The bottoms are black leather pants that fit tightly to the body.

“Ha, look at this. Are the pants okay?!”

Johnny was concentrating on the pants and not the halterneck, fearing that he was also wearing leather pants.

“Oh….”

Meanwhile, enthusiastic reactions and whistles began to be heard among the bar’s patrons.

“Chris…?”

“Well, that won’t work. Let’s go inside first.”

It was pitiful to see Silas so embarrassed.

I changed into the form of a baby bat and landed safely on Scylla’s head, then took her into the inner space.

The only ones who followed us were Lund, Johnny, Eslok, and Lillian.

“So what do you all think?”

“What do you mean?”

“The clothes Silas wore!”

“The person concerned seems to really dislike it, but is it really necessary to wear this outfit?”

Ugh, you only say the right things in shameful situations like this.

“Ah, that’s because Silas is still young. Sila, it suits your body perfectly.”

Eslok and Lillian agreed that Scylla’s current outfit wasn’t bad.

It could have been that he just agreed unconditionally because he was indebted to me.

“Look at this armpit in the gap between the clothes and the sleeve! This is the point!”

“….”

Lund showed a look of disgust with the expression of a wolf.

‘What, is it possible for a wolf to make an expression like that?’

It was like the facial expression you make when you let a dog smell fermented skate and the dog gets disgusted and swipes the skate away with its paw.

“Anyway, Johnny. Don’t you think Sila would be good at being a bartender?”

“Well, Sila is technically a dispatched worker.”

“Ah… Then what about serving customers?!”

I thought it would be enough to just respond to each customer or take their order like Eslok and I do.

“No, first of all, you have to get consent from the cat mom.”

“Che!”

In response to Johnny’s reaction, I started hitting Sheila’s bangs with my cute bat wing.

“Sila, try striking a pose first!”

“Yes?!”

Although the guests’ gazes disappeared, Silas still looked embarrassed.

Still, Silas took the posture I requested.

Point both hands forward as if asking for candy on Halloween.

“….”

***

As Silas took that stance, her cheeks quickly turned as red as an apple.

“Chris, stop. You don’t like Silas.”

“Huh?”

In response to Lund’s words, I gently touched Sila’s head and asked. Silas’ posture was still awkward.

“Sila, don’t you like it?”

“No, it’s not like that…”

No matter what Scylla’s answer was, a special change that had never been seen before occurred in Scylla’s body.

Immediately, Scylla’s eyes began to glow in different colors.

The left eye became the color of amber, and the right eye became blue like the clear sky.

‘Oh….”

I don’t know why, but it was so cute to see Scylla, who had become Odd Eye, sweating profusely.

“Okay, so should this be enough for today?”

I told Scylla that she could release her handprint. Then, Scylla quickly returned to her cat form.

“Chris!”

Silas, who returned as a cat with orange fur, jumped and ran at me as if she would not forgive me.

I easily dodged Scylla’s jump and then approached Scylla.

“Why? It was pretty and nice.”

“Still, I’m still embarrassed!”

“Well… it’s too revealing to wear during battle.”

“I’ll stop chatting here. It looks like the car has arrived.”

No sooner had I obeyed Sheila than Lund informed me that the maglev car had finally arrived.

“Then we’ll come back!”

“Okay, sister! Take care!”

“Chris!”

After being seen off by the bartenders, we quickly left the bar through the back door.

At that moment, a maglev car waiting nearby approached us.

“Hmm.”

Lund proudly returned to his original form and lifted Scylla and me in the form of baby bats.

“Chairman.”

As soon as the door on the side of the car opened, the driver inside reacted.

“Come on, let’s get on.”

“Ohhh.”

Caught in Lund’s hands, I and Scylla decided to leave our fate to Lund.

As soon as we got in, the door closed, and the car rose into the air as if it were completely natural.

“Isn’t it floating too high?”

I felt old, wondering if I had climbed to an altitude where I was being chased by gargoyles.

“This level is okay. Right?”

“Yes, Chairman, what you said is correct. This is a height that is sufficient for normal driving.”

The driver agreed with Lund’s words and reassured me.

***

It was a unique experience to see the sky above the city.

On the way to the office, I passed the company building that I was indebted to when I first came to this world.

‘Is that manager doing well?’

I thought of the manager and his subordinates who had turned into gargoyles. Since they were the owners of Talmaguspol’s personality, I hoped nothing would happen.

“Wow, but if you look at it like this, this neighborhood has become a mess.”

Although there were a few refugees here and there, the real problem was not the refugees but the bounty hunters and fixers who came after the bounty on my head.

They were keeping each other in check or engaging in close combat throughout the Silver Side to the extent that the security maintenance agents were unable to do anything.

They couldn’t afford to worry about things like maglev cars that seemed completely unrelated to me.

“It will arrive soon.”

“Already? As expected, it’s really fast because it’s flying.”

“Wow!”

As Lund announced his arrival, Silas seemed amazed at the sight beyond the glass window.

-Shooo.

The car slowly landed on the ground with a sound as if air had been let out.

The door opened automatically, as if leading us straight to the front of the office building.

“Okay, then let’s go right in.”

Lund said something briefly to the driver and followed me and Silas.

Needless to say, it took on the appearance of a wolf again, unlike the one in the car.

“Uh, what is it? Let’s go back?”

“If the guys outside the building catch me, I’ll be in trouble.”

…No, I think it’s already easy to pinpoint Hwadaul’s appearance.

Just as Frank was well aware of Lund’s transformation. However, thanks to that, I even rode a maglev car, but I decided not to offend Lund for no reason.

Hold. Hold. Hold.

“Chris, you’re crazy.”

As I pressed the elevator button one after another, Lund stopped me and said,

“Then, Sila, would you like to try it?”

“Good!”

I returned to my true self and held Sheila in my arms so I could press the elevator button.

Then Scylla repeatedly hit the button with her soft, meaty foot.

“Umm.”

Lund looked at the two of us like that and looked like he really couldn’t live.

-Ding dong.

However, a cheerful alarm sounded, and we headed straight to the floor where the Blue Heart Office office was located.

As soon as I got down to that floor, I saw Sylvia and David through the office window.

“Oh, it was here as expected.”

“Where is Laia?”

“It should be a little further inside, right?”

It seemed that Lund was also interested in Laia.

Is it natural to say that he is the deputy leader of the second faction of the Lidocaine Association?

We opened the office door, but the station manager did not reject us.

To be precise, Scylla and Lund were not registered with the station manager because they were not our office’s problem solvers, but since they were registered and accompanied me, there was no problem.

“Silvia! David! Hello!”

“Chris? What’s going on here since you were just at home?”

“I still have something to tell you!”

While Lund and Sila headed elsewhere to find Laia, I decided to talk to Sylvia.

Just then, David guided them to Laia.

“Did you hear what happened at the Sasau Quarry a few days ago?”

“….”

Sylvia seemed to think for a moment and then asked if he was referring to the quarry where the miners went missing and were discovered as golden statues.

“That’s right! It’s right there.”

I told Sylvia the main point.

We need to catch the guy who did that to the miners at the Sasau Quarry.

To do this, several preliminary preparations were needed. This includes contacting local security offices as well as gathering information.

“I don’t know if we need to intervene.”

“Silvia, trust me. I can feel it!”

Sylvia let out a shallow sigh at my words. Then he stroked my head.

“Our current situation makes it difficult to worry about that matter. Because there were two fewer people. …But let’s consider it first.”

“Wow!”

Sylvia saw my expression in the middle of speaking and left a little space, and when I heard those words, I jumped up in my place.

***

“Chris, is this still in the consideration stage?”

“That’s enough!”

“Really….”

Sylvia suddenly grabbed both of my cheeks and said something.

“I think I’ve gained a bit of weight because I’ve been staying at home all these days.”

“Huh? That can’t be possible. There’s no way I can change the way I look now.”

Of course, what Sylvia said could be true. I quickly changed my appearance to look a little thinner than now.

It took a bit of concentration, but it was fully doable.

“How about it?!”

“Now he looks a bit like the Chris I used to know.”

“Ah, Sylvia. But where is Laia?”

“Didn’t you see David taking Mr. Lund and Sheila away earlier?”

“Yes!”

Sylvia smiled softly when I answered so naturally.

“It’s the room over there.”

Afterwards, I headed to the room where Laia was with Sylvia.

Although it was a space inside the office, since Laia was isolated, force fields were operating separately on the four walls.

“How is Laia?!”

“I was just talking about it.”

When I reached the room, Laia, wearing a separate restraint, glared at me.

It seemed like there was a lot less venom than before, but the resentful look in his eyes was still there.

“Laia, don’t blame Chris.”

But Lund caught her attention on my behalf.

“No matter what the lady says, my mind won’t change.”

“Then what are you going to do next? Are you planning on just wasting time by being stuck in a place like this?”

“It would be better than pointing a knife at the master I served.”

“Lund is the owner’s eldest daughter, so isn’t it okay?”

As soon as Laia finished speaking, I joined in.

Then Laia responded with a face that had a lot to say.

“…It’s not that simple!”

When Laia shouted loudly, Scylla was startled and buried herself in Lund’s fur.

“Oh, the kid is surprised!”

“….”

When Lund and I reprimanded Laia for scaring Scylla, she seemed to have mixed feelings.

“Laia, you are now part of Chris’ family.”

“I know that even if you don’t tell me.”

“You probably know what that means. It means that Chris is a stronger Jinjo than that guy.”

“….”

Oh, does that happen? Well, to begin with, I am not a true ancestor, but a blood lord.

It was obvious to me, but Laia’s expression became very serious.

“Even if so…”

“Stop.”

“….”

I spoke with strength in my voice before Laia finished speaking.

Laia couldn’t say anything as if she was blocked by a large wall.

She was even more beautiful than Sheila, who was sweating profusely just a moment ago, with beads of sweat forming through her blonde hair.

I felt like I needed mental education for this.

Once I transformed into my baby bat form, I landed on Laia’s head.

“…?”

Laia looked like she didn’t understand my sudden action.

Either way, I was already pressing down on Laia’s head.

“Laia! Instead of doing that, let’s get along well~.”

“You can’t do that.”

“A~ Don’t do that!”

“What you and I pursue are incompatible.”

“No, that’s not necessarily true, right?”

“…Yes?”

– Interlude –

I am happy to finally be able to show this illustration to my readers.

Separate from the two rough copies previously given, this is a finished version that was created based on the rough copies in which the author himself supplemented various parts that were lacking.

The author’s work speed is incredibly fast!

This illustration was created by the artist Confession of Art Mug.