Ch.116Two Face’s Guests – Michael Husband (1)

# The Work Was Done, But Nothing Remained

The job was finished, but I had nothing to show for it. My house had burned down, and my car was still in Pennsylvania, meaning I’d have to make another trip there. At least all the elves who could testify about my work with the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn were dead.

I had been closer to a personal employee of President Clichy, so even if the surrendered followers testified, nothing would come of it. He wasn’t the type of elf to leave traces either, so searching his house wouldn’t yield any information.

I needed to repair my house and find somewhere to stay until then. I had many places I could impose upon, but there was only one place where I’d truly feel comfortable. I turned the car toward 14th Street.

There were quite a few customers drinking coffee at the new outdoor tables the bartender had brought in. Not wanting them to gossip about a customer who smelled of soot, I drove around to the back of the building and parked.

I had a key to Two Face’s back door. I unlocked the rarely-used door and lay down on the simple sofa in the bar’s back room.

Uncharacteristically, I was tired. I’d been busy for days killing the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn, and though I hadn’t been wounded, I’d been shot several times today.

“Mickey?”

Werewolves have good hearing. She must have heard someone opening the door to the back room. She opened the door and, seeing me, bared her teeth with a growl.

Time to get scolded again. I tried to sigh, but the bartender’s expression quickly softened as she rushed over and threw herself into my arms. Like a puppy seeking a reassuring scent, she buried her face in my neck. She must have been worried.

“I was so worried, Mickey. When Giuseppina Proci came and brought the trolls to the bar saying you’d asked her to, I wondered what was happening… What was going on?”

I considered what to say, but ultimately told the truth. The bartender was skilled at detecting lies, probably from seeing so many people.

“I had to fight the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn. The Forest’s Firstborn’s daughter hired me. They even set fire to my house, so I had nowhere else to go but here. I’m planning to stay until my house is fixed. Is that okay?”

The bartender, who had been enjoying the comfort with her face buried in my neck, looked up. This time she was genuinely growling. Yes, now it was truly time to be scolded.

“If you knew something like that would happen, and were worried they might cause trouble here too, you could have at least called! Think about the person who’d be stomping around the bar worrying about what might happen!”

In here, I wasn’t an operative. In her memory, I was still the young Mickey who proudly announced he was leaving for the battlefield. I raised my hand to stroke her head, trying to reassure her.

“Things moved so quickly I didn’t have time to call. It took less than a week from accepting the job to the Forest’s Firstborn dying today. But I came right away to explain, didn’t I?”

The bartender was a bit emotional, but she wasn’t angry. She had clearly been worried. Usually she was like a wolf with all her fur puffed up, but inside she was full of kindness and gentleness.

After hearing my explanation, the bartender made a pained sound as if she couldn’t stay angry, and turned away. With only ambiguous feelings remaining, it was awkward to say anything.

“Go wash up first. You reek of gunpowder. And… if your house burned down, that means your office burned too. Are you going to take a few days off?”

I didn’t need to try hard to catch that she wanted me to rest. I didn’t want to worry her more, and I had quite a bit of money left from recent jobs that had paid well.

“Yes, I’ll rest. It wouldn’t be bad to stay here until my house is fixed, spending the money I earned from jobs. Have I ever regretted listening to you?”

I threw out a self-deprecating remark. As she said, it might have been better if I had opened a café or bar here instead of going to the Great War. The bartender always knew the answers.

I went into the small bathroom attached to the back room, washed off the gunpowder smell, and came out. Since I occasionally stayed here when something happened at my house or when I was being followed or watched near my home, I had clothes here.

At times like this, it felt like I had returned to before I enlisted. But there was no going back. I was just confusing the scenery with a moment of nostalgia. I took a deep breath and looked in the mirror to remind myself of that fact.

Since it was time for the bartender to work, I left a note saying I’d be back shortly and headed to my house. The fire must have been quite large, as not only my house but nearby houses showed signs of being scorched.

As I forced open the locked door that seemed to say “do not enter,” someone approached from behind. It was the landlord. She made a fuss as if relieved to see me there.

“Oh my, 708’s bachelor! You weren’t home? The fire was so big it spread to the next house—it was terrible! When I heard someone died inside, my heart sank! But when they said it was an elf, I figured it couldn’t be you. I heard everything burned up without anything to salvage—did you come to check?”

“I thought the fireproof safe wouldn’t have burned. Is the investigation finished?”

The wrinkled goblin smiled and nodded. She had become much friendlier to me since I returned her granddaughter to her.

“I thought a bachelor like you would be prepared for everything. Oh, right. They say the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn did it… You’re not mixed up in something strange, are you?”

“Those guys, I heard this morning that the Forest’s Firstborn died and they’re scattering. I got involved with them through work, and they found my house. You don’t need to worry anymore.”

As I said this, I gently pushed the door open. Where my home had been until recently, there was now only soot and ashes. Without feeling any regret, I walked in and headed to where the bedroom had been.

Since I had loaded even my guns into the trunk for work, I hadn’t lost any weapons, but everything else was mixed with unrecognizable burned debris. I approached where the closet had been and cleared away the ashes from the floor.

The black fireproof safe was still reliably there. Its contents were intact too. I took only the safe and left the house. I would continue living here if the building itself wasn’t damaged.

“I’ve distributed quite a few business cards, so I’ll need to keep living here. I’ll find and call the contractors myself, so just leave it be. There are specialists who handle fire scenes. And if you need to contact me…”

Once again, I took out my notebook and wrote down the phone number for the phone in Two Face’s back room. She accepted the number with a slight smile.

“It’s my first time seeing someone act like it’s no big deal when their house has burned down. If you’re going to call the contractors yourself, you don’t have to pay rent until you move back in. It would cost me my precious money if I called them, but you’re saving me from that, so I’m being generous. Understand?”

I nodded briefly and took the elevator out of the apartment. I’d gathered everything I needed, and the job was done… now it was time to rest again. I returned directly to Two Face.

The back door, which had been stiff until now, became a bit smoother after opening and closing it twice in one day. I placed the fireproof safe, thoroughly dusted of ashes, on the desk in the back room and opened it to collect the cash first.

Two Face was open almost all day, but there were two-hour breaks during lunch and dinner times. For a bar, it closed quite early.

It was approaching noon, so it should be break time now. Soon the bartender knocked on the back room door and entered. Her worry had quickly subsided, and she wore a cheerful expression.

“You look unusually tired, Mickey. I’ll wake you when the bar opens in the evening, so sleep if you want to.”

Two Face was a more reassuring place than I’d thought. As I heard those words, drowsiness washed over me, and I fell asleep on the cot in the back room. Probably.

What I’m certain of is that I didn’t dream today. Fatigue and alcohol were essentially no different in their ability to help one sleep.

Yes, today I couldn’t sleep more than four hours again. Maybe I should visit The Morrígan and get more pills. Even for an unworshipped goddess, pills made with divine power were effective.

Still feeling mentally dull, I barely managed to get up after lying in bed with only my eyes open. The gun from my pocket was on the desk—the bartender must have removed it. I put the gun back in my pocket and walked out.

Since there were few customers in the afternoon, the bartender was leaning against the bar listening to a radio drama. Well, at least it wasn’t that detective drama featuring Blingkerton Detective.

The bartender, who had been deeply focused, opened her eyes at the sound of my presence and smiled brightly. Her smile was always pleasant to see.

“I told you it’s okay to sleep until evening, Mickey. Oh, by the way, would you mind taking on bouncer duties if that’s alright? You’ll need something to do while you’re resting here. You’re more reliable than the regular bouncer anyway.”

What had been a bright smile just a moment ago now changed to a sly grin. I lightly pointed out the true meaning of her words.

“Besides, bouncers don’t drink. A bouncer who’s supposed to chase away drunks can’t be a drunk himself. But I’ve never seen a drunk causing trouble at Two Face.”

“That’s why I’m asking! I’m worried about your liver, so I need to keep you from drinking for at least a few days. And in the evenings, this place is guarded by trolls and werewolves, right? No one would dare cause trouble unless they’re really brave. It’s a bouncer job with no risk of getting hurt. What do you think?”

It was a question about whether I could part with alcohol even while resting. Can I? Normally I would have said that’s ridiculous, but since it was the bartender’s request… I decided to nod moderately.

“Fine, fine. I’ll do it, so stop looking at me like you’re about to wag your tail.”

I knew full well that saying this would only make her happier. She grinned joyfully, and once again her face approached my neck. She clung to me as if wanting to be reassured once more.

People who see only the sly and skilled face of the bartender would be quite surprised to see this side of her. Still, she didn’t indulge in childishness for long. After holding her for a moment, she soon cleared her throat and straightened up.

She seemed aware that she had been clinging to me for quite some time, as she turned her gaze away and coughed a little. Her expression was quite desperate as she tried to think of a reason.

“Ever since that immigrant job, you’ve been creating nothing but worries and not showing your face, Mickey. So I need something reassuring too. Yeah.”

How does the bartender know about the immigrant job? There’s no way she could know I did it… Ah, right. Yehoel must have come and blabbed again. He was quite loose-lipped.

He probably came with Iris’s hostesses on both arms, trying to look like a more impressive angel to those women, failed, and then ended up only confessing my story to the bartender before leaving.

I should probably visit Levi too… but I didn’t want to bring up Levi in front of the bartender and have the atmosphere freeze over. Only ambiguous feelings would remain, creating an awkward chill.

While we were chatting pleasantly, a customer opened the door and entered. From the vertically slit reptilian pupils shining through brownish sunglasses, I could tell it was a polymorphed dragon.

The skin color was a dark red that wouldn’t appear on an orc, so it was certain. I felt the dragon’s gaze scanning me. One of the bartender’s regulars.

Since I had slept for four hours, it was about time for regulars to start gathering, so I decided to go out for a while and visit Levi. I didn’t want to receive “who is this guy” looks from all of the bartender’s regulars.

“I’ll be back when it changes to Bar Two Face. I have places to visit and things to check. You know I need to make sure everything’s clear if I’m going to rest.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the bartender’s threat that she would bite my neck if I went out saying such things and came back shot, but that was all.

With my hat pulled down, I walked out the back door, got in my car, and headed to Fifth Avenue. Divine State Hotel still seemed not to have regained trust, and Cafe Caligula was just starting to become less crowded.

As I entered the café, Levi’s bright voice greeted me as if it were only natural. As always, the apron suited her well, and fortunately, she didn’t seem frightened.

“Welcome! Would you like your usual? Oh, did you hear the news today? They say the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn got crushed while trying to attack the police! It’s reassuring for those of us who aren’t elves. Really.”

I had to tell the bartender the truth, but there was no need to confess the facts to Levi. Pretending I didn’t know, I shook my head.

“I was sleeping, so I didn’t hear the news. Yeah, I’ll have my usual today too.”

The coffee came quickly. A cup of coffee with plenty of sugar and milk was the best for waking up. Even as I took a sip, Levi continued talking.

“Oh, and you know that angel who often works with Mr. Michael? The one whose left eye has a slightly weaker flame?”

“Yehoel?”

“Ah, yes! That was his name, I think. He seems to be becoming a regular too. He stayed almost all day yesterday, and today he sat here for quite a long time in the afternoon. I wonder, do all police or… ahem, problem solvers or people who carry guns like coffee with lots of sugar and milk?”

Coffee with lots of sugar and milk was my preference… Ah, I see. He must have gone to the bartender with Iris’s hostesses, asked for a coffee recommendation, and received what I drink.

After that, he probably came to Levi and naturally pretended to have a firm coffee preference while ordering it. He was clumsy. Moreover, despite requesting protection, he made himself so conspicuous.

Though the cause and effect and his clumsiness were too obvious, I decided not to worry about it. As long as Levi was safe, that was what mattered. I couldn’t help but smile and nod.

“Seems that way. It’s good for waking up, and there’s nothing better for forgetting random thoughts.”

And so the moderate conversation continued, and appropriate smiles were exchanged. After finishing my coffee, I returned to Two Face and shared comfort with the bartender. That night, the bartender’s tail wouldn’t stop wagging.

This kind of rest usually filled about a day between jobs, but this time it seemed I would rest for quite a while. It wasn’t so much that I needed rest as I wanted it.

If someone had appeared as an excellent supporting actor in a segment of someone else’s life, they needed to take the leading role in their own life for a while afterward. It was like a rule.