Chapter 33: Charred Corpse

Shinzo stopped moving.

That was the goal, so if he hadn’t, I’d be the one in trouble.

As the Type-5 spat out its last spent casing, I exhaled slowly and called out to the silhouette watching me from behind cover.

“Would that be enough to consider the job complete?”

“Oh yes, yes, absolutely! I witnessed the completion of the request, no doubt about it. That was some incredible shooting, Touji-san! Ahaha! You really went and killed him, huh? That guy! So? Don’t you want to check? You know, just in case? Maybe take a peek at the face? Who knows, he might’ve been someone you knew! Ahahahahaha!”

She laughed like it was the best day of her life.

Primula-san.

She laughed like a child given exactly what she wanted.

Primula-san.

“No, I’ll pass. I should check on the Monoz, if you’ll excuse me.”

I turned my back on her and started walking.

Behind me, her laughter rang out, even more gleeful than before.

For a moment, I felt just a little hollow.

---

“There’s no nobility or shame in any profession,”—or so they say. What a load of crap.

Of course there is.

Anyway, I won’t say which category this particular job of mine falls into. Honestly, I’d rather not think about it too much. It took a heavier toll than I’d like to admit.

Thankfully, none of the Monoz I lost to Shinzo were destroyed beyond saving. But according to Kusa, my Crystal Artist, I’ll need to repurchase five Monoz bodies, and the crystal cores took heavy damage too.

Ox Unit, Sheep Unit, and Horse Unit will be out of commission for at least a week. Boar Unit, an entire month.

And that’s not even the worst of it.

It was the target. Who the target was.

If I’m being honest, I lost more than I gained this time.

Shinzo’s siblings are with Eevee now. She’s taking care of them.

Can’t breathe easy just yet, not until the whole affair is well and truly over.

Which is why, today, I pushed open the twin swinging saloon doors of the Doggy House.

To finish the job.

“Touji-san.”

I heard my name and turned toward the voice.

A white sundress. A soft pink stole draped over her shoulders. A young lady, far too out of place in a bar, beckoned me over with a single bodyguard standing behind her.

I took a seat at the table.

It meant turning my back to the entrance, which I didn’t like.

In this era, leaving your back exposed is just asking for trouble. Still, it couldn’t be helped. As rotten as she might be, Primula-san is still the client. Can’t very well make her sit with her back to the door.

She seemed to understand this was business.

Potato Man brought over tea in a porcelain cup and a small plate of cookies. It felt wildly out of place in this setting, and I couldn’t help but let out a small, dry chuckle.

“…You seem to be short one bodyguard. Something happened?”

“Hm? Oh, I haven’t been able to reach him. He’s fired, honestly, fired!”

“I see. Hopefully he hasn’t gotten caught up in anything serious.”

I took a sip of the tea.

I couldn’t taste a thing with my uncultured tongue.

“I’ve also lost contact with someone recently. A friend. Maybe an accident or something.”

“Hehe—eh? R-really? Oh my, that’s just terrible, isn’t it? F-Fufu… ahahahaha! S-sorry, sorry, but still—aha, ahahahahahaha!”

“…Such fine manners. As expected of a company heiress.”

“Oh, terribly sorry, dear Hound. Ahh, that was a good laugh. I laughed, I really laughed.
Anyway, here’s your payment for the job. Two million C.”

I accepted the check she handed over.

With a quick “Excuse me,” I pulled out my terminal, scanned the check, and converted it into digital currency. Two million C accounted for.

“Confirmed. Payment received.”

“Perfect. Now then, Touji-san… your Monoz got wrecked this time, didn’t they? You’re flat broke, right?”

“That’s right. Honestly, I’m running a huge deficit.”

“Well! Lucky you, because I brought you another job~”

“That’s surprising. I always figured you hated me, Primula-san.”

“No way~ I love you, Touji-san! Ahahahahaha!”

“…I see.”

Well, well, thank you so very much.

I gave a polite bow.

“That said… I’d really rather not get set up again.”

“Set up? That makes it sound so nasty! I clearly wrote everything in the contract, didn’t I? This was entirely your own fault, wasn’t it?”

“…Well, yes, that’s true. But actually, because of what happened, I’ve been banned from signing contracts on my own now. Would you mind if I consulted my business partner first?”

“Not at all! Would you like to take it home with you?”

“No need. I was planning to meet with them soon anyway. I’ll just show it to them when they arrive.”

“Oh, what perfect ti—timingggggg!”

Primula-san froze. Eyes wide, mouth agape in a dumbfounded expression, staring past me.

I heard the telltale creak of the saloon doors swinging open behind me. Ah. So he came… just as expected.

“Sorry. Looks like I showed up a little early.”

“Not at all. Perfect timing, really.”

I’m a sniper.

A cool sniper.

So unlike a certain company heiress, I don’t cackle or gape like an idiot. I simply laced my fingers together on the table, covering my mouth to hide the smile creeping up my face.

“Shinzo…”

Behind my hand, I grinned.

---

“This young lady here offered us a job. Here’s the contract.”

“Did you read it?”

“…No.”

“At least skim it before handing it over, would you?”

“—”

I made a very obvious face of disapproval.

“…”

Shinzo gave a sigh of surrender, pulled a nearby chair over, and started reading.

“Rejected. The compensation is crap for the length of the binding period. The job description is vague as hell. Whoever wrote this is clearly planning to run their contractor into the ground. Anyone dumb enough to fall for this is an idiot, and the one who drafted it is a total piece of trash.”

“Shinzo, that’s rude. You’re insulting the trash directly to her face.”

“You’re the rude one.”

I know.

“Wha—WHY are you still alive!?”

A sudden shriek from Primula-san. Every head in the bar turned toward us. My eardrums rattled. It startled me.

“Is something the matter, Trash-san?”

Ah, slipped up. Called her Trash-san instead of Primula-san. Too much effort to fix it. I’ll roll with it. Besides—

“Why are you still alive!?”

See?

It doesn’t look like she cared either.

“Spoken like a true heiress. Straight to the philosophical stuff. So, Shinzo?”

“I live to leave proof that I existed in this world.”

“So cool.”

“Thanks.”

I handed him a cookie as a prize. Crunch. He ate it.

“That’s not what I meant! You definitely died, Shinzo-san!”

“Wait, Shinzo, you know Primula-san?”

“Had a fallout with her over a job once.”

Ohhh reeeally.

Yeah, even I thought that voice sounded fake.

“Shinzo, maybe you should apologize? I think you just died inside Primula-san’s head.”

“Yeah, my bad.”

You too, huh, Shinzo.

I hid my grin behind my folded hands. Shinzo used the contract to cover his mouth.

“Y-you tricked me, Touji-san!?”

“Hm? No, I don’t believe I did.”

“Then why!? Why is Shinzo still alive!?”

“He said it was to ‘leave behind proof he existed in the world.’”

So cool.

Alright. Time to shift gears. I gripped my necklace and moistened my lips with my tongue. Let’s do this.

“Primula-san? The job you gave me was to eliminate an unknown individual who had tarnished Arawn Corp’s name, correct?”

My voice dropped low. Interrogator mode. I locked eyes with her.

“And yet… you’re speaking as if you hired me to kill Shinzo specifically.”

Why is that?

“~~~Th-that’s—”

Primula-san stammered, the words catching in her throat.

“Potato Man, just to confirm. If a client submits a falsified request, what’s the policy, I mean, what does Doggy House do about it?”

“If it’s minor, a warning. If it’s malicious, we blacklist them. If they’re being cocky, kill them.”

“Let’s say, hypothetically, the target was labeled ‘unknown’ to get me to accept the job, but it turns out it was a ploy to have me kill a friend. Wouldn’t you say that counts as cocky? Because I do.”

“Yeah. Though I’d also say any idiot who doesn’t read the contract properly is just as bad.”

“And there you have it. So? What do you think, Primula-san?”

I chose to ignore that last part.

Potato Man’s sigh was long and heavy.

“If I get in trouble for this, Father will—”

“Ah, yes. Edrum Arawn is a reasonable man, isn’t he, Primula Arawn?”

I’ve spoken to Edrum Arawn, CEO of Arawn Corporation. Pulled that off using one of my mentor’s connections.

“I hear you have a lot of siblings, Primula Arawn. A lot of very capable siblings, Primula Arawn. Do you understand what that means, Primula Arawn?”

“D-don’t—”

Primula-san trembled. Even a replaceable heiress, it seems, understands what those words mean.

Which is why I’m allowed to say what I’m about to say. Why I’m allowed to carry it out.

“I have permission, there won’t be a next time. From now on, stay out of my life. Got it?”

“— … —”

Primula-san glared daggers at me.

Now what? She might actually kill me. I should probably defuse this.

“…Well, we never confirmed the corpse during that last job, did we? I figured an accusation like this might come up, so I made sure to collect the body. Dragon Unit.”

Beep!

The only large unit to make it through in one piece rolled forward, lugging a body bag behind it.

“Ah, sorry. Just to be sure, I had Rudo hit it with a lightning bolt. Makes ID kind of… difficult.”

As I spoke, I unzipped the bag. Inside was a charred corpse, curled up with its limbs drawn tight. Naturally, exposing a body in a place that serves food and drinks was enough to send Potato Man into a near-fit, so I quickly zipped it back up.

“So? What do you think?”

“W-What do I think!? That thing’s obviously a fake! I mean, Shinzo’s right there—!”

“So in other words, you’re claiming this isn’t the Cavalier from that time?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying!”

“Hmm? That’s strange.”

Because if that’s true…

“Then you’re saying I killed and burned some random person just to have something to show you?”

“…eh?”

Primula-san’s eyes dropped to the body bag. She said nothing. Just stared.

“By the way, Primula-san,” I slowly leaned into my chair. “You seem to be missing one bodyguard. Did something happen?”