Chapter 54: The Five Flavors

Among the requests the Leone clan accepts, there are some that come from humans.

And in those cases, the target is usually another human.

Because they’re a different species, it’s harder to trace the job back to the client. That makes it easier to hand over the dirtier, black-market kinds of work. Human mercenaries still have to live in human society after the job is done. Tooth mercenaries return to their own society. That’s all there is to it.

Still, when it comes to arranging meetings, the clients prefer to deal with Tooth who look closer to human. That sort of half-measure, half-hearted attitude is very human.

This time, the assignment handed to Rikan’s unit was one of those halfway jobs involving humans.

At first, Rikan was going to send the cat-ear-glasses, like he usually did in these cases. But then he realized—

—Right. In my chain of command, there isn’t just someone human-like. There’s an actual human.

Meetings are usually held in the client’s own territory. Which meant entering a human city. And no matter how close they might look to humans, a Tooth is still a Tooth. Getting in takes at least some effort.

So Rikan decided to send his human subordinate instead.

Which meant me.

“Wait. If they’re deliberately avoiding humans, wouldn’t it be a bit bad for me to go?”

“Hm? …I see. Then just put on a light disguise and go.”

“A disguise? You mean… to make me look like a Tooth?”

“Exactly! Wear sunglasses. If someone asks, ‘Are you Tooth?’ you take them off and glare.”

“…Isn’t that way too half-baked?”

That wasn’t a disguise. In fact, it barely even counted as one. There was no way something like that would actually fool anyone.

Still, an order’s an order. I’d do as told.

So I headed for the designated café in a city called Kiritani.

To hide the Tree Crystal embedded in my left hand, I kept it covered. I also left Monoz and Rudo with a companion so I wouldn’t stand out. And for the first time in a long while, I walked through a human city.

I entered the café. The bell above the door chimed. Immediately, I spotted the person I’d been told to look for by their clothing, and I slipped into the opposite side of their booth.

I tossed the Leone clan’s job token onto the table. They pulled out the matching piece and fit the two together.

“Confirmed. Even so… you’re awfully close to human. Are you really Tooth?”

“…”

I followed Rikan’s instructions.

“Th—! Th-those eyes, like gravestones carved from rimstone, that piercing gaze—! M-my apologies! Let’s move to the job at hand!”

It worked. It actually worked. It shouldn’t have worked.

“…”

Well, that was how it always went. And as always, I felt just a little hurt.

***

The briefing I got from the contact was long.

It was so long that I gave up and just recorded it on my terminal.

But if all my responses were just “I see,” it would’ve been obvious I was slacking. So I mixed in: “As expected,” “I didn’t know that,” “That’s impressive,” “Since we’re at it,” and even “That’s right!” That’s what they call the hostess’s “five flavors” trick. The fact that it worked worried me a little. What scared me more was that I could remember this stupid trick while forgetting people’s names.

“…”

After receiving the advance payment, I killed about fifteen minutes by sipping the coffee my contact had ordered for me, then left the café.

I put on my sunglasses and strode down the street with a swagger.

The first one to spot me as I approached the meeting point was Rudo.

His short legs pounded the ground as he rushed over. Standing up on his hind legs, he leapt at me, so I gave his shoulder a light pat and stroked his head.

“Ah, I wondered when I saw little Rudo-chan running off, but it really is you, big brother. Ain’t you fast? The meeting’s already over?”

“It’s over.”

A quick nod, bobbing my head.

That was my reply to Akane, one of my companions this time. I glanced around. The number of people with us had dropped.

“Where are Kauko-san and the others?”

“They went to buy food. Sheep Unit, Tiger Unit, and Boar Unit went with ’em.”

“I see.”

I nodded.

With pack mules and guards along, there shouldn’t be a problem.

“I’d like to do some shopping myself…”

“That’s fine. You just need a wallet, right? That’s why I stayed behind,” Akane said.

Let me make it clear, I’m not a kept man.

Walking through this city in the body of a Tooth, I couldn’t use the crystal embedded in my left arm or my terminal to make purchases—doing so would give away that I’m human. But I didn’t have much cash on hand either, so I needed to rely on electronic money.

It was a dilemma.

That’s why I brought some others along with me into the city this time.

“Young master was worried about you, but did you actually manage to do the job right, big brother?”

“Well… more or less.”

“Hehh. What kind of job was it this time?”

“…It was… you know. That kind of job where you… do that thing to that thing.”

“Big brother.” Akane grinned widely. “I wasn’t there myself, but I’m pretty sure it was a little more specific than that.”

“…”

Yeah, I thought so too.

I’d better listen to the recording on the way back and double-check the details.

***

If you want the details of the job that was “to do that thing to that thing,” it boiled down to theft, or if failing that, destruction.

The client belonged to a fairly large corporation and was researching something. Someone else, working on the same research, had already beaten him to a result.

That person was a Sleeper, so our kind and generous client offered to let them publish under the client’s name, “for their benefit,” but the Sleeper refused.

So the plan was to steal the research product and have the client publish it. If stealing proved impossible, then smash it to pieces. That was the gist.

My role was to ambush the convoy while it was in transit.

“…”

Sounds like the villain’s side, doesn’t it?

Honestly, I felt like joining the guards of the target. But money talks, so I rode with the villain side. Rikan stuck to the original contract. He did say, “You can refuse this job if you want,” but I accepted it.

I have mouths to feed, and that means I don’t have money.

Morally, I could not accept publishing under someone else’s name, but I could barely stomach destroying something. The thought of wrecking the crystallized sweat, blood, and tears of someone who had been awakened into a strange world made me wince, but I swallowed it down.

For this job, I did not bring members from my own squad. The people I’d folded into my unit were, as shown by how they were treated in the human village, mostly Sleepers. They would never be able to set aside their feelings for a job like this.

We would be destroying the product of fellow beings who had been ripped into an unfamiliar world.

“…So then, everyone, this is one of those jobs for our usual crazy roster.”

A beep on the terminal. A yelp in reply. Twelve Monoz and one dog made up my reliable, usual team.

“All right, final confirmation. Rule one: in principle, no killing. I cannot allow murder for this one. Take a larger safety margin than usual. If things go sideways, we run. No hesitation.

“Rat Unit, Sheep Unit, Horse Unit, and Rudo, you pair with me. That’s S1. I’ll handle the primary attacks. You support.

“Rabbit Unit, Snake Unit, and Boar Unit, you’re S2. Rabbit is the leader. Lure them into the gorge and then strike; lie in ambush behind. Snake will snipe. Boar, spread suppressive fire. You’re the initial strike. Draw their attention.

“Monkey Unit, Rooster Unit, Dog Unit, you’re A1. Dog is the leader. Frontal assault. You’re the most exposed. Dog, I leave the retreat call to you. If there’s even a hint of danger, pull back.

“Ox Unit, Tiger Unit, Dragon Unit, you’re A2. Ox is the leader. Once you draw escorts away from the cargo, Dragon fires bombardment. Other offensive actions are generally prohibited. Your team will probably be the slowest. Ox, consider towing during retreat. That is all. Any questions?

“Good. The operation starts at 14:00. Please synchronize your watches. Three, two, one, adjust. All right, let’s move as we always do with the usual team. The order is simple: win, order to win.”