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“That concludes the negotiations then. You’ll do it somewhere else, so let me take you there.”

After she pressed something like a switch on the pedestal, a staircase leading underground appeared on the floor.
It seemed like Sareenea had recently modified the building by adding a basement under it.

The modifications had only finished the day before. And when they followed her to the basement, a large room came into their view. There they saw the elves and female dark elves that had brought the freezer earlier that morning, sitting in front of desks and seemingly busy working on something.

“Welcome to the workplace for the second unit. Apart from my job as an alchemist, I also draw manga as a side job. These people here are all my assistants.”

It seemed that Sareenea had also been making a living as a manga artist apart from being an alchemist.
Her assistants were composed of two elves and two female dark elves.
And strangely enough for the society of this world, they were both two married couples between elves and dark elves.
They mostly worked on manga, but they also helped with transportation and material gathering for alchemy.

“They only work five days a week, have paid vacations, maternity leaves, and even free days for important family occasions or other similar events. It’s a transparent and honest job they can realize from home.”

It seemed like they did get good treatment, though her mentioning it was ‘from home’ left a rather somber impression.
So just in case, Schenna decided to ask a bit more about it.

“Did you get permission from Reesha to have that side job?”
“Of course. They all are also registered members of the Holy Bow.”

They did have permission to work, so at least there was no problem on that front.
The basement was also equipped with devices that worked off dark cores, so it was well illuminated.
There was also a kitchen, dining room, a place to train for combat and testing weapons.

After Sareenea made Schenna and Luthors change into the clothes she had prepared for them, she moved onto the main topic.

“I want you two to act out the scripts I showed you earlier, following all my instructions.”
“Umm… What does this get-up mean?”
“A female knight serving the Hero, and a female knight serving the Demon King.”

Clad in white armor, Schenna looked confused. But Luthors seemed to be completely in character wearing a jet black armor.
Apart from their lines, the script also demanded a scene of the two confronting each other with practice swords.

“I really want to use this as a reference to draw manga, so I’m expecting a good act out of you two.”

Sareenea and her assistants sat on their desks and turned to observe the two of them.
Luthors unsheathed her practice sword and Schenna finally resigned herself and focused on the scene Sareenea had prepared for them.

“Our fights have repeated countless times already, but from now on this place shall become my lord the Demon King’s throne. Your fate ends here, and all other heroes’ tales will fade into oblivion!”
“If I slay the Demon King now, true peace will be achieved. I’ll never forgive anyone who dares threaten peace! I’ll take the victory with my own hands now!”

She unsheathed her practice sword as well and went into stance as Luthors charged against her with a fierce appearance.
Luthors’ hits were extremely heavy, turning the fight into a one-sided attack as Schenna only focused on defending herself.

“Guhh…?! You’re pretty strong. But…I’ll never yield to you!”

So far they had both followed the script, but a problem was clearly starting to manifest itself.
The scene was supposed to be a short fight between the two knights, after which the one serving the hero would emerge victoriously and the curtains would close.

“Show me if you have the strength needed to best me!”

Schenna quickly noticed the play was taking a bad turn.
Luthors was getting way too much into character as she viciously unleashed a flurry of attacks driving Schenna into a corner.

Schenna realized this would end up completely different than what the script said, and that her own life was at risk, so she tried to signal Sareenea to stop the act, but she and her assistants were so enthralled by Luthors’ performance that she did not notice the signs.
Then, unable to endure more of her attacks, Schenna let go of her practice sword.

“Prepare yourself!”
“The one who has to prepare herself is you.”

The moment Luthors was about to swing her practice sword again, someone came from behind and stopped her.
At the same time, everyone else who was spectating the scene finally came back to their senses as loud ‘Ah’s popped from around the room.

Reesha was holding Luthors’ arm.
Sareenea hurried to end the scene and Luthors snapped back to reality and struggled to understand what had happened.

“For now I’ll have all of you here come with me to the administrative district for questioning.”

Schenna’s life had been spared in exchange for a severe scolding in the administrative district. But at least they got the rice cooker for free.