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A man and woman in uniforms stood before me in the dressing room.

“…So, remind me again, why do I have to wear this?”
“I think it suits you well. Wouldn’t you agree, Cathy?”
“Yup. It fits you, Bard.”

Bard didn’t seem all that dissatisfied about it once he heard Cathy’s praise. But he quickly switched back to a frown when he realized I was watching.

“…Setting aside whether it fits me or not, do you really think we can serve customers?”
“Whether you can or not, you will be doing it. You did lose the match, after all.”

These two were the assassins that snuck here previously and got caught by Frank.

Bard was a black panther beastman with black hair and dark skin. Cathy was a dog beastman with droopy ears like the Saluki breed, and had black hair and fair skin.

Due to their training, their tails didn’t react to things, which was quite a shame.

Their punishment was put on hold after they shared information about Haku, but even if we released them conditionally, they still betrayed the Thief Guild, so it was hard to say what would happen to them.

I got permission from Frank after explaining my reasons and went to talk with them about their situation, and found out that their brainwashing was gone for the most part.

Then I proposed a contest: If they could manage to flee from me for one whole day, they would be acquitted. But if I caught them, they would have to listen to my demands.

The result was naturally my win.

“As such, you have to work for me from now on. I will hand over the manuals, so go and receive an explanation about your work. Bard, ask Luke about receptionist work, and Cathy, you ask Ria about waitress work.”
“Alright.”
“…Tsk.”

I gave Bard a flick on his forehead.

Though I was restraining myself with gear, my serious flick could still deal as much damage as a blunt weapon.

As proof of that, Bard’s HP fell a bit and he even got abnormal status – Stun.

As someone who used to work for an exploitative company, I didn’t want to abuse my power even for just reasons, but since I told Frank I would take responsibility, I couldn’t afford to go about this half-heartedly.

“Ouch…!”
“If you look down on me, I’ll beat you up for real next time.”
“G-Got it…”

They say the start mattered the most when educating someone, but the effect was quite immediate this time around.

It was still early morning so there were few customers around, which made it ideal for them to learn about their work. Once they learned the basics, more people would start showing up for breakfast and they would polish it while we gave them pointers. What a flawless plan!

…Or at least it was supposed to be.

“You b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲, say that again I dare you!”
“As I said, this commission should be too dangerous considering your skill.”
“W-Wait, Bard.”

Bard was talking with a party of five guild members. He wasn’t holding his punches in spite of Luke’s warnings.

“…Sigh.”
“Pi?”

I started walking there with a small sigh, and Haku readily followed along.

I really wanted to fluff it but I had to endure it for now.

“Huh? What would a receptionist know!”
“If you look down on people like that, you’re gonna experience a lot of pain you kn—”
“Are you in any position to say that, Bard?”

As I addressed him with a smile, he shut his mouth as if afraid.

That’s so weird. I was flashing him such a natural smile, so why?

“You monster…”
“Huuh?! You b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲, which part of Illya looks like a monster to you?”

Luke…why are you the one getting angry there. Actually, this is the first time I’ve seen him yell.

…wait, I got derailed!

“Can you explain what’s going on?”
“Oh, sure. These people brought commission papers, but he told them it would be dangerous.”
“That’s not how he said it! Don’t f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g gloss over it!”

I left Luke to apologize to the pissed customers while I checked the commission papers.

There were two commissions. One was about Rondo Locusts, while the other…huh, Lauloa Boars. Moreover, the commission areas coincide. The previous commission about this succeeded so their numbers should’ve gone down considerably.

It might be necessary to investigate if their numbers grew again.

Setting that aside, I glanced at the people who wanted to take on these commissions. Their composition consisted of a swordsman, two boxers with chain-user skills, one magician, and one alchemist.

An alchemist was a job that the holder of Alchemy skill —which was obtained by developing Compounding and Enhancement skills— could obtain, and it gave acquisition bonuses to concentration stats, compounding success rate, enhancement speed, and product quality.

During the level-up of the Alchemist skill, you could choose between increasing categories of possible products, maximum number, and creation speed, but in this reality where you couldn’t see the options, they only existed as vague ideas in the person’s mind, so it would depend on their will at the time. It would be fine if they did it intentionally, or if it was someone with a strong will to improve, but if it was someone whimsical, they could easily fail to keep following a proper course and end up losing against lower-level people of the same job.

Anyway, we digressed.

“Bard, please properly explain why you believe this to be dangerous.”
“H-Huh? That’s a massive pain.”
“Did you just want to pick a fight? Or were you actually warning them?”
“…”

Given his silence, it had to be the latter. He has a short fuse and an awkward personality, so he probably felt too embarrassed to advise them normally and worded it bluntly.

…Are you a child or something!

“If you were picking a fight, I’ll have to punish you accordingly.”
“F-Fine, I just have to talk, right?!”

Bard stood up and faced the group of five.

“Do you bast-… people have experience fighting locust-type monsters or Lauloa Boars?”
“Huh? Of course we do.”
“We fight locusts in warrior exams.”

They were often designated as subjugation targets in exams that tested explosive power due to their high leaping power and gliding skills. They were also poisonous, so coming into contact with their mucous membranes when bitten would infect you with deadly poison, making them enemies you needed to be careful about.

Incidentally, I exterminate them on sight. I mean, they were giant grasshoppers, you know? I just can’t. Imagine enlarged versions of ants and stuff that you find in biology textbooks in school. Those show up before your eyes. I can’t stand them, no way.

…Just thinking about them made me feel disgusted.

“Come here…”
“Pi?”