Chapter 202: The Participants of the Feast (2/2)
Katsuya and his group were surprised. According to what they had learned before attending the feast, the position of the participants in that feast was decided by who invited them. And an invitation from someone in the City Management signified a rather high position.
Inabe continued by praising Sheryl in order to pull in Katsuya.
“Sheryl might one day join this side, to be the one sending out invitations, you know. But a Hunter can only be a Hunter. A Hunter will never be the one sending out invitations. That’s the reason why I call you a mere Hunter. I didn’t do that to discredit you or anything. If you wish to change your profession from scouring for relics and selling them to us, to becoming a Hunter who is more actively involved in this kind of thing, you can call me anytime.”
Mizuha lightly laughed and said with a smile.
“Inabe-sama, I’m really happy that you find Drankam Hunters reliable, but it would be troublesome if you snatch them from us.”
“Ohh, sorry about that. We are in a perpetual lack of skilled people in the City Management, you see. So I just could not help it. Well, competing for a skilled Hunter is not that rare anyway. If you guys from Drankam don’t want to lose your exceptional Hunters, I suggest you offer them something special.”
“Of course we do.”
Both Katsuya and Sheryl were growing up in their respective fields. Yumina wondered if she would appear to suit that position and have such achievements. She knew that she would not be able to win against Sheryl in that matter. Although she was talking happily like usual, that thought on the back of her mind was dragging her down.
After a short idle talk, Mizuha thought that it was about time they took their leave. Since they were there to represent Drankam, they still had to meet others in that feast too. So with the limited time they had, they could not afford to stay there for too long.
Katsuya understood Mizuha’s signal as he smiled regretfully. But then, he remembered something as he took out an accessory from his pocket and bashfully gave it to Sheryl.
“Ah, right, this accessory, I found it during a ruin expedition. It’s like a souvenir, so if you’re okay with it, will you please accept it? It’s also my thanks for listening to my problem last time.”
The old-world relics accessory still retained its shine as if the long years did not wither it at all. But making such an accessory was actually possible with the current era’s technology, as a matter of fact, such an accessory was not that rare. So judging from that point of view, it was not that expensive of a relic.
Sheryl stared at that accessory and shook her head.
“Thank you, but I have to refuse it.”
Katsuya was flustered, he did not expect Sheryl to not take it.
“…Ah, uhhh, do you find it unpleasant perhaps?”
Sheryl once again shook her head and said with a smile and a serious face.
“You can just laugh at me if I’m overly self-conscious about this, but if I accept it, I believe that you would try to look for a better thing to give me next time. Which means that you would push yourself to face needless danger for it. As such, I can’t accept it.”
Sheryl’s serious face relaxed for a bit, in contrast to that, her smile grew fonder as she continued.
“You should put that effort into your own safety. To make sure that you can return back alive. For me, the best souvenir will be for you to return back alive, bringing back more stories with you.”
Since all the girls around him simply accepted any gifts that he gave, the fact that Sheryl refused his gift left an impression on him. In order to match that strong impression, Katsuya smiled and said firmly.
“I see, I will bring more stories with me next time then.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
They then said their goodbyes before leaving. But Mizuha stayed behind for a bit after Katsuya and the girls left. She then nervously asked Sheryl a question.
“Sheryl-san… Was it again? So, uhh, if I may, what is your relation with Viola? Uhm, actually I’ve been working with Viola for a bit in the past, but it is the first time I heard about you, so…”
“We are business partners, nothing more, nothing less.”
Sheryl replied back almost in an instant, Viola immediately interjected.
“Oh, is that so? And here I thought there’s more to it than that, you know?”
Sheryl still had her smile as she looked at Viola with a gaze that was a few degrees colder than before.
“I’m basically keeping you alive until you have no use to me, is that good enough now?”
“Yikes, that’s so scary. I’ll do my best to make sure that I’ll always be of use for you, boss.”
Mizuha was surprised by Sheryl’s attitude toward Viola and Viola’s reply there.
“Boss?”
“Yep, I’m basically working for Sheryl right now. She’s directly above me at the moment.”
Mizuha frowned and slightly puckered as she watched Sheryl and Viola smiling while facing each other.
“…I-I see. I’ll take my leave then, please excuse me.”
Mizuha lightly bowed before leaving. Although it was obvious that Sheryl was skilled, she was still not sure whether it was more dangerous than profitable to deal with Sheryl. She was at a loss whether to warn Katsuya to stay away from Sheryl or to encourage him instead.
Inabe looked at Mizuha, who was leaving their area, with a look that was saying he understood what she was thinking.
“But still, it should be okay to accept that gift, no? It’s true that not accepting it would leave a bigger impression on Katsuya, but to be honest, I think it’ll leave a better impression if you happily accept it, you know.”
“I didn’t do that to leave an impression on him, it’s just simply an excuse not to accept that kind of gift.”
“Is there any problem? To be honest, I don’t see any problem accepting that gift though.”
“There are people who get offended when you don’t use the gifts that they give you. And sometimes, that is doubly true for non-expensive gifts that they can get without much work and it still applies even if you say that you lost it or sold it by mistake. So in the end, if I accept that, I will have to keep using it regardless of whether I actually want to or not. I just want to avoid that.”
Inabe smiled bitterly.
“I see, sometimes lying is the right choice, huh.”
There was a slightly ominous feeling from Sheryl’s smile as she said.
“I didn’t lie. Rather than a relic, I’m happier to receive stories and information instead. So it’s the truth. By the way, judging from what he said, it seems that all the credits for bringing the old-world terminals were given to him, huh. Are you really okay with that, Inabe-sama?”
Inabe smiled wryly as he felt Sheryl reproached his decision.
“Oof, that’s pretty strict of you. I’m sure no one would dare to question the relics that were brought back by a Hunter who even Yanagisawa is interested in. If you say that it was not a good choice, I have no argument to deny it. But result-wise, we are getting better results without causing any problems. Or am I wrong?”
Inabe, who misunderstood a few things there, was indirectly saying with a smile that even if that mistake came from Viola, or in effect to that, from Sheryl herself, no one would dare to criticize them. Sheryl replied with a smile and an agreement.
“Well, it’s true that we didn’t face any troubles at all.”
To be honest, Sheryl was only asking if Inabe was okay giving that credit to someone else when he was the one who bought those expensive relics with his own money through a secret deal. But from Inabe’s reply, she was able to gain more information which she did not know and it allowed her to notice that Inabe was misunderstanding something. So she had no reason to straighten that up.
Viola more or less understood what was going on in Sheryl and Inabe’s minds as she smiled.
Inabe suddenly remembered something regarding their secret deal and asked Sheryl a question.
“By the way, about the Hunter who came to the meeting place, Akira, was it again? I heard that you have him as your support too. For a young Hunter like him, he’s more or less as strong as Katsuya, you know. So what is your relationship with that Akira?”
“We’re a couple.”
“…I see.”
Sheryl was trying to answer that as casually as possible, but as a City Management staff who had gone through a lot of negotiations, Inabe did not miss the slight change in Sheryl’s attitude.
It was nothing but a brave front hoping that it was not wrong. Inabe was surprised when he noticed that from Sheryl as he thought.
[…She’s like that with Katsuya whom she had only met a few times, so I thought that is the case for Akira too, but… Is she having trouble trying to get Akira? I thought that Sheryl could easily manipulate someone like Akira, but I guess that’s not the case, huh.]
During that feast where the participants schemed and conspired, Inabe, Sheryl, and Viola were perfectly blending in with the rest of the participants.