CH 82

“When you take a step forward here, stab your sword forward at the same time. Your opponent will misjudge the distance of your blade that way.”

The Hero Gray gave a full display of what he was saying as he taught the students surrounding him about thrusting.

“In order to adequately discover traps, you must have awareness over all five of your senses plus a wealth of experience. By nature traps are cleverly hidden so as to be difficult to find, but that is precisely why you will find traps in unlikely places as well. Always be aware.”

Gise was teaching the students how to discover traps.

This was the Magical City Wisdom. The three idiots: Dams, Peach, and Cliff, were made into teachers thanks to Ellis’s efforts and started taking money for lessons without thinking things through. However, there was nothing that those three could teach. Cliff had acquired only the preliminary techniques as a priest which most of magic school students had already known.

As a result, Gray and Gise had come back to a large mess when they returned from Sky Castle and had been forced to give lecture upon lecture until the students were satisfied.

“This is because you didn’t leave us some money in the first place,” Dams spoke up a short distance away.

“We are quiet so long as we can continue to eat and drink,” Peach could not help but to chide Gray from the bottom of her heart.

“On that note, how much money did you get from the king this time?” Cliff was shamelessly digging through another person’s wallet.

Two people continued to give out lectures while trying to ignore the pulsing vein on their foreheads.

At noon, Gray and Gise left on their own to talk about the three idiots and the future for the party while the other three were off having lunch.

“It’s dangerous to leave them alone in this city again. We’ll have to keep them close from now on.”

Gise didn’t like the idea, but he knew it would be the best option to them. When he suggested it though, Gray told him it was impossible. When asked why, he started babbling, giving inarticulate excuses that a child could see through. For a long while now Gise had been allowing Gray free reign, but he figured it was about time that he asked him the question.

“You, why do you want to be alone so often?”

The sudden question left Gray speechless, but it made him start thinking.

What would happen if he told Gise about Marilyn? Would Gise look down on him? However, it would be better than bringing the three idiots with him every time he had to go to Warren. Dams and Cliff would most certainly frequent the bathhouse where they would certainly learn about Marilyn’s existence.

So, Gray steeled his resolve and told Gise the whole truth. Afterwards, the two would have a lengthy talk about the future.

“Hey, Berudeus.”

“What is it, My Demon Lord?”

“This, does it suit me?”

Hoh, Berudeus was pleasantly surprised at the cleaned up Demon Lord. His wore a fine black suit with a clean white dress shirt along with a respectable silver bow tie. He had correctly folded the handkerchief plugged into his breast pocket, and even the shoes he was wearing were custom tailored and polished.

“It suits you very well. Did you buy that yourself?”

Berudeus had to stop and think for a moment here. He didn’t understand why, but recently the Demon Lord had been in high spirits lately, and he wasn’t constantly complaining about dead fish.

Perhaps it was necessary to try things out himself for once.

“Certainly. Please call me when you decide to head out.”

Today was the grand opening for the new Masters’ Hideaway.

With Gise at his side, the Hero Gray flew to Warren thanks to the magic of {Leap City}.

“Gise, to be honest, I used your name to hide my identity.”

Gise was more than a little upset to learn that his name had been used as an alias so that Gray could make reservations at a special service bathhouse. But when he thought of it like he was making a sacrifice for the sake of his party member’s mental health, he supposed that it couldn’t be helped. So, he decided to never speak of it again.

“Then I’ll avoid using my name anywhere near the bathhouse.”

“Ah, I’d appreciate it if you did so.”

“Then, what is today?”

“Oh, it’s the opening day for something called a nightclub. If it’s alright with you, would you like to go enjoy the bath.”

“Okay, I’ll do that.”

The first thing the two of them did as they reached Gentleman Street was head over to the mens’ specialty tailor to get the real Gise a tux.

The store owner met them both at the door, but when he looked into Gise’s eyes, he knew it would be a bad idea to try and rip him off. He offered them instead an elegantly designed tux at regular price, not the Mohawk price. Luckily, Gray hadn’t paid any attention to what he had paid for his tux, so the price difference went completely unnoticed.

“Well then, I’ll go to the nightclub opening event, so Gise should enjoy the bath.”

“Ah, after two hours, let’s meet back up here.”

And so, the two men split up.

“Berudeus, give me pocket money to go out.”

The black suit had already was worn and ready to go, so the straw hat wearing Demon Lord found his secretary to gain some extra money. If you are wondering why he was still wearing the straw hat, it was because he was a farmer, and farmer’s wear straw hats. No suit changed that.

“Yes, here is one million ril as usual.”

“Thank you. I’ll be back after a while.”

After confirming that the Demon Lord was indeed gone, Berudeus cast the magic {Find Marker}. This was a spell that was able to track items that had been magically marked beforehand, like the Demon Lord’s coin purse for instance.

“Well then, let’s make like the dog and give chase.”

Berudeus then activated his own flight spell and flew after the marker that had appeared in his mind.

“Welcome.”

Two muscular men wearing their own tuxedos greeted Gray at the door. Feeling a little self-conscious, Gray rushed into the club after giving them both a small nod. Since he didn’t have any baggage to deposit, he was able to go straight towards the exchange counter.

“Welcome. Because the inside of the store uses a chip on delivery system, please exchange your money at the exchange counter inside the store.”

Chip on delivery system? Money exchange? Gray stood there wide-eyed like a frightened animal before the employee, so the woman behind the counter gave him a brief description of the chip system and what he needed to do.

“Okay. Then how much money should I exchange?”

“It depends. Drinks inside are 500 ril, but for any chips you don’t use, you can exchange them back here for no charge. For now, how about starting off with 10 thousand ril?”

“Then please do.”

Gray took out 10 thousand ril from his wallet and exchanged it for 5 1000 ril chips and 10 500 ril chips. When he moved past the counter, he found himself inside the bar room where food and drinks were served.

Gray looked around a bit until he saw Marilyn. With a small skip to his step, Gray immediately headed towards her, calling out her name.

“Marilyn, I’m here.”

When Marilyn noticed Gray approaching, she greeted him with a smile.

“Welcome Gise.”

Marilyn wasn’t wearing her normal clothes but was wearing a formal dress for the evening, suitable for her new status as the sub-leader of the entertainment unit. Yet even in formal dress, Marilyn exuded Eros as if she bathed in it.

Gray tried to strike up a conversation with her, but before he could, Marilyn had already walked away to talk with some other guests.

“Ah…..”

Gray deflated, but then another woman came up to him from the counter.

“If you’d like, please enjoy this cup of sake on the house. Since our game room is in the back, feel free to head there and enjoy yourself as well.”

Gray took the cup into his hands and plucked up his courage to ask the woman.

“How can I make a reservation for Marilyn?”

“If you let them know at the exchange counter, they can process you request.”

“I understand. Thank you for your help.”

Gray immediately headed back to the exchange counter and booked a reservation for Marilyn. It wouldn’t be for another three days, but his was the first one in the afternoon.

“Yosh!” Gray took a guts before before returning to the bar and taking a seat on one of the stools.

“Let’s head back after drinking this.”

“Welcome.”

Two muscular men wearing tuxedos greeted the Demon Lord at the door. After staring at the two of them for a moment, the Demon Lord walked by them and entered the club. Since he had no baggage to drop off, he was able to head straight for the exchange counter.

“Welcome. Because the inside of the store uses a chip on delivery system, please exchange your money at the exchange counter inside the store.”

“Well okay then.”

Not fully understanding what the woman was talking about, the Demon Lord decided to drop off his wallet onto the counter.  The woman got a little excited when she saw the Demon Lord throwing all his money down like that, but then she counted just how much money it was.

“Honorable customer, are you exchanging all 1 million ril in full?”

“Is it too little?”

“No, that’s……”

The woman decided it was best to remain silent on this and obediently pulled out 99 10,000 ril chips, 9 1000 ril chips, and 10 100 ril chips.

“Thank you.”

Shoving them all into his pocket, the Demon Lord headed further inside the club. Margherita noticed him as soon as he walked inside, and she immediately started walking right for him.

“Beru, you came. I’m happy.”

“Ah, I came.”

“By the way Beru, you came in wearing a straw hat?”

“Of course.”

The look on the Demon Lord’s face clearly conveyed he was wondering why she would ask him that, but Margherita decided to let it go before taking his hand. Then she took off the cloak he was wearing and dropped it off at the deposit counter.

“You should leave extra items like that here.”

“It’s that kind of place?”

“Yes. By the way, you look very nice in a black suit Beru.”

Margherita honestly praised him after giving him a good once over.

“Rather than that, you are looking almost lethal tonight in that dress.”

Thereupon, while still holding the Demon Lord’s hand, Margherita rose up on her tiptoes and brought her lips to his ear. She pressed her breasts against his arm. Then with an evil smile on her face, she teasingly whispered into his ear,

“Is that the only kind of compliment a dirty pig like you can give, Beru.”

Ahhh

“By the way, will you be making a reservation for our new bathhouse?”

The Demon Lord quickly nodded his head.

“Well then, please do so here.”

Without him realizing it, the Demon Lord had been brought right back to the exchange counter.

“This customer will be making a reservation. Have Mr. Berudeus come in first thing in the afternoon.”

The Demon Lord obediently nodded his head once again in confirmation. With this, the Demon Lord was also able to safely make a reservation.

“Margherita, you have a visitor.”

Called by one of the other girls, Margherita reluctantly released the Demon Lord’s hand.

“I’m sorry that I can’t thank you adequately right now, but I do hope you enjoy the rest of your night.”

And so the Demon Lord was left alone.

Not knowing what he was supposed to do, the Demon Lord wandered the club aimlessly for a bit before finding a counter seat he could take. It was there that he ran into someone he knew.

“Oh Gise, isn’t that you?”

“Well if it isn’t Beru. Long time no see.”

Thus was the reunion between the (fake) apprentice thief Hero and the (fake) farmer Demon Lord.