CH 87

“Mistress……., already……….my limit……….let’s return……… Uuhhhh”

Reeve was begging Ellis with a pale face and tears in her eyes.

“Well alright, I guess I can take you home.”

Frau was showing little interest in what was going on around her and hugged Reeve while rubbing her back.

“I got a physical rejection response a lot quicker than I thought I would,” Ellis mused.

This was the live house. Today was a pre-opening event to celebrate the building’s completion, so the fighting performers were all fighting inside a makeshift ring.

The crowd was comprised almost entirely of gachihomos.

“Nobuhiko!!!”

“Masakatsu!!!”

Exuberant cheers were filling the building and spilling onto the outside streets. Frau looked completely annoyed by all the clamor and left it all behind while supporting the emotionally drained Reeve.

Meanwhile the other two,

“Uwa! Grapple nya! So fun nya! Grab and pin him nya!”

Katie was in the crowd excitedly cheering away,

“Hey, shouldn’t there be more room underneath the ring for someone to collect the twists?”

and although Claire showed no interest in the event itself, she was thinking about the construction of the ring. She had collected twists from underneath the stage during multiple events at the harvest festival, so it had become an issue etched into her mind during things like this.

Ellis looked at the scene around her.

Since it was a pre-event, admission was free. Even so, the place was just a little too lonely. Only a handful of fans had come to cheer on Nobuhiko and the others.

As far as Ellis was concerned, the fight happening in the ring was interesting. For those who knew how to fight, they could sit back and enjoy watching the technique here without any of the bloodlust.

But that’s it. There are no flowers here.

Of the five members of the Jewelry Box, the only one who really enjoyed watching was Katie. Another two held zero interest in it, and Ellis was pretty sure the fourth one had vomited outside after watching for only a few minutes.

“It just needs a little support.”

And so Ellis began searching her mind for memories of the square box back in Eiji’s world.

The next morning.

Everyone had just finished breakfast. Claire was in her office drawing up a design for an apartment complex, Ellis and Frau were handling some accounting work for Lily Garden and Cross Town, Reeve was washing Pi-tan, and Katie was patrolling Cross Town for trouble. It was a calm, sunny morning. Until Ravi from Steam Kitchen burst through Ellis’s kitchen door.

“Dreadful nano! Quarrel nano! You need to help me!”

The four girls remaining in the house all jumped to their feet and ran up to the girl waiting by the door.

“Where, who, and whom against?”

While throwing on some clothes for heading out, Ellis was the first to reach Ravi and loudly asked her what was going on.

“Katie and Mati nano! Labra is too stunned to move nano. In front of the store nano!”

Ravi had started to cry and jumped into Reeve’s outstretched arms, being held close as she shouted out the answers to all of Ellis’s questions. The five girls ended up rushing to Steam Kitchen as fast as they could, but a crowd of people had already gathered there.

“Sorry, please move a little and let us through.” The crowd half voluntarily and half forcefully parted to the side to allow the girls to pass until they finally arrived to see Katie and Mati wrestling against each other.

“Take this! Arm lock nya!” Katie grabbed Mati’s arm and forced it back.

“Too little! Counterattack nya!” Mati managed to break free, and this time she was the one holding Katie’s arm back.

“Katie! Do you give up?” Labra called out to Katie a short distance away from the fighting.

……………..

“Claire, do it.” Ellis muttered while massaging her temples.

“Understood Ellis,” Claire nodded her head with a fed-up look on her face.

{Lightning Shower}

“Bigyaah!” “Hiyaah!” “Gyaah!”

Things finally started to calm down after a trio of loud shouts of agony, but the faint smell of singed fur would persist in the area for another couple of hours.

Three people were left kneeling on the floor as another five looked down on them with their arms crossed.

“What’s wrong with a cat fighter cat fight nya?”

“It was having fun and almost made Katie tap out, why do you interfere nya?”

Katie and Matie both started complaining to Ellis despite their kneeling posture.

“Frau, do it.” Ellis muttered while massaging her temples once again.

“Understood Ellis,” Frau lightly replied.

*Gong!*

*Gong!*

A straight fist swung down on top of Katie and Mati’s heads. The two of them both fell to the ground and started rolling in pain while clutching the tops of their heads.

“I am terribly sorry. Katie told us she learned a new technique at the live house last night, and things got a little heated while she was teaching us.” Labra was the only one who seemed to be seriously repenting for her actions as she bowed low to the ground while apologizing.

“And you all regret that you made Ravi cry as a result?” Reeve was particularly hard on them while still holding Ravi in her arms.

“Regret nya.”

“I also regret nya.”

“I deeply regret my actions.”

This time all three of them were bowing. If nothing else, they knew to apologize after making a little girl cry.

Ellis watched the three of them try and apologize and began scratching her head while angrily sighing.

“Girls just starting a fight and not thinking about where they are………..”

“If you three like fighting so much, I’ll prepare a nice place where you can all beat each other as much as you like.”

Puzzle pieces were starting to fall in place.

“I was wondering why you had come down here again. Well, I guess the principle is nice.”

“Ellis, please give us all the details.”

This was the Thieves’ Guild. Currently, Baltis and Karen were gathered together for a meeting with Ellis.

“Actually……..”

“It certainly sounds interesting. Shouldn’t it be fine so long as it at least turns a profit?”

“Ellis, did you already have an idea?”

This was the Adventurer’s Guild. Sitting before Ellis’s eyes were Theseus and Helen.

“We’ll need a large reception. Because of that……”

“Why should we do such a thing?”

Nicole immediately started complaining to Ellis. His four bandmates were all perfectly in tune and started simultaneously nodding their heads.

“Aren’t you all a bunch of brainless gays. You should make your decision on whether or not you’ll make a profit on this.”

Ellis new she had to be rough here if she was going to convince them to help.

“Listen carefully because if you all use your heads, you’ll realize this will be good for you too.”

“We’ll print these out and distribute them to Warren, Marsfield, Wheat Grace, and all the other surrounding villages.”

“Yes, thank you Uncle Flint.”

“But as usual you think of some pretty funny stuff. I can already smell the sweet smell of ril.”

“So you understand Uncle?”

Flint and Ellis were able to share an unprecedented mischievous smile.

Well, eventually the day of the event came.

A crowd had already formed in front of the live house, and the tickets were sold out. The leaflets Flint had printed and distributed out had a huge tagline sprawled across the top.

Things had already been explained to the Thieves’ Guild and the Adventurer’s Guild beforehand, but the title still generated a lot of heat. Many spectators from both guilds had come to see the show.

And of course when it got out that the Pure White Catgirl of Warren’s Jewelry Box was going to be fighting, fans of theirs came from all over. Especially those who live in Beastcity Street from Marsfield.

Some of these fans would have probably shown up no matter what she had started Ellis started to think.

Ellis stood at the center of the ring. Claire had used magic beforehand to help her voice reach the entire crowd.

“Gathered spectators, allow me to introduce, the fighters for our first match!”

The hall filled with the resonating timber of the Stone Walls beating on drums as the day’s participants entered the stage.

In the blue corner, Helen stood tall wearing only a set of bikini armor consisting of a bra top and belt armor equipped with a sword and shield. Following behind her were both Nobuhiko and Kazuo wearing full plate armor.

In the red corner, Karen was wearing full black leather bondage armor with thigh-high boots and carrying a dagger in both hands. Masakatsu and Minoru were wearing leather equipment behind her.

Helen and Karen took a step forward and met each other at the center of the ring. They both also had magic cast on them to increase the volume of their voices. Helen pointed her finger out towards Karen and started shouting for all to hear.

“I’ve never like the Thieves’ Guild even long before. You’ll be crushed here and now!”

Karen put her hand on her waist and broke out into a fit of laughter.

“I always you knew people in the Adventurer’s Guild were all a bunch of muscle brains with no sense, but I never knew you’d be so dense to think that we won’t win this day!”

As a side note, Baltis the guild master for the Thieves’ Guild and Theseus the guild master for the Adventurer’s Guild had been laughing in their seats near the ring ever since they saw the outfits Helen and Karen were wearing. Laughter that was only amplified after hearing the two’s dialogue.

“Squeeze those Adventurer Guild bastards!”

“Show those Thieves’ Guild cronies what we can do!”

The audience on the other hand was getting into the show with cheers and shouts ringing out across the room.

Meanwhile the four fighters had stripped off their armor and made preparations for the fight. Nicole took center stage to act as the referee.

*Kahn!*

Everything started moving with the ringing of the gong. The first match between Nobuhiko and Kazuo against Masakatsu and Minoru began. The crowd got even more fired up when the first punch was thrown.

Helen and Karen stood back in their respective corners, acting as managers and coaches. Yelling out orders and cheers as the fight continued to progress. The excitement continued to build up until finally, at its peak, the fight had a dramatic finish. A tie where fighters left in the ring got a ‘ring out’ at the same time.

The large boo’s rising from the crowd brought a smile to Ellis’s face.

“The second fight starts now.”

“Don’t throw anything. Please stop throwing things.”

While Nicole was yelling at the audience, Ellis entered the ring again and called out as if nothing was wrong.

“Then, the second battle, Warren’s representative Katie, the Pure White Catgirl, and Marsfield’s representative Mati, the calico assassin!”

The Stone Walls once again started began the beating of the drums, and the crowd started cooling down when they remembered the second fight.

From the blue corner, Mati appeared wearing a black bra top depicting the coat of arms for Marsfield on it along with some black short spats. Labra and Ravi came in behind her–Labra crossing her arms looking tough and Ravi scrunching up her face in a scowl, trying to look tough.

The booing picked back up again from the audience. The three were perfectly well received heels.¹

From the red corner, sporting a bra top adorned with the five colors of the Jewelry Box and striped spats of the same color, Katie came walking down to the ring with her arms stretched above her head. Frau and Claire came down accompanying her, although they looked just a little less into the show than Labra and Ravi were.

“Katie!!!”

The inside of the hall was filled with the crowd calling Katie’s name. Fans were rising out of their seats, singing their fists into the air, and yelling out all the horrible things she should do to Mati until she finally reached the ring.

When Katie finally arrived at the edge of the stage, Mati pointed at her from the center, and the crowd’s loud cheers quickly died away. Once everything had gone silent, and a tension settle in the room, Mati was able to squeeze out,

“Good evening.”

The crowd remained silent for a second more. Then, when the tension finally snapped, rows of laughter louder than the people’s cheers from before filled the room.

“Yes yes, good evening to you too!”

“That lady, isn’t she a really nice person?”

“Yeah I know her. She’s that girl who owns Steam Kitchen!”

“What? Then maybe I should be cheering for Mati instead!”

Many of the fans there started to recognize Mati from before, and there were some who were already turning on Katie. Soon, the people cheering Mati’s name were a match for those calling Katie’s.

*Kahn!*

Once again the fight started with the echo of the gong, and the two fighters became locked together in a fight reminiscent of their street brawl from before.

And once again the fight ended with a double ring out.

“Don’t screw with me! Return my money!”

“You bastards, shape up!”

Nicole was able to calmly receive the jeers from the crowd, and while receiving everyone’s complaints, calmly said, “Today’s games are over. Everyone, please take care on your way home.”3

At an unprecedented 5000 ril a seat, the 300 tickets for the next performance quickly sold out. Everyone wanted to see a proper conclusion to the story Ellis had crafted.

The Merchant Guild receives 1.5 million ril in sales.

Even if they paid the fighters 100,000 ril, twice what they would normally pay an entertainment act like this, and then also pay off the girls acting as coaches for the fight, the Stone Walls for their music, and the flyer distribution fee to the Workshop Guild, the profit margin is still 600,000 ril.

Ellis receives a 30 percent cut from the gross margin for her work as a promoter which comes out to 180,000 ril. That means that by doing almost nothing, the Merchant Guild just received 420,000 ril of profit.

“How is it Maria?”

“Absolutely delicious Ellis.”

Ufufufufufu.

And just like that, Ellis Finance was able to add the ‘Live house box office’ to its list of jobs.

1. The bad guys in wrestling.