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Chapter 5: The Case of the Tavern Waitress (R-18)
The lanterns of the Benevolent Mistress flickered with a warm, amber glow, casting long shadows against the polished wood of the tavern floor. For Ryuu Lion, the atmosphere was a jarring contrast to the oppressive, suffocating darkness of the Deep Floors. Her wounds had healed, and the physical aches had faded into memory, but her spirit still felt fragile, like glass that had been cooled too quickly. She had returned to work with a humble apology to Mama Mia, hoping that the repetitive rhythm of serving ale and clearing plates would help her reclaim her stolen normalcy.
However, the "normalcy" of Orario was often more treacherous than the monsters below.
"Gah—! My hand!"
"This establishment is for the appreciation of fine spirits and food," Ryuu stated, her voice as cold and precise as a winter frost. "Such tactile 'appreciations' are strictly prohibited."
Without breaking her stride, Ryuu had pinned a customer's wrist to the table using an empty wooden mug as a lever. She didn't even look at him; her gaze remained fixed on the order slip in her other hand. She was used to the wandering hands of the unwashed masses, but the man's sudden, venomous retort struck her like a physical blow.
"Tch! You're only acting tough because you already had your fill with that 'Rabbit Foot' brat!" the man spat, his face twisted in a drunken leer. "If you're willing to play house with him, why act like a saint with me!?"
The air in the tavern seemed to freeze.
"Wh-What—!?"
CRACK.
"OW-OW-OW-OW-OW!! STOP!! YOU'RE GONNA SNAP IT!!"
In her shock, Ryuu's tempered restraint vanished. Her mind flashed to Bell—his kindness in the darkness, the way they had clung to one another to survive the 37th floor. To hear that sacred bond dragged through the muck of a drunkard's mouth triggered a visceral, defensive rage.
"Ryuu, let go nya! You're going to turn his arm into kindling!" Chloe cried, rushing over with Lunoire to restrain the elven waitress.
Once the man was pried loose, Ryuu stood trembling, her elven dignity replaced by a frantic, stuttering confusion. "What... what possible foundation... what preposterous lie is this!? What proof do you have for such a s-s-scandalous claim!?"
"Proof? It's the hottest thing in the city!" The man smirked, fumbling in his satchel to produce a thin booklet.
The cover was a masterpiece of romantic irony: Ryuu in a cascading white wedding dress, her arm linked with a tuxedo-clad Bell Cranel. Lunoire and Chloe immediately snatched it, huddling together with wide eyes.
"No way... Ryuu is actually... and the boy's backside...!"
"Give that to me!" Ryuu reached out, but a slender, pale hand intercepted her.
"My, my... so this is the source of the commotion," Syr said, her voice deceptively sweet.
The temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. Chloe and Lunoire turned pale, sensing the "smiling fury" radiating from the girl. Syr flipped through the pages with deliberate slowness, her gaze lingering on the depictions of Ryuu and Bell in various stages of undress. The aura surrounding her was so thick it felt like a physical weight.
"S-Syr...?" Ryuu whispered, her indignation turning into genuine fear.
"Hehe... the artist is quite talented," Syr replied, her eyes fixed on a panel of Ryuu straddling the boy. "They seem to understand the two of you... intimately. Perhaps too intimately."
Mama Mia's voice suddenly boomed from the kitchen, shattering the tension. "Get back to work, you lazy brats! I don't pay you to gawk at smut!"
The staff scattered like leaves in a gale. Syr alone remained, staring at the customer with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Excuse me, sir. May I keep this? As a... keepsake?"
"I... uh... yes. Just don't look at me like that!" The man fled into the night.
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After the tavern doors were locked for the night, the forbidden curiosity proved too strong. The staff gathered around a table where Syr had laid the book open. Ryuu lurked in the shadows behind a pillar, her heart racing as she eavesdropped.
The story was a dreamlike fantasy of a wedding night. "I never dreamed I would actually have a wedding ceremony with a human man..." the text read. Anya wailed that Ryuu had "betrayed her cat-sisters" by marrying the white-haired kid first, but the mood shifted as the "ceremony" gave way to the "first night."
The dress in the book was a masterpiece of eroticism—a "vestment of matrimony" that was strategically translucent.
"What a scandalous outfit nya! Forcing someone as pure as Ryuu into this... the author is truly a god of culture!" Chloe exclaimed.
In the moonlight of the illustrations, the "clean-freak" Ryuu was gone, replaced by a woman who pinned Bell to the bed with a fierce, hungry intensity. "We already swore eternal love to the moon that night in the forest!" she declared on the page.
The mention of the forest—of the 14th floor—sent a jolt of lightning through the real Ryuu. How? she thought, her face burning. How could they know about our promise?
As the book reached its climax—a "counter-attack" from Bell that left the fictional Ryuu overwhelmed and disheveled—the Tavern girls could only stare in a daze, swallowing hard at the sheer heat of the drawings.
"THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH!"
The real Ryuu burst from the shadows, snatched the book with Level 4 speed, and bolted toward her room.
"Wait! We didn't see if there was a sequel!"
Ryuu slammed her door, leaning against it as she clutched the book to her chest. She was mortified. She was furious. And yet, as she looked at the drawing of Bell's hand entwined with hers, she felt a strange, fluttering warmth she couldn't name.
Downstairs, Syr adjusted her cloak, her playful demeanor gone. She stepped into the night and looked toward a dark corner where a shadow waited.
"Find the person selling these in the Entertainment District," she whispered. "Don't touch them yet. I want to see how the other 'models' react first. It will be much more entertaining to see who snaps first."
"Understood." The shadow vanished.
Syr began to hum a cheerful tune as she walked home, already imagining the chapters she would "commission" once the author was in her custody.
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