https://ncode.syosetu.com/n5562hc/50/
Subjugation Request
I’ve lost track of how many days have passed since the first round of the auditions, but thankfully I’ve gradually gotten used to the work.
After completing Lily’s morning training and eating breakfast, I always head to the meeting place in front of the bulletin board.
Dahlia is always there on time while Melia is always a little late. The three of us work together to look over all the requests and choose ones that will take the least amount of time while also showing off our faces before heading to the client.
That’s the cycle we’ve followed until now, but today, we encountered something a little different.
When we looked through the requests, we found a job to subjugate Don Sabaragamuwa. Well, they say they want him ‘subjugated’, but the condition for clearing the request is just to “seize the ring Don cherishes.” There’s no way he’d just hand something like that over of course, so it will most certainly result in us crossing swords with him.
I have no idea who it is up top that decides what points a request is worth, but this one request is worth 20 times the amount of any other we’ve done. With one job we could take first place by a landslide.
But we also have to consider the negatives. Not only does getting first place in the challenge not guarantee I will make it through the first round, it would mean that if I did drop out after the first round, I would be dropping out with the head of the capital’s underworld wanting my head on a pike. I am not touching this.
One look told me Dahlia and Melia were thinking the same thing I was, and we were looking at the other requests when Lily’s team came by.
Everyone should’ve been playing until late last night, but they were all looking lively.
“Good morning everyone”
Olive in particular was in a very good mood. Dahlia looked surprised when Olive greeted even her with a bright smile and a happy hello.
“Hey, good morning. You’re chipper”
“Yes, I am. I am free from a nightmare that has plagued my sleep for a few years now. I slept very well last night.”
Judging by the tone of her voice, Olive must’ve gotten her revenge. Meaning Elm isn’t appearing in her dreams anymore causing the quality of her sleep has gone up. And now she’s practically skipping because of it.
It’s all over now, but as someone who knows the full circumstances here, it feels really weird seeing Olive talk about it in front of Dahlia–Andy’s former girlfriend.
Judging from Dahlia’s appearance, I don’t think she knows what happened to Andy yet. Although even if she does know Andy is now running fingerless, she probably isn’t going to connect it with Olive’s mood.
The conversation was interrupted when Ran, who had been blankly staring at the request board, suddenly raised her voice.
“Here! This one! The points are high! We have to do it!”
“This is…. a subjugation of Don? They wish us to take his ring. Meaning it isn’t asking us to kill him.”
Lily sighed in relief.
“Don’s a bad guy, right? There are a lot of people who hold a grudge against him, so we’d be doing a service running him out of the city.”
“You may be right. There was a time where his activities were isolated, but lately he has had a harder time keeping a hold on his operations because of his rising age. The young people who follow him have been causing trouble, and I often receive consultations about the issue.”
Olive is on Ran’s side.
“Well…. if he is finding it difficult to control his men, the issues caused by those men will not disappear just by crushing their leader. Let us head there first. If we find another way to acquire his ring, it could lead to a great gain.”
I figured Lily wouldn’t like the idea of just busting in to a place and forcefully grabbing the guy’s ring, but when her team pulled down the request paper, I was still worried and followed them out the room with my eyes.
Rather than Don, I’m concerned about those kids from the orphanage. What’s going to happen to them when their gangster caretaker dies? I don’t know if he has an heir to take care of things or not, and I’m curious.
“Liffy, getting involved isn’t going to do anything. We should just do what we need to.”
Dahlia pulled on my arm and tried getting my attention away from the door. But I’m already worried about it, and it’s hard thinking about any other requests when my mind is someplace else.
When it became obvious I wasn’t going to budge, Dahlia sighed like she’d given up and let go of my arm.
“Here, let’s take this one. It’s just walking a dog. And if we walk past Don’s place as we walk it, I’m sure the client won’t complain.”
“Yes! Then let’s go!”
“Haa…. you seem so stubborn, but you’re starting to resemble her.”
I didn’t know who it was Dahlia was comparing me to, and I was left to wonder about that as we made our way to our new client.
♠
The owner of the dog we were supposed to walk is a noble. To be precise, she is a woman who married into a noble family. She is so similar to most of the other noble girls I’ve met so far, so it seems unlikely that she is originally from a commoner family.
There were several servants at her home when we got there, so one of them could always take the dog for a walk. I have a sinking suspicion though that she was hoping a noble daughter would come along.
Hypothetically, let’s say Lily was the one to come along. That means she would have the daughter of the country’s current minister running around and doing chores for her. She wanted to live through that kind of delusion, but instead, she got a trio of commoner girls who had never heard about any of her ancestors.
We received the dog while being given the excuse that she couldn’t do it herself because of indigestion, and we headed towards the commoner area of town where the dog had probably never been before. Don apparently lives right next to the orphanage, so that is where we headed. Considering his work, I would have liked him to live further away.
While we were passing by the market stalls, the dog reacted to the smell of butter coming from their lunch preparations. Oh please no. I just remembered the story Lily told me about nobles rubbing butter on their crotches and letting dogs lick it clean.
“This dog is a glutton, isn’t he? It looks like he’s eating better than we are.”
Dahlia didn’t say anything to the noble client earlier, so she seems to want to work out her dissatisfaction on the dog instead.
“But I have been getting tired of dormitory food recently. Rose-san’s cooking last night was really yummy!”
The quality of living in the dorms is high-class, so the food there isn’t anything the three of us have ever had before. It was a lot of fun at first, but you get tired of it when it’s all you’re eating day after day.
It feels like a lifetime ago when we got furious because we were forced to eat bean soup after the nobles used up all the ingredients. It’s so weird to think that was only a couple weeks ago.
While I was throwing my own grudges at this dog that didn’t understand the human language, we soon arrived in front of the orphanage.
To be blunt, Lily’s team is a group of beautiful women. We aren’t anything to pass over either, but they are the ones who stand out the most. Maybe that’s why when we encountered them in front of the orphanage’s entrance, it seemed like they were literally glowing.
“Walking a dog? Seems like fun.”
Lily’s suspiciously smiling eyes were aimed at me as if to say, “It’s ridiculous to have a dog walk another dog.” I stuck my tongue out at her as a way to lightly protest, but I quickly pulled it back in my mouth when I realized that just made me look more like a dog.
“It looks like our client was expecting a nice young lady with a pretty face from a distinguished family. Instead she mud-covered dregs. You should thank us.”
“Some people are just nasty.”
Dahlia took the look Lily was giving me as sarcasm towards all three of us and prepared for battle, but Lily lightly brushed away her remarks and stared off into the distance.
We were all getting along well last night, but when it comes down to the audition, we’ve returned to a crackling, strained relationship. This is the way it should be since this is a life altering chance we are talking about, but the ambiguity still feels weird.
As the awkward staredown continued, a man came out of the orphanage. It was Andy.
“Sorry to make you wait. Don isn’t feeling well, and…. oh my god….”
As soon as he saw that we were here too, he looked startled. I know I kneed him in the crotch last time, but he wasn’t bringing it up. I went against my better judgement and looked at his hands, seeing the bandages I expected. I don’t know which is his dominant hand, but at least Olive seemed to forgive him after finishing with his left.
“Oh no, oh my. It cannot be helped if he isn’t feeling well. I guess you’ll have to try again later?”
‘Poor health’ is a convenient way to refuse someone’s visit, and Dahlia looked happy that a rival team’s efforts were going to waste.
“There’s no way that’s going to work! We just need to beat up the bad guys! We’re going in there even if we have to force our way through!”
If Lily and her team were able to score some easy points, that would have been one thing. Everyone in the team was willing to let things go and not force the issue. Everyone besides Ran. It didn’t even look like bravery. It almost seems like she’s…. angry? Does Ran have a grudge against Don?
Her four teammates were trying to convince her to at least move away from the orphanage for now, but Ran was refusing to budge.
“Come on, let’s go. Once we’ve returned the dog, do you want to head to the market and do a handshake event?”
I was too worried about what was going to happen to Lily’s team, so I tried wasting a little time by pretending to think about Dahlia’s reasonable proposal. That was when a second, older gentleman came out of the orphanage.
“Don! You don’t need to come out yourself! Now I don’t know why I bothered to lie!”
Andy called the man Don, so I could immediately understand who it was. His expression looked so gentle you wouldn’t believe he had anything to do with the underworld, let alone run the whole thing. Only a single vertical scar on his right cheeks said he lived anything besides a calm and peaceful life.
“The dancer over there. You are the one who was dancing here yesterday right? Let’s talk inside.”
“Wai-…. Me!?”
I didn’t know what to say when Don suddenly picked me out of the group. He looks to be in good spirits for a guy in, what I guess to be, his sixties or seventies. But I don’t do that. I wouldn’t even want to perform the twerk for the guy because I’m too afraid he’ll end up having a heart attack.
Maybe he noticed my uneasy gaze because Don smiled and waved his hand.
“No need to worry. I’m just a withered old man. You, however, look like an old acquaintance of mine. Would you mind performing a dance for me?”
“Well…. if that’s all….”
Melia and Dahlia shrewdly followed after Don when he turned back towards the orphanage. I guess I’m supposed to leave the dog with Andy? I’m hesitant because he seems like the kind of guy who’d let go of its leash, but it’d be ridiculous to turn back because of that.
I don’t know how they persuaded Andy, but when I entered the door, I noticed that Lily’s team was following after us.
In the end, I was made to take the lead and walk up the stairs even as I worried about whether I really was going to be allowed to leave after performing one dance.
Experimental Translations 