Leaving Cat's Paw Inn to Kazusa

"Everyone's feeling better and grateful. If you ever need anything, come to me. I'll help out again."

"No need. This is my duty."

After exchanging a handshake with Aogiri and finishing the treatment, I headed back with Elza in tow.

They'd gone out of their way to seek treatment, so some of the patients must have been seriously ill, but Elza's skill was clearly considerable.

I'd had no basis for comparison before now and hadn't realized.

Living under the same roof, there wasn't much opportunity to see her demonstrate her abilities.

"Good work. Aren't you tired?"

"Oh, thank you for your concern. But I'm fine. Healing miracles aren't that taxing for me."

"Is that so? Come to think of it, you made a lot of holy water in one night too."

"That was physically tiring, but… I'm actually quite impressive, you know."

Elza clasped her hands behind her back and turned to face me.

Then she flashed an adorable smile.

"I see. Then I'll keep relying on you."

"Leave it to me, Master."

She said it with a teasing laugh.

On the way back, we stopped by Cat's Paw Inn to check on Kazusa.

I bought cold fruit juice from a street vendor.

Since I couldn't carry enough cups for everyone, I had Elza fill her canteen with it.

I'd left everything to Kazusa after chasing off those thugs, so this was the least I could do.

Cat's Paw Inn had finished serving its light meals for the day and was only operating the lodging side.

"Welcome back, Yohane-san. I think my sister is still in the kitchen."

"Got it. Thanks."

Kazusa's younger brother greeted me.

There was a pitcher for water, so I poured some juice into a glass and handed it to him.

"Thank you!"

He accepted it with the unguarded delight of someone his age.

As directed, I went to the kitchen. Prep was done, and there were no other employees around. Just Kazusa and the Gypsy sisters chatting.

From the atmosphere, it was post-work relaxation mixed with chatting.

"Hey there."

"Oh, Owner! And Elza-san."

Kazusa got up and came to greet me.

The sisters followed.

That kind of attentiveness was what made her suited for the service industry.

"Nothing happened here while you were gone. How did it go on your end, Owner? All I heard was that you were going to catch the ringleader."

"It's our fault, isn't it? We really don't know what to say…"

"I already told you, you two are family now. You don't need to say anything like that. Right, Owner?!"

"All right, all right, settle down."

I calmed the fired-up Kazusa.

I could feel Elza's amused gaze on me.

"Anyway, let's not stand around talking. Have a seat. I brought drinks."

"Oh, let me get the glasses then."

We got situated, and I took a sip of juice.

The sweet-sour taste refreshed me.

"Long story short, the people who tried to scam you two won't be coming back. We wiped out the whole organization."

Aogiri and my crew had smashed every single hideout they had.

The thug members were beaten down and handed over to the authorities.

With their rap sheets, they'd probably end up doing hard labor at a coal mine or salt lake for years.

That would do society more good than them cheating others for easy money.

"Ehh… Um, Owner-san, you run a small trading company, right? You're not some shady character, are you?"

"Isn't this normal? When someone messes with you, you hit back. Otherwise they'll keep walking all over you."

The older sister asked nervously, clearly taken aback.

It made sense. We'd basically crushed violence with even greater violence.

Kazusa didn't seem particularly bothered, but her values leaned more toward the adventurer side.

"Our Master does what needs to be done when the time comes."

Elza added in a carefree tone.

"Ah, well, we did have hired muscle. And with Elza included, having a capable adventuring party on retainer made it possible. Everything we do business-wise is above board, so don't worry."

"… True. This inn is perfectly normal, and the terms are good."

Not quite convinced, but she filed it away for now.

My company prided itself on being upstanding. She'd figure that out as she worked here.

I kept Owen and Nephilim out of it.

No point in telling them, and it was tangential to what mattered to them.

What mattered was that Owen had been caught and one group that preyed on vulnerable women had been eliminated.

No, maybe more than one.

They might have been pulling strings in the background for others too.

If poppy-derived drugs had been flowing in from Luido on top of this…

Owen would have definitely used them.

The entire city might have been crippled.

"Kazusa. Now that the problem's dealt with, are you good to handle things from here?"

"Yeah. Customer traffic has calmed down a bit, and the new staff are working hard, so no issues. Thank you so much for helping out. Pass my thanks to Azu and Alexia-san too."

"Will do."

"Will do! Okay, I'm closing up the kitchen, so see you two tomorrow."

"Thank you for everything."

We wrapped up, and I drained the last of the juice before getting up.

Occupancy was high, so from here on I could basically leave things to Kazusa.

I'd assumed it would mainly serve adventurers, but apparently traveling merchants were using it more than expected.

Now that my hands were free again, I could focus on other work.

Time to get serious about the iron ore trade with Alsarm while the tariffs were suspended.

After all, I'd gotten a direct update from Lady Anatia herself.

There was significant profit to be made.

And iron ore had endless uses, so even in the worst case where it didn't sell, holding onto it wouldn't be a problem.