Clang! Clang! Clang!
Krrrk...
My exchange with the Kongkongi Gang boss went on for so long it was almost boring.
Then, whenever I made one mistake, I'd get counterattacked.
Thud—
"Tch."
And whenever I managed to slip into an opening, I'd land a solid hit.
"Hup!"
Wham!
In the process, I was definitely pouring out a considerable amount of attacks, but unlike the enemies before him, the Kongkongi Gang boss kept holding out for a long time.
Swoosh—!
"Next, I'll grant you silence."
"Little brother!!"
If there was any comfort to be found, it was that while I kept the boss pinned down, the others were being neatly cleaned up.
No matter how tough the boss was, he couldn't possibly be tougher than an Abnormality.
Maybe this fight would end earlier than I expected.
"You bastard... move!"
Clang—!
In the end, seeing that, the boss began throwing caution to the wind and struggling with all his might to break through me.
Clang——! Clang——! Clang——!
Before long, the exchange that seemed like it would end quickly dragged on for a long while.
Clang——! Clang——! Clang——! Clang——! Clang——!
While the Kongkongi Gang boss and I traded dozens of blows, his underlings were all finished off, and in the end only the boss remained, continuing to exchange strikes with me.
Clang——! Clang——! Clang——! Clang——! Clang——! Clang——!
...Even though the fight was clearly over, the Sinners were just staring blankly at the exchange between me and the boss.
"Hurry up and help!"
Only after Dante's noisy command did the Sinners start attacking the boss, and at last this endless exchange came to an end.
I thought I was going to die from exhaustion.
"You... cockroach-looking bastards..."
"Where the hell did you come from... At this point... you might as well tell me..."
"We..."
"Came from Limbus Company."
Gregor, who had finally spat out the words he'd been keeping tightly hidden until the very moment the Kongkongi Gang boss was on the verge of death, wore a much more relaxed expression.
"That's a little more satisfying."
"So... where the hell... is that...!"
"Ah, for the record, Epi and I are from a different department than these people. Please don't lump us together."
"..."
The boss let out a strained groan as if he were about to say something out of sheer frustration, but in the end he collapsed from the wounds we'd inflicted.
Collapsed from his injuries... right?
It'd be pointless to say a boss who ruled over one back alley was felled by rage-induced illness, so let's just say he went down from his wounds.
Mm. An unavoidable choice for the sake of a person's dignity.
"But do we really have to wear these clothes? They stink of sweat, blood... and there's this disgustingly musty smell too."
Rodion grumbled, pinching the shirt stolen from the Kongkongi Gang between two fingers as if it were filthy trash.
"Ugh, there's fur on it too... This is the first time I've ever envied Dante for not having eyes."
"I can see the front..."
Among the noisy Sinners, Epi, who had been carefully inspecting the Kongkongi Gang shirt, said that.
"It looks better quality than I expected, though? Guess these guys make more money than I thought."
Then Ryoshu noticed the clothes Epi was wearing and pointed at them.
"Swap with me. Hand it over."
"N-no, it's custom-made clothing, so no."
"...It says free size on the tag."
At Dante's remark, after noticing the label attached to Epi's clothes, Epi bristled.
"Tch... I, in the first place, if you lot hadn't caused such a ruckus at the pawnshop, I wouldn't be suffering like this."
"You're the one who started that mess."
"Ugh..."
Whether Ryoshu was glaring at Epi's clothes or not, Hong Lu spoke with his usual bright smile.
"It's fine. I've always wanted to wear clothes like this at least once. It feels like I'm filming a movie."
"I'm a little nervous. It's been a while since I've done an undercover job."
...It's more surprising that you've actually done undercover work before, Ishmael.
"I don't like this. Things like this are for cowards."
"Um, could someone please shut this person up?"
Apparently fed up with Ryoshu's nonstop complaints, Sword said that.
"...If you're prepared to have your ribs cut open too, then go ahead and try it."
"At the very least, it'd be the wrist..."
At my and Gregor's low mutter, the Sinners each snickered.
Epi and Sword both seemed to be pondering what our words meant, but...
They soon decided it was pointless, adjusted their expressions, and then held up a small container that looked as if it had been made from mother-of-pearl.
"...This is the wish jar we got from the Kongkongi Gang boss."
"Manager, I'll entrust you with a simple role."
"What...?"
"That gesture means you don't understand, so I should explain."
Epi and Sword began explaining, speaking back and forth so naturally it was as if they were one person.
"If I had to put it simply, J Corp's Singularity is contained inside this jar. It's a tool that devours people's 'wishes' and stores them as energy."
"At the right moment, you carve the wish out in the form of paper, and ta-da! A disposable tattoo sticker appears that makes your luck shoot up just by sticking it on."
"So they were planning to gather other people's luck and use it to win at the gambling on the top floor... For a mere thug boss to be carrying something like this."
Epi handed Dante the luck-boosting sticker... or, roughly speaking, the wish sticker.
"Manager... Dante, was it? Before we go into the casino, you keep this safe."
"Am I really fit to take on such an important role?"
Dante seemed uneasy about being given the most important job, but Epi looked strangely certain.
"That gesture says you're not confident at all, but there's a reason I picked you."
"First, the most important thing in a gambling table is a poker face."
"No matter how skilled they are at reading expressions, they can't possibly gauge the expression of a clock."
"Second, I think there must be a reason you became the Manager."
"It's my vague belief that you'll be more useful than those Sinners, at least."
...It was a very reasonable point, but even then, the way he casually took a jab at the Sinners was so very Epi.
It somehow managed to ruin the mood.
Dante seemed to think over Epi's words for a while, then slowly nodded.
"All right. Stick this to your arm. For a little while, you can become the luckiest person in the world."
"Then you'll be the Kongkongi Gang, and we'll be the dealers. Let's each do our best at our roles."
This mission... we absolutely had to succeed.
Silently making that vow, I walked up the stairs near the car tower and opened the casino door.
The atmosphere inside the casino was chaotic.
Ding! Ding!
From one side came the cheerful sound effects of slot machines,
and the excessively bright lighting was enough to make the Sinners, who had never been exposed to this kind of glare before, instinctively raise their hands to shield their eyes.
Seeing our Hawaiian shirts from far away, the guards lowered their heads as if it were familiar,
and Sword and Epi, pretending to be casino dealers, went off with Rodion to exchange chips while subtly nodding at us.
I couldn't help admiring their skill, the way they instantly made themselves look like employees who had worked here for years, from their gait to their expressions.
As expected, elites are elites for a reason.
"W-what exactly is this glittering machine?"
"Don't go wandering around with your eyes all wide like that, Don Quixote. You'll look suspicious..."
Gregor's insect arm, while he said that, was hardly any less suspicious to anyone who knew the old G Corp, but I decided not to say anything.
"The customers all look dead in the eyes. And I think it smells even more disgusting than those Kongkongi Gang bastards. Do they not wash themselves...?"
"Don't cover your nose so obviously, Ishmael..."
Gregor was doing his best to rein in the Sinners.
What a hard life.
"But it really does smell like the vile stench I'd only ever smelled from deckhands..."
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, most people were focused only on the machines, so no one paid us any attention.
"...Though Saramago is surprisingly fine with this? You look like the type who'd hate dirt at a glance."
"I guess being a doctor means you end up dealing with a lot of foul-smelling and filthy things, so I've gotten used to it..."
...I didn't particularly want to dig up those memories, but in the literal sense, my body and mind had both developed a high tolerance for disgusting things.
Being a doctor didn't mean you only dealt with things that could be handled cleanly.
While we were chatting like that, Don Quixote approached one slot machine with her eyes sparkling.
"Manager, sir! Have you ever seen such a thing?"
"How does one make it produce those merry sounds as well? I wish to hear them too!"
"I'm probably new to places like this too, so I'm not sure..."
Dante's hesitant tone made me a little uneasy, but surely Dante wouldn't be the one to cause trouble first.
"Sh-should we just watch for a little?"
...He wouldn't, right?
"It says to press this button! Is pressing the button all that is required?"
In the end, unable to overcome my unease, I lifted my head to stop them, only to see a scene that made me grab the back of my neck on reflex.
"Oops!"
Thud!
Dante fell over and pressed the slot machine's button, and unfortunately, that machine still had one chance left because someone had left a coin inside it.
Ding ding-doriri ding-doririro——
Yes, of course, with loud music playing, the reels started spinning...
And we could only stare blankly at the sight.
It feels like I can see Rodion's group, who went to exchange chips.
Is this what a flashback is?
"By the way, Dante has properly attached the wish ticket we recovered from the Kongkongi Gang, right?"
"That Manager? That was the one thing we asked him to do, so he should be able to handle that much."
"You can trust Dante~ He's one of the few sane people who can actually talk with me."
"That's a relief. If you attach that much wish power all at once, you should be able to win any game without trouble."
"The most important thing is just not to draw attention here."
Sorry, everyone. I failed to stop him.
[Jackpot!]
With cheerful music, a loud sound burst out from the machine,
and I closed my eyes, resigning myself to the dark future ahead.
If anyone came into my field of vision right now, I felt like I might even be able to stab Dante.
Seriously.
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