[ Undercity - The Golden Catfish Restaurant ]

“So what exactly was the reason for you people to be kidnapping a bunch of angels from Anorlon anyway?”

“Like we said it was a job.”

The red-haired woman—who apparently goes by the title of ‘Boss’—insists in a firm voice in response to my question.

In order to not be too conspicuous, we decided that it was better to travel by boat along the canals to the Golden Catfish Restaurant. Right now, we’re all sitting on a small passenger boat. Vena and I side by side on one end, the three Chaos Angels sit on the other end, while the big man by the name of Kevin takes care of the rowing.

As we pass under an arching bridge, the red-haired ‘Boss’ woman explains with a slight pout.

“Some days ago, our contractor at the Golden Catfish put up a request for the recruitment of pretty Order Angels from Anorlon’s Surface.”

—Recruitment, huh. That’s one way to put it.

“Why specifically ‘pretty’ angels?” Vena asks, frowning.

“Why do you think?”

‘Boss’ begins to smile. But immediately stops herself the moment Vena gives her a sharp squint and gives us a proper answer.

“I-It’s for a beauty pageant.”

Aaahh… I see. That makes sense.

—Wait, what?

““A beauty pageant?”” Vena and I both raise our voices in surprise.

“Yep.” ‘Boss’ nods.

While Bell is sitting on the side of the boat looking out into the distance without paying much attention, Kevin chimes in to give us more detail.

“Gather all the pretty angels of Anorlon in one place to figure out who’s most worthy…. Or something like that, I didn’t really pay attention.”

“I guess that explains why the people that have been disappearing from the streets of Anorlon were all girls according to Captain Tamaria.”

While I try to wrap my head around the new piece of information, the boat passes by a lower dock. Another unconscious man is hanging off of the wooden platform; one of his hands dipping into the water.

—There have been quite a few more of those unconscious people as we continue to travel along the carnal, I noticed.

“Most participants were actually invited to come normally, but because of the nature of the Undercity, most of them would forget about how to get to this place later anyway.”

Realizing where 'Boss' is going with this, Vena and I immediately narrow our gazes at her.

“Today is the last day, and we somehow weren’t able to convince a single person to come with us despite my brilliant negotiation skill. People just kept telling us to stop harassing them.”

The red-haired woman pokes her index fingers together awkwardly.

“So you know how it goes. Running out of time. No money. The dream of fame and glory gets further and further away….”

…..

“So you just decided to kidnap Eden?”

The three of them jolt up at my words.

“““We had no choice!”””

“Have you considered just—not committing a crime?”

“We did think about approaching you three normally, but it was easier just to take Eden to the Undercity and explain everything later…”

“What kind of sensibility is that?!”

“I-it’s not like the people that were brought here are treated poorly. And we all generally have a good time in the Undercity, you know?”

“Right…”

“A-anyways, what happened happened. Also now that we don’t have a pretty angel to bring in as a participant, we're not even going to get paid for all the trouble we went through either.”

“...Allow me to offer you my non-existent sympathy.”

After looking to the side to avoid our silent, judging stares, ‘Boss’ crosses her arms, and lets out a heavy sigh.

“Ah, but seriously. Little Eden would have been a perfect candidate for a pretty angel competition, you know?”

“But speaking of a pretty angel. Don’t we also have one right here?”

Suddenly, Bell, who was sitting silently on the side, speaks up. Everyone on the boat turns to look at him with confusion, and the red beanie-wearing man silently points at Vena who’s sitting to my right.

Vena points to herself and tilts her head a little.

“Me?”

After a moment…

“She’s way out of your league, Bell,” the red-haired ‘Boss’ woman says flatly.

“That’s not why—! Come on!”

“—We’re almost there.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Bell’s panic shouting is interrupted by the voice of Kevin signaling our arrival at the destination. In the distance, a glowing silhouette of a massive building slowly comes into view; almost half the canal is blocked by it.

As we get closer, the sides of the waterway leading up to the floating restaurant become almost entirely filled up by passenger boats just like the one we’re on, and also a few bigger ones. Despite the fact that the canal is quite wide, the number of ships surrounding this place leaves almost no room for passage.

Finally, I can see the Golden Catfish Restaurant itself. A massive, multiple stories wooden building floats atop the waters of the canal, decorated by the orange lights of the lamps and lanterns hanging from the sides.

Especially with the lack of competing lights from the rest of the city, its reflection glows magnificently in the pitch-black water.

—Hee~ This place actually looks quite nice.

[We’re not here to sightsee...]

—Yes, yes. Understood.

“So this is the place the Emergency Response System wanted us to investigate.” I pinch my chin and think out loud.

“There really seem to be some waking people here,” says ‘Boss’, stretching her neck to peer into the distance.

Now that I look at it, there really seem to be some people walking about on the lowest platform of the Golden Catfish, just above the water. Which means that somehow, this place is the exception to everything else that’s happening in the Undercity.

“Interesting…” Kevin mutters.

While we’re all taking in the scenery, Bell speaks up again.

“Um, about what I was saying earlier, Miss Vena. I would like to offer a proposal.” He raises his hand and looks at Vena...

“Sorry, but my heart already belongs to Eden.”

—Only for my sister to calmly say that.

“““...”””

Just silence all around.

“You got rejected, Bell,” ‘Boss’ says, sympathetically.

”Wanna cry on my shoulder?” Kevin places his hand on Bell’s shoulder.

“Shut up! You all know what I meant!” Bell immediately snaps at the two.

—Yep, so do you want to keep playing around or what?

“You want me to pretend to be your ‘participant’ for the event so that we could go inside without raising suspicion, right?”

After receiving my mental nudge, Vena stops pretending to misunderstand the proposal Bell offered and acknowledges it directly.

It’s rare for Vena to deliberately tease a stranger like this. But I guess she was just using the opportunity to mention how much she loves Eden…

—Yeah, that’s probably it.

“Eh? Y-yes.”

Bell seems surprised by the sudden shift—probably just realized that he was being played and isn’t sure how to respond. Well, it’s none of my concern really. Plus.

“It’s a decent idea.” I shrug and say. “That way, we could split off to different parts of the restaurant and gather information faster.”

The boat comes to a stop on the side of the canal. The water in front of the restaurant is entirely filled with boats, so we can’t dock onto it directly. However, there’s a pathway made from rows of smaller boats with wooden planks connecting them that can lead us directly to the restaurant.

“Well, then. Let us go,” says ‘Boss’, stepping out of the boat and onto the pathway.

—————……….

So, after we decided on our plan of action, I split off from Vena and the Chaos Angels group, launching myself into the air and landing on the top of one of the larger boats surrounding the Golden Catfish.

From up here, I can see that the restaurant is a lot grander than I originally thought, with multiple floors and layers, including several balcony areas.

I squint my eyes looking around the lower balcony. There, a few groups of people appear to be eating, drinking, and playing some sort of card game. Their appearances also varied a lot now that I look at them more carefully. Aside from their wild outfits, a few of them have long ears or sharp teeth, for example. Which is a little bit surprising.

Although the appearance your angel form takes after getting reincarnated into the Realm of Gods directly correlates to your physiques in the Mortal World, the majority of races down there generally have longer life spans than Humanity—which basically means that the majority of angels were humans and have the appearance of one.

—Well, I suppose it makes sense that the Chaos Angels are more diverse… People who willingly jump into the blaze of glory and die seem to always fall onto that side of the spectrum.

In front of the Golden Catfish Restaurant is an area that looks to be the main dock for the people coming on board. There, a strangely-dressed man with several face tattoos stands guarding the stairs that lead to the entrance, holding a clipboard.

The three Chaos Angels walk a little in front of Vena, and approach the man. The surrounding crowd seems to be too busy drinking to pay them any mind.

Immediately, the tattoo-faced man calls out to them.

“Oh, Boss girl. You’re here.”

—Wait... that’s not just like an in-group title?!

“Uncle Ten, Yo~” The red-haired ‘Boss’ woman, cheerfully waves her hands at him.

“Um, this is…?”

Noticing the appearance of the white-haired maid walking behind them, the tattoo-faced man stumbles a bit.

Vena’s currently in her princess mode, so it’s not surprising that he would find her presence rather bright.

Which actually reminds me, back in the days of the Holy War, certain assassination missions required us to infiltrate the enemy ranks just like this—servant costumes and all.

—Because of that, the entire thing kind of stuck.

“She’s the participant that I’ve brought today,” ‘Boss’ gestures toward Vena and proudly announces.

“I-I see. You’re cutting it real close, huh?”

Clicking his tongue once, the tattoo-faced man brings up the clipboard in his hand and pulls out a pen from it, before looking to Vena.

“What’s your name, Miss?”

—Do we want to use a fake name so that we won’t be recognized or..?

“Vena.”

—Oi, think about it a bit.

[It should be fine, no? Most people wouldn’t actually recognize the two of you anyway.]

“Vena… Sounds familiar, hmm.“

The tattoo-faced man hums softly to himself and writes down something on the paper on his clipboard, before looking back at Vena.

“Alright, the competition is just about to begin. Go inside and talk to Edteech, he’ll lead your participant to the preparation room and help her get ready. As for payment, the manager will contact you after the party is over.”

“Gotcha~! Thanks, Uncle Ten.”

“Getting called ‘Uncle’ by you is a bit much… Please stop it.”

While the Chaos Angels are talking, Vena and I notice the opportunity to ask for more information.

“Excuse me, sir, can you perhaps tell me more about the event itself? What is the specific nature of the competition, the reward, or…” She carefully controls her voice. “Who is the organizer behind this entire thing, for example.”

[How very… direct.]

—Seeing how they respond might be very useful.

“Ah, you must be talking about the Master.”

The tattoo-faced man thoughtfully exclaims. The name ‘Master’ was also mentioned by those three if I remember correctly.

“I’m sorry to say, but I don’t know much about him either. Well, aside from the fact that he paid the manager a lump sum to rent out the entire restaurant for a week.”

Disappointingly, he doesn’t seem to be able to provide any more information.

“I see…”

Vena nods her head. The four of them begin to walk up the stairs toward the main entrance, passing by all the other people who are eating and drinking happily without a care in the world on the upper layer of the main dock.

“Good luck,” I whisper under my breath.

In the distance, Vena closes her eyes and nods slightly.

Soon enough, the four of them disappear behind the door.

I turn my head and look toward the Golden Catfish Restaurant. The massive building glows above the dark water, the loud singing and the beats of the drums causing faintly visible waves.

—I guess it’s time for me to find some other way inside too.

—————…….….