The well-Balanced Yamamoto-san Gets Caught up in a Death Game

Chapter 51

Since we had a lot to talk about, I took Lili-chan to that open-air café that’s “a bit pricey so there aren’t many people.”

As expected, due to the Grand Martial Festival, it’s quite crowded here too.

But while the terrace is full, the inside isn’t so bad?

When a busy-looking waiter came over, I asked if we could use a private room, and it was okay.

In fact, it seems the existence of private rooms isn’t well-known to first-time customers, so I was greeted with, “Are you a regular? Thank you for always using our services.”

I’ve only used it three times, but am I already a regular? Come to think of it, how many visits does it take to be considered a regular?

We entered the private room and ordered something called a Grand Martial Festival limited menu item. Then Lili-chan and I got down to business.

“Sorry, I don’t really understand. What do you mean it’s bad to call out your name?”

“Do you know about Yamamoto, the EOD killer?”

“Uh, ah, yeah. I know…”

Probably better than anyone, I’d say.

“For a while, there was this ‘Yamamoto search’ going on to find that Yamamoto person, and now there’s a Lili version of that…”

“Ah, that video was pretty noticeable.”

“Video…?”

It seems Lili-chan hasn’t seen the official-looking site.

So I told her about it based on the notification email.

“It’s strange. How do they make videos of this LIA world and upload them to an external site…?”

“Maybe it’s not external? They might have set up an official page within the LIA game server, automatically cutting out event highlights and posting the videos. There are quite a few videos with rough editing.”

“Then isn’t the management checking the event and uploading those videos?”

“Well, I’m not sure…”

I’m not really strong in that area either.

But there are a lot of gamers who are good with servers, PCs, and programming, so if we asked around, we might find out.

But thinking about it, is it strange?

Sasaki Koichi, who initially declared this a death game, hasn’t been involved at all with this event.

I thought it would be the perfect timing for him to reappear, and it would be just right to taunt the players who still can’t move…

In reality, they’re just sending notification emails.

Sasaki said he wanted us to “seriously enjoy the game” when the death game started, so I thought he might be checking on us seriously playing the game through external monitors, periodically appearing at events to taunt us and then disappear…

Am I misunderstanding something?

“Well, there’s no point in thinking about complicated things.”

I say, as if trying to convince myself.

Right now, Lili-chan’s story is more important.

“So, you’re being chased around now.”

“Fortunately, Cog-2’s appearance is preceding me, so not many people know I’m Lili, so I’m managing somehow… But Tatsu-san has it pretty rough…”

Apparently, he’s being surrounded by players at the Adventurers’ Guild and bombarded with questions.

Sorry, Tatsu-san!

I’ll make it up to you someday, forgive me!

“Most people ask how we got that equipment. Tatsu-san skillfully deflects those questions, but some people even demand we hand over the equipment…”

It seems that when things started getting scary and unpleasant, Tatsu-san would draw their attention to let Lili-chan escape.

I see. That’s why she was wandering around town alone…

“By the way, did you get any messages from Take-kun?”

“When I sent him a message saying I won, he replied, ‘Congratulations. Do your best.'”

Lili-chan says with a happy smile.

It takes a certain amount of emotional leeway to cheer someone on.

Maybe Take-kun is starting to look up too?

“I’ll do my best. Take-kun is watching me too…”

That’s probably why Lili-chan is so fired up, because she understands that.

Lili-chan looks radiant to me.

“Yeah, do your best, Lili-chan.”

“Yes!”

After that, the Grand Martial Festival limited fruit tart arrived… apparently designed with the base representing a stage and the fruits having a battle royale… so we enjoyed it with tea.

Apparently, we’re not supposed to point out that it’s just a normal fruit tart.

Then, I accompany Lili-chan who wants to look around town.

Collecting seawater can wait.

It’s more fun and time-killing to line up for food stalls with two people than alone.

Ah, I wish I had lived like this in my student days…

By the way, I invited Lili-chan and we lined up at that grilled eel place.

We had to wait quite a while, but having Lili-chan there made it not so bad.

When we ordered the Grand Martial Festival special menu from the usual brother, we got this mysterious thing called a grilled eel mille-feuille sandwich!

It’s grilled eel and vegetables in two or three layers sandwiched between baguettes… but it’s quite difficult to eat!

But it seems to be selling well due to its luxurious appearance. The brother looks pleased.

After that, I continued to look around the stalls with Lili-chan and had a fulfilling day, but…

Yeah, I completely forgot to collect seawater.

I need to make sure I don’t forget tomorrow. Reflection, reflection.

■□■

It’s finally the third day of preliminaries for the Grand Martial Festival—

I did some rough calculations before going to bed last night, but there are 12,000 participants in the Grand Martial Festival.

If that’s divided into seven venues, each venue has about 1,700 people, right?

If one match is held with 50 people, including the finals, 35 matches need to be completed at each venue, so if it’s divided over three days, that’s about 11 matches per day.

And while Lili-chan’s match the day before yesterday was like that… in most cases, it takes about 30 minutes for a match to be decided.

In other words, about five hours a day are spent on preliminaries, but that’s just for the matches… in reality, the time to get on stage and repair the stage is separate.

Basically, the preliminaries take almost a full day to complete the matches, but for those waiting or those who are out of the schedule for that day, it’s super boring…

I’m kind of forcibly convincing myself that this is why there are more people lining up than yesterday.

Yeah, let’s do our best today too!

And surprisingly, there’s a familiar face at the front of the line.

“Tuna-san? Why are you there? And since when…?”

“I heard rumors about how delicious it is. I’ve been sitting here since last night.”

You’ve been sitting here for nearly half a day!

Well, I don’t know if it’s because Tuna-san is at the front, but today there’s a proper line.

Well, maybe seeing a muscular man in a loincloth lining up properly makes people less likely to cause trouble?

“Then, should we hurry with the preparations? Mungaga-san, let’s hurry.”

“Oh, leave it to me! I’ll squash ’em flat!”

What is he going to squash? The poison?

“By the way, is there a purchase limit?”

I stop in my tracks when Tuna-san asks.

Come to think of it, we hadn’t considered a purchase limit.

I hadn’t thought about it because I thought there was no point in buying more once you get [Poison Resistance].

But there are people like Tuna-san who come for the taste…

Thinking about that, maybe we should limit the number of purchases to distribute the soup to more people? It would be troublesome if someone buys them all up.

“Okay, let’s limit it to a maximum of five per person.”

“Then I’ll take five. Of course, the most delicious ones.”

“You heard him, Mungaga-san?”

“Leave it to me! I’ll show you my skills!”

…

Mungaga-san’s “showing his skills” is scary, I think as I continue with the opening preparations.

Yeah, today we’ll sell, sell, and sell like crazy!

■□■

Yes. We sold too much.

“There’s been a surge in people collapsing from poison in town, leading to requests at the Adventurers’ Guild — people collapsed right in front of the shop, causing business obstruction — there are even rumors about it flowing to the dark guild as an assassination tool—”

Forzine Commerce Guild—

In the Guildmaster’s office behind the guild counter, Mungaga-san and I sit on a sofa facing Guildmaster Joachim.

“Do you have anything to say for yourselves?”

“We do.”

“Wow, it’s amazing that you can say you do at this point.”

We sold a ton of poison soup and sold out again today.

Just as we were triumphantly returning the stall to the Commerce Guild, Katze-san caught us and we were sent to the Guildmaster’s office.

And then to be suddenly lectured by the Guildmaster…

Normally you’d be intimidated, but I’m going to resist!

“First of all, it’s the individual’s responsibility if many people get poisoned. We properly advise drinking the detoxifying tea when we hand over the poison soup, so it’s their fault if they don’t drink it, right?”

“That’s right! Even in the midst of being super busy, we properly explained that!”

Mungaga-san provides covering fire while glaring.

But the fact that he’s not intimidated at all by that scary face shows that Joachim-san is quite the operator!

I wish his eyebrows would move a little!

“The report about requests to the Adventurers’ Guild is a hasty conclusion, and people collapsing in front of the shop is just a coincidence. Aren’t these just words of jealousy over our stall’s sales? The talk about it flowing to the dark guild isn’t limited to poison soup. We cannot accept being singled out for punishment.”

“Hmm. Well, you have a point with each argument.”

You’re agreeing?

Or rather, are you not really angry?

Joachim-san seems like a shrewd person. Maybe he has some intention…?

Hmm, I’m not good at reading between the lines.

“Well, most of the complaints aren’t directly your responsibility. Rather, from the Commerce Guild’s perspective, your actions to increase sales by any means are correct. However, considering the guild’s reputation and the costs incurred from secondary damage, we have no choice but to place restrictions on your actions.”

Secondary damage…

I wish they wouldn’t refer to people like disasters.

“Restrictions on our actions?”

“We’re going to prohibit the further sale of poison cuisine at the Grand Martial Festival stalls.”

“Does that mean we can’t sell anymore?”

“We’re not prohibiting sales altogether. We’ll allow you to sell non-poisonous items.”

“Mungaga-san, can you make dishes without poison?”

“Of course not, you fool! This is practically kicking us out! It’s tyrannical!”

“Originally, we could have stopped your sales midway through today, you know? We’re talking after letting you sell out, and we’re not even imposing a fine. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

You mean it’s a pretty lenient punishment from the Commerce Guild’s perspective?

Maybe the guild doesn’t want to nip new business in the bud.

“I understand.”

“No, you shouldn’t understand!”

“Mungaga-san, please be quiet for a moment. We can still use the stall space there during the Grand Martial Festival, right?”

“It’s too late to change the space allocation now. Please, feel free.”

I feel like I’m receiving an expectant look from Joachim-san…

So that’s what this is about?

I’m glad it was relatively easy to read this time…

“I’d rather not do this kind of thing again, you know?”

“I’m not sure what you mean, but well, we’d be happy if you could work within the restrictions.”

“Sigh… If there’s nothing else to discuss, can we leave?”

“Ah, yes. Sorry for keeping you.”

Pulling Mungaga-san, who was reluctant to leave his seat, we quietly left the Guildmaster’s office.