<h4>Volume 4 Extra 2.4</h4>


    Trantor: Reflet


    「Tweet?」


    「Well, Lime did find the egg, plus it likes ‘er the best, so yeah, how ‘bout it mate?」


    Hiroshi confirmed with the female side, who all nodded with a smile. And just like that, the name Lime bestowed upon it was-


    「It moves along very gently, so Hiyohiyo!」


    And it was a truly childlike, simplistic name.


    「Alrighty. Looks like the divine beast’s name is Hiyohiyo. Now that we settled the name…Haruna-san.」


    「Mm? What?」


    「Let’s make some milk pudding, mate.」


    「Ah, good point.」


    As there had been a series of rather impactful events, everyone had forgotten about making the pudding. When Hiroshi brought that topic back up, Haruna quickly got to preparations. Indeed, it seemed that she also had some lingering attachments to that idea. Now she pitched the ball with all her strength and overwhelming passion to make the ultimate delicious pudding.


    「So what does this kid eat anyway?」


    「Elle-sama, what does Alfemina-sama say?」


    「Apparently it pretty much eats what you would assume it does, but if you just even give it mana then it can grow without eating anything.」


    As Hiroshi and the others were moving to the kitchen to make the pudding, Nora, Teres, and Aearis were having this conversation. Hearing Aearis’s answer, Mio and Fum rifled through storage to find something that a chick could eat, but they soon found out that Hiyohiyo could eat anything a human could eat, and this fact was disyed at the dinner table that very night, with everyone having a faraway look in their eyes at the beast’s ecological sloppiness.


    「Is it true that the little girl in Azuma Workshop began taking care of a strange creature?」


    「You don’t need to check with us. Why don’t you just stick around the east gate early morning? Within a week you can check that out yourself.」


    「……It’s actually true……」


    An information broker from a thieves guild and an impoverished looking man discussed this matter with each other. These people were associated with the underworld in Wulls, albeit an even deeper section of it.


    「I’ll say this right now. If you n to try anything with Azuma Workshop, we cannot help you in the slightest.」


    「Why not?」


    「There’s nothing in it for us. They have the goddess Alfemina on their side and high support from the Wulls royal family. Calling it suicidal would be an understatement.」


    The man scowled unpleasantly at the broker’s reply.


    「And you’re fine with just letting these people do whatever they please?」


    「Sure, since they haven’t harmed us. Then again, even if they did inconvenience us in some way, the risk of eliminating them is too high and we still can’t try anything carelessly.」


    The broker followed up with that statement, to which the man’s face grew dreadful.


    「You make quite the scary face, but even assuming you tried anything with Azuma Workshop, we would align our steps with the country in eliminating you.」


    「Why, only them……」


    「The current situation you’re in was something you brought on yourself, I have to say.」


    Fed up with this man’s constant stream of grudges, the broker ruthlessly cut him off.


    The man who the broker was seeing had been one of the members of the organization siding with Katarina in her rebellion, after of which he lost his status and assets due to guilt by association.


    While he hadn’t directly participated in the rebellion, the man had followed suit with the (at the time) powerful faction, ndering the royal family and the temple, not to mention he couldn’t make excuses for being connected behind the scenes with the ve trade (exposed by Hiroshi and friends), so there was no reason to excuse him from punishment.


    And despite there being plenty of reasons to put him on execution, the man had a younger sister who married off, the ndering of the royal family wasn’t so bad that it needed a punishment, and the sister’s married family didn’t have such close ties to him. Executing everyone at this level would not be worth the loss in terms of cleansing, so he was barely pardoned.


    Also, regarding the ve trade, the man had twice used money under the table to prioritize and shorten his screening through immigration, and it wasn’t as if security let him entirely off the hook, but understood he was at least suspicious and didn’t go any further into his background, not quite colluding.


    The system itself, which prioritized inspections for an extra handling fee, was not illegal in Fane as long as you clearly wrote the amount of money and made it public knowledge. The shortening was allowed in human-wave tactics when undergoing an inspection as long as you filled out all the required parts. Therefore, the only things punishable in this case were the under-the-counter money and the intentional overlooking and omission of items linked to criminal activity, which were not quite enough to make it a heavy punishment.


    Normally, such a small fry would not have had their assets and everything they owned confiscated. And yet, here he was, with everything lost and the fire of resentment burning within him. Why? The answer is simple: After putting up a vain fight, he attempted to pin the crimes on innocent people, further ndering the royal house and temple, this time less tolerable.


    If this had been after the legal reform, at the very least he himself would have been guaranteed execution. Now, normally you would think he should be grateful to the royal house for their pity, but here he was, still continuing his unjustified resentment and fanning the dark mes of passion. Truly an irredeemable man in many ways.


    （Darn, now I have to deal with this loon.）


    Lamenting hisck of luck, the information broker decided to squeeze whatever money he could out of the man by overcharging him. Hopefully this would drain him of any remaining energy for doing anything stupid. And of course, the broker fully intended to inform the royal house of this man right after he left.


    The real annoying thing about all this was that the man here with him was not the only one with such a grudge. From what the broker knew, 80% of those who poured into the underworld resented the royal house, the temple, and Azuma Workshop. The only reason nothing had happened up till now was that they had lost nearly everything and were in no condition to make aeback, and also because there were secret guards escorting the members.


    Now, while the unfavorable conditions were being guided by outsiders, the other affair would only be a matter of time before the brakes were pulled off. Then by that logic, in order to make sure the outsiders didn’t bite off more than they could chew, these underworld dwellers would have to get these irritating fools executed, even if they had to frame the children of Azuma Workshop.


    「So that’s how it is. What are you going to do, sir?」


    「Right. So while it is a bit unfair to expect these guests from the unknown continent to be self-aware, the other people are way too clueless about their position. This is a good opportunity, so let’s have them understand the position they ought to aim for.」


    The informant called out after the man hadpletely gone out of the room to the person who had been stealthily listening to their conversation from the middle to the end, determining their next move. If the direct information from the temple was correct, the beast sitting on the head of Azuma Workshop’s youngest member, no matter how stupid it looked, was still a divine beast, so they of course needed to protect it, but it would also be bad to have anything happen to the youngster.


    However, there was no way that no one would aim for the divine beast, and even if that were not the case, Azuma Workshop was already a target and the youngest girl would be the easiest to capture, with added value. Whether it be allies of the evil god, dilettantes, or criminal organizations, people who understood they would be making enemies of the country and the temple and still might go through with this were too numerous to count.


    This situation was far beyond not being aware that you’re a target or finding protecting yourself to be a hassle. They needed Azuma Workshop to run into some sort of trouble that their escorts could deal with but would cause them to realize they were being targeted.


    「We cannot afford to risk anything, so we will increase the number of staff for a bit and guard them. I ask that you also do what you can to assist.」


    「Yes, yes. It would seem that I have the opportunity to unleash my full power on a boss once again.」


    These people, incapable of moving out into the open, had banded together to begin the steps for cleaning out the fools. It would be a little longer before they would find out just what a divine beast actually is.