Three days had passed since the meeting between Sayuri and Kuzuhara.
Back at the mansion base of the Maiden’s Rebirth Order, the representatives of the three forces were presently meeting.
The founder of the Maiden’s Rebirth Order—Tanaka Sayuri.
The head of the Inochi-shirazu—Kuzuhara Saito.
The boss of the Apostles of Peace—Otaka Renji.
The city’s top three armed organizations were gathered here.
“First of all, let me introduce myself. I am Otaka Renji, the leader of the Apostles of Peace.”
In response, Sayuri turned to Otaka and picked up from where he left off.
“A pleasure to meet you. My name is Tanaka Sayuri. I am the founder of the Maiden’s Rebirth Order.”
When their gazes met, Otaka spoke while sighing.
“I never thought that you, someone whom I’d protected before, would end up in this position.” (Otaka)
“Thank you for your help back then. Thanks to you, many young ladies have been saved.” (Sayuri)
“If that’s what you really think, I wish that you’d stop hunting men right away.” (Otaka)
As I’d thought, Otaka also didn’t approve of what Sayuri and her people were doing. Well, he was someone who desired peace, so it wasn’t surprising that he didn’t agree with their behavior.
“If you guys would deal with the men for us, we might consider it.” (Sayuri)
“Good grief, that would be meaningless…” (Otaka)
Besides, Otaka was a man too, so it was tantamount to suicide.
“Well, whatever. That talk can wait for later. So Tanaka-san, about this alliance.” (Otaka)
“In the end, it’s just a temporary joint operation.” (Sayuri)
“Now, now, Otaka. Isn’t it about time we start dealing with the yakuza from now on too?” (Kuzuhara)
“The Hosen Group used to be the kind of people who wouldn’t mess with upstanding folk, but ever since the world changed, they’ve been doin’ some pretty dirty things. I think they’re worth eliminating from this city, don’t you?” (Kuzuhara)
The former boss was part of the moderate faction and had a friendly relationship with the upstanding citizens. He was doing well without raising any conflicts. But right after the world changed, the group gradually became more and more vicious.
To put it simply, they were now doing things that were similar to what Ryudou used to do. They were sending out subordinates to take and gather food and provisions. In the process, they would commit atrocious acts against the women they saw and kill anyone who tried to disobey. They had lost all appearance of being yakuza and were now just plain outlaws.
The moderate boss hadn’t put a stop to it. Or maybe, he just couldn’t control them, and the group had ended up going out of control.
And now with the death of their boss, his son, Hosen Touya, who was an extremist, had taken over as boss. He would only increase their numbers and, through the thugs under them, become more and more active throughout the city.
“True… There’ve been victims of the yakuza lately, even in our community. I’ve been thinking we needed to do something about it, but…” (Otaka)
In which case, we had to end the conflict in the shortest amount of time possible. That way, we could minimize any damage done to the city.
“Sigh… I never thought I’d end up at odds with the yakuza.” (Otaka)
Otaka let out a sigh, as if he found this troublesome.
“What, haven’t you fought with even more dangerous guys back when you were a mercenary?” (Kuzuhara)
“That’s… true, I guess, but who’d willingly get into a deathmatch with another? But then again… I also got tons of things I gotta protect. I can’t just turn a blind eye to this.” (Otaka)
“Well, if your community is willing to join in, we’ve got pretty good chances of coming out victorious. That arms dealer can provide tanks, can’t he?” (Kuzuhara)
Of course, they were talking about Enjou Yuri—the arms dealer of death, another one of my roles.
“Yeah, he can supply us with whatever weapons we need in a short amount of time.” (Otaka)
“May I say something?” (Sayuri)
Sayuri, who had been silent for a while, spoke up, interrupting them.
“Is this arms dealer trustworthy? Could he possibly be associated with the Hosen Group?” (Sayuri)
“…We can neither confirm nor deny that. He’s a guy who cares only if the money gets paid. But from what I’ve heard, he’s never done business with the yakuza before.” (Otaka)
Well, I once thought about doing business with the yakuza, who seemed like they had a lot of money. But I thought that they definitely wouldn’t agree to a business negotiation with me.
They were a bunch who were known to use blackmail, threats, and even kidnapping and confinement. In reality, that might not necessarily be the case, but it took a lot of preparation and resolve to negotiate with people who were so deep in the underworld.
In that sense, it was easier to conduct business negotiations with ordinary, upstanding people than with yakuza, so I simply ended up giving priority to the Apostles of Peace.
Well, that being said, Sayuri had already kidnapped me and confined me. The degree of freedom I had was pretty high, but my means of arriving here were still far from voluntary.