After finishing breakfast, Ignis realized that the rest of the people at the Cunning Hares were still asleep. It was probably because the noise from pounding the cannon barrel late last night had been a bit too loud, and they hadn't rested well.
The giant man had left a note on the dining table before heading out. Miss Proxy had sent Ignis a message late last night, saying there was a commission that needed his help and that she was willing to offer a fairly generous payment.
Thinking about how he would soon obtain the coordinates of the Mountain Lion Gang's hideout—and that he would also need Miss Phaethon's guidance to get there—Ignis naturally had no intention of delaying.
After exiting the metro station, the Salamander adjusted his suit jacket. Although the morning metro was crowded, everyone in the same carriage had tacitly kept their distance from him. Even though the Salamander was wearing an obviously expensive suit with a matching dress shirt underneath, a giant wearing sunglasses and carrying a hammer was simply far too intimidating.
Fortunately, the Salamander had long since grown used to this kind of treatment. Even the security officers on duty at the Sixth Street metro station were already familiar with him. This giant only looked dangerous—he was actually harmless, a gentle, law-abiding citizen.
What made the Salamander feel most comfortable about Sixth Street was its strong sense of everyday life. Even though it was a weekday, the foot traffic was still heavy, since many industries took their days off during the workweek. Miss Susie from the toy shop waved at him. She always wore a cheerful smile and was very skilled at attracting customers and promoting products. However, this toy shop clerk seemed unaware that her boss was also involved in some illegal, high-profit businesses—though Ignis had always felt that blind boxes and designer toys were already outrageously profitable. After all, there was someone in the Cunning Hares who had once spent all the cash on their person on blind boxes. Once you got hooked on that stuff, there was no stopping.
The temptation of "the next pull might be the hidden edition" was simply too strong.
At the street corner, Sixth Street's part-time-job queen, Sjal, had set up a small stall. Judging from the advertisements on the stand, it seemed to be a special promotion event from 141 Convenience Store.
Seeing the Salamander walking over, the woman greeted him, "Long time no see, Mr. Ignis. 141 Convenience Store is holding a special sales event. From snacks to Walkmans, all kinds of items are discounted."
Once his name was called, it was hard to pretend he hadn't seen her. The woman had dyed her hair again recently, this time a light lavender color. Ignis walked over and looked at the goods on the stall. They really were quite cheap—most of them were discounted by at least thirty percent.
"Looks good. Do you have bags? I'll buy some snacks."
Since he was paying a visit—albeit at the invitation of a Proxy—going empty-handed didn't feel right. Sjal handed him a bag, and the Salamander picked out several snacks that Belle liked, then, as usual, grabbed a two-liter bottle of Bomb Cola.
After scanning the code to pay, Ignis also sent a message to Nicole.
"141 Convenience Store on Sixth Street is having a sale. Come quick."
The Salamander was confident that this woman, who was deeply devoted to maximizing income and minimizing expenses, would rush over immediately—and would definitely bring Billy and the others along to help carry things.
After saying goodbye to Sjal, Ignis noticed that a solid wall of people had formed in front of the arcade "GODFINGER." Although there were plenty of idlers on Sixth Street, for something to draw this many onlookers, it had to be something interesting.
After only a few steps, he saw a girl wearing a black-and-white maid outfit. It was Ellen Joe. The Shark Thiren girl still had that lazy, half-awake look, yawning as usual.
"Come take a look..." she yawned, "Sixth Street's best video store, 'Random Play,' is having a promotion... all classic sections are twenty percent off..."
Ellen handed out flyers to the surrounding crowd. The maid outfit on the girl attracted no small amount of attention from curious passersby.
"She looks so sleepy. Did she stay up all night watching tapes?"
"Anything that can make someone stay up all night must be amazing. And it's on sale too—let's rent a few."
"Sounds great. There's even a new customer coupon. Let's go, let's go!"
Although the crowd mistakenly thought Ellen's drowsiness came from staying up late watching video tapes, Ignis knew better. That was just how she was. Even outside of combat, she practiced "energy-saving principles"—if she could slack off, she absolutely would.
The Salamander's massive figure cast a shadow, and the crowd automatically dispersed when they saw him. Ellen had just been secretly celebrating that the gawkers had finally left when she looked up and came face-to-face with the Salamander.
"Miss Ellen, what a coincidence to run into you here." the Salamander pulled a few lollipops out of a plastic bag. "Working part-time for the video store?"
The Shark Thiren showed no restraint at all. She snatched the candy from Ignis's hand, tore open the wrapper, and stuffed it straight into her mouth.
"Yeah. I've been a bit short on cash lately, so I picked up some temporary work." She narrowed her eyes, savoring the sweetness of the candy.
Although Ignis had no idea how much Ellen actually earned, given that Victoria Housekeeping only served "high-net-worth clients," it had to be a lot. So just what exactly was this girl spending her money on, to the point that she needed another job?
"So, interested in renting some tapes?" she said, stuffing a flyer into the Salamander's hand.
"I've been a member here for ages. But you—do you even know what kind of place this is?"
"..." Before Ellen could speak, Ignis covered her mouth and dragged her over to the iron gate by the parking lot.
"Don't say that out loud. It's not exactly a very legitimate line of work. There are security officers patrolling this street, at least."
"While you were dragging me over, the officer over there already locked onto you." Ellen sighed and waved at the officer behind the Salamander, signaling that she wasn't in any danger.
"Besides, the one who asked me to help with promotion was the Proxy." Ellen continued. "She said business hasn't been great lately and funds are tight, so the video store needs help. I happened to be hanging out around here with friends a couple days ago, ran into her, and she invited me to help promote it."
Ellen bit down with a crunch, shattering the candy in her mouth, then peeled open the wrapper of another one.
"She also told me that when you helped promote it, you were acting all mysterious. Every customer who came in went straight to ask for her brother and didn't even talk to her. She was really curious how you were promoting it."
Just thinking about it made the Salamander want to laugh. The whole "Hey bro, want a disk?" routine was just a joke he'd seen online before. He'd only tried it on a whim, never expecting anyone to actually fall for it. But telling Belle about that probably wasn't a good idea—Wise would likely understand exactly what kind of trick the customers had fallen for.
"That's a personal secret. Not something I can disclose."
"Tch, fine, keep it to yourself." Ellen rolled her eyes, then looked Ignis up and down. "Wait. Are you free these next couple of days?"
"Huh?" Ignis didn't quite follow. Was this shark Thiren girl asking if he was free?
"I got summoned to school—parent-teacher meeting." Ellen wore a miserable expression. "I want you to pretend to be my elder and help me deal with it."
What the hell? Ignis had thought Ellen was a pretty outstanding student—able to work part-time outside of class. And yet she still got called in for a parent meeting? But how did he resemble her in any way? Asking him to pretend to be an elder—did that even make sense?
"Why me? Wouldn't Von Lycaon or Rina be better? And we don't look alike at all."
"Von Lycaon said he'd only accept it as a paid job, and the price he asked for was insane. I can't afford it." Ellen's expression darkened further at the mention of it. "As for Rina, she flat-out refused. Among the people I know, the only one who kind of looks like an elder is you. Look, we both have red eyes, we're both Thiren... it should... probably work, right...?"
"Listening to you, it sounds like you're not confident at all..." Ignis felt numb. What kind of situation was this—going to school to get scolded while pretending to be someone's elder?
"If you don't agree, I'll have to look for someone else." Ellen sighed. It seemed this girl really did worry about things like this. "Worst case, I'll try asking the owner of the KTV I go to a lot."
That was incredibly casual. the Salamander felt both amused and exasperated. This Shark Thiren girl was just a bit too free-spirited. Fine—he'd help her this once.
"Alright. When is it, and what's the school address?"
"Add me on KnockKnock Messenger. We'll talk details then." Ellen's eyes lit up as she immediately pulled out her phone.
She really only showed this kind of motivation when it came to things like this.
After settling everything, Ellen yawned again and went back to handing out flyers and promoting the store. the Salamander, meanwhile, sent a message to Belle, and the Proxy soon opened the iron garage door of her place.
"You're here so early—and you even brought snacks." Belle happily took the bag of snacks from Ignis's hands. "So, did you see Ellen? She looks amazing in a maid outfit. She's brought in a lot of customers for us. Everyone's been asking what kind of tapes could make that maid lady stay up all night watching."
"Yeah, I saw her. She even asked me to pretend to be her parent once." The Salamander couldn't help laughing again as he said it.
"Yeah, when she saw my brother, the first thing she did was ask him to pretend to be her parent too. Honestly, my brother doesn't look like someone who'd have such a big junior family member."
Belle crossed her arms and put on a mock-angry expression. "My brother can only have one little sister—me."
Wow. That was some heavy sibling love. But Ignis hadn't come here to worry about that.
"You said you had a commission for me. What is it?"
"It's about the Ballet Twins Hollow—about the Twin Ballerinas." Belle tapped on her phone. "I want to help an old grandfather fulfill his wish."
===BREAK===
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