<h4>Chapter 158</h4>


    After finishing their battle in the dance hall, Ghat walked through Bolton’s mansion.


    On the way, they ran into other employed people in the mansion, such as the chef. Fortunately, most of then favoured Ghat over Bolton and nothing major happened.


    In actual fact, it was mostly because Ghat had promised to employ them after bing the representative of Azoth Firm. Otherwise, there probably would have been some of them who would have tried to stop them to score points with Bolton.


    「……So then, is Bolton in his office near the room where I met him?」


    Rei asked as he walked along with Set. Ghat gave a small nod.


    「Ah. There’s no doubt about that. In most cases, a room would be prepared as an evacuation location if the mansion is attacked, but my brother has absolute confidence in this mansion. In fact, up until now, no one has ever intruded safely into the mansion.」


    Thergest factor was employing adventurers as guards and converting the fences and walls into magic items to harden the defenses of the surroundings. And even if they could break through, the adventurers stationed in the mansion, including Ghat, a rank B adventurer, were not people they could pass.


    「But, that was because Ghat-san was here. In fact, after Bolton decided to cut away Ghat-san and started to increase the security of the mansion, most of them are small fry like me.」


    「Their level is certainly low. The guys we fought in the dance hall were probably the most elite of them……seems to be the case.」


    Although he said that, the man with the halberd was in Rei’s thoughts.


    (Only that man was an exception. He had overwhelming skill evenpared to Tenda, who was said to have skills equal to B rank. Fortunately, I don’t know why, but he watched on at the beginning and it also felt that he wasn’t using his full power……if he had continued fighting, even if I didn’t lose, it would have taken a lot longer to settle. The magic item he had that had a constant healing effect was especially troublesome. Although Set has one as well, it’s much more troublesome when an enemy has it.)


    Set also had a magic item equipped called Love of Shizukuishi, which had a constant healing effect. But since he was originally an A rank monster, he usually wouldn’t receive any serious injuries. Because of that, Rei hardly ever noticed its effect.


    「Ah, Ghat-san.」


    Walking through the mansion, a maid came out from a corner. She was a girl in herte teens.


    Ghat’s face distorted slightly when he saw the maid’s face.


    It was an expression of regret. This was because the maid before him was the one which his older brother had beaten with a whip to vent. Even if only by half, he was connected by blood to his brother. Thinking about that, Ghat spoke up while realising his expression was stiff.


    「……Your injury, are you okay?」


    「Yes. Thanks to Ghat-san giving instructions that my treatment receive high priority, I have no problems with moving now.」


    「……Is that so.」


    Ghat didn’t know what to say to the maid before him. Her injuries were probably already fine. Because Ghat had given orders to give her treatment the highest priority. However, it was a fact that scars from being whipped still remained on her back. Her skin had been torn and there were several scars were her flesh had been ripped. For the maid who was still a teenage girl, how much trauma would that have caused. Thinking about that, Ghat unintentionally bit his lips, a trickle of blood flowed down from the edge of his lips.


    Seeing his look, the maid soon realised what Ghat was concerned about. She turned towards Set with a smile.


    「Ghat-san, is this the Griffon from the rumors in the city? I heard that it was friendly, can I stroke it?」


    「Mm? Ah, Ahh. Rei?」


    Being asked, Rei sensed the circumstances between the two of them and gave a small nod.


    「Ah, I don’t mind. Basically, he’s friendly. If you don’t have any intentions of hurting him, Set is quiet so you don’t need to worry.」


    「Thank you very much. Then……」


    With a smile, she gave a bow to Rei and reached out to Set’s head.


    「Guru~?」


    Giving a small cry, Set tilted his head. Seeing that, the maid smiled as she patted his head, not believing that this could possibly be an A rank monster in front of her.


    「Uwa~, his fur is extremely smooth. This is the first time I’ve felt something like this.」


    「I see, that’s good. ……More importantly, do you know which room my brother is in?」


    He thought that it was cruel to ask the girl, who had received terrible treatment from his older brother, but the current situation was tight on time. Although the adventurers who had been gathered in the mansion should have been mostly defeated or neutralised, he still wanted to bring this ridiculousmotion to a close before any irregrities urred. That was Ghat’s honest feelings. As a result, he persuaded himself that it was for the safety of the girl before him.


    「Master is in the reception room.」


    「……Not in his office?」


    Being told that Bolton was in a reception room, Ghat asked again. Because Bolton worked long hours in his office, there were magic items inside with significant defense capabilities. Ghat couldn’t understand why Bolton would be in a reception room in this situation.


    Of course, it was called a reception room because it was where he would meet with guests. And as Bolton knew that he might be attacked, he would have been suitably prepared for such emergencies. However,pared to his office, where he would spend most of his day, his time spent elsewhere was negligible. Still, considering the reasons why he would be in a reception room……


    「Do you know why?」


    He asked as the mansion was currently under attack. Thinking like that, there was only one reason he would be in a reception room.


    「Yes. Some guests havee.」


    The maid gave a in nod.


    「……He’s still your employer right now, can you tell me where he is so easily?」


    Rei asked doubtfully, but the maid shook her head slightly.


    「Certainly, we were hired by the Master. However, we aren’t dolls that can’t speak. We have emotions and will feel dissatisfaction if we are treated unpleasantly. In addition……」


    The maid gave a sad expression for a moment. Ghat noticed the reason, he had seen her being injured directly. Murt had been apanying him during that time as well.


    Noticing their sympathetic looks, the maid shook her head with a smile.


    「I am also a resident of the city of Gilm. Since I work here, I know that Azoth Firm has done various shady deals. It is also what Ghat-san is trying to stop. Because of that, I feel that the uproar this time was bound to happen.」


    「That’s wrong!」


    Though his voice was quiet, the people around him could hear his agonised voice.It was Ghat who spoke.


    「I……I, I knew what my older brother had been doing but I pretended not to see it. And yet you call me a respectable person! The disturbance this time, even though I told Rei there wouldn’t be a second time, things immediately went out of my control. Rather than have my older brother killed by Rei, I tried to drag my older brother down from his position as president of Azoth Firm so that he couldn’t do anything to Rei. I only started this uproar for this purpose. As I said earlier, I’m not the person you think I am. I’m just a selfish person.」


    Squeezing his voice out into the surroundings, everyone fell silent. The maid gently stretched out her hand to Ghat with a smile. Due to Ghat gripping his hand hard, his skin was torn by his nails. Several drops of blood fell to the floor from his hands.


    「That’s no good, Ghat-san. Since Ghat-san is going to be the one to shoulder Azoth Firm from now on, injuring yourself like this. ……This is all I have right now, pardon me, please bear with it.」


    Taking a handkerchief out of her pocket, she bit down on it in her mouth and tore it in two with her teeth, tying a knot around the palm of Ghat’s hand.


    「This is all I can do now, please finish this as soon as possible.」


    「……Why?」


    「What is it?」


    「Why didn’t you say anything? I already told you didn’t I? While I knew what my older brother had been doing, I didn’t stop him. Why then……if I have moved earlier, you would never have had those scars that would stay forever just because my older brother wanted to vent.」


    「But even so……」


    The maid grasped his hand, stopping his bleeding with a handkerchief.


    「Even so, Ghat-san finally stood up. Even though it was because you wanted to help your older brother, isn’t it fine if people are saved because of that? At the very least, that’s what I think.」


    「……」


    At the maid’s smile, Ghat had a stunned expression.


    Feeling embarrassed being stared at for so long, the maid’s face turned red as she spoke with a mischievous smile.


    「Then, if no one will take me and I am left on the shelf……will Ghat-san ept me?」


    「What! No, wait. Think about the difference in age. I am just over 10 years older than you!?」


    「It’s not that umon for a married couple to have such a big difference in age?」


    Ghat’s cheeks were dyed red at the maid’s words. Well, it was safe to say that it was the final blow to Freon, who was still single at the age of over 30 and had been feeling annoyed at their conversation.


    「Eehh, let’s leave it here for now! If you want to flirt, you can do it after we clean up this uproar!」


    Freon gave a sharp retort. Perhaps it was inevitable that there was some jealousy in those words.


    「Kya, w-what do I do. S-Sorry. I got carried away as a maid.」


    「T-That’s right. I have to give the highest priority to stopping my brother right now. That, we’ll talk about thister. It will be noisy tonight, go hide in a room for now. Also tell any servants you run into as well as any other people working in the mansion.」


    「……Yes. Please take care of Ghat-san.」


    Nodding and blushing subtly, the maid took her leave from Rei’s party……or rather, she took her leave from Ghat.


    Watching her leave, Brazos muttered something as he realised it.


    「That girl. She told us to look out for Ghat……I wonder why she said that.」


    「Keh, a girl in love only looks out for one person. Now then, there’s that……where is the reception room? Hey, don’t get lost in your thoughts of love, get back to reality now.」


    Ghat, who had been watching the maid, returned to reality at Freon’s words and gave a small cough to pull himself together.


    「Sorry. So, the reception room was it. Then it’s on the second floor. However, to get there, you have to go up a different set of stairs than the ones to the dance hall. It’s in the other direction.」


    「I see. Let’s finish this uproar quickly then. Tomorrow we will strip the materials from the Harpies……」


    「No, we don’t have to strip the materials from the Harpies tomorrow do we? It would be rough to sleep for a short while after finishing this uproar only to wake up and strip materials from Harpies. I also have to host an interview for a request tomorrow afternoon.」


    Rei recalled the interview for his request that he had discussed with Lenora in the guild. It was no wonder as so many events had urred in a single day.


    「That’s true, then we’ll deal with the Harpies the day after tomorrow. If Rei didn’t have that item box, even if it was tough, we would still have had to strip the materials off of them before they rotted.」


    Brazos nodded as Freon continued down the corridor without bringing up any objections. And……


    「That room.」


    About 10 minutester, Ghat muttered as he looked towards a door that came into view.


    「There are several reception rooms in the mansion. But in this emergency situation, there is no doubt that this will be the one my older brother is using as it has a hidden escape route to the outside.」


    「Escape route?」


    「Ah. If you move away a cab inside the reception room, it will reveal an escape route. My older brother……rather, Azoth Firm’s previous generations of presidents all had escape routes prepared just in case. As you enter the room, the cab directly to the right is the entrance to the escape route. Please stop him from getting there.」


    「……Set.」


    「Guru~」


    At Rei’s words, Set gave a nodded, saying leave it to me.


    Rei nodded, satisfied that at the very least, it would be impossible for Bolton to stand up against Set and go down the escape route.


    「Okay. ……Here we go!」


    As Ghat said that with a shout, they opened the door to the guest room and rushed inside.