Early next morning. Joshua was already in a horse carriage on the way to Squirrel Street.
When Joshua got out of the horse carriage and walked over to hotel Black Dove, a small problem appeared.
“Cave Giant... I can guess why they dislike Squirrel Street.”
Joshua’s assistant Ciri had prepared herself for a battle. There were two humans and a robust giant before hotel Black Dove.
That giant was close to 2.2 meters tall, an entire head taller than the Sin Demon Zenarth. His body was covered in rock-like skin.
Amusingly, this rough-skinned giant was wearing clothes, well-fitting clothes. The two humans beside the giant were also wearing noble-like attires.
This strange looking group was blocking the entrance to hotel Black Dove. The manager of hotel Black Dove, Deceiver Pluk, was at the door and talking with the two humans.
Even though he was confronted with a giant, Deceiver Pluk remained expressionless. He tossed a sack of gold coins to one of the two humans and spoke loudly to them. “I’ve already finished paying my debt... please leave.”
Joshua remembered that the sack of gold coins was the advance payment he used to rent the entire hotel with yesterday. It would appear that Pluk who belonged to a race of demons known as the Faceless Demons, was living much worse in the human world.
“No, no, no. This over here is only the debt you owe. There’s still interest. Ever since you decided to shelter those useless aberration children, you’ve owed us that money for two entire years.”
One of the humans gestured with his hands as if saying they needed more money. The non-humans living in Squirrel Street were generally poor. Because of that, these human merchants saw the opportunity to squeeze money from them.
“You never mentioned anything about there being interest when you lend me the money back then,” Deceiver Pluk realized that he has been deceived by this human.
“True, I didn’t mention it. But, it was clearly written in the contract you signed. If you are incapable of paying back the money, we’ll have to take your hotel as collateral. I don’t give a crap whether you’re Black Dove or Black Duck. This is an excellent location, it shouldn’t be a place with only a shabby little hotel. Bring those aberrations you’ve sheltered and get the hell out of here.”
The human merchant was not planning to engage in a civil conversation. After being signaled by him, the Cave Giant raised his fist. He was planning to smash apart the hotel.
But, Pluk placed his body before the Cave Giant’s incoming fist.
It was clear that Pluk was not someone specialized in battles. He wouldn’t be able to withstand the Cave Giant’s punch at all.
“Should we get rid of that big dude?”
Ciri was unable to tolerate this scene anymore. Most importantly, there were children in the hotel.
“I believe there’s no need for us to act,” Joshua retrieved the gray magic power in his hand.
A female knight in a silvery-white armor was standing before the hotel entrance.
As a vetern templar, Messai’s strength far surpassed that Cave Giant. Standing before Pluk, she effortlessly blocked the cave giant’s punch with one hand.
“You...”
The arrival of a sudden knight caused that human to panic. But soon, the other human standing next to him gathered an offensive magic with his staff.
The surrounding temperature began to rise all of a sudden. He had recited an extremely dangerous fire magic.
But, before that man could finish reciting his entire magic, a wooden bucket fell from the sky and smashed onto his head. The bucket knocked the mage unconscious. At the same time, the fruits and vegetables inside the bucket were scattered all over the ground.
Messai followed the fluctuation of magic power that had just dissipated from the bucket and looked to Ciri.
What Ciri used earlier was the simplest ‘Mage Hand’ skill. But, her implementation of magic in a battle was far more efficient than that mage trying to recite a fire magic.
With Ciri’s assistance, Messai once again gained control over the situation. Joshua also quickly walked over to the hotel.
Joshua’s sudden approach caused Messai to be on the alert. To her, Joshua was much more dangerous than that Cave Giant!
But, Joshua ended up standing beside Messai in a very natural manner. Then, he cleared his throat and pointed to the majestic female knight.
“This person here is a future Legion Commander of the Nation of the Holy Church’s Ecclesiastical Templars. If you all dare to provoke her, I bet that you will be burned by the Holy Light till not even your bones remain.”
Joshua’s threat was extremely effective. The human merchant had heard about the Ecclesiastical Templars’... vicious reputation. On top of that, his strongest hired thug, the Cave Giant, was no match for that female knight at all. He didn’t dare to even voice any threat, immediately ordered for the Cave Giant to carry the unconscious mage and fled from this place.
“Is this another conspiracy of yours?” Messai stared at Joshua with a look of alert.
“No, I am sincerely praising your Ecclesiastical Templars’ prowess and magnificence.”
Unfortunately, the naive lady knight failed to realize Joshua’s ridicule in his voice. Stubbornly, she believed them to be actual praises.
Seeing that Messai was not planning to continue speaking with him, Joshua turned around to look at that Deceiver.
“It’s time for us to get inside to talk about proper business.”
......
“A thousand gold coins. This is half of the advance payment. Once the filming is complete, I will pay you the other half.”
Joshua was sitting before a shabby wooden desk. He handed a big sack of gold coins to the manager of this small hotel, the Deceiver Pluk.
Perhaps that amount of gold coins were small change to the members of the Black Swan Theatrical Troupe, it was an unimaginable amount of wealth to Pluk who owns only a small and shabby hotel in Norland.
The amount of advance payment Joshua gave him yesterday was already enough for him to not worry about money for a year or two.
“Mister, I don’t know what movie is.”
Even though there were so many gold coins placed before him, Pluk’s expression remained unchanged. But, his eyes would, from time to time, turn behind Joshua.
If possible, he didn’t wish to have too much interaction with Joshua. The main reason for that was because Joshua’s identity would attract the attention from the Nation of the Holy Church.
The situation he was worried about the most after agreeing to allow Joshua to lodge in his hotel happened in the next day. An Ecclesiastical Templar appeared before his hotel.
That Ecclesiastical Templar was behind Joshua and chatting with the half-dragon and gray-cat beastman children he adopted. While the cross-racial conversation seemed to be very cheerily, Deceiver Pluk was feeling extremely tense.
Not all the Ecclesiastical Templars were that friendly.
“To speak simply, a movie is people acting roles to deceive others. Isn’t that the talent of your race? It’s no different from what you’re doing right now,” said Joshua.
The Deceivers were a race of demons as skilled in acting as the Succubui. More than anything, this Deceiver gave off a very similar air to Léon in ‘Léon: The Demon.’ Joshua wanted to have him attempt to play the character Léon.
“I’ll be frank with you, Mister Faceless,” Joshua lowered his voice and declared Pluk’s race, “Perhaps you will be able to gain temporary safety under the protection of the Black Dove. But, what I am going to do is to give you an opportunity to obtain what you will never be able to under the Black Dove... the opportunity to gain the basic status and dignity needed to live in this city. I am giving you a chance where you will no longer be called abberation by humans while walking down the street!”
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