This House Has A Delicious Restaurant - Chapter 8 - Helper (2) - Part 4
Zerdan’s appearance and demeanor always hit my taste perfectly.
With a playful tone, I spread my arms wide and shamelessly said, causing Khan and the man next to Zerdan to look shocked. Regardless of their reactions, Zerdan walked over and embraced me.
My head rested against Zerdan’s chest. He gently lowered his upper body and kissed my forehead.
“Welcome back.”
“What the hell are you doing, Zerdan?!”
The man next to Zerdan, who seemed to be a close acquaintance or someone of a high position, asked with a flustered voice.
I didn’t make any effort to get out of Zerdan’s warm embrace and simply looked at the man. Only then did he properly see my face and widen his eyes in surprise.
I was a stranger to him, but he seemed to recognize me.
“What’s this? Why is this woman here? Did you recruit her already?”
“Well, I haven’t heard anything, so I don’t know.”
“How can it be that you don’t know when it’s obvious that she came to see you?”
Oh, it’s quite refreshing to hear Zerdan speaking informally. He didn’t use honorifics with Bella either, but he had that particular smirk; here, though, he was talking quite casually with the man in front of him.
They must be friends. Quite close ones at that.
Besides, the voice sounded quite familiar. As I thought about where I’d heard it before, I remembered the man who had come in with Zerdan when I was first kidnapped.
Ah, he’s the one who said he would torture me for information if I were a spy.
He had seemed quite menacing back then, so I expected him to have a fierce appearance, but he looked surprisingly gentle. I’m not sure if it’s because he seems smaller between the large Khan and the well-built Zerdan.
“I contacted Khan because I wanted to see Zerdan. If my sudden visit has caused any inconvenience, I apologize.”
“No, I don’t need an apology… But how did you contact him? Khan was using his ability on us, right? That would make it difficult for him to focus.”
“He responded when I knocked.”
Zerdan and the unnamed man looked at Khan. Since they hadn’t heard of this method before, they seemed to be curious if there was a new way to contact him.
Khan seemed uncomfortable with their scrutiny and shook his head.
“It’s literally as it sounds. I knocked on the shadow cast on the ground.”
“…That’s a novel method. But how could Khan have noticed it?”
“I called Zerdan’s name. Or maybe Khan was embarrassed because he’s not doing his job? Maybe he was startled by the comment about targeting his captain’s back. Earlier, he said I was annoying like Zerdan…”
“What are you talking about!”
Khan, flustered, hurriedly covered my mouth.
Still, since I was in Zerdan’s arms, he stepped back a little when his gaze met mine, but it didn’t make him back off entirely.
“From now on, if you call my name, Khan will respond. It would be upsetting if your pretty hand got hurt.”
Knocking on the ground seemed to have scratched my knuckles. As Zerdan lightly kissed the area, the man made a face as if to show his disgust.
“Stop with the annoying antics and let’s move. I don’t want to stand in front of so many eyes. To be precise, they’re all corpses and it’s unpleasant.”
“I don’t find it particularly bothersome.”
“That’s only you. Khan, let’s go.”
The man, clearly displeased by Zerdan’s bold remarks, walked away with Khan, heading back towards the office we had been in earlier.
As I watched them leave, I reluctantly pulled away from Zerdan’s embrace.
I would have liked to stay in his arms longer, but it was a pity that I couldn’t.
“Did my sudden visit surprise you?”
“A bit. But it’s not a bad feeling.”
Zerdan’s touch briefly grazed my cheek before withdrawing.
If it weren’t for the setting, I might have taken the opportunity to make a move on Zerdan, but since I couldn’t, it was disappointing.
Noticing my expression of regret, Zerdan covered his mouth and laughed.
“Miss, your gaze seems like it could devour me.”
“Oh dear. Did I look too eager? Did it show too much?”
“I can’t say it didn’t.”
“I’ll try to control myself. I came to play the role of a spy and get some information, but did I cause any trouble?”
“It’s fine. There’s no urgent schedule at the moment.”
Zerdan gently guided me forward. Though I was slightly concerned about Diswen standing behind us, I ignored it and held Zerdan’s hand.
As I took his hand, Zerdan looked down at me without saying a word but didn’t pull away either.
“I’m curious about what information you have. Did Bella find out about my location?”
“No. That’s something I intend to ask Zerdan directly. I came here boasting that I’d found your location and made a big deal of it.”
“That’s impressive. Are you a double agent?”
“It is impressive, but it’s not something I would want to do myself. For now, if I win their favor and become part of their group, I can obtain even better information.”
“So, you want to extract information directly from me?”
I nodded. Zerdan seemed amused.
“That’s not a bad idea. If you manage to extract important information that way, I can tell you our location.”
However, he didn’t mention that, like Khan, it was easy to get information without such measures. Instead, he just played along with my suggestion.
“But they’re coming with the intent to take their comrade. If we end up losing them, it would be a significant loss. I don’t want to suffer a major setback for uncertain gains.”
“Diswen’s ability is indeed tempting. Mental abilities have unique applications depending on how they’re used. But if there’s a better ability user than Diswen, it wouldn’t be such a huge loss, would it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you remember the woman who helped Diswen succeed with her ability?”
“The Queen of Opera?”
I nodded.
Ability amplification is a rare and special ability, far superior to Diswen’s brainwashing ability.
“Yes, that’s right. What if we make it look like we’re letting Diswen go but acquire her?”
“It’s an appealing proposal, but I think kidnapping her, like before, might be faster.”
“That will be difficult. Bella has already pulled her to his side.”
“…Did you introduce her to Bella?”
Zerdan’s voice turned cold upon realizing the situation might become complicated, considering the circumstances when Anise cooperated with Bella.
I shook my head to indicate that wasn’t the case.
“It was a coincidence. There was a fire at the orphanage she was visiting, and Bella’s group happened to visit for a rescue mission.”
Technically, it was because I had used my ability that Bella’s group found out, but I didn’t feel the need to mention that detail.
Orphanage?
Zerdan seemed to have a realization, letting out a sigh of genuine regret.
“I made her meet Bella through unnecessary actions.”
“…Was it you who caused the explosion at the orphanage?”
“Yes. I had a test to conduct. I should have chosen a different location. It was my mistake.”
Well, it’s more than just a mistake…
Zerdan’s nonchalant attitude made me realize again just how much of a bad guy he was.
“…What kind of test was it?”
“It was to test the newly acquired puppet ability, which involves explosions. I wanted to see the range, so I chose a wide area nearby… I should have picked another place.”
“You knew there were people there, right?”
“Yes, I could tell there were presences.”
Zerdan’s gaze turned to me as if asking if I would scold him for knowing. It seemed he was waiting for my reaction.
“Well, if it were other people, they’d probably yell at me or be angry about why it happened, but you don’t seem to care whether children live or die?”
“I don’t know them, and it’s a thing of the past. Getting angry won’t change anything. I just don’t see the need for pointless emotional expenditure.”
“You seem to fit well with our organization.”
“I think so too.”
As I ascended the stairs first, Zerdan followed behind. He looked at my outfit and commented.
“You look good in clothes like these too.”
“Really? It’s not my style.”
“It seems everything suits you because you’re to my taste.”
When we were almost on the second floor, I looked at Zerdan as he made his comment. He didn’t meet my gaze, merely guiding me with a light hold around my waist into the open office.
The man from earlier looked very displeased with our entrance.
“Stop it already, just stop. Ugh. More importantly, what’s your purpose for being here? Did you think you could just come to a friend’s house like this?”
“That’s not it. I came to let you know that Bella is preparing to rescue Diswen.”
“Diswen… Zerdan, is she the mental ability user you recently acquired?”
“Yes. She’s a member of Bella’s group.”