Chapter 317 Attack at the Hotel
?Daniel nodded in response.
The next act of the farce began, with the old yakuza from the Kuroki gang attempting to play the 'misunderstanding' card. Statements like "We don't really know that Kato-dono is Magitek's apprentice" and "We didn't find any medal on him! It's because of this petty thief that caused us this misunderstanding!" were thrown around, conveniently omitting the reason they dragged Kato out in the first place.
Having had enough of the charade and eager to get back to sleep after 18 sleepless hours, Daniel decided to cut through the nonsense.
"So why did you drag him out in the first place? If you hadn't, this whole farce wouldn't have begun," Daniel inquired, and the translator relayed his words to the occupants of the meeting room.
Though fully aware of the reasons behind Kato's incident, Daniel continued his questioning. The Syndicate Union manager had already reported all information about Kato, detailing the incident, Kato's relationship with the yakuza gang as a debtor, and the exorbitant interest exceeding 100% of the original borrowed amount to him.
"That was because he's our debtor," the old yakuza answered without fear, having prepared for this scenario. He then turned towards Tetsu.
"Tetsu, tell him what you did," the old yakuza ordered.
"Yes!" Tetsu, the yakuza in question, began recounting all that had happened throughout the year. He was remarkably honest and didn't conceal any wrongdoing. Perhaps he had resigned himself to the fact that he might not leave here alive.
In essence, he admitted that all this trouble was caused by him alone, and the gang had no knowledge of it.
As Daniel listened to Tetsu's account, he observed Kato's face, which displayed a mixture of anger and frustration. Daniel could only imagine what Kato was thinking. Even though he had experienced oppression before, the context was different now.
[It seems the old yakuza has decided to discard Tetsu, and Tetsu appears to be very loyal to that old man.] Reiko, Daniel's ghost servant sent her telepathic message to Daniel, commenting on the current situation. Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m
After hearing the entire account through the translator, Daniel let out a knowing smile. "Seriously, and you don't know jack shit about it? Talking about lousy management, where did all that money go? Don't tell me your top earner didn't even give you a cut?" Daniel inquired.
After a brief pause, during which the translator relayed Daniel's words in a deliberately down-tone Daniel's rude manner, the old yakuza seemed a bit flustered.
He hadn't anticipated Daniel posing the question this way. If he admitted to receiving a cut, Daniel could find fault with them. If they claimed ignorance about the cut, even if they survived this ordeal, their reputation would hit rock bottom, making it exceedingly difficult to survive in their line of work.
Boom!
At this moment, the sound of an explosion echoed from the outside, followed by gunfire and the screams of people who might have witnessed the atrocities happening outside.
"What happened!?" The manager of the Syndicate Union branch quickly asked the security through the phone.
"The... The onmyo! The onmyoji attacked us! They are the onmyoji from the Kuroda clan!" The security guy from the other side said in alarm.
"How many of them!?" The manager inquired.
Boom! "Argh!" The sound of another explosion echoed through the phone, ending the call along with the life of that security guard.
"Ugh... And here I thought I would be able to have a good sleep." Daniel uttered, he was the calmest about this situation, followed by the two witches, Pride and Gluttony.
Boom!
Suddenly, a large monster made out of paper tore through the hard wall of the Syndicate and roared menacingly, startling the people in the meeting.
Bang!!!
A large caliber bullet burst the head of that paper giant, turning it into paper scraps and tearing apart all the magic, enchantments, or magical rituals the onmyoji had put in place to build that paper giant.
The shot was fired due to Daniel's natural instinct toward surprise attacks as a hunter. He always shot first at anything that dared to surprise him and directed its killing intent toward him first, then asked questions later... if it survived.
"That is... Onmyo Shikigami! Your gun can kill a Shikigami in one shot!?" Gluttony uttered the name of that construct, expressing surprise at how effective Daniel's weapon is.
"Huh? Shikigami? What's that?" Daniel asked in confusion.
Gluttony paused, thinking of a good explanation that could help a Western mage like Daniel understand.
"It's like a golem made out of paper, but more bothersome and harder to kill than a normal golem." Gluttony explained.