"Then what? What do you mean you sold Anna?!"
The question cut through the noise of the Hostess of Fertility like a blade. Ryuu, the other staff, and nearly every customer inside the pub stopped what they were doing at once, all eyes turning toward the couple seated at the table.
"I didn't sell her! She was taken!" the man shot back, his rough voice trembling.
"That's the same thing, you idiot! That's why I kept telling you to stop gambling..."
The woman with light yellow hair tied back behind her head looked as though she had lived through many hard years, though the traces of her former beauty had not entirely faded. The man across from her responded only with slumped shoulders.
"What kind of father puts his own daughter up as collateral for a bet?!"
The mother screamed it one final time before burying her face in her hands and breaking down completely.
"..."
An uncomfortable wave of unease washed over the entire Hostess of Fertility.
Anya and Chloe, ordinarily so diligent, could only peer out from behind the kitchen curtain with stricken faces. Runoa stopped mid-step, while Ryuu and Syr exchanged a glance.
The middle-aged man became aware that he had become the center of the room's attention. Cornered by shame and the silent judgment pressing in from all sides, he suddenly snapped.
*CRASH!*
His eyes went red as he lurched to his feet, kicking his chair hard enough to send it clattering across the floor.
"What are you all staring at?! This isn't a show! Go back to your lousy food, you bastards!"
"W-wait, stop it!"
His wife grabbed for his arm, trying to pull him back before he could do something worse. But the man had already been swallowed by his own humiliation and rage. He snatched the glass of water in front of him and flung its contents into the air, spattering the table and floor.
The wild motion stopped dead.
A dull, heavy impact followed as something solid and immovable caught his swinging arm in a grip like iron.
"I apologize, sir, but if you intend to cause a scene, would you mind paying your bill first and leaving?"
A cold voice cut cleanly through his anger. Runoa had closed the distance without a sound, and before the man could react, she tightened her grip on his wrist.
"What are you doing, let go of me— Owww?!"
The blustering shout dissolved instantly into a yelp of pain. Runoa might have looked like an ordinary young woman her age, but the crushing force of her grip quickly reminded the man that the arm holding his was not remotely ordinary.
"Hey, who do you think has to clean all of this up, nya?"
"A clown who wastes food and water that we prepared can be cursed by the gods and fall straight to hell for all I care, nya."
Two boot heels struck the floor in unison as Chloe, wearing a dangerous smile, and Anya, her face burning with indignation, appeared directly behind him.
In a perfectly synchronized motion, they each swept one of the man's legs out from under him, pulling his footing clean away. He lost his balance instantly and went down hard to the floor.
"Wh... what?"
But before he could process what had just happened, his body was lifted back into the air. The enormous figure of Mia now loomed over him, holding him by the scruff of his robe with a single hand.
Though he was a full-grown man, in Mia's grip he weighed no more than a feather. Staring up close into Mia's dangerous expression, every last trace of color drained from his face.
"Very bold of you to call our cooking terrible before you've even tasted it, isn't it?"
"Aaaahhh...!!"
"You're disturbing my other customers, you idiot!"
The next instant, Mia swung her arm. The man sailed through the air in a clean arc, passed straight through the entrance, and landed in the middle of the main street. His scream echoed the full length of the road until he hit the ground.
A horse-drawn carriage came to a sudden, neighing halt as his figure appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the road.
The crowd outside startled for just a moment, but the instant they recognized which pub this particular individual had just been launched from, everyone cleared out of the way with practiced caution.
The Hostess of Fertility was no ordinary establishment. It was a sanctuary for women with complicated pasts, and under Mia's watch, every waitress had her own particular circumstances, with nearly all of them considerably more capable in a fight than their uniforms suggested.
Newcomer adventurers who knew nothing of this often made the mistake of being drawn in by the pub's reputation for pretty faces, only to become a familiar sight for the locals as they were thrown out for doing something foolish.
"..."
No longer content to sit and watch in silence, Charlie rose from his seat and settled directly across from Anna's mother, Karen Claes. His sudden presence pulled the woman out of her sobbing, replacing it with confusion.
"You are...?"
Karen stared uncertainly at the black-haired young man sitting before her with the easy familiarity of someone she had known for years.
"Ma'am, try imagining this hair as white." Charlie said quietly.
"You... you're Charlie!"
With that small hint, Karen recognized him at last.
"Yes. Uncle Huey, please sit down. Tell me what actually happened to Anna."
Charlie glanced toward the door. The man named Huey had just shuffled back in, his steps unsteady and his clothes dusty from the street. He was considerably more subdued now, Mama Mia's lesson having taken the fight out of him entirely. Without a single word, Huey lowered himself into the seat beside his wife, head bowed, avoiding all eye contact.
"What are you doing here?"
Charlie frowned slightly as he felt someone settle into the seat right beside him.
It was Syr Flova.
For reasons Charlie himself found difficult to put into words, he had always sensed that something was off about the grey-haired waitress, and her presence never sat quite right with him.
"My goodness, don't say it like that, Charlie-san." Syr said with a sweet smile, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'd like to hear about this poor couple's situation too. Besides, you've been helping Bell-san quite a lot lately, haven't you? I wanted to thank you for that personally."
"Oh."
Remembering that she was one of the women who held feelings for Bell, Charlie decided to let her presence go without further issue. He turned his attention back to the Claes couple, ready to hear the full story of how Anna had ended up sold by her own father.
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