Asuna stood at the wardrobe door, smiling sweetly.
Akimi nodded in response.
He crawled out of the wardrobe, patted his clothes twice, then looked around at the surroundings.
This was a dark room, five or six times larger than the previous hotel room.
The bed placed in the center of the room alone was about as big as the hotel room itself.
The large bed was covered with a purple velvet mattress, and several large pillows were laid across it.
It seemed this was likely Nirrnir's room.
After leaving the room, they returned to the familiar living room, where Nirrnir was lazily reclining on a large sofa, watching Akimi and the others as they emerged from the room.
"Go ahead, explain the situation. And why did you suddenly run off to the Korloy family's monster stable?" Nirrnir said casually, lightly swirling the wine in the glass she held.
Akimi noticed that the "?" symbol above Nirrnir's head—which indicated a quest—had disappeared.
However, he wasn't particularly surprised.
After thinking for a moment, he carefully explained everything that had happened at the monster stable.
"…As for why we entered the monster stable—well, we just wanted to see if we could find any useful intel… and we actually did, didn't we?"
After listening to Akimi's explanation, Nirrnir remained silent for a moment.
She took a small sip of her wine, then asked:
"You weren't discovered, were you?"
"No," Akimi replied with confidence, nodding.
"We weren't discovered during the infiltration, and we left while they were arguing. There's no way they noticed us."
Hearing this, Nirrnir didn't say anything else, and the living room fell into a quiet stillness.
After a long silence, Argo, twirling a strand of hair near her ear with her fingers, asked:
"So what should we do next? Since that wild hound is dead, there'll be a vacant match in tonight's tournament, right? Are there any rules regarding that, Miss Nirrnir?"
"There aren't."
Nirrnir shook her head and replied calmly.
Then she finished the red wine in her glass in one go and placed the empty glass on the tray in Kio's hands.
She continued:
"I told you before, right? Once a monster is registered for combat, it must participate in the match—that's the rule of the casino."
"But Miss Nirrnir, didn't you say there were two previous instances where monsters couldn't fight due to other reasons?" Asuna asked curiously.
"How were those cases resolved?"
Nirrnir let out a small yawn, then said,
"Hmm… In both of those previous cases, the families at fault apologized to the opposing family and asked permission to send a replacement monster. They lost face and paid a hefty amount in compensation."
"So it looks like this time will be the same?"
"Heh…" Nirrnir let out a soft laugh, her expression slightly amused.
"Most likely—this time their servants were so stupid that they made multiple mistakes while cheating, which ended up getting their monster killed before the match. That's way dumber than the previous two incidents. I bet Bardun is absolutely fuming right now."
It seemed Nirrnir was taking a bit of pleasure in their misfortune.
However, her smile quickly faded as she fell into thought.
Staring at the bottle of potent decolorizing agent in the center of the tea table, which hadn't been used, she muttered,
"Besides demanding compensation, we could ask for something else... Maybe we can use this opportunity to expose all of Bardun's cheating methods…"
"For example…" Nirrnir closed her eyes in contemplation, and after a short pause, a faint smile curved her lips.
"In exchange, we can demand that they open up the monster stables and allow us to conduct a surprise inspection."
Argo clapped her hands, her eyes lighting up as she said quickly,
"That's right! If we go in and inspect, there's a good chance we'll catch them red-handed. And if they refuse, that just means they've got something to hide."
But Kirito frowned and said,
"What if they'd rather be suspected than agree?"
"Then we'll have no choice but to reject their request to send in a substitute monster," Nirrnir replied with a sly smile.
"There are still seven hours before the match begins, and the habitat of the Rusty Ly wild hounds is on the far west side of the seventh floor. A round trip would take at least a day and a half. There's no way they have time to catch another one. The initiative is in our hands now—checkmate, no counterplay."
Kio added,
"If they try to cancel the match, according to Faruhari's will, that means they're ready for the final showdown. The next match would then be used to determine the new lord of Volupta. Win or lose, the monster battle tournaments in the grand casino would be abolished afterward. That's something the Korloy family can't accept. In other words, they're already out of options."
"W-Wait a second." Argo looked confused and asked,
"Why would the monster battles be canceled regardless of who wins? As long as both families agree, can't they just start them up again?"
Nirrnir gently shook her head and replied,
"During the transition of lords, the spirit of the ancestor Faruhari must be summoned to witness it."
"Let's put that aside for now…" Nirrnir said as she slowly stood up.
Standing on the sofa and looking down at Akimi and Kirito from above, she said,
"There's still one more thing I need to ask of you—witnesses to this farce."
A golden "!" mark appeared above her head.
Akimi and Kirito exchanged a glance and both replied,
"Please tell us. We'll do our best."
"Heh…" Nirrnir let out a soft laugh, covering her mouth slightly.
Then she said,
"It's nothing too serious. I'd just like you two to come with me to inspect the monster stables. Since none of our people have ever been inside the Korloy family's stables, we'll need someone to lead the way."
It truly wasn't anything difficult—the layout of the monster stable was simple.
At least, the Korloy family's monster stable had a very simple structure.
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