'You didn't introduce yourself yet. My name is Efta Solo of the Solo family, the family business. I am from the First Free City of Marischera and I am here today to deliver a slave to Elishe. We were just about to bring the slaves over here.


　Does that mean you're the country's hired merchant ......?　Whoa! Maybe it's a big deal.
　Maybe he's a slaver.　What a way to beat myself up for thinking: ...... Not so much!　If you're dealing with elves, you've come to the right place!


'Yes. So you are bringing an elf free slave here today?

''No. ......, as I mentioned earlier, the Elf Slave is by appointment only. I have a waiting list of 8 people at my place alone, so ....... If we're going to have a regular waiting list in the current state of affairs in the country, we're going to have to wait at least five years.

　It's hard to judge whether the wait for 8 people is too many or too few, though. It seems to be very expensive, and I guess that means it's a lot of blah blah blah blah. I wonder exactly how much it costs.
　However, it's amazing that you have to wait 5 years for it. How popular are the elves? It's so popular that I might have to take back my love of elves in the world or something.

"Under those circumstances, the game?　Will you give me the elf if I win?　It depends on the nature of the game, oh, but the money won't be available any time soon.

No, I don't want the money if you win, but if you lose, you'll have to pay the penalty. If you lose, you'll have to pay a reasonable penalty. --How's that?

　What do you think?　But if you don't know the content, there's nothing you can do about it: .......
　I'm sure you'll find that these "good stories" always end badly. It's not a good idea to underestimate the Japanese people who grew up in a world full of lessons.　In the black business, he was more of a cheater with a "good story"!　

　But at least I'm listening!　I don't know what kind of game it is, but I'm sure there's a loophole in there somewhere. There might be a way out of it.

First of all, please tell us what the game is. If it's too unlikely to win, I won't be able to ride it even if my dreams are on the line.

The game, simply put, is a gift competition. Your opponent is the mayor of Elishe. If he likes your gift, you win. If not, I win. Simple, right?


　It's easy, right?　That's not it. That's a bribe.
　And if I'm the only one to give it away, that means I'm the only one who's going to get drugged if I get drugged by a bribe. It's a casually terrible suggestion.

I see. ....... Should I, as Jiro Ayase personally, make a gift to the mayor?

I'm sure you will. Don't worry, I'll cross over to the mayor.

...... means that I was introduced by Mr. Efta, and if I give the mayor a gift and he likes it, I win. So that's the kind of game you want to play.

I'm sure you will.

　I'm not sure about the relationship between the Solo family and Elishe, but I guess that means there's enough goodness in it for me to give the elf to him if the gift strategy works.
　I'll be giving the gift in my name, but if it goes well, Mr. Efta will get all the goodies: ......
　That's what this is all about. It's a dirty business, a dirty business.

　But if you give them a strange gift, there's a good chance they'll get it from ....... Or maybe the mayor is an honorable man and bribes don't work.
　Otherwise, they wouldn't be offering this kind of talk to a stranger like me.
　You're talking about using the naive idea of wanting an elf as a bad idea: .......

　What is the severity of the crime of bribery in this country to begin with? If it's a one-shot death penalty or something like that, it's too much of a gamble at any price.

　In other words, in order to win this game, I need to find out about the mayor first, and then give him some kind of gift (bribe) to get him to do some kind of business for me.
　And if I fail to do so, Mr. Efta will dismiss me as having done it on my own. I guess it's called clipping a lizard's tail, in this case, too.

　Hmmm ....... What do you think of this?


Please tell me ...... what the penalty is if I lose.

''If you lose, ......, yes. Shall I take ten spirit stones? If you don't have any on hand, you can reserve the ones you'll be accomplishing your guidance from now on.

　...... 10 Spirit Stones Hey! I haven't checked the value of the spirit stones yet, but I've already got two more after yesterday, 10 spirit stones are not balanced against the elves.

　So does this mean that this is just a token penalty? If it fails, they'll probably nab him with that thing for bribery: .......
　I'm not sure if it's a good idea, but I'm sure it's a good idea to get 10 of the spirit stones so that you can earn some extra money without having to pay for it. If it's a spirit stone, it's probably an excellent credit that won't get lost.
　I'm not sure if it's a good idea to use it as a guessing game or not. ......

　...... The more you think about it, the more you think about it.


What do you think?　Would you like to compete?

'But first, let me check. First of all, I thought the elves were not on hand by appointment only?

'No, there's an elf that I got by accident just the other day. I still have her because we couldn't get along with the people who reserved her, so I still have her. She's still a beautiful young elven girl. Don't worry about that.

　Hmm. I've heard there are some things that are out there.
　I'll have to ask for more details on what to do. But there's a chance they could lie about it, and without seeing the actual thing, I can't trust them either way: .......

　But men are so stupid because just hearing "beautiful young elf girl" makes me want to gamble with my life. It's what they want!




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　And I decided to play the game of my life.

　Because I weighed the various ingredients and decided that I could probably do well.
　But if I can't do it well, I may have to somehow escape to the mansion and ban the other world until things cool down, or sell the mirror itself for crying out loud. ......
　Still, with an elf girl at stake, you have no choice but to do it. It's the most heartbreaking situation in the world, with me rescuing an elf girl who was captured by a bad slaver. I can't help but fall in love with this one.


　The gift is a party for the 50th anniversary of Elishe's founding with ....... I know it's a tough call, but I used to be forced to sell and promote at parties when I was working for a black company, so I didn't have a blind spot. Work experience is great.

　Elishe's 50th anniversary party will be held on the second day of "Elishe's 50th Anniversary" from past noon. I was introduced by Mr. Efta at the party and presented a gift to the mayor. That's the arrangement.
　There are fifteen more days until the 50th anniversary, which is the day of the event, so I have to prepare for it. To tell you the truth, I don't have much time, but I'll do my best, Elf!

　I was curious about the fact that the match was only a verbal agreement, but I heard that they were going to formally sign a spirit contract by Mr. Efta's hired elves on the day of the match. ''You can run away, right?'' Mr. Efta was very challenging, but if I wasn't prepared, I had to think about it.

　Finally, he casually asked, "Why are you giving the mayor a gift? I asked him, "It's a 50th anniversary celebration," to which Mr. Efta replied, "It's a 50th anniversary celebration. Then why don't you give it to me? Are you stupid?　Are you dying?




　◇◆◆◆◇




　We parted from Mr. Efta with the promise to meet him in front of the main square in 15 days.

　From now on, we had to do everything we could to win this game. First of all, we must gather information about the mayor. We have to find out if he is guilty of bribery or not, about the 50th anniversary celebrations, and then we have to find out more about the mayor.
　There are many more things I need to find out, but I'll need someone to help me because I can't do it alone: .......

　I thought about it a lot, but in the end, I decided to put my head down and ask Shero and Rebecca to help me. I apologize for running away that time, and I'll ask them to help me out.
　From now on, if we're going to live in the House of Mirrors, we're going to be neighbors.