Volume 1 - CH 3.4

Part 4

Moffle and the rest returned onstage and continued to entertain the guests that were spread around the plaza. They began their performances such as juggling and dancing (which were much better than before), and the children were actually having fun.

As Seiya watched them from afar, Isuzu said, “I honestly thought you’d kick him out.”

“Why?”

“It’s the first day, and you might have lost your authority if you had permitted such behavior.”

“He’s the cleanup hitter. If we fired him, everyone would need to work a lot harder. Anyway, it was thanks to you that we managed to steer away from trouble.”

Hearing that, Isuzu sighed.

“The ‘Forgotten Realm’ bullets are very precious; it takes about a year to make one. I’m left with only one round.”

“Is that so?”

“I’d appreciate if you treat my magical bullets as your family’s wealth.”

“All right…”

To think she’d just used her priceless magical bullets for that. Wait, hold on.

“By the way, Sento… You wanted to try some bullets on me a while ago, right? How much were they?”

“You mean the one that renders you unable to reproduce? I got those from an old 100-yen store in Maple Land. They’re about 105 yen with tax.”

That’s just…

“I don’t get what determines the value of bullets…”

“I agree that it’s too cheap. That’s why I wanted to try it…”

“Ah, whatever. What matters is that you saved us back there. I’m indebted to you.”

“It’s okay. I’m just doing whatever I can to help.”

“If you really wanna help, I’m going to have to make you bear it all.”

*

Outside the gates of the castle in Amaburi, Isuzu said, “I didn’t think you were serious when you asked me to bare it all.”

She was standing in the cold winter, wearing a swimsuit that exposed a lot of her skin and outlined her fine chest and buttocks. She held a reluctant expression and her lips were becoming purple from the cold.

“Erm, Kanie-san. It might be a little inappropriate for a mascot to be dressing like this…” said Muse, who stood beside Isuzu, in embarrassment. She was also wearing a swimsuit, and moved her slender legs bashfully.

“Kanie-sama…am I really fit for this?” said Latifa, who was being supported by Isuzu. Likewise, she was also wearing a swimsuit. Despite her frail and delicate figure, Latifa’s proportions were perfect, and her skin was so beautiful it seemed transparent.

Readying his smartphone camera, Seiya gave instructions.

“Take a step back. No, that’s too much. All right, don’t move, Your Highness. Good, now hold up your placards.”

Latifa timidly raised her placard that read “30th Anniversary Is Coming!”. The other two did the same, with theirs reading “Everything For 30 Yen” and “Special Service!”, respectively.

“E-Erm, are we really going to use this picture for our advertisement?”

“This sounds like a cheap idea, to be honest.”

“…K-choo!”

Cheap or not, this technique was sure to draw attention. Seiya had his doubts about this, but—

“What we do doesn’t matter. As long as it stands out, it’ll be fine. “

The shutter flicked. The resulting lighting wasn’t perfect, but it was something that could be touched up later. Seiya continued to take more pictures without hesitation.

“Hey, smile a bit. A little more! Don’t give those gloomy expressions as if you were lining up in a slave trading town!”

“We definitely feel that way, though…”

“Sento, you’re the only one not smiling. Your face is still so sullen.”

“But I am smiling…”

The cast members who were cleaning their areas crowded around to watch. It was needless to say that many of them were elated at the sight, but there were others who despised it too. Surely they must have felt their gazes by now.

“Done. Let’s do the video next.”

Latifa and Muse had held their smiles all the way, though Isuzu was unable to do so.

After relentlessly taking pictures of the three, Seiya switched his smartphone to video recording mode.

“Put some energy in your words. Ready, set,”

“Amagi Brilliant Park, everything for 30 yen—”

The three of them weakly voiced out the words, which quickly became out of sync.

“Put more emotion into it. Again! Ready, set,”

“Amagi Brilliant Park! Everything for 30 yen!”

*

Seiya was initially very hesitant on making Latifa, who seemed to have a frail constitution, take part in this, but thankfully one could not be judged solely on appearances. Finishing the photo shoot, Seiya headed straight back into his office.

He did the photo retouching on a used PC given to him by the general affairs department, and with it he also laid out the details of the 30 yen campaign. Everything was done within 10 minutes. He summoned the head of the public relations department and sent the details and instructions to his email.

By the way, the head of the public relations department was a strange-looking creature who looked like he came from some magical country. The guy named Tricen had a figure similar to the other mascots but resembled a triceratops, and he wore a pair of glasses that made him look witty. His name was strange, but it appeared to be his real name.

“Ooh…that’ll do. We can use that,” Tricen commented after watching the edited video. “Normally amateur videos don’t give much impact because they’re too cliché. However, this is different.”

“Is that so? This was really just a desperate measure, after all.”

“That’s not it, the video is very good. The girls possess cuteness beyond popular idols, and the embarrassment they conceal is simply unbearable. It does not sound overly rehearsed, and overall this is just super moe. I think this Tricen here will stare till he gets a hunched back.”

Tricen gave those disgusting comments in a serious tone.

“Oi…”

“My bad. Anyway, this video is sure to go viral among the mascots.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Don’t get me wrong, Isuzu and Muse are great, but I think Latifa-sama will be the selling point here. She’s the royalty of Maple Land, after all. Seeing Her Highness’s young and graceful, yet heartrending figure would capture anybody’s heart. Mind if I go to the toilet for a bit?”

“Stay.”

Is there anyone here who has the slightest bit of decency?

“The main problem would be this video would not appeal to mothers. In fact, it might actually have an opposite effect…”

“We’ll think of another approach for that.”

“I thought as much. Good job obtaining permission from Moffle-san to use Latifa-sama for the photo shoot, by the way.”

“?”

What’s he talking about? Why do I have to obtain permission from Moffle?

“My, you didn’t know? Moffle is Latifa-sama’s—”

The sound of the door being kicked open silenced Tricen mid-sentence.

“Kanie Seiya!!!”

The door flew off and hit the wall on the opposite side, before toppling onto the floor. The one who stepped in, blowing steam from his nose, was none other than Moffle.

“What do you want, rat?”

“I’ll break your neck, fumoooo!”

Moffle charged forth, with his paws aimed directly at Seiya. He managed to avoid the strike just in time.

“What’s your problem!?”

“Shut up! How could you go around making Latifa dress in a manner like that? A swimsuit!? An advertisement!? I’ll never permit it,fumo!”

Moffle pressed hard on the assault, repeatedly throwing paws at him from left and right.

“You should know very well that Latifa’s not very healthy! How could you mock her by making her wear such erotic clothes in weather like this? Unbelievable, fumo!”

“Hey, I didn’t force her to do it. I even told her not to force herself if she didn’t feel like it!”

“Did you actually think she would refuse, fumo? That child…that child is very obedient, fumo! You’re just taking advantage of her personality!”

Moffle leaped up for another strike, and broke the table in half. Tricen ran about trying to dodge the wooden splinters that shot out.

“Fumomomomomomo!”

The attack was followed by what seemed like a thousand punches directed at Seiya.

“Ugh….!”

Not wanting to lose to Moffle, Seiya endured the strikes. They came with such speed and force, Seiya could almost feel the fury and tears coming out from Moffle’s heart.

“Ku…”

This rat’s strength is no joke. Maybe his spirit as a man is something that I need to acknowledge. That’s probably one of my duties as an acting manager. The hell I would do that!

“You filthy rat!”

Seiya returned the punches and kicks that were thrown at him. Moffle bent the upper half of his body to guard, and took the opening to do a rapid one-two punch that went papan! Seiya caught his breath and began to think that he was playing into Moffle’s hands.

Damn it…! Those rhythmical motions and that tight guard using his paws…no doubt, this is definitely—

“The Peek-a-Boo style…!”

It was the killer fighting style Mike Tyson used to demolish countless opponents in his time. Although the new rules that placed emphasis on safety have rendered this style obsolete, small-build fighters who possessed explosive strength could use this to obtain destructive power. Given Moffle’s short physique and fighting spirit, only God knew how dangerous of a foe he could be.

Moffle gave an expression that said “Oh? So you know about this technique?”

“Bingo. My master was the renowned trainer Kasu Damato who learned about the art directly from Tyson. I am his last disciple,fumo.”

How monk-like. I wonder how many of those disciples there are?

“Using this style on ordinary people is forbidden, fumo. Nonetheless, for the sake of your death penalty, Kanie Seiya, I’ll make an exception.”

Just like a military tank readying for assault, Moffle appeared right in front of Seiya.

“This is for making Latifa dress so erotically, fumo!”

This is bad. The office is like a boxing ring and I’m cornered. If this continues, I’ll lose my chance of escaping and have to bite the bullet…

“Tch…”

Is there an opening for escape? No, there’s no room on both sides. Wait, there’s still chance. Above!

Aiming at Seiya, who was about to take his chance at a leap of faith, and Moffle, who was about to deliver the punishment, Isuzu fired her magical bullet that inflicted ‘the pain of striking one’s toe on furniture’.

“Stop with your nonsense,” Isuzu ordered, still pointing her musket at the two of them who were writhing in agony. She was wearing her normal park uniform; she must have dashed here right after changing.

“Mo…fu…!”

“Ow…!”

“Please stop the pointless fighting. Also, Lord Moffle. Her Highness accepted the modeling request on her own accord, you know?”

“Mofu…But…but…!”

Moffle wept tears of regret.

“Moreover, Her Highness did not seem reluctant to take on the task, though she said ‘it’s pretty embarrassing to please young adults by wearing such costumes’ with reddened cheeks.”

“Ugh…”

“You didn’t just try to mimic her, did you?”

Also, was that really the only thing she said?

“Those who heard her comments even said that ‘since she said that, there’s no harm in drooooling over her, right?’“

“What’s with that impression? And that’s not how you spell ‘drool’!”

“Anyway, Her Highness was fully aware of the nature of the task before accepting it; your resistance against this is unjustified, Lord Moffle.”

“Mofu… But try not to take Latifa out of the sky garden, fumo. She should stay within the boundaries.”

“There shouldn’t be a problem if I accompany her.”

“Fine, fumo.”

Moffle gave in.

“Kanie-kun. Moffle stirred up trouble yet another time. Are you going to fire him?”

“…No. This happened in the backstage, so I won’t count it.”

If such a thing happened in front of the guests, he would fire him without hesitation. Thankfully, Moffle only did so in the office, away from the eyes of the public. It got on Seiya’s nerves, but he wasn’t going to kick people out over personal grudges.

“Understood. It’s fine now, so please get back to work, Moffle.”

*

Another business day had ended.

Although the guests who came today were not able to enjoy the attractions, they were still included in the visitor count. The number was close to their prediction, standing at 1,491.

Thanks to Tricen’s efforts, Amagi Brilliant Park was able to announce its 30 yen campaign by dinner time. The video that Moffle was so angry about was also uploaded onto online video sites.

Seiya arrived home after midnight, exhausted, and checked the view count of the advertisement video. Just like Tricen had mentioned, the popularity of the 3 girls could not be looked down upon. The tactics he used could be considered uncouth and cheap, but it certainly worked.

One should never underestimate the power of ecchi. Of course he could have considered other means, but grabbing attention was his goal.

However—

Contrary to his expectations, the video had only garnered 83 hits. It had been 4 hours since the video was uploaded. That was a little too low considering the fact that cast members from Amaburi had watched it out of curiosity as well. Perhaps he had his expectations set too high?

*

Seiya skipped school the next day.

It was the first day of the 30 yen campaign and Seiya simply couldn’t stand being stuck in a lesson while awaiting the results. He arrived at the park first thing in the morning, and after giving instructions in the meeting, Seiya went into the plaza.

The number of visitors was smaller than that of yesterday’s. It was Wednesday, a weekday, after all. They couldn’t expect the visitor count to skyrocket on a day like this, considering that there were still many who did not know about the 30 yen campaign. They had reserved a spot on the newspapers for the 30 yen campaign advertisement, but even then, the goal of spreading the news by the week seemed far-fetched.

Seiya constantly checked the net during meetings and work. They were nearing the end of another working day, yet the view count stood at 163. That was as good as nothing.

While walking out of the staff exit with drooped shoulders, Seiya had a chat with the security officers.

“Good work, Seiya-san.”

“Ah…”

“Today was rather different, don’t you think?”

“Huh?”

“Uh, I was watching the surveillance cameras while passing time, and I could hear some interesting stuff. And…”

“And…?”

The security officer gave a stiff expression, struggling to express his thoughts in words.

“One could hear lots of laughter among them. Guests and cast members alike.”

Seiya became even more distressed. He couldn’t click with what the security officer was trying to say. The view counts of the video were abysmal.

Laughter? What could that do in a situation like this?

Seiya checked the net again when he got home. It had climbed to 218 views. That was nothing worth mentioning; he had aimed for 100,000, yet the video only got about 200 views.