Hiatus Gifting This Unfortunate Guy With Blessings

Before I could decide on the next course of action the woman jovially walked out of the building. She stood in the entrance and stretched her arms. I was far away from the building but with my owl's hearing, I could clearly hear a satisfied sigh coming from her.

She looked as if she wanted to bring attention to herself and it worked perfectly since a lot of people started observing her. Afterward, she moved down the street.

Surprisingly the people's gazes were still focused on the building and not her walking away.

I also noticed that all of those people were men and all of them were looking longingly at the building front as if they waited for something to appear.

Fortunately, I didn't have to infiltrate that building right then since my primary objective was following the woman. I noted the street and the building to my memory just in case and flew in the air once again since the woman just disappeared in an alleyway. I then spotted a flash of light where she was supposed to be so I sped up a bit.

To my surprise when I was finally able to see the branching path that woman has went into I was no longer able to see her anywhere near. I landed on the roof nearby and transformed into a cat. I descended gracefully onto the street level and started looking around.

I couldn't see anything out of ordinary. The weird scent my cat's nose picked up which seemed to be belonging to that woman just mysteriously vanished in the middle of the alley.

Did she use Teleportation?

I didn't know much about magic… well maybe besides the basics of Explosion, thanks to Megumin… but didn't Luna-san say that if one had Teleportation then the delivery quest would be just a breeze?

Why is that woman hiring adventurers and merchants instead of taking care of those packages herself? I had not a single clue.

With nothing else to go on, I transformed into an owl and took a flight towards the suspicious building. I once again perched on the nearby roof and started observing the vicinity. The crowd of men around seemed to thin out greatly but I could still spot a few faces peeking at the building from time to time.

This situation reminded me of some movies with gangs in them. In those, there was always some kind of watch in front of an establishment in which illegal activities were conducted. Watchmen then alarmed whoever was inside when hand of justice finally caught a whiff of their wrongdoings and was about to storm in.

I thought for a second about going back home but it was still very early in the morning and Chris probably was still occupied with that Archpriest fellow.

So I kept observing that building together with a few other souls.

I could spot a pair of eyes peeking from inside every few minutes and scanning the road. I could also see the rest of the eyes' owner through the window's glass. She was a little girl in a maid outfit with white hair.

Around 30 minutes have passed and the girl has peeked out a total of 13 times. After the 14th time she looked up the street level and her eyes rested on me.

It surprised me a little but I made myself not react at all. She kept looking at me so I broke the eye contact and pecked on my wings a little. Even after that, she kept her eyes on me so I decided to pretend to nod off.

After a few seconds, I opened my eyelids to take a peek and noticed that the girl started waving her hands. She also seemed a little bit panicked.

And she was still looking in my direction.

I suddenly felt a shiver travel down my owl's tail.

Trusting my gut feeling and the girl's signals I took off from the roof as fast as I could. And it was the right choice. When I turned around I saw that a tabby cat was looking at me hungrily from the spot I was just sitting at.

...

It seemed that my owl form not only looked cute but also looked very tasty for various animals.

I noticed the girl behind the window sigh with relief and then hide from the street view once again.

I flew towards another roof from which I could still see the building but it was pretty much impossible for the girl to see me again. This time I kept observing around me if some und.e.s.i.r.ed animal wanted to snack on me from behind.

The pattern didn't change though. In the next half an hour the girl kept looking every few minutes on the street and went back inside afterward.

…

I thought I was more patient but very soon I decided to investigate inside of that building.

From time to time I could see a duo of males bring some crates inside of the building so I flew over the alleyway they used to store those crates and got down to the street level. I jumped down in my cat form, looked around, and then switched into my human form.

The guys just went inside and they usually took a few minutes to come back so I picked one crate near the entrance and with the dagger that Chris gave me I poked a little hole on the side of it.

When I made sure it was big enough for my mouse's a.s.s to fit I transformed and went inside. There was some kind of fabric inside so I had no problems getting in. It smelled kinda weird in there but it was nothing I couldn't handle. I then just had to wait for my free ticket inside the building.

After a few minutes of waiting, I could hear the door being opened and two people walking around the crates.

Even though the crate I chose was the nearest to the door those guys picked another one and went inside.

…

My luck wasn't so good that day because my crate was transported as a 5th one. The duo of males brought me inside, walked around for a bit and after entering a big room one of them asked:

"And this one?"

There was a short pause and a woman's voice answered:

"Clothes go there."

One guy chuckled very silently but the woman added:

"Gentlemen, we are paying you accordingly. If you try to steal another piece of u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r then we will be angry."

The guy seemed to gulp involuntarily. Afraid to earn the ire of the woman he answered:

"N-no. We had learned our lesson already."

A woman added sweetly:

"I certainly hope you had... after the last 5 tries."

The guys laughed awkwardly and moved to a designated location while the woman gave out a slightly tired sigh.

After the crate was in was put down and the workers left the room once again. Just as I was about to peek out of the hole I was scared by a frustrated yell.

"Arrrghhh! Big sis, how long do I have to do this for?"

The voice sounded a lot younger than the previous woman's. The 'Big sis' quickly answered:

"We have to be careful, Lilreia. We might have a truce with Xyllisa-san but her expression today just won't let me be at peace. She promised to not rat us out but I can perfectly imagine her letting herself be tailed to bring guards here."

Another frustrated sight came out of Lilreia.

"There are only some of our customers outside. No one else is sticking around. Maybe Xyllisa-san really just came to say hi."

"I don't know what she's up to in Axel but we cannot trust her. For her, we are just hindrances aiding an enemy."

While they were chatting I finally managed to come out of the crate. In the room I was in there was not much around besides a few tables, chairs and many, many crates. I could also spot some appliances so I guessed this was some sort of kitchen. I skulked along the wall and peeked who was talking in the other room.

Unsurprisingly I saw the little blonde-pink maid currently sitting under boarded up window and there was another woman in the other corner of the room.

Wasn't that the beautiful receptionist from the maid cafe Kazuma and Dust took me to? When I saw her I also realized that I've heard her voice somewhere before indeed. And at that moment it dawned on me that she had mentioned the street this building was on when she was talking about the new location for the cafe.

"Lilreia…"

"Okay okay… on it."

I got a little bit spooked about the sudden exchange but Lilreia only stood up and peeked out from behind the board to the street. They both currently were looking outside and I didn't hear the workers come back so I quickly went into the room and hid behind another set of crates.

"Nothing… again."

"Mhm."

'Big sis' answered, still looking in the window while Lilreia once again sat down on the chair. I now realized that I somehow didn't notice that one woman peeking out constantly through the window. I might have been angled weirdly as an owl but I should've spotted her after observing the building for so long!

Besides the obvious conversation about my target - who apparently was named Xyllisa, I couldn't discern anything else about this place. Almost everything was kept inside the crates I couldn't get into easily.

I decided to get out of there and ask Kazuma or that Dust guy about what was the deal with this cafe. I was pretty confused about their reaction last time.

Lilreia stood up by herself this time to check outside but as she stood up she froze in place.

I was silently peeking from behind a crate and was wondering what she was doing but she soon answered my questions.

"Big sis, I can smell Rytria's scent."

The woman g.r.o.a.n.e.d a bit and answered:

"I swear I am gonna make them see something 'surprising' when they come for our services again."

"Maybe some tentacle fun? We can say that we just mistook their requests with someone else's."

This erected a small laugh from the older woman as she started wandering around while sniffing the air.

I wondered what they were talking about until I realized that the woman was coming closer and closer to my hiding spot. I quickly hid behind another crate.

"Hmmm? It's not here? Lilreia, come here. You got a better sense of smell."

I've heard Lilreia walk into my direction as well.

Soon there was nowhere to hide from two people at once and I got spotted by the younger girl first. She exclaimed in surprise upon seeing me.

"There's a mouse here! Wait... it smells just like Rytria's u.n.d.e.r.w.e.a.r."

I… smell like… what?

"Was it hiding in the laundry or something?"

"Seems like it."

I tried running behind the crates but I soon found out that both of them were very agile, especially the 'Big Sis". Very quickly I ended up in a corner, surrounded by the two and I started wondering what to do.

My luck seemed to plummet today. And I've prayed in the morning to goddess Eris… did I make her mad or something and this series of unlucky events is my divine retribution?

"Wait... that scar..."

Ill-fortune continues!

"What about it?" The 'Big Sis' curiously asked.

"That owl on the roof had exactly the same one on its face."

That seemed to make the taller woman think because she stroke her chin for a few seconds before going:

"Hmmm… Seems like I was right and Xyllisa-san really brought us a guest. Lilreia, tell the gentlemen outside to take a break."

After which her smile widened and she spoke directly to me:

"Hello there. I assure that we wish you no harm. Would you honor us with a minute of your time to talk?"