chapter 19
Tired Man: Metal?
Otaku Dragon: Yes. I don’t know what Because it’s so on-mitsu (secretly) and deep inside. Even for me, it was only a momentary capture. Even that disappeared immediately. without a trace.
Tired Man: … No one else and the captain completely missed it. I don’t know what it is, and besides, it’s metal. Isn’t this dangerous?
Otaku Dragon: It could be dangerous. It may not be. So you find out dangerous or not.
Tired Man: Huh? me?
Otaku Dragon: So what should I do? That’s what you specialize in. Investigating others, digging, etc.
Tired Man: Oh boy, I lost my hand. Can’t we just kick him out? Why do you accept people with such risk factors as employees?
Otaku Dragon: Dame (no way).
Tired Man: Why?
Otaku Dragon: I liked it, Aaron Nakamura. it’s my style You’ll have to watch it work to find out in detail, but I think I’ll do well in my yokan (prediction).
It has its own charm that it smells dangerous. Once I have something I like, I have to make it mine, but you know the stigma comes loose, right?
Tired Man: This isn’t a complete sex drive. Are you perverted? hentai?
Otaku Dragon: It’s loud, and you do what you’re told to do. That’s why you give money. It’s a personnel order that came under the direct control of the president, so it’s hard to cut it. The more dangerous it is, the more you have to keep it nearby and watch it. Algan?
Tired Man: Yeah, I see.
* * *
The position I received from the Dragon Manager was Bar’s ‘On-site Manager’.
As soon as I put it on to befit the fancy title of manager, I was given an auto-fitting mechanical suit uniform that fits perfectly on my body, and I even put a name tag on my chest that seemed to improvise.
But, he’s a field manager… In reality, he is a choreman. Since I said I can do anything, I really want to try anything.
Of course, I still lack knowledge about alcohol, so it is difficult to manage inventory or play a role as a helper.
Instead, for a while, it was agreed to learn the sense of the field by taking charge of chores such as serving customers, serving hall tables, cleaning and washing dishes.
In particular, I emphasized over and over again that customer service and management are very important, and while providing friendly service, be firm about the bar’s rules and manuals.
As for the rules, there was nothing.
I heard that there are dozens of items scattered all over the place, but… .
1. Possession of weapons such as swords or firearms is prohibited in the bar. If you bring it, leave it with the manager.
2. No physical fights. A fistfight is unacceptable for any reason, unless you are having a sumo match on the board.
3. No smoking indoors. The same goes for drugs. Including e-drugs.
4. Minors allowed. However, only serve mocktails (fake-non-alcoholic cocktails) for minors.
5. Excretion must be done in the bathroom. The same goes for vomiting. Do not spit on the floor without spitting.
6. No theft. Watch carefully for anyone carrying a dart board, a ping-pong table, an arcade game machine, and a jukebox.
7. No sex. Sexual contact is only allowed until holding hands.
8. Non-discrimination and non-discriminatory speech against other species.
The important thing was about this. Even then, most of them are common sense things that you want to take for granted.
No matter how unusual customers came, I wanted to keep this level.
In fact, by the standards of cyberpunk, these were overly sound rules. Even if everything else is the same, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to listen to drugs or cigarettes properly.
It’s a neighborhood full of ethnic groups who all know that bars and pubs are places to smoke and buy drugs.
Anyway, if you don’t keep it, it’s okay to let it go.
The last rule said so.
It is left to the discretion of the employees to determine the ambiguous part based on the rules and manual alone, and if there is a customer who violates the rules, it is safe to kick them out immediately.
Of course, you can kick them out. If you kick out any customers, I’ll be kicked out of the store too. However, where does an employee have such discretion?
No matter how much I thought about it, it didn’t seem like it was going to be difficult or exhausting.
Customer service is something I’ve done a lot in restaurants. At the very least, it would be easier to deal with guests than those fussy upper class wealthy, nobles, and zaibatsu.
You are familiar with cleaning and washing dishes, and you only need to serve at the outside hall table, not the front table served by the bartenders.
I had some experience working as a waiter for a while before, so it wouldn’t be too difficult if I recalled that time.
No matter how I think about it, I think I am a very versatile person.
I wonder if I can take on such an easy task. Maybe this is a kind of waste of talent.
I don’t have much work to do, so I guess I’ll just suck on honey.
It’s the first day today, so it’s a light experience format, and when you start studying and managing alcohol in earnest, the difficulty will increase considerably.
Anyway, for that reason, I was more concerned about the relationship with my co-workers than the customer service.
Tony is also Tony, a man with a drowsy impression with dark circles coming down under his eyes.
Besides that, there was another bartender.
She had already seen her face.
A woman who exudes a strange atmosphere, as if she had met her somewhere. Say.
As expected, she was another bartender here.
She, Tony, the dragon manager, and me, a total of four people working together at the bar.
It was 7:03 p.m., past opening hours.
As soon as 7 p.m., electronic music from the retro synthwave started playing from the jukebox, which had stopped, signaling the start of the bar’s business.
Beside him, the otaku dragon was in full swing and chattering.
[Oh, by the way, have you two not said hello yet? Let me introduce you to shokai. Who is Nakamura Kun? This is Sei. The chief bartender in our store. Honest, good job, pretty… He is an excellent employee who is responsible for the sales of our store in many ways. It would be great if Tony resembled Sei even by half.]
“No, why did my name suddenly come out of there?”
Ignoring Tony’s mumbled words, the Dragon then introduced me.
[And Sei, this is Aaron Nakamura. A friend who temporarily became our employee this time. you teach a lot Oh, by the way, you can call me Nakamura. It’s convenient to call it that way… Ah, that poopy expression came out again. Ha ha ha.]
Very tasty.
The woman named Seira’s reaction was mild.
‘okay.’ He answered and greeted me lightly. And that was the end.
Not long after, Sasha Dragon left the message to call if something bad happened and went into her boss’ room, leaving only three of them in the bar.
“… … .”
A suffocating silence passed.
The vacancy was greatly felt when the president of Dragon, who had been talking non-stop for a moment, saying that something exists and disappears only to know its value, disappeared.
It’s become so awkward when the person who used to act as a lubricant for conversation disappears.
I looked around, wondering if I should talk to him about anything, and then I quit.
Even if you pretend, Say doesn’t seem to enjoy small talk, and Tony is the one who can talk comfortably… He seemed to be in deep thought for some reason.
For some reason, I feel like they’re looking at the back of my head. Maybe it’s the mood
It was strangely awkward, but I just skipped it and stood still.
Fortunately, the awkward time didn’t last long.
After a while, guests arrived.
* * *
Contrary to President Dragon’s warning that there are many truths, no one has yet seen the truth.
There are currently three customers in the bar. Considering that it had only been open for less than 30 minutes, it was not a bad number.
The two were a duo of a grumpy-looking grandfather and a tall young man who looked like his son or grandson.
They sat in front of Tony, ordered cocktails, and started talking politics while looking at the holographic news channel on the wall.
It seemed that the grandfather mainly vomited his anger about the political scene in Dusk City, and the young man listened quietly and added chuimsae or occasionally expressed his opinion.
Since the mayoral election of Dusk is just around the corner, it seems that such a topic is bound to be a hot topic.
It’s me, I don’t know anything about politics, I have no interest, I don’t have time to study, so I have nothing to say, but Tony seems to interrupt the conversation and say something.
Talking with customers in various ways is like a professional bartender.
The other customer was a male customer who looked bad.
He had a frown on his face and had a lot of body modifications, so he was careful to treat him like a gangster, but surprisingly he didn’t bring any weapons.
It could be that it’s hidden from view.
Anyway, the man said, ‘Don’t touch me.’ He sat at a table in the far corner, chewing on solitude by himself.
For alcohol, not cocktails, I ordered a large glass of beer and continued to sip on that alone.
From my point of view, should I say that I am a comfortable guest? Because you don’t have to worry too much about it.
There are a lot of empty seats in other places, so it was nothing more than an unspoken sign that you would have some time alone, even if you had to sit in a corner seat, so there was no need to respond, such as talking to you first.
But the comfortable and good times did not last long.
One person appeared.
And as soon as I made eye contact with him, I could tell that it was coming.
A man who exudes an aura of reluctance, as if written on his forehead, saying, ‘I am the truth’.
As soon as he entered the bar with a loud bell, he named himself ‘Detective Sherlock Holmes’.
… Isn’t that plagiarism?
Rather than that, when a famous detective introduces himself, he goes around saying that he is a famous detective.
Even in appearance, there was a sense of distance from the famous detective I knew.
To put it in a nutshell, he is the self-proclaimed Sherlock Holmes, who has a look that will terrify any Sherlockians.
A pretty chubby body, a bald forehead. It seems that he took all the hair from his head, or a rich mustache in return.
From a plaid suit top that seemed to burst, to a cloak coat that was too small to fit in and that was too tight.
Just by looking at his bulging belly, he could tell that this man did not enjoy sports very much.
A rare, soft belly in an era when many citizens have undergone nutritional remodeling, and obese patients are almost nonexistent.
From any point of view, he has a sharp appearance and is not a nimble detective who is good at various martial arts.
If there are traces of a famous detective that can be found… .
It’s like the translucent one-piece glasses worn in one eye.
If the flickering electronic attachment devices were sticking together, they would have thought it was a scout from Dragon Ball if it was just a square shape.
Like my watch, it seemed to be a kind of old-fashioned cyberwear that was both a fashion item and a practical function.
But if you think about it, it’s not really Sherlock Holmes style either. I don’t know if it’s Lupin. Isn’t that a thief, not a detective?
With that thought in mind, I was handed an old-fashioned revolver that was hanging from Sherlock’s thick thighs in accordance with the weapon prohibition rules, and it was rusty and I wanted to fire it up or make it right.
Then, as I was about to show my seat, someone called me from behind. It was a female voice.
When I turned around, Sei, a bartender with dark blue hair and gray eyes, said with a soft lips.
“That person needs to be checked more thoroughly. Even inside the coat.”
Seeing the advice he gave as if he was familiar with it, it seemed like he was a guest who had been here before, not the first time he came.
Haha, if it’s such an unusual character, even if you’re like me, you wouldn’t be able to recognize it.
He seems to be the one to watch out for with regards to the rules for possessing weapons.
Hearing that, he asked me to show you the inside of the coat right away, so he took a deep breath and pulled out a bunch of weapons from his arms.
None of that aspect was unusual. Daggers with pseudo-single-molecule cutting technology, electromagnetic pulse grenades, small electronic submachine guns, self-tracking shurikens… .
This was all I could recognize from the memories I saw in the game, and besides, all sorts of dangerous metal objects emitting light that I couldn’t figure out were pouring out.
All of them are high-tech weapons that are terrifying to touch.
The rusty old-fashioned revolver turned out to be pure show-offs. The truth was that there were a lot of things in that coat.
It seemed to me that many of the items were not only a problem with our bar regulations, but also many items that violated the city’s civilian possession of weapons regulations.
As I stare at you with a frown on my face, he gently pats me on the shoulder and tells me when he saw me.
“A good detective always has many enemies. It was the minimum self-defense device to protect my body. I hope you understand, Watson. uhh Now, shall we enjoy drinking at the dragon’s nest today? Let me guide you! That table over there would be great.”
It didn’t seem like the usual truth, but the crazy truth. It’s also a dangerously crazy truth.
Watch the next episode