After Erina agreed, she still had to brief Hisako on the work, arrange Shirogane Tsumugi's affairs, and inform other people.
During this time, Jaden was sought out again.
Same old place, same afternoon.
Jaden once again saw Eriri in the same spot in the old-fashioned coffee shop.
However...
The girl with blonde hair, twin tails, and poor development-seemed to have doubled from one to two.
"Is this your sister?"
After Jaden sat down, he glanced at the girl sitting next to Eriri, who looked like her sister, and asked.
"No, Kiryu-sensei, the person next to me is not my sister, but my friend..."
Eriri looked at Sanzenin Nagi, and Sanzenin Nagi spoke up at this moment.
"Nagi, my name is Nagi..."
Sanzenin Nagi did not state her surname.
Even she, who didn't get very involved in or understand the matters of those major financial groups and large families, knew exactly what the three characters 'Sanzenin' represented, so she only gave her first name at this time.
If Jaden wanted to, he could hear Sanzenin Nagi's inner thoughts and know her surname by just focusing a little.
However, after Jaden successfully controlled his Observation Haki, he would no longer passively listen to what others were thinking.
Moreover, he wasn't interested in other people's surnames. He merely nodded slightly and refocused his attention on Eriri.
"...So, you said you were mainly coming to ask me some questions about the manga's plot today. You can ask them now."
Jaden was generally uninterested in strangers.
So, he wasn't concerned whether the person who drew Kengan Demon Lance based on his suggestion brought a friend to see him or not.
Eriri, however, gave a slightly awkward smile.
"Kiryu-sensei, this time it's not mainly me seeking you out; it's Nagi next to me who wants to ask you some questions about her manga."
Hearing Eriri say this, Sanzenin Nagi was somewhat nervous, while Jaden sighed slightly.
If it were a common request that required such trouble, he might have refused.
But since it was just looking at someone's manga, he felt fine with it.
After all, he liked reading manga, and he was quite looking forward to the animated movie of Eriri's Kengan Demon Lance. He planned to organize a viewing with all the fighters the Kengan Association could contact at the time~
-And he absolutely had to invite Ohma!
"Let me take a look."
With this thought, Jaden reached out to Sanzenin Nagi and took her sketchbook from her hand.
At this moment, Jaden thought that the person named Nagi was Eriri's friend-and while Eriri was not good at plot comprehension, her drawing skills were quite excellent!
Since Nagi was her friend, Jaden subconsciously assumed that Nagi was like the early Eriri: great at drawing but poor at plot comprehension.
But...
Hiss-
When Jaden opened the first page, he-the person who faced the world's top martial artists without changing his expression-immediately widened his eyes.
...It wasn't because Nagi's drawing was too good.
On the contrary...
-Her drawing is terrible!
The characters she drew looked like distorted slimes... and the scenes had large, unwarranted blank spaces, and the information conveyed was problematic...
The first time he saw this, Jaden felt he might have misunderstood something.
But after reading for a while, he realized he gradually started to understand the plot in the sketchbook...
Nagi's manga plot was extremely difficult to understand.
Multiple parts were presented in an anthology format, without clear beginnings or ends, making them hard to grasp. The overall plot was chaotic-so chaotic that if you failed to understand one of the anthology stories, you would completely miss the overall plot of the manga...
However... if you did understand it, and you kept reading, you'd find the subsequent parts... surprisingly interesting?
Jaden felt something must be wrong with him.
But since he found it somewhat interesting, he kept flipping the pages.
At this moment, Eriri and Sanzenin Nagi looked at Jaden, who was seriously reading the manga, with some surprise, then excitement!
Sanzenin Nagi had shown her manga to Eriri before.
But...
-Eriri couldn't understand it at all!
Or rather, from the time Sanzenin Nagi started drawing manga until now, besides her close friends, Jaden was the first person who could read her manga!
This made Sanzenin Nagi very excited, and Eriri was also happy for her friend while marveling at how amazing 'Kiryu-sensei' was.
The coffee shop fell silent for a while.
Only the sound of pages turning and the afternoon sun made the atmosphere seem very harmonious.
But outside the coffee shop, Muteba was meeting with several people sent by Sanzenin Ochi.
"King of Mercenaries... there are not only the target objects inside, but also a few other people."
Hearing the people sent by Sanzenin Ochi say this, Muteba nodded.
"They're the young lady's bodyguards, right? What's the composition? Specific number... mhm, there should be four to five people, excluding the employees and the owner mentioned in the intel. So, she has about two people near her, one seems to be a woman, and the other man's heartbeat is very strong. He should be a large, muscular guy~"
Muteba leaned against the coffee shop's exterior wall and listened, quickly figuring out the situation inside.
He mainly wanted to know the people's composition and whether they were carrying firearms or the like.
"The composition should not include firearms, but there is someone inside who was unplanned... That guy seems to be a famous light novel author, Kiryu Setsuna..."
"Light novel author... such a person shouldn't have such a strong heartbeat, right?"
Muteba was a little confused.
And the person sent by Sanzenin Ochi continued after hearing Muteba's question.
"Since you mentioned it, it must be correct... Actually, according to our Sanzenin intelligence, there is a very powerful emerging martial artist also named Kiryu Setsuna. We were wondering if it was just a coincidence of the same name. Since you say this, then he is likely this emerging martial artist..."
"I see."
Upon receiving this information, Muteba laughed.
"Emerging martial artist... I even participated in the Kengan Annihilation Tournament before. I've fought the world's top martial artists, so don't worry, just leave it to me!"
Hearing Muteba say this, the people sent by Sanzenin Ochi nodded repeatedly.
Muteba was the King of Mercenaries!
Was there any mission that the King of Mercenaries couldn't complete!
A mere Kiryu Setsuna, an emerging martial artist, was nothing in front of the King of Mercenaries!
Muteba smiled and walked inside.
The shop had very few people. Using the high-tech artificial eye that his former employer specifically built for him when he participated in the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, he quickly spotted Sanzenin Nagi and walked toward her.
Just as he had heard before.
A woman, the target Sanzenin Nagi, and...
Muteba, having walked close enough, placed his hand directly on Jaden's shoulder, leaned down slightly, and thrust his face close.
"So you're Kiryu Setsuna..."
As he spoke, Jaden turned his face toward him emotionlessly.
In that instant.
-Muteba's heart might have actually stopped!
I'm finished.
Both this mission and my life...
Are completely over!
...