Change Beetle

Hours earlier, when Momo stepped onto the ring and began her match, the kabuto masked person sneaked out of the room and into the barren casino. Roko removed his mask for a brief moment as he looked around the floor. There was a good number of guards walking around but there were also plenty of slot machines and tables to hide behind. Without any players, there weren't any dealers either so Roko had free reign of the place. Looking around, it really was a wonder how this place could still be operational.

Not just operational but expanding extravagantly if the rumors were true. Roko thought as he put his mask back on. Something was going on and it wasn't any of Roko's business. All he had to do was break up Gaurav's little meeting again but how to do it? He was explicitly requested to not make this too public which meant he wasn't allowed to use the police so by Helena's suggestion, they contacted an independent militant force. The problem now was that they didn't really have the authority or duty to arrest or even enter the casino without a good cause. So Roko's mission now was to discover due cause to send the mercenaries in. And while he could dig up whatever funny business this casino was up to, it was probably less messy to just find incriminating evidence of the fight club's involvement. And an example of that kind of evidence would be…

Roko thought it over. Records of their activities would need to be tied to the casino. Something like their betting records wouldn't be enough to give cause to raid the casino. If those records were on a sheet marked with the casino's branding then it might be useful. Something on that scale...the most likely item would be some sort of business contract drawn up between the two parties to use their space. Either way, the place where this document would exist would be the manager's office.

Roko stuck to the edge of the room as he made his way though the casino. Hiding behind tables and machines and keeping an eye behind him, Roko slowly made his way to the back of the room, where a large grand staircase lead up to an upper balcony floor where there were special booths set up for more private and luxurious gambling. Somewhere up there was a door that lead to staff rooms. And in that staff room would be the manager's office. Presumably.

As Roko neared the stairs, he heard the screeching of various animal coming from a door off to the side. Two buff men in suits were standing guard around it before the door opened and a poor skinny casino employee dragged a caged black horse and a weasel out on a cart.

"I didn't sign up for this." The man complained as he pulled the cart away in the direction of the fight club.

Roko hid behind a table as the cart rattled past him. Turning back towards the door, the two guards remained there, stoically looking out for any kind of intruder. Returning behind the table, Roko considered his options. From the sounds of it, that seemed to be where they were keeping the animals for today's event. And there sounded like there was a lot of angry animals. How could Gaurav have gathered this many monsters in such short time? He couldn't have. Not without help. Perhaps from the casino? There is potential for some sort of record to be in that room. There could be merit in getting into that room. But that meant getting past the guards. Roko thought briefly as he tried to imagine some way to get through the guards and into the room.

"Looks like it's up to you, then." Roko held out his hand and Kaguya's Lavellan scurried out of his clothes and into his hands, "Maybe you can run around the floor and distract them? Get them far enough and come back as quick as you can. I'll wait for you behind the door."

Lavellan nodded and jumped down from Roko's hand, scurrying off towards the door. The small shrew went wide around the guards at first instead of running right up towards the guards, avoiding their gaze until it was right to the side of the guards. To Roko's surprise, Lavellan suddenly dashed forward and ran up the guard's pants leg. The guard cried out in surprise and shock until he let out a sharp ow and collapsed onto the ground.

"What the- are you okay?!" The other guard cried as he ran over and propped up his friend in his arms, "Hey!"

The guard didn't seem to respond as his eyes seemed to gaze off into nowhere. The remaining guard tried shaking his friend to try and wake him until Lavellan suddenly burst from the clothes of the downed guard and bit the other guard in the neck. The man cried out in terror and stood up but quickly fell back down in unconsciousness as he collapsed onto the ground like his friend.

Roko got up and walked over to the unconscious men where Lavellan just sat there waiting for him to come pick it up with a proud expression on its face.

"Poison huh?" Roko said as he analyzed the guards, "That's scary. It seems like they'll be fine though." He knelt down and let Lavellan climb onto his hand, "You're a cheeky one aren't ya?"

Roko scratched the small rat like creature on the head before it scurried back into his clothes and he went to open the door.

Stepping inside, the smell of a stable immediately hit him. Though the room certainly wasn't furnished or built like one, the smell of all these different creatures brought together created a smell that could only be described as stable-like. There were creatures ranging from a giant boars to cockatrices to hippogriffs. Some animals screeched and thrashed about in their cells restlessly while some calmly sat there observing Roko enter the room.

"There sure are a lot of animals here." Roko said as he looked around, "There might be merit in freeing all of these and letting them stampede the casino but that will probably get out of hand quickly. Let's just find some papers quickly."

Roko headed through the center of the room, stepping past the menagerie of creatures to the small table he could see at the very end. Various things laid scattered on its ornate surface, including a variety of papers of different types and a lock being used as a paperweight. Picking up the lock, Roko could see this was one of the locks used to keep the animal's cages locked. Placing it aside for now, Roko quickly began shuffling through the papers, briefly going over each paper to try and find something interesting. Most of the papers were records of the many different types of creatures being stored here. Names with locations of where they were captured, dates and times for when they departed from wherever they were from and when they arrived here. Prices of either how much these creatures cost on the market or how much it took to import them. As much information as there was, nothing on it provided a clear connection from these animals to the casino. There was a lot of data but not anything helpful. At least until Roko began to reach the ends of the records and he spotted a bit of handwriting at the end of the last page.

Jesdazura welcomes all of you.

"Jesdazura?" Roko mused, "Now that I think about it, I don't actually know the owner of this casino's name. This could be evidence. This could also be nothing… Well I know some people I can ask."

Roko folded this page up and slid it into an inner pocket in his suit where Lavellan picked it up and began nibbling on it.

"Don't eat too much of it." Roko said as he turned around, the lock he found in his hand. Looking through the animals in stock, Roko found a large venomous salamander. Poison dripped out of its mouth, acidic enough to eat into the metal floor it was trapped in.

"Excuse me." Roko knelt down and slid the lock through the bars.

The salamander looked up to stare at Roko but otherwise didn't move as Roko slid the keyhole underneath the monster's mouth. The venom dribbled into the keyhole and the inner mechanisms began to melt and deform. Pulling the lock back out of the cage, Roko looked at the ruined lock and left the room. The guards were still unconscious and moaning on the ground and nobody seemed to have noticed them just yet. Turning around, Roko slid the lock in between the door handles to the menagerie and locked it, sealing that chamber from the outside. Perhaps once things calmed down they could break back in and relocate the animals back to their proper homes but for now, this should trip Gaurav a little. Speaking of Gaurav, Roko should probably get back before he notices.

When Roko stepped back into the fight club, Momo was pulling Akagami off of a black dog and pulling him back towards the stands.

"Something happen?" Roko asked as he quickly stepped back into the group.

"Momo's wolf went a bit feral." Helena replied, "She just dropped out. Just in time too, I hope. Did you find something?"

"Maybe. Does the name Jesdazura mean anything to you?"

"Not at all." Kaguya said, "Where'd you come across this name?"

"A listing of all the creatures captured for this event. I was hoping that was the name of the casino owner or something."

"The casino owner's name is Salvatore." Kaguya explained, "I don't know what this Jesdazura is."

"What's going on?" Momo asked as she finally got Akagami to settle down and the new competitor began their fight in the ring.

"Jesdazura. Does that name ring a bell?" Helena asked.

"Doesn't sound human." Momo replied, "Maybe it's the name of a god?"

"There are those rumors of the casino owner worshiping a weird god." Helena said, "That could be the name of another weird god thing. What's going to be next? Maybe crazy brain worm parasites that take over people's minds?"

"Have you heard of anything like that happening?"

"No."

"Have you heard of anything weird god like happening?"

"No."

"Then I don't think that's the case."

"Well what else could it be?"

"If it is the name of this god that the casino owner is worshiping, if I can find proof of that, I can connect their boss to this event and we can send in the mercenaries."

"Sounds like a plan." Helena said, "So that means you need to get out of here again? Well, I could join in the fight ring, but all I have right now is Roland's sea goat."

"That won't be necessary." Roko said as he watched a panicked employee rush into the room and make his way towards Gaurav, "I've made a few preparations."

"Roko, what did you do?" Helena asked gleefully.

"Let's just say Gaurav will have to make his move soon."

An angry Gaurav waved the employee away as he turned to glare at Roko's group. No sign of him having caught onto Roko's movements could be read on his face as he silently thought about what he planned to do. As soon as the fight between the liger and the kamaitachi ended, Gaurav stood up and began to speak,

"Are any of you brave enough to challenge me tonight? If there is anything else I could do for the victor, I promise to do what I can to make your wish come true."

Everyone began to talk among themselves at this new proposition and Roko's group began to huddle up to discuss the opportunity.

"What did you do?" Helena asked again.

"I locked them out of the room where they're keeping the animals."

"That's a serious blow." Kaguya nodded, "No wonder Gaurav's this desperate."

"Well are we doing it?" Roland asked, "Are we going to take him up on his offer?"

"We almost certainly have to." Helena nodded, "Roko needs another distraction to sneak away."

"It would be best if one of us were to challenge him." Roko said, "We can leverage our secret identities to confuse Gaurav."

"Well that means either Roland or Mikado gets to fight." Kaguya said, "Which one do we use?"

"Roland's snake mask is more concealing. If he can act close enough like me, he can force Gaurav to focus on him for the entire fight."

"I have to act like you?" Roland scoffed, "I can't even imagine being as lame as you."

"I'm sorry, I figured you'd be up for the chance to show off your sword skills."

"Well heck yeah I am! Let me at him!"

"Great. But since I don't use dual swords, you're going to have to give us one of them."

"Oh come on, I just got these babies!"

"No complaining Roland." Helena sighed, "Just hand over one of your swords."

"Give it to Kaguya." Roko said as Roland moved to give one of his swords to Helena, "If you do have to end up using another sword, the one holding it would naturally be assumed to be Helena. The more confusion we can sow, the better."

"Once he finds out one of us, he might just get frustrated and try to find out our trick forcibly." Momo warned, "He might attack us in the stands. Maybe even some of the other attendants since we're all wearing masks."

"That's why we tipped our hand a little bit earlier with the voice changer." Kaguya chuckled, "We made sure to draw his attention to us and not anyone else. Besides, if he tries to attack us, we still have Mikado to help out."

"Hey, I'm still here." Roland said, "I can stop him."

"..."

"Hey! I can stop him!"

"That remains to be seen." Roko sighed, "So get out there and prove yourself."

"Wait, wait, what about the wish?" Roland hissed, "The winner gets a wish right? What do we wish for? We're going to wish for him to stop the fight club right?"

"Sure you could." Roko shrugged, "If it works, that'd solve all our problems. Assuming he'll keep to his word and oblige."

"Well then what do we wish for if he doesn't do it?"

"Tell him whatever you want. I'll be stopping him either way."

With Gaurav compelled to duel, Roko slid out of the room and back into the casino. Now that the animal room was locked away, Roko could focus on getting up those stairs as he first intended. As he passed by the room, he could see a crowd of employees and guards grouped around the door, trying to figure out what to do. That meant the guards were out of their positions so Roko could sneak his way up the stairs even easier. Making his way past the staff only door, Roko was put into a long hallway painted in extravagant red and three doors. One was set on the left and right of the hallway and the third was at the very end of the hallway. And thankfully, these doors were marked with fancy plates. The one to the left was a restroom. The one to the right was a staff room. And the particularly fancy room at the end of the hallway was marked with the most indulgent of plaques, labeled with Manager. Roko went right up to the door at the end of the hallway and pressed an ear against the door. Roko tried his best to pick up any sounds beyond the door but it was made of pretty thick wood and he was also picking up the sound of his own blood running through his veins. But as far as he could tell, there wasn't any voices or footsteps coming from inside the room. Roko cautiously placed his hands on the door knob and slowly and quietly turned the knob. He expected to eventually run into some resistance but the knob turned fully and the door opened with no trouble. Opening the door a crack, Roko peeked through to find the room mostly empty. With that confidence, Roko stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

This room was the lavish of all the rooms thus far. While the casino was made or at least painted in exciting gold, this room was furnished in rich burgundy and a giant skylight over the top of the entire room. Gold trims could be seen all over from the edges of the walls to the ends of some curtains. Speaking of those curtains, they were set over some bookshelves, probably to keep dust off them. There were two sets of curtains one covering each side of the expansive bookshelf that filled the back of the room. In front of the shelf was a fancy desk filled with work documents and faux intellectual and ornate nick-knacks alike. In the middle of all this was a marble block with the name Salvatore Gefion chiseled into it.

Roko walked right up to the desk and began rustling through them as fast as he can, looking for anything relating to Gaurav or the name Jesdazura. Nothing seemed to jump out to him and he was becoming more aware of the amount of time he was wasting. Concluding that the evidence that he was looking for was probably better hidden than this, Roko turned to the bookshelves. Books lined the walls with fancy sounding titles with little sign of anything promising. But there was a wooden base taking up part of the shelves behind the desk that looked decorative if not for the suspicious square in the carvings trimmed by more gold. It was the exact size for, say, a small safe. Though there was no need for speculation.

"Analyze."

Wood Panel

HP: 100%

MP: N/A

Attack: 0

Defense: 20

A wooden concealing panel. There is no sign that this would move from the outside but there are mechanisms in place to cause it to move automatically.

"Well it didn't tell me there was a safe but it did tell me that it's suspicious." Roko sighed, "Didn't tell me how to open it either so I guess I'll have to figure it out."

Roko stood up and looked at the large bookshelf, images of pulling a book and moving bookcases coming into mind.

"I don't know if I can use this in such a widespread manner." Roko muttered as he stepped back away from the shelves, "But I can give it a shot. Analyze."

Bookshelves

HP: 100%

MP: N/A

Attack: 0

Defense: 50

Shelves filled with a variety of books and business records. While they are well organized, much of them haven't been touched in years. Not much else is notable.

"Well, that saves me some time." Roko nodded, "Then...this desk maybe? Analyze."

Desk

HP: 98%

MP: N/A

Attack: 0

Defense: 40

A desk that has seen a bit of wear from mild managerial duties. Official documents lie scattered over its surface. There are a few locked cabinets but otherwise nothing of note.

Nothing in the shelves, nothing in the desks. Is there anything else he's missing? Roko looked over the room again, but there wasn't anything else that stood out in the room. He tried to think of something he could possibly be missing, something he overlooked.

"...Maybe it's just a password." Roko mused, "But what word could it be? ...Jesdazura?

Nothing happened.

"Salvatore? Gefion?"

Still nothing.

"Maybe I should just break the panel..." Roko sighed, "Not that I have the strength to do that though."

If it's not a password...maybe a passphrase? Jesdazura welcomes all of you? No, that seems like a directed phrase specifically for the animals. It couldn't possibly be so important a phrase that the owner would use it as a password could it? If only he knew more. If only there was a book-

Roko's eyes flew open and he immediately ran up to the desk, scrambling through the drawers for some sort of book. And in one of the larger drawers, he found something promising. A title less black book with gold trim. Its hard cover was bound in expensive seeming leather. Roko quickly opened it and flipped through the pages.

"Interesting." He muttered as he stood up and faced the panel once more, "Gilbert."

The panel beeped and moved aside smoothly. Kneeling down, Roko looked into the crevice to find what seemed like a small shrine. There were candles and lights and a strange golden idol in the middle of it all. And lying on the floor in front of this shrine was a folder of papers. Picking it up and flipping through it, Roko found a direct written contract between Gaurav and Salvatore and the terms of their arrangement.

"Found it."

"I was wondering what you were looking for in my room."

Roko bolted up as an unfamiliar voice spoke out from behind him. Turning around, there was a tanned man wearing an extravagant black suit and gold rimmed sunglasses. Sparkly colorful gems set in more gold decorated the man's body from gaudy bracelets to fancy earrings. This rich looking man pulled his sunglasses up and stared at Roko with an air of arrogance and smugness, "Now what do you plan on doing with that document?"