Chapter 174: Our base
In the bedroom, watching Marcus tuck the thick wads of bills that lay on the bed back into the briefcase, Tamayo shook her head with a bitter smile.
"I never thought the day would come when I’d worry about money."
Marcus smiled too, resigned.
"What can we do. We’ve already shown all our cards, and now Muzan looks at us like he wants to eat us alive. If we don’t expand our territory fast, I won’t be able to sleep easy."
He lay back, rested his hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling.
"Look at Kagaya: he’s got his own headquarters, covered in wisteria, with an iron-clad organization and a secrecy that’s proof against anything."
"And Muzan, same thing: his Infinity Castle, a separate dimension, completely sealed off, impossible to penetrate."
He tilted his head to look at Tamayo.
"If we really want to play on equal footing with those two, we can’t go around like stray cats, ready to bolt at the first sign of danger."
"Anyway, I’ve made up my mind. Let them hide from the world, or cut themselves off from it—to each their own."
"But we’re going to do it in broad daylight, heads held high! Living the good life without letting our guard down around them... now that has style."
Tamayo gave him a look of affectionate reproach.
"Always thinking about how to enjoy yourself~ Very comfortable and all, but it’s your wallet that’s going to suffer."
"That’s exactly what worries me—not knowing how to plug this hole."
Even so, Marcus was an incorrigible optimist.
He reached out and smoothed the furrow in Tamayo’s brow.
"Everyone worries about money: you, me, even Muzan. It’s perfectly normal. We’ll come up with something, we’ll figure it out together."
Tamayo was thrown off.
"Muzan?"
"You didn’t know?" Marcus blinked. "Muzan’s been making a bit of cash for a good while now selling the vases Gyokko makes."
And into Tamayo’s mind sprang a thoroughly surreal scene.
In the middle of a market packed to bursting with people, Muzan, a towel over his shoulder, planted behind a stall, forcing a smile as he hawked at the top of his lungs...
"Come closer, come closer! Ceramic pots fresh out of the kiln!"
Tamayo abruptly covered her face with her hands.
Seeing her like that, Marcus chuckled under his breath.
"True, when you got away from Muzan, Gyokko wasn’t around yet."
A moment later, he tilted his head. "Though it makes me curious—back then, when you all were short on money, what did you do?"
Tamayo blinked and pointed at herself. "I made medicines."
"The little money I have saved now I earned that way, with the medicines from before; with that I bought properties to rent out and resell."
Marcus spread his hands.
"So at the end of the day, you all needed money too. The only difference is that back then you didn’t need so much, just enough for the experiments. Now that the gap is enormous, that’s when you really see what money is worth."
Tamayo sighed, full of helplessness.
"I still have a few properties in my name and some recipes that might come to two or three million." She looked at Marcus. "But building up and acquiring Asakusa is going to cost thirty million at the very least."
"And that’s just the short-term investment." The more she talked, the more her worry grew. "Because later on you also plan to take in more girls..."
At this point, she paused.
"By the way, how many girls do you plan to add to your base?"
"Our base!"
Marcus stressed that first, then smiled and held up two fingers.
"Twenty thousand, to start."
"Twenty thousand?!" Tamayo covered her mouth. "Do you intend to bring every pretty girl in Japan to Asakusa?"
"If it were possible, that’d be ideal." Marcus’s eyes gleamed. "By then, only the old and the ugly would be left in the rest of the country, and this place here would become the paradise of all those dirty old men, don’t you think?"
"The way I see it, it’ll be YOUR paradise." Tamayo eyed him sideways.
"They won’t be anything more than customers who fork over a fortune to coax a smile out of one or two. You, on the other hand, will be the lord and master of those twenty thousand girls, with the right to enjoy them for free whenever you feel like it."
"Ooh~ From that tone, anyone would think you’re jealous. How strange~"
"Hmph." Tamayo looked at him with a pout. "I wouldn’t get jealous over one or two, but who could put up with ten or twenty thousand?"
Marcus smiled awkwardly.
And just as he was about to console her with a few caresses...
Thud
The door flew wide open and an adorable little thing, dyed in pink, came running in.
"Marcus~~!!"
There was no need to look to know it was Nezuko. In the whole house, only she had the nerve to barge into Marcus’s room like that.
He opened his arms, his face lighting up with joy.
Nezuko gave a little hop and threw herself against his chest, rubbing her cheek against his.
Maybe because Marcus made her feel so safe, she grew more attached to him every day. And also more at ease in her tiny form: she spent her days eating, playing, and throwing adorable tantrums to be carried around.
Marcus hugged her and planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Nezuko really is a good girl; she never gives me headaches."
Nezuko let out an "Mmm~," wrapped her little hands around his neck, and settled into a more comfortable position.
Tamayo looked at them and shook her head, though the corners of her lips curved upward.
"Anyway, I’m going to see to the Yoshiwara matters and, while I’m at it, talk with the others about the money situation, see if anyone comes up with something."
"You were busy all night and got up so early today, so stay and sleep a while longer with Nezuko."
Hearing that he could relax, Marcus instantly slipped under the covers with Nezuko in his arms.
"Thanks a million, wife!!"
"Who’s your wife?!" Tamayo’s little face flushed, and she left the room in something of a hurry.
"Sleep, sleep, sleep with Nezuko in my arms..."
He closed his eyes, but immediately cracked them open again, just a sliver.
"By the way, Tamayo."
"Mm?"
"Tell everyone that from now on, there are certain things they need to pay attention to."
"Tell me."
"Because of Muzan, above all. From now on they’re sure to look for a way to keep a close watch on us. I need everyone on alert."
"Don’t worry, I already told Yushiro they should go out at least in pairs, and everyone carries a good pile of invisibility talismans on them."
Marcus sat up a little and shook his head. "That’s not enough. Muzan has all kinds of weird creatures at his service. For example..."
Recalling those demon vermin, he felt somewhat helpless.
"Never mind. When you come back this afternoon, gather everyone and I’ll explain it to them calmly."
"Mmm~" Tamayo nodded.
The lights went out.
Nezuko, who had barely woken up, was dragged back into the nap by Marcus. Luckily, the little one was a heavy sleeper by nature, and after playing around in bed with him for a while, she could no longer keep her eyelids open.
The nap stretched well into the afternoon.
It wasn’t until the sun began to sink in the west that Marcus emerged from the sheets.
Nezuko had already woken up a while ago and was lying on his chest, holding his face in her little hands and staring at him fixedly, without blinking.
Seeing him open his eyes, she grinned from ear to ear, baring two rows of little teeth.
"Marcu~~~! Time to get up~~~! Time to eat~~~!"
Marcus gently pinched her cheek.
"And when did you wake up?"
"Just now~!"
With that, Nezuko climbed off his chest and tugged at his sleeve to drag him out of bed.
"Hurry~! Hurry~! The food’s getting cold~!"
Marcus let himself be dragged along.
After a quick wash-up, he arrived at the dining room.
The table, today, was an unusual bustle.
Not only had Ume, Gyutaro, and Hakuji joined, but even Yushiro—that sourpuss who would never want to share a roof with Marcus—had been expressly summoned by Tamayo.
It was clear she had taken the afternoon’s meeting very seriously.
Marcus handed Nezuko over to Tamayo, took his place at the head of the table, and after fishing a bite of food with his chopsticks, officially began the vampire lineage’s first internal meeting and banquet.
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