21-40 · 029
Arc 5
Chapter 28: Celebration
In the vast office of the underground fortress, I tapped my smartphone screen and opened the contact app, D-Chat.
On the other end was Seira Jinguji, Japan’s strongest S-Rank explorer and our most powerful backer.
『Hello, Seira-san. Sorry for the short notice, but are you free tonight?』
I pressed send. Within seconds, it was marked as read, and a reply came back with a stamp.
『I’m free! Is this maybe a dinner invitation?』
『Yes. We thought we’d celebrate the establishment of our corporation and the completion of our new office. Our managing director has booked a great place. If you’d like to join us, you’re very welcome.』
『You started a company!? I’ll go! Definitely! I want meat!』
As always, that S-Rank sure didn’t need any convincing. I smiled wryly and replied, “I’ll send you the location later.” Rin Sakai popped up beside me.
“Well? Will Seira-sama come?”
“Yeah, she said yes immediately. She wants meat.”
“Yes! As expected of our president! Alright, I’ll book a VIP room at a top-tier yakiniku place in Ginza. Budget is unlimited. Tonight, I’ll make sure Seira-sama becomes completely ‘one of us’!”
Rin pumped her fist and energetically set about arranging the reservation.
◇
That night.
At a signless, ultra-luxury yakiniku restaurant quietly tucked away in a Ginza back alley. The VIP room we were shown to had an interior more like a high-end hotel suite than a barbecue restaurant, with a marble table featuring a smokeless roaster at its center.
“…Haah, I’m getting nervous. I mustn’t make any mistakes.”
Rin, who had changed from her usual tailored suit into a slightly dressy one-piece dress, was restlessly rubbing her hands under the table. It couldn’t be helped. An S-Rank explorer in this country was something like a cross between a top idol and the prime minister. I’d already met her several times, so I’d grown numb to it, but to ordinary explorers, she was a monster beyond the clouds.
“You being nervous is unusual.”
“Of course! Our future business depends on whether we have Seira-sama’s protection. We absolutely must not offend her, so you’d better be friendly too, President!”
Just as Rin pressed me on that—
“Heya! Sorry I’m late!”
With a click, the door opened, and Seira entered the private room, her long platinum blonde hair gently swaying, her face beaming. Her jewel-clear blue eyes sparkled. She wasn’t wearing the heavy armor seen on TV, but a soft off-shoulder top and jeans—a cute outfit befitting her age. Yet she couldn’t hide her breathtaking beauty and aura that instantly brightened the room.
“W-Welcome, Seira Jinguji-sama!”
Overwhelmed by her beauty and presence, Rin shot up like a spring and performed a flawless ninety-degree bow.
“Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to join our modest celebration! I am Rin Sakai, managing director of Antique Eye, Inc.! As the president’s right hand, I will devote myself fully to supporting Seira-sama—”
A perfect business smile and smooth speech.
But Seira’s eyes widened in surprise, and then she began to giggle.
“Ahaha, don’t be so stiff! You’re Toru-san’s business partner, right? Then you’re basically my friend. Nice to meet you, Rin-san!”
“R-Rin-san… you’re already using my first name!?”
Rin’s eyes went wide at the casual address from an S-Rank explorer—someone far above her.
“Sit down, sit down! Can I order meat? I’ve been in the dungeon all day since noon, so I’m starving!”
Seira sat down next to me without any hesitation and started happily swiping through the tablet menu. Rin’s vision of “entertaining a difficult top explorer” had shattered within ten seconds, leaving her standing there dumbfounded.
“…Hey, Rin, sit down. She’s like this.”
“Ah, yes… you’re right. I’m surprised. She’s nothing like the impression I got from TV…”
Still cradling her spinning head, Rin pulled herself together and sat down.
Before long, the table was piled with mountains of A5-rank Wagyu rare cuts, beautifully marbled like works of art.
“Mmm~! Delicious!! The meat just melts in my mouth!”
“You don’t have to eat so fast, Seira-san; there’s plenty of meat.”
“Hey, Seira-sama, that Chateaubriand was what I was aiming for…! Ahh!”
“First come, first served, Rin-san! Mmm, so good~”
Before the highest-grade meat, ranks didn’t matter. Rin, who had started out desperately trying to curry favor, eventually found herself in a full-blown “meat battle” against Seira’s overwhelming appetite and complete disregard for protocol.
“Eat too, Toru-kun! You’re the president, after all.”
“I’m fine with leftovers. I can’t eat a lot of fatty meat anyway.”
“No! You need to get more nutrition, build up your stamina, and work hard! Thanks to the Divine Stele of Universal Transfer, we’ve established an instant delivery route overseas. Next month, we’re aiming for 100 billion in sales!”
Rin, her cheeks full of high-grade meat, still found time to fire me up.
“That’s right, Toru-san. Here, say ‘aaah’!”
“Huh? No, I can feed myself—”
“Say ‘ahh’!”
Seira grabbed a freshly grilled piece of premium short rib with her chopsticks and shoved it toward my mouth. Overwhelmed by the irresistible S-Rank pressure (physical strength), I reluctantly accepted it.
Yeah, it tasted twice as good…
A boisterous, peaceful, incredibly luxurious time. It was a scene unimaginable from the days when, thanks to Goda and the others, I couldn’t even buy a near-expiry bento and lived in fear of running out of cheap potions. Without a doubt, this was the peak of my life.
But.
The peak is also the edge of the cliff just before the fall.
—WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Suddenly.
A blaring siren sound pierced through the VIP room’s supposedly soundproof walls, ringing throughout the room.
“!? What!?”
I dropped my tongs and stood up. Rin and Seira stopped eating, their expressions tensing.
“Emergency alert. Emergency alert. A large-scale anomaly has occurred in Shinjuku Dungeon. Nearby residents are instructed to evacuate immediately to designated shelters—”
A mechanical announcement urging evacuation came from street speakers. I quickly opened the blinds and looked out the window.
“No way…?”
Even from here, I could see the enormous dungeon entrance gate in front of the station. It had been blown to pieces by a tremendous impact from within. And through the cracked hole, a black torrent of creatures was pouring out onto the surface one after another.
“…Stampede.”
Seira murmured. There was not a trace of her earlier playfulness in her voice. What remained was the cool, resolute determination of an overwhelming powerhouse.
Fires broke out across the city. Screams and car horns mingled. The lid of hell had been opened.
“Why… how could such a solid gate be breached…!”
Rin’s face went pale, and she pointed a trembling finger out the window.
The words Rin had told me a few days ago—“strange happenings in the middle layer,” “a stupid party that didn’t know its own limits went diving in”—flashed through my mind. Could Goda and the others have done something? But now was not the time for speculation.
“Toru-san, Rin-chan. It’s dangerous here. Evacuate to your underground base. You bought a sturdy one, right?”
Seira pulled the ‘Holy Sword Excalibur’ and ‘Aegis Shield’ from her spatial storage, then reached for the window lock without hesitation.
“Seira-san! No matter how strong you are, facing that many alone—”
“It’s okay. I won’t lose. Besides, they’ll call for reinforcements soon. I won’t be alone.”
She smiled at me—small, but strong—then kicked open the window and leaped into the night streets overflowing with monsters.