21-40 · 036
Chapter 34: Encounter
The sky was beginning to lighten, the long night finally giving way to dawn, when my smartphone buzzed with a vibration in the underground fortress office. A notification from the contact app, D-Chat.
“Toru-saaan! Like you said, I finished collecting all the weapons and armor from the explorers!” “But my spatial storage skill really can’t fit everything! They’re heavy and bulky, so come pick them up soon! (crying face stamp)”
Smiling wryly at the S-Rank whose energy hadn’t flagged even after that fierce defensive battle, I replied, “I’ll be right there.”
“Rin, I’m going out for a bit. I need to retrieve the loaned items Seira-san collected.”
“Got it. I’m swamped handling inquiries from the guild and preparing for the next auction, so be careful out there. Quite a chore for the president himself to run an errand.”
“Managing one’s own inventory is a merchant’s basic duty.”
I headed to the private locker room and changed into the same ‘Master_Eye’s agent’ outfit I’d worn at the previous press conference: a pitch-black tactical suit, a military-spec gas mask that covered my face completely, and a voice modulator at my throat. It was a disguise that concealed my identity while still looking natural enough to meet Seira on-site.
◇
The meeting place was a back alley in an office district that had been completely evacuated due to the disaster, a short distance from Shinjuku Dungeon. Stepping into the dim alley, I was met with a bizarre sight.
Mythic Level and Legendary Level swords, shields, staves, and armor were piled up carelessly into a literal ‘mountain.’ At its peak sat Seira, her platinum-blonde hair swaying as she swung her legs contentedly.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Seira-san.”
When I greeted her with the low mechanical voice filtered through the modulator, Seira’s face lit up, and she hopped down lightly.
“Ah, Toru-san… I mean, Agent! You’re late!”
Though there was no one around, she still carefully maintained the pretense of hiding my identity. A true professional. But then she puffed out her cheeks in a pout.
“Geez! That was such a hassle, you know! Everyone was looking at me like I was some kind of monster!”
Hands on her hips, she launched into a tirade.
“I’m supposed to have a bit of an idol-like popularity in this country, you know? There was even this old guy who came up to me crying, ‘Eep, spare my life!’ while handing over a Legendary Level sword. It was honestly a little disheartening! I feel like I was conveniently cast as the villain, and I’m not happy about it!”
The strongest S-Rank explorer in Japan, puffing out her cheeks. Her reaction was so adorable, so unlike the warrior who had cut down the Hydra, that I couldn’t help but smile under my gas mask.
“Sorry about that. You were the surest, quickest deterrent I had… As a continuation of our celebration, let me treat you to sushi sometime. Of course, from a proper place in Ginza.”
“Really!? Yay! Then I’ll eat all the fatty tuna and sea urchin I can!”
She could afford to eat that herself anytime, but the promise of food instantly restored her good mood. I doubted she’d been truly angry to begin with, but I was surprised—and grateful—that she didn’t ask for anything else.
“Of course, as much as you want. Now, let’s get this cleared away before the sun’s fully up.”
I channeled magic into the ‘Ring of Subspace’ on my left hand.
“—Store.”
With a soft shoop, the gem on the ring emitted a platinum light. The mountain of three hundred Mythic Level items piled before us was drawn into the subspace gate one after another, like being swallowed by a black hole. Within ten seconds, the square had returned to its original state: an empty, inorganic concrete space.
“Ohh! I wondered how you’d scattered the weapons… that’s amazing. Even with my spatial storage skill, that mountain would never fit.”
“Just a little trick. That completes the recovery of the loaned items. Thank you again for everything.”
“No, I had fun! It’s been a while since I got to cut down a big one. Don’t forget about the sushi promise, okay?”
“Of course. I’ll make good on it soon.”
I nodded through the mask and was about to turn away when—
“Found you!!”
A harsh, furious shout, one I recognized all too well, echoed through the silent back alley in the early morning. Startled, I spun around to see a man standing at the alley’s entrance. His eyes were bloodshot, his clothes were tattered, and he was breathing heavily as he approached us with a ghostly stagger.
“You… with that ridiculous gas mask… I saw you on TV! You’re that ‘Master_Eye’ agent, aren’t you!?”
The moment I saw his face, I gasped under the mask.
Koji Goda.
The man who had called me incompetent and cast me out of the party. For some reason, he had appeared before us.
“…What do you want? This area is supposed to be off-limits right now.”
I answered in a low mechanical voice through the modulator, maintaining my role as Master_Eye’s agent. Seira, standing beside me, narrowed her eyes warily at the sudden intruder. But Goda, in his frenzied state, didn’t even notice the pressure. He pointed at me with a manic grin.
“Don’t play dumb!! You bastards used that ‘black stone’ I sold to transfer weapons, didn’t you!? That stone was mine! I brought it back from the dungeon! So all that fame and money you got from stopping the Stampede is all thanks to me!!”
Spittle flying from his mouth, he ranted a delusion completely detached from reality.
“I’m the hero! I’m the one who saved Tokyo! Give back my credit and glory, you thieves!!”
His claims were so misguided, so selfish, so ugly that my anger was overtaken by sheer bewilderment.