arc3 · 185-ch185

Chapter 185: The Press Conference

Having finished consulting President Yamamoto, I was moving Hayate toward the press conference venue. But as for me, myself — today I was planning to dive Tokyo Skyscraper Dungeon again. I could ride out the press conference with Parallel Thinking, and while SS's drone was up on stage talking, nobody would ever think the guy diving a dungeon was SS himself.

Hayate had arrived at the hotel rooftop ahead of time, where Arihara-san was waiting, and was carried from there into the press conference venue. Sieg Howard had already entered the venue, but was apparently still in a waiting room.

"Thank you for taking the time today. Do you have the Blue Sapphire with you?"

While Hayate was in transit, there was a confirmation about the Blue Sapphire — one of today's objectives. Of course I had it.

"Yes, it's in Storage. I can take it out at any time."

By the time that exchange was done, Hayate had apparently been taken on ahead into the hall. On the stage, a prepared desk — and on it, something like a cushion had been set. Could it be that I'd be sitting enthroned up there? A little embarrassing, that.

But my hopes were dashed: Hayate was gently set down on top of the cushion. After that came a briefing on how things would proceed. In ten minutes, the reporters would file into the hall. Until then, I needn't react to anything I was asked.

Then, ten minutes after that, Sieg Howard would take the stage. There, Sieg would offer a few words of greeting, and the Blue Sapphire handover would be carried out. No questions to SS were scheduled, but if possible, they'd like me to answer Sieg Howard's questions.

"Sieg Howard is the explorer everyone looks up to. I'd love to talk with him myself. But I can't understand English, and..."

I'd love to talk with Sieg, but — would you look at that — I'm hopeless at English. Sieg might have an interpreter with him, but I don't have one. Talking looked like it would be difficult.

"Ah, it's fine. Sieg can speak Japanese."

What!? Sieg can actually speak Japanese!? Now I'm getting fired up. So the day would come when I, of all people, got to talk with the world's rank-1 explorer!

While that back-and-forth was going on, I arrived at Tokyo Skyscraper Dungeon. This time I'd be challenging it from floor twenty, and if the chance arose, I'd try out Gekkou's new unit too.

Using the Transfer Stone, I moved to floor twenty, promptly descended to floor twenty-one, and put the Mana Detection Radar to work — but not a single explorer registered on it. Could it be that with Sieg's press conference going on, there were barely any explorers around?

Well, having no eyes on me is a good thing. Just in case, I tucked Gekkou away in my pochette and headed toward where the monster reactions were.

Oh, and by the way — Shiden is diving Tokyo Mouse Park Dungeon again today, of course. Queens, apparently, are aiming for floor thirty for the upcoming stream, so I'd better be careful not to run into them.

While all that was going on, the reporters came flooding into the hall. They scrambled for the prepared seats, and the moment they noticed Hayate up on the stage, the questions came flying, everyone fighting to be first. But I stayed unresponsive, as Arihara-san had instructed — at which point they apparently reached the conclusion that the power must not even be on, and little by little the hall went quiet.

After waiting exactly ten minutes in that state, Sieg Howard himself finally appeared.

Incidentally, at that very moment, my actual body was facing down a Ferocious Wolf. The appropriate level for a D-rank Ferocious Wolf is around 20. That's the appropriate level for someone with a combat-type Job, though — for a non-combat Job like mine, it would climb considerably higher.

In fact, my level right now is 33. I'd probably be fine, but if the worst came to pass, I'd need to keep in mind fleeing with Gekkou as a decoy. Thinking along those lines, I moved Gekkou sneakily around behind the Ferocious Wolf, aiming to test its new Poison Needle first.

"Sieg! Tell us the purpose of your visit to Japan!"

"Sieg! Is it true that you requested a meeting with SS-san!?"

"Is the rumor true that SS is what you're really after, Sieg?"

"Do you have plans to dive any Japanese dungeons?"

The moment Sieg Howard appeared, the heat in the hall shot up all at once. Camera strobes fired without pause, and the reporters, unable to wait, repeated their questions over and over. Sieg himself didn't so much as mind: he came right up to the seat beside mine, took one glance at Hayate, and stilled the reporters' questions with a hand.

With just that much movement, the hall that had been roaring moments before went utterly silent. What presence. Though I was seeing it through a drone-feed window, the aura of the world's rank-1 explorer came through, plain as day.

"Ahh, first things first — Mr. SS. Thanks for working around my schedule. I'm grateful."

And lo, the very first words out of Sieg were words of thanks, directed at me. I very nearly passed out from sheer excitement. Dangerous — if even one of my Parallel Thinking selves loses consciousness, all of us do. The connection to Asahi would cut out, and every summoned drone would vanish. To keep that from happening, I have to hold it together.

"No, the honor is mine — to meet you, Sieg-san, the world's No. 1 explorer. I'm sorry the greeting has to come through a drone, but I'd been looking forward to this day as well."

I worried whether nerves had made a mess of my reply — but Sieg gave me a beaming thumbs-up, so it was probably fine. From here, Arihara-san would preside over the Blue Sapphire handover.

The procedure: I place the Blue Sapphire on the pedestal set before Sieg Howard, and Sieg, after confirming it, transfers the auction price on the spot. With that, the transaction is complete.

"Now then, SS-sama, please place the Blue Sapphire on the pedestal."

Following Arihara-san's instruction, I took the Blue Sapphire out of Storage and set it on the pedestal.

"Fantastic!"

In that instant, I caught Sieg murmuring it under his breath. Ah — I suppose this is his first time seeing Storage. To be fair, I was deeply moved the first time I tried Storage myself, too. I know just how he feels.

Sieg was startled for an instant by the Blue Sapphire appearing out of nowhere before him, but quickly recovered his composure, picked it up, and began examining it.

"No mistake about it. This is the Blue Sapphire I sought. I'll have the transfer made right away."

Sieg took his cellphone out of his pocket and started operating it. To think billions upon billions moved with just that operation — how easily great fortunes move, I thought, and it frightened me a little.

"Okay, the transfer's done. Thanks for the good deal!"

He'd thanked me in fluent Japanese, so I'd best give a proper reply myself.

"The pleasure was mine — thank you for the good deal."

And with that, the transaction was officially complete. Here, Sieg shot Arihara-san a glance. Arihara-san took the cue and opened the floor to the reporters' questions.