ch101-ch120 · 110-ch110

Chapter 110: The Daily #1 Video

"Hiramatsu-san, please quit the Association this instant!"

So says Hayashi-san to Hiramatsu-san.

To give you the result first: I couldn't lay a finger on Hiramatsu-san.

Well, naturally—we were outside the dungeon.

Without stat corrections or the power of skills, everyone is "just an ordinary person."

My opponent has mastered the spear arts, while I'm hardly more than an amateur.

I haven't felled a single monster in over a week, so the "side effects of rapid level-ups" have settled down too—this is my real strength, I suppose.

Still, I did get sent flying spectacularly at the very end, but Hiramatsu-san is equally skilled at holding back—not a scratch on me.

So why is Hayashi-san saying such things, you ask...

"Quit the Association this instant and become an adventurer!"

That's what this is.

"Amazing! I see you in a whole new light. You weren't just some two-timer after all."

Endo-san praises Hiramatsu-san too.

Applause breaks out around us.

The mock battle took place in the parking lot behind the branch.

Naturally, it's a place people come and go, so—each new face drawing in more—a gallery assembled itself.

The Chiba branch usually hears nothing but crickets, but right now the Kasumi-san effect has it packed.

(Grrrgh... not just Endo-san, but Hayashi-san too...)

The whole point from the start was Hiramatsu-san showing off for Endo-san, so that much is fine—but even Hayashi-san, who'd been cheering ME on, is this giddy

That's how masterful his victory was.

He had the pace in hand the entire time, I think.

The first strike was always Hiramatsu-san's.

Block the attack from the right, and the next instant one comes flying from the left; block the left, and it's the right.

Even when I committed fully to defense and tried to ride it out, the cross-arms of the jumonji spear would stab down over the very spear I'd blocked with.

And when I abandoned defense to attack, this time my spear got entangled and snatched away.

The number of times the mock jumonji spear left my hands was not once, not twice.

Just as my stamina hit its limit, the cross-arms hooked my legs and sent me head over heels.

"Thank you, thank you."

Hiramatsu-san waves back at the gallery's applause.

Realizing the show was over, the crowd drains back into the branch like a receding wave.

The gallery is empty, but I'm still sitting exhausted on the parking lot asphalt.

"Don't tell me you think you could win inside the dungeon?"

"No, that wouldn't mean anything..."

Sword Saint-chan said the same, and basics come first...

No, wait—I just got beaten up. I didn't learn a single thing?

"Pretty humble of you, actually..."

"Seriously. Not the sort of thing I'd expect from a two-timer."

"It's fine. Inside the dungeon, I could beat Hiramatsu-sa—"

Before Hayashi-san can finish, a car pulls into the parking lot and stops right beside us.

From the back seat... it's Kasumi-san.

She says a few words to the driver, closes the door, and heads our way.

"...And what exactly is going on here?"

The three of them surround me where I sit.

A wooden staff in Hiramatsu-san's hands.

My weapon is out of my hands, lying at Endo-san's feet.

"..."

The three of them trade glances: what do we do?

"Hiramatsu-san was trying to show off for Endo-san, so he—"

The capable receptionist, Hayashi-san, responds instantly.

Nothing she said was a lie.

Kasumi-san's gaze shifts to the wooden staff lying at Endo-san's feet.

"He said he could win even inside the dungeon!"

Declaring herself uninvolved, Endo-san backs away, stepping over the staff.

Well, he did say that.

"W-wait, no, it's not like that. You asked me for pointers, so..."

Kasumi-san comes closer and picks up the staff.

I hear someone swallow, hard...

"I see. What a thought—polishing his technique on the surface. That's our Haruki-san for you."

Sasa-Haru—

Kasumi-san is all bright smiles.

The three of them let out sighs of relief—no, make it four, counting me.

"And a jumonji spear, no less... That never occurred to me. On the surface, even I couldn't beat Hiramatsu-san. You've found yourself a wonderful teacher."

Well, there's the strength gap between men and women, so who'd win isn't cut and dried—but his fighting was genuinely skillful, that much is certain.

"Yes, yes, Kasumi-sama. It was my recommendation."

The capable receptionist strikes again.

She never misses a chance to promote herself.

Sasa-Recep—

"Sakura. I've told you to stop with the -sama, haven't I? What if Haruki-san copies you?"

I'm not a little kid; I wouldn't go copying her.

'Kasumi-sama. You look tired again today.'

I fantasize about myself kneeling and massaging Kasumi-san's feet.

Hmm.

Endo-san's gaze is piercing me.

"But for the likes of me to be so familiar with the great Triple-Rank adventurer..."

"Sakura. We're friends, aren't we? I apologize for keeping it secret, so please forgive me already."

"Kasumi-san..."

Hayashi-san's eyes brim with tears, and she clings to Kasumi-san in a fierce hug.

And Kasumi-san gently catches and holds her.

Kasumi-san's gaze shifts next to Hiramatsu-san, arms crossed, nodding along, un-un, as ever.

"My own fundamentals drift toward the naginata no matter what, so I had misgivings about teaching Haruki-san the spear's basics. I leave Haruki-san in your care, then."

Still holding Hayashi-san, Kasumi-san bows her head.

"Whenever I've got the time, sure. Ah—but don't blame me if I'm hard on him, all right?"

No worries.

Kasumi-san wails on me nonstop during our mock battles—when it comes to those, Hiramatsu-san is the gentle one.

"Shiraishi-san will be around too, so have at him—wham, bam!"

Please don't say terrifying things with such a lovely smile.

Umemoto's sin—planting that whole "if it heals later, it's fine" theory—is heavy indeed...

︙

︙

Kasumi-san's questioning is all finished, and starting tomorrow she'll be at the Chiba branch.

With the branch manager's kind words—she must be worn out from everything—Kasumi-san was sent home.

Naturally, I came home too.

Right now I'm waiting for our nightly phone call, the one that melts the day's fatigue away.

(It's here!)

I answer before the phone finishes lighting up and ringing.

"Hello, Kasumi-san?"

"You picked up fast. 'Kasumi-san,' huh? You mean Watanabe-san?"

Hm? Not Kasumi-san.

"Oh. It's you, Soushi. Hanging up."

"Wait, wait—I called because I've got something. Don't hang up."

"I'm busy waiting here. Make it quick."

"'Busy waiting'? What's that supposed to mean? Anyway, it's less news than a check—do you know about this? Go look at the usual video site."

"If this is about Mami-Mami, I am hanging up."

Mami-Mami is a female streamer, formerly a 【Light Armored Warrior】.

She took a high-rank job recently—but it's one called 【Naked King】, and unless she's naked, she can't activate its high-rank skills.

Her viewers pestered her endlessly to 'take it off, take it off,' and a wounded Mami-Mami is on hiatus.

"Guess you don't know, then. The rankings—you're ON it."

"Huh? Ah—is that me?"

Me on the #5 thumbnail, and #1 is... Kasumi-san.

"It's going viral on every site. But it doesn't look like you or anyone from the Association uploaded it."

"I'm hanging up. I have to tell Kasumi-san."

Without waiting for Soushi's reply, I hang up and dial Kasumi-san.

"Haruki-san, good evening."

She picked up right away.

"Kasumi-san, it's urgent. Can you watch adventurer videos? Any site—just the rankings."

"One moment, please. Is something in the news?"

Rustling sounds come down the line.

Setting up her computer, presumably.

I play the #1 video myself.

"Ah, this is from yesterday... Kasumi-san, it looks like someone filmed yesterday's mock battle, and it's sitting at number one."

"Eh? That one? Why is it number one? Oh—is it because of me?... It really is, isn't it. That's me. Oh my, and you're in it too, Haruki-san... The comments are unpleasant. This is... Setting me aside, the problem is that you're on camera, Haruki-san. I'm going to contact the Association, so I'll hang up for now. Talk soon."

"Understood. I leave it to you."

Uploading footage of someone without their consent has to be illegal.

It'll probably get taken down fast—but it will have spread by then, you know how it goes.

Well, no skills on camera, so it should be fine—it'll just make moving around awkward.

"Well then, let's check the video. The comments..."

・This bespectacled beauty is the one who caught the 【Berserker】? For real?

・Whoa, way too pretty

・Why a mop?

・Why is she in a uniform?

・Is she subduing some rampaging high schooler?

・The high schooler's holding a shinai—is this some kind of lesson? No, but why a mop?

That's what the comments look like before the match starts.

And then the mock battle begins...

・He's fast—is this video at 2x?

・Isn't the high schooler way too strong? What level is he even?

・0.5x speed recommended

・Looks painful lol

・The shins lol lmao

・No mercy lol

・I want the bespectacled beauty to bully me too

・Thank you. Thank you very much.

Those are the comments from the start until the first time my shin gets whacked.

My Endurance is impressively high, so no injuries—but pain is pain.

Shins especially—that whole "even Benkei had his weak spot" thing.

・I see it, I see it

・Those leeeegs

・Dammit, is the cameraman useless?

・You brat, attack from below

The comments Kasumi-san found unpleasant, yes.

By this point everyone's commenting nothing but "I see it."

But sadly, there was nothing to see.

Because from where I stood, I couldn't see it either.

Then, as I tried to receive an attack with my weapon, the competitive naginata snapped clean in the middle, that same blow caught me in the side, and it was over.

・Serves you right

・That one's gotta hurt

・Thank you. Thank you very much.

・Can't the brat even use Weapon Enhancement?

・↑ This receptionist has a high-rank job, so that was high-tier Weapon Enhancement, right? Of course it snaps

・The receptionist's control is unreal—even if the kid were Single-Rank, eating a high-tier enhanced attack like that would kill him

・You can enhance a mop? What's her job, even?

・Maid, obviously

・If it's a high-rank job, then it's Elite Maid. Yeah, no wonder she could beat a 【Berserker】

・※ 【Maid】 is a general-class job

・There's actually a job for that?! lol