ch121-ch140 · 138-ch138

Chapter 138: Mia-san's Past Part 5

SIDE: Akashiya Miyako (【Blacksmith】 Mia)

Four years since I became an adventurer...

The 【Sword Saint】 party—that had its run-in with Kasumi-san—never came back from Floor 40.

The 【Bow Saint】 party too—touted as a sure bet for Floor 40, armed with attacks that worked even on airborne enemies—and a whole roster of other famous parties were wiped out...

In their place, a different party—one with a girl who had just become the new 【Sword Saint】—broke through Floor 40, and her lovely looks were about to set off another dungeon boom across the world.

As for me? Still Double-Rank...

Of the old crowd, the only ones who made Triple were Anego and Fluffy-san, both in fixed parties...

Anego's party fell apart when two of its members got married—they used it as the occasion to disband.

Anego became a freelance adventurer.

Apparently Anego had been in love with the guy who got married, and she was in a bad, bad way.

Fluffy-san, meanwhile, turned out to be pregnant—'Dungeon Clear.'

(Quite a few of my comrades have 'Dungeon Cleared' by now...)

Year five began, and hardly anyone from back then was left.

New freelance women adventurers kept joining, but of the originals it was basically just Kasumi-san and Anego.

Kasumi-san might 'Dungeon Clear' any day now herself...

Anego? No comment.

Then one day, Kasumi-san brought an adventurer into my shop.

Chiba apparently has no 【Blacksmith】, so whenever Chiba needs one, either I go out there or someone comes to my shop with a referral letter.

That day too, I figured she'd brought another newbie with a referral. Wrong.

(She came here to show off, didn't she?)

My shop is a secret date spot.

The thing is, freelance women adventurers are always hanging around in the workshop out back.

So whenever one of them lands a lover, she comes here to show him off.

That morning too, one of Kasumi-san's university senpai—the woman—had come by early with her escort.

A woman who'd spent just a short stretch as a freelancer, the same age as Anego...

Naive rich girl to the core, from the look of her, but she joined a fixed party quick-smart and is already Her Highness Triple-Rank now.

The man with her is called Bear Ossan—a top adventurer from the same party as the senpai.

"Top adventurer" means a Triple-Rank whose main business is the 30s floors.

A completely different breed from the Triples who make their living in the safe 20s floors or chase nothing but paid promotion requests for money—the genuine cream of the adventuring crop...

Even among them, Bear Ossan holds the special skill 【Beast Transformation】 and is rumored to be stronger than Anego.

A pretty well-aged ossan, with one daughter, they say.

His wife passed away before the dungeons appeared, apparently.

He wants to marry, but hasn't finished the formal introductions with his daughter yet, or something...

In short: she came to show off that the wedding was as good as settled.

The loungers in the back heard it, slumped, and went home.

They'd surely gone out drinking. Kasumi-san was coming too, and I meant to ring Anego and meet up with everyone later, and then... this.

"This nagamaki—I'll give it to you, Haruki."

The moment those words landed, a chill ran down my spine, and I swear Kasumi-san's eyes changed color.

(Ah. I stepped in it...)

This "Haruki" person Kasumi-san had brought along—this Kasugano guy—was Kasumi-san's sweetheart.

A bitter memory comes back.

Back when I'd just started high school, I got bullied over some trumped-up charge of making eyes at boys...

"Ah, ...so you two are like THAT? Yeah, that tracks. Not a referral—she brought you along with her and all... Sorry, Kasumi-san. I'm hopeless at reading this stuff. Didn't mean anything by it, 'kay? I mean, damn, Haruki. Not bad. You look young, but how old are you really?"

Apologize, change the subject. That was the plan.

But a sweetheart for Kasumi-san, huh...

Good for her.

Tonight's drinking should go down easy.

"Huh? 18? No way—a high schooler?"

OUT—!

Kasumi-san, OUT—!

Thank goodness the loungers had already gone home.

Their ears are the only sharp thing about them—if they'd still been here, it'd have been a disaster.

Kasumi-san ought to thank that senpai of hers.

I dragged Kasumi-san to the back and gave her a proper lecture, but it went in one ear and out the other.

"We have not yet begun dating, so I am safe."

'Haven't touched, so I'm safe'? Don't start talking like the customers of this shop.

And by the way—those two started dating before they left...

"Pyeee—"

The next morning, when I woke up— (the rest is omitted)

Drinking too much is bad for you.

But now I really got why Anego needs a drink most days.

It's a little lonely...

︙

︙

A murderer showed up at headquarters, and we couldn't get into the dungeon before work.

I was due in Chiba that day anyway, so it didn't matter much...

Apparently one of the murdered was a regular of mine.

The customer who'd said he'd take my Triple promotion request.

I'd turned him down—I'd decided I wouldn't go Triple until Kasumi-san did...

And it turned out Kasumi-san was already Triple-Rank.

The moment I tried heading for Chiba, Chiba got locked down.

I called Kasumi-san—powered off or no signal...

She was inside the dungeon...

I tried the branch direct, but the lines were jammed solid. Nothing got through.

Worried sick, I went to Chiba anyway—and sure enough, closed to everyone but authorized personnel.

She promised. And no word from her.

(Something might have happened to Kasumi-san...)

After hours of being unable to just go home, Haruki came walking out of the supposedly sealed Chiba branch, so I grabbed him and made him talk.

...He was safe.

The culprit was in custody too, and everything seemed solved...

I didn't see Kasumi-san that day, but I learned later: the one who caught the culprit was Kasumi-san.

A 【Berserker】 who'd killed ten people—Kasumi-san?

The guy Anego said even SHE couldn't beat?

Kasumi-san had apparently become Triple without my ever noticing...

Over the phone, she apologized for keeping it from me.

But at the same time, she told me she'd be promoting me...

(So I'll finally be Triple-Rank too...)

And my benefactor Kasumi-san herself would be the one to do it.

The job was already decided.

【Master Artisan】.

(I want to be like Kasumi-san...)

Even now, plenty of adventurers are as hopeless as the old me.

Kasumi-san saved me—now I'd save them.

That's what I've been working toward all this time.

Saving as many lives as possible—that's Kasumi-san today.

Then I'll put good weapons in the hands of as many people as I can.

Better to raise my smithing skills across the board with 【Master Artisan】 than to specialize in one weapon type like a 【Swordsmith】.

Made-to-order weapons at prices you can afford.

That's my shop.

(From here on out too, I want to keep making weapons for newbie adventurers—not top ones...)

The day of my Floor 30 challenge was set. The night before—

I asked Kasumi-san the thing that had been on my mind.

"What do you like about Haruki?"

"Ooh, I wanna hear that too, big sis!"

"When I am with him... no—even just thinking of him, my heart pounds. It has not stopped once."

This isn't a manga. They'd been together for months by then—and the pounding never stops? Seriously?

You sure that's not a heart condition?

That's what I thought. The next day, I understood exactly what she meant.

"Surprise!"

"Pyeee—"

My heart pounded harder than should be possible—but I don't think this one's love.

If this is love, then I fall in love with Anego every single time I wake up drunk...