ch121-ch140 · 139-ch139

Chapter 139: The Next Consultation

"Grrr. GRRRAH."

"Eep!"

Floor 30 again.

We'd brought Mia-san along, brought down the Ogre King, and just pulled its magic stone.

Right up until then she'd looked completely at ease, but the King had collapsed, she'd let her guard down, and that roar—the shock probably got to her.

A squeak slipped out for just an instant.

"Mia-san, your job—are you all right?"

Kasumi-san scooped Mia-san up without missing a beat.

"P-Pye."

Hoisted under one arm, Mia-san nods along—mm-hm, mm-hm.

Sounds like the job change went off without a hitch.

Time to pull out, then.

"Now then, perhaps a little souvenir for Sakura—"

Kasumi-san, Mia-san still tucked under her arm, readied her naginata.

"Pye?"

"That was a joke."

I'd taken her seriously and stopped in my tracks too.

I wish she wouldn't tease Mia-san quite so much.

The two of them vanished into the 'Left Gate,' and I followed them back to the warehouse.

"Welcome hooome—and there's your 【Heal】!"

Maybe she read something into the sight of Mia-san being carried—Shiraishi-san cast 【Heal】 on the spot.

"Uh, she's not hurt, you know."

Her words came back, though...

The green glow of 【Heal】 calms her right down, so maybe it's actually having an effect.

"So? How did it all go?"

"Yep. Nailed it—I'm 【Master Artisan】 now. Got plenty of skill points left over too, so we can talk about what to take upstairs... nah, forget it, I'm beat. Gonna sleep. They kept me up till all hours last night with stories about Haruki—barely slept at all."

She is, evidently, exhausted.

The surprise may have worked a little too well.

Everyone's staying here again tonight, so there's plenty of time. No problem.

Still—a girls' night, huh.

I'd love to know exactly what stories about me got told.

Another girls' night here tonight, then?

"You do sound tired. We'll wake you at noon."

"Sank you kindly. I'm gonna grab some shut-eye too—"

"Shiraishi-san, please go to work! And Haruki-san, once you've changed, please head out of the dungeon."

Kasumi-san cut Shiraishi-san off before she could head for the second floor.

I've got my own alibi-building to do anyway, so fair enough...

"Ehh? Well, fine, fine. I'll pick up omurice for lunch, so we'll all eat together, okay!"

Sank you kindly!

"Little boys can have Harue-san make their lunch at home."

Merciless!

I slumped and started getting changed, but Mia-san called down from the top of the stairs.

"Haruki. Thanks for today. Once we're outside, you can tell me all about the secret stuff, nice and slow. You too, Shiraishi-san."

She'd been worrying even dead on her feet—but she's smiling now, and that's what counts.

Mia-san disappeared into the upstairs room.

"Fufu. All that hard work paid off. No nighttime phone call tonight either, I'm afraid, but later let's have a nice long talk about the omurice."

She's already planning the next surprise.

Springing surprises must be tremendous fun for her.

I may have taught her something truly terrible.

May Mia-san live strong.

︙

︙

The next evening—Sunday night.

The phone rang.

Kasumi-san.

"Hello, it's Haruki!"

'Hello, Kasumi here. Good evening, Haruki-san. Mia-san has safely made Triple-Rank.'

The paperwork went through without a hitch, making Mia-san Chiba's second Triple-Rank.

On paper, I'm still Double-Rank...

But according to Kasumi-san, hitting Double in two months is beyond what can be made public, too.

If it ever comes out, the story will be power leveling plus a paid promotion request.

"And Mia-san's skills?"

'Magnificent. She reforged my naginata right away. The blade came out beautiful—I swear it's sharper than ever. Please let me test it on the Ogre King tomorrow morning.'

Kasumi-san's naginata is a 40s-floor drop.

When Mia-san worked on it before, she only did the handle—never touched the blade.

It's a naginata with a saw-like blade, you see, and with plain 【Blacksmith】 skills, working on it could actually dull it.

Apparently most 40s-floor weapons are like that.

Make them easier to use, and the performance drops.

Restoring them without losing performance takes a high-rank production job.

'Shall we get tomorrow's schedule settled first?'

When the call runs long, I have a habit of falling asleep mid-conversation—so important things come first.

"Yes. I'm taking Soushi with me from the morning, so while he's doing his training tomorrow—the Ogre King. I won't be able to use 【Gate】 for a while after that, so I want to fight golems on Floor 31 too."

That's right—tomorrow is finally Soushi's birthday.

Starting tomorrow, the 'Left Gate' moves to the shallow floors for Soushi's sake.

'Natsukawa Soushi-san, was it? I look forward to meeting him. I spoke with Sakura properly, so she will give him a thorough training. After all, he is to become a party member of you, Haruki-san—our rookie of great promise. She was quite fired up.'

Just him and Hayashi-san for training, huh... So jealous.

"In the afternoon I'll go along with him and level him up. As long as someone's with him, he can go past Floor 3, right?"

I went past Floor 3 alone and asked Kasumi-san to keep it secret...

Barely two months ago, and it already feels like ancient history.

Kasumi-san has the morning off only; from the afternoon she's on counter duty in the dungeon.

At most we'll go as deep as the Floor 5 hobgoblins, so one supervisor should cover it.

Newbie training should wrap by eleven, so then introductions and lunch, maybe?

I'll treat him to wild boar steak inside the dungeon.

'Let's surprise them with a Minotaur while it's still morning!'

Seriously?