ch141-ch160 · 148-ch148

Chapter 148: The Mother-Hen Big Sister Detonates

"Delicious! This beats the orc grill at the campsite!"

Mia-san exclaimed.

The four of us were behind Mia-san's new shop—not quite a full barbecue, but grilling meat on a portable gas stove and eating.

What Mia-san's shop had was less a kitchen than a break room—a cramped little space with a sink and a single burner—so we did the prep inside and took the meat outside to grill.

With water coming out of a tap right there, prep and cleanup are easy—one more reason we chose the back of Mia-san's shop over the warehouse.

"What's an 'orc grill'??"

Soushi muttered under his breath.

The orc grill is—well, less a shop run by a 【Chef】 and more a stall on Floor 14 where you bring orc meat and they grill it for you on the spot.

Plenty of people are put off by the whole kill-it-and-eat-it thing, so opinions are split—but apparently, even though the 【Chef】 only grills it using a skill, the flavor is superb.

For the record, it only exists at headquarters, so I've never had it...

"Delicious... Did you not say this was cheap meat? I would never have guessed."

Kasumi-san's stamp of approval too.

We'd deliberately bought cheap pork to see the effect of Soushi's special skill, 【Cooking】.

Absolutely not because of my wallet.

"Blecch. Hey, Haruki. You're banned from touching the meat. Veggies too. Soushi grills everything from now on!"

So mean!

I'd grilled the same meat right beside him to compare skill effects, and THIS is what I get...

She's already calling him plain "Soushi"—she must really like him.

"Why did you eat the one Soushi grilled first? Of course that makes mine taste bad by comparison."

If they'd eaten mine first, the verdict would have been perfectly ordinary.

"That is true. But it was not so bad as to be inedible, you know?"

Kasumi-san threw me a bone, but she wouldn't call it delicious...

Grrrnnn.

"Um, Mia-san? This is awkward to bring up, but my MP's just about tapped—I don't think I can grill anything but meat."

He'd started from Level 1, so his MP should have been 10.

He did go outside for lunch and the shopping run, but even so, he's probably only recovered about 2.

"Riiight, MP. Hm? Didn't you say he just became an adventurer today? But he's already got 【Chef】, doesn't he?... Hey, you guys! You didn't go and pull another Surprise on him, did you? If you did anything horrible to Soushi, I won't forgive you!"

Suddenly getting yelled at here.

It's great that she's so taken with Soushi, but...

"A Surprise is not something cruel! Besides... Haruki-san. Is anyone nearby?"

"...Nobody, at least not within the range I can sense."

No reaction from 【Presence Detection】, my 【Scout】 sub-job's skill.

Even with the Level 31 senses that get a hefty stat correction, I can't feel a soul close by.

Mia-san's new shop doubles as a smithing workshop, so it sits a little off the main drag.

There are similar shops around, but I believe every one of them is empty.

Apparently one proposal had been to set the weapon shop up separately along the main boulevard running from the Association facilities to the 'Gate to Floor 2,' but she chose a big building with shop and workshop together...

"Natsukawa-san—may we tell Mia-san about the skill?"

"Mia-san already knows about Haruki's situation, right? Then it's fine."

Quick on the uptake.

Mia-san has been carried to Floor 30 by my special skill before, so of course she knows.

"Mia-san, your ear, please..."

Kasumi-san whispered in Mia-san's ear.

"Eh? That's the same as 'Blue Shadow's—ah...!"

Mia-san caught herself mid-sentence and hastily clamped her chopsticks-wielding hand over her own mouth.

Seeing Kasumi-san nod at her half-spoken words, she opened her mouth again.

"So this one's a secret too, huh—what a waste. He could make a killing working the HQ campsite... No, wait, if word got out he's an acquaintance of ours, Anego and the girls might swarm him and turn things into a real mess..."

"Natsukawa-san, our sincerest apologies. Please hold off on making it public for at least a year or so. By then, there will be an explanation that covers Haruki-san's strength as well..."

Right—the problem is my level.

A level for a guy who goes outside every single day, one that shouldn't be reachable without fighting on Floor 25 or deeper...

Leveling on Floor 25 means three days round trip.

The question becomes: how did you level that fast?

And from there, my 【Gate】 getting exposed is the real problem.

A skill like 【Gate】 would be the key to breaking through the dungeon-conquest stagnation the whole world is stuck in right now.

If it got out, every country on Earth would come after me—kidnapping included.

A talented special-skill holder only just went missing the other day, after all...

"Watanabe-san, you don't need to apologize. Haruki's the one at fault here."

No, YOUR special skill is part of the problem too.

If Mia-san's tongue is to be believed, his 【Cooking】 already outperforms a 【Chef】's skills.

Publicizing something like that would make him far too conspicuous.

And there's also the little matter of him possibly getting kidnapped, you know?

"Still, it's not all bad. We get Soushi all to ourselves, and hallelujah for good food. Oh, right! Soushi—as thanks for the grub, let me make you a weapon or something. I'm a Triple-Rank smith, looks notwithstanding. I can make something better than anything they sell around here. What'll it be?"

Whoa, the weapon-shop-owner-likes-you-and-gifts-you-a-weapon event has triggered!

Me? I had to go all the way to the Sanzu River and back to grasp weapon enhancement before she'd even acknowledge me...

And what I got was a returned weapon, no less?

A custom weapon of your choice on day one as an adventurer—Soushi, you terrifying child!

"Yes, yes! Then make him knuckle guards or gauntlets. I'm turning Soushi into a 【Monk】, so fist weapons, please."

Perfect timing—we'll have fist weapons made.

Does the bare-handed restriction for 【Monk】 cover feet too?

Leg guards might work as well, but fists come first, probably...

"Ahem. Natsukawa-san is going to be a 【Knight】. So—a kitchen knife with a handle long enough to wield one-handed, if you please."

"Shouldn't it be 【Monk】 over 【Knight】? A kitchen knife works for a 【Monk】 too, so to start, how about a quality fist weapon..."

"Hmph hmph hmph. You cannot possibly mean to have a beginner fight bare-fisted? Outrageous. Beginners use long weapons. It is settled law. The spear! Nothing else shall be accepted! And you, of all people, Haruki-san... Ha! Could this be infidelity? Just as Endo-san feared...? I had a bad feeling when I heard you had taken up a shield job, but never did I imagine..."

"Hey—stop, stop! I'm asking SOUSHI! You two don't get to decide for him. If you want to gift Soushi a weapon, PAY me and I'll make it. Either way, the job and the weapon are Soushi's to choose!"

"Hmph hmph hmph hmph. ...That is correct. My apologies, Natsukawa-san. ...Haruki-san, we will be having a talk later."

From a weapons debate straight to the Two-Timer accusation!?

Forget Soushi's weapon—I don't care anymore.

That is not the issue at hand!

Time for me to fold and steer this toward the two of us gifting the kitchen knife together.

Kasumi-san seems to have business with Mia-san after this, so it'll be the nighttime phone call, huh?

Trouble is, over the phone it's hard to tell whether Kasumi-san is actually angry...

Sometimes she falls asleep mid-call, and even when I'm sure I've made her mad, the next day she's sweet again—it's impossible to read...

"Um, the person who made this—no need to even guess, it was Mia-san, right?"

"Hm? The carbon wire? That case is one of ours. Someone give it to you?"

"Knew it! I bought it online!"

"Well, what do you know—you were my customer from the start. Like you more and more. Don't listen to those two. Take your time picking a job. The weapon can happen whenever."

"Got it! For now, once I'm home today I'll do some research online and think the weapon thing over properly."

Soushi seems to be handling himself fine—I'll leave him to it.

More importantly, I need to get back into Kasumi-san's good graces.

Eh? Nobody wants the meat I grilled? I see how it is...

"Ah—out of MP. Can't grill any more meat."

Hm? Out of MP?

"I haven't even gotten any meat yet, though?"

"S'fine. Me neither."

"The hell it is! Go outside and recover at least 1 MP before you come back!"

I just want to know how much the skill helps—a single bite would do.

"Geez, fiiine. Be right back!"

Soushi took off running toward the 'Dungeon Gate' connected to the surface.

"I'm about full myself, I think?"

True to appearances, Mia-san is a light eater.

"Mia-san, please eat some vegetables as well."

Kasumi-san admonished Mia-san, who had been eating nothing but meat.

"Don't go sounding like Anego. Fine then—not you, Haruki. Kasumi-san, you grill."

Even I can grill vegetables—they'd come out tasting normal, I bet?

Maybe I'll grill next to Kasumi-san and do a taste comparison—

Oh, right!

"You're working with fire—isn't this a job for 【Blacksmith】 skills? Come on, show us—grill some meat!"

"Hmm? That'd just make it cook faster, not taste better, but... sure, why not! Behold the power of the 【Master Artisan】!"

Mia-san traded seats with me and started laying the meat into the frying pan.

"Still—you have taken quite a liking to Natsukawa-san, haven't you?"

So Kasumi-san noticed it too.

"Ahh, yeah. He talks to me proper, keigo and all, no kid-treating. Good kid—I could tell. Wish the HQ crowd would take notes. Plus he's Haruki's friend and a rookie, you see. So I decided I'd repay what I owe you two through him."

"There are people you have known since they were Haruki-san's age, Mia-san, so that cannot be helped..."

Everyone treats her like a kid, so being respected as the elder gets her—or maybe "gets her" is wrong—maybe it just makes her happy.

She was acting the mother-hen big sister just a moment ago, after all...

But I respect her properly too, right?

"You could always repay me directly, you know?"

"Nope. People who pull dumb stunts like Surprises deserve to be handled rough—right around that level is just right! Besides, if I'm nice to you, Kasumi-san's eyes get scary... Huh? The skill should be running, though? I don't hear any sizzling? Maybe put a little more into it..."

Kasumi-san's face at Dr. Amamiya was scarier than the one from the 'Sword Saint-chan' incident, after all.

The jealousy is kind of flattering, but being branded a Two-Timer is a problem—maybe I really should just let her keep doting on Soushi...

"So it is true, then—【Blacksmith】 skills cannot be used for cooking?"

"Um, isn't the frying pan turning kind of red?"

Oh, the pan's melti—

BOOOOOOOM!