ch181-ch200 · 181-ch181

Chapter 181: Banished by My Mother and Robbed of My Bride, I Get Banished from the Adventurer Party Too!

"I'm tired already, and I haven't even heard about the special skill yet. But you leveled up using that special skill's power, right?"

Since the two of them had shown me their Jobs and statuses, I told them my high-rank jobs and level in return—and Aikawa looked utterly deflated.

Soushi was still muttering away.

He can't seem to settle on his 【Staff User】 skills.

There's no need to force it now—I'd rather have him help me explain things to Aikawa.

"Yep. 【Gate】. This thing here."

I bring out the 'Left Gate' and show it to them.

"Don't just casually summon something like that... If I go in, where does it take me?"

You tell me not to summon it, and yet...

Well, it's easier to explain with it out, so oh well.

"The warehouse. I can bring out a 'Gate' from each of my right and left hands, and they're connected. The 'Right Gate' is basically always parked at the warehouse, so when I come back from the dungeon's depths using the 'Left Gate', it leads to the warehouse."

"Is it okay if I go in?"

"Go ahead."

"...Whoa, it's real. Alright. ...Huh? Oh, there you are! So the two sides connect to each other. Huh. A break room—how convenient. Ah, but it eats MP, doesn't it...? With this skill, leveling up really would be easy... But keeping it secret..."

Aikawa stuck her face in first and pulled it back out.

Then, steeling herself, she stepped into the 'Left Gate'—and came out from the other side.

Hey, don't go doing things I haven't explained yet. It's dangerous.

What would you have done if the other side connected to Floor 30 or something?

"With this skill I could go peek at Floor 50 and come back, you know. Look—you're inside a boss area on Floor 10 right now, and you can come and go as you please, right? If this got out, the country would nab me and put me to work helping the Self-Defense Forces or something. And overseas, people with amazing special skills apparently get kidnapped. Going public doesn't seem to have anything good about it..."

"It's true! You got OUT of a boss area! This is insane. If the Association finds out, you'll end up living in the HQ building like the 'Holy Maiden.' They were saying on TV recently that she has zero freedom."

Living next door to the 'Holy Maiden'?

Might not be so bad?

But Blue Ocean would be there too, wouldn't they?

'Sword Saint-chan' and Kasumi-san don't get along, after all...

"See? So keep it secret, please. I'll be an adventurer for just the four years until I graduate university, and in the meantime I'll save up as much as I can and help you two level up."

"The secret will be fine... it's not like I have anyone to tell anyway... Four years, huh. Feels like a waste, but there's real danger to your life too. Well, until then, sticking with Haru-kun means I won't go hungry. Relief, relief. But Level 31 in two months—Watanabe-san must have worked incredibly hard. What you want in life is a strong girlfriend, huh~. So how did you win her over? Don't tell me she made the first move? Ah—or did you both fall for each other mid-leveling?"

Hm? Kasumi-san? Oh, you mean she leveled me up?

I leveled up solo, you know.

Floor 30 took about two weeks, I think?

Well, if you want to hear how Kasumi-san and I got together, I could indulge you—but that's after today's adventure.

After dinner I'll treat you to the epic of the century, then properly haul Soushi home.

A plan that'll put Bear Ossan's mind at ease, too.

"Eh? You leveled up solo? Isn't that impossible? How? If you were using 【Gate】 to go back and forth, you couldn't use it in combat, right?"

"Well, if things got dangerous, 【Gate】 would be my emergency escape. It works for breaks, and I can step outside and recover MP too. Then I can jump right back where I was, so things moved along pretty smoothly. Other than that, it's the 【Scout】 skills I mentioned. With 【Presence Concealment】, I take them down before they notice me. Combine that with 【Gate】, and I can one-shot bosses from behind, too."

"'One-shot from behind,' Haru-kun... Is 【Charge Spearman】's 【Charge・Spear】 really that amazing? But now that you mention it... 【Charge Spearman】 and 【Scout】. Plus 【Gate】. Wait, I thought you'd pick 【Scout】—but this was a build thought through to a terrifying degree to squeeze a hundred and twenty percent out of 【Gate】's power, huh..."

No, I really didn't think it through that much.

I needed 【Scout】's 【Night Vision】 to level up at night, so it just ended up an assassination style, is all.

【Assassin】 did show up properly on the job selection screen at Floor 30, though...

"That's why—leveling is my specialty, so leave it to me."

"Still, hitting Triple in two weeks is abnormal. If you really did it solo, you're a genius. Even 'Sword Saint-chan' spent over a year stalled in front of Floor 30—so Haru-kun is a genius who surpasses 'Sword Saint-chan.' It's a little scary having someone like that deciding how we level up..."

You're one to talk, getting compared to a real genius like 'Sword Saint-chan.'

What I have is a leveling genius—like an "effort genius," the kind where you can't even tell if it's really genius at all?

"We've got summer break, so I plan to take it slow. Floor 20 by the end of break? Once Soushi's job selection is settled, I was planning to move on to power-leveling Shiraishi-san, so you two could level up alongside that if you want."

"Something's wrong, something's VERY wrong. That's not 'slow' at all. The senpai who graduated last year are still Single-Rank, you know? Double in a month is absurd. And what is this power-leveling going to involve? Shiraishi-san as in the receptionist Shiraishi-san? Why would you level up Shiraishi-san?"

Aikawa sure talks a lot.

If it were Soushi, all I'd get back is one line: "leave it to me."

Soushi's been quiet this whole time—is he okay?

"Um, 【Healer】s have a skill called 【Analyze・HP】 that lets them see other people's HP. My HP is over 2,300, so if a 【Healer】 got a look at me, a high-rank job holder would be found out instantly. Then people would start digging into special skills and whatnot, one thing leading to another. That would be a problem, so the idea is to level up a 【Healer】 I can trust—Shiraishi-san—to be ready in case anything happens... I guess? Also, don't apply for the Double-Rank promotion. Keep it hidden."

Now, what was the other thing—how to actually do the power leveling?

"Shiraishi-san works for the Association—is that really okay? And who else knows about you, Haru-kun?"

"Kasumi-san is an Association employee too, so I think she's fine? Other than her, just Mia-san. Kasumi-san, Mia-san, Shiraishi-san, Soushi—and now you, Aikawa. That's everyone."

"That's a small circle. Well, I suppose that's only natural... Was it really okay to let me join, though? I barged my way into the party, and you went and told me a huge secret..."

"No, no—if anything, it's hard for ME to invite people, since I have my own secret. Having someone trustworthy join is a big help, really."

"Trust, huh... I'd been wanting to party up with Soushi for a while now. He talks to me every day at school, and... But Haru-kun, I figured you'd never let me join, since you like Saori. You see, Saori said she'd never let me become an adventurer, but I absolutely wanted to be one... So I had no choice but to ignore her. And that's how things ended up..."

So the cause of the falling-out with Mizuki wasn't her father being an adventurer—it was Aikawa herself becoming one, huh...

Come to think of it, that makes sense.

Mizuki's older sister died in the dungeon—if a friend said she'd become an adventurer, of course she'd try to stop her...

Our class, for better or worse, revolves around Mizuki.

Ignoring Mizuki means ignoring the whole class.

It's not like Aikawa was being bullied.

If anything, Mizuki is the one worried about her, and the rest of the class is being considerate toward Aikawa.

"So that problem's still there too..."

Can't we all just get along?

"Haru-kun, she'll probably come talk to you about all sorts of things too. I hate the idea of getting cut from the party when that happens, so decide once and for all, right now. Can I really be in this party? Of course, even if you cut me later, I won't tell a soul what I heard today. But if, even when Saori comes up, you still let me stay in the party—then I think I'll be able to trust you, Haru-kun. And I think it'll be safe for you to trust me, too."

"Whoa, whoa—what about a place to live?"

Was she going back home after all this?

"I'll move to Mia-san's place. I don't have any reason left to force myself to keep adventuring, so I'll work for Mia-san and live there. Mia-san told me to do exactly that, and..."

Oh my. You've gotten quite close with Mia-san, haven't you.

"Haruki..."

Uh-oh, is Soushi entering the fray?

My comment made things gloomy for Aikawa, after all.

If I cut Aikawa from the party, my relationship with Soushi goes south too.

Worst case, the two of them leave the party together...

Huh?

Hold on—wouldn't I be the one banished, then?

Banished by my mother and robbed of my bride, I get banished from the adventurer party too!

The banished one's tale of revenge begins now!

Signs of a true epic, indeed.

Well, there's no reason to cut Aikawa in the first place.

"Sorry, sorry. I have zero problems with it. If anything, I'd be thrilled to have you in the party. Besides, I've got Kasumi-san. ...Please keep everything from just now secret from Kasumi-san, though."

If Kasumi-san hears this, it's bad news.

So glad you brought all this up today, of all days.

"Haru-kun... thank you. If you ever get bullied, I'll talk to you every day, okay?"

Hey.

Is that even a possibility?

Would the girls start treating me like they do Ota?

I'll keep the fact that I'm a little shaken a secret.