ch181-ch200 · 188-ch188
Chapter 188: Everyone Moves to an Allowance System
Soushi still isn't here, so I decide to push one more floor...
Resuming from Floor 26, I practice skills along the way like on Floor 25 and take about thirty minutes to reach Floor 27.
(This doubles as RTA practice, I suppose...)
Can't upload videos, and I already achieved a world record of one minute, I remind myself.
Come to think of it, 'Red Shadow'—still unable to break the Aomori Dungeon record—reacted to the phrase "the otherworlder is a naked blonde little girl."
For a streamer, staying on top of trends with fresh information is vital for pulling in views.
He might show up in the Chiba Dungeon before long.
Adventurers who can't just relocate on a whim, like Blue Ocean, are one thing, but footloose streamer-adventurers may already be here.
I'd better be careful not to wander into frame.
(Oh, Soushi's here.)
Right as I returned to the warehouse, I sensed Soushi approaching it.
Come to think of it, my 【Presence Detection】 proficiency seems to be improving...
At first I could barely tell a person from a monster, but now I can generally tell what KIND of monster.
Not that it means much in the Chiba Dungeon, where every floor except the boss floors has only one kind.
On the human side, I can vaguely make out Kasumi-san, Soushi, and the newbie receptionist's presence.
Shiraishi-san and Mia-san have such distinctive presences that I never mistake them for anyone else.
Aikawa's presence is surprisingly unremarkable—if someone else were on the warehouse's second floor, I might not be able to tell.
Even now I can tell someone is up there, but if you asked me whether it's Aikawa, I couldn't swear to it.
Also, scout-types—from Sato-san to the usual party's black-haired scout—have a distinctly scout-like presence.
Which makes MY presence, with a scout sub-job, a bit of a concern—but you can't sense your own presence.
Maybe I'll ask Sato-san later?
The black-haired scout would work too, but I haven't seen her since the incident.
I call them 'the usual party,' but I haven't seen them since, so they're not really 'the usual party' anymore...
"Oh? You're early, Haruki."
Soushi walks into the warehouse.
He strolls in all casual, but it's already past nine.
Aikawa, who hasn't eaten breakfast, is in a mood—get a move on.
I let Soushi head up to the second floor and take off my armor.
Actually, I picked up a few magic stones on Floor 26.
Barging up to Kasumi-san and demanding an allowance outright would look bad, so the plan is to hand her magic stones and receive payment in return.
Floor 26 stones are too hard to cash in myself, so this plan is the only way.
Kasumi-san spends her mornings at her computer working, so she should be at her desk.
'You're laaate!'
An argument has already broken out upstairs, so I decide to head for the surface.
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I go up to the staff floor to find Kasumi-san alone.
It's just past nine, yet apparently everyone else already finished today's paperwork.
With more adventurers likely to visit from now on, things may get busier.
When I arrived, Kasumi-san told me to wait a moment while she worked the computer—maybe she was handling documents an outsider shouldn't see.
Sorry for disturbing you when you're busy.
In any case, the magic-stone-payment plan succeeded, and I received my allowance for the stones without a hitch.
It felt like I was extorting Kasumi-san, so having no other staff around was a good thing.
Back at the warehouse, I hand Aikawa half of the allowance and send her off shopping.
It feels like too much, but these past two days—the days she'd most want to earn—my schedule kept her out of the dungeon.
Once she's living on her own, no amount of money will be enough.
Kasumi-san said Mia-san is coming in the afternoon, so I'll run a power-leveling rehearsal this afternoon.
That way I can get golem magic stones, which should split into a decent sum for everyone.
Though for a while, Soushi and Aikawa will be on allowance from Kasumi-san too.
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Having sent Soushi and Aikawa shopping with orders to be back by afternoon, I set out for Floor 31.
Floor 30 is dangerous, so Kasumi-san will accompany me on her lunch break—but only to Floor 30, I suppose?
I won't fight. I'll place the 'Left Gate' behind the Ogre King's spawn point on Floor 30 and come straight back.
Killing the Ogre King alone is no problem for me, but I have to push on to Floor 31 afterward—I'd have to thread through a hundred frenzy-mode Forest Ogres to reach the 'Gate to Floor 31'.
The usual "kill the boss and 【Gate】 straight home" won't work here, so Kasumi-san is worried.
And so I push through Floors 27, 28, and 29.
It's before ten, so I have over two hours—should be plenty...