ch181-ch200 · 191-ch191

Chapter 191: Leveling Mia-san Up

"So what do we do with all this?"

Soushi mutters, looking at the scattered pieces of the rock golems.

Quite the impressive scatter job, that.

"I'll go dump the big ones. You three go put your stuff away for now."

We came back and immediately started power leveling, after all.

The levels came so easily that they got completely absorbed in it.

"Okay!"

Aikawa answered energetically and headed up to the second floor—but all she was carrying was her own bag.

Then along comes Soushi, staggering under a mountain of shopping bags hooked over his fingers, struggling the whole way.

I shall say nothing.

In the dungeon, anything left on the ground gets absorbed in about fifteen minutes if no one's nearby.

But this place has concrete laid down, so as long as at least one person is somewhere on the Floor 1 concrete that connects to the surface, it counts as "someone nearby."

In other words, nothing gets absorbed.

"【Gate】."

If we leave things out here, someone might see them, so I'll stash this on Floor 31.

I had their backs and chests gouged up pulling the magic stones, but the weight doesn't feel all that different.

Isn't this harder labor for me than for Soushi...?

This is doing a number on my back.

Afterward, I left the cleanup of the scattered debris to Soushi... no, to Aikawa.

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"Alriiight, all set!"

Mia-san shows up in full gear with her hammer over her shoulder.

Soushi and Aikawa are in armor too, for what it's worth.

It shouldn't be dangerous, but it pays to be prepared.

Besides, debris flies everywhere and gets everything dirty.

Mia-san, who joined us a little late, had gone to her own shop to sort out her equipment, and in the meantime I'd already found a sand golem on Floor 31 and brought it back, ready to go.

"Then, over to you."

I enter the 'Right Gate' ahead of everyone.

I pop out on Floor 31 and am confirming the toppled sand golem hasn't been absorbed when Mia-san arrives.

"Oh? It's pretty different from headquarters. Wait, isn't this way too big? That's less a hill and more a mountain. Where are the orcs?"

"Orcs?"

"Huh? Don't HQ and Chiba have the same monster lineup? We're talking 20s floors here, so it should be orcs, no?"

"This is Floor 31, you know? Look—the enemies here are golems."

Kon-kon—I tap the sand golem lying on the ground with the jumonji spear Mia-san made to demonstrate.

"......... Pye."

After a moment of stunned silence, Mia-san lets out her usual short little shriek and dashes straight back through the 'Left Gate'.

Um, I'd also like you to carry that sand golem over...?

Huh? Did I not mention it?

Whatever. I'll head back to the warehouse once myself.

"Haruki! I told you surprises are banned!"

The moment I get back, I get yelled at.

"Um... did nobody tell you?"

Soushi and Aikawa look at Mia-san with concern too, but when I glance over at them, they shake their heads.

The classic "did you notice?" setup, huh.

I screwed up.

"What? Hah, Kasumi-san's in on it too! I'm going to go give her a piece of my mind!"

"Wait, wait. It really was just me forgetting to tell you. The fault is mine. I'll explain everything properly, so please wait."

Getting chewed out by Mia-san, and then chewed out by Kasumi-san after that.

...They want to be told if a surprise is coming.

Because it's really not a surprise at all, is it.

(What a sad, sad incident...)

"What sad incident? Explain right now or I'll actually get mad."

Please stop giving tsukkomi to my monologue.

Did I say that out loud?

And she's already angry, isn't she.

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"I see, so this thing's still alive, and pulling the magic stone gets you EXP..."

Kon-kon—I knock on the sand golem I just rolled onto the warehouse floor, just like I did earlier, to show her.

To keep the explanation simple, I went back and hauled it over.

My back is about to give out, honestly.

"Soushi and the others went from Level 14 to 18 today alone. Ten sand golems for a four-level gain."

"That's insane. So you want ME to haul golems down from Floor 31... I don't even have to fight? Sure, I chickened out and ran earlier, but if it's a slow one, I can take on one of 'em, y'know?"

Mia-san may be a production-class job holder, but she's a Triple-Rank adventurer.

She's handled plenty of combat over the years, and she's overwhelmingly stronger than Soushi and Aikawa.

Still, I'd rather not have golems swarming us on Floor 31... I'd like to think what happened earlier was a special case.

"Basically we take the ones mimicking the ground one at a time, so it's fine. If it ever becomes two or more, I escape using 'THIS,' so safety-wise it's perfect."

This time I try kon-kon knocking on the 'Left Gate', but my hand passes right through and makes no sound.

"That's way too dangerous. Too convenient. If that ever got out it'd be a disaster. Well, it has to be kept secret, so I guess it can't be helped that the info never reached me..."

Oh? Is the lecture being dodged?

"I think this will count as leveling you up too, Mia-san, so today please take turns with Soushi and Aikawa pulling the magic stones."

"My... leveling? Haruki, you... I get it now. You were thinking of me too, weren't you. Honestly, I'd been wondering what to do about my own level. Like, if only I had a few more skill points... But with this method... You thought that far ahead for me... I'm sorry I got mad. Thanks. Thanks, Haruki."

Mumu? And now I'm being thanked.

I can hardly say this leveling is for the REAL surprise at Floor 40...

The plan's been left up in the air ever since surprises got banned right after I made it. Maybe I should actually talk it over?

Well, first I should consult with Kasumi-san, I suppose?

A true surprise is one that makes someone happy while staying perfectly safe.

If leveling up delights her, then surely she'd be over the moon if she could get a high-rank sub-job.

If it goes great, maybe surprises get un-banned too?