ch21-ch40 · 035-ch35

Chapter 35: The Receptionist's Defeat Flag【Watanabe Kasumi】Part 1

SIDE: Watanabe Kasumi

Hello.

Are there some of you meeting me for the first time?

My name is Watanabe Kasumi.

I belong to the Adventurer's Association Chiba Branch, and my main duties involve handling the facility counter inside the dungeon.

Let me start by telling you how I came to this job.

After graduating middle school, I went on to high school at what's known as a prestigious ladies' academy in the city, largely due to my father's strong recommendation.

There, I encountered naginata, and I suppose you could say I dedicated the next seven years of my youth—until my university graduation—to naginata.

The turning point for me came in my final year of university.

I made it all the way to the national championship finals and ended up winning the whole thing.

Then after the final match, a Self-Defense Force officer in uniform approached me, asking if I'd like to make use of that naginata skill in the newly established Adventurer's Association.

These words made me hesitate.

Once the tournament ended, I would have to say goodbye to naginata, the pursuit I'd dedicated my youth to.

I had been thinking that... and now I could get a job through naginata.

I could continue with naginata.

Isn't that wonderful...?

What finally pushed me was my father's heartless words.

When I consulted my family about being approached by the Dungeon Association, they were completely against it.

This was before dungeons were opened to the public.

The reality was that many SDF members had already gone into dungeons and never returned.

Association staff themselves don't go to the deeper floors.

Our job is to assist the adventurers who conquer the dungeons.

So there's no danger to our lives.

I tried to convince them, but my entire family was strongly opposed, saying it was still a dangerous job.

And then my father said:

"If I'd known it would come to this, I never should've let you do naginata."

That was the last conversation I had with my father.

No, he's not dead, you know?

We just haven't spoken since.

Anyway, I couldn't forgive those words.

"Naginata, of all things."

What did he just say?

"Never should've let you."

I made this decision myself.

After that, I started living on my own as if I'd run away from home, and after graduating university, I was able to get a job at the newly established Adventurer's Association.

Before dungeons were opened to the public, we Adventurer's Association staff broke through the first 10 floors under SDF escort.

I was able to obtain a wonderful Job called [Naginata Warrior].

And this is one of the few things I can brag about—I have a longer dungeon history than any other adventurer.

When dungeons were liberated, the job I was given was handling the reception desk at the main dungeon facility.

What you might call a receptionist.

No, I take pride in this job.

But... I had a truly painful experience.

So much so that I wonder if I should have just listened to my family....

The First Dungeon Boom.

As if dancing to those words, many people lost their lives.

Nearly all dungeons currently open had already been cleared up to the 40th floor by the SDF, and the boss monsters up to the 40th floor are well-known.

But back then, there were no templates for conquest, and due to reckless camping, challenges to boss floors, and so on, people died every day, and we were constantly dealing with the aftermath.

The fact that adventurers in Japan are prohibited from using heavy firearms was probably a major factor too.

Even then, I tried to do what I could in my own way.

"You can't go alone. Please make sure to form a party."

"Camping outside designated areas is dangerous. Please come back before it gets dark."

"Don't push yourselves. The boss floor is still too soon for you."

But when I tried to warn the adventurers, they paid almost no attention to me at all.

"What would a receptionist know?"

"You wouldn't understand, being a woman."

"And what's your rank, then?".

That was the standard refrain.

Being a woman and being a receptionist were facts I couldn't change.

So if that was the case, what I could do... to make them listen to me, I had no choice but to raise my rank.

Thinking that, I devoted as much time as possible to the dungeon.

A year passed, and by the time I finally became Double-Rank, the dungeon boom had already passed, and the number of deaths had decreased.

After that, I was transferred to the Chiba Branch, but all that remained for me was the fact that I hadn't been able to do anything.

At the sparsely populated Chiba Branch, no one died either.

But at the Tokyo Dungeon where the headquarters is located, people continued to die, though fewer than before.

Wasn't there something I could do...?

What I ultimately arrived at was an internet community called the "Forum."

Here, everyone is equal under the name of anonymity.

Gender, occupation, even rank—none of it matters as everyone exchanges information and conquers dungeons together.

Fortunately, my work is free in the mornings.

Though I can't use the internet in the afternoons since I'm inside the dungeon...

What I could do.

Of course, I can't leak the information I have as a receptionist, so on the forum, I only give general advice.

Besides information about naginata, that's the only other knowledge I have.

But when it comes to the advantages of long weapons, I know them inside and out.

They're far stronger and safer than swords or blades.

Did you know?

The world's greatest adventurer uses a spear, you know.

For the sake of saving as many adventurers' lives as possible.

Let's popularize naginata, spears, and long weapons.

I suppose it was around the time I could say I had mostly regained my mental stability through the forum?

A high school student came to the Chiba Branch to obtain an adventurer's license.

Is my junior Hayashi Sakura today's instructor?

Ah, Sakura, if you get too attached to him, you'll feel down again when you get transferred, you know?