ch221-ch240 · 222-ch222

Chapter 222: The Pretty Boy Never Returns

(So they're here...)

I sense a flashy presence passing along the main street.

A dazzling blue light...

Four presences accompanying it.

Among them, a deep blue.

That navy presence is Kasumi-san, without a doubt.

It's just before noon—right on schedule.

Sounds like the trip home was uneventful too.

(Well, that's a relief, first of all.)

I've asked Shiraishi-san to pass along the message that Kasumi-san should come to the warehouse.

There will be a mission report and such, so it might take another hour or so.

I had Soushi and the others go out again today.

Being asked questions would be bad enough, and besides, I'm in no mood for adventuring today.

(Hm? She's coming already? Crap—【Gate】.)

I feel Kasumi-san approaching the gate...

Fast! Is she running?

I hurriedly open the 'Right Gate' and send that shield through to Floor 31 first.

This isn't a matter of it merely being bad if someone hears about it.

I intend to have the talk on Floor 31.

Better to show her the shield after moving there.

"'I heard you have something important to discuss!'"

Kasumi-san bursts in through the warehouse's back door with enough force to break it—Bang!

She seems to have come straight over after being told, meaning she's still in her returned-from-the-dungeon state—in other words, fully armed.

If so, moving to Floor 31 as she is will be no problem.

"Welcome back. Thank you for your hard work. There's something I'd rather not have overheard, so I'd like to move deep into the dungeon—is your schedule all right?"

"Ah, I'm home. I lost my composure a little there. My apologies. Yes—somewhere we can talk alone would be best! I will follow you anywhere! Come, let's go at once!"

Kasumi-san's energy is off.

Maybe she couldn't sleep much last night.

A campsite is still the dungeon, after all—nothing to be done...

I feel bad for a nearly sleep-deprived Kasumi-san, but this is the one thing I need settled, black and white.

"Then let's go."

I step into the already-open 'Right Gate' and come out behind the rock I'd hidden behind yesterday.

"Floor 31, is it... With that shield here, I see you really did follow us."

Kasumi-san showed no surprise—neither that the 'Left Gate' was connected to Floor 31 nor that I had the shield.

"You knew? You'd noticed?"

"I did think it odd that no Forest Ogres were attacking from behind, but it was the absence of a night raid that confirmed it. There was also the fact that Ishikawa-san, our scout, showed no particular reaction. The only person who could do such a thing... is you, Haruki-san. Since Ishikawa-san never noticed, I doubt anyone else did either."

So 'the scout's' name is Ishikawa-san.

Still, it seems my pushing myself too hard the day before yesterday gave away that I'd been tailing them from behind.

...Then I should count it as effort saved on explanations?

"I want to ask about the owner of this shield. Why did you take a request like that?"

"Why, you ask? Well—I have things to tell you about this matter as well. Before the important talk, shall we deal with this first? Everything you saw and heard in this matter is strictly between us. Please keep it that way."

"Huh?"

Not an apology—an immediate gag order...

I never intended to tell anyone, but being made to promise by Kasumi-san of all people...

No. Calm down.

I decided this last night, didn't I?

Whatever happens, my feelings won't change...

First I'll tell her that, and then get her to stop taking requests like this.

If it comes to it, I'll make my special skill public.

If Kasumi-san is with me, I don't mind living under confinement.

As long as she never has to take a mission she hates again, that's all I need...

"Still, it surprised you, didn't it? To think a man would turn into a woman... There was precedent with the special skill 【Gender Change】, but changing JOBS as well—what a shock. Ah, I forgot to confirm whether it persists outside the dungeon. But this matter is more important, isn't it..."

Hm?

"What did you just say?"

"This matter is more important! Naturally!"

"No—before that."

"Ah, that. Regarding this affair—or rather, Dr. Amamiya's conclusion is that a gender changed by a job change does not revert upon leaving the dungeon."

A job change changed their gender!?

Huh? So the 'pretty boy' didn't die... they transformed into that flashy-presence woman?

"Impossible..."

"You think so? Transformation-type special skills, as typified by Aikawa-san's 【Beast Transformation】, only sustain the transformation while MP continues to be consumed—return to the surface, where MP can't be used, and the effect cuts out, reverting you... According to the doctor, the reversion when MP runs out is part of the skill's effect. This case doesn't fit that pattern, so he will not change back to a man even on the surface. She said the principle is the same as recovery magic. An injury healed by recovery magic stays healed on the surface—it's the same thing: a body that has changed stays changed unless the same thing happens to it again."

No, I don't think you could know that much from that situation.

One man didn't come home, and there was one extra woman.

Anyone would think one died and one appeared—there's no way you'd guess a man had transformed into a woman.

And his presence had changed completely on top of that.

What WAS that light?!

"Why did you take this request in the first place? Was it because of me?"

"Because of you? No, not at all. There was the fact that they requested me by name, but I accepted because I believed that if he—a 【Healer】—reached a high-rank job, many people would be saved. And because I was deeply moved by his strong resolve that a changed gender didn't matter."

【Healer】... The upper-rank recovery job said to be women-only is...

"...【Saint】? That's why—a woman?"

"Yes. As you know, 【Saint】 is a job with a skill rare even on the world stage, and there will be no shortage of people after that body. Please keep this whole matter confidential."

If having your existence known makes you a target, that's hardly someone else's problem for me either...

If a new 【Saint】 has been born, many people will be saved by it.

Kasumi-san wasn't being saddled with some horrible job against her will—she was working a job true to her own convictions, one she need never be ashamed of.

And I doubted her for it...

"Kasumi-san, I... what on earth was I thinking..."

"It's all right. You came along because you were worried and wanted to protect me, didn't you? More importantly, please let me hear the important talk!"

Kasumi-san seems to think I'm apologizing for following them.

What am I supposed to say...

Wait—what is this "important talk" supposed to be?

"An important talk? That's all I came to say, though?"

"Eh? What about the surprise...? The, um, pro—pro...posal?"

What kind of "pro" is she talking about?

"A surprise? Nothing special planned for today..."

Well, this whole conversation is about as surprising as it gets, I suppose.

"But Shiraishi-san said... Don't tell me... a misunderstanding? ...Haruki-san, something's come up with Shiraishi-san, so please excuse me for a moment."

Kasumi-san's shoulders slump, utterly deflated.

"Eh? Ah, yes."

And off she drifts, into the 'Left Gate'...

Two nights in the dungeon—maybe she's just exhausted.

I'll apologize once things have settled.

I need to think it through properly, whatever I end up saying.

Ah—she seems to have dropped something.

A memo, maybe?

'The little boy is waiting at the warehouse to talk about something important ♡ He had the most serious face I've ever seen on him, so it might be a proposal (ಡωಡ)'

Whether anyone saw Shiraishi-san after that... who's to say.