ch221-ch240 · 223-ch223

Chapter 223: New Dungeon Appearance Flag 【Hashimoto Masaki】 Part 2

SIDE: Hashimoto Masaki (Chairman of the Adventurer's Association)

"Chairman, Iwata and the others have returned. Will you see them?"

I am Hashimoto Masaki, second Chairman of the Adventurer's Association.

The moment I get back to the chairman's office after a working lunch, this happens.

To think I can't even rest after a business meal...

"I'd rather read the report first... Is Dr. Amamiya with them?"

In many senses, there is no one in the medical world who does not know Dr. Amamiya's name.

In a medical establishment critical of the dungeons, she is one of the few on our side.

With the future to consider, I cannot dismiss her.

"Yes. And 'the 【Saint】' as well."

The 【Saint】—so the mission succeeded, it seems.

"Understood. I'll see them at once."

My afternoon schedule gets moved up.

"Excuse us."

In come Iwata, who led this mission; his second, Akutsu; and Ishikawa as the scout.

Iwata is said to be the strongest man in the entire Adventurer's Association, and his job is 【Battering Ram User】.

Akutsu, too, has skill enough that even adventurers know his name—an upper-rank bow user, a 【Bow Knight】.

And Ishikawa, I'm told, is the strongest of headquarters' scout-types—meaning these three are, as of now, the top of headquarters' fighting strength.

"Pardon me."

Then Dr. Amamiya... and a staggeringly beautiful woman.

Don't tell me—THIS is that odious 'pretty boy'?

It's an unbelievable story, but Dr. Amamiya did explain beforehand that this was a possibility.

Being a 'pretty boy' to begin with, she turned into a super beauty as a woman, did she...

What an unreasonable world.

And it's obvious from just watching her walk...

Isn't she even more than Kuwashima-kun?

"May we sit?"

"My apologies—please, everyone, sit. I was merely surprised. You would be... Akiyama Jun-kun, if I'm not mistaken?"

I confirm it.

There's a faint resemblance, I suppose.

Though he's gotten considerably shorter.

"Yes—though I've come to look like this, I am Akiyama Jun. Thanks to everyone here, I was able to take the 【Saint】 job safely. I am grateful."

What a cute voice!

No—wait, compose yourself.

Why is my heart pounding?

This one is a man.

Really?

I glance at Akutsu, and he nods back.

So it's certain... A shame.

"Are you wearing makeup?"

That is not a bare face.

And the clothes are properly women's clothing.

"...Yes. Dr. Amamiya did it to me while we were waiting."

She answered sourly—but that face, too... no, no, no.

My heart belongs to Kuwashima-kun alone.

Be not led astray!

"Hm. So you'll be left in Dr. Amamiya's care for a while—that seems to be settled, then. I'd ask you not to stand out too much, but..."

"Oh, carry yourself with confidence and you stand out LESS, if anything."

I'd like to believe Dr. Amamiya, but with a beauty this far off the scale, that won't work.

Still, so long as the fact of the 【Saint】 doesn't get out, all is well.

So long as the skill goes unused, there's no problem.

"I'll negotiate upward and arrange a family register and the rest. Until then, you are not to go out unattended, you understand?"

"All fine, all fine. He'll be going through two full weeks of examinations—he won't have a moment for gallivanting about."

By prior arrangement, contact with family is already to cease as well.

His cards and phone have been confiscated; destroy those, and he becomes entirely her.

He will be reborn as a new person and do his work in secret.

"Contact is to go through Dr. Amamiya—correct? Then we're done for today."

"Please wait. About my comrades, and about Umemoto-san—you will keep your promises, won't you?"

Confirming the prior arrangement, I see...

Akiyama-kun set two conditions: a guarantee of livelihood for his former party members, and Umemoto's treatment.

"Your former party members have already begun working at Associations across the country. They're Triple-Rank adventurers—there's a bidding war over them, if anything. You needn't have worried. As for Umemoto, that depends on the verdict—no, on Dr. Amamiya, I'd say. Even if he's found guilty, you have no intention of giving him up, do you?"

This woman intends to make him a guinea pig, whatever excuses she piles on.

Even with a death sentence, he remains in the doctor's hands until the day of execution.

After all, modern medicine is helpless.

Not only the treatment—even the diagnosis can be rendered by Dr. Amamiya alone...

"True. But without dungeon access, the research can't adva—...there'd be no way to treat him. That does depend on the verdict, but you WILL issue a special dungeon entry permit, won't you?"

"That too is above my authority. I shall do everything in my power. Are we satisfied?"

As a result of Akiyama-kun becoming a woman, the option of keeping her at my own disposal is gone.

A case without precedent anywhere in the world—I cannot avoid reporting it upward.

The higher-ups will doubtless have their own reasons to want to use the 【Saint】's power in secret.

A little disappointing, but from here on she shall work as a piece of the government's—no, the politicians'. As for me—no, as for the Association, I'll count the reduced burden on Kuwashima-kun as a win.

"Yes...... I leave it in your hands."

"Then we're adjourned. You all did well. File your reports before you go home."

It's going to be busy.

︙

︙

"Yes. Without a doubt, stronger than Iwata-san."

I had adjourned the meeting, but there was a part of the submitted report I couldn't overlook, so I called back Akutsu, who had been on his way out.

"I'm told Iwata-kun is the strongest of all Association staff—and you say someone is stronger than that?"

"In raw stats—level, strength, the power of a single blow—Iwata-san has the advantage. But in a fight, Watanabe-san wins. The same holds in battle against monsters. She faced the Ogre King one-on-one without a trace of timidity. Truly the skill of one granted a job with 'King' in its name. People who could be called stronger than Watanabe-san—you could count them in all of Japan on a few fingers..."

All three who took part in this mission gave the same assessment.

They say the fish that got away is always the big one, but this is...

"I see. That matter is understood. The question is this talk of an SDF special forces unit. Are you certain?"

This part only Akutsu had put in his report.

"Yes. That a campsite in sparsely populated Chiba went unattacked is hard to believe by chance. And the escort pulling back on the return trip was the deciding evidence."

Apparently the campsite went unattacked because an SDF special forces unit had been standing guard.

"And on the return trip, that escort was not present?"

"Correct. Ishikawa-san raised an uproar moments before about having sensed a presence, so they withdrew on account of that, I imagine. Thanks to it we gained certainty, but the return trip was rough—down one member, with the client no longer able to fight."

"Could they not simply be ordinary adventurers?"

"A group that tailed us without Ishikawa-san noticing and dispatched Forest Ogres without a sound? If they're not a special forces unit, then they're a group of otherworlders."

I see—if the premise is that every one of them must be a scout-type holder, then nothing but the SDF is possible.

The SDF's job lineage is unusual; even the Association hasn't fully mapped it.

Still, I've heard they field a high proportion of scout-types—lower stats, since they rely on heavy weaponry, but excel at covert operations. The information matches.

"Special forces... A Quadruple, even? What would they be doing it for?"

"To protect the new 'Holy Maiden,' perhaps? The branch manager over there knew about it, didn't he?"

My muttering slipped out, and Akutsu answered it.

The Chiba branch manager, is it...

We were proceeding in secret, and he went out of his way to hand information to the SDF?

This is exactly why ex-SDF people—!

No—could he be connected to the top?

A warning shot to keep me from monopolizing the 【Saint】?

And deliberately showing themselves on the return trip to announce their existence, was it.

Well then, that saved us—Akiyama-kun becoming a woman left me no choice but to report.

"I understand the situation. Sorry for holding you up. Get some rest."

"Yes. If you'll excuse me."

The unit that got Watanabe Kasumi promoted to Triple-Rank must have been that unit as well.

A branch manager needs overt fighting strength too, after all.

And the price was selling that information, hm?

Whatever the case, I had best keep a wary eye on the Chiba branch manager.

"Chairman, you called?"

I summon the secretary to check on the situation.

"Is the staff for Chiba settled?"

"We're in the process of rotating their own staff first, so as not to raise suspicion. We'll send ours only after a request comes from their side. As for personnel—on the way out, Iwata and Ishikawa each said they would go..."

A plan to send spies to Chiba for intelligence-gathering is in place, but it seems to be moving slowly.

I'd rather keep Iwata attached to headquarters; if we send anyone, it should be Ishikawa.

The escort can double as Akiyama-kun's guard—well suited to it...

"Ishikawa, then. Settle their staffing before the Umemoto trial ends. And have the Chiba branch manager investigated."

So long as whoever he's connected to is a ruling-party lawmaker, fine...

"Understood. Also—here are the results of looking into the Chiba staff."

"Oh? I may as well have a look. Let's see—three parfaits a day? Hm? Three per MEAL? Is this a typo? What? She scored ZERO on the written hiring exam? Why was she hired..."

The hiring exam was supposed to be multiple choice.

Isn't it harder to score zero?

"Because she's a 【Healer】. By regulation, anyone with the job 【Healer】 is hired regardless of the written exam results."

Between whoever filed THIS report and the rest, the Association's staffing shortage seems dire indeed.