ch241-ch260 · 243-ch243
Chapter 243: The Thief
"Leveled uuuup! I'm thirty!"
Aikawa reaches Level 30 first, huh.
I don't think we were competing or anything, though.
The new week has started, and yesterday and today we've been leveling Shiraishi-san.
It's past five in the afternoon, so I've already finished gathering the last golems and come back up to Floor 1.
"Dammit. I might not hit 30 today. Haruki, one more round! Go grab one more!"
"Curfew. No. Now, I'm off to change, so Soushi, you clean up the rest."
"Ah, me too. I'll go help Mia-san."
If we hang around nearby, we soak up experience points too, you see.
And—here, Shiraishi-san is scribbling away at something with great seriousness.
The magic parfait sold out early in the morning, so since then she's been sitting at this desk beside Soushi and the others as they extract magic stones.
"What is...... this parfait, exactly?"
"Pear!"
Hmm-hmm?
"Then what's this one?"
"Apple!"
Right. No idea.
I can tell they're parfait glasses, but what's ON them doesn't come across at all.
Shiraishi-san isn't very good at drawing, it seems.
"They look the same to me?"
"Oh, come ON, they're totally different. There, is this all right?"
Having said that, Shiraishi-san writes "Apple Parfait" in round little letters under the drawing.
I don't think that was the problem, but......
"What will you do with these drawings?"
"Soushi will make parfaits based on these drawings!"
So the drawings are the reference material, huh?
Let us pray that Soushi's 【Cooking】 skill isn't precise enough to reproduce THESE exactly......
"Oh, Haruki, your shift's over, right? Then I'll wrap up soon too."
As I come in from the workshop side into the shop, Mia-san calls out to me.
"You've made a lot of progress."
The cardboard boxes that had been dumped everywhere are all gone, and the niche weapons like the three-section staff are properly hung on the wall.
The shop side is nearly ready to open, I'd say.
"You bet. Just the workshop left, but people start coming in from tomorrow, so you can't use this side anymore, got it?"
He'd let me use the easy-to-clean workshop for dismantling Sand Golems, so Mia-san hasn't been able to do any smithing work this whole time.
With the shop side finished, he's moving on to making new merchandise from tomorrow, apparently.
Which means we're relocating to our own warehouse.
"Right. Since Shiraishi-san is back at work starting tomorrow, the other warehouse is no problem. Sorry for putting you out."
I wanted to use the kitchen, so we did it at Mia-san's place—but for leveling alone, the warehouse works fine.
Though if it turns into an overnight stay in the dungeon like last time, having no toilet or running water is a real problem......
Once Mia-san's shop opens, customers will be coming and going, and there'll be part-timers and other staff, apparently, so this space is off-limits.
Maybe we should rent some kind of shop with living quarters?
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"Then, we'll have lunch together, I take it."
"Yes. I'm off."
"Take care."
The next morning, Kasumi-san sees us off from the surface branch as we enter the 'Dungeon Gate.'
Today's plan: first, hunt Sand Golems on Floor 38 to get Soushi's level to 30.
After that, we return to Floor 30.
If we're back by noon: the Ogre King fight, with Kasumi-san standing by, so the two of them can take their upper-rank jobs.
If we miss noon: after five, once Kasumi-san's work is done.
Until five, farming experience off the Forest Ogres of Floor 29 sounds fine.
By the way, we put in work first thing Sunday morning, so both Kasumi-san and I are now Level 38.
Name: Kasugano Haruki
Job: 【Charge Shielder】【Charge Spearman】【Scout】
Lv: 38
HP: 2850/2850
MP: 760/760
Strength: 152
Endurance: 190
Agility: 133
Magic: 76
Skills: 【Gate】【Charge・Shield・High】【Charge・Shield・Armor Enhancement・Shield・High】【Charge・Shield・Shield Shock】【Charge・Shield・Strength Up・High】【Charge・Shield・Endurance Up・High】【Charge・Shield・Agility Up・High】【Charge・Shield・Magic Up・High】【Charge・Spear】【Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear】【Charge・Spear・Strength Up】【Charge・Spear・Endurance Up】【Charge・Spear・Agility Up】【Charge・Spear・Magic Up】【Charge・Spear・Aiming】【Presence Concealment】【Presence Detection】【Scouting】【Night Vision】
Skill Points: 5
Strength has passed 150, and Endurance sits at 190.
Endurance hits a staggering 200 at Level 40, you know.
In hyper mode, even metal golem attacks probably wouldn't affect me—maybe I could survive getting dragged by a car......
MP 760 means I can keep spear super mode running for 760 seconds.
A little over twelve minutes?
At my current level, wiping out every Forest Ogre on Floor 30 takes less than ten minutes.
I've gotten seriously strong, huh.
This weekend I'll hit 40, and Floor 40 will be within arm's reach.
I'll save the skill points for the new job's skills.
(Nobody's here, huh.)
I come to the warehouse, but first I should stop by Mia-san's shop and let Aikawa know we're heading deeper into the dungeon.
(Hm? A presence I don't know. ......Three of them? And Aikawa's not on the second floor either......)
Three presences inside Mia-san's shop.
Two red and one green.
The green is faint, so it's not Mia-san.
(Don't tell me...... A thief? Is Aikawa all right?)
【Presence Detection】 reacts even to the sleeping, so her not being here means she's out.
Assuming she's not dead, that is......
Holding my breath, I close in on the shop.
【Presence Concealment】 is running, of course.
The door seems to be unlocked.
I slip inside without a sound; the green presence is alone in the kitchen, so I head that way......
The two red presences are over by the workshop.
The one in the kitchen is a middle-aged man.
Short, too.
Casing the place, is he?
He opens a built-in cupboard, then closes it. Opens another, closes it.
"Ah!"
The little man knocks a parfait glass off its hook and fumbles it......
That's Shiraishi-san's FAVORITE one!
I lunge out, slide across the floor, and catch the glass.
"SAaaafe!"
"Eh? Who are you?"
That was NOT safe......
What do I do, what do I do.
"Th-thief?"
"Huh?"
We harmonized.
For now, I pick myself up and set the parfait glass down.
The thief of an old man is stunned, but so am I.
Time to calm down.