ch261-ch280 · 278-ch278

Chapter 278: Mountain Climbing

"But you won't give Ai-kun the time of day, will you. If anything, you've been sneaking glances at ME this whole time...... Your taste for older women is something else. Look—glance, glance, like so. Fufufufu."

After that Ai-san left the room, Dr. Amamiya keeps recrossing her legs, steering my gaze her way.

Monday morning.

I've just had my final 【Examination】 and 【Heal】—time to ride out for the tests.

Umemoto-san's special skill 【Poison Resistance】 has evolved—it can now be cast on other people—and my condition improved dramatically.

The poison reaction is gone from my body, and the doctor—a 【Medic】 job holder—has given her full stamp of approval, so I should be fine.

We watched it overnight as a precaution, and today I head from the dungeon straight to school.

Making it in time for the tests—I'm truly glad.

"Ngi-gi-giii!"

Ow, ow.

Across the bed I'm lying on, on the far side from Dr. Amamiya, Kasumi-san has clamped down hard on my right hand.

Normally she'd have chased the doctor out of the dungeon long ago, but this is Dr. Amamiya's hospital and I'm an admitted patient.

She can't come on strong, it seems.

The sound of gritted teeth is leaking out, you know.

My tests start today and you're going to break my writing hand—please stop.

One more 【Heal】, please......

Well, it's only natural I give that Ai-san the cold shoulder.

I know she's the former Akiyama-san, after all.

Whether that dungeon-grown melon counts as the real thing—the verdict is still out......

It's a national-security-grade secret, so there's no one I can even consult about it.

My biggest worry at the moment.

"Good, the eye is fine too. Off you go. But the moment you feel even slightly off, you come straight back to the dungeon!"

A flick-flick of the light at my right eye, and Dr. Amamiya's examination is over.

Tests since morning and all that blood drawn—I'm worried about anemia, you know.

"Ma'am has brought your uniform, so let's hurry up to the surface!"

I did stay two nights, after all.

She won't go home until she's seen my face with her own eyes.

Kasumi-san hauls me out of the hospital by the arm, thanks only half-finished.

Then, on the surface, I changed into my uniform while absorbing another round of scolding.

Don't be a burden to Kasumi-san, apparently.

It's right before my tests—cut me some slack.

To keep an eye on the poison, I was made to change in front of the dungeon's ticket gate—and Endo-san, who'd been keeping my waiting mother company, got an eyeful too.

There's no mistaking it—that watermelon is one hundred percent natural.

While she was watching, I was watching right back.

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"Whoa—falling, falling."

I literally tumble into Aikawa's room.

Day one of tests over, I went home and ate lunch while getting another scolding.

Under the pretext of test study, I've fled into the dungeon and am now studying in Aikawa's room.

I did drop by Dr. Amamiya's, and got drained of blood again.

I was invited to be a lab subject for making the Manticore-venom serum and politely declined.

I mean, the doctor knows I went to Floor 40, right?

Her saying nothing about it is scarier......

Saying it's needed for the serum, she's been after a live Battle Horse from the Kanagawa Dungeon.

I'd happily hand one over in my place, but with 【Gate】 a secret, I can't help.

It's a 30s-floor monster, so hauling it out the normal way would hit the Association's check at the 'Dungeon Gate'—that's a problem.

That said, thinking that this venom can't be withstood by anything below a 30s-floor monster, my hospital stay might have stretched on for quite a while.

I really ought to thank Umemoto-san.

"So? What are you doing instead of studying?"

Aikawa, who IS studying seriously, scolds me.

"Playing mountain-climbing? It's fine—this is my once-every-thirty-minutes break."

"What's 'playing' about it! I'm the one studying here!"

Fair point.

Ah—a blazing-red presence just entered Mia-san's shop.

Nishino, with Higashi along.

Both of them finished today's tests and seem to be back from the doctor's hospital.

They're due to study here with us from now on—but I can't let those two see this mountain-climbing.

"Then I'll move over to the warehouse, so......"

Perfect timing—I'll study over there.

"Hm? You're going to the warehouse? I'll come too."

Soushi, who'd been buried in his textbook, lifts his head and mutters.

Soushi's study method is the memorize-the-whole-textbook strategy.

"Ah, Soushi, wait! Have Miki make something to nibble before you go. And snacks ready for when you get back, too!"

Studying makes you hungry, after all.

Couldn't they make potato chips? No potatoes?

I'll buy some on the way home tomorrow......

Parfaits are mostly just plating, and he can apparently eat ice cream normally, so just plating bought snacks on a dish might do—but whether Soushi's mind counts that as cooking is the deciding factor for the 【Cooking】 skill's effect.

A salad needs three or more kinds of vegetables, apparently—it's surprisingly strict......

As Soushi's consciousness of cooking rises, it might stop activating even on parfaits.

The same goes for Aikawa.

That 【Dancer】 from back in the day supposedly got too conscious—right before she vanished, her buffs often stopped landing on other people......

Oh—word is that 【Dancer】 is alive.

Running a dance school in the Okinawa Dungeon, apparently.

The Okinawa Dungeon is a snow-mountain dungeon even the SDF couldn't conquer—they've opened just Floor 1 and use it for tourism.

I wondered who'd go all the way to Okinawa to enter a snow-mountain dungeon and then sign up for dance classes—but it's surprisingly popular, apparently.

Tourists find being able to experience a buff fun, it seems.

Kasumi-san had been happily chatting with Mia-san about finding it featured as a tourist spot in the Association's PR piece......

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"Did I leave my helmet here?"

I ask Soushi, who finally arrives at the warehouse thirty minutes later.

I was thinking I should at least have head protection, but the crucial helmet is missing.

"Where? You lost it?"

He has no idea to begin with.

"I took it off on Floor 40 and it probably stayed there. Guess I'll have Mia-san make me a new one......"

"You were panicking and staring at the ceiling the whole time...... The greatshield got left behind too—have you even told Mia-san? Is that okay? Ah, but since you blow the Generals' heads off, Haruki, we're short on helmets, you know?"

Oh, that.

I remember Mia-san melting two holed helmets down into one.

That's why the armor stock is fairly deep.

In fact, lots of newbies want JUST a helmet, for protecting the head, so next time we hit Floor 20, maybe I'll bring back only the helmets......

"Come to think of it, she was furious when I lost that spear. Better think of a way to get on her good side......"

Mia-san is still fighting with Kasumi-san and in a foul mood.

Kasumi-san was glued to me all yesterday, so the two of them haven't had a proper talk yet......

"Her mood, huh. What's Mia-san's favorite food......"

Don't ask me......

Mia-san eats everything like it's delicious, but she doesn't eat much of it.

"Hamburg steak or omurice, maybe...... She likes sticking little flags in her food, I hear."

"Hamburg steak, huh—just had that yesterday. Omurice today, then...... Which do you think—ketchup rice or butter rice? No—I'll do half and half and watch which she goes for. I'll pop out and buy butter. Need flags, too."

"Potatoes too, please. I want potato chips."

"Then oil as well—hey, YOU'RE coming too!"

Well, fair.

Piling it all on Soushi is mean, so I'll at least carry the bags.

And I'll have my snacks bought on the meal-expense budget while I'm at it.

I can't exactly ask Kasumi-san for money because I want snacks, after all.

Life on an allowance is hard.

"Fine, fine. I'm going mountain-climbing, so give me a minute."

Next break is in thirty minutes, so the timing works.

"What the heck is mountain-climbing!?"

Mountain-climbing means climbing a mountain, no?

Ah, right—back home it's covered by a single word, but in English you've got hiking, trekking, AND climbing.

In this case, it's climbing—rock climbing, that is.

Tomorrow's the English test.

Soushi—have you actually been studying?