ch281-ch300 · 282-ch282
Chapter 282: The Robot and the Doggo
"Everyone, first let me say the most important thing. Haruki-san, come here."
"Ah, yes."
Early morning. The participants have gathered in front of Mia-san's shop.
From the Association: Kasumi-san, Shiraishi-san, and Sato-san—three people.
As escort parties: Hondo-san's Triple-Rank party of five, plus the three of us—me, Soushi, and Aikawa.
And the clients, with Anego-san and Mia-san along as chaperones: thirty people.
Forty-one in all—the participants of this everyone-to-Floor 30 operation.
Kasumi-san was just about to give the departure signal to the forty-odd of them when she called me out.
Is she going to introduce us to everyone?
"This is the fiancé you've all been so curious about—Kasugano Haruki-san. You are all seasoned veterans already, so I won't go over the details of the request. Just one thing: hands off Haruki-san. The moment I judge that any of you has so much as teased him, that person goes home on the spot. That is all—depart!"
Only I got introduced.
'What's THAT about?!'
'Long live the Spear King—!'
'You just wanted to show him off!'
'He's a high schooler, you CRIMINAAAL!'
We set off amid a storm of boos.
In response to the booing, Kasumi-san holds up her left hand, gauntlet taken off.
Gleaming on her ring finger is a ring carved out of a Silver Golem-san.
That's just a pair ring, isn't it?
I have one too—I wear it on a cord around my neck so I don't lose it.
Being shown THAT sends the participants into an even greater frenzy.
You're all old friends of hers, so it'll be fine, right?
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We cleared floor after floor without incident, and the column's formation more or less settled.
At the center: Kasumi-san and Mia-san, pulling the slender cargo wagons sized to fit through the 'Floor Gates'.
Around the center: Shiraishi-san and Anego-san, plus a few people clustered there to hear Kasumi-san's bragging.
The three of us at the right rear.
Hondo-san's Triple-Rank party at the left rear.
We were supposed to take the front row, but up through Floor 14 we agreed to rotate front and back.
And the reason we rotate? Because a crowd has formed around the pretty boy, Sato-san.
If they get engrossed in chatting and fall behind, that's a problem—and they didn't look able to handle an attack from behind either, so we sent them up front.
Sato-san does most of the fighting, and the girls squeal with delight.
That group is the largest and sits at the front left.
Hondo-san's people in the back keep a sharp eye out for anyone falling behind.
And in the group ahead of us, there's a robot and a doggo.
The doggo is a Shiba Inu led by a 【Tamer】 lady.
It barks to alert everyone when goblins get close.
(It doesn't fight, apparently—but does it get level and stat corrections? ......It wouldn't have the intelligence to pick a Job, would it?)
And then, the robot in question.
Yes, a robot.
Bipedal, with a low center of gravity—and pretty strong, actually.
A goblin it punched went flying through the air.
But put two goblins in front of it, and one slips right past it under its arm.
Monsters don't react to the robot—or rather, they seem to prioritize going after the humans.
A single combat-class lady in that group takes care of each monster that slips through.
Judging by how she's acted since morning, she's the one who couldn't get her level past 30.
True to the promise she made Kasumi-san—she'd work hard as an escort—she's been serious about it from day one.
I think it's mostly general-class people gathered around the robot.
At level 30, even general-class should be able to kill goblins—but with this robot, they might get to fight in the 20s floors themselves, so they're fascinated.
They take turns working the remote control.
The robot's owner is the lady pulling the charging station.
The robot runs on batteries, it seems—used as a set with a charger that has a small magic-stone generator built in.
She's a 【Blacksmith】-job lady like Mia-san, on the short side.
Well, put them side by side and Mia-san is smaller......
A little while ago, she got scolded for trying to dock the charging station onto Mia-san's wagon.
Why did she even bring that thing......
Today we're only going up to Floor 14, so slow is fine—but you have to think ahead.
Mia-san told her to pull it herself, and she's been moping ever since......
While pulling that thing, she can't work the remote, after all.
The robot itself is apparently a product sold by an overseas company, but she's customized it herself.
As expected of a 【Blacksmith】.
That said, I knew about the wearable types and the piloted types, but this is my first time seeing a remotely operated robot like this.
From the front row comes talk of exploring new possibilities independent of the operator's stats.
"Overseas they do that a lot—even though that's exactly why their adventurers' stats stay low."
Anego-san steps down from the wagon and comes over to us.
Apparently she's had her fill of Kasumi-san's bragging.
Mia-san gives us a resentful look.
Anego-san is saving her MP and stamina—no fighting until Floor 30 for her.
"In Europe, that kind of machine is the mainstream, you know."
Aikawa picks up the thread.
"I think it's less that and more powered-suit-like. But there's a limit to what science can do—past the 30s floors, they say it gets rough."
Once a monster's speed passes a certain point, the machine's weight becomes the bottleneck and it can't keep up.
"But against golems, it'd be useful, wouldn't it?"
Soushi's question.
"The slow ones are the heavy ones. Punch a golem at full power and the machine breaks right apart, they say."
The limit of material strength, huh......
"But there are jobs that make up for that, right?"
Aikawa has a point.
Jobs that get good at operating it, or skills like robot enhancement instead of weapon enhancement.
"And that's exactly the problem. Those jobs have low Endurance. You can enhance the vehicle but not yourself—one shock transmitted inside and you're dead, they say."
Soushi and Aikawa make the "eehhh" faces.
Europe's dungeon conquest stagnated, it's said, because their adventurers' jobs all piled up on robot-related work.
No world-famous top-tier adventurer wears a powered suit.
At best, it's a drill arm or other weapon-related bits.
In the 40s floors, even the skeletons apparently show up riding robots, so the difficulty actually goes UP, or so I hear......
"You think that thing could beat a Forest Ogre?"
I was a bit curious, so I asked.
"Its attacks would probably land, but it doesn't have the speed—it'd get outrun. The operator gets targeted directly. Protecting that is your lot's job, you know. With a big-group request like this one, it might actually do some real work. Whether it catches on in Japan may be up to you kids."
From tomorrow, in the 20s floors, Hondo-san's party steps up front, and me and the rest of the combat-class will be protecting the general-class people.
The big group moves slowly anyway, so the robot shouldn't hold anyone back.
I want one too—would that go on expenses?
Huh? The charging station costs 20 million?
Never mind......
"Maybe I'll ask to try operating it too?"
Soushi is very interested as well.
"No way! Any moment now somebody's going to drop out of Sato-san's crowd! You're next on the list! You are NOT to leave Haru-kun's side!"
Yeah, that.
Some of the women adventurers, having apparently already lost the battle for Sato-san, keep sneaking glances at Hondo-san's party.
Thanks to the barrier Kasumi-san has put up, no women come anywhere near me.
And this was supposed to be a fun request......
I wonder if I'm allowed to pet the doggo?