ch281-ch300 · 283-ch283

Chapter 283: Fortune-Telling

"Haruki-san, here you go. The filling is your favorite."

Day one of the everyone-to-Floor 30 operation.

It's lunch, right after everyone cleared the Minotaur.

Right on schedule, though the pace is a touch slow.

So Kasumi-san's assessment wasn't wrong, then.

'Sato-saaan, try mine too.'

'Mine's tastier than that one.'

'Why you—!'

'Convenience store onigiri again today? That's no good. I'll make a bento for you and deliver it every single day!'

Instead of a fun sandwich exchange for everyone, it's turned into a feed-Sato-san-a-sandwich contest.

The moment one squabble starts, someone else grabs the lead in talking to Sato-san.

Sato-san has already achieved a state of pure nothingness.

Hang in there and eat everyone's portion, please.

"Nacchan, let's trade that egg one for the strawberry-jam one the lady has."

"Sweet! It's good, but isn't it way too sweet?"

Setting her sights on Aikawa's Soushi-branded sandwich—as expected of Shiraishi-san.

'Anego, I'll give you three of my sandwiches for one of those famous ones.'

'I'll pay four!'

'Anego, you wanted a dungeon-usable accessory, right? I'll make it later, so give me one too!'

'I'll sew you a one-piece dress in Anego-san's taste!'

'I'll offer the priority operating rights for the robot.'

'That's cheating, production-class!'

'Long live the Spear King—!'

'Anego, for the fighting jobs' morale, that should be split evenly among everyone!'

Soushi's sandwiches got carried off by Anego-san, and that's where the bidding war broke out.

Soushi came to the dungeon even earlier than the early-morning departure, made the sandwiches, then left the dungeon once to recover his MP, it seems.

Talk about dedication.

Shiraishi-san's strawberry jam was apparently made in advance.

Smart.

Some people know him because Soushi cooked at Mia-san's shop-opening preparations and the pre-operation meet-and-greet.

The word that Soushi has the 【Cooking】 skill seems to have spread everywhere.

No wait—do they think he's a 【Chef】-job holder?

We're having Soushi hold back on MP in battle and provide all four days' worth of water with water magic.

His job composition will inevitably become clear.

The special skill might get found out too, huh.

"How does it taste?"

Ah—here it comes.

......New, isn't it?

"It's delicious."

I answer with a smile, of course.

Anything Kasumi-san makes is delicious.

"So glad~ I was worried whether it would suit a sandwich. Have mine as well."

......I'll accept.

"This direction, no mistake. Miss, do you like fortune-telling? Care for one reading? Payment is that ham sandwich of yours."

Here comes a weird one.

Everyone is wearing equipment suited to their jobs, and there are some outlandish-looking people, but this one is pure suspicious from head to toe.

A sari, you'd call it? She's dressed Indian-style with cloth covering her mouth.

She's not wearing any armor, is she?

In her hand, a crystal ball glowing with a sinister light.

Fortune-telling—so her job is 【Fortune-Teller】......

She seems to have her eye on Aikawa's ham sandwich.

"Oh, that sounds fun. Then please, go ahead."

Aikawa holds out the sandwich.

The 【Fortune-Teller】 lifts the cloth from her mouth and bites into the sandwich.

Well, well—a beauty with a sexy little mole at the corner of her mouth.

And that deep red lipstick is something else......

"Om nom. Om nom, om nom. Just as my 【Divination】 foretold. All that desperate level grinding, and joining this request was worth it...... Oh, pardon me—now then, shall we begin? 【Tool Enhancement・Divination】【Fortune Tool Enhancement・Crystal】! Please place your hand on the crystal."

Is that ham sandwich really worth that much?

"Like this?"

"【Divination】. Yes, you may take your hand away now. I see, I see. Your love luck is quite good. But for the next several days, do be careful. Believing is important—do not get angry too much. Health is fine too. It says MP may be spent freely. Money luck—splendid. You should keep up your current work. Now, your worries...... my? Are you troubled about your family? Interference from a parent. How troublesome......"

Oh, it's accurate—or is it?

"What do you think I should do?"

"I cut ties with my own family, so I can't advise you about yours. You'll have no trouble living on your own, though. And in your case especially, you've been blessed with good connections, so family isn't everything. Looking only at the 【Divination】 result, a good future awaits you. So—don't worry over it too much, I'd say."

This one is a runaway girl too......

Even if a skill can see the future or the past, fortune-telling is a trade where life experience is everything.

She looks young—superior as a 【Fortune-Teller】, maybe, but lacking as an actual fortune-teller?

"Saeki-san, look at us too. Payment is this."

Kasumi-san takes Shiraishi-san's sandwich and hands it over to the 【Fortune-Teller】—Saeki-san, is it?

"Hey—! Huh? You're giving it to me? ......Bamboo shoot? What is this?"

To the protesting Shiraishi-san, I hand over my own sandwich.

It's a Chikuzen-ni sandwich.

Unless I tell my mother to set a new favorite dish for me, there's a real chance this shows up forever.

"Om nom. Sweet! Jam-jam. I see, very well then. Kuwashima-san has been ever so worried about Kasumi-san, so let us look at him as well?"

Kuwashisan—the 'Holy Maiden', you mean.

So she's a fortune-teller the 'Holy Maiden' frequents......

My trust level just went up a notch.

"Should I put my hand here?"

"One moment, please. 【Tool Enhancement・Divination】【Fortune Tool Enhancement・Crystal】. There we go."

"Enhancement? On the crystal?"

She's layered a double enhancement on the crystal.

Two enhancements on one job, is there?

"Sometimes the crystal cracks when I divine a strong person, you see. Now, here we go. 【Divination】! You may take your hand away now."

Even among 【Fortune-Teller】 holders, the divination method differs from person to person.

There seem to be a great many kinds of skills too.

This Saeki-san looks like a 【Fortune-Teller】 built entirely around crystal divination.

Others apparently use tarot cards, physiognomy or palm reading, or read from your date of birth.

"Saeki-san, how is it? Especially the love part—in detail......"

Kasumi-san leans in and presses Saeki-san.

"Hm? Hmm? I can't see very far ahead. The near future is bright, yet your path ahead is pitch-dark. But even within that darkness, I can faintly make out several paths of light. Which path you choose...... Ah, it cracked."

The crystal splits clean in two......

What do you mean, pitch-dark?

"The love part? How will the marriage go?"

"I couldn't see far ahead. A bright future continues for a while, it seems. After that, it depends entirely on his choice, that is all. A cheap crystal can only manage this much. The expensive ones are back at my shop—if you wish to know the rest, please visit."

From here on, it costs money!

Classic fortune-teller scheme.

"Mmm-mmm-mmm. Headquarters, is it. I shall file a request for a business trip to Chiba."

"Shall we look at Kasumi-san's as well?"

With that, she pulls a new crystal from her pocket.

She has a whole stock of them—what a relief.

"Don't bother, don't bother. That one's 【Divination】 has never once been right."

Anego-san returns, laden with spoils.

Before Soushi, a mountain of sandwiches has been stacked.

"You had chance after chance and never once made use of them—that's on you. I did tell you properly, you know?"

Anego-san, your marriage window......

︙

︙

"【Tool Enhancement・Needle】"

"【Tool Enhancement・Scissors】"

Break over, we enter the 10s floors—the orc-hill area.

This is still an area where general-class can fight, so I'm in the rear guard.

The production-class people are all fired up, so watching from the back should be fine.

The pair who run a clothing shop in HQ's craftsman district have gone up front.

Both of them are apparently 【Tailor】s.

The one who used 【Tool Enhancement・Needle】 is a lady with a spear—that's no spear, it's a giant needle.

Quite the composed stance, too.

The one who used 【Tool Enhancement・Scissors】 splits her enhanced giant scissors in two.

Dual wielding!

So cool!

Those two can really fight.

They're doing more than the other general-class people.

General-class and production-class sit in the same bracket on the job-selection screen, so there shouldn't be any difference.

"Production-class" is just what we call the jobs that make things.

Still, production jobs might have slightly higher stats, hmm?

Those two's movements are good, so I can tell 【Tailor】 is a job with a fair bit of Agility.

"【Tool Enhancement・Divination】【Fortune Tool Enhancement・Crystal】"

Oh? It's the 【Fortune-Teller】, Saeki-san, from before.

A 【Fortune-Teller】 should have slightly higher Magic and otherwise barely differ from a jobless person......

Well, at level 30 even jobless, every stat is 30 or above.

Orcs would be easy pickings......

Hm?

She raises the enhanced crystal over her head and—

She THROWS it—!

Is that how you're supposed to use it......