ch341-ch360 · 351-ch351

Chapter 351: Father's Work Is Going Smoothly

"Come on, it's vacation time! Let's go, Kasumi-chan."

Kuwashima-san is trying her hardest to drag Kasumi-san away, but she doesn't budge an inch.

"I suppose it can't be helped—it was a promise. Haruki-san, my apologies right when your memory has returned, but I'll be keeping Miyuki company on her vacation for about three days. On the 30th I'll be paying my respects to Father, so please pass along my regards."

Come to think of it, with it being year's end, my father is coming home, isn't he.

I can't enter the dungeon for a while anyway—might as well keep him company.

"Understood. Thank you, Kuwashima-san. Ah—and thank you too, Fuyumi-san."

That was close—I almost said "Akiyama-san."

"No, no, think nothing of it. There was nothing for me to do anyway."

"Oh, Ai-chan—no plans? Why don't you come along too?"

Eh? Into the bath with them?

That's not allowed, you know?

Well, with the two outside there too, surely they'd stop me, right?

But then...... if I could become a 【Saint】......

No—even a 【Wicked Woman】 would do......

Is there even a job change on Floor 50?

"Branch manager, that's how it is—we're on vacation as of now. Our next visit will be after the new year. Happy New Year."

"Mm. That's fine, but once you're done, out you go, quick. Setting the others aside, letting Haruki into the dungeon was a problem. Haruki—if your father's coming home, do your filial duty properly. I lost my father early, you know......"

He told us to hurry out, and then the long story begins.

That said, the doctor, in the middle of cleaning up, has her hands frozen in place.

She's muttering to herself that what happened just now couldn't possibly be real.

Breathing, heart, even brain waves had all stopped—and yet I, the person in question, woke up and started walking around normally right away.

No, actually—I took an electric shock, so could someone please give me a 'Heal'?

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"Then, as always, I'll call you tonight."

We're finally back on the surface, but this is where Kasumi-san and I part ways.

We won't meet again for four days.

"......You'll—call? Waaah. Thank goodness...... Really, thank goodness...... Sniff......"

Eh?

At a time like this?

Kasumi-san has burst into tears.

"I waited for your call every single day. But it never rang...... Fweeeeh—"

Ah—right, I hadn't been calling......

Honestly, what am I going to do with her.

Clap-clap-clap—applause goes up from the staff around us.

Seems I worried everyone else, too.

"He's back!"

"Thank goodness—really, thank goodness......"

"Now we can make it through the year......"

Looking closer, some of them are slumped over, too.

These people...... were betting, weren't they.

And there in the middle, Hayashi-san, nodding along vigorously.

I can only think of one person who could run a book right under Kasumi-san's nose, though.

Kasumi-san doesn't suspect Hayashi-san in the least.

Well, the branch manager has surely noticed—and if he's leaving it be, I'll follow his example.

Let's just pray the rake the bookmaker skims is going toward the Chiba branch.

"Ahh! You made her cry! Unforgivable! Kasumi-chan, let's go!"

This time Kasumi-san is dragged away, limp, by Kuwashima-san.

"I'll be waiting! I'll wait forever and ever, you know!"

She left a flag-planted line behind and got taken off.

"Honestly! It's your big reunion—you should have let them take it slow! Right?"

"Well, I can see her anytime, after all."

Kuwashima-san rarely gets a proper block of time off—and her next one might not come until five years from now, when the new dungeons appear.

Just this once, I'll yield.

And so Shiraishi-san and I head into the restaurant inside the surface branch.

"Oh, looks like he's back."

Inside are Soushi and Aikawa.

They came to the branch out of worry.

Incidentally, Aikawa will apparently be spending the year's end in the part-timer girls' room.

It's New Year's—go home to your family already......

"Seriously—don't go scaring us like that."

"You collapsed while you were with Aikawa, right? My bad."

Was it from overusing my skills?

Better to lay off the armor's remote control, it seems.

My skeleton used it in the dream, but it didn't move all that well.

I was moving it with serious precision back then to make it dance, after all.

Better to lay off Ultra Mode—the triple-super-mode stack—too.

There's no monster so far that can't be beaten without Ultra Mode anyway, and I have no plans to fight one.

As long as I don't do something stupid like trading blows with 'Sword Saint-chan,' I won't need it.

Without trading blows, even my Double hyper mode could beat the 'Sword Saint-chan skeleton'—Rocket Punch included.

"Two jumbo parfaits, please."

The moment we sit down, Shiraishi-san orders.

One of them is mine, I suppose?

"Oh, Soushi—your 'charms' came in handy. Thanks."

"Hm? When did you use them?"

"What? 'Fu'... the charms? What are you talking about?"

About the dream, that is.

I didn't break at the very end because I had a chance of winning.

Partway through, the 'charms' Soushi gave me started showing up in the dream, and my tactical options widened.

The final clincher was Kasumi-san's 'silver spear,' but without Soushi's 'charms' I might have given up partway through.

So—thanks, Soushi.

"So Soushi's 'charms' can take down even a 'Sword Saint-chan.'"

"Huh? You used them on a PERSON? I'm never handing you any again."

Well, strictly speaking it wasn't a person, but......

"Oh my? Little boy—you can beat 'Sword Saint-chan' now, can you? Then next time, I'm betting on you, little boy."

I did make Shiraishi-san go to the trouble of becoming a 【Wicked Woman】 this time, and part of me would like to let her win her bet as a way of repaying that—but as it stands, I have no way to beat 'Sword Saint-chan' without killing.

It's precisely because it's an attack that kills on contact that it can't be blocked.

If only I could use Hiramatsu-san's Fire Kata.

Whether a technique I've seen once would even work on 'Sword Saint-chan,' though......

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"Sorry to intrude. Then tomorrow I'll be borrowing Haruki-san, all right?"

The whole family sees Kasumi-san off as she climbs into the taxi.

Without incident, the 30th arrived, and Kasumi-san came to the house.

Since tomorrow, New Year's Eve, we'd be visiting HER family home instead, everyone went out shopping and bought presents.

The branch manager told me to do my filial duty—and with Kasumi-san here, we could all go out together.

There's no greater filial duty than this, surely.

"Eh? You want to hear about the time the dungeon shut down?...... Well, all right. Back then I very nearly lost my job, you know."

That Father is back will probably come up tomorrow at their house, too.

So I decided to stock up on conversation material, but......

Father works in the food industry, and he got transferred to the department handling food from the new dungeon—that is, the department tied to the Aomori Dungeon—on a solo posting.

And in that Aomori Dungeon, the newbie who transferred there recently apparently punched a hole in the wall, and adventurer traffic was barred for about a week.

Because of that, monster meat couldn't be shipped out either......

Father, nominally the manager over there, apparently got chewed out from every direction.

"I almost became an adventurer myself back then—ah-ha-ha-ha"—or so he says.

If I bring this story up in front of Kasumi-san tomorrow, the newbie might disappear again......

Maybe I'll skip this one.

I'll say: Father's work is going smoothly.

And I'll gag Father on it, too.

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"Hello? Kasumi-san? Is that really you, Kasumi-san?"

'Yes, of course. From today I'm alone, so it's really me.'

The nighttime call.

We can finally talk at leisure.

Until yesterday, Kuwashima-san kept hijacking whenever I called, after all.

There was even a time Kuwashima-san picked up, so this is just to confirm.

That person did a completely unconvincing impression—'Mmm-mmm-mmm, I'm Kasumi-chan'—and it was a problem.

"So tomorrow, in front of the station......"

First, confirm tomorrow's plans.

I fall asleep with the call still on a lot, so the important stuff comes first.

Honestly, I'm glad I'm not getting surprise-kidnapped this time.

Our first nighttime call in a while ran past midnight, and lasted until I conked out......