ch361-ch380 · 364-ch364

Chapter 364: A Cool Epithet

"No, no—the one you fought is this man for certain, yes?"

He shows me a photograph, but......

"Probably......"

I'm not confident.

All I remember is a much more limp, dead-tired face......

"By all accounts this man is a famous adventurer over there. For him to be weak—surely not?"

Over there?

Ah—his country, he means.

"I see—a famous adventurer. That explains it."

"Oh? So it WAS strong after all?"

"No, since he was a famous adventurer, I figured he'd only ever fought monsters and had no experience against people."

The moment it became three opponents whose strength he couldn't gauge against one of him, he should have run, I think.

Aikawa was injured, and they wouldn't all give chase.

If only one had come after us, we could have picked them off one by one.

Or maybe—being a famous adventurer—he couldn't bring himself to abandon his companions and flee?

"Could such a thing really be? He's a former professional boxer!"

"Are you allowed to tell me that? Well, the boxer part does explain it. He was focused only on the one in front of him, and maybe I was the thing on his mind."

Good companions, and he'd only ever fought one-on-one?

No—against monsters, the rule is to take numerical advantage and fight.

You beat them starting with the ones that cluster up and come close, I believe.

Everyone at our place is all eagerness, so it's fastest-first, but......

"Is that how it works? That's how it is on the surface, sure, but...... even inside the dungeon?"

The policeman turns the question on the branch manager again.

"Haruki. The man is a Triple-Rank adventurer, you know? The kind whose name comes up the moment you look it up. Compared to WHO did you judge him weak?"

Ah—right.

He's a Triple-Rank.

Does that mean it's bad that Doubles like us beat him?

Well, we DID beat him.

And it's true he wasn't that strong.

"Say what you will, compared to Kasumi-san or 'Yellow-Green-san' he was weak, right? Even Ishikawa-san could probably beat him, no? The Association staff are stronger, aren't they?"

"'Yellow-Green'?"

The bow user, 'Yellow-Green-san.'

Have I heard her name, or haven't I?

Ugh, my head......

"Um, the woman who came as Kuwashima-san's escort the other day. The bow user. And the 'Iwa-something' who sometimes tags along as Fuyumi-san's escort. The hammer guy. He's strong too."

"Akutsu and Iwata, hm. There aren't many stronger than those two."

Well, that's fair.

'Hammer Ossan' might be stronger than Umemoto-san, after all.

"Also Aikawa's father, and Makihara-san. I'd say they're stronger than Anego-san...... but against Hondo-san, which one would win?"

"'Candy-and-Whip' Hondo, you say...... that would make her quite strong indeed."

The HQ man mutters it.

'Candy and Whip'? What's that?

If anything, 'rain of whips' fits her much better......

"Let me tell you—Shinonome Mitsuki is said to be the strongest SOLO adventurer in Japan. Stronger than her means only the top-tier adventurers whose names have come up. In other words, what you caught is their top tier."

"Shi-, shi-no...? Who's that?"

Mitsuki is a pretty name.

Used by men too, though?

"She's the boss of the women adventurers you call 'Anego.' You don't even know her name?"

Eep.

Anego-san is Mitsuki-san?

"Shinonome Mitsuki—'Anego of the Holy Knights,' is it. Come to think of it, she transferred to Chiba recently. Quite a few Triple-Ranks have gathered at the Chiba branch for this new-dungeon survey, I hear?"

Oh?

The HQ man just tattled on something.

Still, 'Anego of the Holy Knights' is a pretty cool epithet.

That Mitsuki-san went with Akane-san today to the 'new Dungeon Gate' near a certain amusement park—Her Majesty the Spear King said so this morning.

Her Majesty herself has to go to the 'new Dungeon Gate' that appeared at the tip of the Boso Peninsula.

"We're short-staffed, unlike HQ, so it's a help."

"Until recently you had no Triple adventurers—staff included, I believe? And yet in fact you held a hidden card called 【Spear King】. Couldn't they be the same?"

Oh, the fire has spread to me.

Or rather—I'm suspected of being a Triple?

"I'd like to ask that myself. Well? Are you?"

The branch manager throws it at me.

"No. Unfortunately, I am not a Triple."

Of course not.

Rank-wise I'm Quadruple-equivalent, so not a Triple.

I can answer that with confidence.

"Then—say there were three of these Double-Ranks. Could they beat a Triple-Rank? A top-tier one, at that—of that caliber?"

The policeman pulls the topic back here.

Ah, THAT's what he wanted to ask.

Then the answer is simple.

"Of course they can't."

So says the HQ man.

The branch manager keeps mum.

"They can. The other day, Hiramatsu-san beat 'Sword Saint-chan'—which means a Double beat a Quadruple. One-on-one, no less."

"I saw that video. Hiramatsu's wooden sword got cut—he LOST!"

Apparently the HQ man had watched the video making the rounds.

"That's the surface video. Inside the dungeon, Hiramatsu-san won."

No video was taken of the dungeon match, of course.

Only staff besides us were at that place, so naturally not.