ch421-ch440 · 440-ch440
Chapter 440: The Fate of the Bouquet
"That reminds me—you went to the wedding, didn't you?"
Gulp.
Yukiya-san has to bring up the unnecessary things.
The wave of skeletons has receded for now, the armor and weapons are all collected, and we've come back to the new place.
In fifteen minutes we head back over—fight while luring skeletons out, that's the rhythm.
"Oh, it was nothing much."
Aikawa answers curtly while stripping armor off the dearly departed skeletons.
Soushi said it was incredibly lavish, though?
The other day, Bear Ossan and Makihara-san's wedding was held in grand style—Aikawa attended, of course, along with Soushi and Kasumi-san.
At the very end, the bouquet wasn't tossed—it was handed DIRECTLY to Kasumi-san.
I mean, I'd have expected as much, but apparently Kasumi-san says she never heard about any of it.
"It was a lovely wedding"—and that was ALL......
"The Chairman was there, right? Did he say anything?"
Not me, you know?
That Chairman would be attending, which is why I didn't go.
Though I don't understand what my attending would have accomplished either......
The "Chairman" here means the new chairman of the Adventurer's Association.
Even a guy like that—Bear Ossan is the top of the Triple-Ranks, leader of the party ranked second in all of Japan after 'Blue Ocean.'
His ties to the Association run deep, and apparently the new chairman attended the wedding and even gave a speech.
"He said something like 'we're counting on you.' Just a fat old man, really—not the type I could ever warm to."
Well, the last chairman was exceptionally young; ordinarily, the head of an organization this size is closer to a grandfather than an uncle.
"And Watanabe-san?"
"I agree he's hard to like. Our conversation was about Floor 50. He asked whether we had a real chance of winning, and when exactly we planned to go. As for the timing, I told him after my level reaches 50—surely that was an acceptable answer?"
Good—now, about steering this topic......
"So what's the new Association chairman like?"
I ask Ao-san.
He's 'Blue Ocean's leader, after all.
They must have made contact already.
"Hard to say yet, but probably not as sharp as the last one? Ah—don't repeat that, all right? He seems to misunderstand the relationship between adventurers and the Association—trying to use adventurers for the Association's convenience, which bothers me. He leapt at the Floor 50 talk, and he's fresh into the job, so maybe he wants a nice, visible achievement."
Adventurers are, at the end of the day, freelance independents—the Association has no power to compel them to work.
Well, there are minimum rules, and something on the scale of the Umemoto incident can trigger compulsory mobilization.
But basically, you can refuse any job.
Even the new-dungeon surveys are voluntary.
Everyone WANTS to do them, which is why they're flooded with applicants......
"His relations with the SDF seem poor."
Kasumi-san joins the conversation.
The topic got steered away magnificently.
That gave me a start.
Lately the 'Left Hand Gate' stays parked deep in the dungeon, so I haven't even been able to hunt Lock Golems.
Nothing's wrong between Kasumi-san and me, mind you—but she's living at headquarters now, so the two of us rarely get dinner alone anymore.
When she comes to the branch, Chiharu-san tags along, so no more dungeon dates either.
Not bad, but not great, you could say......
I want some kind of opening, which is why I've been hunting Lock Golems.
"Not so much bad as... they just haven't built the relationship yet. That's what the ex-SDF branch managers are for, and he seems to get along with THEM just fine? But he doesn't want to hand achievements to the SDF, apparently—so the escort to Floor 50 probably can't be the SDF."
"Suits us fine. With Haruki around, we're done needing the SDF."
Right, that.
Should I take it as good news—one less concern for the Floor 50 operation?
Going in secret is easier, so better not to tell them our departure date and time.
Report after the fact, then.
"Kumada would cry if she heard you. Hey, Haruki—that armor's from the one I killed! Hand it over!"
Ah—there goes the best-looking red samurai armor.
Yukiya-san's armor enhancement is the 【Samurai】's armor enhancement, so he needs samurai armor.
I can enhance anything armor-shaped, but for Hiramatsu-ryu's sake, I want to build the powered suit as a warrior type.
Which means samurai armor becomes a free-for-all.
Soushi is collecting plate armor, but Anego-san's crowd doesn't have their armor yet, so I need to set some aside for them too......
Incidentally, Kumada-san is Chiharu-san's personal escort—an SDF officer.
She seems to be assigned to Kasumi-san and Aikawa as well, but her contract apparently doesn't cover inside the dungeon, so I never run into her.
Maybe they're keeping her at a distance so no information leaks?
"Flooding the market any further than this will look suspicious, I think. Let's pick out only the good ones and keep them in storage."
We're already sending more to Mia-san's shop than the two new dungeons brought back.
On top of that, a mountain of armor that doesn't even appear on Floor 41.
"That won't do. The better the equipment people use, the lower their chance of getting hurt. But—very well, if that's how it is, from now on let's limit what goes to market to SPEARS!"
I don't think that's the issue here......
"Oh, there's a shield too. I'll have this one hold it. Speaking of shields—that Sea guy said he wants to challenge 'Spring Shadow,' no?"
A cooking showdown against 'Spring Shadow,' maybe?
Frankly, it's about time 'West Shadow' and 'East Shadow' made their debut, don't you think?
I'd love to give those two work—but there's no money to hire them......
"Mmm-mmm-mmm. Ten years too early. If he wants to fight Haruki-san, he goes through ME first."
"Kasumi can't do it. Going head-on, there's no beating that guy. Kaito-senpai is in a different league from Ao-senpai or Yukiya-senpai."
"Oy!"
Oops—about fifteen minutes, I'd say?
Next time: don't forget to pick out shields too!
Or why not just use shields AS the armor......