ch441-ch460 · 447-ch447
Chapter 447: The Invincible Submarine
"More to the point—can't we do something about the name 'invincible box'?"
After hearing the whole rundown, Soushi starts griping about the name.
We had a brand-new invincible box built today, so as test number two, Soushi and Aikawa are invited as well.
Huh? The money split?
Of course I get nothing.
......
Well, there IS a money trail that has to be shown on the surface, you see.
The official shape of it is that, of the arms and armor 'Blue Ocean' carried out, Mia-san sells Kasumi-san's and Aikawa's shares.
The buyback price as materials becomes our cut, but the ones selling are those two, so the money flows to them.
Soushi could probably get a share by saying "I'm the 'Summer Shadow's' pilot, you know"......
Some people have already half-noticed it's Soushi, and 'Blue Ocean's staff act alongside him, so they know by build if nothing else.
But for me it's completely impossible.
We've reached the point where if I said "I'm 'Spring Shadow,'" nobody would believe me.
The one actually inside is an actor even I don't know, and online, the pilot is supposedly the former Akiyama-san—or no, Akiyama-san herself.
THAT person is the one inside the 'Holy Maiden,' you know......
Well, it's a wonderful thing that 'Ninjutsu: the Substitution Jutsu' is functioning so perfectly.
(Something about this is different from what I imagined, though......)
The problem is Shiraishi-san.
Mine and Soushi's shares nominally come through Kasumi-san and Aikawa, you see.
Shiraishi-san does more than cast recovery magic—while we're in the new dungeon, she secretly looks after things for us on Chiba's Floor 1: shopping, treats, the works.
There are people who'll start asking for Jum○ magazines, after all.
She's someone we NEED around.
On the money, she says she doesn't want anything, but she's one of us—I want to work out some way to split it with her.
For now, the only way is to have Kasumi-san, Aikawa, and Mia-san split the profits three ways, and Shiraishi-san gets her allowance from Mia-san?
An allowance of 200 million yen a year......
Well, there are taxes, after all.
Please make sure it doesn't come out.
"So, since you can't go home, you'll have Soushi kill the ones outside. ......And me? Just collecting EXP?"
"We'd like your 【Dance】 buffs, please. It's cramped, but a box step should be doable in there. Honestly speaking, it's heavy, so we'd like your help lifting it during transport too."
Kasumi-san answers Aikawa's question.
For Aikawa, there's 【Body Enhancement】 and 【Partial Beast Transformation】, and lately not just her 【Dance】—the 【Idol】's 【Singing】 self-enhancement stacks in as well.
In raw power, she might be above me.
What I wish is that her 【Singing】 enhanced US instead of herself.
Apparently that one can't strengthen others, so she'd have to put new skill points in.
Which is why she needs leveling, she says......
(Speaking of buffs—it'd be nice to bring Ao-san along and get the 【General】's buff too, but he seems busy.)
Not just Ao-san—I haven't seen Chiharu-san lately, either.
Apparently some delegation from the American Adventurer's Association has come over, and Ao-san's crowd is being made to deal with them.
At first I wondered if it was sabotage aimed at the Floor 50 run, but it seems the World Tree dungeon's existence leaked to America too, and they're demanding to be allowed to use it.
No new dungeons appeared on the American mainland, after all.
Which means no dungeon with a World Tree either.
They're asking countries other than Japan as well, but even in America, government military use of dungeons and adventurer use of dungeons aren't aligned, so they're squabbling among themselves.
The ones who contacted Japan's Adventurer's Association this time were the American Adventurer's Association, but with the railgun matter too, there's a possibility the governments are simply moving ahead among themselves.
Complicated, huh......
(We still haven't found any World Tree leaves, you know......)
The 'Left Foot Gate' currently parked in that dungeon has advanced as far as Floor 29, but still no leaves.
That's only because I've been popping in and pushing forward when I was alone.
Maybe leaves don't fall until you reach the 30s floors.
On video sites there are even posts about finding a leaf on Floor 1 and selling it for 100 million, but the deeper you go, the higher the appearance rate, so we should push on.
The thing is, at the current pace, there's a good chance there's no dry land anymore......
The Floor 30 boss will probably be some King Hippo-like monster, so I can throw a spear at its face where it breaks the surface—but beyond that, the 'Gate to the Next Floor' might be at the bottom of the water.
Nothing but a submarine will get us further......
The 'Gates' my 【Gate】 produces are 1-by-2-meter door-sized, after all.
Same with the invincible box—what you can carry in as-is has a size limit.
【Gate】 isn't almighty either.
"Mia-san, can you build a submarine?"
"What's this all of a sudden? There's no way I could......"
Kasumi-san and Aikawa started their meeting inside the assembled invincible box, so in the meantime I consulted Mia-san.
Soushi is busy crafting the big charm to rig the castle gate with.
An invincible submarine, instead of an invincible box......
If it seats one, could it pass through the 'Gate'?
Or would a diving suit do?
In that case, 'Armor Enhancement' and 'Armor Manipulation' would both take......
What WOULD happen if I used 'Armor Manipulation' underwater?
It has that mystery-power floating thing, so maybe I could manage it if I tried?
But that leaves only 8 minutes of possible activity.
'Armor Manipulation' should be saved for combat and emergencies, so normally we'd need some other propulsion......
At that point it's less Mia-san's territory and more Robo-ko-san's.
Or better yet, make the 'Spring Shadow-maru' aquatic......