ch81-ch100 · 092-ch92

Chapter 92: Too Late to Be a Good Child

I got chewed out so hard.

No—I AM getting chewed out so hard. Right now.

It's a lecture from Marutasuke, the Chiba branch manager.

A scary middle-aged guy with a face like a slab of muscle.

His lecture has been going for an hour now, and it won't end... IT WON'T END...

"Are you even listening to a word I say!?"

Apparently the branch manager's mother has already passed away.

And apparently, seeing my mother yesterday stirred something up in him...

"My position doesn't allow me to tell you to quit being an adventurer, but still..."

It's been an hour—isn't Endo-san due to peek in again soon?

Endo-san checks in on us about every fifteen minutes.

At the fifteen, thirty, and forty-five minute marks she's brought tea or come by for signatures on paperwork.

Ah yes, Endo-san—the sultry receptionist.

An oasis in this endless lecture.

A beauty with an incredible figure. I checked her nameplate earlier and it read 'Endo.'

I'll tell Soushi about her later.

"When I told my mother I was joining the Self-Defense Forces, she cried and begged me not to go. I knew she would try to stop me, but I still sat down and talked it through with her properly. And then there's you..."

"Excuse me."

The door clicks open... It's Kasumi-san.

This might make me happier than an Endo-san visit.

Tea, maybe?

Actually, please stop refreshing the branch manager's throat.

"Hm? Watanabe? What is it?"

"Branch Manager, here you are."

Huh? Not tea—a magic stone...

A big one, too.

Probably bigger than a Forest Ogre's, so an Orc General's, maybe?

"And this magic stone is?"

"It is an Orc General's. Once you have verified it, please sign this form."

Nailed it.

"Hmm. A promotion to Double-Rank, eh. Who is it? Hm? Kasugano? This kid? Ohh, I'd heard he was talented, but a Double while still in high school..."

"Yes. I understand that yesterday he went to collect it and ended up unable to come home. We would like you to wrap up the lecture soon, if you would."

At that, the branch manager shoots Kasumi-san a furious glare, but she carries on with a perfectly composed face.

"Haruki-san is going shopping for a robot vacuum for his mother after this. His father is home for a rare visit from his solo work posting, so they will be having a meal together as well."

Hearing that seemed to soften the branch manager's face a little...

"...I see. I see, indeed..."

Marutasuke signs the form with strangely elegant penmanship, then stands and moves to the window.

He's not actually looking outside.

Our eyes met in the window's reflection.

"I see. A robot vacuum... and a father away on a solo posting. You've had your own hardships, haven't you..."

As expected of Kasumi-san. The effect is devastating.

"It was right around when I broke through Floor 20, I believe. The last time I saw my mother... I'd come into a special bonus, so I bought her a refrigerator... It was the very one she'd wanted for ages, and yet she didn't look all that happy... 'Don't do anything dangerous,' she said... That was the last time."

Okay, this is working a little TOO well.

"When you want to be a good child, your parents are no more... And you cannot lay a futon on a stone."

Maybe the branch manager is seeing himself in me.

"Haruki, my boy. Don't let yourself be left with nothing but regrets. You may go now."

His own regrets, more like...

The branch manager at the window isn't looking our way anymore.

Is he crying?

"Yes. Thank you for your time. Ah—Branch Manager."

I just remembered I never thanked him about the warehouse.

"Thank you for the guarantor thing."

"Guarantor? What are you talking about?"

He turns around. There were no tears in the branch manager's eyes.

But playing dumb HERE of all places... that's some world-class tsundere work.

Nobody's asking for a tsundere old man, you know.

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"I apologize. I did want to rescue you sooner, but Endo-san said you showed no signs of remorse."

We've moved from the branch manager's office to a meeting room.

Right now it's just me and Kasumi-san.

"I see. And in the end, even Endo-san decided you'd reflected?"

"No—she said that any more of this, and you might simply learn to hide your misdeeds."

Endo-san... what exactly do you think I did?

"...Will the next lecture be from Mia-san, then?"

"She was saying only just now that she would like Mia-san to come here as well... Did something happen?"

Better start with the hospital, I suppose...

"Well, the thing is..."

"I see, I see. That is a suspicious doctor indeed..."

I laid out the main points: I don't want to go to headquarters, because the 【Healer】s there would expose my high-rank job.

"So the only ones who know about the high-rank job are you, me, and Shiraishi-san... And it stays secret from the branch manager for the time being... Understood. Then we shall have Mia-san come, for the measurements and the scolding. May I share our news next?"

We do not need to request the scolding, thank you.

"Sakura cashed in the magic stones you left with us by end of day yesterday. The money should already be in your account. It seems you will be able to send your mother something nice."

What a lovely smile.

So soothing.

And then she hands me a slip of paper with '900,000 yen' on it.

Yay.

Thirty for the Forest Ogre stones cashed in today, and about fifteen from the Floor 30 boss room stones...

Adventuring pays INSANE.

"As for your equipment, it has been left in storage rather than cashed in. My own gear has been brought over as well."

Oh ho.

Watanabe-san's equipment, hmm.

Then maybe it's time to bring up 【Gate】?

No—better to do it inside the dungeon, where I can actually show her.

Have her put on her full kit, and then—surprise, Floor 30.

"Um, I'd like to talk to you about my special skill, but I think showing you would be faster. Kasumi-san, can you put on your full armor?"

"Full armor? I see—a live match using your movement-type special skill, then. I must change into my under-armor as well, so it will take a little while, but if that is acceptable..."

"Yes. I want to test whether it works on someone other than myself. It might be a little dangerous, so full armor, just in case."

"Someone other than yourself? Then you mean I would be able to move at high speed as well?"

"If it works, that's what it means."

Honestly, experimenting on Soushi first would have been better, but the only danger I can think of right now is whatever's waiting on the other side.

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At the dungeon counter was the black gal receptionist.

Kasumi-san is on leave from the afternoon onward, so apparently the black gal covered her shift.

She's officially clocked out, so she can leave whenever she likes.

We passed right in front of the black gal receptionist as she waved at us with a big smile—while the newbie sitting beside her wore a completely blank expression.

No idea whether Hayashi-san worked her over yesterday or Kasumi-san put the fear into her today, but she was pretending not to see us, so as not to get in our way.

Now we're at the warehouse, and I'm changing clothes.

There's shopping and a family dinner after this, so I dressed up today.

I'm changing into something I can move in.

Kasumi-san has gone up to the second floor to put on her under-armor.

Ah, there she comes down.

Isn't under-armor a little too sexy? I cannot look directly at it.

Ah, now the armor goes on...

I'd heard about Kasumi-san's equipment before: full plate.

Jet black, heavy armor covering nearly her whole body.

A Floor 40-range drop that Mia-san apparently adjusted to fit her.

The helm is full-face too—the very image of a black knight.

And facing her: me, in my usual track pants and a long-sleeved shirt.

No helmet, either.

...Better check what Floor 30 looks like first.

([Gate])

I stick my left hand in and try to use 【Scouting】...

"Huh?"

My left hand won't go in?

I try pushing through—my hand won't pass.

Did it break?