ch81-ch100 · 099-ch99

Chapter 99: The Receptionist Is a Losing Flag 【Watanabe Kasumi】 Part 5

SIDE: Watanabe Kasumi (Haruki's Girlfriend)

Good morning.

I am Watanabe Kasumi.

I say good morning, but it's so early I'm still in bed.

Yesterday, out of consideration for Haruki-san's condition, I ended our evening call early, but perhaps I was the tired one.

I slept soundly through the night.

Yesterday, as planned, the meeting between me and Haruki-san's parents went off without a hitch.

Perhaps that sense of relief played a part as well.

Haruki-san's father, whom I met for the first time, was a very kind man; his easygoing air reminded me of Haruki-san.

Quite unlike my own father.

Over dinner, the topic of paying my own parents a greeting came up, but I haven't been home in years, so honestly, the thought weighs on me...

Above all, I worry my father—who despises adventurers—might be rude to Haruki-san.

(Haruki-san's presents ended up being treated as gifts from me. I feel terrible for what I put him through.)

Let's call the meet-the-parents a success beyond all expectations.

Something not on the schedule happened yesterday, too.

After inspecting the warehouse with Haruki-san, I thought we might have a light sparring match... but the place Haruki-san took me to was—of all things—Floor 30.

Before I understood a thing, in the blink of an eye, I had a high-rank job.

Total time: about two minutes, I'd say?

(What, then, were my five years...)

The job I chose is 【Spear King】.

Just as sword jobs include 【Sword Saint】 and 【Sword King】, and bows have 【Bow Saint】 and 【Bow King】, spears, too, have a 【Spear King】.

Which means a 【Spear Saint】 must exist as well—but sadly, it seems to be beyond my reach.

Just as Haruki-san surpassed my five years in only about ten days, that woman they call 'Sword Saint-chan' must be a special existence too.

No—rather, it's the other way around.

(Haruki-san may be on his way to becoming a special existence who surpasses even the Sword Saint...)

The other main jobs I could have chosen were 【Naginata King】, 【Spinning Naginata User】, 【Magic Naginata User】, 【Super Spearman】, 【Multi-Spearman】, 【Magic Spearman】, and so on.

The reason I didn't choose 【Naginata King】 comes down to stats.

Even at the 【Spearman】 and 【Naginata User】 stage, there's a sizable gap in stats.

【Naginata User】 is renowned for the variety and number of its skills, so it can't be helped, but its low stats were actually my secret worry.

That's why I usually recommend spears rather than naginata to everyone.

As a sub-job, 【Naginata User】 is as excellent as it gets, so I recommend it to anyone agonizing over their sub-job.

The higher naginata jobs probably carry 【Armor Enhancement・Armor・High】, but the common wisdom between 【Samurai】 and 【Sword Master】 is to pick 【Sword Master】, so as a main job, 【Spear King】 could not have been the wrong choice.

By the way, since I've always made heavy use of the basic slashing skill 【Slash】, swordsmanship-type high-rank jobs like 【Samurai】, 【Sword Master】, and 【Magic Swordsman】 came up as well.

【Spinning Naginata User】, judging from the name, seems like attack power rises the more you spin?

The kind of job Haruki-san would leap at.

(...Should I have gone with that one, after all?)

Another unusual option was 【Castle Knight】.

Back on my first Floor 10, a 【Heavy Armored Warrior】 job I had no memory of earning came up, so I suppose that's my aptitude line.

【Castle Knight】 being its high-rank evolution.

Someone at the Association has already chosen this job, so the information is public.

Its hallmark is learning unusual skills for defending strongholds.

Stat-wise it's Endurance-focused with low Agility—a job for holding a position without moving, or gaining mobility by other means, I imagine.

I decided long ago that my high-rank job would be a spear one, so it never made my shortlist.

(Though if the dungeon itself judged this to suit me, it does give me pause.)

When tackling Floor 30, you must predict which high-rank jobs will appear, and set a priority order among them in advance.

The main cause of death for Triple-promotion clients is being unable to choose a job and getting surrounded by the attendant monsters.

Even after paying the hefty request fee, your desired job isn't guaranteed to appear.

But to try again, you have to pay the hefty fee all over again...

And should you settle for a different job, there is no changing it again.

I understand the hesitation well.

Hence the priority list.

You decide your second and third choices beforehand, and reduce the accidents caused by dithering and failing to choose.

(In my case, unexpectedly good jobs showed up, so the opposite problem existed—I might well have dithered...)

As for priorities: I meant to take 【Spear Saint】 or 【Spear King】 if they appeared, but my first choice was 【Super Spearman】, the high-rank evolution of 【Long Spearman】.

【Naginata King】 appearing as a 【Naginata User】 evolution was unexpected, so if 【Spear King】 hadn't shown up, and you asked me to pick between 【Super Spearman】 and 【Naginata King】... that would be difficult.

In that case, I'd probably have dithered and been surrounded by Forest Ogres.

Normally, that's where you'd be left behind to die—but Haruki-san would have protected me to the very end.

(No—with Haruki-san, he'd have simply killed every last one of them, wouldn't he...)

If this were the spear thread, there'd already be a reply waiting: "Knowing that one, he'd spearhead it."

(...A spear pun. My apologies.)

Fufufu—laughing alone to myself, feeling rather pleased, when the phone rings.

It shouldn't be time for my alarm yet?

An emergency call?

And I was in such a good mood. Ruined.

It's only five in the morning.

Receiving that urgent news, my mood sank further still, to rock bottom.

'Nine adventurers dead, one missing. The HQ dungeon is closed until the incident is resolved.'

The Chiba branch is to hold an emergency meeting as well.

It's going to be a very long day...

︙

︙

I called Haruki-san in the morning, borrowed some of his energy, and came in to the branch.

I made him promise to go to school properly, but knowing Haruki-san, there's a chance he's already at the branch.

(Knowing him, he just might.)

...He's not here.

I enter the lobby and look around—no sign of him.

I told him myself to go to school, yet here I am, a little disappointed that he did.

How selfish of me.

But he seems to be keeping his promise, so that's fine.

(In its own way, this makes me happy too.)

The emergency notice said only that the HQ was closed—nothing beyond that.

The meeting begins.

The four members of the party that had accepted the Triple-Rank promotion request, plus the five members of their escort party—nine in all—were found dead last night.

One woman, the client, is currently missing.

The bodies were discovered by the Quadruple-Rank adventurer party Blue Ocean.

The bodies were moved to Floor 1 using that party's 【Storage】, then handed over to the police.

Based on that party's testimony and the state of the bodies, the HQ and the police have ruled this a homicide.

As the culprit is unknown, the HQ dungeon will remain closed until the incident is resolved.

The Adventurer's Association has begun summoning Triple-Rank adventurers to search for the missing woman.

This includes not only HQ-affiliated adventurers, but Triples affiliated with nearby dungeons as well.

That is the summary of the incident.

The Chiba Dungeon has no Triple-Rank adventurers.

(Wouldn't it be better if I joined the search?)

I'm a high-rank job holder now, but since I haven't filed the paperwork yet, I'm not subject to the summons.

Besides, staff are excluded, so the branch manager won't be participating either.

If that's the rule, then I am correctly outside the summons as well...

But my heart won't settle.

"HQ has stated its policy: no branch dungeons are to be closed over this incident."

The branch manager begins to speak.

"'That Sword Saint' has determined the killer's blade work belongs to a single person. Hard to believe, but HQ has bought the story that one person cut down nine Triples."

That is the single hardest part of this whole affair to believe.

Nine people, alone?

Does such a job even exist?

If anything, aren't the five of Blue Ocean the suspicious ones?

Or perhaps an assassin sent from overseas...

"HQ believes the missing woman killed the nine after acquiring some kind of 'special job.' The Triple-Rank summons is to capture—or subjugate—her."

Subjugate...

Against a human being, how could they...

No—she has killed nine people...

"Either way, it's none of our concern."

"If there's no evidence the culprit is that woman, shouldn't the other dungeons be closed as well?"

The words slip out of me before I can stop them.

"You think the money-grubbing upper ranks would do that? Once you close a dungeon, you need justification to reopen it. No telling when this case gets solved. Close every dungeon every time somebody dies, and the Association itself might collapse."

It's true—the people at the top think only of their own positions, and so they put operating profits above all else.

People who couldn't care less about human lives.

"At the very least, the nearby dungeons..."

"Fine, fine. I'll propose it to HQ. They won't adopt it, but... We can't even field a single Triple. Our say in things amounts to nothing."

There's nothing the Chiba Dungeon can do...

Nothing but to follow HQ's directive to continue business as usual.

︙

︙

The case broke open shortly after noon.

The police contacted the Association: they had identified a suspect...

And apparently, the arrest had failed.

The staff gathered in the meeting room again; the branch manager had only just begun when Hiramatsu-san came rushing in.

"It's urgent. Umemoto's license just passed through our ticket gate."

"When?"

The branch manager barks back.

"Just now. ...Umemoto is in our dungeon—inside the Chiba Dungeon—right now."

The staff fall dead silent.

Why on earth Chiba?

"Hiramatsu, get me a list of every adventurer inside the dungeon. Contact the garrisoned SDF—no, I'll do that myself. Hayashi, contact HQ, report the situation and request instructions. Watanabe, take the rest and evacuate the residents on Floor 1. We don't want to provoke the culprit. No alarms. And listen—if you find Umemoto, do not approach him."

The branch manager rattles off orders, one after another, to the stunned staff.

I turn the situation over in my mind.

Per the manual, this calls for sounding the alarm and a full evacuation...

For now, all we can do is send people to the shops crowded with civilians and have everyone evacuate quietly.

In any case, I head into the dungeon at once.

"Dungeon staff, split up and deliver evacuation orders to every shop. Surface staff, please guide the evacuees in the lobby. Endo-san, take charge of the surface side. Don't send the evacuees home right away—please compile a roster as well. Explain the situation to the surface restaurants and such, and have everyone wait there. Shiraishi-san, please stand by at the Association facility inside the dungeon and handle any injuries."

First, evacuate everyone who isn't an adventurer.

But what about the adventurers deeper in...?

︙

︙

The evacuation of Floor 1 is complete.

Right now Sato-san is using her skill to confirm no one was left behind.

The culprit doesn't seem to be on Floor 1, so we can breathe easy for now, but...

"Two parties at the Floor 14 campsite. Three more besides—no telling where those are, but all five parties are Single-Rank, so they shouldn't have gone past the campsite."

Hiramatsu-san has compiled the list of adventurers currently inside the dungeon.

"Send people to the campsite to bring them back. One team sweeping up from Floor 1 so no one's missed, and one team running straight for Floor 14. The garrisoned SDF will escort both, but I need at least one staff member on each. Sorry, but... someone has to go."

"I'll go to the campsite."

I volunteered. I have no hesitation.