ch21-ch40 · 037-inter6

Interlude: From Interview Voice Data ②

"I've heard about it. Nice to meet you today."

"Hey, Hiyori. The interviewer seems..."

"Mio-chan. That's my fault. Don't mind it, interviewer-san. Today we're here to talk about Sensei, not the 'Princess of Ichijō.' ...Yeah. That stuff is obviously NG. If you want to know about that, ask the government people or my dad or grandpa."

"Come to think of it, this interview today..."

"Yeah. It's a thank-you for that other day — the Majin... that side of things. The interviewer helped with a lot of the cleanup. Consider it a thank-you."

"I see. So that's how it is. ...We're talking about Sensei, right? Yes. How I became his disciple... Ah, you already knew that. Of course. You can tell from watching Tower Tube. It started when he saved us. What you want to know is our impression of Sensei, isn't it?"

"About Sensei, huh~. I don't really know what you want to ask, so... umm~, I guess Sensei doesn't look at us with pervy eyes, y'know~? Like, guys always, like, immediately glance at your chest, right~? But Sensei doesn't turn into a beast~, he's a gentleman~."

"…………"

"…………"

"...And?"

"Nah, I'll stop. It'd be rude to Sensei."

"...I wouldn't mind a little if he did look, though."

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

"Mio-chan, if you're gonna say stuff like that, you can't go getting all embarrassed about it..."

"L-let's talk about Sensei! Sensei is truly incredible. Nobody's ever soloed up to the seventeenth floor of Shinjuku Tower before."

"Other than Sensei, the previous solo record was floor fourteen, right?"

"That's right. He broke that record. He's still updating it right now."

"Hmm, my impression of Sensei... Well~, for me, he's the first person outside my parents and family that I feel like I can call 'teacher.'"

"You're saying that, Hiyori? ...Even though you've been trained by more people than I have."

"I know, right. A lot of people trained me, and I'm really grateful for that. But, how should I put it... from a positional standpoint, the part I wanted to train the most was related to magic. Holy-attribute, purification-type. But there was nobody who could train or teach me in that area..."

"Ah, I understand that. When he told me I could train my magical power in daily life, I was really happy."

"And with lectures and stuff too, it was always like 'I want to know more, but nobody will tell me.' Not just magic — how to fight, how to walk through the dungeon, all those small techniques and know-how. There was nobody to teach me that stuff."

"You complained about that before, Hiyori."

"Yeah. Honestly, according to the course instructions, I should have gathered more people and made a six-person party. But given my line of work, parties are hard to form. If I hadn't met Mio-chan, I think I would've had to take on Shinjuku Tower solo."

"Considering your work on that side, it would be hard to team up, right."

"Yeah. For us, Shinjuku Tower is a place to gain strength. But still, there was nobody who could team up with me at the same level, on equal footing. Not that it's an excuse, but when Mio-chan fell into that pit trap on the eighth floor, I was really panicked..."

"That couldn't be helped at the time. But because of it, we got to meet Sensei. And we got stronger too."

"Right, right. Interviewer-san, you saw the video of Sensei teaching the university kids about magic and adventuring, right? ...Yeah. You might already know this, but I'll say it anyway. A man in his forties, an active adventurer, and he can teach too — that's seriously insane."

"Is it really that unusual?"

"You're surprised, Mio-chan. Think about martial artists or athletes. Almost no active athletes are in their forties. I'm not saying there are none, but most people have stepped back from the front lines. Most become coaches or move to support roles. Even in the military, someone in their forties generally wouldn't be on the front lines — they'd be commanding. The same goes for adventurers. Active adventurers in their forties don't aim for the 'top.' Even people who've made it to the fifteenth floor feel the limits of their body and drop down to the tenth, the fifth floor."

"Ah, now that you mention it, I do get the impression there are more middle-aged people on the lower floors."

"Right, right. From what I've checked, the only adventurer in his forties still aiming for the 'top' is Sensei."

"...When you think about it that way, our teacher really is amazing."

"Of course, that's the result of Sensei measuring his own abilities and deciding he can still go further."

"That's true... Watching his streams, I get the feeling he hasn't even shown his full strength yet."

"I think so too, honestly. He's got way too much room to spare... Hm? Interviewer-san? What? Yeah, yeah. At least that's how it looks to me. He still hasn't shown his real power at all. I mean, taking down a Mage Chimera solo — that's just not possible, honestly. I've heard the logic, okay? Like, how to handle the line of fire for its breath, how to deal with being attacked from multiple directions at mid-range..."

"There was that, wasn't there... Even with multiple heads, it only has one organ for firing breath. It can fire magic simultaneously but can't rapid-fire. If it does rapid-fire, they're all weak spells. You need to think about how to deceive the enemy's vision... That was it, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. When I heard that, I was amazed at how much combat experience Sensei has."

"That's right. Sensei keeps surprising me."

"And in that video for the university students, he talked about the definition of being a full-fledged adventurer during the magic enhancement lecture. Remember?"

"The statement that you're not a full-fledged adventurer until you can do magic control and Five Senses Enhancement even while sleeping. The university kids were horrified too..."

"I was like, 'normal people can't do that, you know.'"

"Still, I want to stand by Sensei's side someday."

"...Stare——"

"What is it?"

"As I thought, Mio-chan, you and Sensei..."

"...! I-It's not like that, okay!? Only as an adventurer!"

"I've been wondering about this for a while... hey, interviewer-san. Just to confirm, do you guys know if Sensei is married or not?"

"Wh-What are you asking, Hiyori!?"

"No marriage history... yeah, that figures..."

"There's no way you'd know that."

"The other world is... ah, never mind, interviewer-san. That was just me thinking out loud. Forget it."

"This is just my imagination, but I can't picture Sensei as being married."

"I mean~, he's in his forties, has an adventurer-trained body, and he's good-looking, right?"

"...Well, I suppose so."

"On top of that, there's the income from his Shinjuku Tower clearing, plus cooperation fees from that side — we're giving him some seriously hefty compensation."

"Huh? Is that so?"

"Yeah. Of course. Dad handed over a blank check, saying 'it's fair compensation.'"

"Could that be like a check or..."

"Yeah, yeah. I won't mention the amount, but Sensei was panicking, saying 'I can't accept this much.'"

"The adult world is something else..."

"So with all that, he's probably making a ton, and you're telling me he'd just be left alone?"

"Y-Yes, I suppose...?"

"I mean, there could be circumstances, but what's the unmarried rate for men in their forties anyway? ...Huh, 30% are unmarried nowadays. Lucky you, Mio-chan, there's a chance!"

"I'll knock you out, Hiyori."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!? A-Anyway, the conclusion is — Sensei is amazing!"

"Honestly... Putting aside Hiyori's comments, Sensei is my benefactor, and the respected, admired teacher I look up to! I'm going to keep working hard under his guidance!"

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