ch01-ch20 · 019-ch18

Chapter 18

He'd lost all interest in what was happening in front of him.

That was Hayasaka Toru's honest feeling.

He'd been called, he'd come. He'd endured a boring meeting. And just when the conversation finally seemed to be about him, he was called a liar.

Of course, he understood that it was only natural for people not to believe him.

But that didn't mean he wanted to watch someone older than his parents—well, Toru's parents were dead, but still—scream at him in such a pathetic display. Wasn't constructive discussion supposed to be humanity's greatest strength? To Toru, this conference room was no different from a monkey mountain at the zoo.

Yelling loudly. Flaunting strength.

Deciding who was superior based on things like that. It was too stupid for words.

"Ahh... can I say something? Uhh... hey, you keep them quiet. They're loud and we're not getting anywhere. I'm worried about Sadoyama-san, but he's a former A-rank explorer, so he's probably fine. You didn't hit him that hard, right?"

Toru raised his hand and stood up, saddling Tia—who was standing in the middle of the room like a guardian deity—with watching over the old men, then turned to face Anthem's manager.

She seemed like the most reasonable person in the room. Whether she actually was reasonable remained to be seen.

"...Yes, Hayasaka-san?"

Hamamatsu Nanami looked slightly intimidated as she tilted her head in question.

"This doesn't feel like a discussion anymore, and it looks like it's gonna go on forever, so I'd like to take care of my business and head home. Sadoyama-san, who told me to wait a bit, is in that state, and even if I wait longer, it doesn't seem like anything's going to get resolved."

"...But in this meeting, we needed to discuss the matter of your disposition as well, Hayasaka Toru... in fact, that's precisely what we were about to discuss..."

"Ahh... right. Hey, you—disappear for a sec and come back in armor."

"Hm? Oh, I see. Understood."

Toru called out to Tia, who was glaring at the old men. She looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded immediately.

And then—she vanished.

The holy sword she'd been carrying clattered to the floor.

"Wha—?"

"Eh—?"

Someone let out a confused sound, but Toru didn't bother with it. After a brief pause, Tia remanifested in her light armor from yesterday. He confirmed it and nodded.

That village girl outfit was nice too, but the light armor suited her as well.

"See that? She can do that—appear and disappear. According to her, the holy sword Lightbringer connects to its owner's soul or whatever. The memories or spirit stuck to the holy sword apparently used my soul to manifest itself. That's what she says—I don't know if it's true or not."

"Wha... wha-what... that was... surprising..."

"After we got out of the hidden room where the swords were stuck, we made our way through the labyrinth somehow and ended up between the fourteenth and fifteenth floors of Kamioka Dungeon. Seemed like a hidden layer, but I'm not sure. Then while we were going up the stairs, she took off running to help people."

The rest you know, he summarized.

"One question—! No, two, if I may!"

The one who spoke up was Kagurazaka Chizuru, the swordswoman of Anthem, who had remained silent until now.

Toru had learned this morning from checking online that she was younger than the leader Saito Megumi and the healer Mido Airi, and was the youngest to reach A-rank.

"Ahh... yeah, go ahead."

"I apologize. I am Kagurazaka Chizuru. As you may already know, I am a member of Anthem, and I was rescued by you yesterday. Thank you for saving us. Lady Tia, and Hayasaka-sama as well... without the two of you, we would have died. Please let me express my gratitude. It is belated, but... truly, thank you so much."

She bowed deeply, her samurai-style ponytail bouncing with the motion. Toru noticed Saito Megumi sitting next to her was also bowing, which made him feel awkward.

After all, they'd already thanked him enough times yesterday to make him sick of it.

Though maybe, since they'd been in complete chaos, they didn't really feel like they'd thanked him.

"It's fine. She was the one who sensed you were in danger and ran off. The rest was just how things played out. I wasn't trying to save you or anything. At least, I wasn't."

He pointed at Tia and shrugged. Tia smiled brightly and waved back. Toru had no idea what that meant.

"No, Hayasaka-sama. Regardless of how you felt, the fact remains that we were saved, and the fact remains that we are grateful. I wished to convey that, at the very least."

"...Hah. Then I'll accept it. The second question?"

Toru felt like he was really talking to a samurai, but at least the conversation was going somewhere—which made this a hundred times more productive than the earlier meeting.

Kagurazaka furrowed her finely drawn, ink-brush eyebrows as if troubled, hesitated for just a moment, then spoke.

"Well... I realize it is presumptuous to ask this. But I must know, so I will swallow my pride and inquire."

She seemed strangely tense. Looking closely, her cheeks were flushed.

For a moment, Toru entertained the thought that she might have fallen for him at first sight—but no. Nobody fell for a bottom-feeder like him. If anyone did, it would be a woman crawling through the same gutter.

That wasn't resignation—it was simple reality.

Just like how the Sugai Dungeon clerk, Kawai Sakiho, naturally looked down on him. Just like how the old men currently being silenced by Tia looked down on ordinary citizens and explorers. People lived with an unconscious awareness of their own position.

Just like how Mika's mother, the cat beast-woman, felt a kinship with Toru.

A woman who had no choice but to raise her daughter working in the nightlife industry had judged it was okay to leave her child with Toru—probably because she saw him as a kindred spirit.

And honestly, Toru felt the same.

The struggles and daily joys of Mika's mother felt close to him.

The complete opposite of how the old men in this conference room existed in a world farther away than another dimension.

Maybe, fundamentally, you could only open your heart to someone on the same stage as you.

And Toru was acutely aware that he was at the bottom.

That his life stage was utterly different from an A-rank explorer's.

Oblivious to these thoughts of Toru's, Kagurazaka Chizuru hesitated for a long few seconds before speaking.

"Hayasaka-sama—what school of swordsmanship do you practice? That dreadful yet beautiful flash that slew the Black Knight... I was moved by it! More than any sword stroke I have ever witnessed—it was magnificent! I felt I had witnessed the pinnacle of the blade!"

Kagurazaka Chizuru, seeming to grow more feverish with each word, was honestly pretty unsettling to Toru.

He'd thought she was a serious person, but she was crazy... well, being serious and being crazy could coexist, he supposed.

"Ahh... sorry, but there's no school or anything. That was literally the first time I'd ever held a sword. It was the first time I'd properly cut a monster too."

"Surely you jest! That motion bore the hallmarks of eons of dedication—ah, ah, forgive me! I am not doubting you, Hayasaka-sama..."

"It's fine, but..."

You're just kind of scary.

It was a different kind of fear from the wariness he felt toward a strong person like Sadoyama.

He also had no idea why she kept calling him "-sama."

"A-anyway, Hayasaka-sama. You mentioned you wished to take care of some business and then leave—what business did you have?"

She redirected the conversation as if to cover her embarrassment. The fact that she could exercise that much rationality despite her state actually frightened Toru a little, but he appreciated the prompt.

"Ahh... I brought the magic core from the monster I beat in that hidden layer, the magic core from the Black Knight yesterday, and some dragon scales—rare drops or whatever. I don't have an explorer's license, so it hit me that I can't just go sell them normally."

For his usual cleaning work, the contract specified that the branch office would buy the magic cores he collected from weak monsters as part of the job. It didn't count as an explorer killing monsters and bringing back magic cores to sell.

But claiming the Black Ogre's and Black Knight's magic cores as part of his cleaning duties seemed like a stretch. If he tried to sell them at the Sugai Dungeon branch office and got rejected, that would be the end of it. So he figured it was better to hand them over to Anthem—who owed him a favor for saving them—while they were all in the same room.

"So yeah, that's the deal."

Toru opened the drum bag he'd placed on the long table and pulled out several magic cores and the dragon scales. They seemed to be large enough to impress even A-rank explorers—both Kagurazaka and Saito Megumi let out "ooh" sounds of admiration.

And not just admiration—someone in the room also let out a sound of greed.

"Might I say something? It is customary for local governments to purchase magic cores and labyrinth products discovered by non-explorers. When found in the course of contracted work, the rights belong to the contractor—in this case, S City."

The youngest person on the old men's side—the mayor—said this.

Toru was slightly impressed that the man would prioritize the city's interests even under Tia's intimidating gaze, but the Anthem members seemed to feel differently.

"Is that your final position, Mayor Endo?"

Hamamatsu Nanami narrowed her eyes as she asked. Kagurazaka Chizuru and Saito Megumi were both looking at the mayor with contempt.

"Final or not, it's a matter of interpretation. Surely you're aware of the law prohibiting minors from selling labyrinth products? That law exists to deter labyrinth exploration by minors and by minors alone. It was enacted to eliminate the possibility of minors—particularly those in poverty—being coerced into exploration by third parties. Of course, that's not its only purpose."

"And you believe that justifies the city confiscating the magic cores Mr. Hayasaka recovered?"

"'Confiscating' is a strong word. If we were to condone a contracted worker acquiring magic cores outside the scope of their contract of their own accord, it would raise concerns about creating a situation similar to the case of minors."

He was saying that a business model could arise where people below D-rank—those who couldn't become explorers—were sent into labyrinths to collect magic cores.

If that was the argument, then shouldn't hiring a bottom-feeder like Toru as a "cleaner" just because the dungeon was unpopular also be questionable?

Well, it probably didn't matter.

If the bottom-feeder who volunteered died during cleaning, nobody would be inconvenienced. He could just quit if he didn't like it.

"I see. In that case, Hayasaka-san—thank you for securing the magic cores and dragon scales to which we, Anthem, hold the rights. In consideration of your assistance in rescuing our members, we will prepare a reward of double the standard sale price."

Smoothly cutting off her conversation with the mayor, Hamamatsu Nanami said this as if it were the most natural thing in the world, bowing to Toru.

That was a pretty clever move, Toru thought, feeling oddly impressed as an outsider.

The mayor's face was twisted in displeasure. Having what should have been a free magic core and materials slip through his fingers with just a few words, he probably couldn't help making that face.

"Wha-wha-wait a moment. This is not what we agreed! You said the labyrinth products recovered by Hayasaka Toru would be taken over by the city as the contractor!"

"If Mr. Hayasaka submitted them to S City, the contractor, then yes—that would be the case, since he apparently does not hold legal rights. However, he recovered labyrinth products that Anthem was scheduled to collect. On top of rescuing our members in that situation, he also secured the boss drops. It is hardly unreasonable to offer him a transaction rate more favorable than standard to demonstrate our gratitude."

"But the Black Ogre's magic core, as he described it, has nothing to do with Anthem's activities."

"If we're going down that path, Mr. Hayasaka's actions after triggering the teleport trap have nothing to do with his Sugai Dungeon cleaning duties either."

"Ahh... then that works for me. I'll hand over what I've been holding. Contact me about the money later. Section Chief Sadoyama has my contact info."

Toru cut into the conversation, tired of it all.

The mayor stared at him in shock, but Toru wasn't about to develop a sudden sense of civic duty in this situation. He didn't hate the man enough to seethe with anger, but he had no intention of being considerate either.

The mayor's attitude made it clear he didn't care about Toru.

So Toru had no obligation to care about him either.

"Understood. Thank you for coming all this way."

At Hamamatsu Nanami's words, Toru carelessly dumped the contents of the drum bag onto the long table. Then, a thought occurred to him.

"Well, the rest is none of my business, but... what was this meeting actually about? I don't think any real discussion happened."

"It was after the fact, so we did not obtain your prior consent—but making this meeting public was meaningful in itself. As I said at the start of the meeting."

Hamamatsu Nanami smiled—clearly a manufactured expression—and pointed toward the projector area. Looking closely, Toru thought he saw some kind of extra attachment on the projector itself.

A camera for streaming, maybe?

She'd said the meeting would be made public, but... real-time?

So that was it. There was no way a local city's mayor and prefectural assembly members could compete—whether in terms of leverage or intellect—with personnel from an A-rank explorer clan backed by national support.

Toru snorted and waved vaguely toward the projector. He had no idea what the internet was saying about "Worksite-bro" now, but he could check later.

He was probably being seen as a guy with a bad attitude, bad mouth, and bad personality anyway.

"I'm done. Let's grab some food on the way back."

When he called out, Tia vanished in an instant, then remanifested back in her village girl outfit. She picked up the holy sword that had been lying on the floor—

"Yeah! I'm looking forward to it!"

And smiled, genuinely happy.

That was probably the most valuable thing today, Toru thought.