Chapter 66.3

66 Part 3

That guy was very proud of his muscles, so it wouldn’t be strange if he had mastered that skill.

There were many stories about that guy that could account for that.

He would say stuff like “If you have strong muscles, even getting hit doesn’t hurt” and “A brawny body doesn’t get injured”.

He went missing during the Shinjuku stampede, but had probably survived because of this skill.

With these thoughts in his mind, Haruki left the dungeon and went back home.

Before getting in, Rhea gave Esta some indications.

Then Esta lifted his right foot and climbed the house’s wall.

“Hey, are you staying outside?”

Esta nodded with his little feet.

Was it okay to leave him outside?

Haruki almost felt sorry for him.

Esta seemed to notice Haruki’s worries.

He wiggled his legs once again.

“Ah, you need to be outside to catch your prey? I see, you’ll take care of pests!”

Caterpillars are a beneficial insect.

They were specialists in pest control.

It seemed convenient for Esta to spend some time outside.

“Okay then. Let me know if you need anything, then. Don’t go too far off, okay? And don’t nibble on the walls or on the roof, please.”

Esta saluted with his feet as if saying “Understood!”

If he was going to protect the house, he needed to be compensated for it.

Haruki asked Esta what was his favorite food.

“Rice grasshoppers, huh?”

Haruki felt he could finally understand why Rhea was so interested in Esta.

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Early in the morning, Akane repeatedly took deep breaths as she turned the key on the prefab’s door.

“Okay, the weather today is very clear and beautiful. Not as much as me, though!”

She laughed and raised her jaw.

“… Eh.”

Her laugh froze there in an instant.

She was staring with her jaw raised as it was.

There was a monster stuck to the wall of the adventurer Air’s house.

“Why is there a monster outside his house?”

Moreover, wasn’t that monster one of those insectivores that appeared in the middle layers of Shinjuku?

A cold sweat dripped down Akane’s forehead.

Insectivores were very difficult to attack as they were very nimble.

And their jaws can tear through any kind of armor.

Even if a single one of those insectivore monsters were to be mixed in a group of regular monsters, even whole teams of seasoned adventurers would be defeated in no time. They were that troublesome.

Why was such a monster out here…?

As Akane was frozen on the spot, a masked man –Karaboshi Haruki– came out of his house.

Watch out!

Run!

Before Akane could say any of those things…

“Morning.”

Haruki raised his hand, and the insectivore raised its feet in response.

Akane was even more shocked after seeing that.

Karaboshi Haruki is one of the adventurers that Akane is currently most interested in.

He had a unique fighting ability that allowed him to struggle through the Monster Parades, and possessed the rare ability to tame monsters.

He knew about the Top Ranker Masatsugu even when he himself was a beginner adventurer, and he was scouted by Kagemitsu -a very influential person in Sapporo- for a rescue mission as soon as he became an intermediate adventurer.

Karaboshi Haruki was that kind of adventurer.

By all rights, Akane wanted to recommend him to the company and have the company support him.

However, his presence…

No matter how much of a rough diamond he was as an adventurer, there was no way to advertise someone with as little presence as him.

Besides, his weapon of choice was the Short Sword, which wasn’t very popular.

Moreover, he was always wearing a special mask, feathers were growing out of his neck, always had a monster on his back, and his body was scaly.

And now he had an insectivore crawling around his house.

Supporting someone like him would be a bad idea for any company.

He was rather disappointed to learn that Karen had been selected as a candidate for sponsorship, but there was nothing to do about it. After all, Karen was the perfect example of “normality” as a human being.

If he wanted to be sponsored by a company, he ought to be more “normal” as an adventurer.

Although…

“… Hehe.”

Akane smiled.

No matter how hard you looked, you would never find an adventurer as weird as him.

Besides, Karen was always near him.

Karen had a power that many adventurers seeked.

Currently, Karen was still a bit too green to be called an intermediate adventurer.

She wasn’t very used to protecting others, perhaps because she had been taken care of for so long.

An adventurer is someone who protects others.

If you don’t learn how to protect someone, you’ll eventually hit a large wall in the middle of your path.

That’s why Akane was dedicating herself to teach Karen how to protect others.

By purposefully making blunders and getting attacked by monsters, she continued to create situations where Karen would have to help her.

She believed that Karen would grow substantially and shed her skin as an adventurer as soon as she internalized the art of protecting others.

When Karen finishes shedding her skin…

The team of two formed by Karen and Haruki will shake Japan to its core.

There was a big possibility that they would become quite influential.

There was no one who would have witnessed their growth as close as Akane.

If that wasn’t something to be glad about, then what was it?

Then, she would be able to give priority to buying the treasures they bring back home, and her colleagues from Ichibishi would be overwhelmed.

She would have a big laugh standing in front of such treasure.

She could almost see the dumbfounded faces of her colleagues.

— Uhuhu…

She would quickly climb up the high stairs of Ichibishi!

— Hehehe!

By the evening, this same Akane that had been indulging in her wild thoughts…

“Waaaaahhh! I’m gonna go bankrupt!”

… Was shedding large tears after seeing the huge pile of materials that Haruki had brought her.