Chapter 97.1

97 Part 1

Let’s be an Adventurer! ~Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board~ 97

Let’s Clean Up After The Event!

Feeling as if his spirit had left his body, Haruki joined Karen, Rhea, and Esta.

Rhea seemed to be somewhat relieved, perhaps as a result of her earlier rampage.

In contrast to Rhea, Esta appeared to be considerably fatigued. He seemed to have been pushed around a lot.

“I’m sorry, we couldn’t make it to the ranking because of me…”

“Ah, don’t worry. By the way, I know you were late, but where have you been, Karaboshi?”

“Yeah… About that…”

As expected, he couldn’t just tell her that his fight atop Kamui Rock ended up with him splitting both the monster he was fighting and Kamui Rock itself in half.

Haruki turned away trying to be evasive about the whole deal.

“Don’t tell you you went back to the hot springs–”

“Muhah!”

Chep stared at Karen from Haruki’s backpack, cutting her short.

Karen froze due to the salmon’s sudden appearance.

Next to her, Rhea stared at Chep and pointed her two nozzles at her.

“Wait, Rhea! Hold your fire!”

Haruki hurriedly held his hands out.

If Rhea were to attack in that situation, Chep wouldn’t be the only one to be damaged.

The attack would tear his backpack apart, and if she were to miss, there was a big chance some potatoes would hit Haruki as well.

“… Ah, it seems you’ve picked up yet another weird thing…”

Karen took her eyes off Chep, looking like she had given up on trying to explain to herself what she was looking at.

Weird would be one word to describe her.

Haruki had no objections about that.

“You cruel beast! No matter how charming I am, I have to be stuffed in this– huh?”

Chep stopped her rash ranting suddenly as if she had just noticed something, and stared at it.

She was staring at Rhea.

As she stared at Rhea, Chep’s eyes started to gradually brim over with light.

“Well, well, what do we have here! What a lovely thing you are!!”

The excited Chep escaped from the backpack, falling head first onto the ground.

“Ngyooh!”

She made a strange voice, but soon stood up and prostrated herself in front of Rhea.

“What a beautiful figure you have. I’ve been deeply inspired by you!”

“(… What’s this all about?)”

Being the target of Chep’s excitement, Rhea faced Haruki as if trying to ask him that question.

However, Haruki had no idea why Chep was so excited about her.

“Hey, Chep. What’s the matter?”

“There’s nothing out there like this! Can’t you tell!? There’s a noble queen standing before us!? How haughty of you– Ngyooh!?”

It must have been too much for her to bear.

Rhea fired a potato stone at Chep.

The potato stone hit Chep’s head with a “bonk!”

Rhea’s shot had been pretty weak, perhaps because she wasn’t being really hostile to her target.

Or perhaps she was happy to have been called “a noble queen”?

The leaves on Rhea’s back were fluttering slightly.

It seemed that the latter was most likely.

Chep was a princess, and Rhea was a queen.

Of course, the queen had a higher standing.

Was that the reason why Chep prostrated herself before Rhea?

Haruki cut loose the rope that was binding Rhea and Esta together, and put them both back in their usual positions.

Chep would go on, saying things like “How beautiful is our Queen!”, “How disgraceful!”, “You’re unworthy of laying your filthy hands on our Lady!”, and so on… Annoyed by her, Rhea would shoot her potatoes at her several times.

“Why did you bring Chep along with you, Karaboshi?”

“I don’t even know that myself.”

“This is a little bit too much, even for you…”

“… Come on, Karen. What on earth are you taking me for?”

“…”

After asking her that question, Karen’s eyes began to roll around slowly.

She definitely had something wicked in her mind.

At any rate, it was a good idea to stop for a second and think about Karen’s question.

Why did he bring Chep along? Karen had asked him that question, but Haruki wasn’t really sure why.

It wasn’t like he brought her along out of pity of leaving her alone atop Kamui Rock, or with the intention of eating her later.

He just stuffed her in his backpack out of reflex.

It was like when you put away your tools after using them.

“Don’t tell me…”

“What is it?”

“Ah, nevermind.”

Haruki shook his head, drowning out his bad presentiment.

There was no point worrying about that at the moment.

He decided he would confirm his hunch the next day, when they would go to the Kamuikotan dungeon.

“Ah, Karaboshi!”

“Hmm?”

When he turned to see her, Karen had a big smile on her face.

“Actually, I…”

Seeing that smile made him feel a bit embarrassed somehow, as well as a vague uneasiness.

— Stop.

— Say no more!

Before Haruki could stop her…

“I came in third in the Monster Hunting Contest!”

“Waaaaaahhhh!!”

— Karaboshi Haruki, 27.

— It seems I’ve had the most unlucky day today.

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[Storm and Stress]　By: Kagemitsu

『Announcing the results of the Monster Hunting Contest』

Hello, this is Kagemitsu.

Like I’ve announced previously, today we had a Monster Hunting Contest around the Kamuikotan dungeon in Asahikawa.

It was the first event sponsored by Team Aerial, but I was happy to see that many people gathered there.

It was also my first event, and I think there was a lot of room for improvement with the rules and procedures.

Still, I hope the people who participated enjoyed it.

Well, without any further ado, I’ll announce the results:

[Individual]

1st place: Guts　5 points

2nd place: Bart　4 points

3rd place: Karen　3 points

[Team]

1st place: Team Dandy 8 points

2nd place: Banma Sentai Adventurers　6 points

3rd place: Doukenkyu　5 points

Congratulations to those who got a place in the top three!

If you didn’t make it, I hope to see you in our next event!

It seems that some people have suffered all sorts of mental damage during the event, but don’t worry. You guys are not to blame…

Get back on your feet! Don’t give up on being an adventurer…

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“Heyo! I’m here!”

A laid-back voice echoed through the old Kamuikotan Station building late at night.

Kagemitsu raised his face and glared at the person that appeared.

“I thought, ‘nah, can’t be her’, but you really came, huh?”

“Since my beloved disciple participated in the event, it’s natural for the teacher to come.”

“Which is the same as saying ‘I came to kill some time here because no one is coming into my store’?”

“… So, any problem with that?”

The face of the one who appeared in the station, Yuzuki Akane, turned serious with an unnatural speed.

It seemed that her having spare time since no one was coming into her store was the correct guess after all.

Nonetheless, she hadn’t come all the way there just to watch the event.

Behind the scenes, she was supporting the event’s success with the staff of Ichibishi’s Asahikawa branch.

Many people were confused by her tone of voice and attitude, but in fact, Akane was the most talented employee in the dungeon department of Ichibishi, where Japanese elites gathered.

She may act like she’s not thinking, but she always takes action according to her thoughts.

… Maybe.