Chapter 128.1

128 Part 1

Let’s be an Adventurer! ~Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board~ 128

The muffled laughter made Yoshioka even more furious.

The blood vessels that emerged on Yoshioka’s forehead seemed to be about to burst.

Froth started to appear in the gaps between his clenched teeth.

“To go and try to make fun of me… You truly are rotten. I see, so you’re putting on that mask and using it to threaten other people into giving you their money. If you’re putting so much effort in your appearance, you must be really incompetent. …I pity weaklings like you.”

Yoshioka bent his mouth with a puff.

Then, the next instant…

Karen, Rhea, and even Esta and Maat became seething with anger at the same time.

The temperature of the room fell all of a sudden.

Their bloodthirst was so evident that even Yoshioka flinched.

It was even worse for the rest of the Self-Defense Force members, whose knees wouldn’t stop trembling and their teeth wouldn’t stop rattling.

But contrary to his fellows, Yoshioka was taking in their ill will and calmly analyzing the situation.

(Why is Mr. Yoshioka so frantic?)

At that moment, his anger towards Haruki and the others seemed to have receded.

Yelling or looking down on the person you meet for the first time…

That sort of thing would normally be unthinkable to do.

In society, the one who yells is the one who loses.

Haruki wasn’t someone Yoshioka should be yelling at.

Because Yoshioka was part of Hakodate’s Self-Defense Force, and Haruki was one of the adventurers who accepted the request from Ichibishi.

They represented Hakodate City and Ichibishi respectively.

Being inappropriate here meant to sully the name of that which they represented.

It was obvious that the leader of the Self-Defense Forces here didn’t understand that.

But why…

Thinking about it, Haruki could understand what Yoshioka’s purpose was all along.

With a glance, Haruki tried to ask Kagemitsu.

Noticing his gaze, Kagemitsu nodded at him with a sidelong glance.

(I knew it… What is Mr. Yoshioka’s truly trying to do?)

A dry sound reached Haruki’s ears while he was deep in thought.

He clapped his hands once, making everyone else’s eyes to be on him.

Then, he signaled the rest of the Self-Defense Forces with his eyes.

“We don’t have time to be playing games. It’s about time we take our adventurer friends into custody. Enomoto.”

“Y-Yes!”

“Understand? Take them away.”

“–!”

Kagemitsu reined Yoshi in, who was about to yell an objection.

Looking at Karen, who was standing behind him with a puzzled look on her face, Haruki nodded as if saying that everything was going to be okay.

Led by the member of the Self-Defense Force called Enomoto, Haruki and the others walked through the former school’s corridors.

“…Don’t make any imprudent moves.”

Walking ahead of Haruki, Kagemitsu warned everyone.

If he hadn’t done that, Van, Becky, and even Doraneko wouldn’t have been filled with uncertainty about what to do.

Yoshi seemed calm, but there was a certain glint in his eyes.

It was something that they had lacked this whole time, but now was the complete opposite.

Was Yoshi unexpectedly the most dangerous of them all?

“…Here.”

With that said, Enomoto opened the door.

That door, of course, wasn’t leading outside.

Haruki and the others had been taken to the guest room, located at the very end of the former school building.

It wasn’t particularly sturdy.

But it seemed that the door couldn’t be opened from the inside.

“Do you understand what this means?”

With a quiet voice, Kagemitsu asked Enomoto.

The Self-Defense Force member kept his head down as he restrained them.

There was no way that he didn’t know what this course of actions meant.

He remained silent precisely because he knew.

“…Oh well. Come on, guys. Let’s get in.”

Upon hearing Kagemitsu, the members of Aerial didn’t hide their dissatisfaction as they entered the room.

Haruki and Karen went in as well.

After everyone was inside the guest room, Enomoto slowly closed the door.

A small clicking sound echoed throughout the room.

“…I’m sorry.”

From the other side of the door, Enomoto’s voice sounded so thin that it seemed that the man was about to cry.

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“…So, what are we going to do now?”

Becky was the first one to speak as soon as they could no longer hear the Self-Defense Force member’s steps on the hallway.

She had done exactly as she was told and did nothing, but her tone of voice strongly suggested she resented Kagemitsu for what happened.

“I don’t understand this situation at all…”

Feeling ashamed of herself, Karen murmured that in a whisper.

She was in a room filled with adventurers more experienced than her, so she was getting a bit of cold feet.

Seeing how Karen was, Kagemitsu softened his expression so as to give her some piece of mind.

“Simply put, the Self-Defense Force has put us under house arrest. If we play nice until they defeat the unique species monster, then we’ll be released quietly.

On the other hand, if we try to force our way out of here, they could report it as property damage and even injury. That would trouble our client.”

“…In that case, if we contact the outside, we might be able to leave this place peacefully, right?”

After saying that, Becky took her phone from her bag.

She was probably going to use it to try to call someone.

She wandered around the room, constantly looking at the screen, and then she grimaced regretfully and shook her head.