CH 101

Episode 101: Those who wash their hands of Pandora's Box, and those who try to open it (Third Party Perspective)

"I still have the chills ..."

A woman mutters to herself while seeing off the backs of three people of both genders, a Junior High school student and two High school students. The woman, dressed in the Explorers' Union uniform, is the person called Kurosaki Rei.

When they go out of Rei's sight, she returns to the room given to her, and remembers the people who were sitting at the table facing her.

"When Momoka requested an investigation, it was about Satou-san whom I appraised and didn't see anything other than his name. I investigated Satou's hometown and the Shinomiya Academy he attends, and as I followed him to investigate, I don't think it's any different from the information that young woman obtained."

To tell the truth, Rei is an S-rank explorer. Moreover, she specializes in stealth, invading houses, a professional among professionals when it comes to conducting investigations.

The fact that she only got information that is not so different than other covert explorers, she was a little angry, but she couldn't go any further.

"What I know is, his family is comprised of his mother, and a lone sister. His father died. His mother is an ordinary housewife who loves cooking, and his sister is a famous beautiful girl around here. Although she was involved in an accident, she has been awakened as an explorer. There is no information about his father. He registered as an explorer to make his High school debut and entered Shinomiya Academy as a scholarship student, and failed his debut. After that, he ignored the rest of his classmates other than his friend Sakura, and dived solo into the E-rank dungeon. After the dungeon triggered a Rebirth, although he went out somewhere, there is no evidence of him diving into a dungeon. However, for some reason, he met the E-rank promotion criteria, and immediately after taking the exam, he was promoted to E-rank. After that, he mainly used the D-rank forest dungeon as a hunting ground. Huh ..."

Rei looks through the reports of Fuhito she made.

Even though there was no evidence that he dived into a dungeon, he accumulated contribution and was qualified to take the examination. And it's funny that no information about his father came out. There must be something.

Thinking such, Rei looks for that information.

"No way, he was the son of Satou Eiichirou ..."

Satou Eiichirou was the former Japan's strongest explorer. However, he became a man who never returned from a certain dungeon. His party members other than Satou Eiichirou returned safely, but the members silently said nothing about the events in the search, and the fact was buried in the darkness. Nothing more than that is known because it wasn't recorded.

"Then, Katsuragi Alexia, who is acting with Satou-san. Her family consists of her father, mother, and herself. Both parents are currently missing in the SSS-rank dungeon. Her parents are explorers of SS-rank or higher. Immediately after getting qualifications, she was promoted to E-rank. After that, she was diving in a D-rank forest dungeon, but at some point she stopped exploring. There is information that she was seen in a park near the Shushima Dungeon, details are unknown."

Now she looks at Alexia's report.

Rei remembers when she tried to find their information.

Momoka asked her, "There is a person who has destroyed all the equipment he tested of the company to which I belong. I want to bring that person into my company, so please investigate." That person was Satou Fuhito.

Thinking such, after conducting an interview survey around Fuhito's parents' house and collecting personal data, she invaded the school to investigate him at Shinomiya Academy.

But when she tried to get closer to his room in the dormitory, she had no choice but to run away due to murderous intent that she couldn't return if she went any further.

After that, when she tried to follow him to find out where he's going after school, he looks at her position, no matter how far away she is, and tilts his head. It was the first time for her to have her ability be so ineffective.

After that, she switched her target to Alexia, who is working with Fuhito, but she was too sharp to approach. She couldn't see them at all because she had to be extremely close to use appraisal.

She remembers the time when she reported that to Momoka by phone.

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[ Huh!? You couldn't find out? ]

"Yes, they're weird. It's impossible that they could notice me."

The voice of Momoka on the phone is astonished.

[ Fuu. To make you say it to that degree ... I have to obtain him regardless of the means. ]

"I'm going to wash my hands of this? Don't get involved, it felt like I was approaching a Pandora's Box that I shouldn't open. I advise you to stop it, alright?"

Remembering the horror she tasted, Rei is shivering during the call, she wants to advise Momoka who is seriously trying to acquire Satou Fuhito.

[ Understood. I'll give up on that exceptional talent. By the way, please accept half the money. I got information worth that much. ]

"I understand. Thank you."

[ No, no, thank you too. ]

The more she investigates about Fuhito, the more Rei felt she was stepping into something ridiculous, so she stopped the investigation.

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"What the hell are they ..."

This time, she curses while remembering the previous event.

She never thought that the subject of the investigation would return home and come out in front of her. Even though she had already turned down the job from Momoka, she decided to take them to another room and listen to them for information.

She heard that they found a cave near their campsite and went inside to explore it, and it turned out to be a dungeon. Thanks to that, his sister, who had an explorer's aptitude, was awakened.

At the moment she gathered magical power in an attempt to appraise the two, she was struck by a dense murderous intent. It was Katsuragi Alexia who gave off such a murderous intent. The murderous intent was equal to or higher than Rei's S-rank.

It's unclear why Alexia, who is only an E-rank explorer and hasn't even explored much, has such a ridiculous power, but Rei doesn't have thick enough nerves to be able to appraise them after being directed with such murderous intent.

"Oh, if I had used Appraisal, I might have been blown away, in many ways ..."

Basically, Appraisal must not be done without the permission of the other party. This is because the status can be understood if the other party is appraised, and the status is a mass of information that can be said to be the explorer's lifeline.

Therefore, if the Appraisal is done without permission, and it is found out, the Explorers' Union will surely fire them, and it will be known among the explorers that they are a human being who uses Appraisal without the permission of the other party.

Of course, if it's Rei, she can deceive the other party's recognition and memory, but it requires a certain amount of magical power, so it is not a possible substitute that can be used so easily.

A girl who gave a warning that she would kill her if she snoops into their information any further. If she had appraised, she was given the feeling of having her neck physically flying, and Rei shuddered.

"Anyway, it's good to be careful and cautious and repeatedly contact those children."

Rei started doing her normal work by herself. However, Rei's work never progressed.

Alexia only gave off a slightly strong intimidation, but Rei has no way of knowing it.