Under a tower, in a hall of the Special Division of the Seeker Surveillance Agency, a bewitching beautiful woman walked fast.
Her beautiful appearance and her somewhat big glasses created an adorable gap. She had a good figure, and her chest area was packed with dreams to the point of being called lethal weapons.
Yuuka Ayatsuri was headed to the room furthest in the hall to report on her duty.
Along the way, a seeker colleague called out to her, but she ignored the vulgar invitation and continued.
The seeker did not seem to like that, but did nothing.
He knew what would happen if he caused trouble in that place, and he feared his boss would come after him if he put his hands on Yuuka.
Said boss was Kuroitsu, a symbol of fear in this Special Division.
He was more influential than the chief, and had the power to handily beat even the strongest seekers there.
Upon reaching the room, Yuuka saw said symbol of fear reading documents behind a desk.
He looked like a very normal man. He had a slender body, and hair swept back that reached his shoulders. Were it not for his completely black outfit, he would look like any other middle aged man.
“Mister Kuroitsu! This isn’t what I heard, that person was cheating!”
Yuuka flared up at him.
Kuroitsu seemed unapproachable, but for a member of his team, he was a trusted boss.
“Oh dear, was he that strong?”
“All the monsters I had were beaten. I’m in the red now! Please write it off!”
“Oh, that bad in such a short amount of time… I understand. I will do something about that. Did you write a report?”
“Yes, here it is. But I didn’t figure out how he blocked your power.”
“That’s fine. We wouldn’t know if there was a skill like that, and he might not even have realized it. Learning that he’s strong enough for you to call him a cheater is enough.”
Kuroitsu took the documents handed to him by Yuuka and looked through them, dropping what he was reading before on the desk. These other documents were about a seeker of the Special Division of the Seeker Surveillance Agency.
◇ ◇ ◇
Yuuka thought back to the day when she started investigating Tanaka.
On the first day, she waited for him to leave his apartment, but he came from somewhere and happily raised his arms in front of the mailbox.
She assumed something good happened, but an old lady who appeared to be his landlord was surprised by his actions and poured water on him.
Being surprised was one thing, but that was too far. Tanaka looked despondent, but apologized to her for some reason.
Yuuka was confused.
Tanaka went in, and not long after left with short sleeved protective clothing often worn by seekers. He had no other defensive equipment or weapons, so Yuuka assumed he left his things in a place near the dungeon that offered such a service.
Sure enough, he went to the shopping mall and entered the alchemy workshop Mononofu’s Weapons Store.
They offered a service to store things, and he took a white armor to the counter.
…When?
She had no idea when he got that. It was just there all of a sudden.
Tanaka talked to the owner about something, and left with his shoulders drooping.
And his weapons? Armor?
Wasn’t he there to get them?
She questioned that, but tailing him mattered more, so she crossed the portal to the tenth floor.
And she lost sight of him.
◇ ◇ ◇
The next day, she waited outside his house again.
Under the summer sun, even just standing outside was enough to draw sweat, but she used a cooling magic item to keep herself comfortable.
Tanaka came out dressed the same way as before. Did he not do laundry?
“…Filthy.”
It was supposed to be a whisper, but Tanaka stopped and looked around.
She braced herself wondering if he heard it, but he kept walking as though nothing happened, so surely it was a coincidence.
He went to the shopping mall again, brought the armor to the counter again, and seemed terribly troubled about something.
She looked at him closely this time, but still had no clue where he got that.
In the end, he left without doing anything, and headed to the dungeon, this time with a breastplate and helmet equipped.
He still had no weapons, so Yuuka wondered what his intentions were.
He crossed the portal.
Last time, Yuuka lost sight of him, and although she tried, she never found him.
The documents said he had gone past the thirteenth floor, so surely, he would exit on the tenth. But since Kuroitsu said he was strong, she figured she could check the twentieth.
And sure enough, a man with a big body was not far in front of her.
She was surprised that he actually beat the boss of the twentieth floor. Solo, no less.
He might have called for help, but somehow, she figured he did not have that sort of friendly relationship.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Kyahahaha!?”
Tanaka passed by an orc. He raised his hand to say hello, and the orc reciprocated.
Tanaka laughed, and the orc twisted its vicious face to laugh.
Are you friends with orcs!? She thought.
Seeing that surreal scene rendered her unable to control her laughter.
Other seekers were also laughing, in awe, or taking photos or recording videos.
One seeker tried to imitate him and also greeted an orc, but was punched away, so it seemed this phenomenon was exclusive to Tanaka.
Was Tanaka a seeker? Not a monster? Perhaps she could catch him, Yuuka thought as she used her Covert skill to continue tailing him.
She really wanted to try it. Could she?
These impure thoughts continued running around, and perhaps because of that, the effect of Covert loosened.
Tanaka felt Yuuka’s eyes on him, and allowed her to approach him.
Yuuka thought this was bad, so she called forth a monster sealed in a small bottle.
It was an orc. The only monster on this floor, but this one in particular had been strengthened.
“Go.”
She whispered, and it attacked Tanaka.
She knew the orc could not beat him, but it could buy time. However, it was slaughtered in an instant, and turned into a pile of flesh.
In that moment when Tanaka’s mind was focused on the orc, Yuuka focused on Covert and hid herself deeper.
She realized what Kuroitsu meant when he said he was strong. It was not as though she forgot, but since his actions did not make him look strong, she misjudged his strength.
“Let’s be a little more careful.”
Yuuka said to herself.
◇ ◇ ◇
The next morning, he moved out early in the day.
He got on the train to go to the dungeon, but it seemed he was waiting for someone, as he stood in a place with good visibility, taking about half the path.
What a nuisance.
After a while, a man spoke to Tanaka, and they went inside a car.
She could not follow him if he was in a car, so if he left in it, she would have to give up for that day.
Thankfully, he exited the car, so that did not come to pass, but she thought she should have considered the possibility that he would go somewhere by car.
She took a photo of the person who was with him to check. He did not appear to be a seeker, but just in case.
Nothing really happened that day. There was just that part where he almost died because of some item.
She laughed a lot at that, but that was all.
◇ ◇ ◇
Then on the fifth day, he guided new seekers.
This was something everyone who passed the twentieth floor had to do at least once.
Of course, there was a reward, along with the spoils of that exploration. However, this only applied to those registered in the Seeker Association.
It was not something someone not affiliated like Tanaka had to do, but for some reason, he was doing it.
Guiding new seekers went smoothly, making it a dull day for Yuuka. All Tanaka did was follow them.
It was so boring in fact, that Yuuka felt like offering advice about the boss of the tenth floor.
In the end, he complained to the president of the Seeker Association and was taken somewhere, but Yuuka ignored it and went home.
◇ ◇ ◇
On the sixth day, he received a lecture on sewing for some reason. Yuuka had no idea why. He even used a ticket for it.
Those tickets meant he would get priority in popular courses, so why use it on sewing?
The receptionist told him it was a waste, but he did not care.
Surely he had no idea how much they were worth. Or was sewing just that important to him?
Only he knew.
◇ ◇ ◇
And on the final day… Which was not really the final day, because there was one more.
Unexpectedly for Yuuka, he camped in the dungeon on her final day.
During this investigation, Yuuka uncovered that he had Earth Magic, Spatial Grasp, Physical Strengthening, and a skill to take things out at will.
There were two things the last one could be, but it was most likely Item Box, an ability to store things, the types and quantity of which depended on the level. It was a very valuable skill, and having someone who had it in a party made its efficiency skyrocket.
It could also be the rare skill Storage Space. Unlike Item Box, this did not depend on one’s level, and the user could put whatever he wanted in it.
Only one person was confirmed to have it, the president of the Seeker Association.
But more importantly, Yuuka’s investigation so far led her to believe he had at least two irregular encounters.
◇ ◇ ◇
Tanaka fought green slime.
He went right into a fight with a monster everyone ran away from, and easily won.
At this point, she was a little curious about him. Just how strong was he? Stronger than her? How did he get away from Mister Kuroitsu’s power?
After thinking about it a lot, she decided to have the monsters she had attack him.
Her intention was not to kill him, just test his strength.
But he kept taking down the monsters under her control, and she panicked and continued sending them at him. It was as though he never got tired.
“Geez! What’s with him!?”
She asked in anger, as Tanaka’s momentum refused to slow down.
Half the monsters she had were gone, and she was beginning to regret starting it.
Maybe it was time for the climax, she decided, and then it appeared.
An orc that was about three meters tall. Its muscles were like armor, and it held a big club along with a shield that it most likely took from a seeker.
Alerts rang in Yuuka’s head, telling her this one was bad news.
She passed the fortieth floor, but her combat abilities were not that high. Her skill allowed her to control monsters and make them fight for her, but her real power was about on the level that she could take down a wood golem.
But then she just had to use her skill to bring out stronger monsters and make them fight… Unfortunately, she could not.
Lately, she could not explore too deeply, or get colleagues to help her, so she could not replenish her stock. Also, she could only make monsters her vassals for a month.
For this reason, she currently only had monsters she could beat.
The unique monster moved out. It swung its club, sweeping away all the other monsters nearby, and ran straight to Tanaka.
She figured this was bad, and was about to give her monsters instructions to hold the high orc back, but stopped.
The intensity oozing from Tanaka suddenly increased.
“What now…”
She thought as she saw Tanaka’s face twisting in an ugly way.
He held up his greatsword, closed the distance between himself and the high orc in a flash, and cut off the arm holding the club.
The high orc screamed, but Tanaka cut off one of its legs, and then the arm holding the shield.
In no time at all, the high orc was at death’s door, and Tanaka finished it by smashing its head.
This was not normal. His power was abnormal on top of abnormal, and it made her think of her boss.
“You have cheats too…”
The monsters under her control fell one after the other.
She thought no matter how many skills Tanaka had, they would push through with their numbers. But it seemed Tanaka, much like Kuroitsu, had a cheat skill.
There were skills that temporarily boosted one’s abilities. Berserk was one such skill, which took one’s physical strength to the limit at the cost of losing reasoning power. That was not Tanaka. He seemed to enjoy battle, but did not appear to have turned violent to the point where it could be said he lost his reasoning power.
Surely it had to be a rare skill.
Yuuka left, and compiled the information she got during this investigation to deliver it to Kuroitsu.
◇ ◇ ◇
After reading her report, Kuroitsu raised his head and turned to Yuuka with a question.
“Are you sure he has five skills?”
“At least five. He might have even more.”
“It says here he spoke to the owner of Mononofu’s Weapons Store, but did they seem friendly? Ah, and tell me about the president.”
“It felt like he was just talking to a customer. Same with the president. I don’t think he even knew she was the president.”
“And the man he met up with was the husband of the head of the Honto corporation, correct?”
“No doubt about it. It didn’t take me long to find that out. I don’t know who was in the car, but I assume they were family members of his.”
“I see. Thank you.”
Kuroitsu then went silent as he thought.
Yuuka was about to leave, since she was done with her report, but she was curious about the documents about a seeker that Kuroitsu was looking through before.
And she looked annoyed when she read them.
“Ueh. Mister Kuroitsu, another person involved with the church?”
“Yes. I tried to catch this one, because I thought it would be a problem, but this person caught on and ran away.”
Kuroitsu laughed it off, but his eyes were not laughing.
“We are still looking for this person, but we haven’t caught the trail. What a problem they are, like roaches that enter through any crevice. Gross.”
It was rare to see Kuroitsu looking displeased. Something probably happened, but she was hesitant to ask.
It was not good to pry into peoples’ pasts, even if they had a friendly relationship. Not to mention that Kuroitsu was her boss.
And she was not actually interested. Kuroitsu being involved guaranteed it was a bloody affair.
“Ah, and you can leave Tanaka.”
“Are you sure? I thought you would invite him.”
Tanaka becoming a colleague… It was not something she wished to think about, but considering his power, it was a definite possibility.
She thought for sure that was why he had her investigating him.
“No no, I have no intention of doing that. I really just wanted to know. And if he’s involved with the president and the owner of that weapons shop, it’s out of my hands. They can take care of him.”
She was not convinced by his explanation, but if he told her to leave him alone, she would do that.
Tanaka was an interesting person. He was terrible in many ways, but not a bad guy. If he survived, she would meet him eventually.
She felt a little disappointed, but figured she must be imagining it, and responded to her boss.
“Yes.”
ーーー
Yuuka Ayatsuri (24)
Level: 29
Skills: Alchemy, Vassalage, Seal, Covert, Status Condition Resistance
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And she looked annoyed when she read them. -> And he looked annoyed when she read them.
Thanks for the treat.