Ai sank onto her chair in her office, and let out a big sigh as she pressed her head.
She had just gone over the footage of her company’s new product, portacool.
It was not just her, the president, who saw it. The chairman, Genichirou, also saw it, as did members of the product development division. And the footage being what it was rendered everyone silent.
She asked Haruto Tanaka to take portacool with him, to clear away issues they could not find in testing. It was equipped with a camera, but the footage it filmed was too shocking.
That said, not everything was filmed.
The footage became choppy after it was hit by the giant green slime.
One moment, Tanaka was fighting orcs, then talking to one or letting them have monsters. He played with a green slime, then he was suddenly fighting them. It was quite different from what Ai expected of a seeker.
And what surprised her the most was his high combat abilities.
It was rare for a seeker to be alone. There was a limit to what one could do alone, no matter how strong they were.
Seekers put their lives at risk, and exploring in groups was not only an obvious way to lessen that risk, but also more effective.
And yet, Tanaka went at it alone, and overpowered monsters and slaughtered them with weapons.
He was a one-man army.
It was easy to say it, but since Ai explored the dungeon as a hobby, she knew how hard this was.
“Could you do the same, chairman?”
“Yes, but not at Tanaka’s age.”
The chairman responded immediately, sounding impressed as he rubbed his chin.
“Tanaka wouldn’t be inferior to seekers who passed the fortieth floor. He was so calm before a unique monster. He must have faced them a few times before. Still… He is getting stronger at a frightening pace.”
Ai’s father Genichirou was a seeker when he was younger.
At first, he was simply a seeker being exploited by his country, but he went on to become a big contributor to the founding of the seeker association.
Ai asked that because she knew this, but that was all he said.
However, he looked into the distance, and cast his eyes down as if regretting something.
“Does he have multiple skills?”
“I don’t know how many for sure, but at least two magic skills and Physical Strengthening. It feels to me like he also has fighting skills, but his moves are too crude. And maybe the rare skill Storage Space?”
“Not Item Box?”
“Item Box has limits. The kind of things it can store and the capacity depends on the level, and it can only carry what the user could carry. Also, the limitations on what can be stored are strict, and if you were to store something like a tent, everything from stakes to the frame would count as one thing, meaning it would require a big capacity to fit it all.
And Tanaka was storing everything without any issues. It’s definitely Storage Space.”
Just like that unruly girl, he muttered to himself.
Ai did not know who he meant by that, but she had an idea of who could have the Storage Space skill.
The president of the seeker association, Michiyo Amatsu. She was an active seeker of a generation not far removed from Genichirou’s.
She retired as a seeker and began working in the seeker association, eventually becoming its second president. She was the stepdaughter of Eiji Amatsu, the first president, and her strength was great even for a seeker. She was one of a few who passed the fiftieth floor.
Her combat style involved using many weapons stored in her Storage Space, and she slaughtered enemies with an overwhelming amount of weapons and elusive movements.
Anyone who knew how she fought called her Item Master, with respect and fear.
Tanaka had the same skill as her. This alone was surprising, but so was the amount of skills he had despite not even crossing the thirtieth floor.
◇ ◇ ◇
The footage advanced, and showed Tanaka setting up camp on the twenty-ninth floor.
They thought Tanaka had no partners, but there were seekers who seemed to be his friends.
Ai was relieved to see this. Even strong adventurers could lose their lives to a mistake. And if one was alone, there was no one to cover for it.
Having others eased those worries a little, but Tanaka was alone the whole time until this point. Other than the orcs who sat with him.
If Tanaka joined this party, his explorations would surely be safer.
Her relief was soon ended when the footage cut to him in a deadly battle against other seekers.
They seemed to be enjoying the fight, while Tanaka’s expression was filled with rage and his eyes with bloodthirst.
The difference between this and the carefree atmosphere before left her speechless.
What happened that enraged him to that extent?
The answer became clear after the battle was over.
The deadly back and forth ended when Tanaka killed the seekers, who had turned into a monster.
The footage cut off in intervals, but it was all dreadful.
Once the battle was over, portacool was taken to the remains of the people he camped with before.
“Eeh!?”
A member of the product development division let out a small scream, and while she was the only one to vocalize it, all the others were aghast and faced down.
“Leave if you feel sick.”
Said Ai, and two left with their hands covering their mouths.
Tanaka put them inside portacool, and carried the sole survivor.
He walked straight ahead, but seemed more frail than before.
The footage jumped again, and a battle with wyverns began.
It was technically a battle, but it was one-sided.
The girl woke up in the meantime and ran, but besides that, Tanaka cleared the bosses of the thirtieth floor, the wall before becoming a pro seeker, all too easily.
“That is enough.”
The footage cut when he left the dungeon.
Ai told everyone that was it, but no one stood up. They were supposed to be discussing how to improve their new product, but the seeker called Tanaka was burned into their eyes.
We will talk again tomorrow, she said as forced the meeting to break up, bringing us back to the start, in her office.
◇ ◇ ◇
“…I shouldn’t call him now, right?”
She grabbed the smartphone from her desk, and hesitated to call him, before placing it back on her desk.
She leaned back on her chair and closed her eyes.
Meeting Tanaka was a coincidence.
It was perhaps due to her father collapsing, but her uncle started acting strangely, and a conflict began in her family. She went to the dungeon to clear her mind, but her consciousness suddenly faded, and the two people with her left her.
She woke up to find the face of a fat man near hers, making her feel like she was caught by a pervert and in danger.
She quickly realized that was wrong, and after an explanation of the situation she was in, she realized she almost died.
She thanked the fat man who saved her, Tanaka, and exchanged contact information, promising him to properly thank him another time.
That was how she met Tanaka.
She then tried to thank him, but her calls went unanswered, or cut off the moment they went through.
He appeared to be a student, and she felt she might be bothering with her calls, but the circumstances would not allow her to leave it alone.
Her father did not seem long for this world.
She was desperate. She thought about asking the Church of Minsul for help in return for a large fee, but feared they would take over Honto.
And as she wondered what to do, Tanaka’s face popped into her mind.
She remembered he used Healing Magic to save her.
There were not many Healing Magic users, and even fewer among them could treat diseases.
She had no idea if Tanaka was one of them, but she was grasping at straws.
The money she offered Tanaka was an appropriate payment for Healing Magic, but the effect made her feel like there was a zero missing.
If she asked the Church of Minsul for help, that would most likely be the price. That was how valuable Tanaka’s Healing Magic was.
She heard this from her father after he regained consciousness.
She was going to transfer more money to Tanaka, but her father intervened.
“Stop. If you transfer more money, Tanaka will be noticed.”
She gave up on doing it after that warning.
Genichirou was famous in the industry. Honto was a big company, and its track record with seekers meant it had a strong connection with the seeker association.
News that Genichirou was bedridden due to an illness had already spread, and people from other companies knew he would not live much longer. There were already talks of mergers and acquisitions.
Once Genichirou recovered, the question of how it happened popped up, and it would lead to Healing Magic users. And some people would try to learn who they hired. Someone would follow the money back to the Healing Magic user.
This would be a problem for Tanaka.
Most Healing Magic users were employed by companies, wealthy individuals, or the Church of Minsul. Few were unattached.
If it was discovered there was a free one, who to add to it, was very proficient, people would swarm him to take him.
Tanaka saved her father’s life, so she could not cause him such trouble. She spread word that the money she sent him was actually a thank you for saving her, and that Tanaka was an ordinary seeker with a good conscience.
If they never crossed paths again, no one would follow the track back to Tanaka.
But her father’s words made her think.
“Tanaka will stand out eventually. No matter how he tries to hide, it’s impossible to keep that power hidden. Build a relationship with him, in case anything happens.”
“Will he want that?”
“We need to help him so things don’t head in a direction he doesn’t want. Not as a seeker, but as a backer.”
Then, as she settled trouble within the company, she received news that her cousin had died. And he was named as a suspect in a murder case.
When she went to the police station, she learned that he was suspected of killing his mother, her uncle’s ex-wife.
She had not spoken to him in over ten years.
Misappropriation led to him being thrown out of the company, and he served time in prison. She heard he got out, but did not know what he was up to.
He did not show himself even when his uncle changed and began saying he should be president. And this was when she heard he had gone back to his hometown and was working as a seeker.
She got in a car, and went to the seeker association to know more.
He actually died in the dungeon, and an employee told her a fat seeker had brought his things.
Ai only knew one fat seeker. Tanaka.
She went to his apartment, and while she was denied at first, she managed to get him to talk. And she learned he attacked Tanaka.
Ai bowed, but he simply looked bothered by it.
From his point of view, the culprit was dead, so someone uninvolved like Ai bowing was just a bother.
“That’s fine. The guy that did it paid the price, just leave.”
Said an annoyed Tanaka, and she left.
“I’m sorry for all the trouble you went through.”
“I don’t need a formal apology or anything.”
“…Yes. Come visit our company if you feel like it. The chairman wants to see you.”
Tanaka did not respond, but that was more positive than a no.
This whole thing might have truly troubled him a lot.
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