Thirty minutes before the meeting started, Ayane contacted her mother, Sakuya Houjouin, through the exclusive Houjouin web meeting system while the sisters watched..
“Thank you for giving me some of your precious time, mother.”
‘Oh, Ayane. What happened today? Why are you contacting me from the room of the Saotome sisters?’
There was no information on the screen besides Ayane and Sakuya, but she knew.
Ayane looked at Aira, but she shook her head. It seemed she had not contacted her yet.
But this was no mystery. The head of the Houjouin family was rumored to have eyes and ears everywhere, so it should be easy enough for her to know where her daughter was.
“I am going out with someone I fell in love with at first sight, but in order to build a good relationship, I have something I have to ask of you.”
‘Oh my, how nice. But a favor of me? How formal.’
“Can you annul the contract between you and Aira? Darling won’t share secrets with me as things stand.”
Sakuya’s eyes stopped smiling when she heard this.
‘…I see, So you noticed it. I don’t want to think it was due to a slip of the tongue on Aira’s part… Was it you who noticed it? Or your dear darling?’
“Darling.”
‘I see. He has the intuition to realize it after one day. He does sound like he has what it takes to be your husband.’
Sakuya looked to be thinking, and a smile returned to her eyes.
‘…Fufu, I understand. But come home. Let us set the conditions to form a contract again.’
“Thank you mother.”
‘However, come back by yourself, without Aira. Leave her with your future husband. We will go get her tomorrow morning.’
“…Yes.”
‘Well then, I can’t be late to the meeting.’
Said Sakuya before leaving the call, followed by Ayane closing it.
Ayane took a deep breath.
“Fuah… I was so nervous!”
“Good job, Ayane!”
“Facing Sakuya one on one in conversation is incredible! I would’ve been too nervous to speak.”
Sakuya Houjouin was famous for being one of the founding members of the association in japan.
To the Saotome sisters, Sakuya was like a living legend. They admired her even before the dungeons appeared, but her activities after establishing the association pushed those feelings further. They both respected and were in awe of her.
They knew most of the other branch chiefs since they were little, so they were not nervous around them, but Sakuya was different. They even hesitated to speak to her during meetings, and froze up when she spoke to them.
“I’m all too used to it after living with her this long. But I have to face her tomorrow to settle the conditions…”
“Sakuya is always smiling, but I heard she’s as tough on people close to her as she is with her enemies. If that’s true…”
“I heard you have to leave Aira, but will you be all right?”
“Yes. Aira, please stay with darling for a while starting tomorrow!”
“I will, lady. But I do not know what conditions the head of the family will bring forth. Be very cautious.”
“Yes, Ayane. You can come back and talk to us if it’s hard to understand.”
“That’s right. After all, we are all going to be together in supporting him from now on.”
“Yes!”
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
Afterwards, the meeting started on schedule, and it was announced that Ayane joined Aki and Maki in being with Shouta. The female branch managers congratulated her, and the male branch managers congratulated her while resenting Shouta.
And eventually, the topic moved to what happened in the Heart Dungeon, and detailed information on the Golden Bugs, rare monsters that supposedly did not exist in that dungeon.
There were also the powered up monsters that appeared in both the Heart Dungeon and beginner dungeon, but information on how they were spawned was still being investigated, and the branch managers were relieved to hear it seemed difficult for regular adventurers to replicate this phenomenon.
Then they moved on to the ‘requests’. Aki announced she had six Super Strength orbs.
They asked for seven, but despite there being one missing, there was no argument, and they distributed them in order.
“They will be sent tomorrow with the association seal. We’ll send you one next time.”
‘Yes, I am in no hurry, so take your time.’
“Thank you.”
As the discussion died down, they turned their eyes to the auction happening at the same time, and the branch managers spoke about the large number of skills. Yes, about Shouta’s abilities.
‘So many right after discovering rare monsters… Despite trying to train them, we could never dream of an adventurer like this. But this is a bright hope.’
‘Yes. Compared to other stats, Luck isn’t as influenced by level ups or special items. That means you would have to pour it all into Luck, but I’m sad to say, as you do so, harmful effects start appearing.’
“Is that right?”
“I-I’ve never heard of that!”
Aki and Maki could not believe it.
The association did not recommend continuously increasing Luck, but that was because it was seen as impractical. That was what they were taught in school, so they saw evolving Luck as something Shouta invented.
‘Yes, only people ranked five and up know about this project. It should not be something to be discussed with rank four and below present, but the sisters and Youko know about him anyway. Is it all right if I say it, chief?’
‘Yes. If you make sure to emphasize that this is not to be spread around, you can even tell that adventurer. You can hear more about it from Miki.’
“Y-yes.”
The association knew about the effects of Luck, that the higher it went, the better the chances of items dropping. But they could not make that public due to a certain issue.
‘Basically, there are two harmful effects. First, the basic added values from leveling up become smaller. Second, even the SP becomes lower eventually.
It happens every time SP is spent on Luck. If you keep pouring SP on Luck, it dulls the growth rate. It’s like a bad dream.’
‘So people fall behind their peers in terms of stats, and to top it all off, Luck starts to not have an effect. And since people can’t go on the front lines without good abilities, people who invest in Luck tend to not be able to handle that reality.’
‘There have been people who have gone past a hundred Luck, but most who reach two hundred can’t keep up anymore, and retire. Their level ups only gave them one point for stats, and two SP.’
The sisters looked at each other. They felt they heard that somewhere.
‘There were mad people abroad who went over three hundred, but they were distressed when that result came on top of them being weaker. Some refused to give up and ended up injured.
And yet, that young man is incredible. He has all that Luck, but retains his offensive abilities. I have never seen an adventurer like this!’
‘Now that he has the backing of the Houjouin family as well, he will be fine. And with the requests, and depending on the results from the auction, he might rank up.. We will see.’
‘And since there are those requests, we don’t need to rush to bid for Adamantine Armor. But since the Heart Dungeon is not his hunting ground, who knows when he might get another one.’
‘Nuh. That makes me want to secure one. We have monsters with nasty attacks in our dungeon, so that skill looks tempting…’
‘Fufu, I won’t push you into it.’
Then the branch managers watched the auction, and the sisters spoke to the people taking part in these ‘requests’ about equipment for Shouta.
The meeting went on, even after the auction started.
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I think the title should be part two not three