I can finally see the corner where two walls meet. Seeing it on the Automatic Mapping skill gives me a small feeling of satisfaction too, but then…
“Hey, you!”
“Hn?”
I wasn’t expecting anyone to talk to me.
Just like Maki said, I was followed into the second floor too. They were keeping a lot of distance though, probably because this floor has much better visibility, and they were afraid I would notice them and become wary of them.
I didn’t want to suddenly turn around, and I was thinking of just leaving them be, as long as they didn’t cause any harm, but I didn’t expect them to be the ones to call out to me.
I turn around, and see four men.
Actually, they’re younger than me. Not that there’s much difference, because I’m barely past twenty.
“You… What’s with you!?”
“No, I should be the one asking that, shouldn’t I?”
You suddenly call out to me and that’s what you have to say?
But they don’t care, and keep talking.
“You’re the famous slime hunter, right!?”
“You came from some dungeon in the middle of nowhere and got an exclusive from the association!?”
“And a guy like you not only has Maki look after him, but seeing you off too…! I’m so jealous!!”
“That’s my goddess. I don’t care about proxy exclusives or whatever, but butt out!”
“You idiot, she ain’t yours!”
“What did you say!?”
That rush of people talking all at once leaves me dumbfounded.
But I feel like I’ve heard those voices before…
“…Ah, you were among those people hitting on Maki this morning.”
“W-we weren’t hittin’ on anyone! Maki isn’t anyone’s exclusive, so we were just showing that we fit the bill!”
“We’ve been very active in this dungeon and growing a lot, so she should be our exclusive. And just as we were politely explaining that to her, you decided to barge in…!”
“And you call that not hitting on someone…?”
If, for the sake of argument, we assume they’re right, I can see why I’d be their enemy. I interrupted that battle of showing off, and twisted the knife when Maki saw me off. It makes sense that they resent me for that.
But…
“Hey, if you’re all fighting to get her as your exclusive, why are you working together? Aren’t you rivals?”
“You really don’t know anything.”
“Kah! This guy was raised in the middle of nowhere and has no common sense!”
The middle of nowhere?
Dungeon 777 is actually pretty close. It’s about an hour away from here if you walk there.
“Fine, I can enlighten someone as ignorant as you. Yes, we’re rivals. And we all want that exclusivity contract for ourselves. But that’s ego on the part of adventurers.”
“Ego?”
“Yes. As frustrating as that may be, we’re just lacking a little bit of strength to have Maki be our exclusive as individuals. But it’s different as a team. We’re up-and-coming aces of this dungeon.
It goes without saying that a team makes more money, and the more money we make, the more money the receptionist gets!”
“I see…”
A team… Now that I think about it, everyone working on the first floor was doing it with other people. I guess it would be more profitable to become the exclusive of a team of strong people compared to someone working solo.
In the past three years, I didn’t meet anyone fanciful that accompanied me as I did my secret investigation. Not that I looked for anyone. It was easier to do it on my own, and I wanted to hog whatever I got at the end.
I’m so used to living that way as an adventurer, that I didn’t even consider teaming with someone.
Maki talked about me getting a porter to carry my stuff, but I don’t want anyone to know about my Gacha skill, so I’ll probably keep working solo.
Ah, yes, I’m a loner…
“…Hey, hey!”
“Hn, a-ah…”
“Why are you zoning out all of a sudden?”
“No, hum.. Ahaha.”
I guess I was trying to escape the sad reality.
“…Hn? Oh? Then you want Maki to become your team’s exclusive. But then why were you all bragging on your own?”
“This guy really doesn’t know anything. Because the exclusive of a team is going to focus on one of them in particular. A guy that carries his team, like me!”
“What are you on about? I’m the brains of this team. It’s because of me that we can formulate plans to earn money each day and carry out our plans. I’m the leader. I’m the one who should have Maki as an exclusive!”
“Then I’m the one who should be it, because I’m the one hunting more monsters! Without my Physical Strength, we wouldn’t be huntin’ so much!”
“No, without my Tracking skill, we wouldn’t even find suitable monsters. None of that planning and power would mean a thing without my support… I’m the shadow leader!”
“What did you say!?”
“No, it’s me!”
“Me!”
Ah, this again.
And they brag like they’re assuming she’s going to pick them. No wonder Maki gets tired and doesn’t know how to deal with these people.
Also, they don’t know this, but what awaits them when they get back is a stern warning from Maki. It turns out I don’t even have to report them, because when she was seeing me off, Maki saw them clearly following me.
The girl of their dreams getting mad at them must sting pretty hard.
Well, I was a little happy when it happened to me yesterday… Anyway, good luck, you four.
Leaving all that aside, that guy said something that stuck out to me. He has a Tracking skill?
Is that how they were able to follow me so well?
I lost them on the first floor so I could roll the gacha and gather iron knives in the outer circumference. But then, some time later, when I came to the second floor, they were already following me closely again.
“Let’s use Appraisal.”
＊＊＊＊＊
Name: Sutouka Saino
Level: 18
Equipment: Wind knife, chainmail, chain greaves
Skill: Tracking
＊＊＊＊＊
It’s a skill without a level. So skills that don’t come from Level Gacha show that too.
And the others…
＊＊＊＊＊
Name: Yushi Hitoshi
Level: 17
Equipment: Steel sword, chainmail, chain greaves
Skill: Leadership Lv1
＊＊＊＊＊
Name: Hakase Hojou
Level: 16
Equipment: Knowledge glasses, chainmail, chain greaves
Skill: Wing Magic Lv1
＊＊＊＊＊
Name: Takeshi Nanda
Level: 19
Equipment: Steel great sword, chainmail, chain greaves
Skill: Great Strength
＊＊＊＊＊
So they all have skills. And one of them even uses magic, so it’s a pretty balanced party.
I guess despite their nonsense, they’re actually strong. Judging by their levels, I can tell without seeing their stats that if they grow like the average person, they must be around the same as me. And if they’re above average, their stats must be higher than mine.
I guess I can see why they’re confident that they’re going to be aces.
But if they’re that strong, why are they stalking? The mysteries just keep getting deeper.
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