I go through the door to the association after returning to the surface, but Maki isn’t here to greet me. Or Aki. Instead, it’s lively here.
The association is filled with adventurers who just finished their hunts, and the ones without exclusives are lining up in front of the assessment counter. I peek over there, but I don’t see Maki or Aki there either.
Are they on a break?
Then I move on to the counter used by exclusives. I don’t normally use it, but this is a counter that’s a little far from the assessment counter, used to call exclusive receptionists.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes, who is… Ah, you’re Shouta. Welcome back. I’m very glad to see you made it back safely again today. You returned earlier than they expected.”
“Haha, I didn’t want to worry them. So, where are they?”
“You’re all so friendly… I’m pretty sure they’re in the office of the branch manager.”
Then she prompts me to come closer, and whispers in my ear.
“I just heard them talk very excitedly about you, Shouta. Especially Aki.”
“Ah… It’s about that. I think I know what it is. I want to join them too, so can I go?”
“Yes, I’ll take you there. Shouta, please look after Maki.”
“Leave it to me.”
Maki is charming and a hard worker, so of course the other receptionists like her too.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
Now this is a true big sister type, is what I think as Hana the receptionist takes me to the office of the branch manager.
All the rooms in the association are supposed to be soundproof, but I can hear the ragged voice of what sounds like Aki. Hana and I look at each other, and she knocks after nodding.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I brought you a visitor, branch manager.”
When we open the door, we see the branch manager facing the two sisters, and they all keep glaring at each other, not turning our way.
“Thank you. We are done, get back to your posts.”
“Hey, I’m not finished!”
The branch manager shoos them away with her hand, but Aki snaps at her, not accepting it. I think we should leave soon.
“Aki, calm down.”
“…Oh? Shouta?”
“Welcome back, Shouta!”
Maki comes running, and runs around me as she looks at my body intently.
“It’s all right, I’m not hurt.”
I say, and she smiles with relief.
Well then, I can only guess what they were fighting about, but we should clear up my business first.
“Aki, can you leave this to me?”
“…All right.”
“Amachi, correct? Do you have any business with me? As you can see, I’m pretty busy. If it’s not important, take those two and…”
“What are you talking about branch manager? Did you forget the promise we made yesterday?”
“Eh? What are you… You don’t mean…”
I place the Swift skill orb in front of the surprised branch manager.
“Here’s what I promised.”
I turn around, and my eyes meet Maki’s. She nods, and I can tell she’s happy.
And next to her, Aki gives me a thumbs up.
“Then, as promised, I’ll take Maki. I promise I will make her happy, so don’t worry.”
“S-Shouta…!?”
“W-w-wai, what about me…!?”
“Eh?”
“What? Why do you look surprised!!?”
“…You want to join us, Aki?”
“Of course! I’ll cry if you leave me!”
“All right then.”
I say that, and Aki grabs my arm. Her face is bright red all the way to her ears.
“Ah! That’s not fair!”
Maki then claims my other arm. She’s bright red too, but also happily smiling. I can’t brush her away when she looks like that.
“So, that’s it…”
“…Hold on.”
Just as I’m about to leave, I’m stopped. No good uh…
I thought this sweet atmosphere would help me escape, but the branch manager isn’t that soft.
She crosses her hands in front of her face, and looks at me like she’s thinking. It’s like she’s checking something in me.
“Amachi, you heard I was watching Maki, right?”
“Yes.”
“There was a time when she felt so bad, that it was hard for her to even continue working. Intervention from me, her friends, and Aki helped her recover, but there’s always the danger that it might happen again.
Because of that, I have been thoroughly making sure she doesn’t get involved with weak adventurers and doesn’t have to go through that again.”
“…”
“And yet, she became the proxy exclusive of the one called the weakest, and you named her as your exclusive. And nevermind being happy about it, she’s all lovey-dovey like this. It makes my head hurt.”
I guess from the point of view of both a mother and a branch manager, I’m like a demon trying to drag her to hell. She wants to push me away, since I might bring her down after she recovered.
“It was jammed when I first met you, but I did see some of your stats. I figured you had the power to acquire the Super Strength skill, but other than Luck being through the roof, your other stats were really low. I thought it was strange for you to have won with those stats.”
So right after I beat the first hobgoblin… Back then, I was a little stronger thanks to Level Gacha, but… I wouldn’t have won without Physical Strengthening.
“I figured you just happened to win thanks to your Luck, but you wouldn’t be able to get a skill again. Defeating a rare monster is definitely not something you can do with Luck alone. And yet…”
She says as she rolls the skill orb with her finger.
“I heard the report. You took down a monster on the second floor that was never confirmed to be in this dungeon, a murder rabbit.
Murder rabbits were defeated in other associations, and it was confirmed that they dropped Swift skill orbs. So you beat one yesterday, and did the same again to get this skill orb?”
“Yes.”
“…I understand. I guess I was wrong. As promised, I acknowledge your strength, and authorize that Maki officially be your exclusive.
“““!!”””
Nice!!
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I would just like to say thank you for the chapters and the well done translation. I wish these chapters were a little longer personally. I really enjoy the story.
I hope Shouta goes to the 3rd floor soon, because he has already run out of new things to do on the 2nd.
Thanks for the treat.