kscans

Chapter 231 - The Night Before the Rescue

Three days had passed since the get-together.

With the addition of the Hero, Ivan, to the Mist search party, they had been conquering Necropolis smoothly. However, that expression might not be entirely accurate. It was too smooth.

They had already progressed to the fifteenth underground floor, and they had apparently discovered the room where Mist was trapped today.

This was all thanks to the Hero... not really, it was thanks to the Maid Chief.

That night, after dinner in the base's dining hall, Hayato was hearing about it from Damian.

"The Maid Chief is scary?"

"I do not feel my life is in danger like before, but she is, how should I put it, fired up. I feel that Asura or Rakshasa would be a more correct expression than demon god."

"Hasn't it gotten worse?"

The Maid Chief was different from before. She now had a gentle smile on her face at all times, but that smile did not falter even when she was beating down monsters. And she had started to show off her strength more often.

Hayato knew the reason. The Maid Chief was trying to appeal to the dark knight, Gil.

He wondered what a woman was appealing by smiling while beating down monsters, but the other party was Gil. He didn't seem like the type to care about such details.

"Has Gil-san said anything?"

"Gil? No, he just praises the Maid Chief when she defeats a monster. Is there a problem with that?"

"No, it's not a problem, but... it might be a problem."

"...Which is it?"

During the get-together, Hayato had not missed the Maid Chief saying "Kyun." That was, in every way, a sign or word of falling in love. She had fallen for Gil after seeing his face.

When he told Esha about it, she said, "What's wrong with that?"

"It is a man's fantasy that a woman will pine for a man who does not look her way forever. It is healthier to forget such a man and move on to the next love. For the Maid Chief, Relic is probably already a man of the past. She has created a folder with that name and tossed him in."

"Let me hold on to my fantasies a little longer."

"If you saw my room on the second floor, your fantasies would be blown away."

"What are you doing in my room?"

For some reason, Esha scoffed at him with a "Hmph," but he had given up on ever getting that room back.

It might not apply to all women, but Esha, perhaps influenced by her past as a programmer, was strict about such things.

Ren, who was there at the time, had said, "A woman's heart is complex," which was not a solution at all, before leaving with Ash.

Be that as it may, the Maid Chief was probably fired up because she wanted to show her good side to Gil. The day after the get-together, her hair was perfectly styled without a single flaw. Furthermore, there was a day when she said, "It's a beautiful day," even though it was raining.

It was safe to say that she was running wild in a different direction than before.

Gil-san is old enough to have a wife, but I hear he doesn't, and he's not dating anyone. I don't think there's a problem, but...

He had completed his background check on Gil over the past three days. He was not popular due to his stern face, and he was also unpopular with the members of the Black Rose, so he was not dating any particular woman. He also said he was not interested in anyone.

If anything, he was serving Lunaria, but it was more out of respect. He had heard that he was surprised to have lost to a slender woman like Lunaria in the previous Clan War. He had said that there was no such thing as romantic feelings, given their age difference.

In other words, Gil was completely free.

He had used several bottles of wine to obtain this information. Hayato didn't drink much alcohol, but he had managed to get it out of him by having a sort of boys' gathering with the male members.

He had also asked Gil about his preferred type of woman, and as expected, he had said that physically, he liked muscular women. As for her personality, as long as she didn't have a very problematic character, there was no problem at all. That information had been leaked to the Maid Chief along with a dumbbell.

It was a perfect situation, but why did he feel like he was sitting on a bomb that could explode at any moment? Hayato tilted his head, but he told himself that he had done what he could.

"For now, there are no problems... sort of, maybe?"

"You are being indecisive. But, well, no matter. I will rescue Mist tomorrow, so be prepared for that. I plan to return immediately after rescuing her, so it would be a great help if you could prepare various things."

"I might not be here in the afternoon, but I've left various things to Rose-san, so I think it will be fine. As for meals, I've received the blood-type items from the Demon Lord's Castle, and I've also prepared a coffin in the room."

"That is a great help. I could take her to Mist's mansion, but it would be more convenient here in various ways... There is excellent tomato juice and wine. I would like to purchase some regularly."

Damian said this with a laugh and drank the wine in his glass.

He had become able to joke around because the search for Mist was in sight. Hayato returned his smile.

"I'll give you a friend's price."

"Well, I do not mind if it is expensive. I will make Mist pay for it."

"I'll apply an even cheaper clan member discount for Mist-san."

"Then I will have Mist buy a large quantity. She may have protected me from a trap, but I will have her do at least that much for causing me this much trouble... Now then, I will take my leave for today. I have an early start tomorrow."

"Yes, good night."

"Good night."

Damian rose from his chair, bowed with a gentlemanly gesture, and went up the stairs to the second floor.

Hayato remained in the dining hall and drank his coffee.

The Maid Chief will be fine. I should probably check the situation frequently, but it's not like anything will happen right away. More importantly, I need to think about what to do after we rescue Mist-san tomorrow.

Damian and the others had progressed to the fifteenth floor.

According to the information released by the Adventurer's Guild, the deepest reached floor of Necropolis was the thirtieth floor. No party had progressed further than this. The one who had gone to the thirtieth floor was that "Bandit" clan.

He thought they were involved in a lot of things, but the fact that there was a floor that even the Bandit clan couldn't advance on was a cause for concern. He didn't know if it was a problem of combat power or something else, but it was eerie that even the Bandit clan couldn't go any further.

Do we need more firepower? But I hear that sending a large number of members into a narrow space like a dungeon is often meaningless as it just increases the number of people who can't fight. If we're going to send someone, we need to choose strong members. But there's no one available...

If they rescue Mist, she will join the party as is. Even so, the party will be six people and one pet. Mist is a frontline attacker, so there will be a lot of frontline members, but this is better for dungeon exploration.

Mid-range and long-range attackers often hit the frontline, so they are often not taken into narrow places.

While wondering if there was a strong frontline attacker available, Hayato turned off the lights in the dining hall and decided to return to his room to log out.

The next day, Hayato, Esha, and Rose were outside the base from the morning.

It was just a send-off, but since they were planning to rescue Mist today, they had come outside to see them off.

Just then, the Maid Chief arrived. It seemed to him that she was walking with a skip in her step.

"Good morning, Hayato-sama. And Esha and Rose as well."

The three of them bowed their heads.

"Good morning... You're perfect today as well."

"Yes. For some reason, I am feeling well, and I am confident that my movements are sharp. Perhaps this is thanks to strength training. Oh yes, thank you for the dumbbell. I am using it regularly... Also, I have made lunch for Gil-sama... for everyone today as well."

"Oh, yes. That's a great help."

He was talking about her hairstyle, but Hayato let out a dry laugh and then stroked his chest, relieved that it would be fine.

Behind him, Esha and Rose were talking about something in low voices.

"Surprising. The Maid Chief was the type to conform to a man's tastes?"

"I think she's conforming to his preferences rather than his tastes, don't you?"

"I see. So she's the devoted type. That might be the proper form for a maid."

"I'd rather be the one who is doted on. I want a chocolate parfait."

Hayato pretended not to hear.

While they were doing this, everyone gathered at the entrance of the base.

Damian looked at Hayato.

"Well then, we're off. We'll bring Mist back, so please prepare for a celebration."

"You can leave that to me. Everyone, please be careful."

Hayato saw Damian and the others off, and when they were out of sight, he returned to the base.