kscans

Chapter 113 - Episode 113

In the evening of the second day of school, after somehow managing to calm Rena down.

"Oh, Hayate. You made it out alive."

When I went to our usual family restaurant, Naoto greeted me casually.

"It was a pretty close call, though."

Rena was genuinely scary today.

"That was the first time I’ve ever felt such a clear killing intent. Honestly, I was terrified."

"She’s super cute, though."

"Hayate-kun, you can definitely never cheat on her."

Ryunosuke, Shingo-san, and Kazuma-san were here too. Today was an S-rank boys’ night out.

Shingo-san had invited us, suggesting we get to know each other. Naoto and I suggested the place. We usually took a table for four, but today we got a sofa booth that could fit up to eight.

"I would never cheat on her. Today was just a slip of the tongue, I guess."

"Well, if the two idols from Suzutsuki said something like that to me, I think I’d say the same thing."

"I wish you would, so Sakinon could glare at you too, Naoto."

"I kind of figured, but you and Mei-san are dating, right, Naoto-kun?"

"Yeah. We are."

"Nice. The bloom of youth."

"By the way, since we’re all in the same class, is there any chance you’d let us join the Hayate-Style Four-Sword Style Promotion Office?"

"Huh, you want to join? I thought you’d be forming the Holy Order Knights in the real world, Kazuma-san."

"Come on. There’s no way we could pull off a reckless strategy like that in reality, where you might not regain consciousness if you die."

So he was aware that it was reckless.

"If we’re going to clear real-world dungeons, we should use a solid approach like Hayate-kun’s or Ryunosuke-kun’s, trying to avoid taking damage as much as possible."

"Hayate’s way certainly avoids damage, but I don’t know if you’d call it solid..."

I remembered how the AI had docked my combat score during the entrance exam because I jumped too high.

"I also checked out your clear methods on the compulsory broadcast archive, Hayate, and that stuff is insane. Are you really a human being?"

"I’m a perfectly normal human."

Even though my body floats when I concentrate a little.

"So, back to the topic, can we join the Hayate-Style Four-Sword Style Promotion Office?"

"‘We’ meaning you and Shingo-san, Kazuma-san?"

"I’d like to join as well."

So all three of them wanted in.

"I’d welcome you, but I’ll need to check with Rena and the other members first."

"Yeah, that’s fine. We have our own individual booths too, so we’re not looking for a share of the streaming money. We just want to form a union."

"A union?"

"It’s like a team to prevent ourselves from being used by the government or the zaibatsu."

"Like Smith-sensei said, we’re going to be clearing dungeons at the country’s request from now on. Of course, they’ve publicly stated that our own free-will explorations will be prioritized... but there’s no guarantee that will always be upheld."

This was starting to sound complicated.

"Shingo-san explained it in detail before you got here, Hayate, but I think we should form a union. We want to build a relationship where we can protect each other as a team if something happens."

"We’re already classmates, so I was planning to rush to anyone’s aid if they asked for help."

"...I thought this while watching your streams, but aren’t you a little too nice, Hayate-kun?"

"I agree. High schoolers are so pure."

"You seem like the type to accept any order from the government, no matter what it is."

If I had other plans or if it seemed really dangerous, I might refuse, but if someone asked for my help, I’d probably do my best. This spirit of selfless devotion was probably something I picked up during my ninja training.

For my part, if Naoto judged that we should team up with Ryunosuke and Kazuma-san, I was willing to go along with it. Though I’d turn it down if Rena was strongly against it.

"For now, you two should talk to your respective partners about this today."

"Okay."

"Got it."

The popular illustrator Rururoro-san was also a member of the Hayate-Style Four-Sword Style Promotion Office, so I had to check with her too. And with Amaterasu-sama.

Our numbers were really starting to grow.

But originally, FWO was a game where you cleared dungeons with a party of up to sixteen people. It might be interesting to gather more people and go for a full-party, brute-force clear.

Large groups are slow, but they enable strategies like the roller tactic, where you sweep through and collect every single item in the dungeon. That was something I could never do as a solo player.

Collecting items from high-difficulty dungeons would also help raise Rena’s production skill level, which would in turn strengthen the whole group. Having more allies was a good thing.

I was a little scared of being betrayed when the group got bigger, but... I had a feeling these people would be okay. It won’t be like that time. I suppose it’s thanks to Rena that I can think this way now.

"That’s enough serious talk. Let’s eat!"

"Once again, it’s great to work with you all."

"Looking forward to it," we all said.

"Same here."

The dinner with the FWO-savvy guys was more fun than I could have imagined.