kscans

Chapter 165 - Time's Up?

"Hey, Satsuki! What the hell is going on!?"

I yelled into the phone.

"You're so loud... I have no idea either. I haven't heard anything, and I haven't done anything. If anything, did you do something?"

"All I did was diligently make a map and get some gold bars! So why do I have to have my custody demanded by the Frontier government!"

After seeing the breaking news on TV just now, I immediately called Satsuki-san.

"How should I know. I'm confused too. Anyway, don't you move for the time being. I just sent Kaede home, so follow her instructions. I'm heading to the head office director's place."

Oh, Kaede-chan is coming home. Yay... wait, no!

"If you sell me out, I'll kill you."

"If that happens, I'll be fired too."

Well, she's done a lot of bad things, so I guess that's what would happen.

"I was thinking of calling Yoshino-san."

"I'll have her contact you later. First, we need to grasp the situation. I've also instructed Nanapon not to go out except for university, so you stay put too."

"Well, I was planning on taking a break anyway."

"Right? So stay home... sheesh, the inquiry calls are so annoying, what is going on..."

Ah, so Eleanor-san's affiliated guild is being flooded with inquiries.

"Is it okay to send Kaede-chan home?"

Isn't the reception desk in chaos?

"I unplugged the phone lines. And I told everyone to ignore all inquiries."

Amazing. This woman does things you're absolutely not supposed to do without a second thought.

"That's terrible, man."

"It's more terrible to obstruct the staff from doing their jobs. Anyway, I'm heading to the director's place now. Oh, right. You, call Claire and ask her if she knows anything over there."

"Claire? I've been getting a ton of calls from her, but I've been ignoring them."

I've been ignoring them all, thinking I should talk to Satsuki-san first.

"America might have some information. Find out."

"Got it."

"I'm counting on you. See ya."

With that, Satsuki-san hung up the phone.

I looked at the phone for Eleanor-san, which was still ringing.

[Claire]

"She's so persistent..."

It's been ringing nonstop.

I took off my clothes on the spot, stripped naked, drank a TS Potion, and changed from Okita-kun to Eleanor-san. Then, I pressed the call button on the phone.

"You're so persistent! Wait a little!"

I answered the phone and complained in an irritated voice.

'Well, of course I'd be frantic! What's this about handing over your custody!?

"That's what I'd like to know! I haven't done anything!"

'Claire, calm down.'

Ah, that's Harry's voice. They're together.

"Have you two heard anything?"

'No, we haven't heard anything. We were just as surprised when we saw the news. We asked Norman, and he said he hadn't heard anything at all. The country's in a panic over here.'

So America doesn't know either? Seriously, what's the source of that news?

'Hey, Eleanor, I'm being serious, are you from the Frontier?'

Claire asked.

"Of course not! In the first place, what is a 'Frontier person'!? I don't even know if they really exist!"

'Then why would the Frontier government demand your custody?'

"I told you, I don't know! Besides, what is the 'Frontier government'!? 'Frontier' is just a name we made up, isn't it!"

'Frontier' is a nickname. It means 'uncharted territory' and holds the hope for a world of the unknown.

'Hmm, I'll believe you, okay?'

She still doubts me, I can tell.

"I don't care if you believe me or not! More importantly, the facts! Hurry up and find out if it's fake news or not! What are you agents for!"

All you guys do is eat ramen or do business.

'That's not what we're agents for, but okay. Our superiors have told us to find out the facts on our end too. For now, you don't have any recollection of doing anything wrong, right?'

"Of course not! I'll kill anyone who tries to restrain me! Or bring the Frontier person who's demanding my custody before me! I'll cut off their head!"

'You're scary...'

'Please, just stay put. I'm sure your guild is looking into it, but we'll try on our end too. Just don't do anything rash.'

Claire admonished me.

"Listen here! If I'm gone, then the Healing Potions, the Item Bags, everything will be gone! If you want to make money, then do something!"

'I know... America is short on Healing Potions and Item Bags too.'

"I'll give you a level 3 Healing Potion, so tell your President to pressure the guild and Japan to get information! I'll even throw in a 2000-kilo Item Bag right now."

'2000...'

"Not enough? 3000 is fine too."

5000 or even 10,000 is fine. They're just rubber bands, after all.

'O, okay. I just have to tell him, right?'

"That's right. Even if the Japanese government doesn't know, press the TV station that ran the report."

'Got it.'

"Hurry up and do it. I won't have the auction being canceled."

I stated one-sidedly and hung up the phone.

"Sheesh..."

I tossed the phone onto the table.

"Um, Senpai..."

I heard a voice and turned around to see Kaede-chan, wearing a coat, standing there looking somewhat awkward for some reason.

"Ah, Kaede-chan, welcome home."

Seeing Kaede-chan's face is so healing.

"I'm home..."

But she has a very strange expression on her face.

"What?"

What's wrong?

"Well, please put on some clothes. Why are you naked in Eleanor-san's form..."

Ah, right.

"Sorry. I'll change back right away."

"I'll go get changed too."

With that, Kaede-chan left the living room. I drank a TS Potion, changed back to Okita-kun, got dressed, and headed to the kitchen. I boiled some water, made cocoa in two cups, and returned to the sofa in the living room.

Soon after, Kaede-chan, having changed, also returned to the living room.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Kaede-chan sat down neatly beside me.

"Yeah. Here, have some cocoa."

"Wow! Thank you!"

Kaede-chan happily started drinking her cocoa with both hands. I also took a sip of my cocoa, relaxing as I watched the cute Kaede-chan out of the corner of my eye.

"Ah, that's good."

"It is. Cocoa is for winter."

So true, so true.

"So, do you know what's going on?"

"I saw the news online. It's a surprise."

"I found out from the breaking news on TV. What was that?"

"I don't know. It's too sudden. Even if there really was a demand for your custody, it should have been communicated to our guild secretly."

And it's strange that I, the person in question, don't know about it.

"From the way Yoshino-san was acting today, it seemed like she didn't know either."

"I think so. The head office director probably doesn't know either."

If that's the case, then this is even stranger.

"Tch! In that case, there's a high probability that it's fake news."

"But would they run a breaking news report if it was fake? They'd be in big trouble if they didn't have some kind of confirmation, right?"

Confirmation, huh?

"What is really going on..."

"For now, I think all we can do is wait. You asked Claire-san just now, right? Satsuki-san is also on the move, so we just have to wait for the results."

I guess so. This is frustrating.

"What about the auction? Is it canceled?"

"No, it's continuing. It's already surpassed 90 million yen, so it can't be canceled now."

It's over 90 million yen... It looks like it's going to reach 100 million.

"As long as it's not canceled, that's fine. I'll just stay home and be good."

"Right. I've also taken a few days off."

"Is that okay?"

Isn't it suspicious for Kaede-chan to take several days off at a time like this?

"Satsuki-san is going to ask the director to temporarily close the guild. The media will flock there, and the number of onlookers will increase. It will be difficult to operate."

Ah, that's likely...

"Is it okay to close it?"

"We have a small number of adventurers, so we can just have them temporarily transfer. There's a special provision for that. For example, it happens when a staff member gets the flu."

I see. Not just the flu, but there are times when it can't be helped.

"Got it. Then let's take it easy for a few days."

Yay. I get to be with Kaede-chan.

"Yes. And also... Senpai, I think it's time."

Kaede-chan placed her cocoa on the table, turned towards me, and placed her hand on top of mine.

"Yeah... maybe this is enough."

I looked at the thirty gold bars piled up in the corner of the living room.

"Yes. I think so."

"I've already made billions of yen. It's more than enough for the two of us to live on."

Even if Kaede-chan and I have children, we'll be fine.

"I think we can live the rest of our lives without working. Besides, we have Satsuki-san, Yoshino-san, and Claire-san, so we can continue to sell things in the future."

Claire is one thing, but Satsuki-san and Yoshino-san know about me. If I give them things I've made, they'll sell them for me.

"Maybe I should retire. Retiring after just a few months..."

"I think that's fine. There are many people who do that."

"Well, I guess so."

There must be a lot of people who tried to become adventurers but realized they couldn't do it.

"I don't know if the extradition request is true or not, but even if it's fake, you should stop. It's too dangerous to continue."

"You're right. If it's not fake and is real, I'll run, and even if it is fake, I should think about that."

"Right. Eleanor-san has gotten too big."

But I really think creating Eleanor Ocean was the right decision. If this was happening to Okita-kun, it would be the worst.

"Okay. I'll think about it."

"Yes. Let's live a peaceful life together, just having fun."

Alright! I'm going to marry this girl!