Story 3-3『Acquiring Information』

It was skillfully done for our first time together, though apart from that there was nothing in particular other than going for three rounds. My impressions… I won't talk about much.

However as a brief comment… Shuri was amazing, I guess? She was considerably proactive, and the final round became a scramble for leaders.h.i.+p. Though I won by betting my pride as a man.

We went to Leadred's room and began talking about our plans for the future. The topic of discussion was『Do we kill Samejima first? 』, not『Do we capture the dungeon first? 』.

According to the advice I received from the G.o.ddess there seems to be two people who will join me.

Then, capturing the dungeon's priority went up as it would overwhelmingly increase the success rate of getting revenge.

So, we immediately came to a conclusion. We would prioritize capturing the dungeon.

The problem was Samejima's henchmen.

"a.s.suming that we kill Kijima… what about Sajima…?" (Daichi)

Right, Sajima Nanami. She holds the healer position in Samejima's party and is a character that is nice to everyone, and whose figure is generally popular amongst the year's female students.

Though she seldom became involved with me, she was also in the usual cla.s.sification as Hayase.

I clearly remember her figure watching me being harshly bullied.

I don't know why such beautiful girls fall in love with Samejima.

"Nanami is… well, I don't want her to be killed." (Tamaki)

Tamaki rose her hand up timidly and gave her opinion.

"Ah–… I understand what you mean but…" (Daichi)

I also don't want to kill Sajima. However, unless we can make her powerless, Samejima's magic and stamina will endlessly be recovered.

Otherwise our situation would get worse and worse. Victory would have to be decided by a one hit kill.

That doesn't mean that I want to indiscriminately murder a cla.s.smate though. I only want to kill those who deserve my revenge. I will not overstep that line.

Tamaki understood my silence as denial and it was easy to see that she was depressed.

"It's alright, Tamaki… At least, if Sajima isn't in love with Samejima I'll stay my hand against her…" (Daichi)

"Eh? Daichi-sama, what did you say?" (Shuri)

Shuri who remembered my doubt asked me to repeat my words once more.

"If Sajima isn't in love with Samejima I'll stay my hand against her." (Daichi)

"That's it. Nanami doesn't feel anything in particular towards that man." (Tamaki)

"… … Yes?" (Daichi)

Learning this fact surprised me.

"Sajima isn't in love with Samejima?" (Daichi)

"Yes. Though she's often misunderstood because of her att.i.tude… she has goodwill towards everyone." (Tamaki)

"Huh? What about me?" (Daichi)

"… … Are we not good enough?" (Tamaki)

She evaded the question with a pleasant smile and a *Niko* sound at the end of her sentence.

"Ah, I'm sure. Nanami told me herself. 『I don't feel anything in particular towards Samejima-kun. 』" (Tamaki)

"… … Seriously?" (Daichi)

"Seriously. Here's the story, Nanami told me that there was someone she liked from before." (Tamaki) [TN: Before the transfer probably.]

"Ah, I also heard that. But, it seems like she couldn't meet him." (Shuri)

"Why?" (Daichi)

"That child, it seems he moved to some distant location… Ah, however, recently, she found a way to meet with him at last." (Shuri)

"Yes yes. So in conclusion, Nanami is not in love with Samejima." (Tamaki)

I didn't know… that there was such a situation…

Because the two people who are her best friends agree unanimously, it must be a fact.

Then, it must be that she is with Samejima by chance.

If that's the case, she would come. It is possible to do so by taking advantage of her gentleness.

Therefore, what do I need to do…?

"… Hero-sama, you are s.h.i.+ning brightly…" (Leadred)

"He's definitely thinking about something bad." (Tamaki)

"That's Daichi-sama for you." (Shuri)

The next day. We went out at the same time as we did yesterday to collect supplies so that we wouldn't run into Samejima. We had just left the guild.

"Thank you for your purchase. Well then, today, I will inquire about that person's accommodations." (Miare)

I told you earlier, but it's not like I have requested some night play at a shady establishment.

The one who expressly came to the entrance for me with this standard business phrase with an extra is Miare-san, the guild's receptionist lady from yesterday.

When we went to the guild, she sold me information related to Samejima's group to us.

No, originally we asked for something different, but I requested her to『Sell me the information』.

Though it would take a while to explain the details… it seems Miare-san doesn't think of Samejima as a good hero.

The reason was, yesterday when we went to the guild, Miare-san was the only woman there. Furthermore, I uneventfully talked to her about meeting with the adventurers while concealing that I was a hero.

In fact that reason alone was enough for me to visit her once more, I thought.

I thought that I would have to request it, but since she jumped at me with a crying face the moment I stepped into the guild, it became like this. It made it easy for me and saved me the trouble.

I mean, I would have tried to surmise if it was possible that she was aware of Samejima's true character, even if just 1% of it, but since it came to that, well, life is beyond our control.

Compensation for her request was data on the demons inside【Scorching Execution Ground】. The Adventurer's Guild always has the latest data. Data is updated every January, and Miare-san is in charge of it this month.

Adventurers were attracted by the job description and were paid 5000 col for the easy to acquire information.

Normally, that was OK. Because no new floors were visited.

However, this month was an exception.

Because the heroes visited.

Samejima plunged into one new floor after another, increasing the amount of information she had to collect.

She had also asked the other adventurers, but the unknown floor number was unreasonable. So it was my turn.

She thought that I would also be trying to capture the【Scorching Execution Ground】as an adventurer. That's natural for people that go to the Adventurer's Guild to think.

Since there should be no one who goes there while a low level just to die.

Back to the story at hand.

When I asked her "Will you give me any information related to Samejima?" because she had nothing to lose, she accepted.

The reason was that I could add as much as I liked in postscript. "I want to see him soon" and "Because I'd like to know more about him", I said things like that. Though it wasn't necessary for her to delve deeply into the circ.u.mstances of her customers, from the questions it sounded like I was Samejima's girlfriend.

She never thought that I would be gathering information to kill the hero. More or less, that guy was introduced as the hope for humanity.

For me, getting data on demons is a cinch.

I promised absolute secrecy and everything worked out fine. As for the change of location, I'd be troubled if someone saw and became suspicious.

"Well… then. What do we do now?" (Tamaki)

Tamaki and I left the guild with some spare time left. We used the same combination today that we did yesterday, so that we won't be suspected in case we encountered Samejima, so that my ident.i.ty won't be exposed.

If Shuri came across him, Samejima would not know.

The date is postponed. Staying alive is more important.

"Is there something we need to do? Since we bought weapons and other things yesterday, there is no need to today right?" (Daichi)

As Tamaki said, we have nearly an hour to do something. Miare-san told us the room number so we don't have to go to her for it.

"Then, do we return to the inn?" (Tamaki)

I looked at Tamaki after she said so, it was clear that the tension had lowered.

"… Let's go around town until it's time." (Daichi)

"Y-yeah… Let's go around?" (Tamaki)

Tamaki came entwined her arm with mine and, without change, began to cuddle close to me as we set out.

The envious and jealous stares from those around us were amazing. Looking around this place, I reaffirmed that Tamaki was beautiful.

"Where do you want to go?" (Daichi)

"Let me see… the opposite side we went to yesterday. Honestly I heard this from Shuri-chan, but there are some cute clothes shops there." (Tamaki)

"Then, you want me to buy you clothes at the store…?" (Daichi)

"No, I'll pay the money. I have the support money from the Royal Palace left over, so I wouldn't waste what's left of Katsuragi's you know? Since we rely on the dungeon for our livelihood." (Tamaki)

Tamaki beat her chest with a *Don*.

That makes me grateful. Though I want to spoil her…

"No, I'll pay." (Daichi)

"Eh, but-" (Tamaki)

"It's fine. If it's about money, entering this dungeon will bring in quite a lot of revenue." (Daichi)

"Did you hear me? Relying on dungeons for our livelihood is dangerous." (Tamaki)

"More than anything, I'd like to buy something for you Tamaki. It's okay to laugh at the worthless pride of a man." (Daichi)

"… For there to be another surprise attack from Katsuragi…" (Tamaki)

Tamaki averted her eyes from me. I wonder if I did something wrong?

"I see, I understand. But! I also want to buy a present for Katsuragi!" (Tamaki)

"Then, that would make mine have no point…" (Daichi)

"It's my money to use freely so no complaining!" (Tamaki)

Tamaki became serious. She wouldn't be stopped. Though I haven't been with her long, I've come to understand this.

"Alright, alright. Feel free to." (Daichi)

"That way of speaking is irritating… Well, anyway… you were seriously anxious earlier." (Tamaki)

"What?" (Daichi)

"I haven't heard, what do you plan to do after your revenge on Samejima?" (Tamaki)

The abrupt question from her was concerned with the future.

Yesterday, I told those kind of things to Tamaki. I will not give up this person and Shuri who are working hard. It's fine to think that Leadred can live as she wants.

Perhaps, Tamaki is also worried… no, in her case she is just planning ahead… right?

At any rate, doubting Tamaki and the other two is no good.

"Naturally, I've already decided but… speaking here is bad. We'll talk at the inn." (Daichi)

"… It's bad for others to hear?" (Tamaki)

"Yeah. Mostly." (Daichi)

"It can't be helped then, can it? Well then, let's do this in a hurry! We don't have long until the promised time." (Tamaki)

"Yeah, please show the way." (Daichi)

"Because I already know where we're going, leave it to me!" (Tamaki)

If it were the me from a while ago, it would have been unthinkable to waste the time until meeting with Miare-san with Tamaki after that sort of conversation.

My thanks to Jorgelotr for helping with the parts that I fudged up on.

That last line is such a run-on sentence… I want to rip it apart to make it easier to understand ;_;