Chapter 114: Joint Operation
Ishioka City, Ibaraki Prefecture —
The car carrying Yuma and the others entered the ‘Seeker’s Town,’ where the Red Dungeon was located. The atmosphere was more intense than usual, with many Self-Defense Forces personnel patrolling with guns.
“It’s under heavy guard, as expected,” Yuma muttered, looking around from the car window.
Kanzaki responded with “Yeah,” parking the four-wheeled Wrangler in the D-Minor-exclusive parking lot and turning off the engine.
“Alright, Yuma-kun. I’m going to report our arrival to the office, so take the luggage to the room with the president.”
“Understood.”
After seeing Tanaka off to the office, Yuma and Kanzaki opened the rear hatch of the car and began unloading the luggage.
“Here, Yuma.”
“Yes… whoa!”
Yuma was handed a large duffel bag from Kanzaki, and he staggered but managed to grab some of the other luggage. Kanzaki also slung a drum bag containing weapons over his shoulder and locked the car with the keyless entry.
“Alright! Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
As they were about to head to their lodging, a car entered through the town’s entrance gate.
It was a black sedan. Yuma glanced at it casually, and the car screeched to a halt right in front of them.
The rear door opened with a click, and a familiar face stepped out.
“Yuma!”
“Eh!? Rui!”
Rui, whom he hadn’t seen in a while, rushed over with a beaming smile.
“Kaede contacted me. I heard you were coming here, Yuma, so I thought I might get to see you, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon!”
“O-oh… I heard I was coming, too, but…”
Yuma hadn’t expected to reunite so quickly, so he was a little taken aback.
“What’s this? An acquaintance? Yuma,” Kanzaki asked, and Yuma hastily replied, “A-ah, yes.”
“This is my childhood friend, Rui. He’s working at Elceed Corporation now…”
As he glanced at Rui, Rui straightened up and said, “Nice to meet you, I’m Amasawa Rui.”
“Ah, so you’re the Elceed’s…”
Kanzaki seemed to recognize Rui’s name, nodding as if he understood something and looking at Yuma.
“Hey, Yuma! I’m just hearing now that you’re childhood friends with Elceed’s hope. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“S-sorry… I missed the chance to say it.”
“Well, whatever, you two probably have things to talk about. I’ll go ahead, so Yuma, you come later.”
“A-ah, yes.”
Kanzaki said that and walked towards the lodging building where they would be staying.
“Is that the president of the company you work for, Yuma? He seems a little scary.”
“Hmm? No, he’s actually a pretty good guy once you get to know him. More importantly, Rui, where are you going in such an expensive car?”
“Oh, I’m going to the Central Center to receive a mission briefing. People from other companies should be called to the briefing this afternoon, too.”
“Is that so?”
Yuma was impressed that Rui knew so much when he hadn’t been told anything.
What concerned him even more was—
“Rui, does being called mean you can use Thunder Magic?”
The two types of magic effective against Fire Monsters were Water Magic and Thunder Magic. Yuma couldn’t imagine Rui learning Water Magic, so he naturally assumed he had learned Thunder Magic.
“No, I only learned Fire Magic. I plan to focus on developing just one type of magic.”
“But isn’t that a disadvantage in the Red Dungeon…?”
Fire Magic is not very effective against monsters with fire attributes. This is common knowledge for any Seeker. However, Rui smiled and denied it.
“I can burn any monster weaker than me without any problems. Besides, I’m just here for support. I think I can be of some use with just Fire Magic.”
“I see…”
He seems quite confident. I wonder if his Fire Magical Power is that strong?
As the two were talking, a driver in his fifties called out from the driver’s seat of the sedan.
“Amasawa-sama, it’s almost time.”
“Ah, yes. That’s right.”
Rui peeked into the car and apologized to the driver, then turned back to Yuma.
“Sorry, Yuma. I have to go now. Let’s meet up later.”
“O-oh, sure, let’s do that.”
Rui got into the car, stuck his head out of the rear window, and said, “See you later,” so Yuma replied, “Yeah, later.”
Watching the sedan head towards the Central Center towering in the center of town, Yuma also started walking towards the lodging building.
◇◇◇
Red Dungeon Central Management Center.
A facility next to the dome containing the dungeon, it was a twenty-story office building used for various events.
In a conference room on the eighteenth floor, many Seekers who had rushed in from all over the country were sitting in the chairs provided.
“There are more people than I expected,” Yuma muttered, looking around, and Tanaka, who was sitting next to him, nodded.
“That’s right. It looks like there are about 150 people here. And that’s not including the Seekers from Elceed Corporation, so the actual number will be even higher.”
“Ehh~ Even more?”
Yuma, Kanzaki, and Tanaka, who were surprised, were sitting side by side at the far end of the conference room, in the back row.
Kanzaki looked at the faces of the Seekers who had come and snorted.
“The ones in the back are all from small and medium-sized companies. Look! The ones taking up the front seats are the three major companies after Elceed: ‘Izas,’ ‘Farmel,’ and ‘Kagurazaka Pharmaceuticals.'”
Yuma stood up halfway, stretched his neck, and looked forward. Sure enough, there was a group of people in suits who had a different atmosphere.
In contrast, the Seekers in the back row were wearing work clothes or casual clothes, and there were many people who were not coordinated at all.
Yuma smiled wryly as he thought that they themselves were also in casual clothes and sat back down in his seat.
“Are they even differentiating by seating order…? Even so, the major companies seem to have a different level of motivation.”
“Well, this is a direct request from the government. They want to stand out by achieving great things. Elceed is monopolizing the country’s work right now, so they want to appeal and receive public work, even if just a little.”
“Hee~”
Thinking that there were all sorts of things going on, Yuma looked around.
—Rui said he would receive the explanation earlier… He doesn’t seem to be in this venue. Even so, hasn’t it started yet? My butt is starting to hurt from sitting on these cheap folding chairs.
As Yuma was thinking about such things, the conference room door opened, and several men entered.
They were all well-dressed and had dignified expressions. They seemed to be important people.
The men moved quickly and went up to the stage at the front. A stern-faced man in his sixties stood in front of the podium.
He adjusted the position of the microphone in front of him, cleared his throat, and looked straight ahead.
“Thank you for waiting. I am Serizawa, a councilor at the Ministry of Defense. I would like to thank you for gathering from all over the country at our request today.”
As Serizawa gave a respectful greeting, the circumstances of summoning the Seekers and the situation of the Red Dungeon were explained.
However, the specific details of the work were slow to come out.
When Yuma looked to his side, Kanzaki was moving his legs in small increments. He seemed to be irritated, and his fidgeting wouldn’t stop.
“Now, Honda, the General Manager of Elceed, will give a detailed explanation of the future work.”
Seeing Serizawa bow and switch places with the man who had been waiting on the side, Kanzaki muttered in a disgruntled tone, “Finally.”
The man who stood in front of the podium had silver-gray hair slicked back.
He had a gentler expression than Serizawa from earlier, but there was strength in his eyes, giving the impression of a capable ‘sharp’ person.
“I am Honda from Elceed Corporation. I have been appointed as the general manager in charge of this joint operation. I look forward to working with you.”
Honda smiled and looked around at the assembled Seekers.