“Just about as I predicted.”
Outside the hotel, Keiichiro muttered. Just as he’d predicted, Adventurers B-Rank and above were already confirmed participants for the Raid from the start. That meant C-Rank Adventurers would fight amongst themselves, aiming to be selected, but—
“I am B-Rank, you know.”
So saying, Akino brushed aside her blond hair. The proud smile suited her very well.
“No way, was I the only C-Rank in the party…?”
He hadn’t asked Akino her rank before, but it seemed she was also a B-Rank Adventurer.
The sole C-Rank despite being the party leader. Keiichiro’s current position was quite pathetic.
“But, but. Kageura-oniichan can win easily, right?”
Tsukasa said, poking Keiichiro’s cheek with a fingertip.
“Indeed. I cannot imagine Kageura-sama losing to a C-Rank Adventurer,” Akino agreed with Tsukasa.
Keiichiro had no intention of losing here either.
Besides, they had taken this request because of his selfishness.
If Keiichiro were to fail the selection now, it would be far too inexcusable.
“—So you’re my opponent.”
As he was thinking that, a shadow fell over Kageura Keiichiro’s feet.
When he looked up, a large man stood there with his arms crossed.
Apparently, it was his shadow.
“—Name?”
“…Kageura Keiichiro.”
Keiichiro answered curtly to the intimidating question.
Perhaps it was a downside of a world where power was everything.
Many Adventurers were overbearing.
He was used to these kinds of interactions—but that didn’t mean he liked them.
“Is that your party over there?”
“Yeah. I’ll tell you now, they’re both B-Rank, so they have nothing to do with the selection.”
Keiichiro took a step sideways, blocking the man’s view of his companions.
It was one thing if it was just him, but he had to prevent any trouble from reaching Akino and Tsukasa.
“Hey.”
“…What is it?”
The man spoke to Tsukasa over Keiichiro’s shoulder.
Tsukasa probably didn’t like these kinds of interactions either.
He stared back at the man with half-lidded eyes.
“Name?”
“—Tsukigase Tsukasaaa.”
Tsukasa replied, looking like he was about to stick his tongue out.
The man then nodded, saying, “I see…”
“P L E A S E M A R R Y M E,”
—he blurted out.
Time stopped for Keiichiro and the others.
When time started moving again, the man had grabbed Keiichiro by the collar.
However, Keiichiro felt no urge to resist or get angry.
Because—the man was crying.
“Dammiiiiiiit! How dare you form a party with such a cute girl!”
What the man shed were tears of blood.
He was truly wailing.
“Meanwhile, I’m stuck with classmates from my all-boys school! From the weightlifting club!”
“Like I care!”
Keiichiro’s protest was meaningless.
The man flexed his muscles and yelled.
“Tsukasa-chan! You’re totally my type!”
Apparently, the man was gay.
—Though he was probably unaware of it himself.
“Hey. You picked the wrong one.”
“What do you mean, wrong one?! Is it her chest?! Her chest size?! You bastard! You’re a grown adult, and you’re still choosing girls based on their breast size?!”
“Well, I don’t think I need to hear that from someone who’s hitting on a middle schooler despite being an adult.”
(And a male middle schooler, at that.)
It seemed his well-intentioned warning didn’t get through.
What a sad world.
“Somehow… I feel a little hurt.”
Ignoring the commotion Keiichiro and the others were making, Akino murmured, twirling her blond hair around her finger.
It seemed she had mixed feelings about Tsukasa receiving such a passionate confession while she herself was completely ignored.
“Oh nooo, Oniicha~n. Oniichan ca~n beat someone like hi~m easily, right~?”
Tsukasa, on the other hand, looked happy.
With an innocent smile, he suddenly hugged Keiichiro.
Tsukasa wriggled his hips, rubbing his chest against Keiichiro’s arm.
Naturally, there was no softness to his chest.
Still, visually, it seemed like quite an unwholesome sight.
Apparently, Tsukasa had no intention of correcting the man’s misunderstanding.
In fact, he seemed to be trying to encourage it.
“Hey. Why are you provoking him like that—”
Still, he didn’t want to earn any unnecessary resentment before the match.
Just as Keiichiro was about to admonish Tsukasa—
“—Bffh…”
“…He took damage and got a nosebleed.”
The man spurted blood from his nose.
Apparently, the stimulation had been too strong.
“I will fight for Tsukasa-chan!”
The man thrust his arm upwards.
He held his arm towards the sun.
His bulging silhouette created by the morning sun.
As he’d declared himself part of the weightlifting club, his body was well-trained.
“Is a tissue okay for wiping your nosebleed?”
For the time being, Keiichiro decided to wipe the man’s nosebleed.
☆
“His opponent is a [Trapper].”
“Lucky draw. It’d be harder to lose, wouldn’t it?”
“Aww, man. If only my opponent was a [Trapper] too.”
Such voices could be heard from the surroundings.
The battlefield was merely an area circled by Adventurers.
There, Keiichiro faced the man.
Before fighting, Keiichiro and the others had told each other their classes.
It was a rule to prevent either side from having too much of an advantage.
Classes have preferred engagement ranges.
For example, suppose a magic-type and a Speed Attacker clashed.
In that case, the Speed Attacker would win with high probability.
Not due to a difference in skill, but due to compatibility.
That couldn’t be called a fair selection.
Therefore, they pit Adventurers with matching preferred engagement ranges against each other.
The idea was to allow them to compete based on pure skill.
However—
“You… were a [Wizard]?”
Keiichiro muttered. With dead eyes.
If one were to classify it, [Trapper] is a magic-type class—one that excels at long range.
Thinking about it that way, it was inevitable that his opponent, the man, would have a long-range class—but the combination was surprising enough to make him forget that.
“Talent really is cruel…”
(Not that I, a [Trapper], have any room to talk.)
A trained body of steel.
Yet the class he was given was [Wizard], which excelled at long-range combat and offered few physical ability bonuses.
This kind of mismatch in talent is quite common among Adventurers.
Having outstanding talents is a prerequisite.
If all those talents don’t mesh perfectly, you can’t fight amongst the top.
That’s what it means to be an Adventurer.
“If I recall, you’re—the [Trapper of Love], right?”
“Don’t embellish it.”
He had no intention of taking on such a stupid-sounding class.
“Then how did you manage to sweet-talk Tsukasa-chan?”
“Stop assuming I sweet-talked him.”
“As if I’d believe you charmed him with your own skill! It must be a class bonus!”
“Hey—”
Before Keiichiro could retort, the man charged forward.
—Closing the distance.
It was an approach a [Wizard] should normally never take.
“If you’re just a [Trapper], then this is my lucky break! I’ll take you down in one blow! Then I’ll hit on Tsukasa-chan hard in the Dungeon!”
The man’s fist burst into flames.
Of course, it wasn’t an illusion.
That was his magic.
(Magic specialized for close combat, huh?)
The activation is fast too. From what I can see, the power is considerable as well.
In exchange for its short range, its other specs are high.
Strangely enough, it matched the man’s talents.
“[Trap Set],” Keiichiro muttered.
One step in front of him.
An Arrow deployed there.
The man closed in.
Keiichiro gauged the distance.
Keiichiro had a dagger.
The man was bare-handed.
There was a difference in their reach, albeit only a few dozen centimeters.
The difference in their reach.
Keiichiro’s attack could connect, but the man’s could not.
He exploited—that distance.
“Ngh!”
The flat of the dagger struck the man’s fist from the side.
Not meeting it head-on, but from the side.
The force distorted the trajectory of the man’s fist.
“——”
The fist grazed Keiichiro’s cheek.
But he didn’t even twitch an eyebrow.
And then, he simply took one step forward.
His foot was pulled by the Arrow he stepped on.
Normally, he would move at high speed like this, but not this time.
Shifting his body’s center of gravity backward.
And then, he did a backflip on the spot.
“Ugh?!”
What Keiichiro delivered was a so-called somersault kick.
The tip of his foot connected with the man’s jaw.
“Something like that, I guess.”
Keiichiro turned his back to the man.
“What the hell are you doin’?!”
“Aren’t you ashamed of losing to a [Trapper]?!”
“Seriously? No way! Bwahaha… my stomach hurts!”
“Glad you managed to win, even if it was a fluke!”
Jeers flew at him.
The ones shouting were C-Rank Adventurers.
They were laughing at the fallen man.
The man who lost to a [Trapper].
To them, losing to a [Trapper], considered far inferior in rank, was probably prime material for gossip.
But, there were other voices too.
“—What do you think? Think it was a fluke?”
“No way. They’re C-Rank because they don’t even understand that.”
“…Honestly, I doubt he’s even a [Trapper]. I’d be more convinced if you told me he was a Speed Attacker [Fencer]. That [Wizard] might have had a chance if he’d fought someone else, though.”
“He showed promise, but that guy also had terrible luck with the matchup. His opponent was just too strong.”
Voices could be heard.
They came from a group of B-Rank Adventurers.
This time, he had deployed his Unique Skill, [Arrow], discreetly so it wouldn’t stand out.
Therefore, most people shouldn’t have noticed Keiichiro’s peculiarity.
Even so, the B-Rank Adventurers felt something was off.
As expected of those who had reached B-Rank, the point where one starts being called first-rate, I suppose.
“Good work.”
“With this, your participation in the Raid is officially decided, isn’t it?”
Tsukasa and Akino welcomed him.
Keiichiro lightly high-fived them both.
“Since Akino introduced you, I expected there wouldn’t be any problems, of course. It seems you possess decent skill, at least among C-Rankers.”
An unexpected voice was heard.
Keiichiro looked for the owner of the voice.
Then, a face popped out from behind Akino.
“However, with just this much, I cannot tell if you are worth Akino going out of her way to invest in.”
The one there was Kiryuin Jessica.
Since her height was considerably shorter than Akino’s, it seemed he hadn’t noticed her behind Akino.
“Oh my. To me, it was striking enough to understand at a glance. Perhaps it was still too soon for you, Jessica?”
“Wh-…! Just because you’ve been entrusted with a company, you’re being too arrogant…! If Father were to entrust a company to me, I would immediately—”
Jessica puffed out her cheeks vexedly.
However, she didn’t look truly angry.
It was probably just a form of playful banter.
It seemed there was no doubt the two knew each other.
“Well, I have confirmed you possess the minimum required skill. You may accompany me on my Dungeon capture.”
“Yeah.”
Jessica puffed out her chest and smiled.
Her way of speaking was a bit high-handed, but Keiichiro didn’t particularly mind.
Troublesome clients were nothing unusual.
Besides, in her case, her youthfulness was likely a large factor.
Judging by how Akino was exchanging banter with her, her fundamental nature probably wasn’t bad.
If it were Akino, she would likely draw a clearer line in her interactions the moment she judged the other person’s personality to be problematic.
He trusted Akino’s judgment enough to think that.
“Kageura-san, was it?”
Jessica stood right in front of Keiichiro.
Then, she placed a hand on her chest confidently and smiled.
“Depending on your performance, I may even deign to become your investor as well.”
At her words, Keiichiro scratched his cheek.
For the time being, he looked at Akino.
She just shrugged with a wry smile.
So Keiichiro decided to laugh.
“Hahaha. Well then, maybe when you’re older.”
“I’m being treated like a complete child?!”
And so, Keiichiro was confirmed as a member for the Raid.