Jiro Tanaka, 28 years old, has a girlfriend.
His girlfriend is Suella Hendelberg.
Memoria Tris.
Occupation: Dungeon Tester (Full-time Employee)
Magic Aptitude: 9 (Quasi Demon Lord Class)
Position: Warrior
I moved away from the main path a little, to a small plaza hidden in a blind spot by a food stall.
Amidst the roaring cheers, the sound of lighters being lit seemed louder than usual.
By bringing my mouth close to the lit flame and taking a breath, my cigarette ignited.
“The party is disbanding…”
Upon hearing Kanzaki’s words, I first considered them.
While it was good to be helpful, as someone who had previously ignored her and maintained minimal communication, I felt no need to offer advice so readily.
Frankly, I wanted to dismiss it with a single word: “Figure it out yourself.”
“Why did such a discussion come about?”
No need for polite language. For now, I should hear the reason.
If I can’t hear it, then I’ll tell them to sort it out on their own.
“You know that our party is all female, right?”
“Yeah, it’d be impossible not to know.”
It’s a party of a few female testers who are my peers.
Even when I was solo, I had heard rumors about Suella and other employees.
Their performance was slightly above average, not outstanding, but stable.
It was also said that their party frequently received applications for joint parties from testers due to the high attractiveness of their party members.
I had kept my distance, believing that if you don’t touch a god, they won’t curse you, but I never expected to interact with them like this.
“…I don’t know if it’s because of that, but recently, invitations from other testers have been relentless, and because of that, one of the members said she’s quitting this job. I told her not to worry about it, but…”
“So it got worse, and that member had accumulated more stress than expected?”
“Yes, and because of that, the atmosphere within the party has soured, and our dungeon攻略 has also slowed down a bit.”
Hearing that, it made sense.
In short, it’s a troublesome human relations issue.
And Kanzaki is seeking a solution as the leader.
“Before we identify the problems, keep me company for a bit.”
“? Where are you going?”
“With a face like that, even if I gave you a solution, you’d probably perceive it negatively. It’s a change of pace.”
“I don’t have time…”
“If you don’t have time, make it. The one who wants to quit is you, isn’t it?”
“！？”
“Did you think I wouldn’t notice? Even though I’m being indirect, it didn’t make sense for someone like me, an outsider, to be approached with a consultation… Well, to be more precise,”
“…”
“Fix those dark circles under your makeup before you say anything else.”
The moment she brought her hand to her eyes after my remark, she implicitly confirmed she had been lying.
“If I were to say it, I’d say, ‘If you want to quit, then quit.’ However, you have reasons why you can’t quit, don’t you? But you can’t tell your friends about those reasons. That’s why you came to me for advice. Am I wrong?”
“…You’re not wrong.”
Deciding that further pretense was impossible, Kanzaki began to walk, following me.
“Here.”
“Thank you.”
Along the way, I bought some juice from a food stall and handed one to Kanzaki.
Continuing to walk without stopping, I listened to her explanation.
“Tell me what you can, within reason.”
The stat enhancements are helpful at times like this.
My hearing has been strengthened to the point where I can listen while looking ahead.
“Actually…”
Listening to the disjointed story, I understood the general content.
“Ah, so that’s what it is.”
Our walking didn’t stop during that time.
We passed by food stalls and proceeded down a straight road.
Our destination was the arena.
Kanzaki understood this too, but followed without saying anything.
“I understand your situation… I understand, but there’s something I don’t get. Why did you consult me? You should have consulted Suella, who’s the same gender, or someone else.”
“When I consulted her, the Section Chief told me it would be better to consult you.”
“Suella~”
Her action of entrusting a woman’s worries to me, a man, gave me a headache.
No, let’s assume that Suella, an alien with a lack of common sense, was deemed less suitable than me, an Earthling who also has women in his party.
Then, I summarized Kanzaki’s situation.
Kanzaki’s party was originally composed of strangers. They were hesitant to team up with a man, but feared fighting alone, so the party was formed.
Their relationship was more than just coworkers, but less than close friends.
Kanzaki ended up being the leader, but she didn’t have much authority, only being able to decide on general directions.
However, she was often burdened with various chores and received little help.
Furthermore, the pick-up attempts from male testers, which had been ongoing, escalated, and a rift began to form with her members who became jealous.
With so many factors aligning, one would normally reach the stage of quitting the job.
“…The bottleneck is that you need to earn living expenses, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
Kanzaki is a struggling student. She moved to the city at her parents’ insistence to attend university.
Under the condition of her returning home, she was told to earn her own living expenses.
It may be presumptuous to say, but there is no company that offers such flexible hours and good pay.
If one manages their finances and risks properly, their living situation can significantly improve.
Therefore, she can’t quit even if she wants to.
“It’s also an option to join my party, but in this case, that wouldn’t solve the problem… rather, it would be like adding fuel to the fire.”
It’s not a simple matter of transferring departments.
For example, if I were to invite Kanzaki into my party like Kitamiya.
That would complicate Kanzaki’s relationship with her remaining party members, and the targets of the male testers’ harassment would shift to my party.
It wouldn’t even be putting out a fire.
At worst, it could make things worse.
“If only she had completely beaten the opponent like Kitamiya, the matter would be much easier.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
While I was organizing my thoughts, I dismissed the stray thought as if it were nothing and recalled Himusumi’s scene, where he fired that parabolic shot back then.
Then, I started to explore solutions from a different situation than that time.
There are two issues to resolve: improving the work content and dealing with the male testers.
“…Can that be used?”
In the event schedule, there was indeed one exceptional event planned.
If all goes well, the problem I’m facing should be resolved at once.
“Kanzaki.”
“Yes?”
“For now, I understand. For the time being, you just enjoy the event.”
“…Understood.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t do nothing.”
Therefore, groundwork is necessary.
I let out a wry smile at Kanzaki, who was looking at me with suspicious eyes, and dropped my cigarette into a portable ashtray.
Then, I temporarily parted ways with her in front of the arena.
She went in through the gate, and I entered from a different route.
The vibrations were still coming through, signaling that someone was fighting even now.
“Ah, this must be it.”
While catching sight of magic beasts moving around and testers fighting them from the corner of my vision, I entered a certain room.
“Keiri-san, are you here?”
“Yo~ Jiro-, bored of Suella and came to your big sister’s place?”
“Is it fun to tease your best friend?”
“Yeah, it’s fun!!”
“And if you get buried under a pile of documents later, don’t blame me!”
“Uhh, um! Jiro-, you won’t say anything about what I just said, right? It’s a promise with your big sister!”
“If you’re going to sweat, you shouldn’t have said it.”
I knew from the schedule that Keiri-san, who was in charge of the commentary, would be on break, and it seemed like I had arrived at just the right timing.
With her unusually high tension, perhaps due to the lingering excitement from the match commentary, I gave a wry smile and sat down opposite her.
“So? What is it? I thought the schedule was going smoothly?”
“I’m not worried about that part. It’s more about the demonstration. Aren’t the instructors all fired up?”
“Ah, that one… You’re really pushing it, aren’t you? I think it’ll be a good catalyst, but you actually managed to persuade the Demon Lord.”
“Persuading the President was surprisingly easy. After all, the event needs a flashy spectacle. I thought it would be best to have top-class performers in charge of that. Oh, and by the way, I thought it was necessary to see the strength of the very best around here.”
“You say that, but aren’t you planning to filter the testers here?”
Facing Keiri-san, who was smiling, I simply responded with a brief, wry smile.
When this event was planned, the supervisor gave me a stern warning.
<"The testers have been slacking off lately. This is a good opportunity, so you tighten them up.">
In fact, an increasing number of testers were mindlessly challenging the same floors of the dungeon.
The supervisor told me to create an event to correct this, so I enlisted the help of Instructor Kio, the Oni King, and Instructor Fushio, the Undead King, and
“But I didn’t expect you to bring in the Tree King and the Giant King, in addition to the Oni King and the Undead King.”
I planned a mock battle between two pairs: Lunaria, the Tree King, and Uuor, the Giant King.
The pinnacle of strength is something we will all eventually have to reach.
Witnessing that battle would be a powerful wake-up call for the testers who are content with stagnation.
This event also includes evaluating the testers from the company’s perspective.
It’s likely that this timing, with the plans for the second-year testers becoming clearer, was a strategic decision.
And the only one who knows this is me, the testers do not.
I haven’t even told Kaido and the others.
“Because I thought it was necessary.”
“You can say anything, but… aren’t you also trying to gather information from higher up?”
“I’ll leave that to your imagination.”
“Ugh, be more casual like Suella~”
“I’m at work.”
Well, I’m not too worried.
They haven’t forgotten their ambition.
They actively participated in this event as well, demonstrating their abilities to the fullest.
It likely won’t affect their winter bonus appraisal.
Let’s have these testers, who are acting like customers, turn pale for a change.
As I dodged Keiri-san’s fingers poking at me, she suddenly stopped.
“So? My break is almost over, but have you gotten to the main point?”
“I thought it would be better to get the reward upfront.”
“That’s rich, you barely let me have any fun.”
“The fun of teasing should be reserved for your true love, so…”
“How unladylike.”
“As I am a man, I need to be brief, Keiri-san, I need you to make a slight change to the schedule.”
“Fine, but this isn’t official, is it?”
The play is over.
Grateful that she brought up the main topic, I subtly smiled.
“Yes, it’s just a little…”
Seeing that smile, Keiri later told Suella: It was like the smile of a demon who had just thought of a prank.
“It’s a surprise.”
Jiro Tanaka, 28 years old, has a girlfriend.
His girlfriend is Suella Hendelberg.
Memoria Tris.
Occupation: Dungeon Tester (Full-time Employee)
Magic Aptitude: 9 (Quasi Demon Lord Class)
Position: Warrior
Today’s word: Improvise.
That concludes this installment.
We look forward to your continued support of this work.
