Peeping

After enjoying herself in those mock fights, Setsuna headed back her room at the inn.

Her work finished, Nayuta was waiting there.

Oh, Onee-chan, did you have another mock fight? You have to use [Cleanup] or youll just smell sweaty, you know?

Eeeeh? It takes so much though nnn~. Nayuta, you do it~

Yeah, yeah. [Cleanup], [Cleanup], and one more, [Cleanup].

She used [Cleanup] like splashing her with water. Once shed used it three times, she was completely clean.

Onee-chan, who were you having the mock fight with? Kuroinu-senpai?

Nkyuu, Village Chief-san. Now Ive completed this villages C-Ranks! I lost though. Tehehe.

For Onee-chan to lose what happened?

Seeing Setsuna smile awkwardly, Nayuta tilted her head to the side.

Setsunas ability was that of a B-Ranks, so she couldnt imagine her losing to a C-Rank adventurer, much less a C-Rank adventurer who was actually a D-Rank everywhere but at this dungeon. Just what sort of method did he use?

Right, right, I straight up lost in a grappling match!

Grappling match!? Not a hand-to-hand fight? I heard it as a rumor from the villagers, but wasnt Village Chief-san a swordsman?

Village Chief-san himself said he was a mage. His staminas definitely like a mages, but his skill was like a first class grapplers. He got super tired and looked dead tired but his movements didnt change at all, it felt like his body knew all of the movements and was moving from sheer willpower!

What Setsuna sensed was, in a certain way, very close to being correct.

He does have black hair and eyes, so maybe he does have Hero blood in him? Or maybe hes the Hero himself?

He reacted delicately to Onee-chans boke, so the chances of it are pretty big. But then is that rank a rank from him hiding his identity? Or is it the pattern hes actually hiding his S-Rank? Then again, I can understand that Onee-chan lost if he is a Hero. Heroes have crazy physical strength and cheat-like skills given from god Did he train his body, or was that a skill? If its a skill, with what sort of effect does [1]

Ahh, Nayuta? Are you done? My shifts coming up soon.

Ah, whoops.

Nayuta stopped talking for a moment before taking a breath and starting again.

So, what about Village Chief-sans magic? He had to use something if hes a mage right?

Hmmm.

Setsuna thought back to the magic that Kehma used. The strong impression she got from other things from him overshadowed his magic, so even though she could remember it, it took a bit of time.

He used [Water] a bit. I mean, it was a mock fight, so he only used it to distract me.

Heeh Well, shall we report that hes promising? He obviously knows other magic. He wouldnt be calling himself a mage if he only knew a single magic soah.

Nayuta realized she was starting to talk a lot again, so she decided to cut herself off there.

Considering it was by chance, we came across quite a find, havent we?

By the way, I think that girls a Toy after all.

Kuroinu-senpai? She really is abnormally strong for her age. Moreover, with her black hair, eyes, ears, and brown skin the possibility of her being a Toy is extremely high.

If she is, what do we do?

Nayuta thought for a moment before responding.

Well just report it for now and wait for further instruction. A little more intelligence gathering might be necessary.

Should we sent a message right away?

Yeah.

Deciding to take a safe approach to it for now, Nayuta began to write a message. Setsuna decided to change into her maid outfit and head to work.

*

It looks like they had that sort of conversation.

I asked Rokuko to have the menus monitor function record it. The conversation happened when I was exhausted and sleeping, so its already been over a day since it happened.

I turned off the monitor since I didnt intend to peep on her changing clothes ah, was that already cut out? Yep. Rokukos gotten able to think about stuff like that ahead of time hasnt she.

Report, message and wait for instruction huh. Setting aside the bits about Heroes, whats this Toy thing? They said is was a high possibility Meat was one, but is that some title like Hero? Or is it more like an individual name? Meat cant remember her past much at all is it like that? I wonder if it has to do with that well, given her excellence, it might not be impossible.

Come to think of it, Id peeped at what the letters contents were, but it really just looked like the activity report of adventurers staying safe. It wasnt even written in Japanese.

However, I didnt know the other partys name. The letter turned into a bird when it was finished being written and flew off somewhere. A carrier pigeon? Looks like she used a magic tool, but thats amazing.

What to do what to do

Really, more and more I dont know what to do. The more info we get on them, the more the enigma deepens. Cant I just ignore it and get back to sleep?

Ive pretty much finished my part in contacting them, so the next step is theirs. And since theyre also waiting for instructions, were all just waiting on standby. Ill have them tell me if some letter bird comes flying in.

I decided to observe them with the monitor.

With a bit of searching, I found Setsuna waiting tables in the dining room. Her job was simple, she just accepted order tickets from guests and brought them food made by Kinue-san. It looked like shed already gotten used to it her cheerful smile was popular among the guests too.

Nkyuu, heres your D set meal~

Ohh, thanks Setsuna-chan. Ya busy tonight?

Ahahaha, I might consider it if you win against me. Wanna have a mock fight?

Haha, theres no one in this village that can beat Setsuna-chan. Even Kuro-chan lost against ya right? I mean, Kuro-chans the strongest in the village.

Setsuna generally treated the adventurer guests lightly, but she tilted her head in puzzlement over his statement.

Eh? The strongest person in this village is Village Chief-san though?

Sure, Kuro-chan cant win against Kehma-san, but hes Kuro-chans Goshujin-sama yknow?

Village Chief-san is strong. I lost against him.

Huh?

The dining hall suddenly burst into an uproar from Setsunas remark.

Other adventurers cut into the conversation. Theyd challenged Setsuna beforerather, they were challenged by herand were promptly defeated.

Oi hold up there, Kehma-san wasnt defeated, but defeated Setsuna-chan!?

It wasnt in gambling or wordplay or something?

Yep, it was in a mock fight. Hes strong

Seriously? Kehma-san, strong!? Hes always sleeping though!

Now that you mention it, Village Chief Kehma is this dungeons top progresser right, there was talk about someone training Kuro-chan wasnt there?

Hey, did he seriously win? Village Chief-san like, judging from looks, even I could win against Village Chief-san

You could ask Kuro-senpai if you think Im lying? She was there~

All at once, everyones gazes shot towards Meat Kuroinu, who worked there too.

Meat answered by nodding However, even though there high chance that Meat would say anything that would favor me, since it was coupled with Setsuna herself saying that she lost, the trustworthiness of the news was high.

Y-you were feeling sick right? Hey, were you having that once-a-month girl thing?

Thats sexual harassment! Mou, perv!

Hebuogu!?

Setsuna struck the guest with a bang.

The now-wounded guest flew away.

Though something at that level was just playing around to adventurers, so there was no problem. Itd be quite a big problem if this were Japan though.

Ah, sorry.

N-no, it was my bad. Ha, haha

Well, I was in perfect condition. After fighting Village Chief-san, I fought against Kuro-senpai again and won~

I wont lose next time

Hooh, Im ready any time!

The two held up their trays and locked eyes.

It felt like sparks were flying between them.

You two, your hands arent working?

Kinue-sans voice came over from the kitchen, ending the topic there.

However, the rumor that I won against Setsuna spread through the dining hall in no time, eventually making its way into the village.

Crap. Even though we called it a tie, shes saying that she lost against me

However, Setsuna played it out so naturally that it didnt look like she was scheming anything. Even if she was scheming something, what was her intention? To investigate the dungeon? Or maybe some investigation related to Heroes? Or maybe it was like she said in the interview and is chasing the [Black Wolf]? Come to think of it, what is that Toy thing? Is she looking for them?

At any rate, if theyre reporting to someone and are waiting for instructions, Ill figure something out by looking at it. Probably.

In the end, I guess theres no choice but to wait and see how it plays out

Footnotes:

Check this link for more info on boke.