Tanaka Jiro, 28 years old, with a girlfriend
Her Suela Hendelberg　
　　　Memory Tris
Occupation Dungeon Tester (full-time)
Magical aptitude nine (quasi-magical grade)
Post Warriors


I did it again.

I give in to the tension, let it carry me through, let the momentum carry me through, and think to myself, "I just did it.

Well, all right.

Even though what I had done was a mistake, it was a fine action, so I looked back, consoling myself in my mind that it was okay.
The loud cheers that haven't stopped rumbling.
You'll be able to see that the excitement you felt as soon as you accepted the reality that you had defeated the Earth Dragon doesn't seem to have subsided.
You'll be able to see that they're not the only ones who are interested in this.
They were praising each other's efforts and laughing at the corpse of the ground dragon.
There were no calculations and the smiles of those who faced this difficulty and achieved it were all overflowing.
That's good...it was a perfect score for me.
Yeah, that was good.

"Oh!　My brother is here!

Who's my brother .
Although master is a demon yakuza that even yakuza would run away from, I don't want to create dignity in that direction either and I'm not aware that I'm creating it.
But I can't bring myself to deny it.
A single Yankee-style tester's voice briefly gazes at me as he walks up to me.

......

The gaze is not one of disgust, but one of pure respect.
Until just a few days ago, the gazes of the testers, which should have been bare hostility, are now tinted with the color of respect as they point at me.
And it's not just one person, it's all the testers except for the party members and hazelnut.
The gaze directed at the hero who accomplished the feat of slaying the earth dragon.
It gives me an indescribably itchy sensation.
This is because the very act of denying it is an act of ignoring the atmosphere.

...... Shouldn't you guys be running?　The format is supposed to be a race, okay?

I'm going to endure such a feeling and ask a question as a diversion.
Because of that ground dragon, all the testers have already gathered together, and there is a difference in the exhaustion of physical and magical power.
Thanks to this, the race has become a mere trivial matter, but it is not lost.
That supervisor's objective was served in the last round.
Then, perhaps, but from here on out, the road to the plan (schedule) should be promised.
And as I explained at the beginning, there will be rewards for the top finishers.

「「「「「「「 and 」」」」」」

That's why I wondered why the guys in front of me were so excited.
Apparently, the impact of the earth dragon had made people forget that this race even existed.
This fact quickly spread.

「「「「「「............」」」」」」

Those who had been laughing and hugging each other's shoulders quickly and quietly distance themselves from each other.
Then, some turn their ankles to hide, and others begin to formulate their magic to restore their remaining strength.
A variety of people begin to adjust themselves.
Ten seconds later.

Thanks to 「「「「「「「「 for your help!　And 」」」」」」」

Let's bow in unison.

「「「「「 Get out of the way!
「「「「「 Get out of my way!

It will priming .
Yesterday's friend is today's enemy.
A moment ago they were holding hands and laughing at each other, but now they are enemies.
They are filled with magic, and the dust is scattered like a storm at the gate as they run off at once.

They're so disciplined.

Maybe they were just bad at first impressions, but maybe they weren't so bad at heart.
I was too stubborn and reached into my breast pocket, thinking that next time I would be a little softer to you.
Take out a brand of your favorite good fortune that you always love to smoke.
Kaido and the others have followed suit and are now running with the flow, leaving me alone, free from the stare I gave you earlier, to begin smoking a cigarette.
There is no need for me to win the race.
There are no prizes or rewards for first place.
I'm the go-to guy in this race, so to speak.
I was only sent in to help the testers when they were in trouble.
So why don't you just work to fix the other problems, but it's all in the hands of the supervisor.
The irony is that what I have to do is over after the battle.
I caught a glimpse of Kanzaki having a friendly conversation with one of the other party members.
I guess the problem can be solved if you get a chance.
So you could say I'm bored.
If we stay here, we'll run into additional monsters, and we'll have to fight them back-to-back.
That's something I'd rather not do, but there's enough room for a cigarette.

"Telepath, who is this?　Yes, it is Jiro.
"Hey, Jiro-kun, may I?
"?　Kaylie?　What's wrong?　Is there any trouble with the event progress?



I thought so, and as I put the cigarette in my mouth, the sensation of a telepathic message echoed in my head.
As is your usual custom, you go out without hesitation and find out that the person you're talking to is Kaylie.
She is now working on the play-by-play commentary.
So it's strange to receive a telepathic message from her who's been busy.
Is there some kind of emergency (trouble) going on?
Gently, I light a cigarette, increasing the tension.

No, the event is going well. Thanks to the first battle, the hall is full of excitement and the race is going well with all the potential testers consuming their magic. That's not the problem, this is something else.

Trouble outside the event?
Unfortunately, I've only just seen Minami and Kaido off, who are likely to be the cause of that trouble.
You can catch up with them if you want, but have they done something wrong again?

"Suella's down.
"Ah?

A cigarette spilled out of his mouth with a plop, but he didn't have time to worry about it .
Suela collapsed?
You were in such good spirits when I saw you this morning?
No, I'm sure I'm just sick, chill out.
I try to tell myself that, but my body is honest.
You think you're okay, but a chill goes through you like an ice pillar in your back.

What happened!　Suela!"?

Impatience naturally propagates to your actions, and your tone of voice naturally becomes violent.
Although I understand that it is inevitable to hit Kaylee, I can't keep my cool.

"Calm down!　I don't know the details of what I just learned, but they say he's going to be okay. Memoria, who was with me in the infirmary, just told me. I only found out because she contacted me.
"Memoria?

When the name Memoria was mentioned, a sense of relief came out of me, knowing that if she was with Suela, I would be able to regain my composure a little.
Now that I've regained my composure, I naturally think of what to do next.

...... Ms. Kaylee, I need to get out of here.

The first thing to do is to get out of the race.
This is not the time for this and I advise you to do the best thing.

I was hoping you would say so, so I asked Master Evvia, but unfortunately there are no escape gates in that dungeon. It's a dungeon that's been scaled down for racing, which has backfired. The rules are so fixed that they're not very flexible. The only way out is through the normal exit. The supervisor would have had a shot at transference, but unfortunately, he's in limbo right now.
Pss!

But things don't work out for the best.
I'd like to scream for help, but if the supervisor who coordinated this dungeon says so, then I guess there's no way to escape by any other route than the one set up.

Well, then,
"Yes, running is the fastest way out. There's no fork in the road, just run in a straight line.

There is only one thing you can do.
Tuck the mineral tree into the back brace and assume a crouching start position.
Even if she is intact, you won't have time to relax and escape the dungeon when you hear that Suela is down.
You'll increase the circulation of magic and try to reach the best specs you can now.

Copy that ...... and wait for me, Suela!

Calming your breath, you turn your attention to the magic in your body and slowly speed up the flow.
The flow becomes a muddy stream and begins to run through the magical crests.
You are conscious to keep it in order, and the moment the circulating, increasing, and wild magic power is stabilized, you put all your strength into your right leg and run as fast as you can.
It doesn't matter if the ground beneath my feet is shattered and splattered behind me.
Now all I can think about is moving forward.
Faster and faster, faster and faster.
Break through the wall of wind and color.
My brain can't keep up with the visual information, and even though it's black and white, I don't slow down, I don't slow down, I focus on object identification, and I run through the obstacles.
Ignore all traps and obstacles by relying on your leg strength to beat the running testers.
If there's a cliff, ignore gravity.
If there are valleys, run through the sky.
If there's a trap, you'll already be gone by the time it fires.
Just focus on getting to her.

......

Each time you do so, it speeds up the circulation of magic and strengthens you, even if your body creaks.
While checking the limits of your body to see if you can go one more step or another, you can feel the sensation of your transmission nerves while still trying to figure out the boundary between broken and unbroken.
The moment you realize that you care so much about Suela, you realize that you didn't want to know this way and smile for a moment, but you immediately tie your mouth shut.
Run through the falling rocks before they fall.
Kick the spear to smash it.
You'll kick your spear into pieces and break the web of magic that covers the area.

Suela, I'm coming!　I'm coming!

Move your feet faster, wave your hands vigorously.
Don't think about the rest.
Just think about getting to her.
Like a gatekeeper, you swiftly pull out the mineral tree at your back and slice through it at the crossing.
You'll regain the momentum you had lost by stepping into the water and adjust your posture again to run.
Kaido, who was already at the front, is far behind.
The distance you ran means that the course should already be in its second half.
The obstacles are getting more and more complicated to make you think so.
Still, it's enough to slow down your running speed at best.


Rather than being able to respond flexibly, the magical resources that had been turned into speed have returned.
I filled my impatience with thoughts of dealing with the obstacle in front of me, and when I finally caught a visual of the dungeon's exit in front of me, I put my gears into the last acceleration (top gear) at once.
With a roar and a gust of wind, I jumped into the light, not thinking about deceleration at all.

"It's still Jiro Tanaka who came out at the top!　He did a great job of overtaking the rage from last place!　That's it!　You're scoring!　Where are you going?

You can hear the play-by-play of a different dark elf woman from Kaylee, but you ignore her.
You'll leave the dungeon's event hall without regard to the goal.
You'll drift underfoot and slide into the gate to return to the office, and when you finally get back to the office, you'll be the first to head for the infirmary.
The distance to your destination is so close at hand, but every step is annoying.
You long to go faster and faster, but the distance remains the same.
You're trying to improve your speed, but the unreasonable strengthening you've done on the way here is starting to take its toll on your body around the second half of the race.
You have magic power, but you can't circulate it cleanly.
The speed range, which is far from the fastest, irritates me.

d*mn it!

Still clenching my teeth, I sprint through the last sprint and apply the emergency brake in front of the doctor's office.
Tiles and boots scrape against each other, a high-pitched sound echoes, and my body slides sideways as I apply the brakes.
I reach for the door handle and force it shut before the inertia comes to a halt.
I don't know how long it took me to get here.
All I know is that it took me a while, and it's slowing me down.
But still.

Suela!

Take this one step faster.

Jiro?　What's going on?　So much hurry, and the job is

With that in mind, I summoned up my last ounce of strength to enter the infirmary and found a cheerful-looking Suela lazily eating an apple on the bed.
Next to her is Memoria holding a plate of peeled apples.
Both of them look at me as if startled by my sudden appearance, their eyes fluttering this way.

"Suela?　You've fallen.

The scene is quite peaceful and my mind can't keep up with it.

Yes, I just fell over when I was sick. No need to make such a big deal out of it.
Oh, yeah. Oh, good.

Suela collapsed and was taken to the doctor's office.
What was the point of me running here in such a hurry with that information alone?
When I opened the lid of the box, Suela said it was nothing serious, and my body weakens as if to get rid of the pressure I had been under.

"Well, Suela, I know it's hard to say, but you'll find out sooner or later. I know it's hard to say, but you'll find out.
"Yes, but ......
If you don't like it, I can do it myself.
"......
I knew something was up!

But it seems that the box was double-bottomed, and Suela deliberately mentioned that there was nothing in it.
Then we hear from Memoria who knows what's going on.
When I forcefully raised my body and turned my head, I saw Suela with a serious expression on her face.

"To tell you the truth.

Her usual confused tone of voice is not usual, and I stand to the side to see if something is wrong.

What's going on?
"......

I walk up to her and gently take her hand and look into her eyes.
You hold Suela's hand gently but strongly, as if to convey your determination to support her no matter what, and you look intently into her eyes.
She is silent for a few seconds, and then...

"You're done!

He said a hell of a lot of things.

"Did you do it?
"Yes, you and my child
"...... eeeeeeeeee!!!!

It took me a few seconds to understand.
In my astonished mind, I saw a vision of Ms. Keely smiling the devil's smile that the prank had succeeded behind the scenes.


Tanaka Jiro, twenty-eight years old, with a girlfriend.
Her Suela Hendelberg　
　　　Memory Tris
Occupation Dungeon Tester (full-time)
Magical aptitude nine (quasi-magical grade)
Post Warriors

Word of the Day
There is something in this world that blows even that away.