One afternoon, in the Swallow’s Returned Favor branch office in our mansion, Ina came wearing the same uniform as Erza. After breakfast, when I was going out for my dungeon work, she suddenly came to visit me.
She bowed her head and said politely, “I’m happy to be working with you.” But when she stood straight again, she was back to her usual self. “Crazy stuff, Ryota. You’ve got two dedicated employees now. Are you happy?” She came closer and started nudging me with her elbow. “C’mon, are you?”
“Happy or not, I still don’t really understand what’s going on.”
As soon as she’d come, she started yapping about working with me and me being happy. I was utterly confused.
“Come on. You did something awesome yesterday, didn’t you?”
“Yesterday…? Oh.” I chuckled to myself, raised a hand in front of my face, and bowed in apology to Erza. “Sorry. Did I cause trouble for you?”
“N-No.”
“Yeah, not one bit! It was great, in fact. Man, I wish I could’ve seen Erza drowning in a sea of potatoes!”
“I really did, then. Especially in a physical sense.”
I bowed in apology once more.
“We tried sending them all to HQ to give Erza room, and even they started drowning in them! They were all so amazed that they couldn’t pick their jaws up off the floor. Only you could elicit so much amazement, so many sighs, and so much dying and going to heaven from our employees.”
What was that last part?! Bah, she’s probably just joking anyway.
“So, is that why they decided to do that? Because Erza was struggling on her own?” I asked.
“We have been talking about getting more staff here for a while, anyway. Riiight?” Ina punctuated that with a wink. She’d been so…friendly ever since we first met. That wink suited her well.
“Is that so?”
“Erza’s enough for everyday things, but y’know, you’re not an ‘everyday’ kind of guy, are you?”
“Heh… I guess not.” I was aware of this, too, so I couldn’t contain my wry chuckle.
Right. I’m not an “everyday” kind of guy. I always stuck my neck into things I found unfair, people like Cell always came to me with big requests, and people at wit’s end always looked to me for help.
Ina was right; I did a lot of things that the average guy didn’t do.
“That’s why. We wanted one more staff member here for times like that. Especially given yesterday.”
That made me chuckle again. The max-power slime family, battered by drop rounds, had produced dozens of pounds of potatoes in mere seconds. From what I heard later, it had looked like she’d won a jackpot at some kind of wacky slot machine.
Just imagining it excited me a little, too.
Ina concluded her explanation, “So basically, here I am now.”
“I see. But why you?”
“Huh?” She was oddly shaken.
“I’d imagine that you’ve been dispatched elsewhere. I mean, I run into you all over the place.”
“Hmm, well… Truuue.” For some reason, she hesitated and looked away.
While I found it odd, I continued, “So I figured you were a major asset to the Swallow’s Returned Favor. Pinning you down in one place seems like a waste, doesn’t it?”
“W-Well… Y’know, I mean…”
“Hm?” I understood her even less now. Was it that hard to tell me?
“O-Oh! You’ve been helping my family, y’know?” Suddenly, she had a reason.
That does make some sense.
Her family, a greengrocer, regularly purchased my watermelons.
“Besides!” she giggled to herself. The awkwardness from before was all but gone. “Since we know each other, it’s easier for us to do business! We run into each other all over the place, don’t we?”
“That is true.”
The only person I knew better at that shop was Erza. If they wanted to choose someone based on affinity with us, then indeed, Ina would be the best choice.
“Geez, you’re such a liar,” Erza grumbled something, but I didn’t hear it well.
“Hm? Erza, you say something?” I asked.
“Nope.”
“Really?”
If not, then that’s that, I guess. In that case…
I poked my head out of the office and called out, “Emily! You here?”
When I did, I heard a “Yeees!” in the distance, followed by the sound of footsteps. I waited for her to come, still leaning out the door.
“What the heck do you mean, ‘liar’?”
“You’re a liar. Liar. I know.”
“I-I have no idea what you’re─”
“I don’t like how you’re covering it up. It’s not like I’m blaming you.”
“I mean… I dunno, okay? It’s like a ‘maybe,’ or something.”
“…Okay, then.”
Erza and Ina were arguing about something behind me, but they seemed to come to a tacit agreement. They were coworkers and friends, so I figured it was just small talk and paid it no mind.
Emily arrived shortly after, so I asked her to make a room for Ina. Whether she was going to live here or not, she could at least benefit from a private break room. Personal space is important, after all.
“Oh. Ina, mind waiting a sec?” I asked.
“Hmm? Sure, but why?”
“Just wait.” I left her and ran out of the office. Then, I duplicated a golden key using a drop round.
Enhanced items made from outsiders would drop the same thing when made into an outsider again. They wouldn’t be enhanced further, but they wouldn’t deteriorate either. Though I personally figured they just distinguished based on whether they were dropped inside of or outside of dungeons.
In this case, it went like this. If inside, rusty key. If outside, golden key. I turned the golden key into an outsider Prince Ryo, fired a drop round, and used Repetition. All of that served to duplicate the key.
I brought that back to Ina, who looked confused.
“Here you go.”
“What is it?”
“I’ll explain how to use it. It’s basically a duplicate key.”
“A-A duplicate key…”
She looked confused. Her face turned red.
For some reason, Erza rolled her eyes in exasperation.
“You call that a maybe? Come on.”