She leaned in close as she asked. With her unusual hair swaying so close, the sweet scent of her shampoo wafted over me. I caught myself leaning backward without meaning to, but I regained my composure enough to reply.
“Sure, I do. I watch Magidun every week,” I said. “Anyway, you’re sort of close to me…”
“Ah, sorry!”
Her face reddened and she hastily stepped back. She must have closed the distance between us without realizing. In the absence of her presence, I didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. Both emotions in my chest snapped at each other like wolves while she apologized.
“My sincerest apologies, Amane-san,” she said. “I don’t have many people I can talk to about Wolfun. I forgot my manners.”
“Don’t worry about it. Here you go.”
I proffered the Wolfun plush to her like a bouquet, but she only stared at it in question. I guessed she didn’t understand the gesture, so I clarified.
“For you,” I said.
“For…me?”
“Yeah.”
“But you won it. I can’t take him from another Wolfun fan. That would be blasphemous!”
At some point, I transformed into a Wolfun fan in her eyes, but I was not about to give up. I gestured insistently with it.
“Please, don’t worry about that. I wanted to give it to you from the start. You’d be helping me if you took it.”
“…If you insist.”
Her expression was surprisingly timid, but she took it with both hands.
What was going through her head? She stared at the stuffed animal in silence for a few seconds, then hugged it like it was precious. She turned her soft smile toward me.
“Thank you, Amane-san. I’m really, really happy.”
That smile quickened my pulse. Was my own face heating up? Suddenly, a ringtone cut in and distracted us—her phone, not mine.
“My father is calling,” Claire said. “Please wait a minute?”
“Sure.”
She stuck Wolfun under her left arm and answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Claire? Thank goodness you answered. I need your input on something. Is now a good time?”
“…Yes, no problem,” she answered, glancing at me as she stepped away.
The conversation sounded important, so she wanted her privacy. I suddenly felt quite alone, but it would be rude to wander off, so I stuck around until she finished her call. About two minutes passed before she hung up and walked back.
Or not. She still had her phone to her ear. What was up? Her conversation with the guild master leaked out of the phone’s speaker, loud enough for me to hear.
“Okay, Claire,” he said. “If you say so, I’ll give Amane a call.”
“No need,” she replied. “Amane-san is with me, so I’ll check with him. I’ll call you back once I have an answer.”
“Huh?! Hold on. What business does he have with my adorable daught—”
The phone beeped as she hung up and cut him off. I forced a smile. With only the tail end of that conversation, I wasn’t sure how to react.
“Sounds like he cares about you a lot,” I tried.
She pouted indignantly. Swing and a miss. “Too much, in my opinion!”
If nothing else, it seemed like they were close?
“So, what did he want?” I asked. “I heard my name.”
“Yes, that’s the issue at hand. Ignore everything else my father said.”
Oof, brutal, Claire. I could picture her father crying if he heard that.
She continued. “Amane-san, since you’re a provisionary member of Yoizuki, you agreed to dive with a high-rank guild member to evaluate our usefulness to you. Do you remember the conversation?”
“Yeah, of course.” I remembered well. She must be asking because…
“Does this mean I finally have my invitation?” I asked.
“Yes, but there are two complications.”
“Complications?”
“Affirmative. First, the dive date is tomorrow, which I know is rather sudden. Are you currently impacted by the Span?”
After a short pause, I shook my head. “No, I’m good on that front.”
A total lie, since I was on my way home from beating a dungeon right then. I didn’t need to worry about it, I hoped. Dungeon Teleportation’s boosted skill level would let me enter any dungeon I wanted. As long as I was careful about how I went past the Gate, no one would find out.
Tomorrow was still very sudden, though. Thanks to the Span, when people planned dives together, they usually gave over one week’s notice. I doubted a guild master would forget something like that, so there must be a different reason for such late notice.
“The second complication is more serious,” Claire said. “The dungeon in question will be a new dungeon—one that spawned this morning.”
I gulped without thinking. A brand-new dungeon? No one in the world knew anything about it, from monster encounters to traps. The danger level was incomparable to other dungeons.
In most cases, a dungeon’s first challengers would be high-rank adventurers (especially guild members) that were drafted to work with the Dungeon Association to create takedown records. Yoizuki must’ve been assigned the task this time around.
Obtaining information about a new dungeon was urgent business. That explained the suddenness of this invitation. The issue was whether or not I should accept it. I didn’t have enough information to jump into danger yet.
“Can I ask a few questions?”
“Certainly. I’ll answer what I can.”
Claire was the one who spoke to the guild master, so she knew much more than me about the situation. I wanted that info.
She answered my questions, but maybe that didn’t matter.
Deep down, my mind was made up. To see the extent of a Yoizuki Guild member’s power, I needed a place like a new dungeon—a fresh fighting ground where no one knew what could happen. My curiosity was piqued beyond my ability to suppress it.
There were plenty of reasons to want to go. One run around that dungeon would surely boost my level at a frightening speed, but that wasn’t the only draw. I knew there was way more to strength than leveling up.
The Nameless Knight, orc general, lightning beast, Yanagi—all of those stronger enemies put my abilities to the test and pushed me to dig deeper. I was at my best under pressure. If powerful, unforeseen enemies awaited me in that dungeon, how could I not take them on?
My drive to grow was relentless. That was why I’d already made my decision.
“That’s the extent of the answers I can give you,” Claire said, finishing. “If you want more information, you’ll need to consult my father directly.”
“That’s okay. You told me enough,” I said. “I want to join the team dive.”