episode_0127

Steel Shark Office.

Their office was not in Auckland.

Hyde Park, which lies in the southern part of Maguspol, bordering the eastern and southern parts of the administrative district.

Out Village, located in the southern part of Hyde Park.

An immature sky whale flying with difficulty in the sky there.

He looked very tired, both because he had flown a long distance and because he wanted to avoid being caught by the Gargoyle’s standards.

“Chris, it’s around here.”

“Uh… Over there! Isn’t that over there?”

I had transformed into a sky whale and was carrying a bat-shaped ray on my head.

“That shark-like place?”

“Oh, there! There! ”

The name of that building was definitely Shark Mall.

A kind of mart run by the Steel Shark office itself.

Of course, their office was also located inside there.

“Ugh, if it was going to be like this, I should’ve just borrowed a flying car from Lund.”

The distance wasn’t that far.

But this was the first time he had transformed into a sky whale for this long.

In addition, the reaction of those who were surprised by the sudden appearance of the sky whale was exceptional.

I thought I just had to avoid the gargoyles, but they suddenly attacked me…

“Chris, you’ve worked hard. Just hold on a little longer.”

“Yeah!”

I decided to put a little more effort into Ray’s words.

I reached just above the shark mall and transformed into a baby bat like Ray.

Ray began to fall towards the ground as the sky whale he was in disappeared, and so did I.

“Eww!”

Isn’t this too fast?!

Two little baby bats fell, flipping over and over.

….

Fortunately, I avoided a complete crash!

“Chris, are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

Ray, who landed precariously on the ground, returned to his original form first.

Then he caught me just as I was about to collide with the ground.

“…No, it’s still a little shaky.”

I had no choice but to stay on Ray’s palm.

“Shall we go inside first?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

***

Shark Mall, as its name suggests, is mostly staff and shop owners who are sharks.

Among them, there were some with shark heads, while others looked more like humans than sharks.

“…It’s wider than I thought?”

“Chris, wait a minute.”

I was wondering how to find the Steel Shark office in this large building.

But Ray referred to the signs as if telling her not to worry.

Two high-speed escalators.

After passing through the shopping street lined up on the third floor of Shark Mall, we were finally able to arrive at our desired destination.

“Oh, hello?”

“….”

Ray spoke to the guards standing guard at the front door of the office on my behalf.

“What’s going on?”

“Ah, that’s….”

Isn’t that too short? What would we do if we were the clients?

At that moment, another man standing next to him hit the guard on the back of the head.

“Hey! Can’t you tell just by looking at it? It’s a vampire!”

“Oh, no. Sorry! ”

The guard quickly changed his attitude and apologized to us.

Perhaps because he was a vampire, they thought he was from the Blue Heart Office.

It turned out to be right… so it’s pretty good?

“Where is Madame Belova?”

“…Huh?”

Since it has come to this, I decided to stop pretending to be an ordinary bat.

The guards were dumbfounded when the bat on Ray’s palm suddenly spoke.

“Where is your collection?”

“Oh, coincidentally it’s lunchtime now.”

According to them, Belova is currently enjoying lunch with the executives.

“Please wait in the office for a moment.”

“No, I’ll meet you right away. Where are you eating?”

“….”

The guard’s face clearly showed his discomfort.

“Follow me.”

But the guard’s worries did not last long.

“Ahem!”

“Chris, I don’t think it’s good to do that too much.”

“We haven’t eaten anything yet. Why don’t we have a meal together this time?”

Ray’s concerns were not a big deal.

Instead, Ray just laughed after hearing what I said.

Anyway, following the guards, we took the escalator back down to the second floor.

Then he guided us to a fancy restaurant.

“There you are.”

“Oh, really! Thank you.”

I still didn’t forget to mention the guard’s hard work.

“Ray, come closer slowly.”

“Yeah.”

Ray approached Belova and the officers with the blade resting on his palm.

Was it because of the appearance of an unfamiliar guest? Everyone’s attention quickly turned to Ray.

***

“…What?”

uh?

“Hey, kid over there!”

“Sister, don’t pick a fight with the kid for no reason.”

“Do you have any business with us?!”

Even if the other executives didn’t know, Belova seemed to have already recognized us.

“Hello! Madame Belova!”

“…What?”

I called her Madam in a polite way.

Because just calling him a director felt a bit stiff.

But seeing the other executives’ expressions getting worse… maybe it wasn’t such a good choice?

“Chris, I think it’s time to stop.”

“Okay.”

The baby bat on Ray’s palm did a somersault.

Then, in an instant, the figure of the 10th ranked problem solver appeared.

“…!”

Belova and the executives’ eyes widened. Why are you here?! They had such expressions.

“Hello!”

“No, what is happening here….”

She had long since lost the threatening air she had shown just a moment ago.

“Did you hear the news that you passed? I also heard that you enjoyed the caviar, and I have something to say.”

“….”

No matter what the reason, their surprised expressions never went away.

Meanwhile, Ray stared at one of the dishes being eaten by the guests around him.

…Isn’t that a shark fin?

There are sharks eating right next to you, and there’s someone who eats that kind of stuff?

“Please sit down first.”

As Ray and I looked at Sharksfin, Belova invited us to sit down.

Their numbers are all three.

Belova, and two shark-like creatures with shark heads, unlike her.

One had numerous scars on his face, and the other had a very impressive shark-like head shape.

The hairstyle was really impressive.

In addition, the eyes are located at either end of the unique head.

It’s as if I’m expressing the situation of this city, which goes from one extreme to another, with my whole body?

“Madam, are you used to that kind of thing?”

“What? I’d like you to change the title a bit.”

Huh? If you don’t like Madam… Should I just call her Director?

“Isn’t it because the curator is a bit stiff?”

“No, if you look at it that way, Madam is even more so.”

I don’t know her age well, so I couldn’t say anything about that.

But when I looked at Sharksfin again, she waved her hand.

“We don’t care about that.”

“Really? That’s unexpected.”

“There was a time when I cared about it in the past.”

Said the shark man with the head shaped like a ghost shark.

“In the old days, they also cooked with the fins of sharks, not sharks.”

“…Huh?”

***

This time another shark man opened his mouth.

But it felt like I was getting to know the dark side of Magusfall again, something I never wanted to know about.

“But it’s okay now because it’s less.”

“Well, maybe they still cook like that in places you can’t see.”

“Sister!”

When Belova made a sound like a whistle in the middle of the fight, the officer quickly urged his subordinate to hurry up.

At that moment, the two of them were about to argue.

Gulp―.

A sound that resonated pleasantly from my stomach.

“Ramon, order another portion for these two too.”

“Yes, sis.”

A shark man with a head shaped like a ghost shark stood up. His name was Ramon.

“Hehe… That’s not necessary.”

“This is what a subordinate can do to his boss. Isn’t it?”

From my perspective, I had a lot of trouble with the title of Bellova, but it seems it wasn’t the other way around. That’s because I can easily call her boss.

“By the way, Boss, who is this kid here?”

“Hello, Young···.”

“Ray Friuli! My first subordinate.”

Ray hit the player before he could even say the strange name.

“Friuli?”

Then Belova showed a natural reaction.

It seemed that the Frauley family was one of the Kresnik families.

Kresnik was a vampire hunter, a natural enemy of vampires.

But the vampire has people from such families as his subordinates. It’s like a frog having snakes as its subordinates.

“Ahahaha! This is amazing! A vampire made a vampire hunter his subordinate?”

“It just happened that way!”

“So. It’s not just a simple subordinate thing, right?”

“Huh?”

Belova made a sour expression.

The impressive shark teeth were completely obscured.

“Oh no! That’s not it!”

“What, wasn’t that your boyfriend?”

Ray’s eyes changed at her question. It was clear that he wanted to hear about that part directly from my mouth.

“…That.”

“What?”

“It’s similar, right?”

“What is that!”

She answered like that, looking at me and Ray with a pleased smile.

It’s like the feeling an old lady gets when she sees the innocent love between children.

I was trying to get away from this topic, but then a good opportunity came.

Before we knew it, our share of food had arrived.

Ramon placed a plate in front of me and Ray, laden with a soup containing an unusual mushroom and a thick slice of steak.

Oh! I had prepared Midas’ food, but I didn’t prepare my own food. But when I saw the steak, my mouth started watering.

“I’ll eat well!”

Immediately after my words of thanks, Ray also gave a brief bow.

I took a spoonful of soup while cutting the steak.

As we savored the mushrooms cut into bite-sized pieces, Belova spoke as if she had been waiting for it.

“How is it? Not bad, right?”

“Yeah!”

“Those mushrooms have almost no flavor, but they have a good texture.”

“Yeah. Not bad.”

It had a unique texture. It didn’t have a strong flavor, so it didn’t ruin the taste of the soup.

Meanwhile, it seemed like I wasn’t the only one who was hungry.

Ray and I followed Belova and her siblings as we sliced steaks and slurped down soup.

“Hmm. But the Steel Shark office… seems a bit like a gang?”

“Oh, is that so?”

Ramon reacted as if he was slightly stung.

“Still, it is an official office in name only.”

Belova’s other brother seemed to have a different opinion from Ramon.

“No, I mean, I do a little bit of work and I also have a big base like this.”

***

“Hey, judging by appearance is a bit much.”

Belova reacted as if that was a bit odd.

Then suddenly he showed me his terminal screen.

“…What is this?”

“It’s that Ramon guy.”

Oh, you’re a firefighter!

When I first saw the photo that Belova showed me, I wondered what it was.

It looked like someone wearing medieval metal armor.

“What, you used to be a firefighter?”

“It was a long time ago.”

You’re so good at wearing that creative shark head shape!

Ramon just scratched his head.

As a side note, Maguspol’s firefighter uniform was the epitome of romance.

It is known that the external appearance is actually derived from the firefighter uniform of the 19th century.

The firefighter uniform we know has a metal head guard added….

This is a form of magical power spraying from this protective gear. In Magusfall, magical power is used to put out fires, not water.

It’s like blocking the oxygen with a magic field and putting out a fire.

What matters is where that magic comes from.

The fire hose spewing out a massive magical field is connected to the metal protective gear on top of the firefighter’s uniform.

What does this mean?

That is, putting out a fire and protecting yourself from the fire use the same mana.

That’s why, inevitably, in order to save more people, it was necessary to weaken the strength of the force field for oneself.

It was a typical heroic narrative… sacrificing oneself to save others.

Firefighters weren’t much different in the real world or in the city of magic engineering.

“Ramon, why did you quit being a firefighter?”

“Ah, that’s….”

Ramon hesitated to answer. Then Belova intervened.

“The fire chief guy unilaterally cut us. He said he had to reduce personnel and started by cutting Ramon and Suin.”

“Ah….”

Maguspol’s time-honored discrimination against watermen is back again!

“You know what’s funny?”

“Why? What else is there?”

It wasn’t good to know, but I couldn’t stop being curious.

Because I was curious as to why a firefighter quit the fire service.

“Not long after that, new people came to fill the empty space.”

“…Huh?”

It was clearly cut under the pretext of personnel reduction, right? But they’re replacing them with human firefighters?

“Only the few people were affected.”

“That’s right. I didn’t really expect much, but this city has always been like this.”

At Ray’s words, Belova roughly cut the steak.

“Belova, but now that you’re my subordinate, that won’t happen.”

“Oh, really?”

“Well, unless the 2nd place is directly targeting Belova?”

“What is that!”

Belova started laughing when she heard my answer.

After that, as we talked about this and that, we were able to finish the food quickly.

***

It was clearly intended as a surprise inspection at first.

By the time I left Shark Mall, seeing off Belova and her siblings, none of that had mattered.

Meanwhile, Belova gave me a luxurious fan and sunglasses as a gift.

Not one, but two to use with Ray!

“Ray, how are you?”

“It seems a little big.”

“But it still suits you well, right?”

“Yeah!”

Ray answers without any hesitation.

Hmm. Not bad.

Thinking that I was already at it, I put sunglasses on Ray’s eyes too.

“Okay, you’ve had your fill and received a gift. Shall we go back?”

“…I’m sure this isn’t what you came here for.”

“Ahem, big!”

I tried to avoid eye contact with Ray and coughed hard.

On the way back, I didn’t bother to transform into a sky whale.

He asked Lund to send a flying car to the terminal.

“What?”

“Why? No?”

“What a bother.”

Lund said as much, but soon a flying car appeared over Hyde Park to pick us up.

“Would it be better if you just did it all at once?”

“Chris, but Mr. Lund did it anyway.”

As Ray said… the return trip was very comfortable thanks to Lund.

I didn’t head straight to the third floor, and Ray didn’t go back to his office either.

So naturally I headed straight to the first floor…

A few of the troubleshooters from the Metal Sight office showed up.

They didn’t interview me and become my subordinates, but they were also one of the three offices on Grove Avenue.

“Ray, follow me for a sec.”

After the shark sister, it was the machine gentlemen’s turn.