episode_0153

A week has passed since the day I met the second place.

The biggest change that has occurred so far is… the second place winner no longer appears at official events.

And the protagonist of the 5th place problem solver ranking has changed.

Ray also grew a tail on his butt, but that was relatively minor.

“….”

“Uh, Chris?”

Of course, it’s good that Ray can do more pranks now that he has a tail.

It was quite refreshing to see Ray flustered when I wrapped my thick tail around his thin tail like that.

“Why? You don’t like it?”

“…Oh, no. It’s not that I hate it.”

If you ask a question like this on purpose, he will immediately make a troubled expression.

‘Well, was this too mean?’

“Ray’s tail will soon become as thick as mine.”

“That would be great.”

“Then should I get more blood?”

“…I’m okay. Is Chris okay?”

Ah, maybe that’s the case?

It was quite an ordeal to watch Ray suck the blood of another dragon.

If possible, it might be better if I don’t even bother to be there.

Or, changing Yong-in’s gender to male! That would be too much for Ray.

“Well, no. Let’s pretend it never happened.”

I thought I could do it later, if not right now.

“Chris!”

“Huh?”

I was about to go to the bathroom for a moment when Ray, who was in the living room, came looking for me in a hurry.

“Why?!”

“Look at this.”

The TV screen that Ray was pointing at.

There was talk that the runner-up had given up on his ranking as a problem solver.

“What? Is it true?”

“I think so too.”

It was something that was hard to believe at first.

“Wait a minute, so I’m now… in 4th place?”

The saintess who was ranked 5th died by my hand. To be exact… she was made into a golden statue by Midas, but that didn’t mean I could raise Midas to 5th place.

So! I showed the 5th place golden prize directly to the 6th place winner.

A few days ago from today.

“…Is this really 5th place?”

“Yeah, but why did your body change?”

The 6th place winner, who came to personally check out the 5th place golden statue, had a considerable number of body parts modified into prosthetics.

“…As expected, the 2nd place is really strong.”

“Ah.”

It seems that 6th place also fought directly with 2nd place along with 7th and 8th place.

In this case, only those who were mobilized to capture the second place… the children of the wise man of the north, the saint and the nuns of the church, three rankers and their subordinate forces.

Even if it were me, it would be difficult to guarantee victory in this configuration.

Among them, the most threatening one was the owner of the golden statue in front of me and the 6th place.

“Is this enough evidence?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

The 6th place winner then took several pictures of the golden statue with the camera built into his eye.

“Should I show it to the first place?”

“Yeah, but I still need evidence to change your ranking.”

“Huh? My ranking?”

“You knocked down the 5th place, so now you’re in 5th place. From 10th to 5th place, you’re now higher than me.”

The words in 6th place made me feel good for no reason.

“Can I take a little bit of this?”

“Huh? Do you have to go that far?”

It seems that some of the gold medal was needed for ingredient list inspection and other purposes.

I had no choice but to use my wicked claws to cut off a suitable amount of gold and hand it over to the 6th person.

***

Back to the present.

“I guess so.”

When I asked if I was now in 4th place, Ray answered with congratulations.

“I feel like this has been going up too much recently.”

“But that’s not a bad thing.”

“That’s right!”

Sylvia appeared after hearing Ray and I talking early in the morning.

“You both woke up early.”

“Yeah. How did you do it? Oh, Sylvia, look at this.”

I pushed her behind Sylvia and led her to the sofa in front of the TV.

“I think I’m in 4th place now?”

“…It hasn’t even been that long since I became 5th.”

Sylvia’s reaction was as expected.

“Hey, that’s not a bad thing.”

He repeated exactly what Ray had said a moment ago.

Then Sylvia picked me up and placed me on her lap.

“Of course I’m not saying it’s bad.”

“But the second place isn’t the type of person to step down so easily.”

“….”

“….”

At least on that point all three agreed.

The day of the great battle, the day I defeated the 5th place.

I can now understand why the elder had no choice but to induce me to take the fifth step.

It’s clear that the second place player is seriously injured to the point where he can’t move right away.

Of course, it could be that they simply did not want to take risks.

“2nd place has been eliminated, 5th place has been dealt with… The Sage of the North is the problem.”

“Do I need to worry about that much?”

“Well, to be honest, there probably isn’t. There’s no reason for them to keep targeting me…”

Well, there is.

He also failed to secure second place, and since he has retired from public life, he may be targeting me instead.

It was a blessing in disguise that the present wise man did not seem to have the luxury of doing so.

“Chris? Can you stop wagging your tail?”

“Ah, this is becoming a habit. ”

Now I understand why Sheila and Midas wagged their tails like that.

This is not the realm of reason, but of instinct.

Since acquiring a thick tail, he began to express his emotions through the movements of his tail rather than his face.

“….”

While I was making excuses to Sylvia, Ray’s tail suddenly wrapped around mine.

“Ray, you.”

“….”

Ray looked as if nothing was wrong even though his name was called.

Something felt like Ray’s actions were becoming more and more daring. The younger one was climbing up!

still….

‘Hey, shall we just get through this one?’

***

“I’ll have a lot to ask Mr. Lund when he gets back.”

“Okay. When will Lund come?”

“Only Mr. Lund would know. Well, if you’re really curious, why don’t you give him a call?”

“Well, no. Lund has his own things to do, so there’s no need to do that.”

It seemed like I gave a somewhat mature answer.

Sylvia also felt proud of me and started stroking my forehead.

I felt happy again without realizing it and tried to wag my tail first, but Ray’s tail was holding on.

“Anyway, now I just wonder what to do with the new 2nd place.”

“Why her?”

Now that the second place has stepped down, it’s obvious that the third place will become the second place.

Now, 6th place, which will be 5th place, is not a big problem for her, but 6th and 7th place, which will be 7th and 8th place, are different.

They were in a fierce rivalry, just like me and Lund were in a rivalry with the second place.

The most recent news regarding the 3rd place is….

“Chris, no one knows where that person is anyway.”

There was a reason Ray said that.

After the day the 2nd place was attacked.

Because they raided and burned the bases of the 7th, 8th, and 3rd places.

They covered their base with trees that could be called a small forest and then set it on fire.

No matter how fast the 3rd place is, there is no answer to such an attack.

The third place, having lost its home base, disappeared and its whereabouts are still unknown.

“Still, I don’t think you have any good feelings towards me. I think you’d better be careful.”

Because he was the person who interacted most frequently with the second place.

Besides, since the 7th and 8th places were on friendly terms with me, from her perspective, she had a reason to be hostile to me as well.

“I don’t think she has the luxury of doing that right now.”

“Is that so?”

After Ray and Sylvia said that, I decided to ignore them.

“Uh.”

As I sat on Sylvia’s lap, I suddenly felt a vibration on my terminal.

A number I’ve received several times.

“Uh… Sylvia, is this the office number?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Yes, I got the call.”

The caller’s face appeared in holographic form at the top of the terminal screen.

“Oh.”

“Chris Radomir, is that you?”

I nodded immediately.

“This is Silvia Radomir.”

I also added an introduction to Sylvia, which may not have been necessary.

The office, officially known as the Magusfall Troubleshooter Office.

Usually, when it comes to my ranking, the 1st place would tell the 6th place, but originally, that was their job.

I was confused as to whether it was because the number one was busier or if they were trying to do what they had to do now.

“Chris, I’m contacting you to let you know about changes in the rankings of top-tier problem solvers.”

“Are you talking about the 2nd place retiring?”

The office staff corrected it to say, strictly speaking, it was not ‘retirement’ but ‘giving up rankings’.

It seems that the second place hasn’t given up on being a problem solver. The office staff’s attitude was a bit unpleasant, but I decided to move on since I got the information along with it.

“Anyway, so what?”

***

What the office worker wanted to say was simple.

My ranking went from 10th to 5th and now I’m at 4th.

I was notified of the schedule of events related to this, but I did not feel like going out to any of those places.

“Isn’t it mandatory to attend?”

“Attendance by proxy is also possible.”

“Okay, then that’s it!”

“Chris?”

I didn’t even say who would represent me, but Sylvia, who seemed most likely to be there, asked me.

“Anything else to say?”

“Here is the list of top rankings that will be newly changed.”

A separate message arrived on your terminal.

After some conversation, communication with the office staff ended.

“Hmm, let’s see who’s new here?”

“Chris, so I’m the agent after all?”

“Ahem, big.”

“Chris?”

I thought Sylvia would be the most suitable. If not Sylvia… Ray?

Anyway, I checked the ranking of problem solvers from 1st to 10th place.

There’s no need to check the first place anyway.

2nd place Ashina Hekmes, 3rd place Wilhelm Wengler, 4th place Chris Radomir, 5th place Jason Spatoy.

Among these, the person with the least contact with me was in third place.

The rankings after that were 6th and 7th, which were previously 7th and 8th place.

8th place is the former 9th place!

If we were to say that they were purely new faces, they would have been in 9th and 10th place.

But I don’t really know just by hearing the name.

“Sylvia, do you know who is number 9 and 10?”

“I guess it’s 11th and 12th.”

“No, that’s true!”

That’s not what I asked!

“Chris, is Sylvia right?”

Ray, who had already checked the information on 9th and 10th places on his terminal, added.

This is it.

After Sylvia, now Ray too.

“So what kind of guys are they?”

If that’s the case, then I have no choice but to admit it!

Ray gave me information about numbers 9 and 10.

The 9th ranked race was the Lizardmen, and the 10th ranked race was the Elves.

My little curiosity was piqued at first by the fact that neither of them were human.

Of course, they don’t seem to be the original characters that appeared in the Dream City game.

“Wow, what is this? It’s a lizardman with a full body prosthesis?”

The image and photo of the 9th place were enough to stimulate my almost-vanished masculinity.

Because it looked just like a dinosaur robot!

Even though I am a woman now, I can’t resist that kind of romanticism.

“Sylvia, should I just go to the event?”

“What kind of wind blew again to make you do that?”

“No, I think it would be good to just make friends.”

Compared to the overwhelming presence of 9th place, 10th place was somewhat bland.

The handsome elf troubleshooter, first of all, is disqualified for being a man.

Meanwhile, when checking the gender, the 9th gender was female, not male.

Dinosaur robot sister? No, unnie?!

My reed-like heart, torn between bothersomeness and romance.

But because of what happened a few days later, I decided not to attend the event.

The current 8th place team and the former 9th place team ended up losing to a rival organization and ended up in a state of ruin.

A member of that organization was set to become the new 8th.