episode_0088

After the fight ended, we immediately prepared to go outside.

“Found it! Blade of Fiery Radiance!”

Our precious red rapier had flown far away due to the explosion caused by using Flame Burst. Fortunately, this valuable equipment was stuck in the nearby ground. As expected of 5-star equipment, it didn’t have a single scratch.

As soon as we finished recovering the equipment, we headed for the gate.

“We’re alive…!” “Why didn’t you come sooner…?”

We re-entered the safety zone. Workers had come out from the containers. Perhaps because we had stopped the bugs, no one was injured. In contrast, all the dispatched Hunters were found dead. They had, unfortunately, fled into the forest instead of the shelter.

However, it seemed things wouldn’t end neatly. No sooner had the incident concluded than the workers got into an argument with the clan’s people. I focused my magic on my ears and listened carefully.

“It seems you don’t understand, but according to regulations, you are responsible for the cost of all the sap collection equipment.”

“Why should we compensate for what those bug bastards broke?”

“You abandoned the equipment just because a few monsters appeared. You know the regulations state that equipment must be recovered and moved, right? This is a clear dereliction of duty.”

“Dereliction of duty, my foot! Should I recite the safety regulations? The principle is to abandon everything and evacuate immediately if a cockroach boss appears. How were we supposed to carry that heavy equipment when a swarm of Crawltides was rushing in with their boss?”

They were arguing about who was responsible for the bug-damaged sap collection equipment.

“The gate was disturbed, a mid-tier monster appeared, and the shelter was useless, so we almost all died! And your security forces were nowhere to be seen.”

“You’re quite boastful. You keep changing the subject, but a mid-tier monster appeared, you say? If a Crawltide Nest showed up, how are you still perfectly alive here?”

Huh, I don’t know what they’re talking about when the corpse of the nest we destroyed is right in front of them. Are they crazy?

“Well, some female students saved us! Anyway, we can’t work like this anymore! You, Mr. Regulations. You know that failing to guarantee safety is also a breach of contract, right? Our union is canceling the contract and withdrawing, so do what you want!”

“Female students? Haha, Mister, lying because you don’t want to pay compensation is a bit much, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean, I saw it with my own two eyes? Good grief!”

The clan’s representative pushed the union’s representative. The man in work clothes fell backward.

“Can I go for a moment?” “What are you going to do? What do you plan?”

Irene slowly approached the two men.

“If you’re canceling the contract, you have to compensate for all that and pay the penalty… Who are you?” “Excuse me, would you mind having a brief chat with me?”

The boorish clan representative looked down at her arrogantly. When Irene pulled out her ID card from her pocket and showed it, the man’s expression changed. The two of them went into a nearby temporary building.

A moment later, Irene walked out, leaving the flustered man behind. She went to the union members and wrote down a contact number.

“The issue has been resolved to some extent. If those people say anything different about the contract, contact this number.”

“What is this… My goodness, I thought you were just a student, but thank you, whoever you are. May you be blessed!”

Bidding farewell to the grateful workers, we exited the gate. I asked Irene,

“What kind of conversation did you have that made that person’s attitude change?”

“Those people were planning to suppress the fact that a mid-tier monster had appeared and shift all responsibility for equipment damage onto the contracted personnel. So, I pointed out the poor shelter environment, the standard of the internal Hunter personnel, and the inadequate defensive facilities one by one. All of these could be considered causes attributable to the clan.”

It seemed she had also spiced it up with the halo of Helios.

“Patros Resources is a mid-sized clan that has contracted with Helios multiple times. I also hinted that if their dungeon management methods became known, it could negatively impact their future contract renewals with Helios.”

“Of course, given the current clan situation, I can’t directly do anything, so it’s somewhat of a bluff,” she said, continuing her explanation.

“Of course, the real core is separate.”

Irene pointed with a white finger at the small, black, rectangular device attached to her coat.

“Ah, the black box!”

“That person, despite being a Hunter themselves, couldn’t recognize this as a black box. It seems they rarely work in the field.”

Unfortunately, recording devices with proper electromagnetic shielding could be used freely in the dungeon, as long as real-time communication wasn’t required.

She smiled lightly, seemingly delighted inwardly.

“I showed them a short video and explained that my comrade and I had dealt with the Crawltide Nest swarm. You should have seen how that brazen human’s face changed.”

When faced with clear video evidence and various weaknesses, the opposing clan was in a difficult position. Moreover, the person in front of them was a powerful Hunter who had wiped out hundreds of monsters. They agreed to quietly bury the incident rather than insist there had been no mid-tier monster attack.

Irene had achieved another success. Looking at her phone screen, a considerable amount of money had been deposited into her account.

“That’s your share. We divided it exactly 7:3. You get 7, I get 3.”

“Wow! What is all this money?”

My eyes widened in surprise.

“It’s money they gave us as payment for dealing with the mid-tier monster on their behalf. In reality, it means ‘please keep quiet.’ If word gets out that their dungeon management is poor, it wouldn’t be good for their reputation.”

Whatever the case, we worked hard and earned money.

“But, can I really take this much? Seven parts?”

“Of course. If you weren’t here, I would have had a hard time dealing with that many alone. If I were by myself, I would have run away until the gate opened.”

So, she said, it’s a rightful share, and I could be confident about it, then she walked forward.

After everything was concluded, we quickly exited the dungeon and crossed through the central district’s city.

“Want to come to my place?” “Do you mean the house near the school?”

“No, my real home. It’s nearby, and I had some things to pick up.”

Ah, she meant her family home. I should take a look at Irene’s house. What would the home of Helios’s princess, the future head of the clan, look like?

“Wouldn’t she live in a mansion or something?” “Who knows! Maybe it’ll be like a palace.”

***

To sum it up, it was definitely luxurious.

An hour later, in the central district. Stepping out of the elevator, the glittering night view was visible beyond the dark living room’s floor-to-ceiling windows.

“Wow! It’s huge!” “Welcome to my home.”

Irene’s house was a penthouse straight out of a drama. The view of the Academy City from dozens of stories up in the high-rise building was quite beautiful.

“Can I bring out my clones?” “Of course. No need to even ask.”

As she affirmed, dozens of Violets poured into the house from the entrance.

“Let’s go in~” “Wow!”

The Violets used their copying and transfer abilities to instantly change into comfortable training clothes and stepped into the dark living room. As their bare feet touched the ground, the cold marble floor welcomed us.

The living style of the Academy City, as if it were a game world mixed with Japanese subculture genres, involves taking off shoes when entering a house. It’s peculiar.

We clung to the window, admiring the view outside. Some Violets toured the inside of the penthouse, guided by Irene.

The interior was spacious and magnificent, but no one was there. Aside from cleaners who occasionally came to clean, no one else ever visited, she said.

“You said you’d buy us food, right? I’m hungry! Pizza!” “Are you really okay with just that? Is there anything else you want to eat?”

“Anything, just a lot of it!”

A short while later, a mountain of pizzas was delivered. Dozens of Violets, spread throughout the spacious penthouse, each grabbed a box.

“I’ll eat well!” “I’ll enjoy this!” “Thank you for the meal!”

The Violets devoured the pizza with gusto. Not only that, but they also polished off the pasta and other food that came with the delivery.

“Are you really okay with just that?” “I love pizza so much!” “Thank you!”

As we eagerly ate pizza, we got thirsty. Soda wasn’t enough. We needed a more intense flavor.

We each pulled out a can of beer from our inventory. Irene’s eyes widened slightly. She generally knew what my abilities were, but it seemed she didn’t know I could drink alcohol.

“Ah… sorry, I guess drinking isn’t allowed, right?” “No! It’s fine. You worked hard today. But Violet, you’re a student… are you sure it’s okay?”

“It’s fine? Awakened ones don’t get sick anyway. I’m going to drink until my liver bursts!”

Since the homeowner gave permission, all that was left was a drinking party. We drank and ate with abandon.

Seeing us heartily gulp down alcohol, she seemed about to say something but stopped. While we drank, Irene was merely sipping on juice.

Seeing that, I felt a little bad drinking alone.

“Hey, didn’t Irene like alcohol too?” “Did she? I don’t know if she liked it, but she drank a lot.”

I rummaged through the main story and settings in my memory. What did Irene like?

I remembered her drinking this often, probably.

I pulled out a crystal bottle filled with shimmering brown liquid from my inventory.

“Irene-ah, want to drink this?”

“…?”

Curiosity gathered in her amber eyes. Irene, out of curiosity, took the bottle I offered and opened it. As the mouth opened, a strong alcoholic scent wafted out. Her eyes crinkled.

“What is this? Ugh… It’s alcohol!”

“Oh… didn’t you like it?”

Her face became bewildered at my words. She waved her hand dismissively.

“Why would I? I don’t drink alcohol. And especially not something so strong? It would only hinder my training.”

“Really? My apologies. I just felt a little bad drinking alone…”

I mumbled vaguely. Irene’s preferences now are different from the main story five years later.

Now that I thought about it, the main characters I’d seen so far were less serious than in the main story.

For example, the current Kalia doesn’t smoke at all, but in the main story, she was a heavy smoker who went through several packs a day. Her personality was also much rougher and sharper.

Irene five years later? She would casually gulp down strong liquor like water, something she now looked at with disgust.

Perhaps the alcohol smell was too strong, she gestured in the air. She took out pineapple juice from the refrigerator and poured it into a glass.

“I’ll just drink juice. Alcohol, something so terrible, why would I touch it?”

Hmm, it seemed she drank it well a few years later, but not now.

What could have happened in those five years? There was a wider gap than expected between Irene, Violet’s friend, and Irene, the scholar’s colleague and the young matriarch leader of Helios.

Well, I couldn’t know all that.

As time passed, we, feeling full, began to doze off. One by one, Violets began to disappear, turning into magic particles.

Irene, who had been quietly watching us eat all this time, slowly opened her mouth.

“Violet.” “Why do you call?”

“How was the taste?” “It was good!”

“···That’s a relief.”

Seeing her ask something so obvious, I tilted my head. Why was she acting like this all of a sudden?

“We fought together today, didn’t we? Were you tired or hurt at all?” “Of course, it was tough. Fighting usually hurts.”

“I see.”

Irene fell into thought for a moment, then looked at us one by one.

“Honestly, I still don’t understand Violet’s fighting style.” “Oh, really?”

“But, fighting alongside you, I felt it. That you have your own way. Thanks to you, we won and were able to safely exit the dungeon.”

Her eyes slowly arced.

“Suddenly, I had this thought. That perhaps I was interfering too much. I had only been thinking in my own way.”

The Violets sat quietly, continuously listening to her words. Their red eyes were fixed on her.

“I won’t lie and say that I’m completely used to seeing you… seeing you all die or get hurt. But Violet, from now on, I will respect your methods.”

“Really?” “Yes. Instead, don’t fight alone, and if you need strength, be sure to call me. My spear will be by your side.”

The Violets stood up with their beer cans and approached her.

“What’s wrong?” “I never knew you thought of us that way!” “I’m so touched!” “Let’s toast!”

Irene, caught off guard, clinked glasses with the Violets. A clear *clink* echoed through the empty house.

“Cheers!” “Yay!”

After the toast, Violet 65 carefully asked,

“But Irene-ah, I have something to ask.” “What is it?”

“Then, can I self-destruct?”

Irene’s gently smiling face crumpled slightly. She cleared her throat and asked again,

“···You’re talking about a situation where there’s absolutely no other answer, like falling into the Murmillon cave last time, right? In such a situation, it can’t be helped.”

“No, I meant can I use it for offense.”

“What? No… Ah, what should I even say about this…”

Irene, overcome with bewilderment, sighed softly.

After a short conversation, the Violets were asked to ‘only use offensive self-destruction in unavoidable situations when there’s no other way.’

“You really only have to do it when necessary. Understand? Only to the extent your mind can endure.” “Okay!”

Irene was right. I should only use it ‘when absolutely necessary.’

As we talked, it was already time to sleep. I hoped nothing would happen tonight.