501 501. Dungeon match




 Terdungeon Society, President's office.
 Me and Cell facing each other alone.

'And so it is. Sorry about the after-the-fact report, but we've decided to leave it to Eve for a while.
Okay.
You're easy to deal with, aren't you?
I would have no objection to what you are doing, Sato-sama.
I'm not so sure about that.

 I chuckled.
 It's nice and easy to trust me, but I don't think it's a good idea to have blind faith.

'I pride myself on understanding Satou-sama better than anyone else.
What a mess.

 For a moment, I was about to go into it, but then I noticed that Cell was looking at me very seriously and didn't go into it.

'Satou-sama usually prefers to walk the difficult path. It's an upfront investment that will allow you to choose the easy path when the time comes.
Well, you know.

 It's a bit of a misnomer to call it a difficult road or an easy road, but that's true.

 It's not just a matter of repetition, but of developing your judgment and technique in normal combat.

I'm not going to be the only one who's been in a position to do that.
You've been through a lot.
It's just that this Satou-sama decided that using that girl was the best thing to do. He couldn't possibly have any objections.
...... I see.

 At first I thought it was a lucky break, but once I heard the end of it, it was a rather convincing reason.

'Thank you for putting it on.
You must have been very deserving of this.
I wish I could see them getting along so well. ...... For now, I'm inclined to leave it completely up to them.

 I chuckled again.

 I'm still not sure about Californium, but I'm not sure about Eve - and I honestly don't know about Eve either, but I've seen plenty of that behavioral principle.

 It's still superficial: it's a carrot, it's a low-level thing.

 Eve, anyway - she's not shaky.

 You know exactly what is most important to you, and on top of that, you have no intention of pandering to someone who isn't.

 That's the woman called Eve.

 She's the one who surprisingly hit it off with me.
 I'm starting to feel like I should let her do it.

I mean, it might take some time.
Okay. It's not urgent.
Thank you.
Thank me for that.

 We look at each other and nod at each other, me and Cell.
 I remembered the chemistry between Californium and Eve, and how we both behaved when we were there.

 I was quite relieved that if Eve was left to her own devices, it wouldn't be a problem, I was quite relieved.

     ☆

 I left the Dungeon Society and returned to the mansion.

 As I entered the front door, I saw Vanadium come running in with a flurry of slippers.

'...... (smiling)'
I'm home. Are you alone in the vanadium?
...... (pulp)

 Vanadium, who had grabbed my hem and looked up at me, shook his head quietly and made a gesture with his hands to form an ear on my head.

'Eve's back?'
...... (nationally)

 She came to the salon, hand in hand with Vanadium.
 Eve was there, and she was relaxing in her place.

'I'm back. You're back.
Yes.
How did it go? Californium is,
I'm sorry to be so low.
Hmm? What do you mean you're sorry ......?

 It was so sudden, I couldn't get my head around it.

 I didn't even realize right away what Eve meant when she said 'came' to say it.

'I can't hang out with the low levels.'
Go to ......?
"A dungeoning mismatch.
'There's a word that came out of my mouth that I've missed! Wait a minute!
You lied, rabbit. Not exactly.
"Huh?
It's a dungeon of sorts.

 Eve stood up, and her eyes, staring straight at me, were very, very serious.
 It was the most serious thing I've ever seen.

'............'

 I'm raptured.

 I can leave the californium to you, it's such a good match.

 I wasn't wrong, I thought.

 That chemistry was a bit, well, wobbly in my imagination.