NOVEL ONLINE FREE Volume 1 Chapter 25 - Unpopular
I woke up the next day to the alarm on Kaede-chan’s smartphone after making a ruckus with her.
“Yes… yes. I’m sorry, cough! I seem to have caught a cold… Eh? At home? Yes, it’s my house, cough! Sorry… So I’ll take the day off. Yes, I think I’ll be fine tomorrow. Yes, excuse me.”
Kaede-chan hung up the phone.
Kaede-chan is quite the actress.
“Who was it? Satsuki-san?”
“That’s right. She was quite suspicious though. She said it must be your house, senpai.”
Well, she’s not wrong.
“It was the auction yesterday, so she probably thinks we were watching it together.”
“That might be it. Ah, my head hurts.”
Mine hurts a bit too.
It’s partly a hangover, and partly from sleeping on the floor.
“Here, drink this. In my research, it’s good for hangovers.”
I took out a recovery potion and handed it to her.
“Research?”
“I drink it instead of water.”
“50,000 yen? You’re crazy. You might even take a bath in recovery potion someday…”
I’ve already done that…
“Just drink it. It really works.”
“Thank you. A hangover cure for 50,000 yen is amazing.”
Kaede-chan said that as she began to drink the recovery potion.
I also had a bit of a headache, so I took out a recovery potion and drank it.
And then, the pain and heaviness in my head disappeared.
“It’s amazing. It cured me instantly.”
“Told you, told you.”
“Thank you.”
Kaede-chan said that and handed me the empty flask.
“What will you do now, Kaede-chan?”
“I’m going home. I want to take a bath, and I’m sleepy.”
Makes sense.
We went a little too wild yesterday.
“I’ll drive you to the station.”
“No, it’s fine. What will you do, senpai?”
“I’ll take a bath and go to bed.”
I can’t do anything else today.
I don’t want to move.
“Will you be able to come tomorrow?”
Of course, she’s talking about the guild.
“I’ll go adventuring tomorrow. I want to level up.”
“Understood. I’ll be waiting for you tomorrow then.”
Kaede-chan said that and stood up to go to the entrance.
I followed her, and she put on her shoes and turned to me.
“Thank you for yesterday, senpai.”
“No, it was fun. Let’s be winners.”
“Definitely. See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Bye-bye.”
Kaede-chan waved as she opened the door and left.
I returned to the room, cleaned up the empty cans, took a shower, laid out my futon, and went to sleep.
When I woke up in the afternoon, I ate leftovers from yesterday and looked at the online news on my smartphone.
【Item Bag Auctioned for 52 Million Yen!】
I saw headlines like that here and there.
“It really made headlines, huh…”
It’s not just about the item bag; I see quite a bit about Elenoa Ocean too. It seems to have made a big impact.
“I’ll go as myself tomorrow.”
I’m only leveling up tomorrow, so there’s no need to go as Elenoa Ocean.
It might be better to go as the less conspicuous Okita Hajime.
Kaede-chan would probably prefer that too.
“That means I need to change everything.”
I’ve completely separated Okita Hajime’s and Elenoa Ocean’s belongings.
Clothes, wallet, bag, shoes, handkerchief, everything is different.
“Great! I’ll stay home today and look for a place to live with Kaede-chan!”
The excitement of finding a place has increased.
“…But is she serious?”
What if it was a joke?
If I propose a place later and she says “What?” I might cry…
I opened the messaging app on my smartphone and decided to contact Kaede-chan.
“I’m looking for a new place now, and there’s so much to choose from!”
Alright!
Let’s see what she says!
I sent the message, and she read it right away.
It seems she’s awake.
“I wasn’t joking about the room share, so you don’t have to feel it out. Let’s look for it together. And before we look for a room, let’s go crabbing.”
Yes!
I’m glad!
It feels like she saw right through me, but I’m glad!
“Tell me when you’re free.”
“I’ll apply for paid leave tomorrow. Let’s decide over drinks tomorrow. So please come to the guild in the afternoon.”
Yay!
It’s a date with Kaede-chan!
I was pumped up, so I enthusiastically searched for crab restaurants and hotels in Hokkaido.
…I guess the hotel rooms would be separate.
◆◇◆
The next day, I left my house, had lunch at a restaurant, and headed for the guild in Ikebukuro.
As I approached the guild, I could see a crowd of journalists with cameras gathered in front of the guild.
Ugh…
It must be related to Elenora…
I kept repeating to myself, “Okita-kun, Okita-kun…”
I tried to enter the guild while thinking that I had nothing to do with this.
“Excuse me, can I talk to you for a moment?”
A woman’s voice called out to me as I tried to sneak into the guild.
I reflexively turned around, and there was a beautiful female announcer I had seen on TV, smiling at me.
“Me?”
“Yes. Are you an adventurer affiliated with this guild?”
“Uh, yes.”
“Do you know an adventurer named Elenora Ocean?”
I knew it…
“The one on the news, right? I don’t know much about her.”
I really know a lot.
I know her favorite and least favorite foods.
I know her family structure.
I even know her favorite girl.
After all, it’s me.
“Have you seen her?”
“Nah, I haven’t. I’m not really active… Besides, to put it bluntly, this guild isn’t popular. You might be better off in Shibuya. Adventurers there might have interactions with her in the frontier.”
Translation: Go away.
“I see… Indeed, there have been only a few adventurers coming to this guild since this morning.”
Very few.
Unpopular, even on a weekday.
“It’s always like that here. If you stake out here, come in the evening or later. More people come around that time.”
“I see… Thank you for the information.”
The female announcer, who seemed very polite, bowed and thanked me.
“No problem. See ya.”
I raised my hand to say goodbye and quickly went inside the guild.
Yes!
Now it’s safe to come during the day as Elenora.
I think I’m pretty smart.
I entered the guild, satisfied with my own cleverness, and went straight to Kaede-chan’s reception.
“Hello!”
“How was it outside?” Kaede-chan asked, raising one hand and returning my greeting.
“There were some reporters. I told them to go to Shibuya since this place isn’t popular.”
“You say that to a guild staff member?”
Maybe I should have chosen my words more carefully.
“Who cares? Kaede-chan, where are we going today?”
“Let’s go to the place we went to last time. So, please be back by 5 o’clock.”
“Got it. Then today… from today, I’ll be heading to the Kunar Ruins.”
Stop glaring at me. Okita-kun is going there for the first time.
“Take care. Here’s your status card.”
Kaede-chan said that and handed me my status card and my sword.
“Thanks.”
“You’ll probably be fine, but be careful. Most likely, adventurers are flocking to the Kunar Ruins.”
Ah… That might be true.
I have to think about that from now on.
“Got it.”
I nodded, put the status card in my bag, and strapped the sword to my waist.
Then I went further inside and passed through the gate.
Here we go!
…It’s my umpteenth time in the frontier!