Dungeon's Final Boss: Banished by My Boss, the Goddess, to Earth—So I'll Continue My Past Life - 107

Chapter 107: The Two Who Reunited

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“Jiro-san!”

“Hello. It’s been a while.”

When I put on the automatic translation device Heaves had handed me, their words reached my ears in Japanese.

Huh? The speech is much smoother now?

“You’ve improved it. Wonderful.”

“Of course!”

Heaves, dressed in gothic lolita fashion, beamed with delight.

“By the way, why is Jiro here?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“I see. In that case, why don’t we both share our situations?”

“Let’s do that.”

And so, I decided to hear Claire and her group’s circumstances first.

“This time it’s nothing complicated.”

“I wanted to pursue an occult mystery!”

Cutting in before Claire could start, Heaves began speaking.

“I saw your 【Energy Blast】 video, Jiro-san, and I tried exploring the wonder of skills myself. The method involves two important points: the repetition of form and focused mental intent, right?”

“Yes.”

It wasn’t my video but Mimimi’s, though I didn’t bother pointing that out.

“So I tried it myself and managed to acquire several skills.”

“That’s wonderful.”

Since that video, I had seen many skill acquisition reports popping up on social media, but considering it was a more instinct-based method, hearing that the theory-oriented Heaves had tried it and succeeded was a pleasant report for me. After all, I was the one who spread  that knowledge.

“Eh? Ehehe, being praised by Jiro-san makes me happy. And, um, that got me thinking… Wouldn’t it be possible to provide mechanical—or rather magical tool—assistance for this process?”

“Heko, look at our situation. Keep your story more concise.”

“Ah, ugh, sorry.”

“Heko?”

“Ah, that’s my nickname…”

“She said she wanted something Japanese-sounding, so I made it Heko. What do you think?”

“What do I think…?”

How exactly am I supposed to feel about that? Do you mean you added “-ko” because she identifies as female?

I had the impression that there wasn’t such a clear distinction between male and female names in the Western countries, but…

…Well, maybe it’s precisely because she identifies as female?

“Yes, I think it’s fine.”

“E-Ehehe, really?”

“Anyway, according to Heko, those two elements have always been part of the magic and sorcery category, so she wanted to research them. That’s why we came to this backstreet alley.”

“That sounds like an interesting endeavor.”

I truly thought so. Dungeon drops that granted skills existed, but such items hadn’t appeared yet on modern Earth. However, this was different. She wanted to develop magical tools that would aid in learning skills. It was quite intriguing.

Intriguing indeed, but how did that lead them here? First the Kingdom of Peshel, now Kageura Street.

Do these two have some strange connection to world encroaching type dungeons?

“So, what about you, Jiro?” Claire passed the conversation to me.

“I received a request to destroy a dungeon hidden here.”

“From whom?”

“I can’t reveal the client’s name.”

“…Well, it’s not that I have to know. So this is that dungeon?”

“It seems so.”

Even though I should have passed through the portal, we were still in what appeared to be a sewer. It likely carried rainwater rather than wastewater since there was no unpleasant stench.

“I plan to proceed with the conquest. What will you do?”

“Thanks to Heko insisting she wanted the suspicious text, we’re completely seen as enemies now.”

“Uu, sorry. But I wanted something more practical than what’s commercially available.”

That was outright criminal activity. It was no wonder the residents of Kageura Street saw them as enemies, albeit for different reasons than me.

Willingness to commit minor crimes for the sake of your goal…That is a rather dangerous mindset, isn’t it? Well, since technically speaking we’re still in a dungeon, I will pretend that I didn’t see anything.

“So, if possible, I’d like to accompany you until we can escape from our pursuer.”

“I don’t mind. By the way, is Seraphim here too?”

Seraphim was a combat robot for dungeon conquests developed by Heaves. Heaves was an awakened person in production-type abilities, but Claire was an ordinary person. A single blow from a dungeon monster could easily kill her.

“Yes! I’ve even improved it, so its performance is up by 13% compared to before!”

“That’s something to look forward to.”

“Yes! Please leave the early stages to me!”

Heaves summoned Seraphim from her item box. As I observed the slightly altered appearance, she purchased buff food from the DC Ring.

“What’s that for?”

“I discovered that if the pilot receives buffs, the effects also apply to Seraphim.”

“Ah, I see.”

Just like when those who ride monsters into battle receive buffs and the monsters benefit as well, combat robots could be affected in the same way. But if she was using buffs…

“Could it be, Heaves—no, Heko is piloting it this time?”

“Yes!”

“I decided to provide intelligence support from behind. Awakened people get stronger from fighting with their magic power, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then if Heko fights while piloting Seraphim, she might also grow stronger, just like with buffs. In that case, it’s more efficient to have Heko pilot Seraphim.”

“Efficient, huh?”

“I just realized there’s no need for me to always take the front.”

I could see a kind of flexibility there that she hadn’t shown before. So Claire was growing too.

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