Dungeon's Final Boss: Banished by My Boss, the Goddess, to Earth—So I'll Continue My Past Life - 36

Chapter 36: The Goddess’ Future

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Minister Niitaka and Piroane’s discussion went on for a long time. She spoke about what she could and withheld what she couldn’t. She talked about how the dungeons worked but couldn’t reveal the fundamental reason they kept being created.

In the first place, even what she could talk about wasn’t all that much. I had expected as much—Piroane was the intuitive type. If I had to compare her to a gamer, she was the kind who never read the manual, skipped the tutorials, and then, when she hit a difficult part, screamed, “What a crappy game!” and quit. That was just the kind of person she was.

Now that I brought up the analogy, I wondered—how long had it been since I last played a game? I had some free time these days. Maybe I should play some games again.

Oh, Minister Niitaka is holding his head in his hands. He looks so distraught.

He was probably shocked that I didn’t possess any more secrets beyond what I had already shared. If there was anything remotely useful from this conversation, it was the baffling revelation that “creating dungeons is currently trending among the gods.”

That was probably why the minister looked so distraught.

“Well, at least there’s no grand conspiracy to take over the world, right?”

“I guess so? I hope that’s true.”

His words sounded more like a wish than a statement. That being said, this was Piroane we were talking about. There was still a chance she didn’t even know things that everyone else took for granted. I couldn’t afford to let my guard down. But then again, some things were simply beyond anyone’s knowledge.

In that case, maybe it was fine to remain ignorant. If the time came when we truly needed to know, it would probably be in a situation where we had no choice but to face the truth.

“You’re right. Well then, let’s leave Piroane in Hasegawa-kun’s care.”

“…Huh?”

How did things end up in this way…?

“Why?”

“You know how to handle Piroane-san and if things go south, you’re capable of dealing with it. Plus, if I assign others to monitor her, the personnel costs would be far too high.”

“But…”

“If you’re not up for it, then I suppose we have no choice but to seal her in a reinforced underground chamber…”

“Stop it!”

The one who shouted was Piroane.

“I’ll even put a splendid shrine on top of it. Okay?”

“How is that supposed to be comforting?! No way! Absolutely not!”

She screamed and clung to my arm.

“I’ll apologize for everything up until now! Just do something!”

“…Haah.”

So this was the result of everything, huh?

“…Alright, but you owe me a favor in return.”

“Understood. What do you want?”

“Let’s see…”

If I remembered correctly, there was still a vacancy in that apartment complex. By the time we got back, it was already night. Instead of ringing the doorbell to my own room, I pressed the one next door. It belonged to Mimimi… Well, since she wasn’t working right now, I should call it Mio’s room.

“Ah, Jiro-san! What’s up!?”

“I was about to go grab something to eat. Would you like to join me?”

“Whoa! Yes, of course! But why all of a sudden?”

“There’s someone I’d like to introduce to you.”

“…Introduce?”

For some reason, her expression stiffened at that word. Then, when she spotted Piroane standing in the shadows behind me, her face turned pale. I wondered why? Right now, Piroane was wearing the clothes provided by the Ministry of Dungeons. She should’ve looked like any other blonde-haired, blue-eyed foreigner you might see walking around Tokyo.

“Um? Jiro-san, who is this?”

“An old acquaintance. I’ve been asked to look after her for a while. Today… Well, right now, , she’ll be moving into that apartment over there.”

“Huh?”

When I pointed at the apartment next to Mio’s, her face scrunched up again.

“It’s bound to be noisy for a while, so let’s go out to eat in the meantime.”

“Uh… Is she really just an acquaintance?”

“Of course.”

“Hey, Dorajirou. Who is this woman?”

“Ugh…”

“Piroane-san.”

Mio flinched at Piroane’s tone. I smiled quietly and pressed both my fists against Piroane’s temples.

“It’s rude to speak that way to the person who will be your new neighbor, isn’t it?”

“Augh! Gaaaah!”

“And, my name is Jiro Hasegawa. I believe I told you I’d allow you to call me ‘Jiro,’ didn’t I?”

“Ow! Ow ow! I got it! I got it, okay?!”

“Good.”

“Ugh… That was cruel.”

“Anyway, she might be a bit lacking in common sense and basically a bundle of impoliteness, but please bear with her.”

“O-Okay.”

“Alright, then… Where should we go?”

“Ah! Wait! Let me go change first!”

After watching Mio hurried back to her room, we finally set out. Mio asked Piroane about her preferences, and we ended up at a Western-style izakaya. Some people called it a ‘bar,’ but I felt more comfortable with ‘Western-style izakaya.’ Maybe it was my inner old man talking.

Instead of yakitori or agedashi tofu, they had pizza and steak. Instead of beer or shochu highballs, they had wine. …Well, they still had beer too.

“Fufu~ My palate is quite refined, you know. There’s no way a place like this could satisfy me—”

“If you don’t like it, wait outside.”

“I’ll eat!”

We toasted with German beer. The pizza and steak salad were delicious. Mio seemed satisfied with the restaurant’s signature oversized pizza. And as for Piroane…

“Hahaha!”

She was enjoying the cheap red wine. The place had a wide selection of Western liquor, but only at reasonable price points. Even so, she was getting tipsy and seemingly in a good mood.

“Hey, Mio, you actually know some good spots! I’ll give you some praise!”

“Ahaha, thanks!”

At first, Mio had been a little thrown off by Piroane’s haughty demeanor, but she seemed to be getting used to it.

“Think she’ll be okay?”

“Yeah. She’s like one of those D-Tubers who act all high and mighty, right?”

“D-Tuber, huh?”

There really was everything on D-Tube.

“So, she’s an Awakened too, right?”

“Yeah, I think they’ll be making an announcement soon.”

I had estimated Piroane’s current strength to be around S-rank, and I wasn’t wrong. A mock battle had already taken place between her and Samejima-san, proving it. As for who won… I didn’t think I needed to say it out loud. But I would note that Samejima-san had fought to the bitter end. I also took Piroane into a dungeon and confirmed that, unlike me, she could actually collect magic stones. She would likely be able to operate as an Awakened far more easily than I could.

…The only issue was that I had to keep an eye on her to make sure she didn’t do anything reckless.

“An announcement, huh… I knew it.”

“Well, I’ll make sure she doesn’t do anything weird.”

“Anything weird?”

“Ah, nothing.”

What exactly was Mio worried about?

“Hmm? By the way, what’s this D-Tuber thing?”

Piroane, who had become a laughing machine fueled by red wine, latched onto the unfamiliar term she heard for the first time.

“You don’t know what a D-Tuber is?”

“I don’t.”

“Well, you see, a D-Tuber is—”

She acted high and mighty, but in reality, her head was all empty without much brain activity. Watching the two of them interact, I was certain—she would adapt to this world just fine.

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