Dungeon's Final Boss: Banished by My Boss, the Goddess, to Earth—So I'll Continue My Past Life - 77

Chapter 77: Escape and Return

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The dungeon of the Kingdom of Peschel had disappeared. That meant the island nation known as the Kingdom of Peschel had vanished too. Not politically, not institutionally, not even in a roundabout cartographical sense,  but in a literal, physical sense. The island, and the towns that had stood upon it, were gone.

The old castle that had been renovated into a villa had disappeared as well.In the very next moment, the whole nation returned into the ocean. It was my mistake to have forgotten this obvious consequence. Thrown into space, I was not returned to the ocean but left drifting just like that.

Panicking, I scanned my surroundings and spotted a planet that looked like Earth, so I hurried toward it. Thank goodness—it really was Earth.Without even having time to be moved by Earth’s familiar blue, I broke through the atmosphere and rushed to the place where the Kingdom of Peschel had once existed. There was no trace of the island left, but the ship carrying Francia and the rest of the UN forces was still tossing violently in the waves.

“…Oh, Dragon.”

Those awakened ones, battered by the waves, looked at me and said that.

Damn it.

I had been in such a rush that I forgot to hide myself. Oh well, it couldn’t be helped now. For now, I needed to find Mio and the others first. The golems she had summoned were probably at the bottom of the sea by now, dragged down by their own weight. If this area had been the port, then they should be a little farther in that direction…

There. Mio, Claire, Heaves, and the butler. All safe. Using telekinesis, I lifted the four of them out of the sea—Mio I placed on top of my head, and the others I put aboard the UN ship.

“Eh? Eh? Why?”

Perched atop my head, Mio was confused, but I left her be for now. Ah, right. I couldn’t let her freeze like Piroane, so I put up a barrier and adjusted the temperature to something warmer since she was soaked. As I did that, I began picking up Rock, Francia, and the other awakened ones with telekinesis whenever I spotted them and placed them on the ship as well.

“…Could it be… You’re Jiro-san?”

How did she reach that conclusion in this state?

『Once everyone is on the ship, we’ll head straight back to Japan.』

“….Yes!”

When I conveyed my voice via telepathic mental transmission, Mio replied cheerfully. Now then…

『The dragon rescued you all and then left this land. Jiro Hasegawa and Mio Ayukawa arrived on land with you aboard the ship and later returned to Japan. Remember it that way.』

Using a combination of the universal language’s compulsion and the brainwashing ability I had acquired in the era of the Psycho Ruler, I implanted that false memory in them before ascending into the sky. If I tampered too much with their memories and strayed too far from reality, inconsistencies would arise later, so I decided not to erase the memory of them seeing the dragon.

“Jiro-san.”

『I’ll explain everything before we arrive in Japan.』

Now that we’d come this far, I didn’t want to keep any secrets. I decided to tell her everything. That I had once died, and had been reincarnated as a dungeon monster by the disappointing goddess Piroane and everything that happened afterward, as well as the reason why I had returned to Earth. 

“Piroane-san…”

There was no doubt that Mio’s affection rating for Piroane had dropped. I could almost hear the sound of it falling. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to truly hate her. That was just how Mio was.

“But it’s because Piroane-san reincarnated me that I got to meet you, Jiro-san!”

She always found the good side of things.

『Well, yeah. Let’s go with that.』

“Yes!”

『Now then, before we return, we need to stop by the D-Ministry.』

“Eh? Why?”

『Our passports are probably at the bottom of the sea, and even though we were supposedly overseas, we’re now in Japan without any proper procedures. On record, that’s a serious issue.』

Most of our belongings were stored in our item boxes. We’d been sorting through our luggage to escape the villa, after all. However, I had left my passport with Claire for administrative purposes. It was most likely at the bottom of the sea now.

“Ah…Does that mean we’ve entered the country illegally? Like, smuggling ourselves in?”

『To avoid that, we’ll ask someone who understands the situation to help us out.』

Times like these really made me realize how important it was to have a reliable acquaintance with authority. Meeting Minister Niitaka early on had probably been a stroke of luck. Or, as Mio would put it, it was because we met him that we were able to live through all of this.

With that thought in mind, I made sure not to forget to hide my appearance this time and flew above the Ministry of D. I transformed back into my human form, entered the building, and asked for an audience with Minister Niitaka.

Before he arrived, we borrowed the showers in the gym to wash off the saltwater grime from our bodies. We both had changes of clothes in our item boxes.

“Ah, Hasegawa-san, sorry to keep you waiting.”

While sipping coffee in a room that resembled a small conference room, Minister Niitaka entered alone. Was this Mio’s first time meeting him? She looked nervous, so I calmed her and took charge of the conversation.

“Where’s Samejima-san today?”

“She’s handling the request to clear a dungeon immediately. Besides, we can’t keep having a bodyguard present for every conversation we have.”

“I appreciate your trust.”

“I trust you because you’ve earned it. So, what happened this time?”

“Well…”

I explained what had happened in the Kingdom of Peschel.

“Kingdom of Peschel?”

When I said the name, he tilted his head.

“No, wait… Yes, that’s right. That country did exist. You definitely went there. Yes, yes. That’s right.”

“You already forgot?”

“Forgot…? No, is that what this is? Damn it, it really feels like I’m about to forget it all.”

“Ah, right. The name was the Kingdom of Peschel, wasn’t it?”

Even Mio, who had experienced it firsthand, was already on the verge of forgetting about the existence of the Kingdom of Peschel. At this rate, there’d soon be no one left in the world who remembered the Kingdom of Peschel.

“…So you’re saying that there are dungeons already existing on Earth, hiding in plain sight as part of the planet? That there might be one even here in Japan?”

“That’s possible.”

“You’re suggesting that one day, the number of prefectures might suddenly increase from 48 to 49 or 50, or that the stars on the American flag might grow in number and that monsters disguised as humans would be living there?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“What a terrifying thought…”

Minister Niitaka stared up at the ceiling, frozen in place for a while.

“…This isn’t something that I can casually report to the higher-ups. A thorough investigation is needed.”

“I agree.”

If only I made the claim, it would mean revealing my own identity. Some people might believe a monster’s words, but more likely, they would just feel deceived. Better that the government conducted an official investigation and presented solid data.

Once that happened, the origin of the information wouldn’t matter. They could simply say that a certain awakened person had sensed something odd and the government had decided to investigate this mysterious phenomenon thoroughly. In fact, Rock had sensed something was off.

“We’ll handle your reentry procedures and passport reissues on our end. For now, get some rest.”

With a more exhausted expression than either of us, Minister Niitaka saw us off from the Ministry of D. Now then, what was Piroane up to? I didn’t really want to think about it, but the thought inevitably crossed my mind as we returned to the apartment.

“Piroane, we’re back.”

“Piroane-san?”

We both called out in front of her room. There was no reply, but we could sense someone inside. The door was slightly open, so we stepped inside, and there we found Piroane sitting down, holding something in her hands.

“Piroane?”

“Piroane-san?”

“…It’s gone.”

“Huh?”

“The money’s goooone~~~~!!!”

Shouting that, Piroane flung the bankbook with a zero balance. Apparently, while we were away, she had been approached with an investment opportunity. It seemed the company in question was an electronics manufacturer that had supposedly developed some kind of new technology. Piroane, who couldn’t even do basic math, got carried away and, unbelievably, dumped her entire fortune into it.

Then today, the upper management of that company reportedly disappeared all at once, and it was announced that the company could no longer continue operations. The stock price plummeted at an incredible rate, and Piroane’s money vanished into the digital void. Or so it was said.

Can something really drop to zero that suddenly?

I couldn’t help but think she was already being scammed at the investment stage. It seemed highly unlikely for the company to suddenly collapse, but at any rate, it seemed like most of the money was gone. It was an end that was very typical of her.

“It all feels kind of shady, so shall we at least look into it?”

“Jirooo~”

“Haa… Good grief.”

Even if we want to investigate, how are we supposed to go about it? What a pain.

“Ahaha, good luck!”

With Mio cheering me on, I figured… 

Well, I might as well give it a shot first.

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