World's Fastest Level up!

It was still noon when I finished conquering Suzuka Dungeon. However, after judging that I wouldn't have time to go to another dungeon right now, I decided to obediently go back home.

There were almost no more B-rank or lower dungeons that could be reached from my home. So, I might have to consider going on long-term expeditions from now on. At any rate, as I walked to the station while thinking about that,

"Oi, did you see? That person was extremely beautiful, right?"

"Aa, I saw it"

I walked past two students who were talking with excitement.

This wasn't because I was reacting to the word ‘beautiful' that they said (I'm not lying, okay), but, enticed by their conversation, I looked a little further.

Among various shops lined up, there stood a game center. And in front of a crane game machine that was placed right in front of the store, stood a very beautiful woman with a long silver hair that shines brilliantly in the sunlight.

"She is…"

In fact, I recognized this person. Or rather, she was someone I just met the other day, a member of Yoizuki guild and Japan's 12th S-rank adventurer–Claire.

Should I talk to her or just pass by? Two options crossed in my mind.

In front of me, who was wondering which options should choose, Claire lifted her arm that was holding several 100 yen coins. She then lifted the tip of her graceful fingers and inserted the coins into the crane game machine. Looks like there was a prize that she wanted inside it.

Then, while making a serious expression, Claire focused her pair of deep blue eyes in a certain direction. And when I looked at what's beyond her line of sight, there was a stuffed animal in the form of a deformed wolf with its right eye covered with a black eye patch and the closed left eye that has a single vertical scar as its characteristics. In other words, neither its right eye nor left eye could see a thing.

And I happened to know that character.

— That was, without a doubt, 『Wolven』!!

Let me explain. First, there was a children's program which aired every Sunday morning called 『Magical☆Dungeon☆Girls (abbreviated as Majidan)』.

Majidan itself was a friendship, battle, and fantasy story about girls who awakened 【Magical Girl】 as their unique skill, and they fight to save people from monsters. It was a story which has a cliché development where a dungeon collapse happens once per episode (If that's real, it will be very horrible.).

And this Wolven was the mascot character that appeared in that series, and was portrayed as a special life form that has a will and is on the side of humans.

However, because of its way of speaking being so extreme to the point of making people even doubt if every word it uttered was intended for a children show and its sharp appearance that has both eyes hidden by an eye patch and a scar, it wasn't very popular among children. In exchange, it gained deep-rooted popularity among some adults who think those are in fact its cute points.

By the way, the reason why I am so familiar with Majidan was that Sunday morning had become a custom for me to spend a relaxing time with Hana, and when I watched Majidan that happen to be aired on TV at that time, I was drawn into the story that was deeper than I had imagined.

Incidentally, Rei also seems to like Majidan quite a lot, as she often talks about it whenever we irregularly keep in touch.

There are even times when I have too much fun and sometimes have intense discussions about it, causing the dates to may or may not change when we finish talking, even though the conversation itself started after dinner.

Well, leaving this story aside, right now, I am looking at where the arm operated by Claire will arrive.

"—-!"

Right there! As I thought about that, Claire simultaneously opened her eyes and pressed the button.

The arm slowly descending toward the Wolven and about to grab its body.

"…*Ji*…"

Claire looked at the stuffed animal that was being lifted by the arm with a serious look on her face.

However–

"Ah"

Perhaps because the arm of the crane game was weak, the Wolven doll slipped and fell down in vain. Looking at that, a slightly sad voice came out of Claire's mouth.

Even so, because she doesn't seem to intend to give up just like that, she kept trying to take the Wolven doll again and again. However, maybe because she never played with a crane game machine in the first place, she didn't seem to know how to grab the doll, causing the number of failures to exceed 10.

…. I-I can't bear to see this. Should I help her?

But there is a chance that she might be getting embarrassed over the fact that her acquaintance saw her getting too serious on playing a crane game. Because an S-rank adventurer like her could earn enough money to be able to buy even the entire game center without going bankrupt.

Thus, un, let's pretend I didn't see her!

That's what I decided, but…

"… Amane-san?"

"Ah"

Unluckily, she noticed that I was here, causing a strange atmosphere to flow between us. But of course, the other side was the one who felt more shaken about this.

"Si-since when are you there?"

You didn't see me fail to take a stuffed animal many times, right? I understood that this was her intention by asking that question. Even if it’s by mistake, this is an atmosphere where I can't say I've seen it from the beginning.

Shit, now that it has become like this, I have no choice but to divert the topic to get over this situation…!

"T-that's right, this is trivia, but it seems the cost of a prize in this kind of game is actually less than 800 yen, you know…"

"Why, are you talking about that now?"

"No, it's just clearly because Claire seems to have used several times more than that amount… Ah"

"….."

Because of that, Claire's eyes glared at me. Here, I noticed my blunder, as from what I just said before, it was as good as saying that I had seen her from the beginning.

I never thought that was a leading question. Like that, when I was admiring her, thinking ‘as expected of an S-rank adventurer’, Claire sighed a little and then said with her cheeks a bit reddened.

"I'm not going to press you because this is my fault for not noticing you here but… if possible, I'd like you to talk to me as soon as possible whenever we meet from now on."

"I-I'll do my best."

And I could only nod in response.