“Still… this is incredible. Roads laid out all over town just so people can use these ‘automobiles.’ Really feels like a completely different world. In the world I know, even if hundreds of years passed, it probably would never have developed like this.”

From the passenger seat of the kei car, Tia gazed at the townscape, marveling, while Hayasaka Tooru—driving—gave a lazy, indifferent “uh-huh” in response.

In the back seat, the Holy Sword Lightbringer lay wrapped in a bath towel, and beside it was the drum bag with the magic cores and a dragon scale they’d collected yesterday.

They stopped at a convenience store along the way. Tooru bought some packaged bread, rice balls, and bottled coffee drinks, handing half to Tia, who happily devoured them.

A stunningly beautiful foreign girl happily munching on yakisoba bread in the passenger seat—it was surreal. Well, by the same logic, Tooru’s earlier “Worksite Bro” fame and the fact that he’d acquired a holy sword and a cursed Sword also felt unreal to him.

“So, what’s his name again… Sadoyama? He’s the guy who came to the dungeon for rescue yesterday, right? And now he’s calling you… so you’re heading somewhere?”

Ever since learning about the “Worksite Bro” buzz, Tooru had spent hours digging up information about yesterday’s Anthem incident. In the end, he still didn’t really understand it. In every sense of the word, it was confusing.

The story, as far as he could piece together, went something like this: the Anthem members had entered the boss room of the Kamioka Dungeon right as a dungeon mutation occurred, putting them in mortal danger. By coincidence, Tooru and Tia had been coming up from a hidden lower layer of the dungeon and rescued them.

He’d tried researching hidden layers and even that mysterious “figure in hakama” online, but all he found were rumors. Realistically, anyone hearing about Tooru’s experience firsthand would dismiss it as a made-up story, so even if some truths were mixed into the online rumors, there was no way to tell.

By the time he’d been sifting through all this, his phone rang. It was the Dungeon Division Head, Sadoyama Kouji.

He said he wanted to talk about yesterday and a few other things, asking if Tooru could come to the prefectural office. He offered to pick him up, but Tooru declined—if someone came to pick him up, he’d have to be taken home afterward—so he decided to drive himself.

“Ah… the girls you helped—apparently they’re pretty famous explorers, the kind supported by the government. They got caught up in the dungeon mutation, ended up in an irregular boss room, and you rescued them. And we came up from the lower layer of that boss room. I guess he just wants to hear all about it. Don’t know for sure, though.”

“So, the girls we rescued, huh. Hmm… government-supported, you say? Kind of like adventurers under contract with the royal family, maybe?”

“I don’t know about your world, so I can’t comment on that.”

“Right, I guess. Are you used to dealing with people like that, Tooru?”

“No, not at all. Honestly, I don’t even know what kind of discussion it’s going to be.”

“So, you’re just going because they told you to come. I see… I’ll just have to hope these people are logical, then.”

Tia let out a faint, slightly bitter smile and turned her gaze to the town outside the window.

For Tooru, this was a familiar modern townscape—but he couldn’t help wondering, even just a little, how it must look to Tia.

◇◇◇

The prefectural office parking lot was surprisingly large, and Tooru, unused to coming here, hesitated over where to park. As if anticipating this, Chief Sadoyama of the Dungeon Division was already waiting, gesturing him toward a visitor parking space. Shrugging, Tooru parked the car there.

“Ah, sorry to bother you right after yesterday. And, well… I may have been a bit rude yesterday, so I apologize for that. Things were pretty chaotic on our side, and my response to you, Hayasaka-kun, was… lacking,” Sadoyama said, surprising Tooru with his unusually humble tone.

The few times Tooru had met this man before, he had seemed like a grinning, intimidating older man—someone whose very presence triggered a primal sense of fear. Not exactly someone Tooru wanted to get too close to.

…But today, Sadoyama seemed different. The usual fearsome aura was absent.

“Ah… right,” Tooru murmured vaguely, unsure how to respond.

Sadoyama gave a faint, wry smile and cast a glance at Tia, who was unloading the items from the back seat—the Holy Sword wrapped in a bath towel and the drum bag containing the Magic Core.

“My apologies to you as well, miss. Thank you for your effort yesterday, and again today. By the way… may I ask about your relationship with Hayasaka-kun?”

“That’ll come up during the ‘discussion,’ right? We’ll go over it there, so there’s no need to say anything now,” Tia’s voice was noticeably cold. While she had been cheerful and high-spirited with Tooru from the start, her tone toward Sadoyama carried the kind of cool reserve a college student might use when handling a persistent salesperson.

“I… see. Very well. Then please, follow me,” Sadoyama said, bowing slightly in deference to her demeanor, and led them into the prefectural building.

The structure itself was a nondescript assembly of rectangular blocks. Tooru had only known of its existence and had never had any reason to visit. He had no sense of the internal layout, nor a clear understanding of what functions were housed within.

Following Sadoyama inside, Tooru found the impression similar to a city hall or a general hospital: a spacious entrance, a reception desk, and rows of chairs. Unlike a hospital, there were tables where a few men in suits were engaged in serious conversation.

“Let me give you a quick rundown. The people you helped yesterday are members of an A-rank explorer clan called Anthem. Their activities are actually backed by the government. This time, their expedition into Kamioka Dungeon was proposed by a prefectural assembly member and requested by the mayor of S City.”

This roughly matched what Tooru had pieced together from the internet. The detail about the prefectural proposal wasn’t public knowledge, but the overall flow of events was consistent.

Sadoyama continued speaking smoothly as they walked down the corridor, never glancing back.

“So—Kamioka Dungeon experienced a Dungeon Mutation. The Anthem members fell into a perilous situation, and you two, inexplicably, appeared from the dungeon’s lower levels and rescued them. Records show that you weren’t logged as having entered Kamioka Dungeon. In fact, Tooru, after entering Sugai Dungeon the day before, there’s no record of you leaving it. This meeting is about discussing all those irregularities.”

“Sounds like it’s about figuring out who’s responsible,” Tia said. Her tone was cool toward Sadoyama, despite his friendly manner. Tooru felt a little detached, observing the scene like an outsider, without any negative feelings toward the man.

“Anyway,” Sadoyama continued, “we’ve gathered the people who need to talk or listen. Just be as honest as possible when you answer questions—that’ll make things easier.”

With that, his footsteps halted. Without any further preamble, he opened the door labeled “Fourth Conference Room.”

Inside was, predictably, a conference room. Tooru compared it to the kind of room used for driver’s license renewal lectures—basically, a municipal hall’s meeting room.

Apparently, Tooru and Tia were the last to arrive. Several people were already seated at the rectangular tables. Among them were Anthem’s leader, Saitou Megumi, and the swordswoman Kagurazaka Chizuru—Tooru had matched their faces and names from online sources. The healer Midou Airi and the videographer Shinguu Sanagi were absent.

Seated near the Anthem members was a woman in a sharp pantsuit, radiating the aura of someone very competent. Across the table were men in suits—one slightly older than Sadoyama, and the rest appearing to be elderly.

“That took you long, Sadoyama. Are those the two… the swordswoman and the cursed blade wielder?”

The oldest-looking man, slouched arrogantly in a folding chair, spoke.

Tooru squinted, Man, you can’t tell how old these guys are anymore. He could be in his sixties, maybe eighties, or perhaps just a fifty-something with an unusually aged face. When Tooru was younger, fifty looked like fifty, sixty looked like sixty—but maybe his perception hadn’t kept up.

“Right on time. Your seats are there, so please make yourselves comfortable. You can place your belongings on the table,” Sadoyama said, deftly brushing off the old man’s irritation, and gestured for Tooru and Tia to sit.

With a weary sigh, Tooru lowered himself into the chair. Tia placed the holy sword and the drum bag on the table and sat down beside him.

“On time, excellent. Let’s begin.”

The woman in the pantsuit spoke.

Tooru had absolutely no idea what this meeting was actually going to cover.