Avert Translations~

 Final Chapter: Toward the Next Stage Let me talk a little about what happened after that. The negotiation went well. With Hachioji Guild, at least for that part, anyway. Hachioji's branch chief turned out to be a reasonable person and took on the job of securing a top-tier asset named Suzukaze Touya, then negotiating on my behalf with Association headquarters and by extension, the Japanese government. From there, though, it sounds like things got pretty messy. Various factions, greedy individuals, plenty of people apparently made moves trying to claim me for their own benefit. So, I went full black-robed-sorcerer mode inside a dungeon, fought at full power and had the footage distributed. Shimotsuki-san's idea. The video, packed with even more brutal attacks than the Stampede footage, apparently did more than enough to make the point. On top of that, I had someone deliver a not-so-subtle message: if push came to shove, I'd walk straight into the American embassy and defect...

 Chapter 40: Toward the Future ―――――――――――――――――― 【Lv】100 【HP】2377/2377 【MP】1666/1666 【STR】201+600 【VIT】188+600 【AGI】210+600 【DEX】192+600 【INT】224+600 【MND】242+600 ―――――――――――――――――― The Status board I'd pulled up displayed numbers that blew far past anything resembling common sense. "Stat Orbs from Gacha add a flat +600 to every stat. So for STR, that's 801 total... works out to roughly Lv400." Clearing out all those Stampede monsters had pushed my Level all the way to the cap. Even doing the rough math, Lv400-equivalent seemed about right. Every trace of expression drained from Shimotsuki-san's neat features as she took it in. I sipped my orange juice and waited for her to reboot. Eventually, Shimotsuki-san let out a long breath, as if emptying every last bit of air from her lungs. She pressed her right fingertips hard against her temple and propped both elbows on the table. Ah, now she's holding her head in her hands too. "...I can't believe it goe...

 Chapter 39: The Violence of Information "Thanks for coming, Shimotsuki-san." This was only the second time I'd seen Shimotsuki-san out of uniform. The first had been half a year ago, at the pool that summer. A shame she was bundled up so much more this time by comparison but the understated outfit suited her well. Shimotsuki-san sat down across from me with her expression carrying a hint of tension. After the Stampede was over, I'd gone back to Hachioji Guild. There, I'd given my official account of things and been told the reward payment would go through later. Noticing she looked like she had questions, I'd asked her, "Could we talk tonight?" and on her suggestion, we'd ended up meeting here. She probably had a good idea what this was about already. There was something hard-edged, almost resolute, in those narrow eyes of hers. After that, I called the server over and ordered a few dishes. We agreed to hold off on alcohol for now and both went ...

 Chapter 38: The Black-Robed Sorcerer Takes Social Media by Storm The night of the day that I put down the Stampede. I found myself at an izakaya somewhere in Hachioji. A bit pricier than usual but supposedly it is a hidden gem where you could enjoy drinks and food in a relaxed private room. That's what the internet had said, anyway. This was my first time actually coming here. The moment we sat down, Lapis flitted around the room, eyeing everything with obvious curiosity. "This is a lot calmer than the places we usually go to, huh~" "Well, sure, compared to a family restaurant." "I love family restaurants, though!" I know. You're a sucker for those cat-shaped serving robots. She'd whine to go back and see one on a regular basis, just to visit them. Thanks to that, we'd become regulars enough to show up about once a week. It's a pricier place than it looks so showing her the robots even once was probably a mistake on my part. Not that i...

 Chapter 37: The Aihara Central Park Stampede With more than 2,500 Gacha pulls, they had brought me an enormous number of Skills. Naturally, plenty of those were magic-related. Things like the Great Fire Archmage I'd once seen show up as a pity-cap option. Even short of that, there were SR-tier Skill Orbs. Plenty of chances to pick up offensive magic Skills like Fire Magic or Wind Magic. As it stood, I could cast magic of every element there was. On top of that, I had a whole stack of pity-cap Unique Skills that made casting more convenient, like MP Cost Halved and MP Recovery Boost. But I'd rarely had the chance to actually use any of it. They stand out way too much, after all. Getting seen using them, even once, would be a headache. And besides, I didn't need magic to coast through anyway. For those reasons, I'd kept a lid on using magic inside dungeons up till now. But this time it's an emergency, a Stampede. The sooner this gets resolved, the better. And I'v...

 Chapter 36: An Alibi and a Suspicious Character The JR Aihara Station sat about a kilometer away from Aihara Central Park Dungeon as the crow flies. What should have been a sleepy little station front was now wrapped in tension. Yellow-and-black cordon line stretched across the area, cutting the station front off from the city streets beyond. The Guild sirens kept echoing in from the distance and since it was mixed with the red flash of patrol car lights, it only made the atmosphere feel heavier. "Hey, quit pushing!" "Wait, a Stampede? For real?" The area was a crush of local residents fleeing in whatever they'd had on, mixed with confused commuters who had no idea what was going on. The cold winter wind cut through the crowd, mingling with the white breath and half-panicked shouting of everyone around, swirling into a strange, feverish heat all its own. I threaded my way through the crowd, working toward the cordon. At the makeshift barricade blocking the road...