IGTL Chapter 46

Chapter 46 – Contact with the “Transfer Group”

“Ah, would you be Mr. Takahashi? Sorry to keep you waiting. I’ve come with your order from Domino’s Pizza.”

“Thanks for your hard work.”

“Yes, here is your order. Please enjoy.”

“Ah, thank you.”

After taking the food from the delivery guy, I passed through the front desk area and rode the elevator back up to my room. I pulled my laptop out of Item Storage, connected it to the TV with an HDMI cable, opened Netflix, and put on the anime I’d been hooked on lately.

“…All right. Everything was set.”

With my favorite anime playing on the TV, I quietly enjoyed my wine and meal while dabbling in some online mahjong.

This was the solo victory party.

A moment of pure happiness.

Spending time exactly how I wanted, all by myself, with nobody bothering me.

There was no more luxurious way to use time than that.

And the money I’d spent today… booze, delivery, snacks, and everything else.

All total, 10,000 yen.

In a single day, I’d blown 10,000 yen just to hold a one-man victory party.

Peak luxury.

But then…

“Mmm… no way. He actually called Pon on that tile…”

This was bad. Thanks to me, Big Three Dragons had just been locked in.

That meant I’d be on the hook.

I discarded the East honor tile, two of which were already on the table, and got hit with ron on the spot, ending the hand. Big Three Dragons, All Honors, plus two dora. I got busted.

Apparently “Rare Drop Rate +500%” didn’t work in online mahjong.

“Ahh, so I lost. Couldn’t be helped…”

Yeah, I’d better quit online mahjong for today.

Instead, I opened a manga-and-novel app for smart devices, and while watching anime, eating, and drinking, I checked the app now and then and thoroughly enjoyed my alone time to my heart’s content.

Ahh, this was great.

The thought that tomorrow I could stay in the hotel, living in luxury all by myself without worrying about money or going to work…

And all of that was thanks to winning the lottery.

For now, I’d just savor today nice and slow.

Today of all days, I was going to drown in booze and wallow in lazy sleep.

I opened the red wine, washed it down with beer and highballs as chasers, then finished off by wetting my throat with sake.

“Ahh, this was bad. I seriously drank too much…”

I flopped onto the bed, took out a “Basic Recovery Potion” from Item Storage, took a light sip, and drifted off to sleep just like that.

“Mmm… ngh…”

When I woke up the next morning, my throat was bone dry.

I’d seriously overdone it on the booze last night.

Yeah, mixing wine and sake had definitely been a mistake.

My head and stomach both felt absolutely awful.

I drank down every last bit of the “Basic Recovery Potion” that had been left sitting on the table, then lay back down on the bed.

Maybe it was because I’d drunk the potion, but little by little, I could feel myself getting better.

After loafing around on the bed for about an hour, I slowly got up and headed to the open-air bath closest to the night sky, the “Sky Spa.”

After washing myself and rinsing away the foam under the shower, I soaked alone in the open-air bath.

“Ahhh, this was luxury… luxurious, sure, but I was kind of getting bored of this life too…”

Even I was starting to get tired of this life where I just stayed holed up in a hotel every day.

How could I put it? It felt like I was wasting every day in sloth.

Ever since quitting my job, life had become painfully dull.

“All right, fresh start. Maybe I should hole up in DW for a few days instead?”

I’d already paid a month in advance for the hotel, so that should’ve been fine.

The lawyer for the high schoolers probably wasn’t going to come after me anymore, and as for the overtime claim against my former workplace, I’d already left that to my lawyer.

Besides, part of me had no clue what I was even supposed to do in the real world anymore.

The stimulating world of DW had to bring something to someone like me.

“…All right. Then let’s go!”

After sweating it out in the sauna, taking a shower, and leaving the open-air bath, I returned to my room, cleaned up yesterday’s remains, and muttered, “—Connect ‘Different World’!” as I logged in to DW.

This was a room at the Drowsing Inn.

I left my room and headed down to the lobby, where I saw Raynel standing guard at the inn.

When he noticed me, he greeted me.

“Good morning, Lord Kakeru. It was a fine morning today.”

“Ah, good morning. Thanks for your hard work with the guard duty.”

“No, no, this much was hardly worth mentioning. More importantly, were you heading out somewhere?”

“Yes. It’s not like I had any particular business, but for now I thought I’d head over to the Adventurers’ Guild.”

I couldn’t exactly say I’d come over here because I had nothing to do in the real world.

Besides, the sentence for those high schoolers still hadn’t been decided yet.

Until then, going outside carelessly meant there was always a chance those parents might come charging at me again.

Well, during my solo victory party, I’d gone out perfectly normally anyway.

“Hm. I see… At the Adventurers’ Guild right now, a group called the ‘Transfer Group’ seemed to be throwing its weight around. Apparently they were saying they’d push forward with dungeon conquest and unlock the worlds accessible through Yggdrasil, so please be careful.”

“The ‘Transfer Group,’ huh…? Come to think of it, I felt like Kyle mentioned something like that when he was drinking himself stupid at the Adventurers’ Guild…”

Right, them.

The people who were thrilled about being transferred into the world of DW.

They were probably the sort of self-centered idiots who thought they were special, like the protagonists of those novels and manga where someone got summoned to another world.

Yeah, that definitely sounded terrifying.

If I got dragged into a mess with people like that, I’d be miserable.

“…Got it. I’ll be careful.”

“Yes. If anything happened, please tell me at once.”

“Mm. All right, then. I’m off.”

After saying that to Raynel, I headed for the Adventurers’ Guild.

The moment I stepped inside, I made eye contact with one of the receptionists.

The instant she saw me, her eyes went wide. Then she stood up and hurried over.

“Sir Kakeru. We have been waiting for you. Would you happen to have a moment?”

I had a bad feeling about this.

“No, sorry. I was only stopping by briefly.”

“I see… One minute would be enough. The Vice Guildmaster said he wished to meet with you personally. Could I ask you to see him?”

“With the Vice Guildmaster…? Uh, no thanks.”

The moment I answered that honestly, the receptionist’s expression stiffened.

Well yeah, obviously.

He was the guy who tried to buy “Advanced Recovery Potion” from me at the absurd bargain rate of a 100,000 Col per bottle, right?

Of course I didn’t want that.

I didn’t want to meet him.

Because no matter how you looked at it, it felt like it would only turn into a pain.

“Then please give the Vice Guildmaster my regards. Well, I’ll be going now…”

I said that and turned to leave, but someone tapped me on the shoulder.

When I looked back, there was an adventurer there whose face I didn’t recognize.

“Hang on a sec. That thing on your arm, that’s the paid item ‘Move Yggdrasil,’ right?”

“…What about it?”

The adventurer looked at the paid item “Move Yggdrasil” and curled his lips into a sadistic grin.

Judging from the rank tag hanging around his neck, he was a C-rank adventurer.

To be blunt, he wasn’t even a threat to me.

But the fact that he knew about the paid item “Move Yggdrasil” meant…

“…I see. I’m one of the members of the ‘Transfer Group.’ Yuuki. I’ll give you some advice for your own good. Hand that ‘Move Yggdrasil’ over to me.”

So it was them after all…

Apparently my luck had gotten bad enough that I probably ought to get myself purified at a shrine or something.

“No, though? More importantly, why exactly should I hand over “Move Yggdrasil,” which I bought by pouring one million yen of real-world money into it, to a total stranger like you?”

The moment I asked that, Yuuki of the “Transfer Group”…

“Shut up already! Quit bitching and hand over ‘Move Yggdrasil’! We’re the ones risking our necks to push dungeon conquest forward, aren’t we? The least you could do is hand it over!”

N-No, nobody asked you to do that, and I’d cleared as far as mid-tier dungeons myself…

But once Yuuki from the “Transfer Group” snapped, there was no stopping him.

“We’re clearing dungeons so all of you can return to the original world! And yet none of you are willing to cooperate even a little! Don’t you feel ashamed as fellow human beings who came from the same Earth?!”

N-No, not really…

If anything, that was something you guys had decided to do on your own…

Or what?

If I were the one progressing dungeon conquest and then swaggering up to people from the “Transfer Group” and snatching their items like they were mine by right, would they just laugh and forgive me?

Because I’d be furious.

“Then let me ask you this. How far have you guys actually gotten in dungeon conquest?”

When I threw that question at him, Yuuki puffed himself up and said proudly,

“Hah! Brace yourself and be amazed! We made it as far as the second floor of the volcanic cave dungeon ‘Volcano Cave’! If you’re a DW player, then you know what that means!”

Huh?

The second floor of “Volcano Cave”?

Was this guy actually serious?

“Huh? Really?? Are you seriously saying that?”

I made sure to say it out loud, just in case.

With that level of ability, you were trying to take “Move Yggdrasil” from me?

That was actually insane…

“Hah! So you finally understand how strong we are!”

“U-Uh, sure!?”

You only made it to the second floor of “Volcano Cave,” right?

That was a mid-tier dungeon.

So why were you acting that high and mighty!?

Kyle and even AAAA could probably clear at least that much!

While I stood there wearing a dumbfounded expression, Yuuki stepped closer.

“If you understood, then leave that ‘Move Yggdrasil’ here. It doesn’t suit you. Even if you’re an S-rank adventurer, there’s no way you can conquer this world alone and make it to Odin. That ‘Move Yggdrasil’ is suited to the organization with the will to conquer this world and free the people trapped here, the ‘Transfer Group.’”

“Heh. Is that so?”

Well, well…

It seemed he had a truly noble aspiration, one I sure didn’t have.

“Yuuki, was it? You were right. The Transfer Group’s ideals were admirable…”

As I said that with a hand on “Move Yggdrasil,” Yuuki, apparently misunderstanding completely, broke into a grin.

“I’m glad you understand. Even an S-rank adventurer is helpless before the power of an organization. Now then, hand that ‘Move Yggdrasil’ over to me…”

The moment he reached out for it, I slapped his hand away.

“…But I refuse.”

At my words, Yuuki’s face twisted into something ugly.