Chapter 122: 122

School for the first time in a month, lunch break for the first time in a month, Shouhei’s lunchbox for the first time in a month.

And the bench between the school building and the club building for the first time in a month.

“Okay then, I’ll be waiting for you on Saturday.”

“Un, I’ll tell Ichika-chan too, okay?”

I could hear Mikuma Yunno’s clear voice from the speaker of the smartphone held against my right ear.

“Oh, and tell Koji too. I’m telling some of the people I met over here, so it’s going to be quite a party. The more the merrier.”

Those words were uttered in jest, but they’re about half true.

Those boisterous Saeki cat siblings are going to be good mood-makers for the party.

Both Makio and Hina-chan aren’t the type to be so boisterous.

“…No way, but it’s not a girl, is it?”

Hyeh.

“No, no! Well, there’s one, but she’s still in grade school and she’s my friend’s little sister!”

I shuddered at the cold air that came through over the phone and explained it in a hurry.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that side of you Mikuma-san!

“I see. Speaking of which, have you seen Alba since then?”

Ah, that rat.

I haven’t heard from him since he appeared at the community center while I was asleep.

I’ve got a lot of questions for him.

“No, I haven’t seen him. Why?”

I didn’t think there’s much contact between him and Mikuma.

“He said he had some ores that he wanted to check out for Jaja and Nana. Two of them, I’m still in the process of checking out one of them, but I found out about the other one right away, so I was going to tell him about it.”

“Ores?”

“I don’t know what it’s for, but it’s a rare ore from a dungeon on the Sphere Continent. It’s something that is restricted to be taken out of the sphere continent. It’s a type of iron ore called Ajinkya.”

I never heard about that.

If the twins needed it, he could have told me or Aoi.

“Ah that’s right, the sphere continent. We’re going on a family vacation.”

Heh!

“Awesome! You don’t get tickets very often, right?”

In these times, it is very difficult to cross the ocean.

The turbulence of the air currents is intensifying and the sea currents are swirling everywhere.

According to my dad’s acquaintance, a former pilot who is his drinking buddy…

[The sky and sea have become a dungeon]

—– and the proof is that monsters come out in both places.

Sky monsters in the sky and sea monsters in the sea.

Now that it has become a stronghold of distinctive monsters, it is extremely difficult to travel abroad.

It’s not impossible.

There are “correct” routes for both the sky and the sea.

For example, in the case of an airplane route to the United States, a route has been discovered that goes northward through Hokkaido and then via Alaska.

For example, on a ship route to Brazil, one could head to Southeast Asia and then make a large detour to Brazil.

For some reason, such a ‘correct’ route does not have any monsters on it.

The other day, the TV said that various routes are being established in a hurry, and some people are making a living out of it.

That would make airplanes and ships quite expensive, and there is a wait list.

Especially in Eastern Europe, where direct routes from Japan have not yet been established, you can’t get in from any country without going through Thailand once.

Airline tickets are very rare nowadays, partly because of such troublesome sky conditions.

Ships are not available for civilians. All of them are used for import, export, and fishing.

There aren’t any problems in the seas near the continents and islands, but when you get a bit further away from them, the tides become turbulent and monsters appear.

That’s why modern ships are all forced to arm themselves and form fleets.

Even fishermen are attacked if they are just fishing, so they hire specialized armed groups called ‘fishing warriors’.

In an island nation like Japan, the means to go abroad are all very expensive.

I heard it’s a little easier in other land-locked countries.

Since they have land routes.

Still, some of the terrain is very different, so it’s not so easy there either.

Well, it’s all knowledge I got from TV.

“Un, my father works for a trading company dealing in magic tools. He’s going over there on a business trip for two weeks, and my mom said she couldn’t let him go alone because she was worried. It’s summer vacation for me, too, so we decided to go together as a family, right? Mother will take time off work, too.”

“Ha. That’s nice. I’ve never been abroad.”

It’s an unrealizable dream with our earnings.

I’ve heard that Rouge crossed the ocean to come here, but she herself doesn’t even know where she came from.

She has no sense of direction that she would go back the way she came if the rat didn’t go to pick her up. It can’t be helped.

The other day I asked her to help me shop for dinner because she looked free, but she took the wrong way to the community center. We’ve been lived there for a month, you know.

“So, you know. I’m going to see if I can find a way to bring some of the Ajinkya stone that Alba-san mentioned to me to Japan. You can’t take it as it is, but there are cases where it can be processed.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry, though. It’s a family vacation, right?”

It’s nice of you to do that for us and I’m thankful, but I wouldn’t want to trouble you.

“It’s okay! Because I want to!”

“Oh, yeah. I’m happy if you’re happy.”

Huh?

Why did I get angry?

“Well, if you see Alba before Saturday, tell him, okay?”

“Ah, okay.”

“Yeah, see you later.”

“Ah, see you later.”

Making sure the call ended, I turned my smartphone off as well.

I tucked it into my pants pocket and reached for a can of coffee I had bought.

Now, it’s time for lunch.