’I’ll text you the location later. In any case, good luck tomorrow with your first gate! I want to hear all about it after you’re done!’
Even after hours had passed, Team Leader Soran’s voice still echoed inside my mind.
She was like a storm.
She came and went, leaving nothing but confusion and chaos behind.
I still recalled the lost and confused look on Sarah’s face as the Team Leader lfet. In that moment, she seemed to have even forgotten that she was sick.
’Well, I guess this ended up being a good thing.’
Shaking my head, I looked at the table in front of me. There were several documents scattered about.
“This is a bit troublesome. There are quite a few interesting ones.”
There were a number of scenarios in front of me. I was meant to select one for tomorrow’s first gate excursion, and I was currently torn on a couple of things.
First, I was unsure of the level of the gate that I wanted to select.
…And secondly, I was unsure of what type of scenario to choose.
There were quite a lot of interesting scenarios in front of me. Each one looked difficult, and while there were instructions on how to clear each scenario, I knew that each gate would end up differing slightly from the previous.
’Let’s not even forget to take into account that my luck is incredibly bad.’
I was suddenly reminded of the first gate that I had entered.
From the news that I had managed to read about the incident, the level of the gate had actually been higher than what it was supposed to be. The same thing happened the second time I had entered a gate.
Mirelle’s gate…
This made me think.
’Is it possible that whatever gate I enter, the difficulty increases?’
If this were truly true, then things would be extremely troublesome.
“This would mean that I’d have to select a lower-ranked gate.”
This was probably going to earn me some judgment from my own team, but if my hypothesis was correct, then I had no choice. I needed to account for it and run the test.
“And even if it turns out to be wrong, I can always say I just wanted to get to know the team better.”
Either way, there wasn’t much they could do for now.
’Okay, this is good.’
With my thoughts finally clear, I began sifting through the various scenarios. The desk lamp cast a sharp light over the papers as I leaned in, studying each one with care. Time slipped by unnoticed, and it wasn’t until I stumbled upon something promising that I realized just how late it had gotten.
“Oh shit.”
I checked the time and groaned.
It was way later than I intended it to be.
“But it’s all good in the end.”
I tapped into the scenario and nodded.
“This will be the one that we’ll go to tomorrow. I’ll give them a rundown of it tomorrow morning.”
With everything set and ready, I put everything back and headed to bed.
I needed to be as well rested as possible. I couldn’t make the same mistake as in the past.
Tomorrow was going to be a long day.
***
8 A.M.
Room 507.
The recruits all showed up on time.
Joanna was the first one to come as she turned on the lights in the room and got ready for today’s excursion. Following her were Mia, Min, Nora, Niel, and lastly Sarah?
“Hieeek! A ghost!!”
It was a scream from Mia that made everyone aware of her presence.
“When did you get behind me?!”
Mia took several steps back, hugging herself tightly, revealing Sarah standing just behind her, hair limp, head tilted in confusion.
“I’ve always been here.”
“Ah… goosebumps. I’m getting goosebumps.”
Mia revealed her hand and showed the hair that was rising from it.
Joanna stared at Mia’s arm before giving her a weird look.
“If you’re scared this easily, you shouldn’t be in this line of work.”
“That’s what I said!”
Mia nodded in agreement, prompting several question marks to appear on the heads of several people.
Joanna opened her mouth, but soon closed it.
’Maybe she was forced by her family. Who knows.’
She never intended to get too close to the others. In this line of work, forming attachments was a mistake. Almost a sin. Very few teams made it through without casualties. Most suffered heavy losses, and growing too close only made it harder when the inevitable happened.
A certain wall and distance needed to be kept in order to protect oneself.
As such, ignoring Mia, Joanna addressed Sarah.
“When did you get here?”
“….Not too long ago.”
“I see. Are you feeling better?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Joanna smiled before looking away and heading for her desk. As she did, she brushed her silver hair behind her ear as she looked around.
“Is the Squad Leader still not here yet? We’ve yet to receive word about the upcoming gate.”
“…I wonder about that.”
Niel commented from his seat as he took out his glasses and cleaned them.
“Maybe he’s taking so long because he doesn’t know which gate to choose. From what I’ve heard, he doesn’t seem very experienced at this. In fact, from the rumours I’ve heard, he has almost little to no experience and has never graduated from an academy.”
The room turned silent after that.
Besides Sarah and Mia, everyone else in the room was aware of the ’rumours’. Naturally, as their Squad Leader, they were all curious about him. The only thing they knew about him was that he was part of the people who had been present during their ’game’ sessions.
This made them a little bit curious about him.
As such, they all did their own little digging about him.
Since they were going to entrust their lives to him, this was only natural.
And yet…
What they managed to find through the rumours left them completely baffled.
Not only did he have little to no experience, and had never graduated from an academy, but he had only been at the Guild for less than half a year. This piece of information left them all completely stunned.
But that was still fine. They trusted the Guild’s jugement.
Especially after the game experience.
“…There’s also another rumour that I’ve heard.”
As Niel spoke up, everyone’s gaze turned towards him again. He looked around carefully before lowering his voice.
“Apparently, he’s very close to one of the stars of the department, and used his identity to pressure one of the members into giving up his credit. Thankfully, the Guild was sensible enough to see that there was no way for him to have done anything and dismissed him. However, he’s apparently a snake, and we have to be careful of him as he might try to steal our achievements.”
The atmosphere in the room turned tense in that moment.
Everyone looked in the direction of the door with some apprehension. Joanna, in particular, as she looked at Niel.
“Where did you hear this rumour from?”
“That’s…”
Niel made a troubled look before shaking his head.
“I’m not supposed to say.”
“But—”
Clank!
Before Joanna could speak, the door swung open and the man in question stepped inside. He was dressed in a sharp black suit, and though his hair was slightly tousled, he appeared well-groomed.
His features were undeniably handsome, but what stood out most were his eyes.
Something about them… felt unsettling.
As his eyes scanned the room, some of the members unknowingly tensed, and as Seth slowly settled down on his desk, he placed a couple of files on top.
“I’ve decided on the scenario that we will be exploring.”
He pointed at one of the files.
[The Devil’s Hunt]
“This will be the scenario that we’ll be exploring.”