Interlude – Observers of the DS Management
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The big room had an inclination as you’d find it in auditoriums and was packed with monitors. All those screens were busily changing their views as they tracked player movements, polled the tendencies of which skills were acquired, and reflected various item trades.
This room, where the monitors served as the only source of illumination, is my workplace. My subordinates are tapping on their keyboards and screens so hectically that they don’t lose out to the movements on the screens. Anyone seeing this place would likely think that this place might be a super high-spec control room or some such. Or that they’re currently inside a very huge factory plant.
Our enormous workplace is hidden inside a multi-tenant building. We, who control and operate 『Dungeon Seekers』, have been kind of stay in this place ever since the release.
One of my subordinates approached me while showing me a document on a tablet. While he was giving me a report, he apparently wanted to use the opportunity for some random chat.
“Section Chief, maybe it’s a side-effect of the information sharing between players having progressed, but the mortality rate has dropped quite a bit. If you look at the trends when it comes to acquiring skills, many appear to go with active skills, as expected. On the other hand, passive skills are regarded as dead ends, resulting in only few acquiring any if at all.”
“You’re right. As always, the folks in charge of Tokyo are crazy busy, but it looks like they got some fun over there as the players are doing all sorts of stuff. I hear some famous players even created a guild and took control of a small area.”
“Yeah. You mean 『Camphor Tree of the New Inn』, don’t you?”
“Yep. Well, it’s an area with a high population density. Accordingly the number of players over there is pretty high too, leading to various clashes and incidents occurring. B-But you see…”
I booted up a nearby PC and opened a certain line graph on the monitor’s screen for my subordinate to see.
And then I started to speak to the man under my command.
“We’re in charge of the Tohoku region, but…isn’t Sendai way too quiet?”
I mean, it’s the biggest city in the Tohoku area, isn’t it?…is the retort I made in my mind. As far as I understand, the rate of new players retiring is pretty high. In the first place, the mortality rate of all players over there is quite high, and yet they aren’t clearing any dungeons at all.
And just as I thought that this was bad since I’d be scolded by the higher-ups soon, I heard someone storming into this room
Don’t tell me…
“The one in charge of the Tohoku area, Amamiya, is present, right?”
“Y-Yes!”
A bespectacled guy with a thin smile plastered on his face suddenly appeared next to me. This person is my boss. He doubtlessly came here due to the situation in the Tohoku region. Blergh.
“About the issue of no dungeons being cleared in Sendai…have you found out the reason yet?”
“Ha-, u-umm, no, it’s still under investigation…”
“Really? I feel like I’ve heard the same thing three days ago too…” My boss tilted his head with a crack.
Please spare me that. It’s friggin’ scary.
“Umm, I will personally send out an investigator from my family, so please overlook it.”
“…Sure. Well, I do understand the reason why it’s so challenging to investigate. Based on the numbers, it’s utterly unclear what’s going on.”
He turned his back on me after putting on a faint smile again, about to leave this room.
“Excuse me then. Please do your best with your work.”
He vanished alongside the sound of a warp. My subordinate told me, “Good work,” as I sighed deeply.
It looks like my people are still busy with all sorts of work. At that moment, I heard someone kicking up a loud fuss over an ultra-rare item having appeared or something like that. All of them seem to have fun. Just, I don’t enjoy this at all. I’m totally stuck with what you usually call the suffering of middle-management. Seriously, I wanna quit this job.
Trying to decide on the investigator to dispatch to Sendai City, I picked one of the kids from my family to send over. It’s pretty obvious that the number of active players is low in Sendai. I must get a hold of the situation over there as soon as possible.
｡ ₊°༺🫀༻°₊ ｡
Inside a majestic estate on a tranquil sacred ground that has been passed down across generations of the distinguished family with its deep history living there lay a big, big Japanese-styled room flanked by sliding screens. A lone girl, who had been left behind here all by herself, had received a telephone call.
She had glossy, black hair that was styled into a bob-cut. The golden-blue tips of the hair on the back of her head, which didn’t look as though they had been dyed, were illuminated by the light shining through a slightly opened screen. A trace of innocence still remained on her dignified face. All in all, it’d be fair to describe her as a beauty.
Her long, smooth eyelashes, moving as if full of worry, were conspicuous. Her big, light blue eyes blinked repeatedly. Her figure as she sat in seiza, her body clad in a kimono, wasn’t that of an adult yet. It lacked womanly swellings as it belonged to a young student. Yet, it was also a body of an outstanding warrior as you could see traces of training all over.
“Yes, Onee-sama. Then it means I will be heading to Sendai, correct?”
“Yep. Right now it’s still under investigation, but…depending on the circumstances, your objective might switch from investigation to extermination.”
She, who was on the other end of the call, swallowed her breath. She switched the hand holding the receiver, closing her eyes.
“That’s why I chose you, Satoha. You’ll be able to carry it out perfectly for me.”
“…Is it for the sake of keeping me away from the main house?”
“…That’s part of it as well, but you’re actually suited for this job. You’re young and good at combat.”
The girl called Satoha cast a glance at the phone, thinking about the other woman’s troubled expression. Believing that such concern would do nothing to solve the situation anymore, her eyes were colored with resignation.
“Amamiya Satoha, I, Amamiya Rei, order you as acting family head of the Amamiya family, head to Sendai City in the Miyagi prefecture and investigate the abnormal events surrounding 『Dungeon Seekers』 over there. In addition, you have permission to deploy the Anti-Paranormal Armament.”
“…Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. Anyway, I leave it in your hands, Satoha.”
Following the sound of the call being ended, the clack of the receiver being put down reverberated through the empty room. Satoha stood up, opened the sliding screen, and left the room in order to prepare for her departure.
Her meeting with him was drawing near.
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