Three people were wandering inside the City Hall. Rikka was raising exclamations like Hoo~ and Hee~ while touring the City Hall.
"So the interior of a City Hall looks like this. It"s my first time seeing it in person."
After all, it wasn"t a place where high-school students would be familiar with. In fact, even regular adults wouldn"t visit the City Hall unless it had to do with family registration or inheritance.
"Well, that"s a given considering young lady"s age. The first time I came here was around ten years ago in order to register my number."
"Hmm. How old is Fujitsan?"
"42 this year."
"Ossan."
"Wait, Ricchan. That"s rude."
"Ahahahaha! It"s fine, it"s fine. For students your age, I am indeed an ossan!"
Fujita who didn"t seem particularly offended laughed wildly. Taking out a tobacco from his breast pocket, he asked for permission from the two before lighting it up.
"Isn"t smoking banned in a government office?"
"Do you think there"s someone to care about it at this point?"
"True."
"We"re almost where Nis.h.i.+no-kun is. Follow me."
While watching Fujita guiding them in front, Rikka spoke to Ichinose softly so that only they could hear.
"… We were able to somehow infiltrate inside, "onii-san"."
"Yes, but for now, I"m Natsun, "Aisaksan"."
Having said that, she… no, "I" grinned.
Several hours prior….
We were on the sh.o.r.e a short distance away from the City Hall. The work of handing slimes over to Aka went smoothly, and Aka was able to regain its former strength.
"Akchan became bigger."
"Indeed."
I don"t see any more slimes around, so this much should do. I open my status and look at the party member list at the bottom.
Aka
Mimic Slime LV5
Its level has went up compared to before. So Aka could gain experience by taking in other slimes.
"Aka, how does your body feel?"
"Furu furu ♪"
It seems to be in a good condition. Its size is twice what it was before, and it"s shaking itself vigorously. In addition, the level of Aka"s mimicry has improved along with its level.
Mimicking living creatures is still impossible, but it can transform into complex machines such as motorcycles and cars. While there is a limit to the operating time, one could drive it without a problem.
Nevertheless, due to the restriction in size, Aka can only mimic motorcycles and minicars. But that would be more than enough, as it doesn"t seem to require fuel.
"Well, it has been quite some time. Aisaksan, did you get a mail from Nis.h.i.+no-kun?"
"Hmm, nothing has come yet. Really, I wonder what happened."
He is either being attacked or chased by monsters… they must be in a situation where they don"t have the leeway to contact us. He should be alive since his name is still on the contactable list…hm? This is…?
"Both of you, come over here for a bit."
"N? What is it, onii-san?"
"Did something happen?"
""Enemy Detection" is reacting. Someone will come shortly."
I hold their hands and hide ourselves along the edge of the sh.o.r.e.
"They"re…"
A group of four consisting of both men and women has appeared. And they"re people I recognize.
(… Kudou-san, are you acquainted with them?)
Ichinose-san who is beside me asks quietly.
(Well, yeah… they were my colleagues at my company.)
Those that are walking on the sandy beach were originally colleagues of mine. There"s Nijou-san and s.h.i.+kauchi-san… how nostalgic. It has only been five days, but it feels like it has been a long time. But why are they here?
"…. Hey, as I thought…."
"…I wonder?...But….senpai…. presence…"
"Can….. return……..City Hall…."
"….then…."
It"s slightly difficult to listen. Are they trying to find something? Something like a s.h.i.+p? Since that stupidly huge golem is nearby, are they trying to head towards and uninhabited island?
(Among the four, it looks like one of them is an employee from the City Hall)
(You can tell?)
(Yes, we"ve met several times.)
Due to the nature of my job, I had to visit the City Hall a few times. At those times, that staff member always welcomed me kindly. The person is equipped with a yellow help and a scoop shovel.
(That"s good, onii-san. Your colleagues are alive.)
(Well, yeah…)
I answer appropriately, but to be honest, I don"t feel anything.
(Most likely because it doesn"t matter to me.)
Just like that time in the shopping mall, anything that doesn"t interest me is of no concern to me either.
---Being close to one person rather than many others.
Unlike my colleagues who I interacted with just because I had to, Momo, Aka, and Ichinose-san are much more precious to me. If I have to choose between the lives of my colleagues and the life of Ichinose-san, I would undoubtedly decide on the latter.
(Oh, they"re going back.)
(Yeah.)
So they weren"t able to find what they were looking for. Nijou-san appears somewhat disturbed. In the end, they didn"t notice us. They were talking about the City Hall, so maybe they have set up a base there.
(The City Hall.)
I just observed from the rooftop of the building, but I felt many signs of life congregated towards that direction. In addition, there were moats and barricades around the City Hall, so it should be able to function well as a base against monsters.
(But only if they"re dealing with regular monsters.)
Against the high orc, the dark wolf, and the stupidly large golem, that level of defense would not suffice. They would destroy them through pure strength.
(Even so, something is drawing my attention…)
Not my colleagues, but the staff from the City Hall. I stare at that person.
(As I thought, I sense something "weird" from that individual…)
It is different from the bad feeling that I get from "Enemy Detection" and "Crisis Detection".
How should I describe this… The air around him makes me strangely…. strangely relaxed… no… It"s more the fact that I don"t feel any "bad feelings" from that person at all. Yup, that"s the accurate description. Although it sounds off, that"s how it feels.
"Kudou-san, what"s wrong?"
"Ah, nothing… I was just contemplating…"
Ichinose-san tilts her head. This time, Rikkchan raises her voice.
"Ah, guys, Niss.h.i.+ has sent a "Mail" to me."
Both Ichinose-san and I turn towards her.
"Really?"
"Yes, wait a second, I"ll read it out loud."
She fixes her eyes at the status plate in front of her.
"Etto, lemme see… "Rikka, sorry for the late notice. I was in a situation where I couldn"t contact anybody. But I"m fine now. I"m currently at the City Hall along with s.h.i.+bata and the ossan, Goshogawara. We were saved by someone from the City Hall when we were getting chased by monsters, so we decided to move along with them. The employees here have quite the high levels. Also, while I don"t know how much of this is true, the people here are claiming that the place is a Safety Zone devoid of monsters. I can"t ignore this information. I need to know more. If you"re near here, please come to the City Hall. Let"s meet up here. I"ve already talked to them about you and the others, so you shouldn"t have any problem coming in. In addition, there are a lot of ant type monsters around the shopping district. There are many of them, so please be careful. If you meet them, immediately run away without hesitating. I hope you and those collaborating with you can arrive here safely. I wish you luck.""
Rikka breathes out after reading the mail in one breath. Although the text is long, it is simple and easy to understand. As expected of Nis.h.i.+no-kun"s mail. It"s miles better than certain spam mails.
"…(Stare)…"
"What is it, Ichinose-san?"
"Nothing…"
Ichinose-san is excessively sharp at times.
"anyways, it"s a good thing that Nis.h.i.+no-kun is safe."
"Yes, I"m relieved."
Rikkchan pats her chest in relief. Unlike me, she appears to be genuinely happy.
"But there are several things written here that grab my attention."
"Yes…"
Ichinose-san nods. A herd of ant monsters. A Safety Zone. The truth behind Nis.h.i.+no-kun"s information is yet to be confirmed, but I can"t ignore these. I turn towards the girls.
"Let us go to the City Hall."
There is no loss in investigating. Gather information is important. However, before that, I continue talking.
"Only Aisaksan and I will be partic.i.p.ating. Ichinose-san should be with Momo at a building near the City Hall."
"Hm? What do you mean? Aren"t we all going together?"
A question mark manifests on top of Rikkchan"s head.
"Yes, I think we should move separately this time around."
"Why? From what I heard, Natsun has a skill which makes it hard for others to detect when inside buildings. Wouldn"t it be better if we are together?"
Rikkchan isn"t necessarily wrong per say. Ichinose-san"s "Cognitive Inhibition" is one of the most powerful skill when it comes to infiltration and collection information. Nonetheless…
"It… won"t work."
Ichinose-san and I look down in apology.
"So I"m asking why?"
"Ichinose-san… can"t navigate through crowds."
"….Wut?"
"For you information, if she interacts with a crowd for an extended period, she throws up."
And magnificently too.
"So it"s impossible."
I avert my eyes away from Rikkchan. Ichinose-san endured at school under the context of finding Rikkchan, but I certainly can"t bet on her enduring for consecutive days. Her spirit won"t hold. In the worst case, she might throw up something more than just glittery stuffs.
"Natsun?"
Rikkchan looks at Ichinose-san. The latter nods silently. Rikkchan looks up at the sky and simply says---
"………..Is that so."
She accepts the explanation. Can"t help it. I continue our conversation.
"Furthermore, when we infiltrate, I"ll change my appearance to that of Ichinose-san"s."
"Huh?"
"Kudou-san, that means…"
Rikkchan c.o.c.ks her head. On the other hand, Ichinose-san seems aware of what I am trying to say.
"Yes, I"m thinking of using the new Ninjutsu--- "Art of Transformation"."
"Art of Transformation". It"s a new Ninjutsu that I just got, and the effect of the skill is just as what the name suggests. Using it once uses up to 15 MP, but it doesn"t have a time limit. It gets undone when I want it to. When it is used for an extended duration of time, it is more cost effective than cloning.
Nonetheless, there are limitations to the skill. Unlike Aka, my "Art of Transformation" cannot transform into nonliving ent.i.ties. In addition, it"s impossible to change to creatures like rats and whales that differ in size by a huge margin. Furthermore, I cannot transform unless I"ve touched the creature with my hands. Lastly, I cannot utilize the other Ninjutsus during the transformation.
"Please watch."
I activate the "Art of Transformation".
"Oh!"
"Wow."
With some smoke and a Pomp!, my appearance s.h.i.+fts to that of Ichinose-san"s. Not only is my appearance identical to her"s, the proportion of other body parts are also completely the same.
Be that as it may, the only thing that changed is my body. In other words, my clothing and equipments are as they were. As such,
"Aka"
"Furu furu."
I ask Aka to mimic the rifle that Ichinose-san has. Now I really appear like Ichinose-san… except the fact that I"m dressed in men"s clothing.
"Amazing… you guys really do look alike…"
Rikkchan nods as if she"s impressed, and Ichinose-san stares at my disguised state.
"Yes, this should do."
Nis.h.i.+no said in his mail to come with "those collaborating with you". That means that he has realized that Rikkchan is with someone else. From what happened at the cafeteria, it"s likely that he thinks she"s with Ichinose-san. As Nis.h.i.+no-kun is very calculative, he should have noticed this much.
He would be less vigilant against someone he expected to meet rather than a complete stranger.
"Shall we go…"
"Please wait."
Ichinose-san makes us wait.
"What is it?"
"Can you fine tune your appearance with the "Art of Transformation"?"
"? Y-yeah, I could…"
"Well then. (Murmur murmur…)"
"Oh, okay, okay."
Under Ichinose-san"s request, I make a certain part of my body slightly bigger. Looking at it, Ichinose-san nods in satisfaction.
Well, as long as she"s happy I guess.
Oh, and by the way, I don"t have any thoughts on doing erotic things using this skill. It would be rude to Ichinose-san after all.
"Momo, I"ll entrust Ichinose-san"s safety to you."
"Wan!"
Momo responds cheerfully. Although it is only temporary, it still pains me to separate with Momo. But Ichinose-san needs someone to protect her if something ever happens.
I stroke Momo in sadness. After Ichinose-san and I stroked Momo for about fifteen minutes, Rikkchan said in a flat voice, "Can we leave now?"
And so, Rikkchan and I have snuck into the City Hall. Now then, let"s start by gathering intelligence.