Taira Danjo's Call

Since Okutama-machi was a mountain town within Tokyo Prefecture, it surprisingly drew a fair amount of tourist interest. Campers and people who wanted to escape the noisy city but couldn't travel far often chose it as their destination.

That was why a surprisingly large hotel stood there. It happened to have a spacious party room available, so we rented it out, ate, and drank. Since driving afterward would be impossible, we booked two extra rooms for the women and three for the men.

I planned to just hang out in the big room and sleep there.

"The room is huge~. Oppa."

"Alik and Darim are setting out the pizzas."

Alik took the wide-eyed Jung Darim over to the table and began spreading out the pizzas. Seven large ones covered the surface while I stocked the refrigerator with the ice cream, drinks, and alcohol they had chosen. I set the jellies and snacks on the side so everyone could help themselves.

Soon Sawayanagi Azuma's team arrived with chicken. Since Sawayanagi Tobe's group couldn't grill meat in the room, they brought a massive amount of skewers instead.

"If it's not enough, they said we can order delivery by phone."

Choi Jin-ha, the petrification user, set the skewers on the table as he spoke. He seemed slightly apologetic that they couldn't bring as much packaged food as I'd ordered since each skewer had to be grilled individually.

"That's fine. We can just order more if we run out."

"They deliver chicken too."

We had bought more than enough chicken, but Sawayanagi Azuma still looked worried it might not be sufficient.

"You three aren't adults yet, so these are for you."

I handed the trainees the bags of soft drinks. Choi Jin-ha, Lee Du-young, and Kim Young-chan all wore disappointed expressions, but rules were rules.

"I'm going with beer~!"

Lianna Holden happily snatched a can. Sawayanagi Azuma chose a highball while Sawayanagi Tobe picked sake.

My Abyss-Enveloped Body trait made me immune to both poison and intoxication, so I considered sticking with a soft drink. In the end I grabbed a beer to pair with the chicken and pizza.

"How are you doing, Du-young? Has your regeneration improved?"

Lee Du-young was a regeneration user. When we first rescued him his nutritional state had been poor, leaving his ability disappointingly weak.

Since I shared the same power, I had advised him that regeneration required plenty of nutrients and told him to eat a lot. Seeing him today, his body looked much healthier. It seemed his regeneration was no longer a problem.

"Investor, just like you said, eating well has made my ability stronger."

"Even with regeneration, you must wear a helmet in combat. If your head gets injured, you won't be able to regenerate it."

I had used the same tactic of covering my head with my arms when fighting gun-wielding enemies, so I gave the advice to Lee Du-young, whose regeneration was clearly weaker than mine. After that, both he and Kim Young-chan began asking me every question they could think of.

Choi Jin-ha was learning a great deal from Sawayanagi Tobe, who possessed a similar steel transformation ability, so he didn't seem to have any questions for me.

Lee Du-young had Katayama Junichi as a mentor while Kim Young-chan trained under Sawayanagi Mikiyo. But since neither mentor possessed superpowers, they took the chance to ask me—the person they hadn't seen in a while—everything on their minds.

In truth I was well-versed in traits and could offer advice on anything except the truly unique ones. But since it was a bit of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a hassle, I decided to pass Kim Young-chan over to Yang Seol-hee, who was currently carving out territory in the underworlds of Korea and Japan alongside Dang So-hwa. Lee Du-young shared my regeneration ability, so I had no excuse and had to advise him properly.

"I don't know much about clairvoyance, so I'll introduce you to a clairvoyance user I know."

"There are other clairvoyance users besides me?"

Kim Young-chan looked utterly shocked by the offer. It seemed he had believed he was the only one in the entire world.

"Just like how Du-young shares my regeneration ability, there are other clairvoyance users out there. The person I'm introducing you to is one of them."

"I'm learning marksmanship from Miss Mikiyo, but I've been frustrated having to develop my ability alone. Thank you for the introduction."

It must have been quite frustrating. With no one in Seryu-tai possessing vision-type traits, he had been forced to figure everything out by himself.

"Alik learned a little from Seari."

It seemed Alik had picked up some tips from Sawayanagi Seari, a fellow natural-force user with wind powers. Come to think of it, Sawayanagi Seari possessed the highest potential in all of Seryu-tai. It would be good to nurture her properly. I would have to offer her some advice the next time we met.

"Yeah, show me later. But didn't you learn from Kiyona Mari? She's a natural-system user too."

A pyrokinetic like Kiyona Mari would probably synergize far better with Alik's lightning ability than the wind user Sawayanagi Seari.

"Ah, Mari is currently employed on the additional mission you arranged for her, Investor, so she hasn't been able to attend trainee sessions yet."

Hmm, what mission had I arranged for her…? Oh! I had introduced Wano Haruto and Sawayanagi Shinya to Konoe Akina, who had been rescued alongside Alik and the current trainees.

I remembered hiring them both to protect Konoe Akina while investigating her uncle, who was suspected of killing her father.

"Ah, then it can't be helped. But the Konoe mission isn't finished yet?"

"I don't know the exact details, but she said she would reveal the full story at some family clan gathering."

Hmm, that sounds rather interesting…. If I meet Konoe Akina later, I should ask her about it. If her plan succeeds she will become the head of the Konoe family and might be too busy to meet. Still, since I am in the position of her benefactor, we should be able to see each other at least once.

As the dinner party continued, the atmosphere grew steadily louder and more cheerful. The one leading the charge was, as expected, the bright and energetic Lianna Holden.

Lianna Holden kept the conversation flowing with her trademark mix of English, sharing funny stories from past missions and offering practical tips for future operations.

Speaking of the future, a question occurred to me, so I turned to Sawayanagi Azuma.

"After training ends, where will the kids stay?"

"There are still rooms left in the accommodation you prepared. We'll have them stay there for now. If they want to live independently later, we'll allow it. But since they'd have to pay their own way, I expect they'll remain in the dorm for a while."

It was satisfying to see them living comfortably in the building I had arranged. Since several Seryu-tai members had already become independent, there was probably more space available.

"By the way, Investor, what do you think about contacting that human trafficker in Krasukano again—the one we rescued the kids from?"

"Huh?"

"Public opinion on superhumans is terrible right now. They might decide to dispose of them."

Ah…! That made sense. With such negative publicity and with how difficult superpowered slaves were to handle, they might cut their losses and simply "dispose" of them. Even Konoe Akina had been slated for disposal because her electricity and Evil Eye made her hard to manage. In the current climate, it was a reasonable fear.

"Now that you mention it, I'll make contact."

I opened the dark web app on my phone and checked my previous transaction list. On the Krasukano side I found the ID Krasukano_GOODMAN from before and sent a message.

It was soon marked as read, and a reply arrived.

Ah. It seemed the First Group, who had originally planned to turn Alik into a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mid-boss, had decided after the recent superhuman incident that these people could be useful and were buying them up indiscriminately. Thinking about it, we were lucky. If we had been even a little later, Alik would have fallen into their hands and nearly become a human weapon.

—Understood. I'll wait for your contact.

Fortunately, thanks to the First Group, the disposals that Sawayanagi Azuma and I had feared did not seem to be happening. Still, being purchased by us was far better than ending up as a human guinea pig for the First Group's experiments, so I left a positive reply and turned off my phone.

"It looks like no one is being disposed of for now."

"Ah…. That's a relief."

Sawayanagi Azuma smiled softly, visibly relaxed.

The evening passed quickly. As the food everyone had brought began to run out, the dinner party slowly drew to a close.

"I booked several ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rooms, so take these keys and head over."

"Oh, really? I thought we were all sleeping in this room."

After cleaning the table, everyone dispersed to their assigned rooms. The three male trainees who were sharing a room seemed eager to keep hanging out; they gathered the remaining drinks and snacks before leaving. The others followed. Only Alik threw a tantrum, insisting she wanted to sleep with me, Ryuta, but Jung Darim and Lianna Holden each grabbed an arm and a leg and carried her off to her room.

I gave the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠room one final check to make sure everything was tidy, then took a shower. After showering, since it was still early, I was thinking about watching a movie when I heard a knock at the door.