Please to Kitsune-sama!

Chapter 113 : Kitsune-sama, After All, Does Not Need What She Does Not Need

In front of Shizuoka Dungeon No. 1.

A staff member, who had been yawning, suddenly exclaimed in shock when Inari appeared at the transfer point. It had not been long at all. And yet—she had already cleared the dungeon.

“Eh? Ehh? Wh-what? No way…”

Instinctively, he checked the clock—but that changed nothing.

The staffer had thought he knew of the awakener known as Kogami Inari, but in truth, he had no idea what made her so extraordinary. “Cute and strong”… that much, yes, he had heard. But beyond that, like most people when meeting a celebrity, he knew her name without knowing the concrete details of her feats. So when he witnessed Inari’s dungeon-clearing speed with his own eyes, he was utterly stunned.

“W-welcome back. You cleared it safely, I see.”

“Indeed. Yet… oh, it appears.”

“Eh?”

A great feat worthy of praise has been achieved! [Achievement: Colossus Destroyer] 

Recalculating reward box… 

Reward Box obtained! 

“Once again, an utterly un-cute box, hm.”

“A s-special reward box… this is my first time seeing one—ah, h-hey! Appraisal!”

As the appraisal officer came running, Inari waved lazily with the box in hand.

“No need to rush so.”

It was, as always, an un-cute box… wrapped in paper printed with a polka-dot pattern of Colossus’s sulky, chibi-fied face.

When the appraisal officer finally arrived and caught sight of the box in Inari’s hand, he gasped aloud.

“C-C… ‘Colossus’s Reward Box’…? Eh? This dungeon had a hidden boss?”

“Seems so.”

From her Divine Concealment, Inari poured out the items that had dropped, then tore open the wrapping of the Colossus reward box. What emerged was a belt—its design old-fashioned, something that looked vaguely familiar, though she could not quite place where she had seen it before.

“Hm, hmhm… now where had I seen this before…”

“Ahhh!?”

“Hyoh!”

At the appraiser’s sudden cry, Inari’s ears and tail shot upright, startled. She nearly rose onto tiptoe from surprise.

“Wh-what is it!? Do not frighten me so!”

“M-my apologies! But this item—”

“Hm?”

What the officer was looking at was the crown that had dropped from Colossus. Inari tilted her head, wondering what was so special about it. The officer, however, was visibly sweating, tense with nervousness. Indeed, he had never even dreamed that something like this could appear in Shizuoka Dungeon No. 1.

“T-this… this is ‘Colossus’s Crown.’ It grants a slight increase to all abilities… o-of course, you’ll be keeping it, yes?”

“Hm.”

“It’s incredible… truly lucky! Congratulations! A-and that belt… C-‘Colossus’s Belt’…?”

“Put it to auction for me.”

“Eh?”

“Auction. I’ll keep the magic stones, but this, no.”

“Eeeeeeh!?”

“Hiih!? What’s with that face, as if you just met a faceless ghost in the night road!”

“If even a faceless ghost heard what you just said, it’d sprout a face out of sheer shock!”

“Oh… that sounds like a rather horrifying sight indeed…”

The idea of a faceless yokai suddenly growing features in shock—just imagining it was enough to make one faint. But leaving that aside—

“T-to think! Something this incredible, and you’d sell it!? Eh!? Normally you’d use it, wouldn’t you!?”

“Y-yes, I suppose normally… but I’ve no need of it. Besides…”

“Besides?”

“…would it not be rather troublesome to perch that crown upon my head…?”

“Ah.”

Yes—Inari’s fox ears. If she placed the crown over them, it would surely feel far too tight. Not to mention, it would clash horribly with her shrine maiden garb. The same was true for the belt.

“Those fox ears of yours… they don’t come off, do they…”

“Oh, what a dreadful thing to say so casually…”

Normally, creatures did not have detachable ears. But then again, normally, humans did not have fox ears either. Such was the gap between common sense and Inari’s reality.

“Well, in any case, I’ll sell it. And this ‘belt’ as well.”

“If you say so…”

The appraiser relented, though he already suspected it would become quite the affair. Lately, extremely high-grade items had begun appearing in auction houses—things no one had seen before.

“Probably the work of awakener like her,” he thought.

In truth, every single one of them had been Inari’s doing. But such a lowly staffer had no way of knowing that.

All he could predict was that once he contacted headquarters and handed this over, an auction would soon be held under heavy security—and chaos would surely follow. A prediction that, without doubt, would soon become reality.