[10 minutes ago, in a high-rise building somewhere in Japan. Penthouse.]
“I ask you. Are you the Master?”
Reciting the line like a dramatic monologue, a woman clad in a skirt as blue and rigid as steel threw off the golden wig she wore atop her head.
“This isn’t it!”
Like a craftsman shattering a flawed piece of pottery, she hurled the blonde wig away in frustration.
“With this level of quality, I can’t let Master summon my dear Arthur-chan!”
Just as she was about to stomp the wig underfoot, the woman regretfully picked it back up, sighing.
“Ha… If only the Master were truly the Master…”
She collapsed onto the sofa.
On the ceiling was a giant photograph of a man’s face. The walls were plastered with photos someone had taken and developed—of a single individual.
“Ahh, my hero…”
She hugged a long dakimakura lying next to her.
The dakimakura featured a scruffy-haired young man in a partially unbuttoned shirt, posing seductively while awkwardly smiling and holding a smartphone.
This wasn’t something available on the market—it was a one-of-a-kind item commissioned privately. No license obtained, just an illustration drawn by an artist good at male characters with the request, “Make him look as close as possible.” A life-sized custom body pillow based on that illustration.
“A true hero who took down not only Korea’s S-rank Tower, but even the U.S. S-rank Tower… Ahh, I’ve been waiting for a hero like you all my life… Ehehe…”
She nuzzled her face into the printed image of the man who stared emotionlessly forward, his gaze unchanging.
“If only that Master summoned my favorite and fought alongside her, I’d have no more wishes left…”
She giggled, but her face quickly turned expressionless. Slowly, she stood up.
Beep beep beep.
Her smartphone rang, and she answered the call with an elegant gesture.
“Yes, this is [Izayoi].”
[This is bad, Red Ruler!]
“What is it all of a sudden, Prime Minister? I’m currently…”
[It’s the Master!!]
Thump.
“What happened to the Master…? Don’t tell me… is it that?”
Startled at the mention of “Master,” the S-rank Hunter known as Red Ruler, Izayoi Akira, looked in shock at the TV screen.
Channel: Tokyo TV.
There he was—the Master—walking the empty streets of Akihabara, assisted by a maid.
“Ah…!”
Seeing the Master, who never showed himself outside, walking the streets in person, Red Ruler swallowed the words that almost escaped her lips.
[You must be shocked too! Who would’ve thought the Master would step outside the hotel himself!]
“…So what are you saying?”
She wanted nothing more than to join the crowd right that moment and see his face up close, but the situation seemed… off.
She couldn’t help but think that way. And if the one walking beside that maid had been a blonde knight in a blue cloak—how amazing would that be?
Red Ruler steadied her heart, keeping her thoughts from spilling out, and swallowed hard as she watched the video of the Master gazing at the Akihabara S-rank Tower.
And then—
“…!”
She heard it.
Japan had heard it.
A statement so absurd, it felt like a translation error from a busted machine.
“Call me a Tower Otaku.”
[Wh-what the… what kind of insane nonsense is that…?]
“…Words of a hero, incomprehensible to ordinary minds.”
[What!?]
Click.
Red Ruler ended the call, gulped, and threw herself back onto the couch.
“Yeah. A normal person would never say something like that with a straight face. The Master is really…!”
Red Ruler blushed as she gazed at the ceiling, plastered with the image of the young man.
“…And that kind of person isn’t going to summon our Fate-chan?!”
To an outsider, it might look like a manic episode—but to her, it was a matter of utmost importance.
“This won’t do! I’ll support the Tower raid myself and beg him to summon her…!”
Red Ruler jumped to her feet, clutching the dakimakura.
“And if he’s going to summon her—let it be the Mysterious Magical Girl X model!”
Red Ruler, Izayoi Akira.
S-rank Hunter of Japan.
She is an otaku.
* * *
At some point, I remember seeing a meme.
– I just really love my company.
That person is not normal.
I used to be an office worker too, so of course, I might say something like that. But to actually be obsessed with your company to the point of fangirling over it—that’s not something a sane person would do.
Still, I understand the logic behind it.
Self-realization.
Before joining a company, you might feel like you’re nothing. But once you’re inside, you become a meaningful part of society, a person recognized by others. That feeling can drive this kind of attachment.
But if someone told me to act like that, I’d just call it “crazy.”
That’s right.
Some things can’t be measured by common sense.
Even if politicians try to stop me with twisted logic or shady tactics—no one can stop me.
From fangirling over S-rank Towers!
“Illinois.”
[Roger!]
BOOM!
As soon as I enter the dungeon, I summon Illinois.
Rising from the lush green plains, Illinois towers above as I quietly close my eyes and let my body follow the motion—like sliding forward on its own.
Shhhh.
I open my eyes.
The place I arrive at feels more like an amusement park than a battlefield.
At the entrance gate of this theme park-like place, Illinois appears—in the middle of what looks like a job-experience zone for kids—like a real-life battleship.
And then, I entered the bridge of the battleship.
“Captain, how is it?”
“As perfect as ever.”
A re-summon following a reverse summoning.
It would be nice if we could just enter the Tower directly like crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, but I couldn’t exactly summon a battleship like Illinois right in the middle of Akihabara.
“Illinois, any enemies nearby?”
“Not many. They’re already engaged in combat.”
“I see.”
Inside the Akihabara Tower.
This pink, sparkling Tower—somewhere between a Märchen kingdom and something out of Parapara Princess Emperius—was already littered with the corpses of countless magical beasts.
Beasts that had only recently died.
Inside a Tower, beast corpses usually vanish after a few hours, dissolving into mist. But if the bodies are still lying around like this, it means they were killed not too long ago.
Why were they all scattered here like this?
There was no time to dismantle them for useful materials—clearly someone had just cleared out the beasts blocking their path.
“Stop it, Master!!”
Just like the shout of the man—who looked like an A-rank Hunter—calling out to me from afar.
“We started the raid first! This is our Tower to clear!”
The raid on the Tower had already begun.
“Drei, who is that?”
“An A-rank Hunter from Japan. Goes by the name [Kobe-Gyu].”
“…”
Kobe-Gyu.
I recalled studying this country and the time I once treated a client to that kind of beef while working at my old company.
If I were to interpret that name Korean-style—
“How is a Hunter’s alias basically [Hoengseong Hanwoo]…?”
I didn’t bother analyzing the kanji for Kobe-Gyu’s name, but the fact that he didn’t go with a globally acceptable English codename and just slapped a literal term into it… says a lot.
Maybe he’s from Kobe.
Or maybe he just really likes Kobe beef.
Or he’s sponsored by the Kobe Livestock Association and is acting as their unofficial ambassador.
Whatever the case, one thing is certain.
“Whether you’re Kobe beef or beef from Kobe, I haven’t heard anything about you clearing the S-rank Tower in Akihabara.”
According to official reports, this Hunter had no scheduled raids.
“Why is someone who’s supposed to be outside the Tower already inside—already raiding the dungeon I was closest to entering? Hm?”
“Kh…!”
“The answer’s simple. You guys saw that the hotel was crawling with security, and took that chance to sneak in here first—to try to clear the S-rank Tower without anyone noticing.”
A Tower isn’t something you “reserve” like a private study room.
When governments or Hunters say they’re beginning a raid on an S-rank Tower, it’s mostly for official reasons. In reality, if it’s not being regulated, you can just go in and start whenever you like.
In some countries, Tower management is more systematized, with organizations handling raid schedules.
But the Akihabara S-rank Tower isn’t like that.
“So move. You must not have heard me from inside, but I’m currently in the middle of S-rank Tower fangirling, you see?”
“What…?”
“I won’t forgive anyone who gets in the way of my obsession.”
No, I won’t say I’ll turn them into Ironblood.
The fact that I don’t remember his name means he’s just a run-of-the-mill Hunter. Not someone I’ve deemed worthy of personally turning into Ironblood.
“Elaine. Remove him.”
“Yes, Master.”
Elaine leapt off the bridge and over the deck in an instant, swinging her sword at Kobe-Gyu.
“Uwaaagh!!”
BOOM!
As Kobe-Gyu tried to defend against Elaine’s blade, explosions erupted across his body.
At the same time, something dropped to the deck—click, clack—dozens of tiny parts, sliced cleanly by Elaine’s blade, clattered down onto Illinois’s deck.
“Were you trying to sneak footage of me?”
“Kh… damn it…!”
Miniature cameras.
There were lenses rotating and recording from his belt, wristwatch, and even the glasses perched on his nose.
It could be seen as standard Hunter equipment for analyzing the Tower’s interior—but if he was using that to record our raid, that’s a problem.
“Sit still. I’ll clear the S-rank Tower that you people couldn’t handle.”
“Grr…!”
“And when I’m done, go outside and make sure to say it.”
Right now, it’s 0 / 10.
But after I clear this Märchen amusement-park-like Tower, it’ll be 1 / 10.
“Your Tower was insane.”
