“Hmm…”
“Hey, Charlotte, why the face? Did something happen?”
While I was staring blankly at the monitor, the team leader looked at me and said that.
I guess… the problem was the expression I’d been making while looking at the monitor.
It was a situation where I couldn’t help but wear a sullen look without even realizing it, and roughly… for the past ten minutes, I’d just been staring at the monitor without doing anything.
“…Hmm. Team Leader, on average, how long does it usually take for a newly debuted hero to go from E-rank to D-rank?”
“To D-rank? It takes quite a while, doesn’t it? Hmm… Of course, it depends on talent and effort. But normally, it takes a few months. Hero rankings don’t change overnight, and there’s a certain interval between updates. For most kids right after debut, around half a year?”
“Right? As expected… it’s normal for it to take quite a while, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Why do you ask?”
“Hmm…”
Right. Generally speaking, it took quite a bit of time to reach D-rank.
Which was why it was even more absurd.
In just a little over a week, Bathory had gone from 999th to 444th, and even after that, her ranking was still climbing at an incredibly steep rate.
If you drew it as a graph, it would literally be a vertical rise.
It was so extreme that it’d probably look like the exact opposite of the stocks I’d tried investing in before.
“Hmm. It’s nothing.”
“…What? It’s nothing?”
“Yes, I was just curious.”
I had simply come to think of Bathory as a talented rookie hero.
At first, I’d thought she was just a small-time rookie, someone who might gain a bit of popularity later thanks to her cute, charming appearance.
But as I actually read through the materials on Bathory, I naturally had no choice but to think that way.
She had debuted as a hero in March of 2035, and now only three months had passed… which meant she was on the verge of reaching D-rank in just three months.
And, in practice, the results had come in less than a month after I started being in charge of her.
It might have been something close to making a fuss over nothing, but from what I felt, I even found myself imagining that if things continued like this, her name might be mentioned among C-rank or even B-rank heroes in no time.
Of course, she was still a long way off.
“Huaaah…”
I’d only looked it up because I was curious.
She was, fundamentally, a hero I was responsible for, and as an Association employee, looking into such a hero was only natural.
And… in Saran’s case, I couldn’t find out any information about her to begin with.
She was included in the hero roster, but aside from that, I couldn’t learn a single thing about her, so I’d had no choice but to focus on looking into Bathory.
“Urgh…”
Anyway, after doing that, I just sat in my chair and stretched.
Since there really wasn’t anything else to do, today was another day of comfortably sitting in my chair, browsing communities, and admiring pretty beastfolk heroes.
If I also handled a few complaints from heroes who visited the Welfare Bureau in between, before I knew it, it was time to get off work.
Honestly, unless I was meeting the heroes I was normally in charge of, every day was this kind of day, so I usually just passed the time without thinking much of it…
But today, I ended the day a little differently from usual.
“Miss Saran, it’s a nice evening. The weather’s just cool enough, and it feels really good, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
The reason was that I ended up having dinner with Saran.
It wasn’t anything special.
It was an extension of what I’d talked about with Saran before, a kind of treatment through meeting her regularly.
In Saran’s case, there was no particular need to raise her self-esteem.
Her situation was one that would improve simply by meeting and chatting cozily like this.
“What would you like for dinner? Western food like last time? Or is there anything you like?”
“Mm… I’m not that hungry. I was at home all day today.”
“Then shall we just have something simple? Somewhere like an izakaya?”
“Yeah, that kind of place sounds good.”
“Then I know a place. Let’s head straight there. I’ve gone there a few times for company dinners.”
In any case, that was how we decided to have dinner tonight not with a home-cooked meal, but at a small pub.
As it happened, making side dishes was also a little… bothersome.
Besides, there was no need to deliberately put off meeting Saran.
“How do you usually work at the Association?”
“Hmm… We just work normally, like at an ordinary company. In the case of the Audit Bureau and the Punishment Bureau, the work can be a bit tough, but generally, the Welfare Bureau is comfortable.”
We started chatting like that as we slowly headed toward the izakaya.
The main topic was questions about what kind of work the Welfare Bureau of the Association, where I belonged, did.
Since I’d been meeting Saran often lately, and now I was meeting her after getting off work, it was only natural that she’d be curious.
“The Welfare Bureau is basically a sort of counseling center. The only difference is that heroes are the ones who come to us.”
“Hmm…”
“Originally, there’s a formal process, not like how I’m meeting you personally, Miss Saran… but you could say we’re taking your special circumstances into account.”
“I see.”
In truth, there really wasn’t much to it.
The only thing was that the people I usually had to deal with were socially famous heroes.
Even then, most complaints and counseling cases came from lower-ranked heroes like Bathory, so we didn’t do anything particularly special.
Anyway.
As we talked like that, we arrived at a small izakaya located fairly close to the Association building.
It was small, but the atmosphere was decent, there weren’t too many people, and the snacks were good, so it was a suitable place to occasionally meet and spend time with a few Welfare Bureau employees, including the team leader.
But on the first day, I never would have expected that I’d come here with Saran.
“Hmm… What would be good to eat? Personally, when I come to an izakaya like this, I start wanting sushi or sashimi. What are your tastes like, Miss Saran?”
“Meat?”
“I see. Ah, you seem to like meat, Miss Saran… what kind of meat do you like? Beef? Chicken? Pork? Or something else?”
“…As long as it’s meat, I don’t care. I don’t dislike fish either, but I think I just prefer land animals.”
“I see…”
It was just that kind of conversation.
Fundamentally, Saran was the type to speak very little.
She wasn’t shy around people or afraid of them; rather, she was someone whose personality itself was basically quiet and reserved.
That said, she absolutely didn’t seem like the type who disliked it when someone talked to her or held a conversation with her.
That was why I was deliberately talking to her a ridiculous amount.
To begin with, I was a little, probably…?
The talkative type. And when I saw how she answered each and every thing I said and showed her own kind of empathy, I ended up thinking that way.
After all, the way to help Saran was for her to talk a lot.
“Then for today, let’s order some fried food and… skewers. Shall we start with just that? If we get bored while eating, we can always order more.”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
…Seeing her expression brighten ever so slightly when I said I’d order meat, it seemed true that she preferred meat.
Considering that she had polished off two plates of steak by herself before, it wasn’t exactly surprising.
“Have you been doing well these days? Work is… hard to ask about in too much detail, but I’m curious.”
“I’m okay. I think it’s a little more comfortable than before. When I get bored at home and send you messages, it feels like things get a little better.”
“Hehe, that’s a relief.”
She answered with an expression much better than when we first met.
Of course, even if she seemed to be in such good shape, I still had to keep meeting her often for a while.
Then, after she reached a certain stable point, I’d have to slowly reduce our meetings.
After all, no matter how much I was in charge of her right now and helping her, I couldn’t keep Saran under my wing forever, could I?
My job was to help her become able to do well even after she left my care someday.
“…By the way.”
After we finished ordering and each ordered a highball, Saran was the first to speak as we slowly waited for them.
I was curious what would come out of her mouth.
“If you work at the Welfare Bureau, you meet lots of other heroes too, right?”
“Mm… That’s right? Of course, there aren’t that many people I meet regularly. Usually, heroes come to us or contact us.”
“…I see.”
Was she curious about this sort of thing, like earlier?
Perhaps it was because she herself was a hero, and right now, the person who had helped resolve her worries was me, an employee of the Welfare Bureau.
Of course, it wasn’t something difficult to answer, so I continued answering.
“Then do you have someone you’re formally in charge of, other than me?”
“Yes, I do. Though she’s an E-rank hero.”
“…Then that’s fine.”
“…?”
What was fine?
Was she just asking because she wondered whether I actually did any real work?
After that, I asked Saran again why she had asked, but… unfortunately, Saran absolutely refused to answer that question.
On top of that, the food came out afterward, so it became hard to ask any further.
We simply began drinking and eating lightly.
Since it was located in the middle of the city, and right in front of the Association at that, the taste was decent and the portions were also reasonably good, so we naturally ended up talking about the food.
As we drank, enjoyed the food, and spent time like that, I kept watching Saran’s reactions.
Of course, this time as well, it was to understand her condition.
That said, I never once felt that Saran was strange, bad, or in poor shape. Rather, I got the impression that she was normally fine.
Although not that much time had passed.
If I had to compare her to Bathory, I’d say she was in much better condition than Bathory.
Since the kinds of problems the two of them had were fundamentally different, the comparison itself might not be right, but Saran looked fine enough to make me think that.
“Hehe, it’s good. Isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it’s nice.”
That was the kind of conversation we exchanged.
As Saran and I were spending time talking normally… a slightly loud voice suddenly came from behind us.
Although the tables were separated, there weren’t partitions that completely blocked the view, so our heads naturally turned in that direction… and at the end of our gazes was…
“I’m a person toooo… A gumiho is a person toooo…”
“…White Fox?”
“I want to rest a little too……!!!”
A very, very famous hero from the communities was drinking alone and venting her resentment.
A pure-white beauty.
Although she was currently hiding her distinctive fox ears under a hat and her tail wasn’t visible either, her appearance was pretty enough that I had no choice but to know she was White Fox, one of the A-rank heroes.
What was that…
Saran and I could only tilt our heads naturally at the sight and situation.
“…Let’s not pay attention to her.”
“Ah, sh-should we?”
“Yeah. If we pay attention for no reason, an uncomfortable situation might come up. If she came alone like that in the first place, it’s probably because she doesn’t want to be seen by others. That’s why she’s sitting alone in such a corner.”
“Ah…”
…Just as Saran said.
Seeing her drinking alone like that in a corner, perhaps she didn’t want other people to notice her.
Right, that seemed to be the case.
Maybe because I worked at the Welfare Bureau, when I saw a hero acting like that alone, I couldn’t help thinking I should help.
But people had their private lives.
If she truly needed help, wouldn’t she request it separately on her own?
So, as Saran said, I decided not to concern myself with the gumiho hero behind us, White Fox.
“……”
Still, she really, really was pretty.
Even though she had covered and hidden all the beastfolk features I liked, I could tell in an instant that she was White Fox, the A-rank hero.
Her appearance was truly no different from the pictures of her floating around on the internet.
Pure-white hair and blue eyes.
With just that alone, she was so insanely beautiful that, for a moment, just a very brief moment… I had no choice but to have my gaze stolen.
They say foxes are animals with a knack for bewitching people, don’t they…?
It really seemed like those words weren’t wrong.