Jack of All Trades, Party of None

The New Year has arrived.

That said, New Year's Day isn’t particularly special for us.

In some regions, there are special events held over the few days that span the year change, but in this country, such customs don’t exist.

Therefore, most explorers are probably still delving into the dungeon today.

We are no exception; we’re scheduled to enter the Great Southern Labyrinth today.

Until yesterday, we were busy with the aftermath of conquering the 93rd layer, so we hadn’t been able to explore the dungeon much, but from today onwards, we’ll focus once again on our primary activities as explorers.

—Or so we thought.

“Hey hey! Good morning, everyone!”

As we gathered in the war room of the exploration department discussing today’s plans, Estella, the head of exploration management, appeared.

“Estella? I thought we didn’t have a meeting planned today?”

Ms. Selma was the first to react to Estella’s arrival.

“There wasn’t a meeting scheduled, but something urgent came up that I needed to tell everyone about.”

Something urgent?

Did some kind of trouble occur?

“Since you made the special trip here, did something serious happen?”

Ms. Rain, who was thinking the same as me, asked Estella.

Her words filled the room with a tense atmosphere.

“Hmm, you could say that in a way? But more importantly, listen, Rain! My subordinates are terrible! When I told them about this, everyone in the first squad got grumpy and said they didn’t want to deliver the news. They pushed that job onto me! Isn’t that awful!? Waaah! Comfort me, Rain!”

Saying that, Estella clung to Rain’s chest, crying.

…Though it was clearly fake crying.

Rain didn’t know what to do either and, looking confused, reluctantly patted Estella’s head.

Judging from Estella’s behavior, it doesn’t seem like a situation that demands immediate action.

She has a lazy streak, but her ability is certain, and I know her well enough to be sure she wouldn’t joke around like this if something truly serious had happened.

“So… what exactly is going on…?”

“Don’t ask me…”

Lucre and Will were also confused by the whole situation.

In fact, the only one not confused was Estella, who was joking around.

“Sigh… Estella, just tell us why you came here already. If you’re just here to mess around, I’ll kick you out of this room right now.”

Ms. Selma said firmly to Estella, who quickly apologized, “Sorry, I got carried away,” and released Rain.

Then she faced us and spoke.

“Ahem! The reason I came here is, without a doubt, to inform everyone about the ‘s-rank party exchange meeting’!”

“...S-rank party exchange meeting?”

Will echoed the phrase that came from Estella’s mouth.

“Yes. Starting tomorrow, there will be a regular event where members of the s-rank parties active in the Great Southern Labyrinth — the silver rabbits of the night sky, red copper twilight, and jade gale — gather to exchange opinions and interact.”

The Estella who had been joking around just moments ago was gone, replaced by a serious demeanor as she explained the purpose of the s-rank party exchange meeting.

Her tone even seemed tinged with some anger.

As Estella said, there are currently three s-rank parties active in Tsutolairu: the silver rabbits of the night sky, red copper twilight, and jade gale.

Jade gale joined the ranks of s-rank parties after they started clearing the 90th layer mid-last month and successfully reached the 91st floor.

(I see, that’s why we’re all so grumpy. It’s certainly not a pleasant matter...)

I’m guessing everyone in the first squad is thinking the same as I am.

All of us, including myself, wore expressions that showed our displeasure.

“Hey Estella, was this event proposed by jade gale?”

“Yes. You can think of it exactly as Selma and everyone else suspects.”

Estella fully confirmed Ms. Selma’s question.

What we’re thinking is that a power struggle among the higher-ups (the nobles) has shifted.

The higher-ups are the nobles who sponsor the parties.