The Perverted Old Geezer Is Released

KIII...... GASHAAN!

With a loud noise, the rusted iron door swung open.

Musty dust, sent dancing into the air by the force of it, sparkled in the sunlight streaming in from outside the door.

This was the underground level beneath the guard post in the hot-spring town of Topuringon.

A dark, damp stone corridor ran ahead, lined on both sides with six cells in all, divided by iron bars.

The only light source was a single, crude magic lamp installed in the center.

Hence, it was dim.

“......This way.”

And brought to this prison, led by a jailer of few words, was a woman.

Small, with plain features, the woman walked down the corridor, her mouth turned down in a scowl, her heels echoing kotsu kotsu.

“What...... are you doing......?”

She reached the furthest cell, the only one currently in use, and spoke with anger seeping into her voice.

“......Foooh~~~......? Oho!? If it isn't Taiche! It's been a while!”

But the person locked in the cell...... Earthcell, the former branch chief of the Adventurers' Guild's Topuringon branch office, paid her anger no mind.

He gave a big yawn, then flashed a carefree smile.

“Could it be! Could it be! Did you come to see Grandpa...... me, because you were worried!?”

“Shut it! I'm here on business, you perverted old geezer!!”

Earthcell showed not the slightest sign of remorse for the crime he had committed (underwear theft), beaming away like a kindly old grandpa, and at that, Taiche, a Special Affairs Officer at the Adventurers' Guild Headquarters, finally exploded with rage!!

“Foh...... n, now, calm down, Taiche. Deep breaths! Deep breaths!! Is this a belated rebellious phase? I'd like you to be a little kinder to your grandpa, you know?”

“Rebellious phase, my foot, you dumbass! How could I be kind, you dumbass! My grandfather! Got arrested! For stealing underwear! His granddaughter's! Feelings! Try thinking about them! Dumbass!!”

“Uh, umm...... my condolences, then?”

“WHY ARE YOU TALKING LIKE IT'S SOMEBODY ELSE'S PROBLEM, YOU DUMBAAAAAAAAAAASS!!”

The scream of Taiche, her face bright red, rang through the dungeon!

Hearing the jailer's “Ahh...... ahem”, Taiche came back to herself. She somehow hid the rage seething inside her and, on the surface at least, recovered her usual composure.

“......Anyway! This time I have come here not as your granddaughter, but as a Special Affairs Officer. Earthcell...... you are released. Headquarters has issued your orders.”

“Hmm, dismissal orders, are they?”

“No, transfer orders.”

“Foh!?”

Now, Earthcell, who had been fiddling with his mustache, was surprised for the first time upon hearing Taiche's words.

“A, a transfer? Not the sack?”

“That's right. Headquarters...... even if you are the lowest of perverted, underwear-thieving old geezers, thinks highly of your abilities. The abilities of Earthcell, the former special-grade adventurer ‘Earth Sage’, that is.”

“‘Earth Sage’...... now there's an epithet I haven't heard in a while.”

Taiche ignored the old fellow, who was gazing into the distance reminiscing about the old days, and went on laying out her business matter-of-factly.

“Therefore, rather than sack you and turn you loose in the wild, it would be better to use you up properly until you die. That is how headquarters has decided to deal with you.”

“Wai...... I think I heard something terrifying in there just now!?”

“Rejoice. You, who would otherwise have disgraced your final years and died as nothing but a perverted old geezer with fingers pointed at your back, have been given a chance by the Adventurers' Guild to redeem your name. It is a promotion. Congratulations.”

“Wait! Wait, that's far too ominous to be happy about! Details! Won't you give me the details!?”

“Of course. That is my job, after all.”

With that, Taiche took a sheet of paper out of the bag slung from her shoulder.

The paper, adorned with ornate gold decoration, was an order.

At the bottom was the signature of the Supreme Commander of the Adventurers' Guild.

“‘Branch Chief Earthcell, of the Adventurers' Guild's Topuringon branch office, Tara Branch, the Sape Kingdom, is relieved of that post and newly appointed New Branch Establishment Official. His new post shall be Zamago Forest, at the western end of the demon realm, the Ranrananga Mountains.’ ......That is all. I do hope you will put what little life you have left to good use for those who come after you. I ask this of you most sincerely.”

Here, for the first time, Taiche smirked her usual nasty smirk.

Taiche, for the first time in a while.

Earthcell is awful, but Taiche, who can send her grandfather off to his death with a smirk, is awful too!

Still, it is the flip side of her trust in Earthcell's ability: ‘Something like this won't kill him.’ Probably.