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Nanana’s Buried Treasure Volume 3 Chapter 7.1

“TRANSLATOR:Foxsunes/EDITOR TheNix”

Chapter 7: Showdown

President Yuiga, Ibara-sempai, and I froze at Ikusaba Hiiyo’s unexpected appearance.

「When I heard there were some folks challenging these ruins, I came running here immediately. But I didn’t expect it to be you, shitty four-eyes. Although, I will praise you for now. Despite being a shitty four-eyes, you did a good job on getting this far. Oh sorry, was it perhaps just your friends that made it this far?」

Ikusaba-san smiled while looking down on president Yuiga, who replied with a stiff smile.

「I didn’t think that you could possibly be monitoring this place. You’ve made an elaborate scheme again.」

「For me, something like this is the basics of the basics. Now then? Are you getting anywhere solving that puzzle? I’m really stuck on this part. 」

So it was like that after all. Ikusaba had already conquered these Ruins, up to this point that is. That’s why the route Tensai and I had taken was as good as cleared out already. It was because our route happened to overlap with his. And right here and now, Tensai was having a hard time with the puzzle she was attempting. That is why Ikusaba-san cannot have cleared these Ruins yet.

「I have no obligation to tell you that.」

President Yuiga straight-up rejected Ikusaba-san’s question. He had not been planning to be friendly from the start, and that much was clear now.

「It’s really impossible then? If so, then go home already…..  is what I would like to say to you lot, but I’m not planning to let you off so easily. You understand what my style is, don’t you? You shitty four-eyes.」

「Any obstacles get thoroughly eliminated, wasn’t it?」

「That’s it, as you said. You guys challenged these Ruins, knowing good and well that I was aiming for them. That being the case, I will have you face the proper consequences for that. 」

Standing in front of a maniacally laughing Ikusaba-san, nervousness took hold of me.

Even in this sort of situation, Tensai was quietly staring at the puzzle. Amongst all that, President Yuiga (who cast a look at the treasure chest that was enshrined in front of her) tapped me and Ibara-senpai on the shoulder.

「Yuu, Yama-kun. I’m sorry, it was outside my expectations that Ikusaba-san would become aware of our plan. Since things have come this far now, we won’t be able to avoid a fight. I’m not planning to pull back either. I want you two to prepare yourselves.」

President Yuiga had a somewhat stiff expression. But for some reason, I felt President Yuiga’s own strong determination from his words.

「Please don’t worry about it, Isshin-sama. Your enemy, is my enemy.」

Ibara-senpai was trembling with eagerness. She looked vigorous enough to charge in right now. I also had no objections to fighting Ikusaba-san right here. But before that, there was something I had to ask.

「Excuse me, President. Let me have a chat with Ikusaba-san first.」

As soon as I had given this small notice, I came out and walked towards Ikusaba-san.

「Good day, Ikusaba-san.」

「Isn’t it Yama-kun? To think that you were a part of the Adventure Club. Based on the fact that the resident of room 202 was in the Third Private High School I should have taken that possibility into account.」

「I was also surprised by what I heard from President Yuiga. To think that you were a senpai of the Adventure Club, Ikusaba-san.」

「I’m not sure what that shitty four-eyes indoctrinated you with, but don’t take it to heart. Any information with that bastard’s messed up emotions mixed in, is not very credible.」

How does he have the nerve to speak so badly of President Yuiga? Anyways, let’s put that aside.

「Ikusaba-san, you already knew about Yoshino Saki-chan before you met her at the Gaming Hall didn’t you?」

「Yeah, I did.」

「Why did you try to attack her?」

「Attack? Hey, hey, it isn’t nice to accuse me of something like that, now is it? I just wanted to ask her something. She pretended not to know me in the first place.」

「Did you make Yun-chan investigate these Ruins through a secret part time job?」

「Oho, this is surprising. So you even found out about that with your investigations?」

「Didn’t you think about the danger you put her in?」

「Of course I thought about that. That is why I set up a high reward befitting such a dangerous job. But she didn’t produce any results at all.」

「You set up the reward to be … high?」

「In my opinion….. or perhaps I should say. The community of people who gather the Nanana Collection at Nanae Island claim to do everything together, but they are keeping Nanana’s Collection hidden to the best of their ability. Some stories like urban legends are going around, but there are very few who actually believe in those. They are concerned with gaining even more rivals than they already have. After hiding the explanation about those circumstances to Yoshino Saki, I requested a job from her. I also told her there would be danger involved. Even knowing that, Yoshino Saki agreed to take the job. That’s why I let her do it. Is there any problem in that?」

「Her life was in danger, you know! You can’t let a young girl be in such a situation!」

「Hmmmmm, Yama-kun, I didn’t know you were such a feminist. I’m more of a realist myself.」

「Don’t fool around with me.」

「I’m not fooling around. It’s a simple analysis. To get back to what we were talking about and answer your previous question, what about it?」

「…….」

「A bit of danger was involved in the job, what’s wrong with that?」

「Something like that is not a job.」

「I find that a slightly narrow-minded point of view, Yama-kun. There are plenty of dangerous jobs in this world. Although, you can only imagine easy part time jobs Yama-kun, so maybe it cannot be helped that you still have to wake up from that illusion. At any rate, for such people a job is when you fulfill the provided tasks and receive compensation. Because that is a reasonable construct. But that is wrong in a fundamental way. As an extreme argument for what a job is, it is to fulfill the wishes of the employer and to get a reward in return. That kind of contract is what a job is. And then we’re not even talking about how the job I requested from Yoshino Saki was an illegal secret job. I had no obligation at all to guarantee the person I hired anything. They had to confirm the reward and job contents, to make their own estimate of the risks involved when accepting the job. That was all within the category of their own responsibility.」

「Yun-chan is only a first-year! There is no way she could have understood all that!」

「That kind of thinking is just spoiling Yoshino Saki. No, it’s underestimating her. Is it because she is younger than you? Because she is a girl? Those are just excuses, it’s not fair. Someone who doesn’t want any risks should not take on a secret part time job, that’s all there is to the story. As long as we have that separation, this island can still be saved. This world is full of people who don’t even understand what they’re getting themselves into before they g. to work. “I didn’t know, so please help me out.” Is just a convenient story for them. Don’t you think so too, Yama-kun?」

He rattled on one-sidedly like that, and honestly I had no reply. That is because I was at the root aware of his logic. In our family’s rules, there were plenty regarding this matter.

『To deceive someone is not a sin, it is a sin to be deceived.』

I understood that. But in spite of that, Ikusaba-san’s words didn’t sit well with me.

「If you care that much about Hoshino Saki, you should put her in a box and put her on a shelf, or collar and chain her, Yama-kun.」

Yup, I snapped at this.

「Ikusaba-san….. no, Ikusaba. I understand one thing now, and it’s that I hate you. I won’t say that it’s for Yun-chan’s sake anymore. I’m just going to beat your ass, because you piss me off!」

As I announced this, Ikusaba let out a sigh.「You should have just said that from the start, you know. The entire act of telling another person why you yourself are mad at them, it’s all nonsense if you ask me. Although, wanting to hit someone just because they pissed you off is not exactly tolerable either. 」

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