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Over the Infinite – Chapter 13 (4)

Translator: mii

It might be obvious since her sister was someone who made a reservation in this kind of store, but she had surname.

I didn’t know if it was inherited from her ancestors or something she made in the Labyrinth City, though. Then, did this Croc had a surname too? If so, she could be Growing Croc. Well, it sounded so silly.[1. Original: If so, she could be Kuro Guro (Black Vomit; Guro from Gurowenchia). Well, vomit wasn’t really black.]

「Please wait for a while.」

After the tuxedo waiter said so, he went into the store.

「Tsuna is amazing. You’re not timid at all.」

「No way, I’m just asking if we can enter the store, right? It’ll be more amazing if we enter the store without asking first.」

「I was too nervous that I couldn’t even do that. But Tsuna-kun did it without any hesitation.」

So it’s like that?

The clerk came back as we stood still in the corner for a few minutes so that we wouldn’t disturb other passerbys.

「I’m sorry for the wait. I have confirmed that the reservation seat for Ashelia-sama is in the private room, so there’s no problem. Please enter the store without any worry.」

「Y-yes, thank you very much.」

So it was okay to wear commoner clothes in the private room? They were pretty loose, eh. But maybe it was because it’s still daytime.

I only heard gossips about this, but this scenario wouldn’t happen at the noble restaurants in the royal capital. They would turn us in the front door even without checking first. At the worst scenario, the restaurant might even call a guard to chase us away.

Through the luxuriously furnished floor, we were guided to a place that looked like hotel private room.

Elegant classical music flowed through the store. I didn’t know what was called as classics in this world, though.

「…Why are we here again?」

「That’s because you… no, I wonder why too.」

I wished she took us to some kind of food stall or store that served fast food. We were rookies, ‘kay.

The waiter who guided us knocked on the door, checked inside, and let us in after the that.

The interior was even more luxurious, more like a room in the royal palace rather than a restaurant.

In the middle of that, our appearance we’re sticking out all the more. We were sticking out so much that I felt like I was going to be pierced by the atmosphere.

There was a woman inside. Maybe this person was Ashelia… Asha-san.

She was a beautiful woman with long blond hair reaching to her waist. Other than her looks, I couldn’t find anything common from her with Croc. She was emitting noble aura.

Her outfit was gorgeous and luxurious, but… it was not a dress, but adventurer’s equipment. The equipment really didn’t look like something people would use for combat, but since we were talking about this world, it might be possible that it was really her equipment.

If she told me that it was the royal soldier’s equipment that wasn’t suited for battlefield, I would believe it.

「Nice to meet you. I’m Ashelia Growentia. I’m the older sister of that child. You can casually call me Asha.」

Her greeting was proper.

「Nice to meet you. I’m Tsuna… Watanabe Tsuna, who just became an adventurer two days ago.」

「Eh, what’s that… Ah, I’m sorry, I’m Yuki, who also just became an adventurer two days ago.」

No good. Now I remembered that I hadn’t told Yuki my last name.

To be honest, I had forgotten it myself.

「There are a lot of rumours regarding both of you guys lately… not really. It only started two days ago, but many sides have inquired about you. Now that we’ve introduced ourselves, let’s start our meal, shall we?」

「Sister, wait. What about me?」

Even if Croc-san was supposed to be the connecting role, her introduction was skipped. She hurriedly appealed herself.

「Oh my, you’re still here? You can go home now.」

「So cruel! Even though I’m the one who brought them here? I did my best, really!」

「I’m joking. I’m sure you guys already know, but she’s my sister, Croc-chan. Well, let’s have a meal now. Is there anything you dislike eating?」

「What’s with the ‘-chan’… Well, fine.」

The host was very carefree. It helped us to relax, but if she was going to act amiably, we didn’t have to eat in such a luxurious restaurant.

Since she offered aperitif, Yuki and I accepted it, and only Croc had juice.

It seemed like we were treated as minors in this city, but since she offered the drinks to us, it should be okay. My principle was to better bend than break.

「Err, may I ask the implication of this occasion lunch meeting if you don’t mind?」

「You don’t have to be so stiff. I’m just an adventurer.」

No way, this was our first meeting. I also met with her sister for the first time today, though.

Also, she looked like a considerably remarkable person. I didn’t know her rank,  but my hamster-like crisis alarm kept running until now. Even though I didn’t think she would attack us in this kind of place.

「To put it simply, I just want to meet the mostly anticipated rookies. After all, you guys updated my shortest capture record. Not to say, drastically. It’s only natural I want to have a look, right?」

「Eh, Asha-san is the previous shortest capturer?」

The shortest trial capture before us was two times challenge in a week. In our course today, those guys called her as crazy.

「Yes, yes. It’s not easy to pull out, but now that you guys had shortened it, probably no one can update the record anymore even if they aimed for it.

Actually, I also aimed to clear it in one go. After careful preparation, I went to specially register on the schedule of the course, but I was destroyed by the Mino.」

She even specially matched her schedule and aimed for one try, huh?

「Err, we happened to come to this city on the day of the course…」

「Eh, you guys didn’t aim for it? Isn’t that another great coincidence then?」

「We started to earnestly aim for the first clear after we entered the fourth layer too.」

Probably, the beginning was that strange phenomenon when Yuki spoke to me with his eyes.

But before that that, he might’ve aimed to clear the dungeon in the first try.

「That means you didn’t make any preparations beforehand? Not even weapons?」

「Yuki had his own stashes, but I only had a working knife, so I rented some weapons. I didn’t rent armors, so I wore the outfit I had with me until a while ago at that time.」

「Ahh, so that dirt cloth has such a backstory.」

Don’t call it dirt cloth.

「The people that debuted on the same time with you are amazing in many ways, Cloc. I’m dizzy.」

「I don’t know the details too. I just met with them after all.」

When the sisters were having jabs of such a conversation, the waiters delivered our meal.

I thought they would deliver them in order starting from the appetizer, but the whole course were carried at once. Did they took us into consideration… But it might be just Asha’s personality. 

As I started eating, I felt like I had ascended since the food was too delicious. I had this thought when we had those set meal on the first day we came to this city, but this place was a different dimension. This was the taste that I had never tasted before, even in my previous life.

What’s with this meat fat that didn’t have any lingering aftertaste? Was this heaven?

「By the way, what is that ‘Watanabe’? When I investigated you, I’m sure your name is only Tsuna.」

「Ah, I also want to ask that. When did you become Heian military commander?」

I didn’t. My name was originally this.

「I don’t really get it, but this is the congratulations from the Dungeon Master. I don’t know when my registered name changed, but my name in my card has changed.」

I said so while showing my status card. It hadn’t been updated yet, so it was still the card that could only show five of my skill names.

「…You’re serious. …Your name is from ‘rope’ character, eh. …Does your name actually use kanji’s phonetic symbol?」

「My name in my previous life is the same. I came from a country that used kanji.」

「So you’re really a Watanabe… The kana reading is “Watanabe Tsuna”, huh. But there’s no ‘No'[2. Watanabe no Tsuna is that samurai guy in case you forgot.].」

I was grateful that the dungeon master didn’t pull any pranks on me anymore.

He seemed like the type that could really do that kind of thing.