第３９４堀：お仕事は大変である (Part1)
**Chapter 394: Work is Hard**
**Side: Steve**
"Alpha to Beta and Theta. What is your current status?"
"Beta here. Arrived at designated position. Maintaining 360-degree surveillance. No casualties."
"Theta here. Same as Beta, position secured, surveillance ongoing. No casualties."
"Understood. Alpha has secured its position as well. Continue surveillance and deploy the investigation units. Beta, focus on the residential district; Theta, the factory interior. Do not enter any undiscovered passages or structures. Report immediately if any are found. Alpha will coordinate with HQ to reconfirm the operation. Next check-in is in ten minutes. Begin operations."
"Copy that."
The current time is 00:00. Midnight sharp.
We are currently in the middle of our second dungeon attack. Well, it’s more of a dry run for now, just securing the designated standby locations for each team. Fortunately, being the middle of the night, we made it here without any issues. Though, it is a bit strange that nearly 200 people could sneak in without being noticed at all.
"Hey. Should I go take a look around too?"
"…Keep quiet. I told you, opening your mouth unnecessarily is forbidden," I muttered.
A noisy little fairy named Covil was buzzing beside me.
"What’s with that tone? I was just trying to help—mph!?"
"Covil, let’s be quiet for a moment. If you keep bothering Steve, I’ll have to get angry too, you know?"
"…Fine. I’m sorry."
"Thank you for understanding. Let’s have a drink together once this job is done."
"Yeah, okay, Kiyu."
Finally, Covil quieted down after being scolded by Kiyu. Honestly, why did the Boss send such a noisy pair on an infiltration mission? Also, I hope all happy couples perish. Could you two not flirt in the middle of the all-bachelor Alpha team? If the team, fueled by pure hatred, decides to engage in friendly fire, don't blame me. Actually, I might be the one to pull the trigger.
Anyway, back to business. Report, report.
"DA unit to HQ. No deviation from the schedule. Infiltration successful. I repeat, infiltration successful. Requesting confirmation on other situations and future movements."
"HQ here. Acknowledged that the DA unit is on schedule. Regarding other situations and future movements…"
I quickly finished the report and cut the connection. I’m being cautious about potential interception. Taizo-san has already set up an electrical communication network, and it wouldn't be strange if the enemy had the means to listen in. We have to be extra careful. I’ve assigned a communications officer to monitor for any interference in radio or magical signals.
"What about that last transmission?"
"No noise. We used electrical comms for the first half and magic comms for the second, but there were no traces of interception. We have the logs, so if it was intercepted, we can get it to the analysis team immediately."
"Good. Send the data over to Zargis the idiot just in case."
"Understood."
"After that, we’ll contact Beta and Theta in ten minutes as planned. Don't forget to throttle the output of the magic signals. Keep the range within 10km."
"Understood."
Everything seems fine. Time to move the team.
"Alright, keep up the surveillance. The unit tasked with observing the zombie production facility from a distance is to proceed as planned. I’ll want a report later, so keep a close watch."
"Understood!"
Now, as for the rest…
"You know, this might be the first time I’ve seen Steve working so seriously."
"Eh? I’ve always been serious, haven't I?"
"Ehh, but you’re usually acting like everything is a drag during training or patrols."
"That’s just to keep the mood light. If I’m too tense, it makes everyone else anxious. When it comes to actual work, I get it done."
"…Huh."
Tch, she definitely doesn't believe me. She’s not convinced. Well, I *do* think patrols are a drag. That’s because the idiots from other places who come to the adventurer district always try to pick fights, leaving me with nothing but paperwork. It’s the environment that’s bad, not me.
While I was thinking about that, the documents from HQ arrived. Ten minutes are almost up.
"Alpha to Beta, Theta, do you copy?"
"Beta here. Copy."
"Theta here. Copy."
"If there are no issues, I want to confirm the current situation and future actions."
"Beta has no issues."
"Theta has no issues."
"Good. Listen closely while maintaining surveillance."
Yesterday, Firia-san and Popuri-san successfully secured an agreement for a joint exercise from Noble. It starts around noon today. Since both sides possess dungeons, we’re lucky we don't need travel time to prepare. We’ve also confirmed that the enemy is aware of teleportation methods. However, Noble was reluctant to install a teleport gate, claiming it costs DP, so it’s unlikely they have much DP to spare. Optimistically, there’s no sign they possess other dungeons.
But we can't afford to be optimistic. The mission remains unchanged: identify the exercise battlefield, locate the teleport gates, map out and disable the magic sword and zombie production facilities, find and seize the core, and secure Noble, the Dungeon Master, and their associates.
The team leaders have the details; follow their instructions. The operation begins once Firia and Noble start preparing for the exercise. Once the exercise starts, upon receiving the signal from Mino-chan, we execute all traps if ready. Until then, finish mapping the routes and completing the prep work.
The assignments are as follows:
**DA Unit (Dungeon Attack Unit) Breakdown:**
* **Alpha Team (Steve’s unit):** Surveillance and mapping of the zombie production factory.
* **Beta Team (John’s unit):** Secure escape routes, monitor and assess the status of the residents.
* **Theta Team (Surakichi-san’s unit):** Surveillance and mapping of the production factory.
* **Omega Team (Narjia’s technical team):** Identify technologies discovered by other teams and install sabotage devices.
Once that’s done, Beta Team will maintain the situation by securing escape routes, while Alpha and Theta will rendezvous to escort Omega Team in exploring undiscovered areas, locating the exercise battlefield, teleport gates, and the core to sabotage them. Noble and the others will be gathered around Mino-chan, so we will secure them there.
"So, the plan is to get all this done in the middle of the night."
"…Sounds like we’re trying to finish everything at once."
"Same here."
"Well, that’s the ideal outcome, right? Though, the Boss and I think… searching the undiscovered areas is about all we can realistically expect."
"That’s probably all we can do."
"Everything else relies too much on luck. But that won't work, right?"
"Nah, it’s fine. We’ll trigger the traps during the exercise upon Mino-chan’s signal, which will at least stop the magic sword and zombie production. At that point, the person in charge of the machinery should show up, or there will be a magical fluctuation from the DP. We’ll follow that to the core."