Chapter 385: A Pat on the Head Solves Everything
“Man, things’ve gotten wild, huh? Feels like it’s Tsutomu all over the place!”
The morning after Tsutomu had been forcibly ejected from the hundredth layer, Hannah, who only ever skimmed the paper when it mentioned her, was fluttering newspapers in both hands like a child showing off her favorite toys. Every page she flipped featured his face, be it a photograph or sketch.
Tsutomu, now seated at the breakfast table, snatched it from her grip and glanced through the contents, searching for one article in particular.
“Man, THIS is all the space Miss Pico got? It’s nowhere near enough!”
“Come now, Tsutomu! The fact that a Dungeon Maniac even made it into Solit’s papers is already amazing, yes!?”
“Yeah, you’re right… but is this really something the average reader’s going to understand? I mean, better this than nothing, I guess? And it looks like you guys pulled an all-nighter to get this done, so I really do appreciate it.”
When Tsutomu had been spat out of the Black Gate yesterday, it had taken every ounce of Xeno’s mental gymnastics to turn Tsutomu’s rapid-fire explanation, laced with IT jargon and gaming slang, into a coherent report on what had happened in the hundredth layer. Pico had then taken that summary to negotiate with the Solit Company and managed to get it into the morning edition.
But later that evening, when Tsutomu had explained things more clearly, they realized the original article needed heavy revision. Xeno had worked through the night again to make the changes and submitted the updated version at Solit HQ before dawn. Even so, he looked surprisingly energetic, flashing a dazzling smile and a thumbs-up.
“Next time, I’ll see to it that she makes the front page! …So, do we have the day off today, or–?”