Chapter 266 Permission Granted

After spending time with everyone in a famous ramen restaurant, Satoshi and Emma separated from the group and headed home. They'd at least hope they'll arrive home before dinnertime arrives. Right now, Satoshi could more or less guess that his dad is still in the Dungeon Spire, trying to clear it. He had somewhat forgotten the incident that transpired in Dungeon Spire so he didn't tell his dad that he had already cleared it. At the very least, they won't have to worry about the Americans taking a cut from the dungeon treasures since everything was in Satoshi's possession.

"And... why are you still here?" Emma asked Lydia who happily tailed them after they just ate. "We're heading home, you know."

"I'm heading over there too. My dad told me I'd be staying at Satoshi's place. We're quite close, you know." Lydia pointed out, speaking in straight Japanese despite being a foreigner.

"That's my first time hearing about that... but if it's your dad, I think that much is expected," Satoshi responded.

"How about you? Why are you staying in Satoshi's place? I know that you're not his cousin since I've met all his family members." Lydia casually retorted much to Emma's surprise. Of course, Satoshi couldn't deny Lydia's words either since Lydia was speaking the truth.

As for Emma, there's no way she could tell Lydia that her world was destroyed by Gates and the beasts that spawned there. And now she had nowhere else to go but Satoshi's place. Pursing her lips, Emma continued walking beside Satoshi, uncertain of what to say.

"Give her a break, Lydia, you do know she has her reasons, right?" Satoshi also didn't know what to say so he just muttered what came to his mind first— to which Lydia nodded without saying anything else.

"..."

"What?" Suddenly, they heard a voice from behind them. It was none other than Shiroi who happened to catch up with everyone just when Lydia brought up the truth behind Emma's identity.

.....

An hour or so later.

"What? You cleared the dungeon? All by yourself? No wonder there were no treasures on the hundredth floor." Tatsuki heaved a sigh of relief. At first, he thought that maybe the Dungeon Spire was some sort of elaborate prank made by someone else. But as it turned out, the dungeon was normal and Satoshi was the one who cleared it.

It was already dinnertime and Tatsuki just got home. He wasn't surprised when he saw Lydia sitting on the couch, comfortably watching tv as she ate ice cream.

"And the rewards?" Satoshi trailed off, hoping that he won't have to renounce the rewards he worked so hard to get.

"Technically... since you were the one who cleared it, all the rewards belong to you." Tatsuki continued. "Don't worry about it, we won't disclose that information to the SAO. Right now, Dungeon Spire is considered uncleared yet, so the Americans will try to clear it soon... well, you've already cleared it though so they'll just be chasing their tails around."

A few minutes later, Ayumu called everyone for dinner at the dining table.

Lydia was the last one to sit down since she had to finish her ice cream first. And once everyone was seated, Ayumu started handing bowls of rice to everyone. It was evident in her expression that she was elated. It had been more than a week since the whole family got together for a meal like this, and Ayumu couldn't help but feel relieved and overjoyed at the same time.

"So, what's your plan now, Satoshi? Next semester is about to start in school. You already have your license, right? And your internship is ongoing under the Heimdall Agency." Tatsuki casually asked. His question had the same approach as when he'd ask Satoshi how school went— a typical topic over dinner.

"Um... is it all right if I join the Official Beast Tournament?" Satoshi asked. He wasn't sure whether he should join or not since it was happening in America. Besides, his father specifically warned him not to show off his powers (but then again, you'd only need a team of six tamed beasts at most so it wouldn't really show Satoshi's mysterious powers as an upgrader)

"Sure, why not?" Tatsuki responded a matter of factly as he ate a mouthful of rice. "Your powers won't be known to anyone since most people there are beast tamers. At most, they'd think of you as a fellow beast tamer so you don't have to worry about being exposed."

Now that Satoshi had received the green light from his dad, he made a mental note to register for the Official Beast Tournament. The tournament will happen at the start of the new semester so there will be conflicting schedules with school, but it could be considered an extracurricular so Satoshi was fairly certain that the school would allow him to attend the tournament.

.....

Once dinner was over, Satoshi immediately headed downstairs to the superhero lair of his parents. There, Ryoko and his other familiars stayed. He felt bad having Ryoko stay in the superhero lair but it's not like he's got much of a choice. He missed telling his mother about it, and now that his dad just arrived after an exhausting dungeon clear, he decided to just bring up the topic later on.

Besides, it's not like Ryoko disliked her Black Winged Dragon transformation. She was used to keeping her transformation indefinitely so doing it in the superhero lair wasn't that big of a deal. Besides, she could transform into her human form at any time and enjoy the facilities there.

When Ryoko saw the lights open by the entrance to the superhero lair, she immediately transformed into her dragon form. To her relief, it was just Satoshi, and she immediately reverted back.

"I brought food. Sorry about this, I'm going to tell them as soon as I can."

"That's all right, Satoshi. I'm grateful that you've provided me with some form of living quarters. This is more than enough." Ryoko bowed her head.

"But...." Satoshi didn't know how he'd react to Ryoko's reply so he just decided to keep quiet.

"..."

"Satoshi, you forgot to get food for your White Lio—" Suddenly, they heard Tatsuki's voice, speaking from behind them. He stopped short the moment he noticed the girl who was in front of Satoshi. "Wait a minute~" He trailed off.