Dungeon Store. That was the term used to refer to the group of facilities that would surround a dungeon upon its discovery.
Within, one could find convenience stores, sporting goods stores, and even some lodgings. Locker rooms where adventurers could leave their clothing and other possessions they wouldn’t need in their dungeon exploration were also available.
The most notable personnel of a dungeon store were the clerks from the Adventurer Guild and the Awakened police officers.
The clerks acted as receptionist for adventurers coming in and out of dungeons. In addition, they were also in charge of calculating the remunerations for an adventurer’s monster kills.
Meanwhile, the Awakened police officers—at least 2 were present at a given time—were there to handle people who had gone missing in dungeons and to deal with disputes among adventurers. From time to time, the government sent Awakened Ones who had barrier-type superpowers and had them inspect and, if needed, prevent dungeons from expanding through the use of engraved magic circles and certain magic items. Protecting these government-employed Awakened Ones fell to the Awakened police officers.
I learned these things during the training course. To be honest, this information could be found in the net too, but if there was one thing our lessons taught us, it was “don’t fight, ‘kay?”
* * *
The dungeon store was about as big as a rather large supermarket. If this was a dungeon with a higher rank, it probably would have been larger to accommodate all the necessary barriers and magic tools.
Despite it being a weekend, there weren’t many people here. Including my group, there were probably 10 adventurer-looking people here. The oldest seemed to be about 40 years old, and the youngest ones seemed to be the same age as us.
Well, it was an E rank dungeon and offered only the lowest of rewards. It could even be viewed as crappy rewards before the amendment to the Adventurer System.
By the way, if you wanted to take home an item drop, you will have to buy a special-purpose case from the clerks. They do return your payment if you also return the case though. But then again, if you chose to return the case through mail, mailing fees would be applied.
At any rate, we proceeded to the locker room. Or maybe it was better to call it the changing room. I had changed into a combination of jumpsuit and hiking boots. I also wore a belt. This might not matter since I was going to be wearing my magical attire, but this was just in case I fainted.
Basically, when one got so weakened, they wouldn’t be able to deploy or maintain their magical attire any longer. And in cases where they fainted, other people would have to carry them away. It was imperative then that the clothes one wore wouldn’t impede other people from carrying them by the shoulder or even from being dragged. Hence, this recommendation of clothes.
Why are they so expensive though!? Especially the boots!
I get that this was for the sake of my one and only life, but it was still a serious blow to a student’s wallet…in fact, whatever was left of my New Years’ gift savings was now gone. I would really be in trouble if I couldn’t earn some money. Even paying for the train fare was a challenge now.
…maybe I should run instead of taking the train next time? I feel like I could do it all the way here. Ahh, but then again, an Awakened One running at full speed around the town might make it into the news. That scares me a bit, actually.
While I was thinking about such things, I put on my magical attire and then attached the camera and flashlight. Once the three of us confirmed that we were ready, we made to exit the room. But then…
“Huh? Hold up. Kyotarou, you’re not bringing a bag?”
“We’re not planning to stay long, but we might get some item drops, you know.”
Kumai-kun and Uoyama-kun stopped me. They were carrying bags albeit on the smaller side, but I had nothing on my back except from my sword.
“Ah. Well, can you come closer for a bit.”
There was no one in the locker room at the moment, but I still chose to whisper my answer just in case.
“Actually, I have this item bag.”
“Wha?”
“Huh?”
As I said so, I showed them the pouch I had on the left side of my waist.
It was made of a purple cloth and was tied close by a silver string. The silver string was made with the broken-down wood of the silver apple tree, while the cloth was dyed using the peel of the fruit.
“How did you get something so valuable?”
“I don’t think they sell even the materials for that, do they?”
“Layla made it for me.”
“Seriously?”
Kumai-kun’s face twitched greatly upon hearing that.
As could be guessed from its name, an item bag was basically the bag version of an item box. There was a large variance between item bags, but the one Layla made could easily carry over 100Kg worth of stuff. As long as I had this, I had no need for a backpack. Well, I did still carry another large pouch to hold chalk, tape, and a kind of wire.
“She can do that?”
“Won’t you make more money selling that than being an adventurer?”
“It’s not like she can make many of it…”
I answered so, but tried to avoid making eye contact with either of them.
Layla had the superpower called Magic Tool Creation, but naturally, she still needed the appropriate materials to make whatever product. We were only able to make this item bag because of that cheat code called Silver Apple.
If I were to sell item bags, chances were that people might wonder about the string and what it was made of. After some time, people might figure out my distinctive superpower. I absolutely couldn’t have that.
Even my family and friends didn’t know much about it. All I’ve told them about it was that it gave me crazy healing powers. The reason I was going so far to hide Silver Apple as much as possible was so that no harm or trouble comes to those close with me. After all, if it ever went public, some people might involve those close to me or even hold them hostage to get to me.
Well, I might just be overthinking this. Maybe my distinctive superpower wasn’t all that great and a lot of others had more amazing ones. But..well, isn’t it so cool to have a secret no one else can know about!?
“Like, she can’t even make some for us?”
“Nope. Sorry, but it seems like there’s only enough for me.”
“…so, it has that limitation, huh. I see.”
Uoyama-kun was nodding with a look of understanding. I didn’t get what he understood though.
“I mean, There are magic—including geis—which imposes a limitation to itself or its user in order to make it all the more potent. It’s what’s going on here, right?”
“Oh, really?”
“YesOfCourse”
I somehow managed to deceive them.
At any rate, with our preparations done, we headed toward the reception desks. I entrusted my brand new adventurer license over to the receptionist lady. I would be getting it back upon my return.
And now, finally, to the dungeon.
The room that had the dungeon entrance was surrounded on all sides by solid concrete walls. But it wasn’t the strength of the walls and instead the magic circles engraved on them that would actually prevent the dungeon from expanding.
Instead of any fluorescent light, the room had LED lantern-like lights on each corner of the room.
“Alright, we’ll go on three!”
“Alright!”
“Ok!”
In front of the entrance that was left open, Kumai-kun glanced at us once and said so.
“Alright, 1, 2, 3!”
Kumai-kun jumped in as he shouted, and I followed right after him. At around the time Uoyama-kun jumped, I felt everything fade to black for a moment. In the next moment, I found myself in a cave with an exposed bedrock.
I checked my surroundings. All three of us were together and no enemies seemed to be nearby. As for the terrain, it seemed to be just like the one during our training course.
“Layla.”
“Here!”
With a cheery voice like always, Layla appeared besides me.
“Okay, shall we do the formation we talked about before?”
“Yup.”
“Mhm.”
“Yes!”
I pulled out my sword as I replied to Kumai-kun.
Up in the front was me with my sword being held like a spear. I was followed by Kumai-kun and then Uoyama-kun. Bringing in the rear was Layla.
We learned from the dungeon footage available in the municipal hall that fighting side by side in this dungeon was difficult to do. Parties basically had to move in a column, with the person at the very front acting as the primary vanguard. If that person gets taken out of the fight for whatever reason, the next in line would be the one to act as the shield for those in the rear.
We were not sure on which between Kumai-kun and Layla to put at the very back, but Layla insisted on it being her. According to her, she wanted to be placed there precisely in case an enemy somehow attacks us from behind. She said that it didn’t matter if she ended up dying since she would be revived again anyway. I had mixed feelings about it, to be honest. I didn’t want that to happen to her, but it wasn’t like I was fine with Kumai-kun getting harmed either.
“Kyotarou, you ready?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
Now wasn’t the time to worry about that. I should focus instead on the dungeon.
“For now, let’s follow this path. If there’s a fork, let’s take the left. If we meet fellow adventurers, let’s pass them by as amicably as possible. Is that alright with you guys?”
“Yeah.”
We agreed to that plan and pushed forward.
Dungeons were places full of malice. They had been like that right from the day they were made. As such, turning only left at each fork might make breaking through this dungeon take longer and harder than it had to be. We were still going ahead with this simply because I found it easier to swing my sword at my left side when fighting at a corner. Truthfully, it was probably best if we mixed it up, but sadly, I wasn’t that skilled just yet.
“Alright, let’s go.”
“Yeah, we’ll leave the front to you.”
With my sword at the ready, I carefully advanced. While I was aware that this wasn’t a difficult dungeon at all, that didn’t mean I should let my guard down.
I didn’t think I would die to a Skeleton’s attack even if I took it undefended. If the data given by the government were to be trusted, an Endurance stat of B meant a person would be unhurt even if they were to take a gunshot with their guard down. But considering this was a place where any number of attacks from who knew what could come from who knew where, I was still on edge.
For about 5 minutes, we walked cautiously along a path that curved a number of times. That made me realize just how small in size the dungeon during our training course had been. At any rate, we finally reached an intersection. Like we discussed, we would be going left. As I turned though, I could hear clattering in the distance.
“Something’s there.”
I stopped, whispered so, and then resumed my advance. Soon enough, the source of the clattering sounds approached. My flashlight revealed it to be a Skeleton. I closed my distance with the skeletal enemy and thrust my sword at it.
This time, I managed to hit it where I aimed: at its head. With that one attack, I managed to smash it to pieces and send those pieces a few meters ahead.
I was looking around as I waited for its remained to vanish. There didn’t seem to be any enemy near though.
“The coast is clear.”
“You sure were fast, man. And you still have that superpower in reserve, right?”
Kumai-kun approached and said so, amazement in his voice.
“I don’t know if I’ll call it in reserve. It’s kinda not fuel-efficient, after all.”
We were talking about my [Magic Power Discharge] superpower. It was a superpower that dispersed magic power out so that I could accelerate myself temporarily. It effectively increased the strength of my attacks, but honestly, I didn’t want to fight completely reliant on it.
“No item drops, huh.”
“I mean, it can’t be that easy, right?”
“I wish one dropped now instead of during the training course exam.”
I agreed with Uoyama-kun’s grumbling. The prevailing theory at the moment was that items had a 1% drop rate. Like, what kind of gacha is this!?
Even then though, we stood to earn 1 or 2 hundred thousand Yen in a day. It stirred the adventurous spirit within me.
“If we keep on defeating monsters, we’re bound to get one.”
“I suppose. That one’s just the first anyway; no need to hurry. Say something when you get tired so we can switch, you hear?”
“Yeah.”
We resumed our exploration.
Before long, we encountered 2 spear-wielding Skeletons. Before one of them could use its weapon, I blew away its head. The other, I jumped in too close for the spear’s tip to reach and then hit the Skeleton with the pommel of my sword, smashing it to pieces.
Our pell-hitting practice was paying off. Unlike in the training course exam, I was able to concentrate during the fight this time.
“I have a suggestion, Master.”
“Hmm? What’s up?”
While scanning the surroundings to make sure there weren’t any Skeletons left, Layla said something.
“Instead of taking down the next Skeleton right away, I suggest that you practice defending and evading its attacks first. That was something we were unable to practice back then with the pell.”
“Ah…”
Now that she mentions it…
We did practice how to attack, but for safety reasons, we decided not to do much defensive training. I could seriously harm my friends with my attacks, and it could even be them being the ones hurt if I defended myself from their punches and kicks with my sword. I didn’t know what would happen with magic attacks though.
“That sounds good. And once Kyotarou’s done with that, I want to practice taking point next.”
“I have no objections.”
“….then, let’s try it.”
I was honestly scared, but it probably would be safe…
Despite thinking that I would be fine theoretically speaking, I was still quite nervous. Just imagining a blade coming at me was enough to make me break out in sweat.
If I was going to do this kind of thing anyway, I thought I should have done it back when in the training course exam, where an examiner was there to help. It was too late to regret it now, of course. I just had to do it now.
I’ll be fine against a Skeleton, I’ll be fine against a Skeleton…
I tried to convince myself of that and pushed forward.
Before long, a new Skeleton appeared. It was alone. It was wielding a spear. It had an acorn-like helmet. The distance between us gradually shrank, and soon enough, the Skeleton thrust its spear at me without mercy.
—The magic eye line of superpowers enhanced various aspects of one’s vision aside from providing the superpower’s main ability. If I focused enough, I could see a person who was 2 kilometers away. Moreover, my kinetic vision allowed me to see a fastball pitched by a pro-baseball player as though it was in a slideshow.
As such, I was able to clearly see my opponent’s moves while also being able to predict the trajectory of their attacks through a body double-like silhouette made by Future Sight.
I tried to calm myself and took a step back. The spearhead stopped just before the tip of my nose. The Skeleton followed it by raising its spear over its head. The tip made a shrill noise as it touched the ceiling. The spear was then promptly and with great force swung down.
I also foresaw this move. I tried to defend using my sword…
“Ahh”
I used too much force in positioning my sword for a block and ended up breaking the Skeleton’s spear. The tip of the spear that broke off managed to make a direct hit against the Skeleton’s skull. Never mind its jaw, its whole head was blown off.
The impact made the monster take a few steps back until it fell to ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
“Did Kyotarou make a counter?”
“I couldn’t tell; it was all so fast.”
“No, my master simply used to much strength in his block.”
An assessment was happening behind me. As to be expected, Layla got it right. I wasn’t quite happy about it though.
“W-well, I won.”
“No, master. If you use wasteful movements or use too much force in either evading or guarding, it’ll make responding to your enemy’s follow-up attacks harder! Please pay better attention!”
“Understood…”
“Woah, you’re so compliant, man.”
When I slightly bowed my head to Layla, Kumai-kun made a somewhat surprised face. This was just how a POS who realized he was one acted.
Let me be a warning, if nothing else.
I didn’t know why I had a smug grin under my helmet though. At any rate, I thought her advice was correct, so I simply agreed to it.
“Alright, my turn.”
“Ok. Be careful.”
“Yup.”
I swapped position with Kumai-kun. With him now as our vanguard, I watched as he carefully advanced. And soon, 2 new Skeletons appeared. One of them had a spear, and the other had a sword and shield.
The width of the road made it tricky for them to attack side by side, but it wasn’t out of the question. Still, the one with the shield advanced first and made a thrust, to which Kumai-kun responded with a kick. A crescent kick, if memory serves. As soon as I saw Kumai-kun’s kick make contact, that Skeleton’s upper half was sent flying.
He was so fast…or maybe not. My eyes were still able to keep up with him. He was quick to act though. As perhaps to be expected from the guy most experienced in martial arts in our group.
The first Skeleton’s scattered pieces rained on the second one behind. When those scattered pieces hit, the second Skeleton became unsteady and unable to move, giving Kumai-kun the chance to close the distance. After he positioned himself too close for the spear to hit, he unleashed a fore fist to the Skeleton’s head. The spear-wielding Skeleton was thus no more.
“Phew. That felt good.”
“…uhh, what happened to evading and guarding?”
“Ahh.”
He completely forgot.
“Sorry. Guess I was nervous.”
“Well, not like you can’t just try again next time.”
“Right?”
While the two of us were joking around like that, I heard a sigh from behind.
“I’ve been doing nothing.”
“Ahh…”
Uoyama-kun was staring at us through his glasses.
“I mean, the rear guard has to be ready blow everything up when shit really hits the fan, right?”
“Yeah, we’re just holding on to our trump card.”
“I’ve heard during the training course that the vanguard is more than enough for low rank dungeons, but…if only I could have brought in a familiar.”
There was nothing to be done about Uoyama-kun’s grumbling. I was sure that I would have done the same if I were in his shoes.
“Ohh, you can’t bring in familiars to dungeons?”
“Of course. It’s a different matter if we’re talking about a tamed monster, but a regular animal turned into a familiar wouldn’t be able to endure being in a dungeon for too long.”
Uoyama-kun slightly shook his head in response to Kumai-kun’s question.
To be honest, I didn’t fully get the negative effects that could be caused by the magic power concentration in the air. I suppose I could understand the theory, but it was just so hard to believe.
“By the way, what kinds of familiar do you have? Is it something like a mouse or crow?”
“Anemone and jellyfish.”
“Those’ll be useless in a dungeon alright.”
It was a waste of effort even asking. There was just no dungeon where those could make meaningful contributions, and I didn’t think there was anything we could do to turn that around.
“By the way, how long have we been exploring?”
“Let’s see…about 30 minutes.”
“Oh, really? Didn’t think that much time has passed…”
Uoyama looked at his wristwatch and gave us an estimate. I was blinking repeatedly when I heard his answer though. The dungeon was dark, gloomy, and quite simply, an amalgamation of the surreal. Its craziness made it easy for one to lose their sense of time.
“What do you say to going back once we find the exit?”
“Sounds good.”
We agreed to Kumai-kun’s proposal and once again pushed forward.
Like they say, speak of the devil and it would appear. We happened upon an open space about 2 classrooms big. In a corner of that space was the exit gate. Never letting our guard down, we rearranged ourselves into 2 rows as we approached the exit. Before long, we discovered a box hidden by the gate.
It was cardboard sized box that was coated in a dark vermilion paint and decorated by what seemed to be gold plating. It was the spitting image of “treasure chests” found in anime and games.
“““Ooooh!?”””
We exclaimed so.
I couldn’t help being amazed by the first ever treasure chest I saw in person.
“Is it the real deal?”
“Don’t know. If it is though, there should be an item inside.”
“This is being an E rank dungeon…I think we can get knives and potions.”
“Potions” were those things that often appeared in games. Simply put, it was magical medicine. A medicine that wasn’t officially approved yet. Doctors, chemists, and the like were still unsure on how safe it was to use.
At the moment, provided that there was enough materials for it present, one could manufacture it through the use of certain superpowers. They traded for a considerable price; 200,000 Yen for one according to my googling before this trip.
As far as people could tell, its potency allowed it to heal only gashes and bruises at best. But then again, it was still an unknown liquid medicine. People who wanted to know more about it were a dime a dozen.
“Wait. It might be a Mimic. Let’s confirm what it is first.”
“O-ohh. How do we do that though?”
““……””
We could hit it but what if what was inside was a potion in a glass bottle or something. The container might be more fragile than the bottles used in modern Japan and thus break more easily. On the other hand, it was scary to open given that we might get caught by Mimic’s trap. In theory, I and Kumai-kun shouldn’t be hurt by the Mimic’s stinger, but still…
“Master, you should be able to tell right before opening it whether it’s actually a Mimic or not by using your Magic Eye, no?”
“That’s it!”
Layla’s amazing as always!
“Or rather, shouldn’t you have thought of this beforehand…”
“I should have!?”
I’m such an idiot!
“Err, what are you talking about?”
“Well, you know that my Magic Eye is Future Sight, right?”
“I think you have mentioned it, yeah.”
“Well, if I approach that chest with the intent to open it, I should be able to see a vision if it is indeed a Mimic that wants to jump at me.”
“Oh, wow!”
“I sorta forgot about that tactic because of my excitement.”
“What are you, an idiot!?”
“Shut up!”
Excluding the training course exam, this was my first dungeon trip. Moreover, this was my first treasure chest. I couldn’t help it if my mind was a complete blank at the moment!
“Anyway, let’s try it.”
“A-alright. Ah, Kumai-kun, please keep watch of our surroundings.”
“Got it.”
I nodded to Uoyama-kun and then walked toward the treasure chest.
If this was a real treasure chest, it would have, yes, treasure inside of it. Even a worn-out knife would have magic power within it, so it could still sell for lots, possibly somewhere near 100,000 Yen.
Our group had agreed beforehand that we would split our earnings three ways. That meant I stood to gain 30,000 Yen. That was a lot of money for a high school student. And that was all from only a single day’s work.
I then saw a vision: a hermit-crab-like creature was going for my face.
“It’s a Mimic!”
“[Giii!?]”
Before my hand could touch the chest, I stomped on it as hard as I could.
The combination of the sound of the chest being smashed and the sound of the Mimic being trampled on was quite unpleasant.
Dang it!
“Guess it was too good to be true.”
“Yeah.”
“Man…”
With that anticlimactic conclusion, we had concluded our first dungeon exploration since we became adventurers. Adventurers…we didn’t do much adventuring to perhaps warrant the name, but that was fine too.
There was no saving and loading in real life, nor were there extra lives. There might be people who had such superpowers, but our group at least didn’t have such convenient things.
To always look both ways before crossing even a one-way street, that was the best adventurers like us could do. Perhaps just having that knowledge was an edge already.
“It’s still early, so how about we go exploring after taking a lunch break?”
“Sure. I want to use magic later. Not doing anything sucks.”
“I’m game.”
Leaving everything else aside, I wanted money. Adventurers like us were doing this mostly because we have no money.
* * *
Our earnings today for both our morning and afternoon explorations combined, was 12,000 Yen. Our individual share was only 4,000 Yen.
…that covered my fare. I think. I hope.
TL note: back in chapter 5, a cloth was dyed with the peel of the silver apple too, but that cloth was silver. Might be some process or ingredient involved, or might be some typo, I don’t know.
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