It was now the middle of April, marking the 2nd year since the world’s so called [Return to the Age of the gods]. The world at large was still arguing about the true identity of the old man that appeared that day, but that topic was far from the top of my concern.
What I was more concerned with was my upcoming second dungeon exploration as an adventurer. It had been a week since my debut as one.
The train shook as I arrived at the same dungeon we explored last time. Our profits would likely be better at a D rank dungeon, but we had a reason we came back here. Specifically, it was because the Adventurer System stated something like: before an adventurer can challenge a dungeon of the next rank, they must first explore a dungeon of one rank lower for at least 3 days. It was simple really; this way, adventurers would get to acclimate to dungeons.
This would prevent new adventurers from rushing straight to something like a C rank dungeon and dying. Some people, despite having strong stats and superpowers, would be freaked out by the underworld-like qualities of dungeons. It was therefore for the best that they get accustomed to to it in dungeons where it didn’t matter if they could move or not. In the worst case scenario, rescuers wouldn’t have any trouble making their way to the new adventurers.
By the way, solo explorations for E rank dungeons were allowed but only if you first do explore with a group for at least 3 days. After that, you could continue exploring D and then eventually C rank dungeons solo at your own risk.
…though such behavior was apparently considered insane abroad. Even E rank dungeons were said to be potentially lethal over there, so not only did they not get any chance to acclimate themselves first, a solo exploration was straight up suicidal for them too.
A lot of information had become available online since former interim Prime Minister Arikawa’s impromptu press conference.
Among them was the disparity between the Awakened Ones of Japan and of foreign nations. Many had said that foreign Awakened Ones were weaker, with some exceptions. They say that the strength and stability of the leylines in the land affected the people born and living there.
Certainly, I was quite nervous when I explored the E rank dungeon, but that was more so because I was not accustomed to dungeons as a whole. In terms of combat, each of our encounters was trivial. That might sound arrogant, but well, that was what I truly felt.
Ah, I should be careful not to forget my sense of values and my standards of strength…I don’t want to cause any accidents.
The disparity wasn’t just in terms of strength either. Namely, Japanese and foreign Awakened Ones had a difference in potential income and social status.
Supposedly, Awakened Ones abroad were treated amazingly well. For example, in the USA, it seemed like an Awakened One with a stat average of at least B could sign a contract with companies for a sum of money that could be compared to major baseball league player’s income…and it didn’t matter what one’s nationality was. You could be a vagrant, an immigrant, or be of completely other nationality, you could still sign for such a deal.
And while this was ultimately rumors found on the internet, I saw that the US military also treated even C rank Awakened Ones well. Right from being recruited, those Awakened Ones would apparently be given the rank of 2nd lieutenant in a special branch of their hierarchy.
Moreover, the US military wasn’t the only one taking such an approach. There were rumors that China and Germany were doing the same. Even some countries in Europe and Asia were said to be recruiting as well.
The same couldn’t be said for the JSDF and our police. They were recruiting Awakened Ones, yes, but they were offering nothing special in return. At least publicly, an Awakened Ones in those fields were treated the same as regular JSDF soldiers and police officers. Because of that, I heard there were many who decided to work abroad instead.
…and for that, more and more people were saying Miniter Arikawa’s so-called conspiracy theory might have more truth to it than it seemed. Frankly, I believed in it quite a bit. I mean, these disparities made it hard not to believe.
For what it was worth, I sometimes thought about whether I should go abroad or not.
But I digress. We would be exploring an E rank dungeon for the next 2 days including today. We just started high school last week and thus had a lot of things going on, but this weekend, we were free enough to complete the required 3 days.
We finished the same preparations we did last time and entered the dungeon.
Perhaps it was to be expected, but we really did appear on a different spot in the dungeon from last time. We got into formation—with me at the head again—and began our exploration.
The absence of paved roads made walking through the cave a bit hard, but it was no problem for my strengthened body. When we approached a slightly inclined hill, I began to hear rattling noises from ahead.
“Something’s there.”
I warned so, stopped, and then readied my sword.
The chances of another adventurer showing up was low. On top of there being only a few adventurers coming here, this dungeon was also several times larger than the one we used for our training course exam.
In other words, the chances of the sound being from a Skeleton was…
“A Skeleton Knight!?”
My guess was off. What appeared was no mere Skeleton but rather a Skeleton Knight.
Appearance-wise, there was no large no difference between it and a regular Skeleton. However, the equipment it was wearing was clearly of better quality. Its helmet had formidable-looking horns on its left and right side; it had an iron breastplate on its body; and it was holding a metallic shield and a large scimitar. It definitely looked strong. If memory serves, while a Skeleton was given an E rank, a Skeleton Knight was given a rank of E+.
Alright, calm down…it might look tough, but it’s only the tiniest bit stronger than a Skeleton. This should be no sweat for me. It should be…!
With its mouth making rattling sounds, the Skeleton rushed at us while swinging its sword wildly. I ran toward it as well. I moved somewhere to its side, away from its raised shield. And then, I thrust my sword at its right eye. The difference in our speeds was astounding. The enemy was still in the middle of raising its right arm to block, but my attack had already connected.
But I might have hurried a bit too much and made my aim slightly off. My thrust hit the enemy’s shield which was about 1 centimeter thick. Still though, my attack pierced through and I broke the enemy’s jaw and neck.
I watched as the enemy was sent flying by the impact, still alert at my surroundings. For the next few moments, all I could hear was the sound of the broken shield and the bones rolling on the ground.
“Phew…”
“That thing just now, that was a Skeleton Knight, wasn’t it? Are you alright?”
“Pretty much.”
I answered Kumai-kun who was behind me.
Even though logic dictated that the enemy wouldn’t be a problem, I was still scared. I mean, never before in my life had I fought someone holding a blade until the training course exam.
Yeah, I have to get used to it.
Just to be sure, I headed toward where the Skeleton Knight vanished while still being wary of my surroundings.
“Ahh,”
“Eh,”
“…woah”
I, Kumai-kun, and Uoyama-kun all made noises. The three of us had were all looking at the same point.
Something was shining dimly while the bones around it was slowly vanishing. Even to our untrained eyes, the thing we were looking at was definitely a large scimitar that had nicks in the blade.
“Ohh!? It’s an item drop!”
“We did it!”
We rushed to pick the sword up and stared at it. There was no mistaking it anymore. It now had material form. While the three of us were in joy from holding it, Layla tucked her staff under her arm and lightly clapped.
“Sorry to interrupt your celebration, but we are still in a dungeon. Please marvel at it later.”
“Ah, right.”
Deflated, we went back into our formation and tucked the item drop into the item bag. Just like Layla said, this wasn’t the time and especially the place to celebrate. We could do that after we got out of the dungeon.
“…just wanna ask though, how much does an item drop from a Skeleton Knight typically go?”
“If I recall correctly, it’s somewhere around 150,000 yen.”
“Woo!”
Hearing Uoyama-kun’s reply, I pumped my fist a little but quickly resumed my ready position with my sword as we walked along. I mean, who could blame from getting excited?
150,000 yen meant 50,000 yen for each of us. That was stellar for a day’s worth of work. But then again, that was before taxes. On that regard, Minister Arikawa had mentioned that item drops should be taxed as low as possible. Supposedly, he wanted to improve adventurers’ lives. Minister Arikawa might look shady, but he was quite a good person. He still looked so shady though.
With a spring in my steps, I climbed up a hill. But then, something glimmered at the edge of my vision.
“Huh? A treasure chest?”
“For real?”
When I looked toward the glimmer, I was shocked. Enshrined there was something that looked unmistakably like treasure chest. It was so inconspicuous that it could look like it was part of the wall. The only reason I noticed it was because of that glimmer which was probably our flashlights reflecting off of the keyhole or something.
“I’ve heard of this before…they say that it’s likely to find a treasure chest near a Skeleton Knight.”
“Really?”
I reacted like that to what Uoyama-kun said but kept staring at the chest.
If that rumor is true, then this chest could be a real one…I feel quite lucky today, if I may say so myself. Yup, for sure, that’s a real treasure chest! Heck, it might even have a potion inside. I hope it doesn’t mean I’ve used up an entire year’s worth of luck though.
And so, with my heart beating wildly, I approached the chest.
Alright, time to see what’s inside.
But then, my Magic Eye activated.
“It’s a Mimic!?”
“Gii!?”
“Wha!?”
Uoyama-kun looked confused, but the discomforting feeling of crushing a crab and an eerie death throe had already made its way to me from the chest I had stomped on. Before long, the Mimic that imitated a chest turned into magic particles and vanished. Damn it, another Mimic.
“Incidentally, is it possible for an item to be inside the Mimic’s treasure chest?”
Hearing Layla made my ears twitch underneath my helmet.
Wait, does that mean we can get items from it too?
“Nah, it’s usually just the Mimic.”
“Right.”
I had a feeling that would be the case.
I sighed, and we continued our dungeon exploration. For better or for worse, the tension in me was gone. I defeated Skeletons one after the other calmly. Along the way, I swapped positions with Kumai-kun and also had Uoyama-kun handle the offense. It was in preparation for when we wanted to tackle higher ranking dungeons.
Once we were used to it, E rank dungeons were indeed almost like a walk in the park. Which made sense considering the recommended dungeon rank was one rank lower than the adventurer’s stat average.
We also explored the dungeon in the afternoon. We encountered two more Skeleton Knights but neither of them dropped any items. And so, with nothing worthy of note other than the scimitar that dropped during our morning session, we called it a day.
* * *
We submitted our cameras to the dungeon store office and waited for our subjugation payment to be calculated by buying juice at a vending machine. As I threw my emptied can into the bin beside the vending machine, my friends and I were still discussing where we should sell the scimitar.
I had already recalled Layla. I didn’t want other adventurers taking notice of her, after all. No, it wasn’t so much as to hide my strength but rather to avoid being resented for having such a beautiful woman accompany us. Our mob-like faces made that all the more likely.
The conclusion to our discussion was that we would be selling the scimitar to a certain American company that handled swords and blades. According to online reviews and testimonials, this company was the fastest and most reliable in terms of getting payment.
The dungeon store would serve as our intermediary. I had heard that the brokerage fee was included in the so-called adventurer tax.
“If you’re holding ticket number 4, please come to reception desk 2.”
When the ticket number we were holding got called up, we proceeded to the referred reception desk. An older lady from the adventurers’ guild greeted us with a customer service smile.
“Today, you have subjugated 47 Skeletons, 3 Skeleton Knights, and a Mimic. That brings your subjugation remuneration to a total of 15,450 yen. Would you like to receive that in cash or by bank transfer?”
“Bank transfer evenly into three separate accounts, please.”
“Understood.”
We presented our adventurer’s licenses and received transfer forms in return.
“What would you like to do with the scimitar item drop?”
“Ah, we were thinking of selling it to a certain company…”
The receptionist fiddled with the tablet installed in the reception desk and selected the American company we had discussed before.
“Understood…please confirm that everything is to your liking.”
“…yes, it is. Please have it mailed.”
“Understood. Since it’s this company, their side will shoulder the cost of shipping. Please fill out these forms as well.”
“Thank you.”
Each of us had received a total of 2 forms. We stepped aside into a space near the reception desk and filled the forms there. Out of all the things I learned in the adventurer training course, probably the most useful were the ones that concerned filling out forms and doing paperwork.
After I checked there was no mistake, I pressed my stamp on the forms.
…I must say though, it was quite eye-opening to learn that the first thing I should do upon becoming an adventurer was to open a bank account. Looking back though, yeah, that should go without saying. I could still remember asking my mom to accompany me to the bank and also the struggle to make my account.
I finished with my form ahead of my friends, so I submitted mine first.
“…yes, everything is in order. Thanks for your hard work.”
“Thanks for your help too.”
The receptionist bowed and I bowed back before returning to my friends.
And so, in one day—or more accurately, in just about 2 hours for both the morning and afternoon sessions combined—each of us had earned 51,150 yen. That was a lot considering we were still in high school.
What should I buy with this though?
Frankly, there was a lot of things I wanted, but…I had already decided to use my first real earnings to treat my family to sushi. My previous pay didn’t count since that was barely enough to cover my fare back then.
Our pay was supposed to be transferred to our accounts by tomorrow. We would be exploring tomorrow as well, so I planned to withdraw from the ATM in the dungeon store and buy the sushi after exploring.
I couldn’t buy the expensive stuff, so I would probably have to settle for the sushi packs sold in supermarkets. It was still filial piety in my books. When I could afford it though, I would like Layla to join us too.
…all of this was making me feel like I was an adult already. As someone who was only a high school student, or rather as someone who was only in junior high until recently, this was giving me a strange feeling.
While I did calculations—like how much I would set aside as savings—I rode the bus to the station. Our second day of dungeon exploring had come to an end. I would like to think that I was getting used to the labyrinth-like nature of dungeons. As my friends and I were discussing which dungeon we should go to next Saturday, I glanced at the scenery through the bus window.
The sky was still bright since it was just three in the afternoon. And then, I had a thought.
…I’ll use the money from the next item drop to buy a costume for Layla. Ah, but which one? A bunny girl costume? Maybe a cheerleader outfit? Ahh, but I can’t disregard a nurse in a miniskirt costume either.
I hesitated like that as a white cloud passed by in the sky. I was well and truly lost in thought on how my life as an adventurer would go from here.
Author’s Q&A (also an appeal to review, rate, and bookmark the title. Link: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7336ie)
Q: He’s a monkey in heat!
A: He’s a high school boy!
Q: aren’t Skeletons too weak?
A: To a Japanese Awakened One, they might as well be tutorial enemies. The protagonist’s party was advancing with plenty of caution in preparation for the next dungeon rank, but someone with Kyotarou’s stats could frankly wreck through them barehanded and naked.
Meanwhile, a Skeleton Knight was pretty much a homicidal maniac equipped with a good sword and shield, while also having the physical abilities of an army man. Plus a near-infinite amount of stamina and inability to feel pain.
Q: Are E rank dungeons too dangerous a place for foreigners?
A: For Awakened Ones not from Japan and the UK, yes. Most Awakened Ones outside of Japan and the UK were only about as strong as a Skeleton Knight, after all. Which was why foreign nations and companies are willing to offer large sums of money and resources to hire Japanese Awakened Ones. Over time, Japan’s top Awakened Ones are going to be taken.
Q: The remuneration given to adventurers is based on the slain monsters their cameras had caught, but how accurate is it? What happens if a monster kill isn’t caught on video?
A: An AI is also used when checking, so the accuracy isn’t so bad. If it’s not caught in the footage, or if the camera itself was lost somewhere along the way, no remuneration would be given.
Q: Isn’t the camera expensive?
A: Adventurers can get them cheaply in a set with a flashlight but only for the first time. Any subsequent purchase will cost tens of thousands of yen.
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