Things had gotten pretty wild, I must say.
<<Interim Prime Minister Arikawa’s criticism of foreign nations are causing unnecessary friction—>>
<<Allowing an ordinary civilian to buy items like swords with no other qualifications than an adventurer license will have an impact on public order—>>
<<President Thompson of the USA has referred to Interim Prime Minister Arikawa’s statement as some outrageous conspiracy theory—>>
A week had already passed since that announcement, yet TV shows were still abuzz about it. Yes, a week had passed since the provisional prime minister’s impromptu press conference. Our adventurer training course was over and I was now officially an adventurer. Well, technically speaking, I would have to have my license first and that would be sent a few more days later.
Anyway, a week after that announcement, it was now time for our school entrance ceremony. Spring break? Haha, it ended before I got a taste of it…and I was looking forward to taking things easy. More specifically though, I was looking forward to the moments where both my parents were out of the house so that I could have some fun time with Layla!
We were taught about the laws and taxation involved in the trading of dungeon items now that we were allowed to do so with entities other the government. Due to it being new material even for our lecturers, our lectures were honestly quite a mess. It was understandable but still.
The whole week tired me out. Like, seriously. I didn’t want to see the word tax or even the percent symbol for a good long while. But considering that adventurers would now be able to earn more, things were looking bright again. You can never have too much money, after all.
I also did some research lately. Apparently, a lot of companies both domestic and foreign—including American ones—were expressing interest in the trade of these dungeon items. According to what I read, because weapons from dungeons contained magic power, even a non-Awakened person could deal damage against a monster.
Well, there was still the large gap in strength between an ordinary person and a monster to consider though. Plus, a non-Awakened person only had so much time before the magic power within a dungeon renders them immobile. In the first place, there was the matter of actually being able to see the monsters. As such, Awakened Ones wouldn’t become unnecessary any time soon.
With all that said, the idea of a non-Awakened person having a means to fight monsters was still quite fascinating. If luck would have it, a successful monster kill might even lead to that non-Awakened person Awakening.
Sadly, it seemed like our normal processing techniques made the items from dungeons lose the magic power it had. So, it was unlikely that there would be many bullets made from such things.
Anyway. As I said, today was my first high school entrance ceremony. It was the start of a new chapter of my life. And I was starting it with my dad no longer unemployed.
…well, with the recent amendment, the Adventurers’ Guild was probably in chaos. Hang in there, Dad. You’re the new guy, so you’ll likely be worked to the bone, but hang in there!
“It’s finally here. The start of my muscle girl training program!”
“Yeah, the road to founding my tentacle club begins here.”
“Shut up, you idiots.”
Wearing our new uniforms, we were soon to attend our entrance ceremony. But before assembling in the gym, we students were first made to gather in our respective classrooms.
Surprisingly, I ended up in the same class as both Kumai-kun and Uoyama-kun. I would consider that a great thing, but I hoped people didn’t think I was exactly like them.
“By the way, Kyotarou, how about you? What are you wishing for?”
“Yeah, spill it, quick.”
“Err, ahm, nothing, really…”
“Wha? Young’uns these days…”
“Just whiling your days away. Can’t you see how miserable a life that is?”
“Look, I get what you’re trying to say, but hoping for muscle girls and tentacles during your high school days, frankly, is just next-level stupid.”
Honestly, the first thing that comes to mind when asked such a question was obviously “to become popular”. Not that I could ever say that out loud.
No, I had no plans on cheating on Layla, ok? But, you see, setting aside whether I would go out with them, wouldn’t it be great to be the center of attention of my female classmates?
“Kyaa! Kyotarou-kun’s so cool!”
Or,
“Wow! He’s so strong, so well-mannered, AND so handsome!”
Or,
“I don’t mind if it’s only a physical relationship…please, accept my feelings.”
Or!
Or!!
Or!!!
I mean, I am an Awakened One, and an adventurer at that! Won’t people think I was one of the better guys out there? Like, won’t they ask me to show them just how “special” I was? Wah! Can they tell just by my “aura”? There’s no helping that, is there? Hah, I can see it. I can see myself being melancholic about all the troubles being too popular has brought me. Wait, is my magic eye letting me see this?
Alright, come, my rosy high school life!!
* * *
“Laylaaaaaaa…..”
“Yes? What’s the matter, master?”
I returned to my room, summoned Layla, and quickly burried myself in her chest. Ever smiling, she returned my hug and patted my head.
*sniff* ahh, her large and soft boobs, so soothing. And she smells so nice too…
“My high school debut…it didn’t go well.”
“Yes, I have your memory of that.”
* * *
Frankly speaking, there was nothing special about our entrance ceremony. But what I was truly excited for was our self-introduction in class.
My surname was Okawa. That meant I would be among the first ones to introduce themselves. Uoyama would go before me, but since he’s a creep, it didn’t matter.
When it was my turn, I would shout out “I’m an Awakened One and an adventurer!”
Back in junior high, I did my best to hide the fact that I was an Awakened One. But circumstances were different now.
I should believe in myself! My magnificent high school life begins today! All I have to do is be brave!
“Alright, starting from the left, please introduce yourselves one by one.”
Our male homeroom teacher said so with a smile.
Alright! We’re going in alphabetical order! That’s how we’re seated, after all! Here it comes, my time in the spotlight!
“I’m Aihara Kensuke. Nice to meet you all. I might not look it, but I’m an Awakened One and an adventurer, so I’m sorry in advance if I couldn’t come to hang out after school. Feel free to invite me though; I’ll see what I can do.”
Huh?
I heard those words while I was doing some image training on my desk. I awkwardly turned my gaze toward the good-looking guy introducing himself 3 seats in front of mine.
Huh? Someone with such a nice face is an adventurer? I mean, huh, wait, isn’t that unfair? What is this, Aihara’s attempt at the self-introduction speedrun world record?
“For real? That’s awesome!”
“This is the first time I’ve had an Awakened One as a classmate.”
“I wonder what’s it like being an adventurer.”
Already, the class’s attention were all on him. And yet, in that kind of situation, he was the picture of calm. There was no mistake, that guy was going to be in the class’s A group…!
Dang it…! There’s no way I can win! Even if I say I was an adventurer too, it wouldn’t have as much of an impact the second time around. Heck, I might even get treated like some nuisance who had a grudge against the handsome guys in the A group!! I know better than anybody that with the face I have, it’s all but certain!
“I’m Uoyama Kengo. My hobby is reading. Nice to meet you all.”
Uoyama-kunnnnnnnnnnnnnnn! What’s up with that perfectly normal, bland introduction!? Go and cut loose, man!
But thinking about it, he did tend to mimic normal behavior when it wasn’t just us.
And before I knew it, the one in front of me—Ezaki—had finished introducing themselves. It was now my turn.
Ahh, damn it, I didn’t have time to think! I’ll, I’ll just play it safe…
“I’m! …I’m Okawa Kyotarou… My hobby is, playing games. Nice to meet you all.”
…it’s over.
* * *
Laughter had spread through the class. I likely wouldn’t forget it anytime soon.
It would seem that even in high school I was going to be a mob character. Mobkawa Mobtarou. Being popular was just a pipe dream now.
“That’s a shame, isn’t it? For that to happen after you’ve planned how to have a successful high school debut and be popular with the opposite sex.”
“Gah”
I choked upon hearing that. I was such an idiot. Layla and I partially shared memories. What a blunder!This wasn’t the time to bury my face between her soft breasts or nonchalantly cope a feel of her butt!
“Y-you’ve got it wrong, Layla. I was just, you know, ensuring that I can have a peaceful school life; I wasn’t at all thinking of cheating, I swear.”
I don’t know what I’d do if Layla ends up hating me for this! I might even end it all!
“…? Ah, I see.”
After I had parted myself from her and her chest, Layla looked at me quizzically. A moment later, she clapped her hands as though to convey understanding.
“Are you perhaps feeling guilty about having another mate aside from me?”
“…”
I was stunned into silence. Crap.
“Please relax. I don’t mind such things. If anything, I highly encourage it.”
“Huh?”
“Passing on their genes is but a fundamental desire of all living creatures. It is only natural that you have such a desire, and as part of you, I too share that desire. However, this body of mine is only a spiritual body, meaning I am not able to conceive. As such, I think you should find a partner other than me. And in the first place, being a partner isn’t what a Guardian Spirit is for.”
“Ah, err, ahm…”
Layla was speaking sincerely. I understood that, and it only made me feel uncomfortable. If I were to take her words at face value, wouldn’t that make me just the worst? The crappiest among crappy guys?
“Do your best, master! Practice as much as you want with me so that you can go and make magnificent children someday!”
“…okay.”
Layla grabbed my hand and said so with a beaming smile.
I couldn’t believe it, she just gave me explicit permission to do it with someone else.
…hello, this is the POS formerly known as Okawa Kyotarou. Aside from that, I’d like to announce that I just got horny. Well, I won’t say it out loud, so I can’t announce it.
In all seriousness though, I had to wonder if it was really ok for me to do that. But then, I realized something.
“Would you like to practice now?”
“…no, my mom’s home right now.”
What I realized was: wouldn’t a guy who was all lovey-dovey with such a beautiful Guardian Spirit be rejected by any normal girl? And that was before even considering my looks and personality. At the very least, I felt like I wouldn’t want to get involved with a guy like me if it was the other way around.
…sorry Mom and Dad, please give up hope of having a grandchild!
* * *
“Let’s go to a dungeon!”
“You’re being loud!”
“You’re so naturally annoying.”
“Hey, aren’t you guys being too cruel?”
A few days after our entrance ceremony. It was now Saturday. More importantly though, my adventurer license arrived the day before. At last, I could make a debut as an adventurer.
“Weren’t you quite against becoming an adventurer when we were in junior high? How come you’re so pumped up now?”
“I mean, my first dungeon was…”
“Ah,”
Kumai-kun silently looked away.
After all, despite it being our first dungeon exploration, my partner then was so obstinately unmotivated. The whole dungeon exploration began and ended on a dreadfully sour note. The memory of how dejected I was that day was still fresh on my mind to be honest.
Look, I was well aware of how incredibly dangerous being an adventurer was. But this was a separate matter. Any man would find the mention of adventure and dungeon to be romantic.
“Also, I genuinely want money.”
“Frank, are we?”
“I mean, it’s a compelling point.”
“Right?”
Yes, money. We had spent a lot for the adventurer training course as well as for the printing of our licenses. At the very least, I wanted to recoup those expenses.
Fortunately, it seemed like my dad’s salary was good. My family was now on the road of financial recovery.
Even so, in this trying time more than any other, it was important to have some savings. My dad losing his job back then made me keenly aware of just how important savings were. After all, you could never know what life had in store for you.
I was still only a student, sure, but I wanted to do what I could. At the same time, I wanted to be a good son and do something for them using my first earnings. I didn’t think helping my dad get hired counted as showing filial piety.
Yes, it’s for these serious reasons that I wanted to earn money. And totally not at all because I thought that if I had money I could spend freely, I would be able buy costumes for Layla to cosplay and to pay for hotels. Believe me!!!
“What’s wrong, Kyotarou? Why are you suddenly looking up at the sky with eyes so full of indecency?”
“Wow, your eyes became so impure they could have belonged to the villain of some gambling-themed manga.”
“Really? My eyes were like that?”
““Totally.””
Believe me!!!
* * *
“Speaking of money, how much do item drops go for nowadays?”
“Hmm.”
As the train shook, we whispered like that to one another.
An E rank dungeon was located about 3 stations away from my house. That was our destination today. It was the weekend and therefore a day off, but since it was fairly rural area, there weren’t much people. In fact, I was even able to sit down on the train. Granted, there were some people in the train earlier, but a lot of them got off on a previous station.
But that made me wonder if the people still within the train had the same destination as us. I mean, that man over there was even carrying a mountain climbing bag.
“I think the iron swords and spears dropped by Skeletons and Goblins are priced at around 100,000 Yen.”
“For real? I swear they weren’t worth that much before.”
“Oh? Did one drop for you?”
“Just once. Of course, we surrendered it to the training course facility.”
Nothing dropped for me back then, but I suppose that was just a matter of luck.
“Hmm, for a monster called Living Armor…woah.”
“What?”
“It’s just a D rank monster, but…its swords and spears fetch for 250,000 Yen.”
“Whaa!?”
“Hey, shh.”
Uoyama-kun jabbed Kumai-kun’s side. Meanwhile, I bowed down in apology to those who were now looking at us.
But Kumai-kun’s surprise was perfectly understandable. After all, we heard in our training course—before the revision—that a D rank’s item drop would only get us around 20,000 Yen.
I had seen Japanese swords be sold on the net for hundreds of Yen before, but 250,000 Yen was still quite a high selling price.
“S-sorry. But it’s just so surprising.”
“Hmm, it says here a wolf-like monster called Red Hound, also a D rank, sometimes drop a fang. It’s worth about 150,000 Yen. I suppose metal items are worth more.”
“Those prices are still going to change though, right?”
“Who knows”
“Still, all hail Prime Minister Arikawa, right?”
“I believe in the upcoming cabinet, he would be the Minister of Dungeon Countermeasures.”
Uoyama-kun adjusted his eyeglasses as he corrected Kumai-kun.
After that press conference, the Arikawa Cabinet really did get dissolved. Replacing him was Yonekura Rikichi. Honestly, I hadn’t heard much of the new prime minister before. According to the experts on TV though, Prime Minister Yonekura was a stand-in. He was apparently pretty much forced into the position after nobody else wanted it.
As for Minister Arikawa, it was regarded that his banishment to the Dungeon Countermeasures Ministry was the result of his drastic actions as the interim prime minister. After all, despite the ministry’s heavy workload, it wasn’t closely related to the center of politics.
At present, Minister Arikawa was facing fierce criticisms on TV, but to Awakened Ones or rather to adventurers, he was a person worthy of gratitude. With the unwavering statement he did as plus the actions he did without any reservations for himself, it was more than understandable that he was popular among adventurers. Actually, thanks to those things, he was admired even by people who were not Awakened Ones.
“I’m thankful and all that, but isn’t he a bit suspicious?”
“True enough.”
“If suspicious ever had a form, he’d be it.”
All that praise for him aside, he was undoubtedly quite suspicious. I didn’t really know how to describe it. He was perhaps otherworldly? Maybe it was because of his theatrical gestures. Or the bold smile he always seemed to have. If Japan was to hold a contest on being the most suspicious person, he would be the champion, no doubt about it.
“It’s because of him that we could earn more though.”
“Definitely. That’s why I said I was thankful.”
As we talked like that, we reached our stop. We then took a 15-minute shaky bus ride. Afterwards, it was just a matter of walking to reach the dungeon. As we walked, I noticed houses lining up in between the fields. And yet, I couldn’t see any sign of human presence. This was a rural area, so households tended to have cars but I couldn’t see any parked either. Of course, it might just be that all were within garages. The fields were even overgrown with grass.
This was probably because of the dungeon that had formed nearby. It was dangerous here, so people chose to relocate instead.
There were people like us who thought of dungeons as sources of income, and there were people who lost their way of life because of it. I was conflicted about it, but then I decided to banish the thought from my mind. It wasn’t my job to think about these things, it was the big shots’.
I should focus on our dungeon exploration.
The dungeon we would be taking on this time was an E rank dungeon, the same rank as the one in our training course. The monsters that showed up here were Skeletons and its higher ranked species, Skeleton Knights. Oh, and Mimics.
It was probably an easy dungeon, but that was fine too. After all, we were just a bunch of rookies. If we were going to think of our enemies as small fries, we must recognize that we were also small fries.
At last, in the truest sense, my first real dungeon exploration is about to begin!
* * *
Kumai Nobuo
Race: Human || Awakened One
Strength: B
Endurance: B
Agility: C
Magic: D
Resistance: D
Superpowers:
-
Reckless Attack (temporarily increase Strength by one rank. Suffer recoil damage)
Remarks:
A muscle girl enthusiast. His ideal girl is more than 180cm tall, over 100Kg heavy, and has less than 15% body fat. Before dungeons were a thing, he aspired to be a trainer in a gym.
* * *
Uoyama Kengo
Race: Human || Awakened One
Strength: D
Endurance: D
Agility: C
Magic: B
Resistance: B
Superpowers:
-
Blue Magic (the ability to use water-type magic. Activated by expending magic power and through incantations or through magic circles)
Remarks:
Tentacles enthusiast. More interested in subjecting himself to it rather than subjecting someone else. He was captivated by the sea anemone he saw in an aquarium when he was in elementary. Likes both thin and thick kinds of tentacles. His ideal partner has both kinds.
Taroppe-sensei(author)’s Q&A corner
Thank you for reading!
Also, please consider leaving some your thoughts, a review, and bookmark the title over at the narou site (https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7336ie/)
Your support is appreciated and I hope you continue doing so.
Q: Wasn’t the Arikawa interim cabinet originally scheduled to be dissolved anyway?
A: Yes, that was the plan. But because of the secret maneuvering he did, the general public viewed the events not as “changes being made before disbanding the cabinet” and instead as “disbanding the cabinet because of the changes”.
TL notes: “Alphabetical” order in Japanese is different. Google Gojuon. Basically, A, I, U, O, E comes first. This is followed by Ka, Ki, Ku, Ko, Ke, and then, Sa, Shi, Su, So, Se, and so forth.
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