Three minutes passed and Layla sensed something in the nearby ground through her Nature Magic.
“…There is a reaction in master’s 11 o’clock direction. I’ve detected 3.”
“Ok. Reinforce,”
“Message received.”
The forest continued in the direction Layla pointed out. Reinforce, still in the vanguard, had her weapon out as she scanned the surroundings.
As we approached, there was suddenly movement in the ground. What appeared had large bodies made of stone, each about 2 meters high. Honestly, it looked more like what I expected of a Golem than Reinforce.
Their featureless faces—without any eyes or noses—were turned toward us.
“I have visuals on the target. Upon referencing database, I conclude that it is a Gnome.”
The monsters that looked like the combination of several large rocks charged at us without so much as a roar. At this angle, two of us could stand side by side to intercept the incoming monsters. So, for safety’s sake, I took a step forward and pointed my sword toward the rocks.
Despite the enemies running at us with a speed comparable to olympic athletes, we shot out ahead and struck first. To my side, Reinforce had swung her sword downward and bisected one of the enemies from its head down to its crotch.
Meanwhile, I slashed another from the pit of its stomach up to the nape of its neck. That stopped its charge but it still swung a right hook at me. It didn’t find its mark though. More specifically, I swiped the right hook with a left backhand. And then, I immediately swung down my sword at it. As my sword reached the stone giant’s waist area, I felt like I was cutting through something else.
The stone giant was split in two and collapsed to the ground. But then, a ‘doll made of stone’ that had been sliced from its shoulder to its flank on the other side tumbled out of the stone giant’s halved remains.
This doll was the actual Gnome.
Despite its actual size being only 20 to 30 centimeters tall, they had bodies as hard as rocks and had the ability to use Yellow Magic to control the ground to make larger, battle-ready bodies. Also, they had the tendency to hide underground and launch surprise attacks from there.
At any rate, the third and last Gnome was already charging at me, intent on throwing a punch. I began moving to intercept it, but in the corner of my vision, I saw Reinforce dash toward the Gnome. Worried that I might hit her, I decided to stop and let her handle it.
After rushing out like that, Reinforce swung her sword and then sent the stone body’s upper half flying. That exposed the damaged stone doll within. As I watched Reinforce follow through and split the actual Gnome in half, I rested my sword on my shoulder.
“Great job, Reinforce.”
“It is nothing. This unit exists mainly to keep you safe, Meister.”
“O-okay”
I really had no idea how to interact with her. Like, how familiar should I be with her?
…but then again, hearing her voice in such a mechanical tone while doing the deed was fine too. I was the type of otaku who hated it when a supposedly expressionless heroine suddenly get so emotional! Some things were fine as they were.
As I was thinking of stupid stuff like that, I scanned the surroundings just to be safe. Between the Sylphs which were quick and hard to detect, the Gnomes which launched ambushes from underground, and the other monsters here, it was no wonder that adventurers avoided this dungeon. A lot of people just find the monsters here a pain in the ass to fight.
But those same monsters made this dungeon the perfect place to test out Reinforce’s detection capabilities. And if we got some Item Drops along the way, all the better.
At that thought, I cast my gaze back to the Gnomes which were turning into particles.
“And…nothing”
Oh well, can’t expect things to go that well. It hasn’t been long since we started anyway; it’s fine that we haven’t gotten any Drops yet.
“Let’s continue exploring”
““Yes””
“Message received”
At any rate, at least so far, we haven’t seen any problems with Reinforce. If I had to say something, it would probably be about my worry of friendly fire with her. But once we get used to one another, that might not be much of a concern anymore.
…actually, my worry is more about my position in the group. I don’t want to be some sponger!
* * *
About one hour since we began our dungeon exploration. In that time, we had defeated about 20 Gnomes and a few Sylphs.
“The sound of splashing water detected in the 10 o’clock direction of this unit. There is no sound of anything moving in the water. Magic power reaction…positive. 3 signals. Upon referencing database, I suspect it to be Undines.”
“Alright. Thanks, Reinforce.”
Her reconnaissance capabilities sure were convenient. According to Layla, Reinforce’s five senses had been heightened to the point that if she were a human, an Awakened One even, she would find it tough to live her daily life. And on top of that, Layla also said Reinforce was equipped with something that resembles a sonar but for magic power.
Now more than ever, I understood why Layla insisted back then that she needed this and that dungeon-produced item as she pressed her chest against mine.
Look, it totally wasn’t because she was saying ‘we need this’ while pressing her boobs together. I really listened to her explanations and decided to agree. That’s all there is to it!
Anyway, Undines were spirits said to appear near bodies of water. It was also said that their bodies were made of water and that they took on the form of women. Like the other spirits so far, they were monsters that could control an element. In their case, it was water.
Apparently, there were four kinds of elemental spirits here in this dungeon. The fourth kind was the Salamander, though their kind supposedly were on the rarer side here.
Following the path, we came upon a large pond that was probably just a little bit off from being a lake. There was a gentle breeze that was just strong enough to disturb the water’s surface. There didn’t seem to be anything here.
However, when I widened my field of vision, I was able to see our targets’ whereabouts. So long as it was simply about having good eyesight, Awakened Ones with Magic Eyes wouldn’t lose out so easily.
“Yukine”
“Yes! [Ice Prison]!”
Without delay, Yukine made 6 pillars of ice appear at the spot I pointed to. The water’s surface froze in an instant and forced 3 Undines to show themselves, screaming.
“[Fireball]”
Layla’s attack made a direct hit on one of the monsters and made its body made of water explode. As I watched that unfold, I and Reinforce moved to intercept the basketball-sized water balls that the remaining Undines launched at us.
Of course, against our Resistance stats, the water balls simply dispersed in front of us. And flying past the scattered drops of water were spears of ice and fire. One of the remaining Undines exploded, while the other froze into an ice sculpture.
Before long, the Undines began turning into particles of magic power. As they did, I checked for any Drops and saw something shining sink down the pond.
“Layla, there, over there!”
“[Oh, Water]”
Layla swung her staff and an unnatural current in the pond brought a shining stone up toward us. Once near, I picked it up and checked. There was no longer any room for doubt. Indeed, we managed to get an Undine Magic Stone as an Item Drop.
“Alright. Let’s keep exploring at this pace. Oh, but without getting careless, of course.”
““Yes!””
“Message received.”
“…err, Reinforce,”
“Yes?”
“We’re inside the dungeon, so how about just saying ‘understood’ or ‘roger’…?”
“Roger”
I said that because I thought it was better for us to be concise inside dungeons, but hopefully, I didn’t sound nitpicking simply for the sake of it. It was seriously troubling me how to interact with her. Not that I found her unsatisfactory, mind. This was this, that was that. Still, I had to wonder what to do.
“Master”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
I turned to Layla, the one who tapped me by the shoulder.
“Master, Reinforce is a Golem. Therefore, you don’t have to worry too much about her. There’s nothing wrong with thinking of using her as you would on making a call with your smartphone.”
“I hear what you’re saying, but…”
But because she looked completely like a person, it was hard to treat her like some appliance. In fact, it wasn’t just her looks that was so human-like, like when we, you know…
Even discounting that though, I didn’t want to order her to be more sociable.
I mean, it would be such a waste to do so to a Golem girl that was like cool-and-calm android! I’m just kidding, of course! I just didn’t think that kind of thing should be ever ordered.
“…then, I suggest acting more like you wear the pants in our party, because you do.”
“Wears the pants…”
Saying that term in modern-day Japan carelessly could get you bashed thoroughly, you know.
“Master, you’re the leader of our party; you’re its core. If you die, it’s no exaggeration to say that it’s all over for me too. With that in mind, feel free to ‘use’ me.”
“O-okay…”
“Command me just like you do in bed”
“Layla-san???”
Man, you really think I think with my lower half, don’t you? …well, I can’t help it! Every high school boy is like this!
* * *
I acted as Layla advised and, for whatever reason, our exploration after that went on swimmingly.
Yeah, yeah, I’m admitting but a piece of scum whose brain is in his lower half.
Along the way, a group of Gnomes moved to surround us, but thanks to Reinforce’s scouting abilities, not only did we manage to avoid a surprise attack but also routed the Gnomes without issue.
By the end of the day, we managed to get Magic Stones from 2 Gnomes, 1 Undine, and 1 Sylph. We gathered 3 Mandrakes too. We decided to sell only one of the Gnome Magic Stones, so our earnings—including the subjugation remuneration—totaled to 380,800 yen.
Supposing a party of 4, each one wouldn’t even get a share of 100,000 yen. However, because I didn’t have to split today’s earnings with anyone, my pockets were that much fuller. This was probably a privilege unique to adventurers who had familiars and Golems.
…err, wait, my sense of money might be getting messed up here. I mean, 100,000 yen for a day’s work is quite an earning already, and over 300,000 yen a day is just out of the question for any ordinary job no matter how I think about it. My god, I might really be no longer able to take on a regular job.
Not to mention, it might become possible to cultivate dungeon-produced materials—including the Mandrakes—someday, which would likely decrease demand and therefore the price. We should see a price decrease for Magic Stones sometime soon too. Given that, I should probably start to tighten my purse strings.
At any rate, we were able to confirm that there wasn’t any issues with Reinforce’s abilities. Plus, we also got the Magic Stones of 4 spirits, which meant an increase in Layla’s repertoire. We could now, without worry, go on to explore the dungeon that had Empty Knights and farm their armor Drops.
I thought of those things as I exited the Dungeon Store. After breathing a sigh from looking at the bus schedule, I took out and fiddled with my phone. At times like these, I wished I could summon the girls and talk with them to pass the time, but there were ordinary people working in the Dungeon Store and I wanted to avoid unnecessary troubles if I could.
Like, I could imagine someone posting online titled something like ‘guy with a mob-face is accompanied by beautiful girls’ and making fun of me. Layla and Yukine could go invisible, but Reinforce wouldn’t have that option. On the other hand, if I were to summon only those 2 and had them go invisible, I would be an annoying person who kept talking to themselves…
And so, thinking I would rather read articles online, I did a sliding motion to open my phone. Like usual, the headlines were only about Awakened Ones and dungeons.
<<The Olympic committee has official announced today that Awakened Ones are prohibited from participating in Olympic competitions. That being said, Chairman Harbor has also said in an interview that the idea of having matches exclusively for Awakened Ones is currently being explored—>>
<<‘Captain Drake and the fated dungeon 8’, the next game in the popular Captain Drake and Dungeons RPG series has been reported to have stopped development. Due to how the number and severity of dungeon-related harm and damages keep on rising, many developers of games which feature dungeons and monsters have volunteered to stop—>>
“Demonstrators are currently in front of the White House to protest against the alleged discrimination against non-Awakened Ones. There has also been a report saying an Awakened One from Japan has been shot—”
<<A group of Jiangshi has been spotted in the outskirts of Beijing, China!? Although the Chinese army has formed a defensive line, the citizens fear this might be a repeat of the infamous Jiangshi incident from before—>>
<<The so-called Holmes girl from the UK has done it again! This time, she has dismantle a research laboratory of mages doing human experimentation. The culprits were said to be researching of a way to use non-Awakened Ones as materials for Golem creation—>>
Really? The newest Captain Drake game is getting canceled? Like, really?
It felt like there were some frightening news in there, but I naturally felt more inclined to be aware of the things happening locally than those happening overseas. As such, my eyes were glued to a certain article.
The Captain Drake and Dungeons series of games was about a young, cutlass-and-pistol-wielding Captain Drake who, along with his merry band, goes from island to island in search of treasure within the labyrinths there. I played the games during my elementary and middle school years, so this news in particular shocked me.
I didn’t have the right console for the 7th installment, so I missed out on it, but that didn’t stop me from being a little dismayed seeing the news. I was kind of looking forward to playing another Captain Drake game soon.
I searched for more details and found out that there apparently have been an increase of people who were criticizing games which featured dungeons and monsters. Most of those people also seemed to be those who got caught but managed to escape dungeon overflow incidents.
From what I could tell, letters and phone calls along the lines of ‘this brings up awful memories’, ‘you’re making children think lightly of the dangers dungeons pose’, or ‘this is too inappropriate’ have flooded the game development companies. There even seemed like people who went to the employees’ homes just to complain.
…and honestly, I had mixed feelings about it.
I had seen many people die in dungeon overflow incidents. I was an adventurer, so I could often see the scenery of the ruins around Dungeon Stores. In that way, I could understand the feelings of those whose normal lives were stolen by dungeons and monsters.
However, for them to do this kind of thing…I just didn’t know.
To begin with, the dungeons and monsters in those games and those in reality were quite fundamentally different. Frankly, the only thing reality and game dungeons had in common were the mainstream monsters, maybe.
The cancellation understandably made a stir—in a negative way—online. Some had expressed that canceling only the upcoming game to be not enough and the series as a whole should be dropped instead. Of course, there were others who raged at those complaining and getting too involved.
Honestly though, just a glance at the insults both sides were flinging at each other was enough to make me sad, so I just quietly closed the page and decided to stare at images of red pandas doing their best to be menacing.
Ahh~so cute~it just heals the soul
…at any rate, society’s perception of Awakened Ones, dungeons, and even monsters just felt all over the place. Like, did society see Awakened Ones as potential criminals or as something they’d like to become? And were dungeons the kind of place they never want to visit or were it paradise for resources and money? And were monsters supposed to be fiends so atrocious that even mentioning them should be taboo or were they enemies we must face head-on and defeat?
It was all just a mess. Maybe everyone’s perception was just that diverse. Whether that was a good thing or bad, I didn’t know. If someone said the answer to any of the questions above was obvious, I likely wouldn’t argue. I did doubt there could ever be a unified opinion on any of it though.
…or maybe that was just because I lacked information? I mean, none of us had enough information about this world we’re living in, especially now that it has changed. Especially not me. I’m just a student, after all…ack, no good, I can’t think straight. Never mind finding the answers, I wasn’t sure what even the problems are. There wasn’t any point in trying to think when my thoughts are this unclear. I mean, that’s why people say ‘inadequate thoughts are worse than none at all’. Surely, the bigwigs will figure it all out. Hopefully.
All I could really do at the moment was leave a message in the game development company’s fan feedback corner. I wrote: ‘looking forward to your next work’. I was also thinking of buying some of their stocks as a way of charity.
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