<<Authorities have uncovered that local Awakened Ones in America have been conducting illegal experiments. Upon raiding the location, a mysterious ritual—>>
<<The bill proposed by Minister Arikawa of the Dungeon Countermeasures Division, which sought to create employment for Awakened Ones, is said to infringe upon the civil liberty to choose one’s own occupation—>>
<<Beijing, China is in a state of complete lockdown due to what has been dubbed the Second Jiangshi Incident. In the meantime, relevant government functions are being relocated to Shanghai—>>
<<Sakurai Heavy Industries has created a new division which will focus on the hiring company-exclusive adventurers and also the trade of Item Drops. This has led some to worry about a single company possessing so much military power.>>
<<A large number of dungeon overflow incidents have been recorded in France. As a result, 17 Japanese nationals have been reported to be missing, Chief Cabinet Secretary Mojima stated in an interview—>>
<<Minister Arikawa of the Dungeon Countermeasures Division has warned that hiding a Dungeon Gate and using it for Awakening training is a terribly dangerous act. He has expressed to the Diet that such an act needs punishment, including imprisonment—>>
<<Digital Transformation Minister Kageyama has stated that, in order to raise the public’s awareness to the dangers involved in hiding Dungeon Gates, they will be cooperating with influencers—>>
<<Koyama Kosuke, founder of the Society of the Sage, commented that since being an Awakened One could be inherited, Awakened Ones could assume the position of nobles. Furthermore, he suggested that our society should transition into an absolute monarchy. His statements are facing criticisms—>>
While all sorts of craziness was happening all over the world, a major incident happened at home too.
“A-a-a-a-ay-I-I am, guard spirit. G-g-g-golem, mo-difi-modify”
“Laylaaaaaa!?”
Layla collapsed.
* * *
And so, we went to a dungeon.
…there were probably a lot to point out about that, but I should note that this was suggested by Layla herself.
Layla had received a mountain of documents from Aihara-kun and Uoyama-kun. Being such a serious person, she earnestly looked over the documents and considered the kind of Golem each wanted. However, it was simply impossible for an ordinary person to understand the thoughts of an utter degenerate. If that ordinary person chose to push through such an impossible task, they would surely suffer mental abnormalities. Thankfully, Layla was a Guardian Spirit and thus was far from being an ordinary person, so collapsing that one time was the only effect she suffered.
I had named the collection of documents from the two degenerates the ‘book of degeneracy’ and sealed it away. At the same time, I suggested a change of pace for Layla, but the way she wanted to reset herself was combat. In other words, she suggested that we head to a dungeon. I was already given the OK to return to my adventurer activities in my previous medical examination, so I didn’t mind going along with her suggestion. Besides, I wanted to earn some money too.
Recently, there had been a lot of alarming news. But then again, dungeon and monsters were easy sources of bad news, and disputes related to Awakened Ones were also to be expected, so, if asked, I would say that it was only natural to have so many alarming news.
Still, I found myself thinking once more to save up money. I had lost count by this point how many times I had that thought. It even felt like I was some good-for-nothing adult who boasted that they were a pro at abstaining from alcohol because they had done so 8 times already. I had intent, just not much to show for it. Despite my recent spending though, I would say my savings should still be considered high for a high school student.
Speaking of savings, Aihara-kun advised me to: ‘don’t just save up with yen. Get some dollars and gold bars too. You know, just in case. And if you can, consider opening a bank account abroad too’. Of course, I didn’t think the yen would lose all its value overnight, but I decided to ask Dad about it later.
At any rate, the dungeon I was headed for was about 4 train stations away from my home stop. After alighting from a shaky train ride, I saw a mountainous scenery reminiscent of the town where the Empty Knight dungeon was. However, the bustle in the Dungeon Store here was clearly different.
The further away I got from the station, the more neglected fields I saw, and before long, the more abandoned land with unchecked weed growth became noticeable. A dungeon meant a zone which people were prohibited to inhabit, but even with that in mind, the parking lot for the Dungeon Store was noticeably empty.
The dungeon this time was one of the dungeons Togo-san had requested for me to visit. However, he noted that there was no need to hurry for this one. Moreover, this was one of the few dungeons in his list that didn’t require me to spend the night outside.
It was a C rank dungeon, which was the highest rank an ordinary civilian like me could access. The Item Drops were of high rank, so the average price for them was also fairly high….and yet, this one was considered an unpopular dungeon. Not that it took much to find out why though.
At any rate, I headed to the locker room, did my usual preparations, passed through reception, and then, finally, entered the dungeon. The other side of the Dungeon Gate was a place in the middle of a mountain under a starry, night sky. The popular name for this dungeon was Oni Mountain. It wasn’t that particular mountain in Kyoto, but rather a dungeon with an eerie atmosphere.
“Layla, Yukine”
“Yes!”
“Here”
Layla responded in an awfully cheery way, while Yukine did so while looking at Layla with concern. While I took out a bullet-proof-vested Reinforce from my Item Bag, I also turned toward Layla.
“Sorry for asking again, but are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yes! There are no issues at the moment. So long as I can reaffirm my whole reason for existing as a Guardian Spirit, I will suffer no irregularities even when making something based on those documents!”
That was good to hear and all, but just what were in those documents that could cause those irregularities simply by reading it? Was that Book of Degeneracy actually a grimoire written by some evil god?
Layla stared straight at me with her blue and gold eyes, making my face twitch a bit under the helm. Her gaze was so intense that if felt a little scary.
“I-is that so? You look fine at least, so that’s good enough, I guess.”
“Yes! I have it all under control!”
Layla raised both of her arms beside her chest, pressing on it from both the left and the right.
I see, Layla’s really being her regular self.
I tore my gaze away from her chest and focused on our exploration. We were, after all, inside a dungeon. I drew out my zweihander and scanned our surroundings.
According to the information we got beforehand, the width of the paths here wasn’t uniform and would vary depending on the day and location. As for the spot we arrived in at least, it was about as wide as one and a half traffic lanes. If I was alone in the vanguard, there wasn’t any issue in however I chose to swing my sword, but factoring Reinforce with me, the path was rather narrow.
“Reinforce, take the lead. I’ll follow after you, and then the two of you can go as usual.”
““Understood””
“Yes!”
…by the way, the one most relieved to see Layla being cheery would probably be me. Honestly, I was so glad she didn’t suddenly have some tentacles growing out of her belly or that she turned all plumpy because of that damned book. Here’s to hoping she would stay the way she was for quite some time.
And, at the risk of stating the obvious, man, generous curves were justice. I was of the firm belief that the combination of huge breasts, slim waist, and a thick behind reigned supreme. I wasn’t saying that there was anything wrong with women with small breasts or firm, perky butts; I just liked them big.
Everyone was free to enjoy their preferences. There were people who could only get excited by armpits and bellybuttons, and they should be free to do so. As long as the preferences in mind weren’t against the law, nobody should judge them. Well, brainwashing might not exactly be against the law, so I would take exception to that.
But I digress. Going back to our exploration.
This dungeon was full of dense trees and, unlike normal dungeons, there was nothing that could be called divisions or rooms. But in exchange for the lack of walls and such, it was said that if a person was to step outside of the beaten paths, they would most likely get lost. It was unclear how that happened—if some sort of spell was at play or if like in the Crete Dungeon, the structure of the dungeon could be altered in a short span of time, or something else entirely—but whatever it might be, I wasn’t inclined to verify it.
We proceeded as planned, with me walking a few steps behind Reinforce and holding my sword as though it was a spear. After about 2 minutes of walking though, Reinforce stopped.
“Ahead. Two bodies approaching by foot. Distance: 300 meters. Based on prior information, its size and movement indicate that the signals are both Oni.”
Oni were C rank monsters that were known to appear in this dungeon. They had dark red skin and a bulging belly. However, their limbs were all muscular. In terms of physical strength alone, they were said to be at the top of their monster rank.
Considering an Oni’s physique, its obstinately curly, black hair, and its distinctive 2 horns, they resembled Ogres in some ways. Onis and Ogres even had similar fighting styles…or so I was told.
“Have they noticed us?”
“Unable to confirm. They are approaching us without changing their speed.”
“Alright. Either way, let’s launch a preemptive strike. Layla, Yukine, attack as soon as you have them under your aim.”
“Understood!”
“Count on me”
“Reinforce, we’re going to prioritize defense.”
“Understood”
According to the dungeon info available in the town’s home page, Oni were weak to magic spells. Whether that was true or not, we would soon see…
When the distance between us was only about a hundred meters or so, their forms which we were unable to distinguish from the undulating mountains were now clearly in sight. Just as Reinforce reported earlier, there were two Onis. Each was about 3 meters tall. As though to declare that they also had visual of confirmation of us, they roared and dashed toward us.
“BuoOOOOooO!!”
The rumbling of their footsteps reached all the way to us. Their weapons—a battleaxe and a metal club—were hoisted high and their mouths were open wide enough to bite a person’s head off in one go. To be frank, the sight of them like that made me feel a kind of instinctive fear. But before that fear could overpower me, I heard the very calm, reassuring voices of those behind me.
“[Ice Jail]”
“[Aqua Curtain]”
Six pillars of ice rose around them. Moreover, they were hidden from view by a curtain of water. This was a combo made possible by Yukine’s sorcery and Layla’s modified wand. In an instant, the Onis’ bodies froze, turning them into ice sculptures.
“Gaa, Aa, aa…!?”
Even so, as to be expected of their tenacity, they weren’t dead just yet. They struggled until they shattered the layer of ice over their bodies and regained movement in their limbs. However, the frost kept clinging to their dark red bodies and made their movements visibly slow. Upon closer inspection, I saw that their joints were still pretty much frozen over.
“[Ice Fang]”
“[Air Hammer]”
As though mocking the Onis’ achievement of regaining some movement, a spear of ice and an invisible hammer struck each of the Onis. One had its head pierced by the spear, while the other had its frozen chest smashed open.
After confirming the expiration of the 2 Onis, I turned to Layla.
She was still holding her wand, which by the way had a different look than before. It previously had a single red Magic Stone at its pommel, but that was replaced by an amber made with the sap of my Silver Apple. Moreover, there was now windmill-looking ‘hilt’ on the wand. At each wing or section of the windmill-looking hilt was a gem of a different color: red, blue, yellow, and green. These gems were actually Magic Stones of the 4 elements.
Layla said this new wand would expand her options in combat, and I definitely could see that. She also mentioned that her wand still didn’t boast much in terms of firepower, but at the same time, it had enough to act as support to Yukine.
“Good work, you two. I’ll leave the others to you too, is that alright?”
““Yes!””
“Good work to you too, Reinforce. Keep it up please.”
“Understood.”
While surveying our surroundings with Reinforce, I glanced over where the Oni monsters were. Only the melted ice remained there. No Item Drops.
The Item Drop for an Oni was called Oni’s Horn, which was exactly what its name suggests. Supposedly, the horn could be used as an ingredient for magical medicines or as a catalyst for Summoning Magic. We had no need for either of those at the moment. If we were to sell it though, there wasn’t much demand for it, so it likely wouldn’t amount to much. Its market price was at least 50,000 yen, so I still wanted one, but, yeah, the low earnings was probably one of the reason this place wasn’t culled much. Why bother coming here when there were other C rank dungeons nearby—like that one with the Empty Knights—that were far more profitable?
Moreover, there were 2 other kinds of monsters that appeared in this dungeon, and those monsters were both troublesome. The Oni were rather straightforward to fight and defeat, but those two gave plenty of reasons for ordinary adventurers to avoid this dungeon.
Frankly, I would have ignored this dungeon too had Togo-san not included this in his requests. It was just shockingly not worth the time. In exchange for taking down 50 monsters of any kind in this dungeon, I would be rewarded 300,000 yen this time, but honestly, if not for that, well…
At any rate, I continued to scan our surroundings as we moved forward. With each step, the shadows of the trees grew longer and the darkness in this already dark-as-night dungeon grew deeper.
Taroppe-sensei(author)’s Q&A corner
Thank you for reading!
Also, please consider leaving some of 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: Did the UK not leave the EU in this work’s world?
A:
UK: “We have. Otherwise, there would have been an obligation on our part to protect the other nations of the EU. To be forced carry everyone on our back, so to speak, we don’t want that. Right now, we’re only being good neighbors and doing them favors—and creating debts of gratitude along the way. It would only be troublesome for us if we got refugees sent our way, anyway. And instead of those, we’re getting so many other things.”
Q: Regarding the Book of Degeneracy
A: Upon contact, one must perform a 0/1d2 SAN check. In the case the Book is read, one must do a 1d5/1d10 SAN check. If any of the checks results in insanity, one will gain either Preference:Tentacles or Preference:Plump.
After reading, one acquires either the Art(Tentacles) or the Art(Plump) skills, both are set to have a 60 skill value.
Layla is a Guardian Spirit, so she was able to read the Book of Degeneracy safely enough. However, for an ordinary person, this Book was a truly cursed one, so proper caution must be exercised.
RPGNovels 
Leave a comment