kscans

Chapter 33 - Worries

"Ta-da-da-daaa, ta-da-da-daaa."

Two days after our encounter with Miyoshi-san.

Under a sky where rain clouds hid both the moon and the stars, I found myself invited to Aira-san's house.

On the dining table was a mountain of pizza, french fries, cake, and fried chicken. And a token offering of vegetable sticks.

The first two were bought by Aira-san, while the other three were apparently made by Erina-san.

And as for what the host was currently doing… she was wearing a pair of those glasses with a fake nose and mustache, a party hat, and holding a party popper, all while humming a mysterious tune.

Her outfit was her usual tracksuit, but now with a sash that read 'Hooray for Days of Experimentation.'

"Um…"

"Da-da-da-daaa-daaan!"

"Seriously, five minutes is too long!"

Ever since I was forced into a chair, I've been subjected to nothing but Aira-san's bizarre song.

Is she an idiot? A moron?

At first, I held back, thinking, She's a benefactor, and she's older than me, but this was just too much.

"…Kyouta-kun."

Aira-san gently removed the novelty glasses and looked at me with mournful eyes.

In spite of myself, my heart skipped a beat at her gaze.

"Your comeback was too slow."

"How about I just give you a good slap right now?"

Give me back my time and my fleeting moment of excitement.

"Honestly. There's a limit to how long one can be mesmerized by my beautiful voice, you know."

"I see. That was a setup for a comeback, wasn't it? Let me just borrow this chair for a second."

"Hahaha! I apologize, so please calm down, Kyouta-kun! If a pervy gorilla like you were to hit me, I'd be turned into mincemeat!"

"Who are you calling a pervy gorilla?"

I let go of the chair I had been about to lift and sat back down.

"But you know? I didn't expect to be singing for five whole minutes myself. I thought either Kyouta-kun's comeback or Erina-kun's backup would come in partway through."

"Come to think of it, Erina-san has been quiet."

That self-proclaimed ninja, who is usually noisy in voice, appearance, or action, was maintaining her silence. A rare sight outside of a dungeon.

I looked over at Erina-san, who was sitting in the opposite seat. She was sitting quietly with her eyes closed, in a meditative pose.

On a chair. Today she was wearing a crimson kimono and white hakama.

"…What are you doing?"

"Training, Kyouta-chan."

"Oh, you were awake."

"I'm kneading chakra below my navel to improve my ninjutsu skills."

That's probably mana, not chakra. Well, maybe they're the same thing.

I think I heard on the `Alchemy Enthusiasts Club` forums that while the heart is the origin of mana, the tanden plays a big role in its circulation.

"It's admirable to train regularly, but right now…"

"Wait a minute, Erina-kun!? Were you completely ignoring my song!?"

"Yep!!"

"What a cheerful reply!!"

Aira-san, the disappointing college student, dramatically collapsed.

This time, I shot her a cold glare, and she stood up as if nothing had happened.

"Ahem! The reason I've gathered you all here today is none other than the major announcement from the government!!"

"Oh, the 'partial liberalization of drop item sales,' right?"

"Yes! Exactly!"

Aira-san pumped her fist powerfully. Since her figure is unnecessarily good, her chest jiggled slightly.

I quickly averted my gaze and listened.

"This means I no longer need you to bring equipment into the dungeon to collect data remotely! From now on, I can investigate myself in a proper environment!!"

"Ooh."

"YAY!!"

"And in that case, your compensation will naturally increase as well! In the form of me buying your drop items!"

"Ooh!"

"YAY!"

I'm genuinely happy about that.

Right now, I'm prioritizing leveling up over money, but the original reason I became an adventurer was to earn enough to make up for my dad's struggling company. Well… there was also the 'dream' of it.

In any case, you can never have too much money. Everywhere has been in a recession lately because of the dungeons.

It's not just that the appearance of gates everywhere has reduced the amount of safe land to live on, driving up land prices.

The TV often reports that gates appearing in fields and tunnels have dealt a major blow to food prices and logistics. As a result, the Japanese economy is becoming dependent on 'aid' from abroad.

Online, there's talk that 'this is why Japan is weaker than ever to foreign pressure,' but…

There's a strong call from all over to investigate the cause of the dungeon outbreaks and their increase.

But I digress. For an ordinary person like me, the money right in front of me is what's important. If I can sell drop items, my income will go up, just as Aira-san said.

I might even be able to become rich…

"To celebrate that, let's have a small feast today!"

"Woo-hoo, yay, yay!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't bring any gifts or anything…"

"Don't worry about it, I called you here suddenly. You can pay me back with your future work."

"Yes. I'll do my best."

"That was fast though, wasn't it, Pai-sen! I thought the approval would take a little longer!!"

I had the same thought as Erina-san, so I nodded and looked at Aira-san questioningly.

"Hey, now. I don't know everything, you know? All I can say is… the Dungeon Agency must have been serious about it."

"Hmm…"

If she puts it that way, she's right. It would be strange if she did know.

But the part about 'the Dungeon Agency being that serious' bothers me. Does that mean they wanted to increase the number of adventurers that badly?

If the reason is simply to build up the agency's track record, that's fine, but what if 'the dungeon situation in Japan is so dire that the government's feet are to the fire'…

No. Or are they trying to expand the market by trading drop items and escape the recession? Are they trying to boost the economy with the dungeons that have been nothing but a liability?

"Let's stop thinking about difficult things, just for today! More importantly, the food we've worked so hard on will get cold!"

"Ah, I'm sorr… wait, aren't you the main reason for the delay?"

"Now, let's have a toast!!"

Ignoring my comeback, Aira-san picked up a corkscrew and a bottle of wine.

Ugh, this woman is planning to drink.

"Grandma's not here today, either. This is my revenge for that one time! I'm going to drink in front of minors!"

"Um, Aira-san."

"Don't stop me, Kyouta-kun! I will finally taste this forbidden nectar──"

"If you drink here, your grandmother will definitely find out, you know."

"I'm going to put this back on the shelf, so you can go ahead and eat. …Sniff."

Aira-san walked away with a sorrowful look on her back. I mean, the living room calendar says 'Liver Rest Day.'

I felt a little bad for her, so Erina-san and I waited for her to come back.

All I can say is… tough luck!

＊　　　　　＊　　　　　＊

Back home, I thought about various things while polishing Byakuren's teapot-shaped exterior.

One was about the 'liberalization of drop item sales.' For me personally, this is undoubtedly good news.

Not only will my income increase, but it might also lead to an increase in my combat power.

The Dungeon Law has been amended in several places. One of them is the 'partial easing of the creation and sale of tools by those with production-type skills.'

Of course, there are still strong regulations on things like medicines, but the scope of what can be done has expanded at once.

I don't plan to start selling things with this amendment, but I do intend to make some tools for my own use. It might be a good idea to create a dedicated golem body for Byakuren instead of procuring it on-site.

But if I put too much affection or cost into a golem, I might hesitate to sacrifice it when the time comes…

If, by some chance, I made the golem body into a beautiful girl or woman like the `Alchemy Enthusiasts Club` members, I might not be able to use it as a shield in a pinch.

I'm not particularly good at self-analysis, so I'm not sure if I could make that distinction when the time comes. If a 'human gets injured while protecting a golem,' it would be no laughing matter.

But actually, for a certain reason, making it in the shape of a beautiful girl is the easiest way to make a golem body.

I thought, glancing at the smartphone I had placed beside me.

The `Alchemy Enthusiasts Club` in question has been spreading a dedicated app for creating 3D models of golem bodies, saying, 'Comrades, be free in your fetishes!'

It's a pretty well-made app, and using it would probably make it very easy to create an exterior. I hear it even comes with base models.

I always make a makeshift body in the dungeon, but even then, I have to be pretty careful when writing the transmutation circle at home.

The position of the center of gravity, the length of the limbs, and so on are quite important for movement. To be honest, the fact that Byakuren's attacks don't hit the enemy very often is largely due to my poor adjustments.

Should I make it a muscle-bound gorilla instead of a beautiful girl? Like, on a level closer to a beast than a human.

No, the `Alchemy Enthusiasts Club`'s app probably doesn't support that… In the end, I have no choice but to calculate it on my own.

Actually, even when designing it myself, 'human-like' is really easy. Because there are all sorts of references online. There's even a backdoor method of just plagiarizing from a full-body photo of a person.

I think someone on the early `Alchemy Enthusiasts Club` forums wrote, 'It's a piece of cake to perfectly replicate that AV actress!' It caused quite a stir even among that group of perverts, with people questioning the ethics of imitating a real person without permission.

Should I take the easy route and stable performance of the club's app, or should I design it on my own to be more robotic, even if it's difficult and uncertain? Or should I just maintain the status quo?

I'm probably lucky to have these options, but it's still a dilemma.

I sighed and put the teapot-shaped exterior back in its box. Well, it's not something I have to think about right now. After all, I don't have any drop items I'd want to use as materials.

…As I cut off that line of thought, another question came to mind.

'The relationship between Aira-san and Miyoshi-san.'

I don't care about Aira-san spouting nonsense like, 'A younger sister who surpasses her older sister must not exist!' Her being like that is normal.

But despite that, it bothers me that Miyoshi-san said, 'That person has no interest in me.' On the contrary, she seemed very interested.

Then there's what Aira-san said before, 'Erina-san's parents hate me,' and Erina-san's words, 'They don't hate you. They just don't know how to interact with you.'

…This really is a very complicated family, isn't it?

The more I think about it, the deeper I feel I'm falling into a pit. I sighed and was about to play a game on my phone for a change of pace when it happened.

──Ring… Ring…

"Hm?"

My phone vibrated in my hand, and when I checked the screen, it was a call from Erina-san.

I decided to answer, swiped the screen, and put it to my ear.

"Hello, Kyouta speaking."

`Hey, Kyouta-chan! You got a minute?`

"Yeah, it's fine, but…"

`Well, I figured you were probably at peak confusion about Pai-sen's family situation, so I called to explain!!`

"………"

I instinctively touched my own head and cheeks.

"…Was I that easy to read?"

`Heheh. I'm a ninja! You can't fool my Ninja Eye!`

"I see…"

Now, how should I respond?

No, I should be honest here. After being seen through so completely, it would be strange to try to hide it now.

"…Well, I thought it would be wrong to ask just out of curiosity."

`Hmm. I don't think Pai-sen or Senpai would hide it? I think they would have just told you if you asked! But you seemed to have a hard time asking, so I'll explain it for you! Ahem! You're welcome!`

"That's… yeah. Thanks."

`Don't mention it!!`

Erina-san is a strange person in many ways, but I believe she's a sincere person.

If that's what she decided, then I could trust her. I'll take her up on her offer.

"Okay, then tell me. What's the story with them?"

`Then I shall tell the tale… Wait a sec. I'll go get my shamisen.`

And on that note, she really is a strange person.

Accompanied by a bizarre melody, the story of their family circumstances began.

＊　　　　　＊　　　　　＊

…In conclusion, or rather, the 'cause' became clear.

It seems that the root of all this was Aira-san and the others' 'mother.'