kscans

Chapter 45 - Interlude: The Changing Dungeon Situation

Side: None

A certain location in Kanagawa Prefecture.

Inside a dungeon.

The space had a cave-like structure, yet the floor, walls, and ceiling were all bizarrely covered in ‘sprouting’ gravestones.

Mysterious characters were carved into the simple stone monuments, but every single one was scratched and illegible, as if clawed at.

It was a labyrinth that looked as though a graveyard had been scooped up, ground and all, and rolled into a tube. Here and there were several holes, large enough for a person to enter.

The scene before the graves looked as though the dead had been dug up. But that was likely not the case. This was a dungeon. These holes were probably just for show.

Even if they weren't, it was surely not the work of grave robbers.

Because.

Gah, ahhh…!

The corpses had crawled out on their own.

Cloudy white eyes. Skin peeling away in patches, revealing bone-dry flesh underneath.

They weren’t decaying, yet they held no life. They were corpses, walking on their own two feet.

Zombies.

Facing these ‘monsters that resembled people’ were three individuals and two constructs.

Yamashita Hiroshi and his party member, Kiriko.

And Ichiyanagi, an alchemist dispatched from the Alchemy Enthusiasts Club.

They had brought two golems with them into this dungeon, which only allowed three people to pass through the gate at a time.

Bzzzzzz…!!

"Go, my golems."

At Ichiyanagi’s command, the golems advanced with heavy thuds. With round shields held firmly in both hands, they pushed back the four attacking zombies, not yielding a single step.

The zombies moaned and tried to scratch with their tattered claws, but the shields prevented them from reaching the golems’ heads, and their arms only managed to leave faint scratches on the armor.

The zombies were lanky, but their strength surpassed that of an average adult male. Even with four of them grappling at once, they couldn’t move the golems.

"If you would."

"Right."

While the golems held the line, Yamashita and Kiriko stepped forward, taking Ichiyanagi’s place.

They held simple, unadorned spears. The two-meter-long weapons had tips made from ‘dungeon-forged iron’—primarily from coins dropped in F-Rank dungeons.

Low-rank coins contained more iron than gold or silver. They weren’t suitable for making magic tools, but they were actually better for weapons.

With the partial revision of the Dungeon Law, the Sword and Firearms Control Law had become a bit more lenient with the proper applications. They planned to lend out the alchemically created spears, along with the golems, within the Walkers guild.

There was a reason for using dungeon coins instead of ordinary iron.

‘Attacking monsters with anything other than Arcane Gear, bare hands, or dungeon items results in less experience gain.’

A former Self-Defense Force member turned adventurer… who also called himself an ‘Adventurer Advisor,’ had posted this online, and it had spread as a rumor.

Regardless of its truth, the Alchemy Enthusiasts Club had made it a practice to use drop items for their armaments.

Yamashita and Kiriko thrust their spears from between the golems, piercing the zombies’ heads. Though they were the walking dead, these monsters could be felled by physical trauma just like the living. On top of that, their intelligence was low, so as long as the frontline held, there was no chance of losing.

The zombies, their heads impaled, collapsed powerlessly to the ground and turned to salt.

After confirming that all four had been neutralized, Yamashita nodded.

"Let’s take a break. Ichiyanagi-san, please stay in the center, between us."

"Thank you, I appreciate the offer."

The man, in his late twenties or early thirties, wore a loose, robe-like Arcane Gear.

Looking like he was clearly not the athletic type, he wiped sweat from his brow with a handkerchief and leaned against the wall, flanked by Yamashita and his companion. The golems stood on the outermost side, serving as a wall in case of an emergency.

"Good work. How’s your mana holding up?"

"Oh, I’m still fine. I’m just out of shape. And, well… dungeons are still nerve-wracking, you know."

Yamashita nodded back at Ichiyanagi’s wry smile.

"I know what you mean. Our lives are on the line in this line of work. Not to mention, the monsters aren’t exactly pleasant to look at while fighting."

"Haha. But thanks to that, we can conduct our tests without any reservations."

"True enough."

This F-Rank dungeon they were in had been left behind by the recent adventurer boom.

The reason was simple. No one wanted to fight zombies.

Of course, there were adventurers who were fans of such movies and came here eagerly, but they were in the minority. Most rookie adventurers had a strong aversion to monsters that resembled people.

There was even a story about an adventurer who, inspired by zombie movies, came here full of excitement, only to end up in counseling the next day.

"Besides, acting as a wall against opponents that humans don’t want to face in close combat is a combat golem’s job, after all."

"Indeed. As test subjects, these are the perfect monsters."

The two men said, looking intently at the golems.

But Yamashita had something he wanted to say about the golem’s design.

"…Um."

"Yes, what is it? Is there something wrong with the golems?"

"No, it’s not that. It’s just… why are they ‘tanuki’?"

Yamashita observed the golem from the tips of its claws to the top of its head.

From any angle, it was a tanuki. To be more specific, it looked exactly like a Shigaraki ware tanuki statue.

An endearing, round face, a large protruding belly. A smooth body surface, and a round shield designed like a woven straw hat.

Standing at about 150 centimeters tall, it looked like it belonged in a tourist spot or an izakaya.

"This new model combat golem is equipped with a prototype Magi Battery, created through the full efforts of the Alchemy Enthusiasts Club, designed for dungeon explorations of around two hours. Its fuel efficiency is still poor, but with one Awakened Person with high mana acting as a recharger, it’s possible to operate two units simultaneously. However, the battery itself is large and at risk of damage, so the abdomen, where it’s stored, needed to be especially heavily armored!"

"And the reason it’s a tanuki?"

"It’s the vice-chairman’s hobby."

"Ah…"

Yamashita made a complicated face, annoyed that he could understand.

"For the record, he said at the meeting that ‘in a harsh environment, this appearance will be soothing’…"

"Well, yes. I won’t… deny that."

Coming from the vice-chairman, ‘K,’ a known furry, it sounded like nothing more than a convenient excuse.

Yamashita was not yet aware that the current steel plate armor had nearly been replaced by an artificial fur of K’s own creation.

"Hiroshi-san."

"What is it, Kiriko-chan?"

"This tanuki doesn’t have any balls."

"A girl shouldn’t say things like ‘balls’."

Yamashita gently tapped Kiriko’s head as she stared intently at the golems’ groins after collecting the drop items. It was so light it was more like resting his hand on her.

Ichiyanagi chuckled at the sight.

"You two seem to get along well."

"Well, she’s my sister’s friend, so she used to come over to our house quite often. That’s how we know each other."

"Haha, I’m envious…"

Ichiyanagi Atsushi stared off into the distance. His age was equal to the number of years he’d been single. To him, anyone who could talk so casually with the opposite sex looked like an alien.

But he wouldn’t be discouraged. He had dreams and hopes now!

"Alright, let’s resume our exploration."

"Yes, let’s."

All for the sake of my ideal ‘homunculus wife’! To be specific, for the sake of a sexy, beautiful golem with a bust over a meter!

Ichiyanagi Atsushi’s eyes sparkled like a boy’s as he started walking again.

Yamashita maintained his business smile towards him. He had developed a strong tolerance after his meetings with the chairman and vice-chairman.

He was sure this tolerance would only grow stronger as he continued to associate with the Alchemy Enthusiasts Club. The day Yamashita developed a bald spot from stress was not far off.

As the group moved out with the golems in the lead, Kiriko, walking second, muttered in a voice too low for the two behind her to hear.

"So they’re not a male couple…"

The zombies hadn’t rotted, but her hobbies were just a little bit rotten.

*

Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Central Government Complex.

Once again, the staff of the Dungeon Agency were gathered in the meeting space in the corner of the room.

"—And that concludes the ‘warnings’ from the Ministry of Defense and the National Police Agency."

Closing her laptop, a female staff member looked towards the director.

"…It’s as we expected, but it still stings."

"Yeah. They seem angry enough to send a special forces team to your house, Director."

Next to the director, whose frown deepened, a staff member holding a tablet laughed cheerfully.

"But it’s true that the number of Awakened Persons from the Self-Defense Force and the police becoming adventurers has sharply increased. It could affect our ability to defend against dungeons."

"I know. However, those who would quit now would have been poached by foreign countries or corporations sooner or later anyway. The signs were there even before sales were liberalized."

"But the number of troubles… or rather, crimes, occurring inside dungeons is also on the rise, you know? Is it really okay for the police to be losing Awakened Persons who can fight?"

"It’s probably not okay… but unfortunately, that’s outside our jurisdiction. However, they are likely already devising countermeasures for criminal activities within dungeons in various departments, including the Investigation Support and Analysis Center."

"That’s true. It seems that adventurers who commit such crimes often talk about their offenses as if they were heroic deeds on social media or in video posts. It’s possible to track them from there. But actually arresting an Awakened Person will be difficult."

"…I will go and apologize to the Ministry of Defense and the National Police Agency later. I don’t regret that decision, but it’s a fact that we’ve caused them a great deal of trouble."

"It’d be nice if we could pay them more than adventurers get."

"Budgets are tight everywhere. At least on the front lines."

The staff of the Dungeon Agency let out a collective deep sigh. They were in the same boat, with no room to spare.

"Still… why would anyone do something like this?"

One of the staff members tilted his head as he looked over the materials on ‘training’ and ‘paint forgery’ in his hands.

"You’d make more money just being a normal adventurer than by chasing clout."

"…The culprit arrested for the training incident stated that his motive was ‘stress from his personal life’."

"…What?"

The staff member who had just mumbled fell silent at the female staffer’s reply from her laptop.

"Apparently, the culprit in the training incident didn’t upload anything online. It seems to have been a malicious act for his own amusement."

"Speaking of malicious, that ‘graffiti mimicking the Self-Defense Force’s markings’ was the same."

The male staff member with the tablet laughed.

"They did some clever things like hiding personally identifiable information before uploading and routing it through overseas servers, but they still got caught yesterday. They’re remaining silent, but I bet the motive for that one was less about clout chasing and more about wanting to ‘get back at all those cool adventurers,’ or something like that."

The staff member who had spoken earlier was speechless at the male staffer’s casual yet confident tone.

"…Was there any connection between the adventurer who got lost because of that paint and the culprit?"

"None have been found so far. But for this culprit, it was harassment against the ‘image of other adventurers he had in his head’… so frankly, I don’t think he put much thought into it."

"F-For a reason like that, he’d do something so… something that could get people killed?"

"That’s just how the world is. And it’s not like this is anything new."

"Indeed. It’s unforgivable, but acts like throwing things onto expressways have existed since before dungeons appeared."

"That’s true… But since the culprit was caught, it won’t happen again, right?"

"Nope."

"Similar reports, and reports of other troubles, have been coming in. These kinds of crimes won’t disappear so easily."

"I… see."

The staff member who had first spoken gave a dry laugh.

The only thing that made it unusual was that it happened in a dungeon. Aside from that, it was, unfortunately, a very common type of crime. These ‘pranks in the eyes of the perpetrator,’ which were far from what most people would call pranks and could easily take human lives.

As an indescribable atmosphere settled over the room, the director clapped his hands to change the subject.

"Alright, let’s move on to the next topic. I want a report on leveling up through means other than ‘killing monsters’."

"Yes, sir."

At the director’s words, one of the staff members raised a small hand.

"We conducted various experiments with the cooperation of 1,200 Awakened Persons. That was a year ago, but in the last month, we’ve received a succession of level-up reports from the group that continued with ‘spiritual training such as Zen meditation and waterfall asceticism’."

"And they really haven’t killed any living creatures?"

"That’s correct. The majority of the participants are people who work at temples and shrines. They are under public scrutiny, and more importantly, over thirty of them leveled up at almost the same time. The possibility of gaining experience through spiritual training is high."

"Continue the investigation and conduct interviews. I want as much detailed data as possible. I’ll also look into whether there are similar cases among Awakened Persons who have gone abroad."

"Yes, sir."

Upon hearing his subordinate’s report, the director placed a hand on his chin and looked over the documents on his desk.

"Still… to think that experience can be gained through means other than killing living things."

"But it seems to be quite inefficient. They only gained one level in a year."

A female staff member muttered while looking at the data shared on her laptop.

"There are multiple cases of adventurers reaching LV: 10 within a month of getting their license. The results don’t match the effort and time invested."

"Well, it could still be a nice gift for the police and the Self-Defense Force, right? The higher-ups probably want to give their people a safety margin before sending them into the field."

"Indeed. I’ll take this information with me when I go to apologize."

"Also… this is not yet highly reliable, but."

"What is it? Go on."

The same staff member continued hesitantly.

"It’s possible that Awakened Persons with high initial stats and large stat gains upon leveling up also level up faster. This is based on data from the spiritual training case, not monster combat."

"…Until now, we thought it was because ‘their high stats allowed them to actively engage in combat with monsters,’ but another possibility has emerged."

"Doesn’t this mean we have to keep an even closer eye on the strong Awakened Persons?"

"I see… Could you summarize the information on that matter for me later?"

"Yes, sir!"

Strong Awakened Persons are more likely to become even stronger.

This was good news, as it would increase the speed at which monsters were culled, but it was also bad news, as it would drastically increase the danger if such Awakened Persons were to plot crimes or acts of terrorism.

"There are already many Awakened Persons at LV: 10 who are stronger than a Self-Defense Force soldier or a U.S. soldier armed with a rifle. And while there are still few, there are reports of those at LV: 20 or higher delivering punches equivalent to an anti-materiel rifle with their bare hands…"

"Their pure physical strength is one thing, but the durability of their Arcane Gear is also a problem. We had an Awakened Person of LV: 20 or higher cooperate by placing a piece of their Arcane Gear on a stand, and the Self-Defense Force fired at it… Apparently, a 5.56mm round fired from close range failed to penetrate."

"And on top of that, you have a mind that understands human society and a form that can disappear into a crowd. Seriously, is public safety going to be okay?"

The male staff member with the tablet looked around at his colleagues. But no one answered.

They were all looking at the director, a hint of anxiety on their faces.

"…Even with food, clothing, and shelter, people can still commit crimes."

The director met their gazes head-on.

"There are theories of inherent goodness and inherent evil, but either way, humans are creatures that make mistakes. That being said, I don't want any of you to be prejudiced against Awakened Persons. For better, or for worse."

His own daughter was an Awakened Person. It might seem like he was letting his personal feelings show in order to protect his child.

But his subordinates didn’t think so. They all knew of their boss’s clumsy sincerity.

"We will take countermeasures, and we will cooperate with the police and the Self-Defense Force. But. Do not forget your own jobs. Our work requires us to look at Awakened Persons without colored glasses. It may be difficult, but I believe that the members here are capable of it."

"Yes, sir!"

The director nodded at his subordinates’ clear and cheerful reply.

"I’m going to speak with the police and the Self-Defense Force now, but separately, I’ll be bringing some advice on arresting Awakened Persons at a later date. I want each of you to think of something by tomorrow’s meeting. Even a rough idea is fine. I need a starting point."

"Yes, sir."

"Also… I need a list of former police officers who are now adventurers, whom we might ask for cooperation in case of an emergency."

"Understood. I’ll take care of that."

"Thank you."

The director turned another page of the documents in his hand.

"Alright, next on the agenda. The reports from the Dungeon Stores and training centers regarding staff shortages."

"Right. But we don’t have the budget to hire new people or reassign anyone. We’ll have to supplement with mechanization where we can."

"Myself and three others are currently creating the program and the corresponding manual. We should have something concrete by the end of the month."

"Understood. I’m counting on you. Also, there’s a high possibility that ‘customers’ will visit the stores. Be mindful of security as well."

"Yes, sir. I’m sure everyone wants information on Awakened Persons."

It would be several days before the staff of the Dungeon Agency were able to go home.