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Chapter 68 - Interlude: The Alchemy Enthusiasts Club's Technology is the Finest in the World!

Interlude: The Alchemy Enthusiasts Club's Technology is the Finest in the World!

No POV

Somewhere in Kanagawa Prefecture.

Inside a dungeon.

If one were to describe the place in a word, it would be an 'ancient castle.'

What must have once been smooth stone now formed the floor and walls.

What must have once been lavish tapestries now decorated the walls.

This castle must have once been magnificent. Now, however, it was a moldy ruin on the verge of collapse.

Fine cracks spiderwebbed across the floor and walls, with holes large enough to fit a finger in places. The cloths hanging on the walls were either torn or riddled with moth-eaten holes, their original patterns long lost to time.

Amidst the glow of the SDF-installed lights, a shadow moved forward, its footsteps echoing with a heavy thud, thud.

It had a smooth surface. A beastly mask fixed in a plastered-on smile. A form that seemed to be a mix of a quadruped and a human, or perhaps a beast just moments before transforming into a person.

It was clearly inhuman. If one had to describe it, it was... well...

It was a ceramic tanuki statue. Or rather, it was a golem from the Alchemy Enthusiasts Club, equipped with a Magi Battery.

Behind the tanuki golem, which held a shield resembling a woven straw hat, was the Walkers guild master, Yamashita Hiroshi. With him were his sister's friend and party member, Kiriko, and his childhood friend, Shougo.

Bringing up the rear was an alchemist on loan from the Alchemy Enthusiasts Club. It wasn't Ichiyanagi, who had accompanied them before, but a woman in her late thirties.

Artificial lights illuminated the group as they cautiously advanced through the dungeon.

But then, the SDF lighting fixtures, far sturdier than any civilian model, suddenly began to flicker violently.

It wasn't just one or two. More than ten lights were flashing on and off, centered on their position.

Faced with such a clear anomaly, everyone's vigilance heightened, but no one panicked.

"It's coming. Be careful."

At Yamashita's words, they all went back-to-back, scanning their surroundings.

As they tried to eliminate any blind spots, it came from above.

The lights abruptly died. The moment darkness took hold, a faintly glowing something crawled out from the ceiling.

A dimly shining skull. A skeletal body draped in rags, its arm slowly reaching for Shougo. Its fingertips steal the vitality of the living.

A ghost. A phantom. This monster, known by many names, was called one thing in a dungeon.

A Wraith.

An intangible soul of the dead that cannot be harmed by worldly weapons—

"Whoa, that's cold?!"

—Or something that just looked like one.

THWACK! Shougo, who had been touched on the helmet, reflexively slammed his axe into it.

The Wraith was sent flying from the impact, its skull cracking. Just as it seemed to stabilize in mid-air, it extended a bony arm and chanted a spell at Yamashita, who was in the lead.

"Cackle-cackle-cackle...!"

It was a curse. Anyone struck by this magic would suffer from reduced muscle strength for as long as the caster existed.

"Hah!"

"Kagyaaaa?!"

...though the effect was negligible.

In a single bound, Yamashita closed the distance, and with a swing of his iron mace, the Wraith was unceremoniously annihilated. A handful of salt fell to the floor, leaving behind a crude coin in its midst.

With the Wraith's destruction, the lights flickered back on. When that specter drew near, artificial lights would strangely cease to function, even without being broken. In a way, it made its approach easy to detect. And even in the dark, its faint glow meant you never lost sight of it.

Brushing off the clinging salt, Yamashita picked up the coin.

"You okay, Hiroshi?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. The curses these Wraiths use are pretty weak."

"Maybe so, but be careful. You've seen what happens to people killed by Wraiths plenty of times."

"...You're right."

A deep furrow naturally formed between Yamashita's brows.

He remembered the stampede in Chiba. So many people had been killed by these specters.

Awakened Persons were tough. Since the Day of Awakening, there had been very few cases of an Awakened Person falling ill to a physical disease.

This unusual resistance also seemed effective against curses and poisons. For an Awakened Person, a curse from a regular Wraith would result in little more than a slight feeling of lethargy.

For a non-Awakened, however, the result was tragic.

The loss of muscle strength would make it impossible to even stand, and soon the muscles needed for breathing and beating the heart would fail to work properly.

Once cursed, they'd be lucky to last an hour. The memory of the townspeople dying in agony made something sour rise in Yamashita's throat.

Shougo gave his nauseous friend a light pat on the back.

"Hey, hey, snap out of it. We're in a dungeon, remember?"

"...Says the one who brought it up."

Yamashita swatted away the hand that was now slapping his back good-naturedly, but his tail was swaying slowly from side to side.

The women watched this scene with smiles.

"Nice..."

"Indeed..."

Moved by the friendship between the cat-eared youth and the boisterous muscleman were Kiriko and the member of the Alchemy Enthusiasts Club, Ninomiya Atsuko.

She was accompanying the Walkers today in place of Ichiyanagi, who couldn't make it due to personal matters.

Incidentally, Ichiyanagi's "personal matters" involved attending a concert for his favorite underground idol. Despite his quest for a homunculus wife, it seemed he operated on a 'that's that, and this is this' mentality.

"Right. Are you two okay over there?"

"No problem here."

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Good to hear."

"Hey, you can be casual with Kiriko-chan, but use polite language with Ninomiya-san. She's older than you."

Yamashita, who elbowed Shougo in the ribs, failed to notice the momentary twitch on her cheek.

"Oh, right... Sorry about that, Ninomiya-san. I keep thinking you're our age."

Ninomiya responded with a smile to Shougo's slight bow.

"Not at all. Please don't worry about it."

While there was a bit of flattery involved, looking younger than one's actual age was a common trait among the Awakened. It was a side effect of improved hair and skin quality.

There were even some Awakened who claimed their long-standing baldness had been cured. The fact that a small bald spot was starting to form on Yamashita's head was proof of just how much stress he was under.

That aside, Kiriko sensed it was best not to dwell on the topic of age and turned her gaze behind them.

"Hey, are we going the right way?"

The being walking behind them did not respond vocally.

With a faint hum of a motor, the buggy-like vehicle moved. It was an unmanned machine, equipped with three pairs of rugged tires.

This was not a golem. It was a prototype cargo robot under development by the Self-Defense Force for small-unit operations within dungeons. Its name was Chabouzu.

It stood one meter high, was 1.2 meters wide, and 2.1 meters long, with a maximum payload of 110 kilograms.

It was programmed to follow the person walking in front of it via a sensor mounted on its front.

However, it was still in the prototype stage. It had numerous problems, such as the sensor's effective range being too short, causing it to lose track of the person ahead, and its underdeveloped AI getting it stuck on corners.

Kiriko's question wasn't directed at the cargo robot, but at the bizarre golem perched on top of it.

It had the form of a fox. But to simply call it a 'fox statue' would be an understatement.

Intricate carvings imitating white fur covered its entire body. Its head was that of a blindfolded fox, while its upper body was more humanoid.

Its ample chest, however, featured three pairs of breasts, and its forearms had a skeletal structure closer to that of a beast.

Its lower body was more fox-like compared to its torso, and three tails extended from its rear. Its bent hind legs looked just like a fox's at first glance, but if one imagined them straightened, they would seem a bit too long.

This golem, sitting on the back of the Chabouzu in a posture much like a dog's, was the new model created by the Alchemy Enthusiasts Club.

As usual, the design was handled by the vice-chairman. According to him, 'I actually held back on the number of breasts. I really wanted to go with four pairs, but I felt like my sanity would snap if I did.'

It was a secret that he had once again tried to craft the fur himself, only to be stopped by the other club members due to cost and durability concerns.

But I digress. This new golem, Denko, had no vocal functions.

Instead, purple text materialized on a mirror strapped to the Chabouzu.

'Yes. A reaction from a similar model is 130 meters from here. Please proceed straight for 70 meters, then turn left.'

The homunculus housed within it would respond with text like this. A closer look revealed that a tube, like an umbilical cord, connected the mirror to Denko.

"So? Pretty amazing, isn't it? Our technology."

Ninomiya, who had peered over from the side, smiled smugly.

—Radio waves don't work inside dungeons.

Wireless communication within the labyrinth was impossible, and sensors were only effective at extremely close ranges. To contact someone from a distance, one had to rely on some kind of skill. However, those with skills like Telepathy were rare.

As a result, parties that entered separately had to rely almost entirely on luck to meet up.

However, Denko was created as a solution to this problem.

"Homunculi created by the same person possess mana of the same quality. By amplifying and emitting it, the Denko units can detect each other's locations. We can't communicate yet, and the effective range is only about 300 meters, but eventually, we'll be able to talk freely inside dungeons."

"Wow."

Kiriko gave a noncommittal nod to Ninomiya's rapid-fire explanation. It was, after all, the third time she'd heard it.

Ignoring her reaction, Ninomiya continued.

"And once Denko can be miniaturized or walk on its own, a wider range of strategic operations will become possible. Then, humanity will use its numbers and wisdom to conquer the dungeons, and there will be no more casualties from stampedes!"

"Haha... You're incredibly passionate."

She whirled around to face the wryly smiling Yamashita with such speed it seemed her neck might have twisted a full 180 degrees.

Yamashita's tail jumped with a start. To be honest, the current Ninomiya was scarier than any Wraith.

"Of course I am! Do you have any idea... any idea how many lives have been lost to monsters...!"

Yamashita nodded with a solemn expression at Ninomiya's genuinely pained words.

"Yes..."

"Among them, there must have been 'Rose Couples'!!"

"Yes..."

Yamashita averted his gaze, his solemn expression unwavering.

Ninomiya Atsuko, 37, single. A woman with a history of failed matchmaking attempts, a result of having high standards for men while doing very little to improve herself. She had apparently reached the conclusion, 'If my ideal boyfriend doesn't exist, I'll just have to make one.'

She, too, was a proud member of the Alchemy Enthusiasts Club.

"I usually content myself with admiring 2D roses, but I haven't given up on the possibility that real-life pairings between handsome men exist! What reason could there possibly be to let natural blossoms wither away needlessly, unlike their artificial counterparts?!"

"Right..."

"Frankly, I don't care about anything else! I will protect... protect... the Rose Couples... especially the ones between handsome men!!"

"Uh-huh..."

Yamashita and Shougo struggled to keep their inner thoughts from showing on their faces. Out of their line of sight, Kiriko was nodding deeply in agreement.

"Well... for now, let's resume our advance."

"Yes. With the experimental data from today, we will further improve Denko's performance. For the sake of protecting the roses by eradicating the dungeons, I shall work myself to the bone."

Sensing a slight disconnect in their conversation, Yamashita simply nodded with a vague smile.

He felt as if his Awakened body, supposed to be tough, was being ground down by something. Mostly his stomach lining and scalp.

As they started walking again, Ninomiya spoke as if she'd returned to her senses.

"But this Chabouzu, was it? It's impressive you were able to rent something like this."

"Ahaha... Well, we plan to cooperate with the SDF in the future. Through those connections, you see."

Ninomiya's gaze sharpened.

"I see... I trust you, but please, do not do anything like forcing an introduction between our club and the SDF. And passing on the equipment we've provided exclusively to you to them is strictly forbidden."

"Yes, of course. I promise you, we will never do such a thing."

"Good. If we were to get tied up with public servants, it would interfere with our homunculus production."

As Ninomiya smiled, Yamashita felt a cold sweat run down his back.

It was obvious that the Dungeon Agency and the SDF were intensely interested in the Alchemy Enthusiasts Club. One could even say they had approached the Walkers with that as their main objective.

However, they had never pressured Yamashita to arrange a meeting. He'd been asked once by Director Akasaka of the Dungeon Agency to mediate, but after he declined, nothing more was said.

Yet, he also felt a sense of being slowly cornered, as if a silken cord was tightening around his neck. Unable to bind the Alchemy Enthusiasts Club, they were likely planning to put a collar on him instead.

The power balance between the Walkers and the Alchemy Enthusiasts Club hadn't changed, even with his guild's rapid growth. If the club decided to cut ties, that would be the end of it. What would happen to the collar placed on him then?

Caught between a government organization and a band of perverts, Yamashita was on the verge of tears.

...And to make matters worse, the Dungeon Agency was probing him about things other than the club.

The Invisible Ninjas.

The mysterious party that had once saved Yamashita's group in a dungeon. Director Akasaka was extremely interested in the name they had used.

But Yamashita had little to say on that matter either.

Partly because he simply didn't know much... but he also remembered the warning he had received from that mysterious voice at the time: 'Do not pry.'

He doubted that ridiculous name was their actual organization's name, but it was still possible that a secret society of highly skilled Awakened really existed.

With that in mind, Yamashita kept his mouth shut—half out of gratitude for being saved, and half out of fear of retribution.

He had no way of knowing that the self-proclaimed ninja who had said those words had only done so because, 'It sounds cooler that way!'

'Turn left, soon.'

"It says to turn left next."

"Got it."

Yamashita nodded at Kiriko, who had read the text displayed by Denko.

And, just ahead, where they were instructed to go...

"Brother!"

There, accompanied by another Denko unit, was Yamashita's sister, Akemi, and her temporary party, waving at them.

The experiment was a success. Behind Yamashita, who waved back at his sister, Ninomiya powerfully pumped her fist.

"Hehe... hehehehe! With this, we're another step closer to our ambition...! By increasing the demand for homunculi, we advance 'that plan'...!"

Kiriko, who overheard the murmur, tilted her head.

"'That plan'?"

"...The Alchemy Enthusiasts Club was formed by people gathered for the sake of their 'ideal homunculus wife' or 'husband.' Naturally, I have a wish of my own."

Ninomiya turned to Kiriko with a cheerful smile. If Yamashita had turned around at that moment, he might have noticed the faint beads of cold sweat on her brow.

But he didn't. To conceal the club's 'true plan,' Ninomiya told Kiriko a different truth.

"To create two handsome German homunculus husbands, have them get all lovey-dovey, and then sandwich myself between them. That, you see, is my ideal. Don't you think it's wonderful?"

"What the hell did you just say...?"

Kiriko snapped.