arc1 · 004-ch4

Episode 4: Preparing for Work

By late afternoon, I'd finished checking out the drone's performance and my skill, so I locked myself in my room right away. Skipping lunch sucked, but what could I do. I'd make do with the snacks Umi got from her elementary school friends as souvenirs. She'd split them in half with me, so I gratefully accepted.

Right after finishing, I sat down in front of my PC and looked up rental drone rates. Obviously, to figure out how much to charge for dungeon filming.

"Hmm, so for rental, the cheapest machine is 5,000 yen per hour, then an extra 2,000 yen for each additional hour after that. The ten-hour pack gets a slight discount at 20,000 yen. And a full day is even cheaper at 40,000 yen.

For nicer machines, it's 20,000 yen per hour, plus 5,000 yen for each extra hour. Ten hours would be 60,000 yen, and a full day is 120,000 yen."

I'd apparently been mumbling to myself while staring at the computer. Maybe I'd started talking to myself more since Mom got hospitalized. Was I really that lonely?

Anyway, the important part—pricing. Should I go cheap or expensive? I wasn't sure. If I priced lower than rentals, I'd definitely get more requests, but the rental industry might come after me. Plus, I'd be doing this alone, so I couldn't handle that many jobs anyway. In that case, it'd probably be better to set my prices a bit higher and add some value.

Instead of hourly rates, what if I set a base price according to dungeon difficulty? Rank F, the lowest, would be 30,000 yen per day. Rank E would be 50,000 yen. Rank D would be 150,000 yen, Rank C would be 300,000 yen, Rank B would be 500,000 yen, and Rank A would be 800,000 yen. I don't think it'll happen, but Rank S would be 2 million yen!

It's a bit pricier than rentals, but in exchange, if the drone breaks while I'm operating it, there's no compensation required. If they want, I'd also take on video editing. Editing would be free, but I'd set it up so the reward changes based on how many views the footage I shot gets.

Now that I've settled on prices, I need to actually confirm whether I can really operate the drone remotely from outside the dungeon. For that, I'll need someone to take me up on a job. Ideally, I'd want a party, but... I guess she's the only option. Actually, come to think of it, she's the only acquaintance I have.

The one person outside my family who I can actually talk to normally. My childhood friend, Maihana Hanazono. She's also the only person who knows about my Job. After all, she was there when I awakened, so when I suddenly awakened to a Job, I was so surprised I ended up telling her. Back then, I didn't know this Job was useless.

Right after me, Hanazono awakened to the Twin Swordsman Job and became an explorer. Now she'd quit university and was putting everything into being an explorer. I'm pretty sure she'd already reached Rank D by now. It's been a while since we last talked, so hopefully she picks up.

I grabbed my phone and tried calling Hanazono—the only person besides Mom saved in my contacts. If she's in a dungeon, it won't connect, but let's see.

Ring ring, ring ring, click.

Oh, looks like I got lucky and she picked up.

"Sota!? It's been forever! I kept calling you and you never picked up, so what's with you calling me out of the blue!?"

The moment the call connected, an energetic voice burst out of the phone. It was kinda loud, so I held the phone a little away from my ear.

"A-ah, can you talk right now? Actually, I'm thinking about getting a job. And there's something I'd like your help with."

"Huh!? Really, what happened to you!? You, the shut-in, suddenly getting a job!? What happened!?"

She's the precious person outside my family who actually worries about me. Even after I became a hikikomori, she kept reaching out multiple times. Back when I was escaping reality, I never picked up those calls, but...

"Well, a lot of things happened, and I realized I can't keep going on like this. So I was thinking of becoming a camera operator for dungeon streamers."

"Oh? I won't ask for details, but if you're saying you'll work, then count me in for sure! So I should hire you as our cameraman? But can you even go into dungeons? I'm pretty sure your Job wasn't suited for combat."

As expected from someone who's genuinely kind-hearted at her core. She agreed to my request without a moment's hesitation. She's too good a person for someone like me as a childhood friend.

"Nah, I'm not going to fight. That's why I bought a drone."

"Ah! I see, that's an option! For you, that's actually a pretty good idea. But we always rent our drones, you know. If it's a better deal than that, I think the other party members would agree too."

Hmm, yeah, what Hanazono says makes sense. It's not like they're doing this for fun. Let me check if they'd actually accept my terms.

"How much does your party pay for drone rentals?"

"Well, when we go into Rank D dungeons, we rent a pretty high-performance drone. I think it's the plan where the first hour is 20,000 yen, then 5,000 yen per hour after that."

Right. That's roughly in line with what I looked up earlier.

"What I'm thinking is no hourly rate—just a flat 150,000 yen per day for a Rank D dungeon. However, since I'll be operating it remotely, as long as you don't intentionally break it, there's no compensation if the drone gets damaged. I'm also thinking of taking on video editing if you want."

"Hmm, it's a bit pricey, but when you factor in insurance costs, that might actually be the better deal. Plus, no compensation is a huge relief. Rank D dungeons have some pretty strong monsters, you know. If you let your guard down, drones get wrecked pretty often. The insurance fees for that are pretty steep."

Yeah, yeah, looks like my pricing wasn't off the mark. But since this is basically a trial run, I should sweeten the deal to make sure they agree.

"If you'll take me on this time, I'm thinking of cutting it in half as a first-time offer. What do you think? On top of that, I'd like a percentage of whatever revenue you earn from the stream. We'd need to discuss that part."

"Seriously!? Half price is fine!? Then the party members will definitely say yes! As for revenue, I think ten percent or so wouldn't be a problem.

I'll ask everyone tomorrow! Still though, you going into a dungeon... It's dangerous, are you gonna be okay?"

"Nah, I'm not going into the dungeon. Since it's remote operation, if it's nearby I'll operate from here, and if it's far away, I'll haul the drone out there and operate from a nearby manga café or something."

"Huh? But radio waves don't reach into dungeons from outside, right? And you're doing remote operation? Huh? Huh?"

Well, yeah, that makes sense. But Hanazono should know about my Job. She's still a bit airheaded as always.

"Mine works through my skill, so."

"Huh? That's a thing? Isn't that, like, super amazing? You can go into dungeons safely. If only you had combat ability, you could've leveled up without taking any risks."

There's no way things work out that conveniently. But still, with this skill, I can see a path to making money. That alone is worth being grateful for.

"Oh right, keep my identity secret like before. A Job like Drone Pilot would just get me made fun of."

"Hmm, I don't think that's true, but if you say so, Sota, I'll keep it secret."

She really is a good person.

"Alright then, for the detailed arrangements..."

After that, I went over the details with Hanazono.