arc2 · 036-ch36

Arc 2: The Delivery Arc

Episode 36: I Can Now Summon Drones

(What happened? Are Hanazono and the others okay? The last thing I saw was the moment the golem fell, right?)

The first thing I worried about after the feed cut was whether Hanazono and the others were safe. Kurokage-san and Toomi-san had looked pretty badly injured. I hoped they were all right.

But with my drone destroyed, there was no way to confirm that now. So the next thing I should do was figure out that voice that had echoed through my head.

That voice had definitely said, "You have defeated the Mithril Golem." I had no idea whose voice it was or where it came from, but I prayed it wasn't lying.

The next thing I heard was "Level up," right? Wait—if that were true, I should be able to see it on my status screen! I immediately pulled up the status menu.

Name: Soramine Sota

Job: Drone Pilot

Level: 5

HP: 20

MP: 200

Skills:

Small Drone Unlocked

Drone Summon Count +1

Drone Connection

Call

Drone Info:

None

Whoa!? There's a ton of new stuff! Hold on, let me go through this from the top.

First off, my level had definitely gone up. All the way to 5 in one go. My HP hadn't increased much, but my MP had gone through the roof!? No idea what I'd use it for, though.

Next—skills. It seemed like if I focused on each one, I could see the details. Starting with Small Drone Unlocked...

After checking everything out, what I learned was that I could now summon a brand-new drone. And apparently, on top of recording video and audio, this drone could also make calls.

Right now I could only summon a small drone, and only one at that, but it was apparently made from my magic power. Even if it got destroyed, as long as I had MP, I could resummon it right away.

Now that I knew that, there was no time like the present. Let's give it a shot.

【Summoning Small Drone. Please assign a name】

Hmm, I have to name it, huh. So that means once I summon a drone, I can't swap it out. Even if I resummon, the same drone comes back.

I named my first summoned drone Unit One: "Hayate." So that I could keep up with the speed of those top-tier explorers, and so that I could rush to save Hanazono faster than anyone.

【Summoning Unit One: Hayate】

No sooner had the voice echoed through my mind than I felt something pull away from inside my body, and a screen appeared before me—one completely different from my original drone. At the same time, a speaker and something like a hard drive materialized in my hands.

(This is—!? Near Hyakka Ryouran's drone! So it gets summoned near my original drone!? And this speaker lets me talk to them, and the hard drive lets me record footage!)

The new screen showed Hanazono and Akatsuki-san tending to Toomi-san and Kurokage-san. Thank god—they'd managed to take down the Mithril Golem safely.

It looked like they had potions on them, and they were giving them to the two who'd collapsed. They'd probably wake up any minute now.

Still, Hanazono and the others didn't seem to notice this new drone at all. Could it be that since it was made from magic power, it didn't make any sound?

Right—there was a skill called "Call." That should let me talk to Hanazono and the others.

"Ahem. This is SS. Everyone in Hyakka Ryouran, are you all right?"

I couldn't think of what to say, so I ended up sounding like some suspicious person.

"Hyaa!?"

Ah—Hanazono and Akatsuki-san got so startled they fell right on their backsides. That was actually pretty cute, in its own way. Since the drone seemed to be recording too, maybe I should compile these moments into a blooper reel.

"C-could it be... SS-san? What in the world is that drone?"

Yeah, that makes sense. If a drone you'd never seen before suddenly showed up flying around, of course you'd be startled. Thank goodness this one had a calling function built in.

"Yes, it's SS. There's a bit of a story behind it, and I can't go into details, but it's definitely my drone. First things first—is everyone in Hyakka Ryouran safe?"

At a glance, there didn't seem to be any monsters around, so I checked on their well-being first.

"Yes, we're okay, somehow. Kaoru-san and Rin-san drank potions, so they should wake up soon."

While Hanazono was talking to me, it looked like Toomi-san and Kurokage-san had come to. Akatsuki-san was explaining the situation to them, so I'd leave that part to her.

"So, will you be retreating after this? If so, I'd like you to bring my drone back with you."

My original drone lay on the dungeon floor in a pathetic state, crushed and wedged in the wound on the Mithril Golem's knee. Its power was still on, but there was no way it could move.

Meanwhile, the Mithril Golem seemed to have been absorbed, but its drop items—an ingot and a magic stone—lay on the ground nearby.

"Right. Let's collect the magic stone and ingot and head back to the twentieth floor. (And... thank you for saving us.)"

Hanazono whispered that last part quietly so the others wouldn't hear. I was just so relieved she was safe.

It was a shame about the destroyed drone, but if I could fix it, I'd be able to use it again. And besides, with my level up and new skills, I was the one who should be thanking them.

Plus—this Hayate was made from my magic power. The description said it could be resummoned immediately even if destroyed. If that was the case, maybe I could pull off another ramming attack like before and take out weaker monsters. And with my level up and new skills, there was no telling what else might become possible.

Thinking about it that way, I couldn't contain my excitement. They say every cloud has a silver lining, and that was exactly what was happening here. For now, I could keep recording, so I'd watch over Hyakka Ryouran until they made it safely out of the dungeon.

As I filmed the members of Hyakka Ryouran celebrating their survival and getting excited over the Mithril Golem's drop items, I found myself thinking about the possibilities of this Drone Pilot job.

After that, Hyakka Ryouran made it safely back to the twentieth floor and used a transfer stone to return to the entrance. Hanazono was going to take my broken drone home and bring it to my place tomorrow.

That drone was the reason I was where I was now—I absolutely had to get it repaired and working again. Plus, the drone I could summon with my skill could only be summoned near this first-generation drone. In that sense too, I needed it back in working condition.

Right—let me give this one a proper name too. Alright, since it was the first drone to come to me, I'll call it "Asahi."

I'm pretty sure that was the name of the first Japanese warship ever built, back in the Edo period. Apparently it's actually supposed to be read as "Chōyō," but that's hard to say, so "Asahi" it is.

Technically it was a warship built by the Dutch, but the fact that it was a "first" is what we have in common, so I think it fits.

Now then—figuring out my Drone Pilot skills was a lucky break, but I needed to thoroughly test what this Hayate could actually do. Depending on what I found, I might be able to take on more kinds of work.

But that would have to wait until tomorrow or later. Hanazono would send me the data from Asahi, so tonight I'd be pulling an all-nighter editing the video, and tomorrow I'd have to take Asahi in for repairs. I had university in the afternoon too, so things were going to get busy.

Since I didn't know how long the repairs would take, I'd test Hayate the moment Asahi was back, and then pick up the next commission.

Oh, right—tomorrow I was supposed to hear about the first payout from Kokushi Musou. If things went well, I might get enough from this commission to afford a high-grade potion.

I didn't know if I'd find one right away, but it looked like I might get my hands on one sooner than expected. I owed everyone for that.

Oops—I could hear Umi calling for me. I'd been holed up in my room for ten hours, so she must have been worried. I'd better go show her I was in one piece.

I headed downstairs and was eating the dinner Umi had made when Hanazono called. She'd offered to give me a Mithril Ingot as thanks, but I didn't need it, so I turned her down. Money wasn't going to be an issue, after all.

Instead, I asked her for autographs from all the Hyakka Ryouran members. Umi had been wanting them. I wanted to be a good big brother, you know.

I also asked her to pull the data off my broken Asahi and send it to me. Hanazono wasn't too tech-savvy herself, but she said someone in the party who was knowledgeable about that sort of thing would handle it.

After finishing dinner, I left the cleanup to Umi and settled in front of my PC to start editing the video.