arc2 · 047-ch47

Chapter 47: Dungeon Agency Dungeon Safety Management Division

"I'm home!"

"Oh, welcome back. Lunch is ready."

When I got home, Mom was making lunch. Man, am I grateful! Really, thank goodness Mom's back on her feet.

Since my little sister Umi was still at school, it was just me and Mom eating yakisoba together. Mm, delicious.

"I'll wash the dishes."

"Oh, thank you. Hehe, looks like you've gotten a lot more capable since I was hospitalized. That's a big help."

I'd never done housework before, but it's true—while Mom was in the hospital, Umi and I took turns handling chores. And now those efforts are paying off. Behold, this sparkling clean plate!

After finishing lunch, I immediately called up the real estate agent. It was about that apartment I'd found yesterday that looked promising. Maybe because it was over the phone, the conversation went more smoothly than I expected, and I managed to schedule a viewing. Since I wanted to go with Mom and Umi, I booked it for Sunday. One more thing to look forward to.

Now, what should I do next? Hyakka Ryouran's next dungeon run hasn't been decided yet, and there are no requests from Kokushi Musou either. Maybe I should bring the website back up.

I headed upstairs and turned on my PC.

(Alright, let's do this.)

Last time I'd panicked and shut it down because of the flood of emails, so this time I reorganized requests by rank. That should make things a bit easier to browse. I also added a notice on the homepage explaining that due to the overwhelming number of requests, I'd be taking them one at a time, starting from each rank in order.

(Hm? There's already an email. Wait—what? 'Dungeon Agency Dungeon Safety Management Division'? What is this?)

I opened the email.

"'I apologize for the sudden contact. My name is Arihara, from the Dungeon Agency's Dungeon Safety Management Division. I have had the opportunity to view the broadcast videos you have recorded. Additionally, from your homepage, I understand that this drone is operated remotely from outside the dungeon.

This technology has not yet been established, and we believe it holds the potential to bring significant reform to future dungeon safety management. With that in mind, I have reached out in hopes of speaking with you directly. If you are willing, please reply to this address.'"

This is bad. Really, really bad. I'd thought it was possible the government might take an interest in me, but I never imagined I'd actually get an email like this. What should I do?

I lay down on my bed and thought it over.

First, there's the scenario where I meet this person. I'd end up having to talk about my skill. That means one more person besides my family and Himehana would know my true identity. I need to consider that risk.

But if I want to keep doing this activity, I can't just keep running from the government forever. On the contrary, if I can get their approval here, maybe I could even become an explorer. Well, I probably shouldn't get my hopes up too much on that front.

Still, is not meeting them even an option? But if I do meet, it should be after I finish checking Hayate's abilities tomorrow. The day after that I'm going apartment hunting, so let's make it the day after that. After my university lectures are done should be fine.

I sent back a reply saying as much.

(By the way, does Hayate have a status screen or something?)

After sending the email, I was thinking about my skills when the thought suddenly struck me. I should check this.

"Hayate, summon!"

I summoned Hayate inside my room. The black body materialized out of thin air. Seeing it again up close, it really is incredible. It's just like how Kokushi Musou's members generated their own weapons.

"Status!"

Name: Hayate Lv1 Durability: 100/100 Max Speed: 100 Acceleration: 10 Hardness: 100 Standard Equipment: Telephoto Camera 　　　　　　　　 Communication Microphone 　　　　　　　　 Data Transfer Function Additional Units: None

Whoa, it actually has a status screen! Okay, durability is straightforward. When that hits zero, it probably disappears. Max speed is... per hour, I assume? And acceleration—based on how it felt last time, it probably accelerates by about ten kilometers per hour each second? Hardness is probably like a defense stat in a game.

Then there's the standard equipment. The telephoto camera is a welcome addition—it should have performance comparable to Asahi's. And the communication microphone is going to be controversial. With this, communication between the surface and inside a dungeon becomes possible. In other words, when a dungeon error or a dungeon modification occurs, I could relay information to explorers immediately.

Oh, by the way—a "dungeon modification" is a phenomenon where some kind of anomaly occurs within a dungeon, causing the dungeon's overall rank to increase. A sudden jump in dungeon rank means the monsters' ranks go up too. Because of this, several explorers lose their lives every year.

The problem is, I can only summon one drone. If it's just on standby, that's one thing, but if it's inside a dungeon filming, I wouldn't be able to respond quickly. Well, if I'm asked, I'd like to help as much as I can though.

Wait, hold on? What if, by actively cooperating, I could get permission for my drone to enter dungeons alone? Then I wouldn't have to keep asking Himehana every time—I could run all sorts of tests inside dungeons by myself. This might be worth asking about.

Hm? What's the last one? Additional Units? Can I attach some kind of equipment to it? There's no explanation for how, and I can't even see any spots where you'd mount something you'd buy off the shelf. What's the deal with this?

But the fact that this field exists probably means I'll be able to add equipment at some point. Now that's got me a little excited.

In the end, the rest of the day flew by as I researched the Dungeon Agency and made preparations for the days ahead.