arc2 · 055-ch55

Chapter 55: Let's Accept the F-rank Party's Request

"I'm home—"

"Welcome back."

"I'm home, Onii-chan!"

By the time I got back from the government office, it was already dinnertime. Mom and Umi were there to greet me when I got home. Yeah, this kind of everyday life is something I'm grateful for. Plus, the house is getting more and more organized—Mom's been preparing for the move.

Tonight's dinner is curry rice. It's my favorite food I've been eating since I was a kid. I washed my hands right away and sat down at the table. Mom's cooking is still the best as ever. Come to think of it, Mom's settled down a lot now, and she's saying she wants to work. I told her she doesn't need to since I can earn plenty of money, but she says she still can't rely on her kids for everything just yet.

Still, she's going to focus on cooking-related work instead of juggling multiple jobs like before. I told her not to overdo it—I don't want her collapsing again.

Anyway, after dinner, it's work time. I sat down at my computer and opened up HP.

(Let's see, let's see—are there any requests?)

I checked my mailbox again, even though I'd looked once before. Counting them all up: one A-rank request, ten B-rank, forty C-rank, thirty-five D-rank, twelve E-rank, and two F-rank requests. I specified "near Tokyo," but I got way more than I expected.

But I thought lower-ranked requests would bring more offers—that wasn't the case at all. E-rank had twelve, and F-rank only had two. Maybe after filming the Kokushi Musou party (the prestigious A-rank group, "Peerless in the Nation"), the lower-ranked parties are holding back?

On the other hand, the F-rank party that did submit a request in this situation must have pretty thick nerves. Well, speaking of thick nerves, what about that Ohsaki guy? He was some Fake F-rank who said he'd let me film him. That's not thick nerves—that's something else entirely.

Well, anyway, my level is 5. Let's start by picking from the F-rank requests. By pretending to help out an F-rank party, I might be able to earn some EXP. I opened the F-rank mailbox while thinking about all this.

・Dungeon Club

・Light of Hope

Hmm, some pretty unique party names, aren't they? I mean, all the parties have names that make you wonder how they came up with them.

(Let's check the Dungeon Club one first. Let's see, three college guys.)

The first F-rank party was made up of only male college students. That university's an Explorer Training University. They say they're training explorers, but you can also get qualifications to become a Dungeon Agency staff member or an Explorer Association employee. That's the university I go to.

Looks like they're diligent students who've continued attending even after getting their explorer license. They're fourth-years, so they probably don't know me, but we might have passed each other on campus.

The three jobs are: Fighter, Shortbow Archer, and Acrobat. Fighter and Shortbow Archer are fine, but what the heck is an Acrobat? I don't think they're suited for direct combat, but maybe they'd be useful as scouts or something?

Next, the Light of Hope party has four members—two guys and two girls. Their ages are pretty varied. The jobs are: Prayer Master, Diviner, Star Reader, and Magician—which, unlike the other party, doesn't seem suited for combat either. They probably have weapons made from dungeon-mined ores, but I just can't picture them fighting.

These people are active as Explorers with jobs like that. My Drone Pilot job might not be that bad after all. If I'd properly faced my Job and aimed to become an Explorer, maybe things would've turned out okay.

But it's too late to think about that now. I need to do what I can with what's available. With that in mind, I decided to accept the Dungeon Club's request. As for the Light of Hope side, they said they already got a decent amount of money, so they're going to buy new weapons and won't be diving into the dungeon for a while—that's fine.

I immediately sent a reply email to the leader, Mr. Sato.

Well, I figured I wouldn't get a reply right away, so I was just about to get up from my seat when a response came in within seconds. That surprised me too.

Checking the contents, they were saying please, please, please hire me. Since they're F-rank, it's 30,000 yen a day. It's not a huge income, but thinking about how there's a possibility to level up, I'm looking forward to it.

We worked out the details over email, and in the end, we'll be diving into the Yokohama Blue Brick Warehouse Dungeon in Kanagawa Prefecture, the day after tomorrow.

The Yokohama Blue Brick Warehouse Dungeon is a relatively small dungeon, ranked E, and it's already been fully cleared to the final floor. If you destroy the Dungeon Core in the final floor, you can eliminate the dungeon, but it's popular as a hunting ground for low-rank Explorers and is kept as a magic stone supply source.

From here, it's about forty kilometers away in a straight line. Even with Hayate, I could get there in thirty minutes. Asahi would take ten minutes, maybe even less. So this time, I'll leave Asahi here and use only Hayate for filming. If by any chance Hayate gets taken down, I can send Asahi to take over.

Just in case, I decided to use the time before bed to look up information about the Blue Brick Warehouse Dungeon.