arc2 · 061-ch61

Chapter 61: Yamamoto Densuke

side Yamamoto Densuke

"Hello, is this Yamamoto-san? This is Soramine—I requested a drone repair the other day."

I was at the office, thinking about the design for a new drone, when the phone rang and I picked it up on reflex. It was that university student who bought the Speedster Mark II. That time, I got to see a classic machine for the first time in ages, and I got way more excited than a man my age should have.

"Oh! If it isn't Soramine-kun! What can I do for you this time?"

His call got me a little excited all over again.

"Um, I wanted to consult with you about something regarding drones—do you have some time?"

Hmm, a consultation about drones? What could be better!

"Of course I do! Something that sounds that fun is welcome anytime!"

I answered without even checking my schedule. Sasaki-san at the front desk might scold me again, but oh well.

"Ah, thank you so much. Then, would tomorrow afternoon work for you?"

"Yeah, I think I might've had something scheduled, but that's fine!"

It was probably something less enjoya—less important anyway, so I agreed right away.

"Then I'll come by around two o'clock tomorrow afternoon."

"O-kay, I'll be waiting!"

All right, let's hurry up and finish this design! With an unexpectedly exciting plan now on my plate, I threw myself into work in high spirits.

▽▽▽

Ding-dong

The intercom rang at exactly two o'clock the next afternoon. Quite the punctual young man—pretty rare these days.

"It's open! Come right in!"

I urged him to enter through the intercom camera.

"Excuse me."

Mm-hmm, I'm not one to fuss over manners, but there's nothing wrong with a polite kid.

"Here, have a seat! So, what kind of drone consultation did you want to talk about?"

I jumped straight into the main topic the moment he sat down on the sofa.

"Um, if a drone were to assist in combat inside a dungeon, what kind of units do you think would be good to have?"

Ho ho, jumping straight to dungeons, huh. Now then, where should I start? Honestly, I know who he really is. I watched the stream from when a party called Hyakka Ryouran dove into the Tokyo Dungeon.

When he brought the Speedster Mark II in for repairs, that video hadn't been streamed yet, but I realized it the moment I watched it afterward. That this Soramine-kun is the cameraman known as SS.

But who he really is doesn't matter to me. What I'm interested in is that he's making full use of that Speedster Mark II's performance.

After all, I built that Speedster Mark II prioritizing speed while completely ignoring operability. I couldn't believe anyone could pilot that machine with such precision until I actually saw the footage he shot.

But he doesn't seem to fully understand his own value. And if he thinks just changing his name is enough to keep his identity hidden, I'm afraid that's a bit naive. I've already seen through it, and there are probably plenty of other ways he could be found out.

Oh well. Let this old man teach the young up-and-comer a thing or two. Naturally, after this fun conversation is over, that is.

"There are various ways to think about combat support in dungeons, but do you have anything specific in mind?"

"Ah, yes. Ideally, I'd like combat support that lets me gain experience points even without dealing direct damage..."

Hey now, is he not trying to hide anything at all, or does he just trust me? Nobody these days is trying to use drones to take down monsters.

I know because I tried the same thing myself back in the day. Even if you strap a dungeon-forged weapon to a drone and send it on a suicide run, you can deal damage, but you won't gain any experience.

Thrown weapons will get you experience. But drones won't. I don't know how the system tells the difference, but that's just how it is—nothing we can do about it.

Besides, no matter how good a drone's performance is, landing a clean hit on anything D-rank or higher is practically impossible. In that sense, combat support shouldn't even be worth the effort, but...

(He's probably controlling the drone with a skill. And he can most likely summon it too. If that's the case, the story changes.)

With that hypothesis in mind, I decided to proceed under that assumption.

"To gain experience in a dungeon, your contribution to the takedown matters. You know this, right?"

"Yes, I learned about it at university."

"Good. Through various experiments, we've come to understand what actions earn a certain degree of contribution.

First is dealing damage to the monster. If you can damage a monster, you'll gain experience when it's defeated. Of course, the condition is that you've awakened to a Job.

By the way, the only ways to damage a dungeon monster are through skill-based attacks or dungeon-forged weapons. Surface firearms don't work on dungeon monsters.

Next, there's skill-based healing magic. If you heal wounds received from monsters inside the dungeon using healing magic, you gain experience. There's also support magic—if a buffed ally defeats a monster, the one who cast the buff also gets experience.

And lastly, even without dealing damage, if your action directly contributed to the takedown, you're known to gain a small amount of experience. For example, if you knocked it off balance and that's why it could be taken down, or if you pinned it down and that's why it could be defeated.

That's what you're asking about when you say combat support for gaining experience, right?"

I may not look it, but I have connections at the Dungeon Agency. Back in my younger days, my contacts and I brought drones into dungeons and tried all sorts of things. As an unawakened person, I tested whether there was a way to gain experience, whether monsters could be defeated with drones I'd built. Those are fond memories now.

"Yes, exactly. So, I'd like to introduce a few auxiliary units I came up with—could you pick out which ones seem promising?"

Hmm, that's an odd thing to say. He doesn't want me to think of something—he wants me to choose from what already exists? He's asking me to pick even though he doesn't know if I can build them—could he already have a way to get them?

"Very well, tell me about these auxiliary units of yours."

"Yes. Thermal camera, infrared camera, parabolic microphone, searchlight, flashlight, laser pointer, speaker, and image projection projector."

Hey now, some of those clearly have nothing to do with combat support. He's obviously just listing a product lineup from somewhere.

Without letting any of that show, I thought about his question.

First, thermal camera and infrared camera—no. They're useful for scouting, but finding a monster doesn't earn experience. The parabolic microphone is the same. Might be good for eavesdropping, though.

Searchlight, flashlight, and laser pointer—those have potential. Blinding a monster's eyes would let allies take it down in the meantime, earning experience. For that kind of use, the flashlight seems like the most practical option.

The speaker—there's a non-zero chance it could stop a sound-sensitive monster with loud volume, but there are barely any monsters like that. It'd be useful for evacuation guidance during a Dungeon Modification, though.

The image projection projector—projecting something on a dungeon wall to distract monsters while... I've never tested it, but there probably aren't any monsters dumb enough to fall for that.

Thinking about it this way, the flashlight seems like the best all-rounder out of these. Actually, now that I've been thinking about all this, I've come up with some ideas of my own! What if we could attach support units to the Speedster Mark II? Oh man, now I'm pumped!

"Out of those, the flashlight seems like the best bet. You could blind the monster and have your allies finish it off for the experience. The laser pointer could technically work for blinding too, but the targeting and use cases would both be pretty... pinpoint. Just like a laser pointer."

"Oh! They really are both pinpoint!"

Soramine-kun responded to my best joke. What a wonderful human being!

But it seems like he didn't actually come for my advice. He just wanted to confirm his own answer. He gave a slight nod when I said the flashlight was best. And since he's not asking me to build it, he probably already has a way to get one.

Well, whatever. This gave me some great stimulation, so let me think about support units that could be mounted on the Speedster Mark II.

And so, the two of us sat there going "hmm" for a while, lost in our own thoughts.