arc2 · 066-ch66

Chapter 66: Future Plans

Well, I managed to get a cell phone without any issues. Seeing Umi so happy about it makes me really glad. She's completely absorbed in playing with it, but I should probably tell her not to overuse it. ...I'll do that later.

When we got back to the new place, Umi opened the door with face recognition and called the elevator with her fingerprint. She's usually trying so hard to act grown-up, so watching her enjoy things at her own age like this makes me feel happy too.

We bowed to the other residents as we rode up to the top floor. When Umi pressed the top floor button in the elevator, the other passengers seemed surprised. I guess the top floor unit is the most expensive, so they were probably wondering who lives there.

It's a little embarrassing being the last ones still riding as everyone else gets off at their floors.

Back in our room, we all split up to do our own thing. Mom started prepping dinner and getting ready for tomorrow's meals, while Umi seemed to be adding her friends' contacts to her new phone.

I sat down at my new computer and turned it on. Whoa—booting up is crazy fast!

Tomorrow's Saturday, so I was hoping to do some leveling, but—

Brrring, brrring

While I was checking my email, my brand-new phone started ringing. Himehana's name appeared on the screen.

"Hello, Himehana? What's up?"

"Oh, hey! Souta, are you free tomorrow? I was hoping you could help me test out a new weapon..."

Oh, so the dagger made from the mithril ingot is done?

"Yeah, I'm free tomorrow. Are you going alone?"

"Yep! They've been making them in order, but everyone said they wanted mine done first. I just got the call that my twin swords are ready, so I went and picked them up a bit ago. I figured I'd try them out first!"

Makes sense—not many people can forge mithril weapons. Of course there'd be a wait if you ordered all at once.

"Sure, no problem. Where should we meet?"

"Thanks! How about the Tokyo Skyscraper Dungeon?"

"That works. Nine o'clock okay?"

"Yeah! Um, and... as a thank-you, I'd like to treat you to lunch..."

Nice. Not like I need anything from her specifically, but free lunch is free lunch.

"Sounds good, I'll take you up on that!"

"O-okay, th-thanks..."

What's up with her? Is she hyperventilating?

Anyway, I made plans with Himehana for tomorrow and hung up.

Tomorrow's all set. Now I just need to figure out the day after...

(Since I took an F-rank party request last time, let me try an E-rank party request next.)

With that thought, I opened the E-rank mailbox. Looking through the twelve requests that had come in, I found a decent-looking party.

The party name was Indomitable—a duo of middle-aged guys who'd climbed to E-rank. They weren't requesting any optional add-ons, but they did ask me to step in if things got dicey. With just two of them, the EXP split might be bigger—worth getting a little excited about.

Let me check their info. One's a Spear Wielder named Tajiri Genji. The other's a rare one—a Flail Wielder named Tawarada Ikuo. A flail is basically a mace: a short club with a hunk of metal on the end, used for bashing opponents. Both are sixty years old, but thanks to level-up boosts to their physical abilities, they're apparently still going strong.

They wrote that they can dive into dungeons anytime, so let me ask if they're free the day after tomorrow. I sent an email to Tajiri-san as the leader.

Then there was an email from Arihara-san at the Dungeon Agency. It had the detailed contract terms, a map of Japan showing areas where I can't fly my drone, and a request for my time next week.

Apparently, Kokushi Musou is going to help register my drone's transfer stones. Out of the six dungeons on my patrol route, I still need to register transfer stones for four: the Yokohama Blue Brick Warehouse Dungeon, the Chandelier Castle Dungeon at Mousie Park, the Saitama Haunted Forest Dungeon, and the Inubohsaki Tower Dungeon.

Members of Kokushi Musou will be waiting at each dungeon. The plan is to teleport to each floor with my drone in hand and get it registered. Talk about a huge help!

I replied saying I'd be happy to accept and closed my email client.

(Now let me check how my uploaded videos are doing.)

First, I pulled up the Hyakka Ryouran homepage. View counts had stabilized by now, but the Yatsugatake Dungeon video was still hitting over two million views a day, and the Tokyo Skyscraper Dungeon one had cleared four million. Between the two, that's eighteen million yen a month in revenue.

Next, Kokushi Musou—those were still blowing up. All three videos were pulling over ten million views daily. Monthly revenue from those three combined: ninety million yen. No idea how long that'll last, but I'll happily take it. I've pretty much bought everything I wanted at this point, so probably best to funnel the rest into savings.

Oh right, I hadn't checked the Dungeon Club's uploads from the other day. Did they post their video?

I searched for "Dungeon Club" and found the video I'd filmed. It had only been public for a day, but it had already crossed thirty million views. This one's still got room to grow! Could be another solid income stream.

After that, I decided to look for a tax accountant, like Yamamoto-san suggested. I searched online, but nothing really clicked. My situation's pretty unusual, so I need someone reliable—and you can't really tell who's trustworthy from internet searches alone.

It's not like I know anyone like that either. Who could I ask about this kind of thing? Kokushi Musou or Hyakka Ryouran, maybe... I'll try asking President Yamamoto. He seems like he'd know the ropes. He said he'd think about auxiliary units for Asahi, so I'll swing by again sometime next week. Talking with him is always fun and informative.

With those thoughts swirling in my head, I headed back to the living room for dinner.