arc2 · 094-ch94

Chapter 94: I Can't Say No When My Little Sister Asks...

Having finished my solo leveling session and sent Asahi back to Yamamoto Electronics, I was eating the dinner Mom had made for us while vaguely thinking about the future.

The efficiency was poor, but thanks to enchanting Asahi with an attribute, I could now defeat monsters without Hayate getting destroyed in the process. In other words, this meant there was now a possibility of passing the explorer exam. However, whether I could submit the required number of magic stones was questionable. No, at that pace, achieving it on my own would be difficult.

So should I add magic stone payment as an option for my cameraman fees? Well, other explorers have to submit their own magic stones too, so it'd probably only be high-ranking parties with plenty of surplus who'd even consider paying in magic stones.

For now, maybe I should try taking the explorer exam next month. The Dungeon Agency should be the one hosting it, so if I mention it to Arihara-san, he could probably help me register. I'll send him an email after dinner.

"Mom, there's an observation day at school soon—can you come?"

While I was thinking about all that, Umi, who'd finished eating, pulled out a handout and asked Mom that very question. Observation day, huh. Brings back memories. When I was in elementary school, Mom came every single time.

"Oh my, that day is exactly when I have my hospital checkup. I'll need to see if they can reschedule my appointment."

Ahh, come to think of it, Mom still had follow-up checkups. Even though she got better thanks to the potion, the checkups were still necessary. While I was thinking that and watching the two of them talk, Umi suddenly turned around, looked at me, and broke into a grin.

"Mom! You don't need to call the hospital! Onii-chan is going to come this time!"

Right, right, the hospital checkup was scheduled a while ago. It'd be hard to reschedule on short notice. If I went instead... WHAAAAAAAT!? No way that's happening! What the heck is Umi saying!?

"Hang on a second! Why do I have to go to Umi's observation day!?"

Observation day—you know, that thing where all the moms line up in the back of the classroom, right? Having a male university student mixed in with that crowd would be totally weird, right!?

"Ehh, no? Mom has to go to the hospital, so Umi wanted Onii-chan to come instead..."

"Of course I'm going. What time does it start?"

Wait, what!? Umi was giving me that about-to-cry face, so I said I'd go without even thinking!?

"Yay! Thank you, Onii-chan! Umm, it's the Friday after next! It starts at 1:30 PM! And there's apparently a parent-teacher conference after the observation ends too! Maybe Onii-chan should attend that as well?"

Just the class observation alone was going to be tough enough, but a parent-teacher conference was way too much. But wait—would they tell me about how Umi's doing at school? That I'd be a little curious about, but...

"Y-yeah. If I have time, I'll check it out."

For now, I gave a vague answer.

"Yaaay, I'm getting excited! Onii-chan, make sure you wear that suit we bought the other day for observation day!"

Ugh, she's even telling me what to wear. While regretting my reflexive "I'll go" response, seeing how happy Umi looked made me think, "Well, I guess I can endure a little embarrassment."

After dinner, I went back to my room and first sent an email to Arihara-san. It was about Asahi's power-up report and the explorer exam. Man, just thinking that I might actually take the exam made me a little nervous.

Then, checking my email, I found a reply from Ounabara-san, the leader of Sato Fisheries Co., Ltd. He'd picked a date from the filming days I'd sent, so next week's shoot was confirmed. Gratefully, they'd signed up for plenty of the options listed on my website.

Scouting, combat support, and luggage transport. It seemed they were even considering purchasing potions depending on the situation. Both Asahi and Hayate had gotten powered up, so I'd give it my all to support them.

Also, tomorrow was the day Himehana was finally coming to our university. I'd made sure to sign up for her special lecture, so I was looking forward to hearing what she had to say. But please, I'm begging you—don't mention my name.

Then, the day after tomorrow was patrol duty, and the day after that was a two-day expedition for Hyakka Ryouran's floor 30 assault at the Tokyo Skyscraper Dungeon. I needed to prepare for that properly too. However, the floor 30 boss of the Tokyo Skyscraper Dungeon was a B-rank Werewolf.

No matter how much they'd upgraded their weapons, it was still a higher-ranked opponent. So apparently, the plan for this expedition was to level up while confirming the route to the thirtieth floor, and they were even prepared to turn back without fighting the boss. Boss takedowns were supposed to be handled that cautiously.

As someone aiming to become an explorer, there was a lot to learn from that. Thinking about it that way, the choice of filming in order from F-rank upward might have been a good call. I'd learned what to watch out for at each rank, and how tactics had to be adapted based on party size and job composition.

Hmm? Wait, hypothetically—if I passed the explorer exam, would I form a party? Based on where I am now, I wouldn't be much use as combat power, but as a scout or a carrier, there might be people willing to party up with me...

Ideally, I'd want someone I could trust. That said, asking to join Kokushi Musou or Hyakka Ryouran at this point was out of the question. They were already complete, fully-formed parties, and more importantly, the rank gap was way too large.

Besides, if possible, I wanted to grow stronger by pushing myself alongside people around the same rank. Pass the explorer exam, form a party with fellow rookies, rank up, and get stronger together. That was the kind of life I wanted to try living.

Whoa, I was getting ahead of myself even though I hadn't passed the exam yet. But hey, they say half the fun of a festival is the preparation, so a little daydreaming should be fine, right? Just as I was thinking that, a reply came in from Arihara-san.

While expressing surprise about the attribute enchantment, he'd included detailed information about the procedures needed to take the explorer exam. The necessary application documents were attached too. By the way, for the practical exam, I'd need to demonstrate my drones defeating monsters in front of an examiner—and apparently Arihara-san held examiner certification. His message ended with, "I'm looking forward to seeing Soramine-san's drones defeat monsters."

After that, I filled out the application documents, did some research on the exam, and gathered information on the Tokyo Skyscraper Dungeon bosses.