arc2 · 116-ch116

Chapter 116: Yamamoto Electronics After a While

“Mhm, another clean wake-up today.”

I’d been up late editing videos again last night, but I woke up feeling refreshed today too. Guess leveling up really does make a difference.

Last night, I got a call from Arihara-san. Apparently, after that live stream, the big shots held a meeting, and they discussed how to treat me.

Arihara-san proposed getting my taxes exempted, and thanks to them watching that stream, the request went through without a hitch. Score! Now I won’t have to pay taxes on the money I earned from streaming! Thanks, Arihara-san!

Also, they asked me to do another live-stream experiment this Saturday. The attendees will be those same big shots from before, plus dungeon researchers, higher-ups from the Explorer Association, and university professors.

Good thing I’d kept my Saturday schedule open like I expected. By the way, the explorers will be Kokushi Musou, and the location is Tokyo Mouse Park Dungeon. This time they want to see as deep as possible, so they picked Mouse Park since Kokushi Musou holds the record for the deepest floor reached there.

However, it seems streaming to the general public still has pretty high hurdles. Mostly ethical ones. So Arihara-san suggested trying delayed streaming too. Apparently, there’s a feature that lets you stream with a delay from the real-time footage.

If something happens, we could use that time window to stop the stream and apply mosaic processing, which might make public streaming possible. I’m really grateful they’re thinking through all these options for me.

Now then, I’m planning to visit Yamamoto Electronics today. I’m looking forward to seeing the president again after so long. Seems like he’s been looking forward to it too, which makes me happy.

I called a taxi and headed to Yamamoto Electronics.

▽▽▽

Yamamoto Electronics, which I was visiting for the first time in a while, had changed quite a bit. Thanks to coming under government jurisdiction, tall concrete walls had been built around the perimeter, and there were unfamiliar buildings on the premises.

Security seemed tight too—there was now a guard station at the entrance, with security guards posted there.

“President Yamamoto, long time no see! Thank you for having me today!”

“Well, well, welcome! I’ve been waiting for you! Come, come, have a seat!”

The factory had changed a lot, but I was glad President Yamamoto still welcomed me so warmly. I sat down on the sofa. On the table in front of me was Asahi, already finished with maintenance. Ah, right—that gratitude reminded me. I had something to give President Yamamoto today.

“Oh right, I have something for you, President. It’s stored in Hayate, so I’ll get it out now.”

I summoned Hayate and took out the item called Soul of a Lesser Spirit from its Storage.

“This dropped from a Phantom in Tokyo Mouse Park Dungeon. Apparently it becomes an antique, so please take it if you’d like!”

“Oh my, you’ve gotten your hands on another rare item. I think it’d fetch a decent price if you sold it, but are you sure I can accept something this valuable?”

“Yes, I brought it specifically for you. It’s a thank-you gift for always taking care of me.”

“Is that so? Well then, I’ll gratefully accept it! Sasaki-kun, could you display this over there?”

The President seemed pleased with my gift, but Sasaki-san, who received it, clearly looked strained. Well, apparently it contains the resentful voices of lesser spirits. Women probably aren’t too interested in it.

“Oh yes, I’ve made some improvements based on what you told me. Could you take a look here?”

Oh, so there are some improvements, not just maintenance. I leaned in to look where the President was pointing.

“The memory unit for Asahi is in here, but I’ve made it so the cover opens with a switch. If you can see inside, you should be able to take out just the memory using Hayate’s Storage skill. Also, if it works out, you might be able to set it directly from Storage too.”

Oh, that’s true—until now, I could only extract Asahi’s data directly or have someone take it out and send it to me. If Hayate can carry it, that might be a bit more convenient. It may be a small thing, but it’s a subtly appreciated feature.

“Thank you very much! I’ll test it out later.”

After that, I tried telling the President about the live streaming.

“Ho ho, that’s an interesting endeavor. Though, there seem to be quite a few things you’d need to be careful about.”

The President thought for a moment, then shared some ideas that occurred to him. He advised me to be careful not just about scenes with large amounts of blood, but also about explorers’ privacy.

With recorded distribution, the explorers themselves get to watch it once, so they can delete parts they’re concerned about. But with live streaming, even with a delay, the explorers themselves can’t check it.

There’s a chance I might overlook something and stream it. Especially with female explorers, there seem to be many things to be careful about. Including that sort of possibility, I need to make sure I confirm things thoroughly with the explorers themselves, or it could turn into unnecessary trouble.

Mhm, thinking about it that way, maybe I shouldn’t rush to make it public. I decided to take more time and think it through properly before reaching a conclusion.

After that, we were also able to discuss developing additional units for Asahi. During that discussion, the President grinned and reached into a bag sitting unnaturally beside him.

“I made these things—would you like to try them?”

With that, the President placed two capsules on the table that he’d taken from the bag. Could these be...!?

“Could these be new capsules for Asahi’s additional units!?”

I couldn’t help raising my voice in excitement at this unexpected development. The President grinned, looking pleased that his surprise had succeeded.

“Exactly right. This one is a smoke bomb. When it hits the ground, the capsule breaks and fills the area with smoke. It should be useful when you want to escape from monsters. And this one is a recovery shot. It contains low-grade potion inside. If you hit an injured ally with it, it should heal their wounds. The capsules are made of a special material, so you don’t have to worry about them getting damaged from impact.”

Oh, wonderful! I’m simply happy that Asahi can do more things now! Plus, if I keep these two in Storage, Hayate might be able to use them too. Especially with the recovery shots—I might be able to deliver potions to explorers who’ve collapsed in dangerous areas. If I put mid-grade potions inside, I might be able to save people I couldn’t help before.

I asked them to make extra recovery shots for me, even if it costs a bit more. I also ordered about ten recovery shots loaded with mid-grade potions.

After that, I asked whether I should get a driver’s license, since the stations and trains have been getting crowded lately. Of course, having a license is better than not, but it takes quite a bit of time, so we concluded it would be better to wait until I have a little more room in my schedule.

However, when I mentioned that I dislike crowds and feel stressed when moving around, the President said he’d like to help me with that somehow, and the two of us muttered to ourselves while thinking of solutions. When we’d reached the conclusion that taxis were probably the best option for now, Sasaki-san, who’d been listening nearby, offered an unexpected solution.

“I think wearing a hat and a mask would solve it.”

I looked at him blankly, while the President tapped his palm with his fist and nodded in understanding.