arc3 · 181-ch181

Chapter 181: Leveling Up Again Today

In the end, after we beat the floor-ten boss of Tokyo Skyscraper Dungeon yesterday, Hayate and Shiden kept hunting monsters and managed to raise their level by one.

It's gotten harder to climb lately, but fortunately Shiden can just barely take down opponents a rank above him, so I feel like we're leveling at a decent pace.

And along with that, my own physical abilities have grown higher too, so I intend to keep leveling up at this pace. Thinking back on my mock battle with that Michael, I'd like to get strong enough to at least hold my own against him.

While I was eating breakfast thinking about that, some interesting news came on the TV.

"In our next story: it was announced today that the American explorer Sieg Howard will be visiting Japan. To avoid confusion, no arrival time has been announced, but with the world's No. 1 explorer coming to Japan, a welcome is spreading across all sorts of quarters, starting with the country's own explorers. Regarding this matter, the Explorer Association..."

Ohh — so that Sieg Howard is arriving today, huh. The official purpose is the handover of the Blue Sapphire, after all. Arihara-san might have messaged me already.

After finishing breakfast, I went back to my room and checked my email. Sure enough, there was a message from Arihara-san.

(Hmm-hmm. So the handover is tomorrow, huh. Wait — WHAT!? They're doing it big and flashy with the press invited!?)

Arihara-san's email said that tomorrow, they'd be renting out a room in a major hotel and carrying out the handover in grand style.

TV and magazine reporters would be attending too, and they wanted Hayate or Shiden there to take part. Showing up by drone seemed like it might be rude to Sieg Howard, but apparently the other side was fine with it.

Either way, there's no way Arihara-san would set up a stage like this without thinking it through. I figured there had to be some intent behind it, so I decided to tell him I'd attend tomorrow with Hayate.

And with that — I get to talk with that Sieg Howard, huh. I'm getting a little nervous now. Oh, right — better put a sign pen and an autograph board into Storage. I absolutely have to get that signature.

After replying to Arihara-san's email, I sent Hayate and Shiden off to the dungeon ahead of me. Meanwhile, I got myself ready to head to a dungeon too.

Yesterday's exploration made me think it really is better to have experienced fighting in a party at least once. Someday, I want to dive dungeons together with Himehana.

So that I don't drag her down, I want to polish my coordination and teamwork beforehand. And more than anything — partying up was more fun than diving alone, after all.

I hear that at popular dungeons, inside the building at the entrance — commonly called the "center" — there are parties recruiting temporary members, and even pickup parties that throw a team together on the spot.

This time, I'm planning to look for a party starting from floor ten of Tokyo Skyscraper Dungeon. Of course, if no good invitation comes along, I'm fully prepared to dive solo.

Wondering what kind of parties might be out there, I called a "See you later!" to Mom — heart pounding just a little — and left the house.

▽▽▽

"Anyone want to dive from floor one? We've got three vanguards here. Low levels welcome!"

"Recruiting one explorer who can use the floor-ten Transfer Stone! Any Job welcome! That's two vanguard, one rear guard! One free Low-grade Potion for you! We're planning to gather Magic Stones around floor thirteen! High levels very welcome!"

"How about forming a party and starting from floor one? Any Job so far. We'll head out once we've got three or four people."

A little ways off from the dungeon entrance, there's a space for recruiting party members. Apparently just about every dungeon has one, but I'd never been. It was livelier than I'd expected, and my hopes rose — I'd probably find a good party right away.

"Level 3, Chiropractor Job here. Is there any leveling party out there that'll take me?"

"Anyone wanna go Magic Stone hunting togetherrr? We split it evenly across the whole grouup. Anyone who hasn't turned in their quota yet, how about it, come aaalong"

"Somebody-aaa, won't somebody pick up a Jump Rope Master-aaa? I'll carry your luggage too-aaa"

Some of the pitches were a little dubious, but the place didn't seem all that rough. While listening to the various recruitment calls, I tried speaking to a party whose atmosphere seemed nice.

"Excuse me. I'm hoping to fill a vanguard slot — would you let me join you?"

My Explorer Card lists a fake Job: Swordsman. If I showed it, no one would doubt me — but there was no need to go flashing it around, either.

I tried my luck with the Job-any party planning to collect Magic Stones at floor thirteen. The reason I steered away from a leveling party was that my level is so high, I figured the other members would barely earn any EXP at all.

"Oh! You're here early today! My name's Moroteyama Takumi. And yours?"

"Yes — I'm Soramine Sota."

"Soramine-kun, eh! Great name! Mind if I ask you two or three questions?"

After being approached by the energetic, crew-cut man in his mid-thirties and getting introductions out of the way, I got questioned on a few things — whether I could use the floor-ten Transfer Stone, my Job, my weapon, my dungeon experience. I answered so as not to lie, while also not standing out.

"Alright! I've decided — today's hired muscle is you! Looking forward to working with you!"

Somehow I seemed to have passed Moroteyama-san's inspection. I gripped the offered hand in a firm shake and let him know the feeling was mutual.

"Right then, let me introduce the rest of the members! Come over here!"

Following behind Moroteyama-san as he turned on his heel, I found two more party members waiting.

"So this young man is to be one of our members today... ugh, he's a pretty boy."

The slim man with silver-dyed hair shot me a sour look for some reason. This was Hosomi Eiichi — a Rapier Swordsman, I was told.

"Um, pleased to meet yo... you."

The other one was a quiet-seeming woman with black hair reaching down her back. For some reason, a whole row of canteens hung at her waist. Her name was Yukimizu Saori, and her Job, I was told, was Water User.

It's said that the Water User is a degraded version of the Water Mage. They have the power to manipulate water, but not to create it, and the amount and speed they can control does rise with level — but it's nothing that amounts to a real threat. Still, used well, it can serve for holding enemies at bay or as a decoy, so there's apparently a fair bit of demand for them as rear guard.

"Ah, sorry about that. Saori's a little shy around strangers! She's not usually this bad — seems you're too handsome for her, Soramine-kun, and it's got her rattled! Gahahaha — ow!?"

For an introduction so lacking in consideration from their leader, Yukimizu-san, in a fury, smacked Moroteyama-san on the back. Hosomi-san just kept staring at the whole scene with the same sour expression.

(Did I maybe pick the wrong party to join?)

The thought crossed my mind for an instant — but nothing's started yet, after all. These people are E-rank, so once we were in the dungeon, they'd switch gears and focus on the exploration, surely. Hoping for exactly that, I followed the three of them to the Transfer Stone chamber.