chapter01 · 026-ep26
Episode 26: The Law Has Loopholes Too
【Huh!?】
【W-wait a moment!?】
【WHERE are you making it!?!?!?!】
【Fwah lmaoooooo】
【What the hell is this crazy ojou-sama doing!?】
【Wait, are you going to process the materials INSIDE the dungeon because you can't take them out!?!?!?】
"Precisely, desu wa! If I process them properly into gear or furniture inside the dungeon before carrying them out, even a minor like me is acting entirely within the law!"
【You've gotta be kidding!?】
【Seriously!? Are you serious!? This isn't something Karin ojou-sama imagined!?】
【Is it REALLY legal to process things in the dungeon!?】
【Never mind the law, is processing materials inside a dungeon even physically possible!?】
【Hey, this is okay, right!? This isn't going to be a video confession to a crime!?】
【Ojou-sama, are you serious!? You sound confident, but is that actually legal!?】
Chat erupted at behavior that looked like recklessness, eccentricity, or pure fantasy. Amid the uproar—
【@Attorney Mitsurugi: I-I specialize in dungeon law... If you give or sell the processed items to someone, that's another matter, but for personal use, it's entirely legal even for minors, desu wa. Though... the law never anticipated a minor actually doing this, so 'exploiting a loophole' is probably closer to the mark...】
【A-an expert ojou-sama!?】
【Whoa, I clicked the account and that's the actual dungeon law channel owner!?】
【What are you doing here, Mitsurugi-sensei!?】
【Attorney Mitsurugi!? The one with 800k subscribers!?】
【I mean, everyone involved with dungeons is keeping tabs on Karin-sama now, but still!?】
"My! A specialist!? How reassuring. I'll pin your account, desu wa!"
Apparently a famous legal expert was among the viewers, who'd passed a hundred thousand while Karin gathered materials. Delighted, Karin made the comment stand out.
Chat reeled from the expert's unexpected appearance and endorsement.
【Seriously...? Why IS that legal?】
【Well... No point making a law against something nobody can do】
【True, you don't need laws banning people from flying unaided or running over 100 km/h...】
【Every law has a loophole (that Karin-sama forced open with her fists)】
【This is all completely insane lmaooooo】
【@Attorney Mitsurugi: To answer seriously, there's no provision banning processed items because it's impossible to distinguish with certainty whether gear worn by an explorer leaving the dungeon was made inside it, desu no.】
【@Attorney Mitsurugi: Detectors at dungeon exits also respond to gear made from drops (furniture, in this case). If processed items were banned, officials could enforce the law arbitrarily and confiscate minors' equipment. The Explorers' Association therefore asked the government to account for that when drafting the law, desu wa.】
【@Attorney Mitsurugi: In practice, such arbitrary enforcement would be very unlikely... But laws are difficult to change once enacted, and there were frequent disputes between the government and explorers when dungeons first appeared. The Association was consequently quite sensitive in its negotiations over legislation. And the result, as you can see, is this loophole-exploiting ojou-sama, desu wa.】
【Huh, I see】
【Loophole-exploiting ojou-sama lmao】
【So it's actually legal (technically)...】
【Attorney Mitsurugi ojou-sama explains it so clearly!】
【What I can't understand is that Karin-sama actually CAN exploit this loophole...】
【So minors really have a way to use dungeon materials, for personal use anyway...】
【Wow, a perfect plan! If you ignore that processing materials inside a dungeon is beyond reckless and straight-up idiotic!?】
【Legal or not, monsters aren't going to leave her alone until she finishes crafting!?】
【Speaking of, there's one coming right now!?】
"GRUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"
While viewers were feeling relieved—or shocked—at the legal explanation, an inevitable threat attacked Karin. Even if she could clear the middle layers without spilling her tea, fighting monsters while processing a mountain of materials was surely impossible.
Or so everyone thought.
"Ah, for that, you do this."
At Karin's feet as she prepared her materials lay a monster she'd killed earlier, not yet absorbed by the dungeon. She pulled out one of its bones and crushed it in her grip into a piece of suitable size. Then—
"There."
BACHUN!!
A flick of her thumb fired the bone shard. It blew the approaching monster's head off from a distance.