arc1 · 019-ch19

Episode 19: Level 10

　I watched the Boss Fox being sucked away as smoke. Being an area boss, a larger amount of smoke flowed out than from the Underling Foxes.

"Oh! My level went up. Status."

　Feeling power welling up, I checked my status and found I had reached level 10. I turned around to ask Yasu how he was doing, but he was still fighting Underling Foxes.

"Ah crap, I forgot. Well, it should be fine now."

　Only one Underling Fox remained. Yasu could easily defeat it on his own. Plus, the Boss Fox's smoke was also flowing toward Yasu, so he might be leveling up too. In that case, it would be even more fine.

　I watched Yasu's battle, and it ended quickly. As Yasu stepped in, he thrust the tip of his shovel at the hand of the Underling Fox that was gripping its magic iron pipe. Since the shovel's tip was sharpened, the Underling Fox had its arm cut and dropped the magic iron pipe.

　Swinging through to the side, the shovel's tip then tore open the Underling Fox's throat, and blood sprayed out.

"Man, you sure make skillful use of that shovel."

　Just as Suzuka voiced his impression, the shovel was swung down, and the last Underling Fox turned to smoke.

"Good work! That was exhausting! Give me some recovery magic!"

"Suzuka! Did you defeat the Boss Fox all by yourself!?"

　Yasu must be tired too, yet he cast recovery magic on Suzuka. Since his total magic power should still be low, using magic would be quite fatiguing. I was grateful he did so.

"I managed somehow! Honestly, the Boss Fox alone is strong, but I think even Yasu could have defeated it. The weaklings around it were the real threat."

　The Boss Fox was a presence like an enhanced Underling Fox. While its long reach and high attack power were certainly threatening, it was essentially just that. On the contrary, being constantly surrounded by Underling Foxes and forced to fight outnumbered was the tough part.

"Yeah. Fighting that many Underling Foxes alone was hard."

"Thanks for your work. Let's grab our backpacks and take a break! Or rather, we can end today now, right?"

"Yeah. It's a bit early, but let's call it a day for today."

　The Boss Fox is a monster deep within Floor 1, District 1. If we head back from here, it will take an hour on foot.

"Huh? Hey! That's the Boss Fox's item! Isn't that your... that one!?"

　Yasu ran toward the golden club that the Boss Fox had been holding. Since he's keeping my skill a secret, Yasu could only call it "that one." Yasu brought it over, looking heavy, and it was a large golden club.

　Name: Fox Family's Pride

　Grade: Rare

　Description: Though our blood differs, our hearts are one. Contains abundant magic iron. Additional damage to fox-lineage monsters.

"Rare again, huh."

"That's seriously amazing. The Boss Fox's weapon was supposed to be 'Boss's Club' though."

"It is amazing, but it's not sellable."

　The policy is to keep unique skills secret. Hide until reaching a level where I can defend myself, and after surpassing level 100, it should be okay to sell such items.

　But by then I'll probably be earning money too, so would I really need the money from selling an item of this level? Money-making is tough in the early stages, so I'd want to sell it now, but I can't. Hmm, unfortunate.

"Can I take this? It's just going to gather dust in Storage."

"Yeah, go ahead. It's your loot, after all."

　Thanks to the Storage skill, I don't have to carry it around, which is fortunate.

　I stowed the golden club in Storage and took a water bottle from my backpack to rest. Since it's a grassy plain, if I look around I can confirm there are no monsters, so we could rest with peace of mind even inside the dungeon.

"Wanna eat?"

"Oh! Thanks!"

　Yasu opened a chocolate snack called Kazunoko Village, and I gratefully ate it.

　We ate in silence for a while. Sugar spread through our exhausted bodies. Watching the clouds drift lazily, I murmured to myself that alcohol would be delicious if I could drink it now.

"Ah, by the way, did your level go up, Yasu? I reached 10."

"Yeah, I reached level 10 too. I was relieved when the smoke from the Boss Fox you defeated got absorbed too."

　The smoke being absorbed is distributed among all party members. If experience wasn't distributed unless everyone landed at least one attack, healers would never grow, so that's only natural.

　Another silence continued. It wasn't awkward. Having achieved the goal of level 10, both of us were thinking about what lay ahead.

"Hey, aren't we amazing?"

　It was Yasu who broke the silence.

"Yeah. Just the two of us reached level 10, after all."

"Do you really understand how amazing that is?"

"I get it lol I've been studying about dungeons lately too."

　Due to school circumstances, we haven't been going to the dungeon on weekdays. Instead, I've been reading materials at the Explorer Association and watching videos at home to study.

"First of all, two people in a dungeon is nonsense. Parties are four to six people. Especially in Floor 1 exploration, you always challenge with more people than monsters."

"That's Explorer High School's iron rule."

　Just as Yasu said, this is Explorer High School's iron rule. Always surround monsters with superior numbers and defeat them safely. If they outnumber you, give up, and if the monsters are at a disadvantage level-wise, fighting with equal numbers is acceptable.

　During Floor 1, you constantly keep this in mind and engrave how to fight monsters and how to move as a party into your body. Once you reach the depths of Floor 1 or Floor 2 and above, you often fight group monsters like the Boss Fox, so this isn't the limit, but a party of six is still recommended.

"Yet we're operating with just two people, and we even defeated the Boss Fox with just the two of us. That's amazing, isn't it."

"Yeah, honestly I think it's stupid."

"For real? But we did it, right?"

　Certainly, the annoyance of the Underling Foxes plus the high attack power of the Boss Fox were threats. It would have been safer to gather people and fight, but for Suzuka, safety felt somewhat mismatched. A feeling of seeking safety in a dangerous place like a dungeon?

"Sigh. Suzuka probably doesn't get it since he's stupid, but normally you could die doing this, you know?"

"Yeah, but you're participating too. So you're stupid too."

"I said this before too, but I'm actually pretty cowardly. This time I even wrote a will and stuff just in case."

　I was shocked by those words. Normally one might think "Is that the kind of resolve you have!?" but the stupid Suzuka received a different kind of shock: "Were you prepared to die!? If you lose in spirit, you can't win!?"

"The reason I decided to take it on is our high status."

　Because we've been defeating monsters with small numbers, Suzuka's stats had become considerably higher than the general average. Now at level 10, there's about a 1.5 times status difference compared to explorers of the same level.

"Regardless of the Boss Fox, area bosses aren't monsters you're normally supposed to fight."

"Yeah, I hear Explorer High School doesn't even let students fight them."

"That's right. Since they're monsters that won't even appear if you set a level margin, normally people ignore them. Unless you're a high-ranking explorer, that is."

　Area bosses are strong, but it's not like the Boss Fox could fight evenly with a level 100 explorer. Therefore, if you raise your level and then challenge an area boss, you can obtain items easily.

　But that's how dungeons work — it's not that simple.

　Area bosses have a characteristic where they stop appearing if you're too far above a certain level. The level difference varies by individual — it might be 1, it might be 10 — but eventually they stop appearing.

　That's why you can't use a method like advancing to District 2 first, raising your level, then challenging the Boss Fox. If it goes well you can fight, but if you're unlucky you might never be able to fight. That's what an area boss is.

　Among explorers, it's said that "Once you can defeat them with ease, they stop appearing." Dungeons don't want one-sided fights.

"To fight the Boss Fox properly, people say you need to raise your level to 20. Of course, if you raise it that much, you won't even encounter the Boss Fox anymore, though."

　Explorer High School doesn't recommend fighting area bosses. However, there are some who do fight them, though rarely. Among area bosses, only the Boss Fox is the Floor 1, District 1 area boss, so there are many cases where Explorer High School's top students can win if they fight.

"Many of the Boss Fox subjugators at Explorer High School are level 15 or above. In other words, if you have level 15, it's no longer a reckless fight. So I thought that with our exceptionally high status, we could do it."

"Sigh, seriously? You really thought it through, huh."

"You're the only one who challenged without thinking, though."

"No, I'm thinking too. I can defeat Underling Foxes easily now. So that means I can go toe-to-toe with the Floor 1, District 1 area boss too, right."

"Isn't that just intuition?"

　Yas let out a sigh at me. I felt offended.

"Well, having that intuition is probably why Suzuka has grown like this."

"What's with the suddenly. Don't praise me, it's ticklish."

　I got sighed at by Yas again. I felt offended.

"Besides, we've changed, haven't we. Not from leveling up, but in appearance? You didn't have a manly face to begin with, but... should I call you Suzuka-chan lol"

　Yas teased me while messing around.

"Yeah, call me Princess Suzuka."

"Princess Suzuka lol lol lol whoa lol lol that's too much lol lol lol lol"

　Even though I called myself a princess, Suzuka had become beautiful enough to accept being called a princess.

　My skin had always been white and I had a small frame, and I didn't have a manly face, but I didn't expect the physical changes to progress in a more androgynous direction. Rather than a man, I'm a boy. Even if called a peerless beauty in boyish clothes, I could accept it.

　Suzuka's face is now a face of "beauty," not within the framework of female or male. It's so well-arranged that it's scary, in fact.

"You'll get a boyfriend before your girlfriend at this rate lol"

"Stop it, seriously..."

　Suzuka is straight. However, if there's a man as beautiful as Suzuka, I think even I could hold him. But I'm the holder. I don't want to be held.

"You're lucky, huh. You just casually became a handsome guy."

"Hah! Checking the mirror every morning is fun lol"

　Yas is tall, and while his face retains some manliness, he's become a handsome guy with a clean-cut vibe. Even if his acting is bad, he's at a level where he could appear in dramas and movies with just his face.

　By the way, hair color changes too, and Yas's hair has a slight red tint. They say it's the influence of magic, but many level 10 training facility graduates also have changed hair colors, so while not many, there are people with various hair colors walking around town. By the way, Suzuka's hair is still black.

"Nah, actually I'm getting approached by all kinds of girls! I'm really troubled, completely!"

　Yas spoke happily, not looking troubled at all. In the previous world too, thanks to being tall and having a gentle face, Yas had girlfriends regularly and even got married.

　In this world, Yas is a booming handsome guy, and as his level rose and he became more handsome, the number of girls flocking to him increased.

　On the other hand, perhaps because Suzuka's face is too well-arranged, as his level went up, instead of getting approached, girls drifted away, and he ended up just being worshipped from afar. Since his inner self is 30 years old and he had no intention of dating classmates, this might have been good in that it reduced sources of worry.

　However, a different problem emerged.

　I have friends I talked with often at school, though we stopped contacting after graduating middle school. Since Suzuka liked manga from the beginning, many of my friends were otaku-leaning, and we often talked about this week's One Piece or anime.

　Starting with Suzuka, humans called otaku are few who have immunity toward women. The result of current Suzuka approaching such friends...

"Aaaah, ah, u-um, Jozenji... s-san. G-good morn-ing, s-sir"

　It ended up not being a conversation. His way of speaking is keigo, and his behavior is strange. It's not like we were in a relationship where we'd stop contacting after middle school graduation anyway, and since I also didn't have to worry about getting my ass targeted, not talking wasn't necessarily bad. However, Suzuka, who had girls drift away and couldn't even have proper conversations with guys, was isolated in class, unlike Yas.

　Even Ikezaki, who aims for Explorer High School, didn't approach Suzuka, and the other day when our eyes met, he dyed his face and looked away, so he must have chickened out and sworn never to look again.

"If you get too full of yourself, you're going to have a painful experience, you know."

"I know that!"

　I stuck in a comment to make sure Yas didn't get too carried away. Yas denied it, but his grin didn't change. If he has a painful experience soon, that's fine. That's life experience too. The not-so-experienced-with-women Suzuka thought.

"Anyway, what do we do? We reached level 10, you know."

"Yeah. I didn't think we'd grow this fast."

　Suzuka doesn't know many things about dungeons. The Suzuka who was originally in this world too had some interest in dungeons but wasn't planning to become an explorer. Therefore he wasn't knowledgeable at all, and with hazy memories, he understood nothing.

　On the other hand, Yas seemed to be interested in dungeons and often watched DanChuTube and such, so he had knowledge. That's why he well understood that current selves were abnormal.

"We're not normal, you know. Our status is ridiculously high, and we even defeated an area boss before reaching level 10."

"Yeah."

　Even Suzuka, who checked later, understood that this was a rapid advance. However, since I had practiced thinking this was how it should be from the beginning, I separate it as "others are like this, we're like this," and I have no intention of changing my exploration method.

"Hey, Yas."

"What?"

"If it's us, shouldn't we be able to do it? The pinnacle of explorers, special-grade explorers, that sort of thing!"

　Suzuka said it raising his tension. In the previous world, he never even considered aiming for the top in some field, not even a fragment of it.

　But now, maybe I can do it. If it's dungeon exploration, maybe I can aim for the pinnacle. There was that certain feeling of being able to do it.

"Our vibes match. I was thinking that too."

"As expected of Yas! Let's do this!!"

"Yeah! Aim for the top! Aim for special grade!!"

　Our next goal was decided. That goal is still a distant and steep journey, but if it's the two of us, we can overcome it. The two had a confidence that bordered on certainty.

"All right! Then let's have a celebratory drinking party today! We're going to eat meat!!"

"Yeahhhh!!!"

　The two quickly stood up and headed for a yakiniku restaurant to celebrate "Level 10 Achieved & Area Boss Defeated."

Name: Suzuka Jozenji

Level: 10

Vitality: 86

Magic: 88

Attack: 93

Defense: 86

Agility: 94

Dexterity: 92

Intelligence: 87

Storage: 37

Ability: Swordsmanship (1), Body Control (2), Snatch