Chapter-04 · EP-057

Episode 57: Score

During exploration class, even though I was in a party, I was hunting slimes separately from Shiraishi and the others. For efficiently hunting slimes, which didn't require any cooperation, solo action was optimal.

While acting alone like that, I ran into Yuno's party (Yuno, Maika, and Iori).

"Ah, Shirou-kun."

It was Maika who spotted me and called out.

"Hey! Making good progress?"

Yuno answered my greeting.

"There's no way we can make good progress when you told us not to use Water Magic to lure slimes during class, Shirou. We have no choice but to defeat them one by one."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

If we used Maika's Water Magic to scatter water, slimes would gather. But it seemed this characteristic of slimes wasn't widely known. I thought it would be useful to keep it a secret for the inter-class competition. Also, discovering unique dungeon systems like this could be registered as "Dungeon Knowledge" and might even earn a reward as intellectual property. I was looking into that. If someone else found out and registered it before me, it would ruin it, so I had asked them to keep quiet.

"Come to think of it, where did you go on Sunday, Shirou?"

"Huh?"

"Sunday, you took the train into the city, didn't you?"

"How do you know?"

"We went to Harajuku on Sunday, and we saw you on the train. You went to buy that leather jacket then, didn't you?"

She seemed to know everything. But I wasn't sure how much to tell.

Honestly, I didn't want to spread around that I was diving into dungeons alone. If word got out that I'd gone all the way to the fourth floor in the Shinjuku Dungeon when the academy said we weren't allowed to explore the second floor yet, I might get in trouble with the teachers. Technically, the rules probably allowed it. But nobles could apparently hire high-level explorers to take them to deeper floors for leveling, so maybe it wasn't a problem even if it was found out? I didn't know, but for now, I wanted to keep it a secret.

But I felt that Yuno and the others were almost like family. If I asked them not to tell anyone else, it would probably be okay to tell them.

As I was thinking, Yuno continued.

"We ate crepes and went to a cat café."

Remembering the weekend, Maika joined the conversation.

"The cats were so cute, weren't they?"

"Right!"

"Cats?… There are cats everywhere. You don't need to go to a café for that…"

"You don't get it! Stray cats are wary and won't let you get close, but the cats at cat cafés are friendly!"

"Is it a rule to call cats 'kitty-chans'?"

"Ugh! You don't understand how great they are! Even cool Iori was totally charmed! Should I take you with us next time, Shirou?"

"No, I'm good…"

The conversation was drifting…

"…So, where did you buy that leather jacket?"

She brought the conversation back abruptly.

"This is… from the Explorer Recycle Market near Shinjuku Station."

"What? What's that? Sounds fun!"

"It's like a flea market that's held only on weekends."

"Did you go all the way to Shinjuku for that?"

"Not exactly for that. My goal was the Shinjuku Dungeon, but…"

"Huh? Who did you go with?"

"By myself…"

"You went all the way to Shinjuku alone? Isn't it the same anywhere?"

"Actually, I wanted to explore beyond the second floor…"

I accidentally revealed it. Well, with Yuno and the others, it was probably okay…

"No way… You went to the second floor alone?"

"Ah… In the end, I went all the way to the fourth floor…"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaat?!"

Yuno reacted dramatically to my words.

After that, Yuno grilled me about my exploration that weekend. Deciding it wasn't worth lying to hide it, I spilled everything: how on Saturday I helped some strangers on the third floor, and how on Sunday I defeated the third-floor boss, the Hobgoblin, then peeked at the fourth floor and came back via the portal.

The three listened with excited expressions. When I finished, Yuno said reproachfully.

"That's not fair, going exploring without us!"

"Is it unfair?"

"Because we're friends!"

"Well, we've been exploring together after school lately, but my party members are Shiraishi and Mizuno."

"That's just during class, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then they're not your official party."

"Official party? Officially, I'm a solo explorer!"

"I see… so you're solo. …That makes me a bit sad."

"What's with that reaction?"

"Well, anyway, next time you go on a holiday, take us with you."

"Why would I? If I explore with you guys, I won't be able to continue exploring the fourth floor."

"Then help us level up enough to go to the fourth floor too."

"So why should I?"

"Because we're friends!"

"You're persistent today…"

"Alright, fine. Just take us for either Saturday or Sunday."

Hmm… Then I could explore on my own the other day.

"Well, I suppose that's okay…?"

"Yes!"

"But wait. You want to explore the second floor, right? That means first, you need to reach level 2. And after you defeat the Huge Slime without me, we'll go explore the second floor of the Shinjuku Dungeon together."

"Got it! It's a promise!"

Maybe I'd managed to turn her down. Because normally, reaching level 2 was said to happen from late June to July. …Or so I thought, but thinking about it, we were already doing unusual exploration.

Normal exploration meant defeating a few slimes each day in class. Continuing that, almost everyone reached level 2 from late June to July.

But we had been using Maika's magic to lure slimes, defeating them in large numbers since last week. Our pace was clearly faster.

"By the way, what are your scores now?"

The "score" for the first semester of the first year is simply the number of slimes defeated per person. In the second semester, it's based on the number of monsters defeated on the second floor, and in the third semester, on the third floor.

After exploration, you sell the Magic Gems you obtained and divide the proceeds by the number of party members. That total number is your score. The quota for the first semester is 100, which is also roughly the point where you level up.

Yuno and the others' scores were:

"I'm at 90."

"I'm at 91."

"I'm still at 80."

Only Iori, who sometimes didn't explore with them because she had club activities after school, was slightly lower.

"By the way, how many did you defeat today?"

Prompted by me, the three counted the Magic Gems they had collected.

"Five!"

"I got four."

"I got six."

"So, both of you are exactly at 95, and Iori is at 86. You're both almost at the level up!"

"Just five more!"

"Let's do our best!"

"Yes."

After finishing class that day, they checked the Skill Board at the dungeon entrance.

As a result, both Yuno and Maika had reached level 2.

Seeing the display, Yuno grabbed my arm with a beaming smile.

"See? That makes tomorrow's promise official!"

Unfortunately, Iori was still level 1, but with her ability, she could probably handle the second floor even at level 1.

"Fine, fine."

I reluctantly agreed to go to the Shinjuku Dungeon with the three of them the next day.