ch41-ch60 · 042-ch41

Chapter 41

"Oh! He's actually streaming!" "So this is your debut as an exploration streamer, Toru-bro!" "Ojou's with him too lol" "Came here from Ojou" "Came here from Ojou's social media" "I pre-subscribed to the channel, Toru-bro" "Tia-tan! Tia-tan! Uoooooh! Tia-tan's the best!"

"Ah... damn, that's a lot of people watching. For real, this?"

When he checked the stream on his mobile device, it showed himself and Tia staring at the device at the entrance of Sugai Dungeon, and Kujo Reiko making a smug face at the camera.

Viewer count: twenty-two thousand.

Just the other day his live stream average was zero.

So this is what blowing up means — Toru let out a wry laugh. People who've been grinding away seriously must feel like there's no justice.

Not that he intended to live meekly, making himself small out of consideration for those people.

"O-ho-ho-ho-ho! Welcome, viewers, to Toru-bro-sama's channel! I am your guest, Kujo Reiko. A pleasure to make your acquaintance!"

Kujo Reiko started speaking before anyone else with a loud laugh, but neither Toru nor Tia felt like calling her out on it.

"What is this" "If you didn't come from Ojou's stream this makes no sense lol" "Toru-bro, explain please"

"Ah... yeah, right. So, Kujo Reiko here came by, and she's gonna teach me about dungeon exploration. The one we're going into now is Sugai Dungeon. Since it just had a 'Dungeon Rampage' yesterday, she apparently got permission from the Labyrinth Agency under the pretense of having an A-rank explorer investigate it. She suggested I do an exploration stream on my channel. Right now the camera guy is her butler. ...That about right?"

"Exactly right in every particular!"

Kujo Reiko's voice was loud at every turn.

But she already seemed genuinely excited even though nothing had happened yet, so maybe this was just her normal operating mode.

"For real, the day after yesterday?" "Is Sugai Dungeon's branch office still wrecked?" "No deaths at the branch office, right?" "There was no footage from Sugai Dungeon, but what kind of monsters showed up?"

The sheer volume of comments being posted was overwhelming — he felt like picking out which ones to answer would take a lot of getting used to.

When watching Anthem's streams or Kujo Reiko's streams, it was easy to follow the comments since it felt like someone else's problem, but with his own stream it felt strangely difficult. Funny how that works.

"Ah... sorry, but I don't know the details either. After I cut down that big thing at Noumi Dungeon yesterday, I went home, ate, took a bath, and crashed. As for opinions on the 'Dungeon Rampage,' I think we gotta wait for the official announcement. Anyway, let's head in first. I know the way up to the fourth floor, so if things look different from what I know, it means a labyrinth mutation's happened. As for questions, I think the holy sword user over there'll answer stuff along the way."

Saying that, he tossed the mobile device he'd been using to check comments to Tia.

"I get to chat with the comment people? Well then, I'll tell you all sorts of things. Oh, Toru, Toru! They're saying I'm cute!"

"Ah, yeah yeah, cute cute."

"Then let's commence the dungeon attack! O-ho-ho-ho-ho!"

"...Weren't we here to investigate?"

Even before setting foot on the first basement floor, he already felt a bit tired — but regardless.

This became his first dungeon exploration stream as the explorer Toru.

◇◇◇

The range where Toru had hunted weak monsters as a cleaner was from the first basement floor to the fourth floor of Sugai Dungeon. Thanks to three years of aimlessly wandering that area, the exploration up to the fifth basement floor went by like fast-forward.

But in the end, there were no problems.

Along the way, he accidentally bludgeoned some demi-goblins and big rats to death with his bludgeon and muttered "Demi-gob three" toward the body camera he wasn't even wearing, which got a laugh from viewers — but aside from that, nothing seemed to have changed in Sugai Dungeon up to the fourth floor.

He stopped by the spot where the illusion wall had been, just in case, but the wall was just a wall now — no hidden passage, no ringing in his ears, and no ghost in hakama in sight.

He wondered briefly what that had been about, but since thinking about it wouldn't yield an answer, Toru set the matter aside for now.

From the fifth basement floor, discrepancies began appearing in the monster information.

Sugai Dungeon, classified as D-rank, had nothing but the weakest of weak monsters up to the fourth floor — ones even a sub-D-rank cleaner could take down. No traps, no mid-bosses. Basically garbage territory.

The story supposedly didn't change much from the mid-layers, floors five through ten — monsters that even D-rank beginner explorers could handle easily (though still fairly dangerous for ordinary people). From the lower layers, floors eleven through fifteen, monsters that would be "tough for beginners" supposedly started appearing. For reference, the deepest part of Sugai Dungeon was said to be the sixteenth basement floor, which was the boss room.

To cut to the conclusion — the labyrinth had changed.

Not in its structure, but in the monsters that appeared.

"My? How peculiar. A pack of gray dogs. According to the records, they should be lower-layer monsters in Sugai Dungeon."

Kujo Reiko tilted her head curiously as she looked at the pack of red-eyed wolves appearing at the end of the corridor. Her tone suggested something like "that stray cat's territory shouldn't be here" — no tension in it at all.

Which was only natural — needless to say, really.

Kujo Reiko was an A-rank explorer, and the monsters that appeared were upper D-rank at best.

"It does seem the labyrinth is undergoing changes. Joichiro? You've been recording the monsters we've encountered so far, yes?"

"Course I have, y'know."

The butler, who was holding the stream camera and filming Toru and the others, replied in a completely unmotivated voice.

"Hey, Toru. We haven't looked at the Sugai Dungeon records or anything, right?"

"Haven't looked, and honestly I don't really get what we're investigating either. We're moving forward while checking the map, so even if something's different, honestly I wouldn't know."

"Honestly lol" "Well, can't be helped" "Toru-bro, while we're on honesty, you've got it right. There's basically no way to confirm other than checking if the current labyrinth matches the existing map, if the monsters match the records, and if there are any notes in the records that contradict what we're seeing" "Oh, we got a knowledgeable one. Throw some charm their way."

"That's not a nice way to put it, Toru. But I'll convey thanks. Appreciate the info!"

Tia waved at the camera with a smile. Come to think of it, she was still in her village-girl outfit, holding Lightbringer in her hand. That must be enough for her. Unlike the time with Anthem, this wasn't a job to protect a young lady. Kujo Reiko was the one guiding Toru and the others.

"O-ho-ho-ho! You two! While you've been chatting, they've been closing in! But since we're here, allow me to show you a glimpse of my, Kujo Reiko's, true ability!"

The moment she said that in a voice twice as loud as anyone else's, Kujo Reiko's figure, fists raised with gauntlets, slid away — in other words, she closed in on the pack of dogs.

Whether you called it footwork or stance, there was a form to it — a movement that spoke of training.

Closing the distance in an instant, she threw a body hook at the nearest gray dog — if it had been a human opponent, that is. Since it was a dog, its head burst open with a pop.

A fwish of movement, then pop!

That repeated several times, and in no time the pack of gray dogs was wiped out. Soon after, the monsters began dissolving into particles, leaving magic cores on the ground.

"Woo! That's our Ojou!" "Against weak stuff you can really see how clean her movements are!" "As expected of Kujo Game!"

"Ooh, that's pretty impressive. You've trained quite a bit, haven't you?"

"I am honored by your praise!"

Tia's naturally condescending tone didn't seem to bother Kujo Reiko at all — rather, she returned with a face full of joy.

Which made Toru unconsciously start collecting the abandoned magic cores and tossing them into his magic bag. A completely unconscious movement.

"............" "............" "............"

"Shut up, you. Don't say it. Don't say anything. Well, you didn't say anything."

"Veteran moves lol" "Three years as a cleaner really shows" "That's some serious training, Toru-bro"

He'd gotten a laugh from the viewers, but it wasn't intentional. And he had a feeling this habit wasn't going away anytime soon.

Actually, Toru didn't even want to fix it.

"Ah... more importantly, Kujo-san's movements felt like some kind of martial art. Like there was a proper form that she was bringing into actual combat... well, I don't know much about it."

"Oh, that's our bro. Good eye."

"Didn't you tell Kagurazaka Chizuru you'd never even held a sword?"

"People call her Kujo Game, Toru-bro. Remember that." "Wait, this is bro's channel" "You guys subscribe too"

"To be honest, I bought the DVD online! Apparently the founder said not to use the name of their martial art for profit, so out of respect, I suppose I'll call it 'Kujo-style Fist Way.' O-ho-ho-ho-ho!"

After laughing loudly for a bit, Kujo Reiko wiped under her nose with the pad of her thumb, then struck a sharp pose.

A drill-haired blonde ojou-sama in a day dress, wearing gauntlets and striking some kind of Dragon Fury Whatever pose — objectively it was ridiculous, but her stance was so beautiful that it inspired genuine admiration rather than mockery.

Like an iron rod had been driven through the center of her body — a solid core that didn't waver, in both stance and movement.

"That's probably a combat art that excels at mana flow. The mana flow in her movements must have good compatibility with it. The fact that the gauntlets don't cover her fingertips probably means there are techniques that use the hands beyond just fists. And that footwork that glides along the ground was exquisite!"

Nodding to herself as she gave her impressions, Tia's combat experience was clearly on another level. Her observational eye was sharp.

The chat comments were filled with surprise and praise at Tia's insights, and Tia started chatting happily with the viewers.

Anyway, standing around wasn't getting them anywhere, so they resumed moving.

Each floor they descended — seventh, eighth, ninth — the rank of monsters appearing clearly rose. The labyrinth passages themselves matched the existing map, but only the monster types had changed. It felt strangely off.

Occasionally, Toru also had to handle monsters with his rebar bludgeon, but even against multiple C-rank middle Evil Monkeys, he dealt with them without any danger at all.

"Damn, that's easy, Toru-bro" "Can't believe he was a sub-D-rank cleaner until recently" "It can't just be the holy sword's blessing or whatever" "That's a bludgeon made from bundled and welded rebar, right? Why does it work on monsters?"

"Ah... good question, why? Now that you mention it, I guess that is weird. With weak stuff, sure, bashing them with a rebar club would kill them, but those monkeys from earlier — normally even hitting them with rebar should bounce off."

"Even he doesn't know lol" "Would Ojou or the butler know?"

"O-ho-ho-ho-ho! You called my name! Yes, this Kujo Reiko shall teach you! Toru-bro-sama, first of all — why do explorers use swords and spears against monsters instead of guns? Are you aware of the reasoning there?"

He hadn't actually called her name, but Toru held back from pointing that out to the clearly delighted ojou-sama. He was here to learn, after all.

"Ah... I think I heard this during middle school dungeon exploration practicum. Because attacks need to contain mana to be effective against monsters."

"Exactly! Excellent, Toru-bro-sama. Attacks without mana cannot penetrate magic defense! Which means the answer is already clear! A bullet from a mana-less soldier cannot compare to a sword strike infused with mana from an explorer who possesses mana! In other words, Toru-bro-sama, you too have been channeling mana into your attacks!"

"Oh... is that so."

He was genuinely impressed.

"You weren't aware of this?"

"Well, not really."

"That in itself is quite something, isn't it. Toru-bro-sama, even when you were still sub-D-rank, through your daily battles... slaying a dragon, the Black Knight, dungeon exploration with Anthem, and then two large monsters that appeared during the 'Dungeon Rampage' — regardless of how low your mana affinity is, you should have leveled up considerably."

"Oh, that makes sense" "True. He's been getting experience no sub-D-rank cleaner could ever obtain" "So he's been power-leveling like crazy, in the end"

"If that's the case, normally you'd be confused by your newfound physical abilities being completely different from before... but from what I can see, Toru-bro-sama's mana flow and body movements don't seem like someone with no formal training fighting purely by instinct."

"Well, thanks."

Toru nodded vaguely and ended the conversation there, but he now had a clue as to why his body moved the way he wanted.

Not that he felt like broadcasting it to the world. Something about the cursed blade Kagetsu, which existed by devouring his soul, automatically updating his body's movements to match his leveling up.

Sure, Toru moved his body by his own will, swung the rebar bludgeon, and bashed monsters to death... but those movements were because Kagetsu had installed the motion patterns into Toru's body. Without any effort, the cursed blade's effect made his body react like a master.

—It's a cursed artifact that's a mass of combat experience.

That's what Tia had said, and well, if so, then maybe he'd been cursed by the cursed blade from the very beginning.

What made him laugh was that he didn't find that unpleasant.

A guy who was a sub-D-rank cleaner — just by getting a little cursed — was now walking through a dungeon alongside an A-rank explorer. What an absurd story.

People who've been grinding away seriously must feel like there's no justice.

He'd better not get carried away, Toru thought.

Not that he'd planned to anyway.