NOVEL NEXT Book 2: Chapter 40
Chapter 40.
-Two days later.-
Tenji was waiting for Rui and Aika's arrival while doing some light exercises. He was at the meeting place near Yokohama Station.
On his back, he carried a long, thin black cloth stamped with the association's seal of approval. This is the fifth-grade weapon "Tetsu Sword" that Tenji purchased.
[TLN: Testu means Iron in Japanese]
When carried in public places such as this, dungeon weapons must be stored and carried in a container inscribed with the association's seal of approval. Else they will be seized by police officers for safety.
In the past, there was a law called the Violation of Firearms Act, but in this day and age, only explorers are allowed to carry them as long as they have a permit stamp.
"I still have half an hour to go." Tenji muttered to himself as he stared at the numbers on his watch.
The meeting time was ten o'clock, and it was now nine-thirty. It was the first time Tenji was allowed to enter a sub-dungeon as an assistant explorer, so naturally, he hadn't been able to sleep well since last night. This caused Tenji to arrive an hour before the meeting time, and as expected, he was short-handed.
Rich people would probably relax at a café. Still, the Amagi family could not afford it, so they had no choice but to wait or do too much careful preparatory work.
By the way, Tenji had been doing preparatory exercises at home, so his body was already in great shape.
[Well, it wouldn't hurt to do some careful preparatory work today. But even so, Rui is still amazing. It is a huge deal to easily get the rights (permission) to a sub-dungeon.]
While stretching his legs, Tenji thought briefly about Rui. The sub-dungeon uses a bidding system. Large guilds, small companies in the dungeon industry, and privately run guilds will bid on the sub-dungeon they wish to enter. If they win the bid, the right to enter that sub-dungeon will be transferred from the association.
It has various purposes, such as training newcomers, earning money, fighting monsters, and many other reasons for the bidding wars. Of course, sub-dungeons are also suitable for earning. In fact, they are even said to be more efficient than the main dungeon.
Sub-dungeons are a bit special. It is said that about 10% of the monsters are turned into magic ore. The other 90% remain in the dungeon as corpses.
It is said that selling the demon ore and monster corpses can earn 5 million yen even if you are unlucky. Considering that, bids are often between 100,000 yen and 10 million yen.
However, the secretaries of the guild do the bidding and are rarely done by the explorers themselves. "I wonder what kind of sub-dungeon Rui bought the permissions to......"
Tenji thought about the sub-dungeon he was heading to today.
In Japan, which is said to be a dungeon powerhouse, 5 or more sub-dungeons appear on average per day. Both the monsters' grades and lineage are random, and Tenji did not yet know what kind of sub-dungeon Rui had won the bidding.
First, the amount of money it would take for a single student to bid on them would be impossible. Still, it was not a problem for a child born into a privileged family like Rui Inagaki and Asagiri. Tenji was poor and borrowed the access of these two, but he was still happy from the bottom of his heart to be able to enter the dungeon.
[Well, I hope I'll be lucky enough to find a situation where I can summon the Goblins.]
Tenji thinks to himself. Tenji's guideline for his actions was that he could not reveal his calling to others. If he was lucky enough to be alone in a situation, he might be able to summon the Goblins. Still, he considered the chances of that happening slim to none.
A fifth-grade sub-dungeon. More than 90.90% of the time, it is a simple maze with a single-level structure and many walkthrough elements in which only fifth-grade monsters appear.
In the extreme, it is known as a low-grade sub-dungeon, to the point that it could be cleared by a dozen men who are confident in the athleticism of the average man.
Rarely, and that was the 1% chance of an irregularity. Still, it was a shameful habit for an explorer to worry about. And that was when Tenji remembered such a story.
"Good morning, Tenji!"
Aika's chestnut-coloured ponytail swung as she waved her hand widely at Tenji, who caught her in his field of vision. Her face was one of the cutest among his peers, and Tenji was secretly happy to hear Aika call his name so naturally.
"Good morning, Asagiri-san."
Aika arrived twenty minutes before the meeting time.
"Oh, is that perhaps a... sword!"
Aika's eyes widened when she saw the large cloth bag on Tenji's back.
"Yes, it's a fifth-grade weapon. Since I awakened as a "swordsman," I tried my best to buy it. What do you think? Is it weird?"
"No, it's not weird at all. You look like a very fine explorer!"
"I see, then good for me. My sister used to make fun of me for carrying a weapon."
"No, I don't think it's like that. Also, I see we have matching suits."
Aika praised Tenji from the bottom of her heart and started talking about how happy she was to be wearing the same color inner suit. Aika was wearing a blue inner suit under her uniform. She carried a yellow wand about fifteen centimeters long at her waist that Tenji didn't recognize.
"Asagiri-san, is that..."
Tenji asked, pointing at the wand.
Aika giggled, her cheeks turning vermillion(pink) with a bit of embarrassment.
"Yes, I borrowed it from Commander Kujo of the Chariot."
"Chariot? Ah, come to think of it..."
Tenji recalls the conversation that led to Aika being scouted by Godo.
He thinks Aika must have been in and out of Chariot frequently since then.
"The guild leader lent it to me so that I can show off my full strength in today's entrance examinations.. I know it's more than I can handle, but I'm going to do my best today!"
Aika let out a sniffle.
Seeing that, Tenji tilted his head, "Huh?"
He felt a puzzling word had just been uttered from Aika's mouth.
"...Entrance exam? Oh, maybe Chariot is helping us today? Right, since Rui won the bidding, is Chariot intervening?"
Rui was originally born into a family on good terms with Chariot, so he guessed that Chariot's guild was helping them win the bid for the sub-dungeon this time. Recalling that it was legally impossible for students alone to bid for the rights to the sub-dungeon in the first place.
It wasn't exactly impossible, but it was impossible in the current position of Rui, Tenji, and the others. However, Aika also tilted her head when she heard Tenji's words.
"Um, Tenji-kun? You're willing to help me?... But today is the Chariot entrance exam, right?"
"...Hmm? Today's the entrance exam? What do you mean?"
"Today is the day of the annual [Chariot] entrance exam. Normally, first-year students are not allowed to take the exam due to regulations, but I heard that Rui-san and Godo-san recommended us to participate this time. Perhaps you have heard about it from Rui-san?"
Tenji's mouth drops open wide. Beyond surprise, a feeling of anxiety swirled around his chest.
[Could it be that I was deceived by Rui?]
"Let's see, didn't Rui and Asagiri-san lead the bidding for this sub-dungeon together?"
"Me? I don't care if it's Rui-san, my family doesn't have that kind of money. In the first place, if a student does a bidding, s/he will be expelled from school if the school finds out about it."
"Yeah, I know, but..." Tenji thinks about how this happened.
It all started two days ago when Tenji called Rui. He believed he asked him if he had any plans to dive the fifth-grade sub-dungeon.
So, Rui said, "Just as well," and invited Tenji to join them.
[...Oh, this. I am definitely being deceived. What in the world is Rui thinking? When did I say I wanted to join the Chariot?]
Tenji has had little to no contact with Rui in the past month.
In this context, he recalls that Rui was a young man who liked to play pranks like this from time to time. Or, rather than a prank, he should say meddling out of courtesy.
"Uhm... I was wondering if you didn't know that today was the entrance exam?"
"...Yeah, I just found out about it."
Asagiri and Tenji were unsure how to react besides smiling awkwardly at each other.