And so, Hinata-san explained the situation to Urara-san.
"I see, I see. So, in other words, Takeo-kun is suffering from withdrawal symptoms like hallucinations and paranoia because he hasn't been able to consume any Experience Points for a long time?"
"Yes, that's exactly right."
"I see... Are you being serious right now?"
"Ugh!"
Hinata-san let out another stifled groan.
"Well, I’d hate to believe that a creature with such a bizarre biology exists within the human race... but since we can't move forward without believing it, I’ll take your word for it. We have a doctor's certificate, after all, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and accept that Takeo-kun isn't on drugs!"
"Th-thank you very much..."
"Ahem. Now then, shall we get down to the main topic?"
As Urara-san straightened her posture, I decided to shift at least half of the attention I was giving the Goblins toward her.
"The reason I called you both here today is that you have been selected as candidates for the Special Crisis Case Explorers."
Special Crisis Case Explorers—or Special Crisis Explorers for short.
It was the system announced the day after the terrorist attack. On the internet, people were already mockingly calling them 'S-Rank Explorers (lol).'
According to Urara-san, Hinata-san and I had been chosen as candidates.
Oh, and for the record, the Japan Explorer Association doesn't actually have a rank system. Just in case you were wondering.
"The two of us? But isn't that something top-tier explorers are chosen for? We've only made it to Floor 7..."
Hinata-san raised a natural concern.
Just as she said, being on Floor 7 meant we had only just graduated from being newbies; we were certainly not at a level where we should be lumped together with the top-tier crowd.
Urara-san answered the unspoken question of why we were chosen.
"The Special Crisis Explorer appointment system isn't just intended to deal with specific incidents like last week's terrorism. Being selected as a Special Crisis Explorer increases your obligations, but the perks increase even more. For example, you get tax breaks, discounts, and priority purchase rights for potions and equipment. Also, while they aren't on the market yet, you’ll receive preferential treatment like the loan of a Spatial Expansion Bag secured by the Association. To be honest, our true intent is not just to support the current top tier, but to foster promising, talented explorers so that they will eventually join the elite and become a reliable force if another dungeon terrorist attack occurs."
"I see," Hinata-san nodded.
"Takeo-kun and Mashiro-chan may still be on a low cleared floor, but the Association is well aware of your significant contributions during last week's incident. We also highly value the fact that you captured one of the terrorists. Therefore, we decided to bet on your potential and select you as candidates for the Special Crisis Explorers."
"Mashiro-chan..."
Hinata-san muttered her name, then continued.
"Um, what does 'candidate' mean? Does it mean we haven't been officially selected yet?"
"No, you can consider it a near-certainty. However, before officially signing a contract with the Association, we need to explain what obligations are imposed and what perks are received. Once the explanation is over, we’d like you two to sign the contract. Of course, this isn't mandatory, so it's perfectly fine if you choose to refuse."
"Understood."
"Then, I will explain the obligations and perks of being a Special Crisis Explorer. Are you ready?"
"Yes, please."
Urara-san then gave us a detailed breakdown.
To be honest, I didn't quite grasp the fine print of the obligations, but simply put, if an incident occurred outside the Dungeon that involved Dungeons or explorers, we would be summoned to help resolve it.
However, I felt a slight doubt regarding this point.
In the recent incident, the power of Status and Skills was active inside Shinjuku Station, so there was no problem, but that might not always be the case. I wondered what would happen then.
Hinata-san seemed to have the same doubt and questioned Urara-san. Her response was:
"I don't quite understand it myself, but if Status and Skills are active on the surface like in last week's incident, I believe Takeo-kun and Mashiro-chan will be summoned. But if they aren't, the task will be left to the top-tier explorers who have cleared beyond Floor 20. Although, I imagine the fact that skills can't be used on the surface remains the same for everyone..."
Urara-san explained with a look of confusion.
Hinata-san and I exchanged a look and nodded.
Apparently, Urara-san hadn't been informed that there were specific conditions for using the power of Status and Skills on the surface. On the other hand, the fact that they mentioned summoning top-tier explorers suggests that the government and the Association's higher-ups likely know those elites can use their powers on the surface regardless.
Well, as long as they don't tell us to fight in an impossible environment where skills can't be used, it shouldn't be a problem for us.
By the way, if we receive a request from the government or the Association, we will be properly paid a separate reward. Though apparently, it's not a huge amount of money for explorers who have cleared Floor 10.
Next, she explained the perks of being a Special Crisis Explorer.
The contents were roughly as follows:
Tax breaks. Priority purchase rights and discounts for potions, equipment, and so on. The loan of a bag enchanted with Spatial Expansion and Weight Reduction.
The priority purchase rights meant that Special Crisis Explorers could buy items acquired by the Association before they were put up on the Association's online auction. This would make it much easier to secure consumables like potions and rare equipment.
However, the biggest highlight was undoubtedly the loan of the expansion bag.
It seemed that the top-tier people were loaned expansion bags with even more enchantments, and the ones being lent to us were inferior in performance. Even so, they were going to lend us expansion bags with ten times the capacity of a hiking backpack and only one-tenth the weight.
I thought that alone made the contract worth signing.
Hinata-san and I signed the contract to become Special Crisis Explorers.
After that, we were asked to present our current Status and activity schedules. This was likely necessary to send requests to explorers with appropriate strength and to avoid situations where they couldn't send a request because someone was away on an expedition to another dungeon.
I understood that point, and since I heard our Status wouldn't be made public, both Hinata-san and I willingly opened our Status, created a temporary schedule, and submitted it...
"Hoeh!!?"
Naturally, or perhaps I should say inevitably, a small problem occurred when we revealed our Status.
"Wh-what is this!? A Title I've never seen and a newly discovered Skill... well, that's fine! Honestly, I've heard that quite a few top-tier people keep unannounced Titles and Skills hidden... But this!!"
As expected of someone chosen as the officer in charge of Special Crisis Explorers, Urara-san wasn't shocked by things like the Goblin Genocider Title or its Skills....No, maybe she was a little shocked.
However, the real problem was the Title and Skill that were blacked out.
"W-what on earth are this skill and title!? Why are they blacked out!?"
Even for Urara-san, seeing a Status where part of it was blacked out was a first—or rather, it was the first time she’d even heard of such a thing.
Hinata-san struggled with how to answer. Ah, no, not me. At that moment, I was too busy using Intimidation to stay on guard against the Goblins narrowing their encirclement to really listen to the conversation.
Anyway, it seems Hinata-san thought at that moment that if the Pleasure Killer Title became known, I’d be seen as a danger and things would get ugly.
And she was right. According to what I heard from Mito-san later, if the Association found out about the Pleasure Killer Title, I wouldn't just lose my Special Crisis Explorer status—I might even have my Explorer License revoked and potentially be arrested.
Though she also said I probably wouldn't be charged due to insufficient evidence. All the evidence gets absorbed and disappears into the Dungeon, after all.
Well, for those various reasons, Hinata-san answered like this:
"That's... it's been sealed!"
"S-sealed? Why? By whom? How?"
The natural questions came from a momentarily stunned Urara-san.
With her face turning bright red, Hinata-san continued.
"I-I don't know the details! But, um, probably... the blacked-out parts are r-really powerful Titles and Title Skills that the current Takeo-kun can't handle yet, so they're sealed! I'm sure they're the type of skills that get released when the time is right!"
"........."
Hinata-san had said it. She did her best. Rather than logic, it was sheer momentum. There was a glimmer of moisture in the corners of her eyes, but fortunately, no one pointed it out.
After looking stunned for a few seconds, Urara-san came back to her senses.
"Can such a chuunibyou-like thing actually happen?"
"Ugh!"
She made Hinata-san let out another 'ugh.'
"T-that's right! W-we don't know the details either!"
"I see... Well, there are still many things we don't understand about the Status. I suppose something like that could happen."
Hinata-san had thought she couldn't possibly fool her, but unexpectedly, she succeeded and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, but since there's a rule to report unknown phenomena like this, I'll have to include this in my report, okay?"
"I-I understand."
"Also, I'll list Mashiro-chan's name as a witness in the report. Is that all right?"
"...!?...Y-yes. Th-that's fine!"
"Thank you. Hmm, okay, Takeo-kun's side is all good, so next, let me check Mashiro-chan's Status."
"Yes, I understand. Status Open!...Here you go."
"Yes, then if you'll excuse me... Hogeh!!?"
And Urara-san was shocked once again.
"Wh-what is this Status!? The Charm skill!? This is insane!! And the Saint title and skills too!? This is too much!! This is crazy!! It’s so crazy I’m losing my vocabulary!!"
Yes, actually, a few days after the dungeon terrorism, the Saint Title had suddenly sprouted for Hinata-san.
The Title of Saint is incredibly famous in Japan because of a certain individual. It wasn't surprising that Urara-san would lose her composure.
"Wh-what’s insane is this combination of titles! Beguiling Beauty and Saint... it's like, it's like... a fallen saint from an eroge! It's like light and darkness combining to be the strongest, or rather, the combination of pure and obscene creates an incredibly erotic feeling!!"
"...!!? Wh-wait, you’re looking at that!? P-please stop! I'm not like that!"
"B-but this! It's so lewd!"
"It is not lewd!"
Hinata-san shyly argued back against Urara-san's somewhat off-kilter reaction.
Fortunately, the Charm skill wasn't viewed as a danger. Well, it can't be used outside the Dungeon, and there's a limit to how many things it can control.
For a while, the two of them engaged in a pointless argument about whether it was erotic or not... but the Status check ended without further issue.
"Um, Mashiro-chan."
"Y-yes? What is it?"
"I have to warn you just in case... Please don't misuse Charm, okay?"
"I w-won't!"
It ended without issue (mostly).
Following that, we created and submitted our temporary exploration schedules, and with that, the procedures for registering as Special Crisis Explorers were complete. On that same day, we were loaned backpack-style expansion bags and left the Association.
"Are you okay, Takeo-kun? Can you get home alone? If you want, should I walk you to your house? Or maybe you want to stay at my place tonight?"
On the way home, Hinata-san was worried about my health, but I was fine.
"I'm fine, Hinata-san. These days of asceticism end today."
That’s right, today was the last day of the dungeon lockdown. From tomorrow, the Dungeons would be open again.
Once I did that and consumed some Experience Points, my health would surely return to normal.
I gave a wry smile to Hinata-san, who was worrying over me to an exaggerated degree, and somehow managed to get home on my own.
Fortunately, the Goblins stalking me didn't attack.