May 11th.
Today and tomorrow, I was scheduled for an overnight dungeon dive with Hinata-san.
Since I wouldn't be returning home today, I headed to see Mother before leaving the house in the morning.
As Mother washed the breakfast dishes in the kitchen, I reverently presented her with a plastic convenience store bag stuffed to the brim.
"Mother, today is Mother's Day. Please, accept this. It is but a humble token of this one's appreciation."
Yes, today was Mother's Day.
As a dutiful son whose filial piety I could show off anywhere without shame, I made it a point to give my mother a gift every year. Pretty impressive, right?
"Oh, you went out of your way to buy something?"
My mother, Shizue Samejima, turned off the faucet and wiped her hands, looking at the plastic bag with a look of boredom.
Even though your beloved son prepared a present for you, what’s with that face?
"You didn't have to go to such trouble. You're working now, Takeo... Honestly, cash would have been fine."
"!!?"
What a terrifying mother! To nitpick a gift like that! Good grief, I'd like to see the face of the person who raised her... oh wait, I have. It’s my grandparents in the countryside.
But no, she could only afford to prefer cash for a few more seconds.
I spoke with a confident smirk.
"Heh. Are you truly sure cash is preferable?"
"? What do you mean... Ha!? No way!"
Startled, Mother peered into the plastic bag.
Inside was a massive collection of small bottles. They were about the size of energy drinks, but it was immediately obvious they weren't something bought at a convenience store. They had no labels and no barcodes.
In a trembling voice, Mother asked.
"Takeo, c-could this be...?"
I gave a heavy, solemn nod.
"Indeed. A thirty-bottle set of Beginner Heal Potions."
The items I had been farming on Floor 6 of the Shinjuku Dungeon yesterday were these.
Mother took the plastic bag with trembling hands.
"Takeo... well done. I shall praise you."
She nodded with a look of utter satisfaction.
As expected, the Beginner Heal Potions—which could resolve almost any skin trouble—seemed to have met Mother's standards.
"Haha! Your praise is most kind!"
"I'll make your favorite for tomorrow's dinner."
"Hamburger curry, please."
And so, having fulfilled my annual quota, it was time to head to the dungeon.
"Well then, I'm off."
As I turned to leave the kitchen, Mother called out to my back.
"Oh, by the way, Takeo."
"Yeah, what?"
"If you see Mashiro-chan, could you tell her 'thank you for yesterday' for me?"
"....................Huh?"
Mashiro... chan?
"Wait, where did that come from? And which Mashiro-chan...?"
"What do you mean 'which one'? I'm talking about Hinata Mashiro-chan, the girl you dive into the dungeon with."
"...Wait, how do you know Hinata-san, Mom?"
They shouldn't have ever met.
"I ran into her yesterday when I went grocery shopping at the supermarket."
"...Did you even know what Hinata-san looked like?"
"Well, of course, since I watch your dungeon diving videos. Mashiro-chan is always on screen with you, so of course I know who she is."
Ah, I see. That made sense. Her only son was active as an explorer. As a parent, she'd naturally be worried and want to check on him. That's how she found Hinata-san's channel.
"Your father and I were worried you might be causing trouble for others, so we looked into various things."
"............"
There's no way I would cause trouble for society. She should have a little more faith in her son.
Well, setting aside her severe lack of trust in me.
"What do you mean by 'thank you'? Did something happen?"
"Nothing in particular. Mashiro-chan called out to me at the supermarket yesterday, asking, 'By any chance, are you Takeo-kun's mother?' I immediately recognized her as the young lady who dives into the dungeon with you, and the two of us had tea and talked for a bit afterward. I told her I was sorry you were always causing her so much trouble."
I wished she would stop talking as if it were a confirmed fact that I was a burden to Hinata-san....Well, I couldn't exactly say I wasn't, though.
Still... the supermarket where my mom shops was a local store in this neighborhood. It should be quite a distance from where Hinata-san lived.
By chance? On some errand? She happened to be nearby? And while she was at it, she stopped by the supermarket? And just happened to run into my mom?
Also, something about what my mom just said felt incredibly off... What was it?
While I was lost in thought, Mother continued.
"Mashiro-chan seems like a young lady from a very good family. She's beautiful, cute, and well-composed; she's far too good for someone like you."
"That's a hell of a thing to say to your own son."
Well, it was true that Hinata-san was an excellent healer and buffer that any party would want.
"Well, for some reason, you seem to be earning quite a bit, so it's fortunate you have enough wherewithal to provide for a girl from a good family."
"???...I guess so!"
Ho, so even my mother had to admit it. The fact that I was earning a lot meant I was a somewhat capable explorer. So she meant I had enough "wherewithal" to keep Hinata-san as a party member.
When I nodded proudly, Mother's eyes widened in surprise.
"Oh, so you were thinking that way too?...Well then, just because she's young doesn't mean you should keep a girl waiting too long, okay?"
"!? That's right!"
If I missed my usual train, I'd keep Hinata-san waiting! I had to hurry!
Wait, being young had nothing to do with keeping people waiting. My mother was really airheaded in the strangest ways.
"I'm off!"
At any rate, I rushed out of the house.
●◯●
"Good morning, Hinata-san!"
"Good morning, Takeo-kun."
I met up with Hinata-san in the lobby of the Shinjuku Dungeon Branch of the Japan Explorer Association.
I managed not to miss the train, so I didn't keep her waiting.
"Shall we go change and head to the dungeon then?"
"Yes. Oh, that reminds me, Hinata-san."
I called out to stop Hinata-san as she prepared to head to the changing room as usual.
"Hm? What is it?"
"You met Shizue yesterday, didn't you?"
"Um... oh! You mean your Mother-in-law?"
"Yeah, that."
"Hehe, Takeo-kun, do you call your Mother-in-law by her first name?"
"No, I usually just call her 'Mom' or 'the old lady.'"
I watched her closely while we talked.
Hinata-san was laughing amusingly, and there was no sign of her being on guard. She was completely natural. It really seemed like her meeting my mother had been a coincidence.
Well, even if it wasn't a coincidence, it wasn't like there would be a problem. It wasn't as if Hinata-san, of all people, would be plotting anything suspicious.
"Mom said to tell you 'thank you for yesterday.'"
"I see. Could you tell your Mother-in-law that I had a wonderful time too?"
"Will do. Oh, by the way, why were you near my house yesterday? Did you have some business there?"
"Oh, that? Um, remember that third-party video editing I mentioned before? Actually, the person I asked to do the editing was a senior from high school. That person lives near your house, and we ended up meeting for the first time in a while. I wanted to talk about work and various other things too."
"Heh, is that so? What a coincidence."
"Right? A huge coincidence."
I see. So that was it. The world was surprisingly small.
"Well then, shall we get going, Takeo-kun?"
"Ah, yes. Let's."
I felt like asking what business she had at the supermarket and more, but... there was no time to waste. Once you're in the dungeon, you kill monsters and earn experience points! That's the way an explorer should be.
We headed to the changing rooms, met back up in front of the Dungeon Gate as usual, and entered the dungeon.
●◯●
Upon entering the dungeon, we immediately headed to Floor 8 and stopped after advancing a short distance.
The reason was to test out my newly acquired skills, Silver Lightning Magic and Magic Shroud.
Actually, I had practiced a little bit yesterday, but I hadn't tested them against monsters yet. Furthermore, Hinata-san needed to understand their performance levels, so we decided to try various things while we were together.
Therefore, the DungeonTube stream hadn't started yet.
It would be a pain if people found out I had a Hero skill—though, since I'd want to use it normally in a pinch, I felt like I wouldn't be able to hide it for very long.
By the way, the drone camera was the new one I bought the other day. It looked almost identical, but the specs were supposed to be slightly higher.
Anyway.
We wiped out all the goblins we encountered except for one. The one we left as a target for verification was a Goblin Guarder.
With that, preparations were complete.
The first thing to test was Silver Lightning Magic.
"Hinata-san, please stand back so you don't get caught in my magic!"
"Okay, I got it!"
After having Hinata-san keep her distance, I finally activated the magic.
I triggered the skill and manipulated my MP. I gathered MP at the tip of my left hand, which I thrust forward, and vividly imagined the magic I was about to manifest.
"Guh-gh-gh...!"
My Dexterity stat should have been sufficient, but even so, I had to force the MP, which felt like it was about to repel itself, into the tip of my palm. The incredible strength of the repulsion seemed to speak of the power of the magic I was about to unleash.
And for good reason.
Silver Lightning Magic was known for having quite top-tier performance among the many attack magic skills.
This was the skill description displayed on my Status:
【Skill】 Silver Lightning Magic Lv. 1 — Consumes MP to freely generate and manipulate silver lightning. Damage Multiplier of 1.2x against monsters.
The description was simple, but just the part about the "Damage Multiplier of 1.2x against monsters" should show how powerful this magic was. In other words, if I raised the skill level to the maximum, it would deal double damage to monsters.
Yes, Silver Lightning Magic was an incredible magic that was effective against "all monsters."
However, the truly "cheat" part of this magic wasn't written in the description.
Anyone with sharp intuition might have already noticed it...
The Guarder I was facing lowered its hips and held its shield in front of its body. From the intensity I was emitting, it probably sensed I was about to launch a high-powered attack. The skill Iron Wall was activated on its shield without fail, causing the entire shield to glow with a faint white light.
However—it was useless.
Iron Wall was powerless against magic skills, and the Guarder had no other defensive skills against magic. Its Spirit stat might be somewhat high, but... with the effect of Goblin Genocider added in, my Silver Lightning Magic had a damage multiplier of 4.8x!
The only way for the Guarder to survive was evasion, not defense.
But this attack was impossible to evade!
"Wooooaaaahhh!! Get blasted! —Silver Lightning!!!"
In an instant, silver-shining lightning was born from the tip of my outstretched palm and bolted forth with a speed the eye couldn't follow.
That wasn't a metaphor. Even with the kinetic vision of an explorer over level 50, it was impossible to visually track that movement. Only the silver afterimage burned into the retina allowed one to understand after the fact that lightning had indeed struck.
And by the time you understood, the lightning would have already reached its target.
This—this speed—was why Silver Lightning Magic was called a cheat magic.
Subjectively, the attack speed was almost equivalent to the speed of light.
There was no way to evade such a thing; without being able to react even slightly, the silver lightning slammed into the shield held by the Guarder—
Snap.
It made a light sound, like a static discharge.
Me: "............"
Hinata-san: "............"
Goblin Guarder: "............"
A strange silence descended.
The Goblin Guarder was unharmed. Even after taking the Silver Lightning on its shield, it didn't even budge. Instead, it even tilted its head curiously, as if to say, "Gugya?"
I was astonished and screamed.
"I-Impossible!!!!?"
I-It couldn't be!
For a mere trash mob like a Guarder to withstand my finishing move, Silver Lightning!!?
What on earth was going on?
"Ha!? No way—is that it!?"
My brain, which was even more superior than a quantum computer, immediately derived the answer.
I shouted to Hinata-san.
"Be careful, Hinata-san! This guy looks like a normal Goblin Guarder, but... it's probably a Special Variant!"
"Takeo-kun!? I'm pretty sure you're wrong!"
"No! I can't imagine any other way it could withstand my Silver Lightning! We have to take this guy down fast or things will get bad!"
I readjusted my stance with my sword and activated Fighting Spirit. I applied Sword Aura to my longsword and then activated Asceticism, Blue Sky Beyond the Clouds, and Mighty Blade all at once, swinging my sword down toward the monster pretending to be a Guarder.
—Mighty Flying Blade.
Perhaps the Special Variant monster had grown careless after blocking my Silver Lightning, as it couldn't evade my Flying Blade. The high-speed flying aura slash easily cleaved through the Special Variant monster along with its shield, pierced through its flesh, and raced down the corridor. Upon colliding with the wall far in the back, it carved a massive crack with a deafening roar.
The bisected Special Variant monster collapsed onto the floor with a thud and dissolved into particles of light.
Phew... that was close. I managed to defeat it somehow!
It was a powerful foe...!