Last month, when the government broadcast announced that dungeons had appeared, all of Japan was thrown into chaos. Fortunately, no riots broke out in this country; most of the citizens took a wait-and-see approach, holding back until more accurate information could be gathered.
However, as word spread that items harvested from dungeons in other countries were being traded for astronomical prices, public opinion grew stronger by the day, demanding that the government-sealed dungeons be opened to the private sector.
As the trend toward effectively utilizing these resources took hold, a "dungeon boom" arrived in Japan. The Japanese government also recognized that they would eventually have to open the dungeons to the public, so they began scrambling to handle the necessary preparations, including legal frameworks. Consequently, officers selected and summoned from prefectural police forces across the country were sent to a facility managed by the National Police Agency to receive lectures on dungeons.
I was one of those summoned—Patrol Officer Renya Miyata of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police.
"Therefore, by defeating monsters that appear within the dungeon..."
The instructors were members of the Self-Defense Forces with experience in dungeon exploration. They taught us everything currently known about the dungeons, but the total amount of data was fundamentally low, so we only learned the basics. Things like the types of monsters and traps confirmed so far, the phenomenon known as a level up, and the existence of drop items...
It was educational, but the lack of depth left me with a sense of mental indigestion. Once the short lectures concluded, we were divided into groups of about twenty from each prefectural police department for practical training. It felt like being back at the police academy.
"Now then, as you heard in the classroom lectures, firearms are not particularly effective in combat against monsters within a dungeon. To clear a dungeon, it is necessary to use melee weapons. Therefore, before we begin full-scale training, I want each of you to choose the weapon you will use."
The SDF instructor gestured to a series of mobile racks brought in by assistants. There were over a dozen types of melee weapons displayed, including swords, spears, axes, and maces.
"First, hold them in your hands and pick something you find easy to handle. Oh, and while all the blades have been dulled, make sure to check your surroundings and exercise caution when performing practice swings."
We gathered around the racks, eyeing each other as we made our selections. The swords and spears, which naturally drew the most attention, were immediately claimed by the senior officers. The axes and maces disappeared just as fast for the same reason. Since I was the youngest and lowest-ranking officer, I ended up picking last, and there was nothing but junk left. Nunchucks, sickle-and-chains, pile bunkers, and drills? Are these just joke weapons?!
"Hm? What's this...?"
Ignoring the others who had already begun their practice swings, I looked over the rack of strange gear, scavenging through the leftovers until something caught my eye. It was a flat, plate-like object with a handle like a tonfa. When I picked it up for a closer look, I realized the flat part was actually a cover made of hard silicone. Removing it revealed a black blade with a non-reflective matte finish.
The shape, featuring a grip where the crossguard of a sword would be...
"Is this a blade tonfa? Wait, this is a joke weapon too! Who even came up with this?!"
Despite my complaints, my interest was piqued. I held the pair of blade tonfa in both hands and took a tentative stance. Likely machined from a single piece of metal, the blade tonfa felt substantially heavy, and the thick blades gave the impression they wouldn't break easily. When I shifted my grip to hold one like a sword, I realized that despite mocking it, the weapon was surprisingly well-made. The center of gravity was near the hand, and it even had blood grooves; someone had put real craft into this.
"Well... I'll try a few swings."
I put the silicone covers back on the blades and looked for a space where I wouldn't hit anyone. Unfortunately, the seniors had staked out the area near the rack, leaving no room for me. I had no choice but to move outside their circle to begin my practice swings.
As it turned out, the blade tonfa were surprisingly easy to handle. Aside from the short attack range—though still wider than a knife's—I had no real complaints.
Just as I was thinking about trying something else, the instructor called us to assemble, and I ran over.
"All right, everyone has chosen their gear. Later, each of you will fill out the weapon loan paperwork and submit it to the office by tomorrow."
Wait, what?! Are you serious?! I haven't officially committed to these yet!
My silent protest, directed at the instructor with a pleading gaze, went ignored. The assistants quickly cleared away the racks containing the few remaining weapons.
What have I done? Am I really going to use blade tonfa as my primary weapons...?
After finishing the classroom and practical training, we returned to our respective districts the following week.
Upon returning, we were immediately loaded into transport vans and moved to a dungeon that had appeared within the prefecture. Arriving after about an hour, I saw the entrance to the dungeon, which was cordoned off by the SDF. It was guarded with high fences and multiple layers of barbed wire in a somber display of security. The main gate, guarded by sentries, opened, and our transport stopped in front of a row of temporary tents.
"Everyone, disembark and line up. we are going to greet the commander of the local unit. Make sure you're on your best behavior."
Inspector Mamoru Yasaka, who would lead our unit for this dungeon expedition, gave us our instructions. We grabbed our luggage, filed off the van, and lined up in a four-column formation. After Inspector Yasaka spent some time inside one of the tents, he emerged with a middle-aged man dressed in camouflage.
"Attention! Present arms! Lieutenant Colonel Miyamoto has a few words for us."
At Inspector Yasaka's command, we saluted in unison, and Lieutenant Colonel Miyamoto returned the salute before starting his speech. To summarize his words: there were many unconfirmed elements inside the dungeon, so we should be careful not to suffer any casualties. Naturally, I had no intention of dying either.
After the greetings, we used one of the empty tents to prepare for the dungeon dive. We donned custom-made full-body protectors made of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic, painted in a black-and-white color scheme. It was likely designed so people could recognize us as police at a single glance, but I had my doubts about the choice. Was this some kind of cosplay for a police robot anime?
Muttering complaints, I equipped my blade tonfa and left the tent. The first thing I noticed was that the stationed SDF personnel were looking at our robot-like protectors with curiosity. Aside from a few whose eyes were sparkling—likely the ones with otaku hobbies—most of them looked at our getup with pure exasperation.
I ignored their stares while warming up, but internally, I wanted to shout, "This wasn't our choice!"
"Is everyone ready? We will now enter the dungeon by squad. You have the lecture content memorized, right?"
Inspector Yasaka, dressed in the same gear as us, looked left and right for a final check. We said nothing, focusing our eyes on him as our response.
Confirming our resolve, Inspector Yasaka gave a small nod.
"Very well. After entry, I leave the tactical instructions to each squad leader. The scheduled exploration time for today is two hours. This is your first dungeon; don't push yourselves, and don't forget to be punctual!...Move out!"
At Inspector Yasaka's signal, our dungeon conquest began.
We formed ranks by squad and entered the dungeon. With weapons drawn, we advanced cautiously, keeping a sharp eye on our surroundings. The tension of not knowing when a monster might attack made my throat dry and my breathing erratic. I stole a glance at my watch and saw that only about twenty minutes had passed since we entered.
Time ticked by without anything appearing, and just as the tension was reaching its peak, a monster finally showed itself. There was only one—a creature with a dog-like appearance that would later be called a hound dog. The monster stopped at a distance, looking at us as if appraising its prey. Then, it seemed to set its sights on me. It accelerated instantly and leaped. The only thing I could do instinctively was cross my arms in front of me to protect my body.
However, this worked in my favor. My weapons were blade tonfa, which had blades running along the outside of my forearms. Because the monster bit down on my arm, blade tonfa and all, its mouth was sliced open by the blade. Thanks to the protectors, its teeth didn't reach my skin, and instead, blood sprayed from the monster's wound. Snapping back to my senses from the warmth of the blood splashing against my face, I reflexively swung my arm, slamming the monster into the ground. In that motion, the blade bit deep, splitting its head in two.
While I stood there dazed by the suddenness of it all, the monster's corpse vanished, leaving only a pool of blood. Snapped out of my trance by a colleague patting my shoulder, I stood up and took several deep breaths. Once I regained my composure, I looked at the bloodstain; I had heard that drop items are left behind, but it seemed nothing remained this time.
After that, we explored until our time was up. Our squad encountered ten monsters in total and secured three drop items: two Core Crystals and one skill scroll. Adding up the items found by the other squads, we obtained ten in total. Every squad finished the first day of exploration without any casualties, and from that day forward, we were stationed on-site for half a month to continue the dungeon conquest.
When dungeons were eventually opened to the public and the Japan Dungeon Association was formally established, we were seconded from the police to the Association's security division as the DP—the Dungeon Police. To be honest, I personally wasn't keen on opening dungeons to civilians.
Through several months of leveling up, we had gained strength incomparable to what we had at the start; we could easily apprehend any rookie explorer. However, that was only a temporary advantage. If people kept diving into dungeons and killing monsters, their levels would naturally rise. It was unclear if the DP alone could continue to maintain order once the number of high-level explorers increased. I believed that if we didn't establish the rule of law among explorers before their average level rose, things would become disastrous.
What worried me most were the explorers who would run wild using the power they gained in the dungeons. Having gained power myself, I understood the sensation of being intoxicated by it. Fortunately, many of my colleagues had equal strength, which prevented me from seeing myself as special. But what would happen to explorers who leveled up alone or in small groups? It would be good if they had someone nearby to snap them back to reality, but if not, they would likely spiral out of control.
And my fears were realized sooner than expected.
"Hey! What's wrong?! Is that all you've got?!"
"!?!?"
Several weeks after the dungeons were opened to the public, there had been minor squabbles between explorers, but nothing that turned into a major disturbance.
Then, on this day, a fight between explorers triggered by something trivial finally escalated into a situation where magic was being fired wildly, resulting in an incident with many casualties. Upon receiving the report, we in the DP scrambled to gear up and began suppression operations before the damage could spread further. We instructed the gathered onlookers to evacuate and rushed toward the explorers who were firing magic, holding up our transparent polycarbonate shields. We issued a single warning. When it was ignored, we didn't waste any more words, flanking the magic-slinging explorers and knocking them aside with our shields.
It took some doing, and even left a few cracks in our shields, but we successfully neutralized them. We strictly detained everyone involved in the fight, and the disturbance came to an end. Once the explorers woke up in the holding cells at the office, they regained their composure, their faces gradually turning pale as they realized what they had done. The punishment handed down to the magic-slingers was the revocation of their explorer license, one year of probation, and massive claims for damages due to the destruction of property and personal injuries. However, despite being a major incident, some unknown force seemed to be at work; it wasn't reported widely in the media, ending as only a small article in the back pages of the local news.
Still, this problem wasn't unique to this location; it was happening nationwide. The DP would continue to struggle with countermeasures against rogue explorers who were bound to possess even greater power in the future.