The day after she received permission to take the Armed Exploration Permit for Special Underground Structures Issuance Exam, Mika wasted no time jumping into action. She must have been scouting options online the night before, as she headed out early for a daily-pay job that was urgently recruiting event staff for the Golden Week holidays.
When I asked if she was going alone, she told me she had already coordinated with Saori-chan over the phone the previous night. Apparently, the two of them had decided to spend the entirety of Golden Week working.
They certainly don't waste any time...
"Well then. Since Mika is working so hard, I should probably do something productive, too."
Sitting at my desk, I stretched my arms high above my head and arched my back.
I actually wanted to talk to Yuji and Hiiragi-san about the Slime Dungeon and the situation with Mika and her friend. However, unlike me, who was wide open for the holidays, those two had mentioned they were busy. It felt wrong to bother them when they had other obligations. If they reached out to me, that would be another story.
So, for now, I decided to focus on things I could handle myself during the break.
"First, I should probably look back on everything we've done so far."
I booted up my computer and opened a specific video folder.
The folder contained about twenty video files.
"Let’s see... is this the first one?"
I selected the file in the top-left corner and hit play.
The video displayed Yuji and Hiiragi-san. What I was watching was a record of our movements inside the dungeon, captured by our action cameras.
"Hmm. We were riding high... our sense of caution was still way too thin."
The footage showed us as raw, green rookies. Looking at us from my current perspective, my only thought was how dangerous we looked.
Even though I was watching myself, it was clear we didn't fully grasp what kind of place we were entering.
"When I take Mika and the others inside, I’ll need to keep an eye on this kind of thing, or it’ll end badly."
They say you should learn from the mistakes of others. In this case, the "others" just happened to be past versions of ourselves on a screen.
When it comes to instructing those two, the very first thing I need to do is make them realize the reality of the situation. They need to understand where they are going and why... it might even traumatize them, but that's still better than dying.
I began jotting down points for improvement in a notebook while continuing to watch us descend into the dungeon.
"...We have Appraisal Analysis and Presence Detection, but looking at it objectively, we rely far too much on our skills. We're practically defenseless otherwise."
In the video, we were trying to be cautious, but our methods were half-hearted. Watching the light trails from our flashlights closely, we barely ever illuminated the four corners of the corridors. While they didn't appear on that specific floor, the corners are the most obvious hiding spots for small monsters waiting to ambush.
However, the lights in the video mostly stayed centered on our direct path. We were neglecting to check the suspicious shadows in the periphery.
"That needs fixing. If we ever encounter a floor with a skill nullification space, we’ll be dead in seconds with this kind of sloppy awareness."
Reviewing the footage made our flaws painfully clear. Our entire approach only worked because we had high-tier skills to back us up.
This was an issue on par with the coordination problems that surfaced during the boss fight. Because we leaned so heavily on our skills, we hadn't mastered the fundamental techniques we actually needed.
I'd have to test our raw abilities by trying an exploration without using any skills at all.
Just by watching the first video, I had already filled an entire page of my notebook with things to fix.
"It’s understandable since it was our first time, but there are just too many issues. Especially the scouting—our reliance on skills makes our manual movements terrible."
I finished the first video and let out a heavy sigh, clutching my head.
While it was a great reference for teaching beginners, the sheer number of minor flaws was enough to give me a headache.
It was a miracle we hadn't run into serious trouble yet.
"Having such high-spec skills from the start is a problem in its own right. We act on the assumption that the skills are always active, so our decision-making is precarious..."
Re-evaluating our actions from an objective standpoint revealed a mountain of problems.
"Well, whatever. I'll draw my final conclusions after I finish verifying the rest of the videos."
Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I started the second video.
"I hope things improved at least a little as we went along..."
Praying that I wouldn't have to fill my notebook with any more new flaws, I focused on the screen.
By the time I finished the third video, I heard the front door open and Mika’s voice drift up. She was back from her job.
Since it was a good stopping point, I shut down my computer and went downstairs. I found Mika face-planted on the sofa.
"Welcome back."
"...I’m home."
She looked absolutely exhausted.
Mika didn't even try to sit up; she just turned her head toward me.
"How was the job?"
"...Tiring."
"No, I meant I wanted to know what you actually did..."
"...Selling event merchandise and stuff."
As I listened to her bits and pieces of the story, it sounded like she’d had a rough day.
Her job apparently involved everything from inventory management and sales to general grunt work.
"The goods were selling like crazy, so I had to run back and forth between the warehouse and the booth a dozen times. And then..."
Remaining sprawled on the sofa, Mika continued to vent her frustrations.
I stayed silent and played the role of the listener for a while. Once she had emptied her tank of complaints, she finally sat up. Having let it all out, her expression seemed a bit brighter.
"...But it was actually pretty fun. Like a school festival."
"I see."
"Yeah. Most of the people there were total strangers I met for the first time today, but that atmosphere of everyone working together to make an event a success was great."
"Sounds like a good workplace. Glad to hear it."
Looking at her cheerful face, it seemed my worries were misplaced.
"Mhm. So I decided to keep going back for the rest of the event."
"Tomorrow too?"
"Yeah. The event only lasts as long as Golden Week, so it's a perfect short-term gig."
"I see. Does that mean Saori-chan is doing it too?"
"Yeah. Saori-chan said she had free time during Golden Week, so she's working it with me."
Despite her complaining about how hard it was, she seemed to be genuinely enjoying the work.
"Maybe I'll head over to the event myself and see how you're doing. Where is it?"
"Wait, what?!"
Mika let out a startled yelp when I suggested going.
"What, am I not allowed?"
"I-It’s not that, but..."
"Then it's fine, right?"
"...Yeah."
When I pushed with a slight pout, Mika looked down, her face turning bashful.
Well, from her perspective, I suppose it’s like having a parent show up for a school observation day. It must be embarrassing.
"So, what kind of event is it?"
"...Um, it's like a trade fair for dungeon-related products."
"A trade fair?"
"Yeah. There are food stalls using dungeon ingredients, stage events with explorers, just a bunch of stuff mixed together."
"Which means... is the Dungeon Association the host?"
If they were holding a large-scale dungeon event, the Association had to be involved at the very least. Maybe it was an awareness-building event for exploration activities?
"Yeah. The Dungeon Association is the sponsor. My employer is an event company that was hired by the Association to run the venue."
"I see. The Association does more than I thought."
"That’s why the stage events were so cool. Active explorers were doing these really flashy mock battles. You know those hero shows at amusement parks? It was like a high-budget, super-powered version of that!"
"Huh."
Something like the demonstration we gave to Hiiragi-san's parents, then.
Judging by how excitedly she was talking, it must have been quite a spectacle. I suppose if real explorers put on a hero show, they could recreate special effects scenes perfectly.
"And then! That one person actually flew!"
"Flew? Did someone punch them and send them flying?"
"No! They actually flew through the air!"
"Flew, huh..."
So they either had Floating or Flight.
"Yeah! They only hovered and stayed still in the air for a little bit, but they were floating with absolutely no wires!"
"Wow, that's impressive."
"Mhm! The whole crowd went wild! It was so exciting!"
Flying through the air, huh... I can see why the crowd would cheer for that.
But man, they must have picked a skill with massive consumption. If it's a skill that drains EP proportional to the time spent in the air, they’d probably fall unconscious pretty quickly at lower levels.
Still, it would be tactless to point that out to an excited Mika. So...
"I see. Now I definitely have to go see this event."
"Yeah! It’s really worth seeing!...Wait, huh?"
"And I'll get to see how hard you're working, too."
"Ah."
Mika realized her mistake, her face twitching slightly.
She had been so caught up in talking about the show that I was able to bait her into an invitation without her even noticing. It worked even better than I'd hoped.
She clearly didn't want me to come, but she had just basically told me I should. It was amusing to see her expressions shifting so rapidly.
"Then it’s settled. Where is the event and what time does it start?"
"Are you really coming?"
"Yeah. I want to see this show you're raving about. So, location and time?"
"...At the Sports Park, starting from ten."
Finally giving up, Mika sighed and gave me the details.
The Sports Park... there’s a station right there, so I can take the train.
"Okay. You mentioned food stalls, so I'll go with the intent of eating my way through the place. I'm looking forward to it..."
With a grin, I spoke my thoughts aloud in a staged way, making sure Mika—who was currently moping over her self-sabotage—could hear every word.
Mika looked up and shot me a resentful glare.
Prank successful. Ah, how delightful.
"You two, dinner is almost ready. Mika, if you're done resting, don't just sit there talking to Daiki forever. Take your things to your room already. It's cluttered."
Mom, who had been listening to us from the kitchen, called out to us as we sat there in a silent standoff.
She had a smile on her face; she’d clearly been enjoying our bickering from afar.
"...Okay."
"Daiki, if you're free, wipe the table and help set things up."
"On it."
Mika shot Mom a slightly wounded look before obediently picking up her gear and leaving the living room.
After seeing her off, I went to the kitchen. As I took the cloth from Mom, she gave me a light warning.
"Daiki, don't tease Mika too much, okay?"
"Yeah, I know."
"Good."
I gave my reply and began wiping down the table.
After finishing dinner with the family, I went back to my room to resume verifying the fourth video. Maybe we were getting used to the environment, as there was some slight improvement, but it still felt far too dependent on skills. As I watched the footage with a pen in hand, I heard a knock at my door.
"Come in."
I paused the video and gave permission to enter. It was Mika, now changed into her pajamas.
"This is rare for this hour. What's up?"
"I have something I want to ask... do you have a minute?"
"Sure. Have a seat."
"Thanks."
Mika sat down on the edge of my bed.
"So, what's on your mind?"
"Well... actually, during our break at the event today, Saori-chan and I were looking at the stalls..."
"Did you find something interesting?"
"...Yeah."
Mika hesitated, as if the words were hard to get out.
I waited patiently, and finally, she seemed to find her resolve.
"Listen, while we were looking at the stalls, they were selling a skill scroll."
"A skill scroll... at a stall?"
I found the story suspicious and tilted my head.
Unlike magic items, skill scrolls are useless unless an explorer uses them. To an ordinary person, they’re just expensive paper. That’s why explorers usually buy them through the Dungeon Association’s official channels, where the origin is guaranteed.
And yet, there was one at a stall. It sounded incredibly fishy.
"So, what kind of skill was it?"
"Um, the clerk said it was a skill scroll for 'Flight'!"
"..."
Judging by how her eyes sparkled, she must have been enchanted by the show earlier.
"They said it was an event exclusive, limited to ten copies, and it was only fifty thousand yen... do you think it's a bargain!?"
Nope. That is a total scam. You will absolutely regret buying that. A skill scroll costs at least a hundred thousand yen at the bare minimum.
I placed my hands on Mika's shoulders as she spoke excitedly and looked her straight in the eye.
"Mika, that’s a fake. Under no circumstances should you buy it."
"Eh? But they said it was officially recognized by the Dungeon Association?"
"There’s no way. Even if it were, there's zero chance they'd sell it for fifty thousand. A skill scroll is at least a hundred thousand, minimum. Selling it for fifty would be a guaranteed loss for them."
"...I see."
Mika looked visibly dejected, but she seemed to accept it.
Still, to boldly sell fakes at an event venue... what kind of oversight is the Association running?
Wait, I see... the venue probably doesn't have any magic items on hand for appraisal. I guess it can't be helped. Generally, it’s innocent until proven guilty, and without clear evidence that it’s a fake, they can’t exactly shut them down.
"Well, I'm going back to my room then. Goodnight."
Mika left, looking thoroughly disappointed.
As I watched her close the door, a thought suddenly occurred to me regarding those fake scrolls.
This... it isn't some kind of trap by the Association to smoke out people who actually have the appraisal skill, is it?