After finishing her warning regarding the video incident, Hashimoto-sensei let out a light sigh. She glanced at us, hesitating for a moment before she spoke.
"And one more thing. There’s something else I need to tell you all..."
"What is it?"
Hashimoto-sensei’s expression turned awkward. When I prompted her, she began to speak as if the subject were difficult to broach.
"Since this morning, the school has received several phone calls inquiring about the three of you."
"Does that mean, by any chance...?"
"Exactly what you’re thinking. People who heard about your performance at the sports festival or saw that video have been calling the school to scout you. They’re asking if we can set up a meeting because they want to talk to you. The school’s official stance is that we can't promise anything without confirming the students' wishes first, so we told them we’d get back to them after checking with you."
"..."
Seriously? I’d braced myself for some attention after that flashy demonstration at the sports festival, but scouting negotiations through the school? We were only in our second year of high school, for crying out loud.
The three of us shared a look of pure bewilderment.
"Um, is everyone okay? Should I keep going?"
Perhaps unable to bear the sight of us falling silent under a sudden cloud of gloom, Hashimoto-sensei asked with a worried expression if she should continue. Did we really look that miserable?
"...Ah, yes. We're fine."
"I-I see. Then, I'll continue."
Once I gave her the go-ahead, Yuji and Hiiragi-san nodded silently toward Hashimoto-sensei, agreeing to hear her out. I really didn't want to listen, but it wasn't like we could just ignore it.
After confirming we were ready, Hashimoto-sensei began to detail the contents of the scouting calls.
"There were three calls to the school today regarding you three. The first was from a trading company that deals in dungeon-derived products. The second was from a manufacturer that produces equipment for explorers. And the third was from the Dungeon Association."
Hashimoto-sensei folded her fingers one by one as she listed the callers. I see; three offers in a single day.
And one of them is from the Dungeon Association... I have a bad feeling about this.
"I'll give you a brief summary of their requests. The first company's goal is, quite simply, to scout you. That said, they aren't talking about hiring you immediately. First, they’re inviting you to see if you’d like to take on some simple item collection requests."
"Wait... what does that mean?"
"In short, they’re looking to secure talent early. They’ve spotted promising explorers, so they want to establish a connection before other companies show interest. If you were to frequently take jobs from them, as they suggested over the phone, it would make it very difficult for other companies to approach you with their own scouting offers later."
Hashimoto-sensei was right.
Even if there were promising student explorers who were unaffiliated, it would be difficult for another firm to approach them if a competitor already had its hooks in. In that situation, scouting would essentially be poaching. At the very least, it would be seen as a clear act of hostility toward a competitor. It would definitely earn them some resentment.
"I wasn't given specific conditions, but they mentioned that even for simple request work, they were prepared to offer terms that wouldn't lose out to their competitors."
"Terms that wouldn't lose out, huh? That's pretty vague," Yuji noted.
"It is. They didn't explicitly state who those competitors were. If they're talking about companies with terrible employment terms, you might end up taking requests for pay that's well below the industry average."
"Good point."
Scary. They say there’s always a catch to a sweet deal, so we couldn’t be too cautious. We didn't know the details yet, but it was dangerous to jump at an offer blindly. First, we’d need to investigate the company's background.
While I was thinking that, Hiiragi-san, who had been listening with a frown of suspicion just like mine, spoke up.
"Hashimoto-sensei, what’s the name of the company that called?"
"The name? Um, hold on a moment. I believe it was..."
Hashimoto-sensei’s eyes flickered for a second before she picked up a notepad and flipped through the pages.
"Right, right. It’s a company called XXX Trading Co., Ltd."
"XXX Trading? I’ve never heard of it... Kokonoe-kun, Hirose-kun, have either of you?"
"Never heard of them." "Me neither," Yuji and I replied, shaking our heads.
Hashimoto-sensei provided some context.
"It's no wonder you haven't heard of them. After the inquiry came in, I looked them up online. The company was only founded in March of this year. In terms of brand recognition, it’s still an unknown, small-scale outfit."
"Founded in March? So it’s one of those venture companies that started up to ride the dungeon boom?" Yuji asked.
"Most likely, yes."
Hashimoto-sensei nodded. A small venture company established this year... that made them the same as Mika and the others—new sole proprietors.
Yeah, let’s pass on the talks with them.
With the first company out of the way, the second explanation began.
"Now for the second one. Their request is for you to post videos of yourselves exploring the dungeon while wearing the equipment they produce."
"Is that like those product review videos you see on video-sharing sites?"
"Exactly. It seems they noticed the view counts for the videos of your sports festival performance spiked. They think that if you—who are currently drawing a lot of attention—use their products while active and upload those videos, it will boost their sales."
In other words, the second company wanted a sponsorship deal.
I scratched the back of my head and glanced at Yuji and Hiiragi-san to see what they thought.
"Um, Sensei? Specifically, what does that manufacturer make?" Yuji asked.
"Hold on. Um... their main products are armor."
She must have checked beforehand; Hashimoto-sensei looked at her notepad for a moment before answering.
Wait, armor?
"Armor, huh..."
"Oh, is something wrong? Is armor inconvenient for some reason?"
"Eh, ah... yes. A bit of a problem..."
In response to Hashimoto-sensei’s question, Yuji explained that it would be difficult to do product reviews for armor with our evasion-focused combat style. Basically, we either cut the enemy down before they have a chance to attack, or we counter after dodging. There was a massive level gap between us and the monsters on the shallow floors. Aside from the first month or so, I didn't recall us ever taking a hit head-on.
Furthermore...
"On the floors where we mainly operate, brand-new armor is useless unless it's something extraordinary."
As Yuji said, brand-new armor that hasn't been properly reinforced has the defensive power of cardboard against monsters from floor 20 and below. If we were going to use brand-new armor, it would be more effective to just strap steel plates to our bodies. It would be heavy, but at least it would do something. In fact, even the cheap armor we currently used had the defensive power of armored vehicle plating, strictly speaking. That’s how vital the equipment reinforcement that comes with leveling up truly is.
So, honestly, brand-new armor is worthless to any explorer who isn't a rookie.
"I see. So even if they provided it..."
"We can't use it, in more ways than one."
If we tried to meet the manufacturer's request and show off the armor against monsters, we’d likely get injured due to a lack of defensive power. On top of that, if we fought monsters appropriate for the armor's level, the rewards for the request would be lower than the income we get from our usual activities.
In short, there was nothing to gain. Some might argue we could make a name for ourselves, but we had zero interest in being famous.
"Then I suppose it can't be helped."
"Yes. It's a shame," Yuji said, though his expression didn't look particularly disappointed. He informed Hashimoto-sensei of our intention to decline, while Hiiragi-san and I nodded in agreement.
Still, brand-new armor... definitely don't need that.
With the first two out of the way, the third and most problematic topic—the Dungeon Association—finally came up.
"Now for the third one. The request from the Dungeon Association..."
Hashimoto-sensei hesitated for a moment before speaking. Was the content really that difficult?
"The request itself is a scout, just like the other two. However... you see?"
"However?"
"The scout from the Dungeon Association is asking if you would register as external associates."
"...External associates?"
That was a title I’d never heard before.
"What exactly does that involve?" I asked, tilting my head.
"I only heard a brief summary, but apparently, since the number of explorers causing problems has been increasing lately, they’re trying to establish an organization of sympathetic explorers to patrol the city and improve public safety."
Basically, they wanted to use explorers to police other explorers. Certainly, if misconduct by explorers leads to police involvement, the public's impression of everyone will tank. They likely want to demonstrate a self-cleansing mechanism led by the Dungeon Association to prove that explorers are safe under their control.
But...
"Um, Sensei? Why is an organization like that targeting students? Usually, wouldn't adults participate as volunteers for that kind of thing?"
"Of course, the main members are adults. However, it seems they also want to rein in reckless student explorers by having students participate."
"Ah, I see."
Indeed, having peers in such an organization might deter students from acting out. And if those peers were famous explorers within the school, the effect would be even stronger.
"So, they’re formally requesting that the three of you—who are now the center of attention as amazing explorers—participate in this activity....What do you think?"
"..."
We looked at each other, our faces reflecting a mix of contemplation and annoyance. Even being asked, I didn't know how to answer. Given the reason we founded this club, we should probably jump at an offer that was essentially the Dungeon Association's seal of approval.
However...
"What should we do?"
"No, this is a bad idea, right?"
"Indeed. If possible, I'd like to keep my distance from the Dungeon Association."
Turning our backs to Hashimoto-sensei, we huddled together and whispered. The conclusion was already clear. As long as we were sitting on "bombs" like the Drawer Dungeon and our extraordinarily high levels, we wanted to stay as far away from the authorities as possible.
But we needed a logical reason to decline. Since they claimed the organization’s goal was to deter the Repeating Student explorers, we couldn't just say no without cause.
"I'm sorry, Sensei. We'd like to decline this invitation."
I bowed my head slightly toward Hashimoto-sensei. She looked puzzled.
"May I ask why? It seems like a very good offer..."
"It’s a good idea for solving the issue with the repeating students, but I'm worried about what happens after that," I said.
"It feels like we'd end up beholden to the Dungeon Association indefinitely," Yuji added.
"Besides, while we need a certain amount of recognition within the school, we don't really want it outside. Just today was enough to show us how exhausting being famous is..."
"Haaah..."
All of us sighed in unison, looking truly drained. Hashimoto-sensei’s cheek twitched. She was probably remembering the chaos from this morning.
"I-I see... I understand. Then I'll let them know you're declining."
"Thank you."
We bowed, thanking her for taking care of it.
Once the talk of scouting was over and the four of us were chatting, the door to the clubroom opened. Mika, Saori-chan, and a pair of girls who looked like their classmates walked in....Wait, who are they?