The day after we returned from the dungeon, we gathered at Yuji’s house as planned for a review meeting with Juzo-san. We had just finished our report on the dungeon stay and were now sitting before him, waiting for a reaction. Juzo-san sat with his arms crossed and eyes closed, and perhaps because we were so nervous, the air in the dojo felt even more stifling than usual.
Is he... is he angry?
"..."
"..."
As the silence stretched on, the tension in the room only grew.
Finally, after dozens of seconds of heavy silence, Juzo-san slowly uncrossed his arms and spoke.
"Well, now. It sounds like you lot went through quite an ordeal."
"Y-Yes..."
The first thing out of his mouth was a word of sympathy for our hard work.
"Based on what I’ve heard, your actual exploration—combat, camping, and the like—was fine, barring a few minor details. However, it seems your interpersonal negotiations left much to be desired."
"Ugh..."
He delivered the stinging remark with a sigh, and we all let out involuntary groans. We were well aware of our own shortcomings, but hearing it pointed out by a third party really hit home.
Even from Juzo-san’s perspective, the way we handled those negotiations was a total failure.
"Being able to navigate such interactions smoothly is a matter of experience. When you lack it, you become needlessly tense, expose openings, and fail to read the other party’s subtleties. Negotiating inside a dungeon is even harder; it’s a high-stress environment where people are rarely in a normal state of mind. It was bound to be difficult for you three, who have little experience with even ordinary negotiations."
"..."
"However..."
Juzo-san raised an eyebrow, his expression shifting to one of exasperation. It seemed the failure of the negotiation itself wasn't his primary concern. There was something else he felt the need to address.
I could already guess what it was.
"You lot were far too careless. I don't care if you were inside your own base camp; you engaged in far too much indiscreet conversation."
"That... yes, you're right."
Juzo-san pointed out our blunder with an exasperated tone.
"Even as beginners, you knew how hard it is to secure life-sustaining supplies like water in a dungeon, didn't you? You surely understand the importance of water—a mandatory resource that is both heavy and bulky to transport."
"...Yes."
"Then, naturally, having a conversation that reveals you can self-supply water through magic inside the dungeon is..."
"Something we never should have done," I finished.
"Indeed."
It was a failure of information security—a total lack of discretion. While it hadn't been fatal this time, it was undoubtedly a massive mistake. What made it so bad? We had dangled a flickering, uncertain hope in front of other explorers in a high-pressure environment. Hope is a fine thing, but it can also be a sweet poison that erodes a person’s self-control.
To someone terrified of running out of supplies, even a sliver of hope can be something they’ll jump at. We settled things with a simple trade this time, but in the worst-case scenario, it could have escalated into an armed conflict. We were lucky that the other party had enough supplies to make it back; their self-control wavered, but their ethics held. If they had been truly desperate, I don't even want to think about how it might have ended.
"Even in a casual chat, there are always those with their ears open. You must always be conscious of what information can be shared and what must remain secret. Simply being aware of that will help you avoid these kinds of troubles. I’m not saying you shouldn't speak at all in the dungeon, but consider the time, place, and occasion before you open your mouths."
"Yes, sir!"
Information that should be kept secret isn't just about things we don't want people to know. It’s about information that, if revealed, could cause unnecessary hope, despair, or chaos. Keeping secrets is sometimes necessary to protect the people around us as much as ourselves.
Like Juzo-san said, we need a much stronger sense of discretion. To start, I need to focus on gathering more information about the actual gap between us and the average explorer.
After finishing his lecture, Juzo-san took a sip of tea to wet his throat and spoke again.
"Despite those points, do you feel you’ve gained a general sense of what it's like to spend the night in a dungeon?"
"Yes," Yuji answered. "Since we stayed on established floors, we didn't run into unknown monsters or traps, so the burden was relatively light. I can't say for sure if we could do the same on unexplored floors, but we've got the hang of the basic lifestyle. However..."
"However?"
"I realized our party is understaffed if we want to get proper rest. One night is fine, but for mid-to-long-term stays of four or five days, we’re going to have problems."
We had rotated the night watch between the three of us, but if we were attacked in the middle of the night like we were this time, it would be impossible to stay rested. We can repel monsters from the upper floors quickly, but that doesn't mean we can just fall right back to sleep. During Genya-san’s training, we were even using sleeping pills, but my nerves were so shot after the mid-sleep attacks that I could hardly rest. If we reached the point of total exhaustion in a dungeon, we’d be done for—it would be an immediate "withdraw or die" situation.
Just as we’d feared, reinforcing the party is essential if we want to get enough rest. No matter how skilled we are, we're still human; performance will inevitably drop as fatigue accumulates.
"That sounds about right," Juzo-san agreed. "With your skills, you could probably manage a day or two on minimal rest by avoiding unnecessary fights. But over four or five days, physical and mental fatigue will build up regardless. If you're aiming for long-term stays, you need more members so you can maintain a proper rest cycle."
"Yes. I understood that logically, but this trip made me realize it's a genuine necessity."
"So, what's the plan? Given the secrets you're hiding, you can't exactly just recruit anyone off the street."
We all nodded solemnly. Our circumstances made it difficult to bring in outsiders without risking a major leak.
Any new member would have to be someone trustworthy enough to share and keep our secrets.
"We need someone reliable, but also someone whose skills are on par with ours..."
When Yuji voiced that condition, Juzo-san knit his brows in a troubled look.
I knew exactly why he was making that face.
"I think youre aiming a bit high. I won't interfere with your choice of who is 'trustworthy,' but finding someone who can keep up with your current level of skill..."
"..."
We all fell silent. I knew it was a tall order. Having survived the hellish training of Juzo-san and Genya-san, our combat skills were well above the average explorer. Only a handful of top-tier civilian explorers would be able to keep up with us.
And most of those top-tier explorers are already tied to corporate sponsors. In other words, they’re the exact people we can’t trust with our secrets.
"Perhaps I should find someone promising and toss them to Genya for a while..."
"No, please don't do that!"
Juzo-san suggested the extreme measure so casually that we nearly jumped out of our seats to stop him.
Just because we couldn't find someone at our level didn't mean we should subject a potential recruit to special-forces-style torture. That was "out" by any definition.
"Hah, I'm joking. Even I wouldn't throw someone without a solid foundation to Genya without warning."
"..."
Juzo-san laughed it off, but we all watched him with deep suspicion. This was the man who had shipped us off to Genya-san with zero explanation, telling us to just "go train for a bit."
Besides, the casual way he said it made it feel like he was actually considering it.
"A-Anyway! Adding members is a must, but please let us think a little more about who that should be."
"Hmm. Very well. It's not something to decide in a rush, so make sure you vet them thoroughly before you reach out. If your chosen member is lacking in skill, you can always consult me."
"Thank you..."
As I listened to his offer of support, I made a silent vow.
I have to choose someone with at least a baseline of competence, or I’ll be condemning them to a living hell. I need to be very, very careful.
After the review meeting, we decided to have the celebration we'd missed out on yesterday. We’d been far too mentally drained to even think about it then, but we wanted to mark the end of the trip properly.
It was a good way to reset our moods.
"Alright, cheers for the hard work yesterday!"
Cheers!
We were at a family restaurant on the main road near Yuji’s house, toasting with juice from the drink bar. With what we’d earned on this trip, we could have gone somewhere much fancier, but we wouldn't have been able to relax in a stiff, formal atmosphere.
A casual place where we could eat and drink freely was much better for a wrap-up party.
"Phew... man, that trip was a lot tougher than I expected."
"Yeah. I never thought we'd run into that much trouble all at once."
"Tell me about it. 'The mouth is the source of disaster' is right."
As we remembered the trip, the complaints started pouring out. Just as Juzo-san had warned, we kept the sensitive details hidden, but the venting didn't stop.
And this was just on juice. If we were old enough to drink alcohol, I shudder to think what kind of griping we’d be doing.
"Well, what’s done is done. Let's just focus on how to make the next one go better."
"...You're right. No point in grumbling forever. Let's talk about something constructive."
"I agree. If we keep this up, we’ll be here all night just complaining. Let’s change the subject."
The gloomy, heavy atmosphere at our table was starting to draw concerned and slightly annoyed looks from the people around us. Realizing this, we tried to clear the air by shifting the topic.
Though, naturally, it still revolved around the dungeon.
"But seriously, seeing dungeon ingredients showing up in places like this... no wonder the buyout prices are dropping."
"Yeah. It’s a bit more expensive than the other items, but it's on the regular menu now. That means enough material is hitting the market to keep it in stock."
"The ingredients my family buys for the house have come down in price, too," Hiiragi-san added. "They aren't exactly cheap yet, but they’ll probably keep dropping as time goes on."
I poked at my Salisbury steak—which was mixed with orc meat—and accepted the reality of the market crash. Even if it was just a promotional menu item, the fact that you could get monster meat at a family restaurant for a reasonable price was something I couldn't have imagined six months ago.
Of course the drop items from the upper floors were getting cheaper.
"I wonder if we'll be able to get minotaur meat at family restaurants soon, too?"
"Probably, eventually."
"The way things are going, I'd give it a year or two."
We’d seen multiple Corporate-type Parties down on the 20th floor and beyond recently. Minotaur meat might become a common commodity even sooner than that.
Which meant, more than ever...
"We should probably push deeper as soon as we can."
"Agreed. We need to secure a foothold and map out the unexplored floors before the Corporate-type Parties start swarming them."
"Even if we just want to avoid unnecessary contact, we can't do that if we don't know the layout."
We all nodded in agreement, resolving then and there to push our next exploration to the 29th floor and beyond.