The next day, after buying supplies and gathering intelligence at the Dungeon Association as planned, we headed to our usual dungeon for the first time in a while. Since the Obon holiday period had just ended, it felt slightly less crowded than our last visit, yet it was still quite bustling. Given that it was the latter half of summer vacation, the proportion of students seemed higher than usual.
Watching the crowd from the sidelines after leaving the bus terminal, we stopped to check the bulletin board set up in front of the reception office. We were looking at the buyback price list for commonly traded drop items.
"Hmm. As I thought, the buyback prices for drop items from the shallow floors are gradually sliding."
"It's inevitable, really," Yuji remarked. "As the number of explorers increases, the volume of drop items hitting the market goes up. I do think they should establish a minimum buyback price, though, just so newcomer explorers don't struggle too much financially."
"I agree," Hiiragi-san added. "Rare drops like magic items and skill scrolls haven't lost much value, but they’re only 'rare' because they don't turn up easily. Rookies aren't in a position to fight consecutive battles against monsters until one drops. That inevitably leads to them struggling for funds..."
The buyback price list, which I hadn't seen in a while, was quite dismal. While falling prices meant that dungeon-derived products were finally being supplied to and permeating society, the scale of the drop was significant. At this rate, it would be financially difficult for individuals or small groups to start out as explorers. If they couldn't recover their initial investment, the number of newcomers would likely plummet.
To protect the livelihoods of new entrants into the explorer profession, as Yuji suggested, it would probably be best to establish a minimum buyback price.
"If this keeps up, we might see a decrease in the number of sole proprietor explorers. Newcomers might end up debuting as explorers by joining a dungeon enterprise instead..."
"True. Unless they have a large pool of funds to sustain their activities until they become profitable, it’s tough for an individual," Yuji said. "Especially for students—there are hardly any kids with that kind of money lying around."
"If they're lucky, they might get a rare drop on their first expedition and recover their initial investment... but that's a truly rare case," Hiiragi-san noted. "I won't say there are no people who would take a gamble like that, but they’d be a tiny minority—either the incredibly lucky or the overconfident and reckless."
Just looking at the drop item buyback price list made me feel somewhat uneasy about the future of the explorer industry.
Of course, it wasn't impossible that this trend was being intentionally orchestrated... Perhaps because I was thinking about that, the thought slipped out of my mouth.
"...Could they be aiming to raise the entry age for explorers?"
"Hmm? Ah, I see. That's one way to look at it," Yuji replied.
"Oh? Yes, that's certainly a possibility," Hiiragi-san agreed.
Triggered by my idle comment, Yuji and Hiiragi-san seemed to arrive at the same conclusion I had, nodding their heads slightly in agreement.
Sighing at my own blunder for saying more than I needed to, I lowered my voice and shared my thoughts while remaining mindful of our surroundings.
"If being a student explorer isn't profitable, the number of students doing it might decrease. In that case, the only way to become an explorer would be to get a job at a dungeon enterprise, but..."
"If the companies include 'high school graduate' in their hiring criteria, the age floor naturally moves up," Yuji said. "They'd be at least eighteen by the time they graduate."
"And if the government provides subsidies or tax incentives to dungeon enterprises under the guise of supporting newcomer training, it gives them a reason to hire new people," Hiiragi-san added. "The country wouldn't want the dungeon industry, which is supporting the current economic boom, to decline because of a lack of new blood."
It was all just speculation, but perhaps the government—having failed in their initial attempt to restrict under-eighteen explorers through weapon acquisition limits—was now employing a secondary tactic. By gradually lowering buyback prices to squeeze explorer income, they could target the weak financial standing of students and delay their entry age.
Furthermore, as a secondary goal, they might be trying to limit the number of sole proprietor explorers and manage the majority of civilian explorers as employees of various enterprises to make them easier to regulate.
"There's also talk about creating schools dedicated to training explorers. They might seriously want to place restrictions on the current state where students can enter the field so freely," Yuji noted.
"I suppose so. You hear a lot about student explorers getting injured and it affecting their studies. Regulation was always going to happen eventually," I said.
"That's true. Right now, things are still vague because it's a period of chaos shortly after the dungeons appeared, but once things settle down, those issues will definitely come to the fore. This might be their way of solving them," Hiiragi-san concluded.
Even if schools for training explorers were established as part of the underage explorer measures, it would likely take several years. However, if they started squeezing buyback prices now, it would create a trend where student explorers find it hard to succeed, potentially reducing new student entries.
And if dungeon enterprises secured employment—even if only for the subsidies—it could create a pipeline where people aim to become explorers after graduating high school without letting the industry decline.
"Well, regardless of whether it's someone's scheme or just a natural trend, the falling buyback prices are a real problem. We’re fine, but it’ll be tough for Mika and her team since they mainly stick to the shallow floors."
"True. Though with their skills, they shouldn't have a problem if they just put in the reps..." Yuji said.
"It might be a good idea to let them accompany us occasionally to help them earn experience points," Hiiragi-san suggested.
Even though it was for their safety, since we were the ones imposing a floor movement restriction on Mika and her team, we should probably provide some form of compensation if their activity funds became tight at current prices.
Well, thanks to the occasional rare drops they found, they weren't actually that desperate for funds... although Mika was always short on pocket money because of her wasteful spending.
"Let's invite Mika and the others for an expedition once before summer vacation ends..."
"Sounds good. I'd like to see Mika-chan and her team now that Daiki has given them his seal of approval," Yuji said.
"Yes. I'm curious too, so going on an expedition together sounds lovely," Hiiragi-san added.
So, depending on Mika and her team's schedule, we agreed to all go on a dungeon expedition together once during summer break.
After we finished looking through the announcements, we left the bulletin board and headed to the entrance reception.
Once checked in, we changed in the locker rooms and performed warm-up exercises in the private room we had rented while conducting a final check of today's itinerary. Doing a meeting for an expedition beyond the 30th floor in a common area would be unwise.
Additionally, I wanted to confirm the dungeon information I'd obtained from the Association yesterday to ensure there were no misunderstandings or discrepancies among us before we dove. Proper information sharing was vital to avoid issues in an emergency.
"...And that's the info I got from the Association yesterday. Any problems?"
"No problems. It matches the report you gave us yesterday," Yuji confirmed.
"No problems on my end either," Hiiragi-san said.
Fortunately, there were no communication errors. Breathing a small sigh of relief, I spoke about our goal for this trip.
"Good. For now, let's set our destination goal as the 40th floor. We'll take the shortest course to the 30th floor so Hiiragi-san can collect the herbs she wants, but..."
"That works for me. Reaching the 40th floor is the main priority this time," Yuji said. "I don't have any specific drops I'm looking for, so no detours on the way to the 30th floor is fine."
"I'm sorry, making you do this for me. I'm just not sure when I'll be able to come back if I miss this summer vacation period..." Hiiragi-san lowered her head slightly with a regretful expression after hearing my plan.
"It's fine, don't worry about it, Hiiragi-san. It's not like it's a rare drop item that requires killing monsters over and over. It's just a little detour while we take a break," I said.
"Exactly, no need to worry. We're just stopping to cut some grass—literally, in this case," Yuji joked.
"...Thank you, both of you."
When Yuji and I waved our hands dismissively to show we didn't mind, Hiiragi-san’s apologetic look vanished, replaced by a smile.
After finishing our coordination and warm-ups, we did a final equipment check and moved to the building containing the dungeon entrance.
"Is it a bit less crowded than usual...?"
"Yeah... a little. That said, it looks like a fifteen-minute wait for entry, doesn't it?"
"Something like that. Well, if the line here at the entrance is short, it might be less crowded inside too. If so, we can move ahead faster, which would save us a lot of time," Hiiragi-san remarked.
We were pleased that there seemed to be fewer people in the dungeon than expected. When it’s crowded, even if you want to take the shortest course to change floors, you end up losing time because of the explorers in front of you.
There is a silent agreement that when moving in the flow of traffic to change floors, groups should maintain a certain distance from each other. This is to prevent unnecessary friction between groups and to ensure space for interception maneuvers if monsters attack. There's no point in getting injured because you couldn't swing your weapon in a cramped line.
"True. At this rate, we might reach our goal about an hour earlier than planned?"
"That would be a help. Honestly, moving with the flow of traffic is what eats up the most time..."
Yuji and I looked toward the dungeon entrance with a bit of hope. Moving through the dungeon while staring at the backs of other explorers for hours is quite tedious. Sometimes you can't help but wish the people in front would run because you're in a hurry.
While we waited in the entry line with those thoughts, our turn came in about fifteen minutes, just as we had estimated.
"All set. Please be careful."
"Thank you."
Seeing the Staff-san stationed by the gate off, we stepped into the dungeon. All right, it’s our first expedition in a while. Let’s do this.
We proceeded smoothly through the dungeon, reaching the 20th floor in about two hours. As we had hoped—or rather, expected—there were fewer people than usual, making our progress smoother. Many explorer teams also exited the main flow midway, allowing us to pick up speed.
I wish we could get here this fast every time... but that's probably impossible during summer vacation.
"Smooth sailing. We got here faster than expected."
"It seems like there are fewer corporate explorer teams than usual. Our speed picked up once we passed the 10th floor," Yuji observed.
"Fewer corporate teams... Maybe they're on compensatory leave after Obon?" I wondered aloud.
Compensatory leave... Ah, I see. If the company itself doesn't close for Obon, the employees don't all take off at once; they likely rotate their holidays. That would explain why there were fewer corporate explorer teams. Enterprises large enough to set up base camps from the 20th floor onward probably have plenty of personnel to maintain their usual presence, but for smaller companies or those that don't use base camps, they might be understaffed or on break.
"Probably. Regardless, it's convenient for us if there are fewer people, so let's keep going. We should arrive earlier than usual at this rate."
"Right. The faster we move, the more time we can spend exploring the new area," Yuji said. "Especially since we're planning to bivouac in a new area this time. I want to arrive early to get a good grasp of the surroundings and ensure our safety."
"Yes, we can afford to push a little further before taking a break," Hiiragi-san agreed.
And so, we quickly left the 20th floor behind. In this area, the number of student explorer teams began to dwindle, and even among the corporate explorer teams, we only saw about a dozen transport units carrying supplies to base camps. Thanks to that, we went deeper into the dungeon at an even higher speed than before.
Because everything was going so perfectly, optimistic words slipped from my mouth as we ran.
"At this rate, we should reach the 30th floor in about thirty minutes..."
"Whoa, Daiki. If you say things like that..."
"...Hirose-kun, it looks like it's already too late."
Speak of the devil. Five big bears had appeared ahead of us, blocking the path. For a split second, Yuji and Hiiragi-san shot me accusing glares, but I wanted to plead innocent. It was just a coincidence—total coincidence—that we ran into them right when I voiced my thoughts.
Thinking that, I drew my weapon and lunged at the big bears to avoid their gazes. Your timing is terrible, you bears!