The day after we finished testing our performance in high-speed combat, the three of us gathered at Yuji’s house to talk. Our main agenda was finding a place where we could actually practice moving at those speeds.
The question was whether we should keep borrowing a training area from Genya-san or finally set up a place of our own.
"I did some quick research online after I got home yesterday, and buying a mountain doesn't actually seem that difficult," Yuji noted. "There are quite a few procedures involved, but it's doable."
"It looks that way," I agreed. "I did some looking around too. For the size of the land you get, the prices didn't seem impossibly high."
"I looked into it as well," Hiiragi-san added. "If we treat it as a joint purchase, I think we could manage it. In terms of price..."
Since everyone had already done some baseline research, the conversation moved along surprisingly smoothly. We decided to save the bureaucratic details for later and focused on the biggest hurdle: the budget.
A budget, huh... how much can I actually afford?
"How much do you guys think you can chip in without it hurting your pockets? I haven't been spending much lately, so I can put in a decent amount."
"I can contribute a fair bit too," Yuji said. "One way or another, the money I've made from the dungeons has just been sitting there. It keeps piling up since I don't really spend it."
"I'm in the same boat," Hiiragi-san said. "Basically, my savings have just been growing."
Despite how much we were making as explorers, none of us seemed to have any expensive hobbies. In fact, since I was always the one treating Mika and her party whenever something happened, I might have actually been the one spending the most.
Realizing I might have been a bit too generous with my wallet lately, I made a slightly awkward face, making sure the other two didn't notice.
"I see. In that case, we should be able to put together a respectable sum."
"Yeah. And if we come up short, we can always just dive into a dungeon to earn the rest," Yuji suggested.
"True," Hiiragi-san agreed. "Selling off some of the skill scrolls or magic items we’ve been sitting on would be an efficient way to raise funds. Provided we only sell things that won't cause us trouble, of course."
As Hiiragi-san pointed out, we couldn't sell anything too controversial, but I had plenty of safe drops from the Slime Dungeon tucked away in my Spatial Storage. Converting just a fraction of those into cash would solve our funding issues instantly.
Of course, dumping a massive hoard of skill scrolls and magic items all at once would draw unwanted attention, so we’d have to do it in small batches.
"Right. But let's treat that as a backup. First, let's decide how much we can put up from our current cash on hand. For me... I can do about two million yen."
"For an amount I can contribute comfortably... maybe two or three million?" Yuji offered.
"I think I’m in that range as well," Hiiragi-san said. "I have to keep my tax payments in mind, so I can't just throw every yen I've earned into this."
I knew these weren't the kind of numbers normal high schoolers should be tossing around, but we were doing well for ourselves as explorers. We could afford this. To be clear, we weren't being reckless with our money—I was fully aware that these were staggering amounts of cash.
"So that gives us about six to eight million total..."
"Yeah. But we should expect registration fees and other legal costs," Yuji cautioned. "It’s probably safer to assume a purchase price of around five million."
"I agree," Hiiragi-san said. "Since we don't know the exact overhead yet, we should aim to spend about seventy or eighty percent of our total budget on the land itself."
With that, we settled on a five-million-yen budget for the mountain. Five million... that was a serious chunk of change.
Budget in hand, we turned back to the internet to see what kind of properties were actually on the market.
"With five million... there are a lot of options," I said, scrolling through the listings.
"Seriously," Yuji muttered. "How big is five hectares, exactly?"
"People usually use stadium sizes for comparison... it’s a bit larger than the Tokyo Dome," Hiiragi-san explained.
As we looked through the listings, we found that mountains were traded in units we rarely encountered in daily life. To think you could buy a plot of land larger than a professional baseball stadium for five million yen...
It was a world so far removed from our normal lives that every new piece of information was a shock.
"Larger than a dome... yeah, that should be plenty of space."
"In terms of raw area, sure," Yuji said. "But isn't it too big? Do we really need that much land?"
"Better to have too much than too little, don't you think?" Hiiragi-san countered. "If it's large, we can just pick a specific spot to use. Besides, we could use the extra space for things other than combat training."
" "Well, I guess so..." "
Thinking about yesterday's results, bigger was definitely better. If we had the space, we could practice skills we hadn't been able to use freely before. I might even be able to realize my old dream of building a secret base under the guise of practicing the Digging skill.
The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of having a massive playground where we could do whatever we wanted.
After finishing the initial discussion about our dedicated training ground construction plan, we decided to take a short break. While Yuji went to fetch some tea, I chatted with Hiiragi-san.
"Hard to believe summer vacation is almost over," I remarked.
"It really is. Though, my only memory of this summer is being inside a dungeon."
"Haha, same here. At least we finished all our homework back in July. I'm so glad we did that."
Knowing that Mika and the rest of us would be obsessed with the dungeons, I’d made sure we all finished our schoolwork early, even if we had to push ourselves. Looking back, it was a stroke of genius. At this time last year, I still had a mountain of assignments left.
I definitely didn't want to be one of those people desperately cramming right now.
"True. But I wonder how many other students will actually walk into school with their homework finished?"
"Hmm. Probably more than half, but the rest... who knows? Some of them are probably just remembering it now and starting an all-nighter."
"An all-nighter for homework at the very end of summer..." Hiiragi-san sighed, her eyes half-lidded and weary. She likely had a few specific student explorers in mind. I could think of a few candidates myself.
While we were talking, Yuji returned with the tea... and an extra guest in tow.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Welcome back—oh, Juzo-san?"
"It has been a while," Juzo-san said, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I heard you lot were discussing something interesting, so I thought I would drop in."
The old man stepped out from behind Yuji, looking quite amused. Yuji, meanwhile, had a slightly apologetic expression as he handed out the tea. It seemed Juzo-san's arrival hadn't been part of his plan.
"I heard the basics from this one, but it seems you youngsters are planning to buy a mountain?"
"U-um, yes. Well, specifically, we were thinking of building a dedicated training ground..."
"I see. For explorers of your caliber, I suppose finding a suitable place to train is no easy task."
"Yes, exactly," I explained. "The public facilities are always fully booked. And if we want to use skills during practice, we could literally be arrested if we do it anywhere other than a licensed facility."
"And so you decided to buy your own mountain and build your own facility..." Juzo-san frowned slightly, though he seemed to understand our logic.
Usually, even if they have the money, you’d expect a lecture if a group of high schoolers said they were buying a mountain.
"I understand your reasoning," Juzo-san said. "But is it truly necessary to go to such lengths? If you ask Genya, I am certain he would continue to lend you space."
"That's true, but we didn't think it was right to keep relying on Genya-san forever," I replied. "We've been very fortunate to have his help, and we're grateful for everything he's done. But leaning on his kindness indefinitely feels wrong. Since our research showed this was a problem we could solve ourselves, we wanted to try."
"Hmm, I see..." Juzo-san closed his eyes and crossed his arms, falling into deep thought.
The three of us tensed up, wondering if we’d said something offensive. We sat up straight, watching him with bated breath. After a few seconds of silence, he slowly opened his eyes.
"Indeed. Relying on Genya's hospitality forever is not a permanent solution. If it were a problem you could not possibly solve alone, then bowing your heads and asking for aid would be the correct path. However, if it is something you can achieve through your own effort, then moving to solve it yourselves is the mark of growth."
" " "..." " "
"Very well. Since that is your resolve, I shall lend you a hand. Real estate transactions can be treacherous without the right connections. Sellers would see youths like yourselves and try to take advantage of you, offering nothing but dregs."
" " "T-thank you very much!" " "
We’d gained Juzo-san's approval. More than that, we’d gained his help. This was a massive relief. I’d intended to consult him once the plan was more concrete, so this saved us a lot of trouble. Well, it didn't so much save trouble as it moved the timeline up, but the result was the same.
Regardless, I was glad our explanation had landed well.
"So? What is this plan of yours?"
"Well, calling it a 'plan' is a bit of a stretch. We only just started thinking about it, so we've only really settled on a budget..."
"What? Is that all? I assumed you had already begun scouting specific locations."
"Haha, not quite. The idea only really took shape during our last overnight exploration. It hasn't even been a week, so we're still fumbling in the dark."
Because the conversation had accelerated so quickly, I didn't actually have a fleshed-out plan to show him. We’d literally just decided on the numbers minutes ago. We didn't even know if our budget was realistic for the kind of land we wanted, nor had we finished looking up the legal requirements for the purchase.
Juzo-san looked slightly exasperated as I confessed our lack of preparation with a sheepish grin. Hey, cut us some slack! We didn't expect to be presenting the idea to him today!
"I see... Then I shall begin by reaching out to a real estate agent of my acquaintance. Now, tell me, what is the extent of the budget you can provide? Depending on the amount, you might only find land in the middle of nowhere, or a plot that is nearby but as steep as a cliff face."
"We're looking at a total of six to eight million yen. Since there will be administrative costs, we were hoping to keep the land purchase itself around five million."
"Hmm. For high schoolers, even explorers, that is a substantial sum. Are you certain you can afford to part with that much?" Juzo-san looked at us with a mix of surprise and concern.
We all nodded, assuring him we were fine.
"Yes. Everyone is contributing an amount they can manage comfortably."
"Yeah, we're not overextending ourselves, so don't worry, Old Man," Yuji added.
"We've accounted for our taxes and other obligations," Hiiragi-san confirmed. "This is a safe amount for us."
"...I see. Then I shall use that budget as a baseline when I inquire."
" " "Thank you (We're counting on you, Old Man)." " "
Juzo-san nodded, then asked if we had any other requirements.
"Ideally, somewhere secluded," I said. "A bit of a slope is fine, but we'd prefer a place where no one will see us practicing."
"Right," Yuji added. "I saw that mountains are often sold in subdivided plots. If possible, Old Man, we’d like a spot where the surrounding plots haven't been bought up by anyone else."
"I agree with the seclusion," Hiiragi-san said. "But I’d also like a place with at least some kind of maintained access. If we have to hike over several mountains on animal trails just to get there, it’ll take too much time."
"Understood... Anything else? No? Then I shall see what I can find under those conditions."
" " "We appreciate it (I'm counting on you, Old Man)." " "
We bowed our heads in thanks, and Juzo-san stood up and left the room. I’d been startled when he first appeared, but his involvement was exactly what we needed.
As we shared a collective sigh of relief, we sat back and sipped our lukewarm tea, grinning at each other.
The Dedicated Training Ground Construction Plan was officially underway.