When I stepped out of the shop, Haranishi was waiting a short distance away. I suppose he couldn’t stay right in front of the classroom after causing such a scene. For a moment, I considered making a run for it, but he had already spotted me and was beckoning me over with a small wave. It didn't look like I could escape.
I let out a soft sigh, keeping my expression neutral, and walked toward him with heavy steps.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," I said.
"No, I should be the one apologizing. This wasn't the kind of topic I should have brought up right after causing such a commotion. Because of me, you had to leave the stall early too..."
"Oh, no. Please don't worry about it."
Haranishi lowered his head slightly, apologizing for his rudeness. It was true that if he hadn’t brought up the sports festival, I might have made it until I left the stall without being recognized.
Well, though they hadn't said it aloud, a few people had looked enlightened the moment the sports festival was mentioned, so it likely would have been only a matter of time anyway.
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
"Right. As I mentioned earlier, I was curious about what kind of training you all underwent. I like to think I’ve trained reasonably well as an explorer... but after seeing your appeal demonstration, I realized I was just a frog in a well. You can’t achieve that with just level-based assistance alone."
"I see... As far as we're concerned, we don't think we've done anything out of the ordinary. When I first became an explorer, I was a complete amateur when it came to martial arts. I figured that in that state, no matter what weapon I used, I’d likely end up injuring myself with my own gear, so I decided to learn martial arts at a nearby dojo. Weren't there people like that around you, Haranishi?"
At my words, Haranishi put a hand to his chin and thought for a moment as if trying to remember something.
"...Now that you mention it, there were. Aside from people like us who jumped into the dungeons the moment the Armed Exploration Permit system was established, there were those who were doing all sorts of preparations. Back then, there was an atmosphere of 'first come, first served,' so I wondered what they were doing taking their sweet time... In the end, I guess the difference lies in how thoroughly one prepares beforehand."
"I think so. If I may say so, I believe it’s more important to know the limits of what the human body can do before you start raising your level, rather than starting martial arts after the fact. Once your level goes up, even an amateur—an ordinary person—becomes capable of superhuman movements. But just because they can perform the movements doesn't mean they've mastered them. Even without the efficient body manipulation techniques found in martial arts, you can perform better just by raising your level. Since brute force works, nobody bothers to optimize their movements unless they feel a need to. But even if you realize you need those efficient body manipulation techniques later on, most people stop once they've gotten just a little taste of it because it improves their efficiency slightly. That's why their movements still look unrefined."
"...Haha, that hits close to home. It’s true that after seeing your demonstration, I realized just how haphazard our movements were. As we progressed through the dungeon, the number of tough monsters increased, so we thought we needed martial arts and started learning... but we’re the type who quit because we could suddenly defeat the monsters we’d been struggling with after only learning a little bit."
"You can defeat the early monsters just by swinging your weapon wildly and relying on your level. Even with the tougher monsters further in, I think you can defeat them if you have solid positioning and teamwork, even if it’s a struggle. However..."
Sensing my hesitation as I trailed off, Haranishi gave a wry smile and nodded slightly.
"I follow you. It’s exactly as you imagine. My team is stuck right around there, and we were looking for a breakthrough. The reason Kishi’s brother got hurt also traces back to that problem. We thought we could just increase our numbers, but adding someone when our coordination was still immature led to that result. That’s why, when I heard that the students in that video were from Kishi’s school, I wanted to talk to you and decided to tag along when he invited me. I never imagined it would turn into such a fiasco, though."
"I see... All I can really say is that you should polish your individual movements and make your coordination perfect. Perhaps by relearning martial arts from scratch?"
"I suppose there really are no shortcuts to becoming strong..."
"Fortunately, explorers have their physical stamina enhanced by the benefits of their levels. I think that's a perfect environment for repetitive practice, like practice swings. If your form breaks down during basic training due to exhaustion, you'll pick up strange habits that are a pain to fix. An explorer who has reached a certain level should be able to solidify their fundamentals efficiently."
In fact, we had solidified our fundamentals quite intensely by relying on the benefits of our levels. If your basics are solid, you can coordinate with your allies without hesitation. If your basics aren't set and you don't know how your partner will move, coordination will only ever be halfway decent. You might think the vanguard is going for the enemy on the right, only for them to go left, resulting in everyone attacking the same enemy and causing friendly fire.
Most likely, the injury to Kishi's brother happened because Kishi was added to the team with half-baked fundamentals and insufficient coordination training. It was an accident that wouldn't have happened if Kishi’s basic training had been finished.
"Solidifying the fundamentals... It might seem like a detour, but returning to the basics to retrain might indeed be the shortest path."
"At the very least, I don't think it will be a waste when it comes to dungeon exploration. Application is only possible once you have the basics down."
"...Yeah, you're right."
Perhaps because he had been able to speak frankly and vent, the atmosphere of frustration that had been lurking in Haranishi's eyes vanished. Between the stalled exploration and the incident with Kishi's brother, he seemed to have been quite anxious.
When things aren't going well, you try to break through by increasing personnel, only to fail due to a lack of training... it was a recipe for disaster. Even if it hadn't ended in a catastrophe, anyone would feel the pressure.
"...Sorry for taking up your time. I’m going to go look for Kishi now."
"I see... I’m glad if I could be of any help."
"It was good talking to you. Also, I’m truly sorry for dragging you into that mess."
"Don't worry about it. However, today is the school festival that everyone has been looking forward to. Please be careful not to cause any more trouble after this."
I narrowed my eyes slightly and gave Haranishi a stern look to drive the point home. I could understand their circumstances, but taking it out on others was wrong. I figured they’d be fine since they’d already caused one scene, but he needed to keep a tight rein on the emotionally unstable Kishi.
Haranishi took a small breath at my warning, his expression stiffening slightly as he gave a firm, silent nod.
"Of course. I'll make sure to give Kishi a stern talking-to."
"Please do."
After seeing off Haranishi as he hurried away to find Kishi, I also left the first-year floor. After causing such a stir, I felt a bit awkward walking around this area.
Now then, where should I go next...?
I considered visiting the second and third-year classrooms, but with the commotion still fresh, I figured it was best to let the heat die down for a bit. I headed toward the gymnasium by way of the stall area in the courtyard.
Minor troubles happen all over the place, so the excitement would likely shift elsewhere after a little while.
"...As I thought, there's a lot of food."
Since it was outdoors, the courtyard was lined with many stalls. They were mainly food-related—the usual yakisoba, takoyaki, crepes, and cotton candy. Since it was for a school festival, every stall offered their food at incredibly low prices.
"The smell of food is everywhere here."
Perhaps they were trying to lure in customers with the scent, but there were so many grilled items that the whole space was making me hungry. Since it was almost lunchtime, many students and visitors were lining up at the stalls.
The most popular ones seemed to be the staple foods that were easy to eat, like yakisoba.
"Teppanyaki yakisoba... That looks delicious."
I didn't know where they’d gotten it, but they were frying yakisoba on a professional iron plate set like the ones you’d see at a summer festival stall. Watching the black sauce being poured over the ingredients and noodles as they were tossed with spatulas, turning a rich color while steam rose from the heated plate, was a kind of art. More than anything, the aroma of the sauce sizzling on the iron appealed fiercely to my appetite. The customers waiting in line around the stall also had blissful expressions as they took in the fragrant scent.
That stall definitely made the right choice going with yakisoba.
"This looks good too."
Shaking off the temptation of the yakisoba, I looked at the other stalls and found more attractive dishes being prepared. There were frankfurters on sticks being grilled over charcoal on a large barbecue grill. The plump frankfurters were sizzling, giving off a savory aroma. Meat juices bubbled and boiled as they leaked from the slits in the skin, and the drippings smoked the frankfurters on the mesh above the coals. The edges of the slits were charred black, a sight that promised a satisfyingly crispy skin.
And the sight of customers receiving their finished frankfurters, topping them with ketchup and mustard and biting in with beaming faces, looked truly delicious. Well, the way some of them almost burned themselves on the hot meat juices was just part of the charm.
"That's another candidate."
I sized things up while swallowing my saliva and turned my eyes to another stall.
The next stall was serving udon. It seemed to be a style where you started with basic kake udon and added toppings, and several varieties were available.
"The noodles look like pre-packaged ones, but the scent of the bonito dashi in the soup is nice. Did they make it here? And it looks like they're even frying the tempura and kakiage toppings..."
I could hear the sound of oil splashing from the back of the stall, so it seemed the tempura toppings were served fresh. It appeared to be quite a serious setup. Since they only had to heat the noodles, the fact that it would be served quickly was also a big plus.
"They even have a double-portion large size... Yeah, this place is good."
Feeling the pull of the udon, I continued looking around.
The next one... Yeah, this was a staple for these kinds of events. The menu at the next stall was curry and rice. Apparently, it was a spicy curry made with their own original blend. Was there a curry enthusiast among the stall staff? A custom spice blend... that was almost too authentic.
"And they're using saffron rice? Is someone supervising this?"
It felt like a dish that was out of place at a school festival—the level of quality was just too high. However, the taste seemed guaranteed; the customers eating the curry reacted as if it were spicy on the first bite, but from the second bite onward, they were wolfing it down.
Wasn't that the kind of thing a normal restaurant would serve at a decent price?
"Next is... dessert."
The next stall was serving crepes, a dessert stall.
"Dessert, huh... But I’m not really in the mood for something sweet."
At the stall, the clerk was skillfully cooking the crepes thin, adding the ordered toppings, and handing them to the customers. They were piled high with whipped cream and fruit, making them quite a bargain. I wondered if they were even making a profit. It would be fine for a post-meal dessert, but the portion size was significant. I'd put that on hold depending on how it balanced with the other food.
After doing a full circuit of the food stalls in the courtyard, I decided on my lunch menu.
"I don't have that much time, so the main dish will be udon. The side dish will be a frankfurter."
In the end, I decided to go with the udon and frankfurter, both of which looked like they'd be served quickly.
I immediately headed to the udon stall and ordered the kakiage udon. Fortunately, it wasn't crowded, and it was served in less than a minute—impressive speed.
"Next is the frankfurter... It looks like the pre-made ones aren't done yet. I'll eat the udon first, or the noodles will get soggy."
A simple dining area had been set up in the courtyard, and I found an empty seat to eat my udon. I could have eaten while standing, but since a seat was open, I might as well use it.
After finishing lunch, I decided to go see the attractions in the gymnasium. At this time, the Drama Club was scheduled to perform on the stage. They were going to perform an original play, so students and external guests with an interest were gathering.
"An original, huh... I wonder what kind of play it is."
With a mix of anticipation and casual curiosity, I stepped into the gymnasium, which was slightly dim due to the black curtains covering the windows.