"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Yuta-san returned, a stack of documents tucked under his arm, and set glasses of barley tea before us. Once he had served everyone, he took a seat on the sofa directly across from us.
"I saw Hirose-san during the school festival, but it’s been quite a while since I last saw Kokonoe-san and Hiiragi-san."
"It has indeed. Thank you for coming to see us at the festival."
"Not at all. Since you were kind enough to invite me, it was a nice change of pace. It reminded me of my own student days. By the way, the booth you all were running was incredibly popular, wasn't it?"
Yuta-san brought up the school festival as a bit of light conversation. Unfortunately, Hiiragi-san and I hadn't run into him there, but I had heard from Yuji that he had stopped by.
"Haha, tell me about it. We originally intended for it to be a low-key project where people could just relax, but things turned out to be... well, unexpected, to say the least."
"We never imagined we'd have a constant stream of guests."
"Haha, that line really was something. Even I was taken aback when I saw how long it was."
It seemed that while Hiiragi-san was on duty, the rumors hadn't spread that far yet. She had to deal with some troublesome guests, but there hadn't been a massive queue. Conversely, Yuji, who took over just as the rumors were peaking, had to struggle with the unintended success. By the time it was my turn, Yuji and the others had somewhat established a system, so while it was hectic, I was at least able to manage the flow.
Honestly, the whole thing was a total surprise.
"It really was. Because of that, we even ended up with more work after the festival ended."
"Work? Ah, I see. Given the content of your presentation, I imagine that was information the other student explorers needed to hear."
"Yes. At the request of the Student Council, we put together an educational tax handout for the entire student body. I don't think amateurs should be meddling too much in matters involving the public, but we felt it was important to give them a reason to start paying attention."
"That’s true. Even I didn't really start thinking about things like taxes until I entered the workforce. Back in high school... well, during my student years, it wasn't really on my radar."
Yuta-san nodded slightly, a look of understanding on his face. He mentioned that he only truly felt the weight of it when he got his first paycheck and saw the taxes and insurance premiums being deducted. He warned us that it's better to assume your take-home pay will only be about eighty percent of the gross salary listed in job magazines. It sounds like quite a lot gets taken out.
"Exactly. The only tax students usually deal with is consumption tax."
"Right. That's why adults should be the ones to notice and offer advice, but..."
"I suppose there were more people than expected who viewed it as nothing more than a child earning some pocket money."
"And that was likely the root cause of the chaos at your booth."
The selling price of items dropped in dungeons is discussed on TV to some extent. However, for most people, it wasn't something they considered a personal concern, and that was likely the problem. Parents probably never imagined their own children were earning enough to exceed the limits of tax deductions. Furthermore, few children would go out of their way to report every bit of income from dungeon exploration to their parents.
In fact, even we haven't really reported the details of our explorer income to our parents. Especially since becoming independent as sole proprietors, our parents have basically been hands-off.
"My, you all sound like you’re having a lively discussion."
Time had passed while we were talking with Yuta-san, and Kiritani-san entered the room looking slightly weary. With his arrival, our small talk with Yuta-san naturally came to an end. Kiritani-san sat down next to Yuta-san and greeted us with a slight bow.
"It’s been a while, everyone. About half a month, perhaps?"
"Yes, about that. Things have been quite hectic lately."
"Haha, they certainly have been."
Kiritani-san gave a wry smile at Yuji's words, his expression tired.
Yeah. For us, things were mostly settled after the hush money negotiations with the Association, but Kiritani-san likely had a mountain of paperwork and negotiations with various parties to deal with. I felt truly sorry that we had discovered such a troublesome thing.
"So, is that matter handled now?"
"The urgent work has reached a stopping point, I’d say. There are still issues to clean up, but the work from here on out just requires time. I don't believe any of this will cause further trouble for you all."
"I see. I'm glad to hear you've reached a milestone, at least..."
Does that mean the procedures with the government offices are finished, and now only his work as a real estate agent remains? Explaining things to the landowner and local residents would certainly take time to gain their understanding.
"Well, I’ve heard the public announcement won't happen for a while anyway, so I plan to take my time cleaning things up."
"Take your time, huh?"
"Yes. Slowly and surely."
Does that mean Kiritani Real Estate is planning to secure all the rights to the land around the newly discovered dungeon without exception? Well, it was a lucrative opportunity that appeared out of nowhere. I suppose he wants to ensure he profits enough to make the hardship worth it.
An awkward atmosphere drifted between Yuji and Kiritani-san for a moment, but it vanished quickly.
"Now then, let's set aside that matter and move on to the main topic, shall we?"
"Yes, please."
"I heard you wanted to change the upper limit of your acquisition budget..."
Kiritani-san gave us a slightly puzzled look as he confirmed the change in terms. Well, even if we are explorers, it’s only natural to find it strange when students like us suddenly claim we want to increase our purchase price. Even the current budget we’ve proposed is a significant amount for students. To try and raise it even further would naturally lead to that kind of expression.
"Yes. After visiting several properties for viewings, we did some thinking. We happened to receive some unexpected temporary income—hush money, essentially—so we decided to be bold and raise the limit."
"Temporary income, you say?"
"Yes, temporary income. Related to our explorer activities."
When Yuji spoke with that suggestive phrasing, Kiritani-san seemed to understand the implication and wore a look of realization. From Kiritani-san's perspective, an increase in the purchase price meant an increase in company profit. He likely had no problem with the budget going up.
"I understand. In that case, may I ask what budget you have in mind?"
"Actually, before that, could we see some reference materials? We’ve decided to raise the budget, but we aren't sure what kind of properties are available at what price points."
"Ah, that’s a fair point. In that case, I’ll have some recommended materials brought in categorized by price for your reference. Yuta-kun, could you go grab some documents?"
"Certainly. Up to what budget should I bring?"
Yuta-san stood up at Kiritani-san's instruction and asked us about the price range. We exchanged brief glances and consulted in low voices.
"What do you think? Should we have him bring them in increments of ten million?"
"Wouldn't it be better to see five-million-yen increments as they go up?"
"Right. Let’s have him bring things up to about fifty million yen, then."
Once we reached a consensus, I conveyed the price range to Yuta-san. Both Yuta-san and Kiritani-san looked surprised for a moment when they heard the budget, but they quickly regained their professional composure. They had probably heard such figures before, but the shock came from hearing them from students like us.
"Understood. I will prepare the materials within that budget. Please wait a moment."
"Thank you."
"If you'll excuse me."
Yuta-san hurried out of the room and headed to the office upstairs. While we waited for him to return, we decided to talk with Kiritani-san about the properties we had viewed so far.
"Actually seeing the properties made us realize how much we hadn't considered."
"The properties met the conditions we requested, but once we were actually there, several drawbacks became apparent."
"The mountain paths to the properties weren't an issue, but getting to the nearest access point was harder than we thought. Once we're old enough to get licenses, the problem will be mitigated, but for now, it’s a bit too much of a burden on us."
We shared our thoughts with Kiritani-san. While the properties followed the criteria we had set, the travel was simply too difficult. The fact that our only means of transportation were bicycles or public transit was the painful reality. If we felt like it, we could make a bicycle move as fast as a motorcycle, but bicycles aren't built for that kind of stress. We could easily wreck one in a single trip. In fact, I’d heard the frame creaking just from applying a bit of strength.
"The properties that fit your requested criteria are basically deep in the mountains, far from human habitation. They're all in places where public transportation rarely runs. Given your ages, you can't drive, so the lack of transportation options will certainly be a bottleneck."
"Yeah. That was the first thing we felt when Yuta-san took us for viewings. As for moving through the mountains themselves, that’s a problem we can solve with brute force once we’re there, but..."
"Judging by the recorded footage Yuta-kun brought back, I suppose that’s true for people who are explorers."
"You saw that? That’s a bit embarrassing. Did we say anything weird?"
The recorded footage Kiritani-san mentioned—was it the one where we free-fell down the cliff? That would be difficult for an average explorer, so if he was using that as the standard for explorers, that might be a problem...
I thought I should say something and glanced at Yuji, signaling him to clear up the misunderstanding. Yuji took the hint and spoke to Kiritani-san with a wry smile.
"But Kiritani-san, I don't think there are many explorers who can move through mountains like we do. You should probably think of beginners who've only just started as having the physical capabilities of maybe a veteran athlete."
"Should I assume it would be difficult for them to move like you all do?"
"Yes. Explorers increase their level by defeating monsters in the dungeon, and as a benefit, their physical enhancement grows. Someone who has only just become an explorer hasn't had many chances to receive those benefits, so their overall physical ability isn't that high. Therefore, I think it’s only explorers in the mid-level range who can traverse the forests we visited without any trouble."
"Mid-level... specifically, what kind of level are we talking about?"
We pondered Kiritani-san's question. If the focus was on mountain traversal, we could ignore combat power for now. Mid-level... for the small party faction, maybe those who can reach around the 20th floor? For the corporate faction, maybe companies that can establish medium-to-long-term bases inside a dungeon?
After a brief, quiet consultation, we reached a conclusion.
"Let’s see. It's hard to generalize, but for a small party, reaching the 20th floor; for the corporate faction, whether they are capable of constructing a base within the dungeon. I think explorers who can reach that point have sufficient physical enhancement from their level."
"And... are there a fair number of explorers in that class?"
"In the dungeon we frequent, there are a decent number of them. However, there are very few student explorers who have reached that level. Most explorers who can do that are adults, either from the corporate faction or the sole proprietor-type."
"Thank you. That’s a valuable opinion from active explorers. I’ll take it into account."
Hearing Yuji's answer, Kiritani-san wore a somewhat complicated, yet relieved expression. Seeing the recorded footage had probably given him the misunderstanding that our movements were the baseline for all explorers. His complicated expression likely came from calculating the population distribution of people who might actually buy mountain forests for training grounds like we were planning. Still, if you don't limit it to students, I think there are a fair number of them.
After talking for a while, Yuta-san returned, carrying the stack of documents we had requested.
It seemed the misunderstanding regarding the average explorer had been cleared up... for the most part.