We felt a bit uncomfortable under Hashimoto-sensei’s judgmental stare. Averting our eyes, we looked at each other with strained, awkward smiles.
How were we supposed to explain this to clear up the misunderstanding?
"Um, well, Sensei? Just so you know, we don’t explore dungeons specifically seeking high-value drop items while taking extreme risks."
"Th-That’s right. We always maintain a safety margin and make sure not to overdo it when we're exploring."
"Yes, and the proof is that none of us have ever suffered a major injury. It was just a coincidence that we managed to find drop items with such high appraisals. Pure luck."
What was this? Even though we were telling the truth, we couldn't help but feel like we sounded incredibly shady. The more we spoke, the more it felt like we were making excuses.
The proof was right there on Hashimoto-sensei’s face. As she listened to our explanation, her expression was filled with suspicion, clearly thinking we were lying through our teeth.
"..."
" " "..." " "
After a brief, heavy silence where we all stared at one another, Hashimoto-sensei let out a long, weary sigh.
"Well, I have no way of knowing if that's the truth or a lie, but if you say so, I suppose I’ll take it as fact. I haven’t heard any stories about you being seriously injured, so if you say you aren’t being reckless, I’ll choose to believe you."
"O-Oh, thank you?"
Recognizing that there was no point in digging further, Hashimoto-sensei let her shoulders drop slightly, accepting our "excuse."
"But in reality, it sounds like you’ve been in dangerous situations before. Even if you aren’t being reckless yourselves, you can still get caught up in things. From now on, please continue to be careful and don't overexert yourselves, alright?"
" " "Yes, ma'am." " "
Even if the conversation felt a bit dodgy, she really was a good teacher for worrying about our safety.
With another small sigh, Hashimoto-sensei brought the discussion back to the main point.
"Setting that aside... even if it's just luck, earning such a large income makes it difficult to set an appropriate fee for a professional contract. Since you’d be doing this as a job, the time spent as consultants would effectively be a period of suspended operations for your own work. You’d need to receive a corresponding amount of money to compensate for that loss. If you were working as professional consultants, you’d already have a standard rate in place, I suppose."
"Yes. We’re just explorers who delve into dungeons to get drop items. If this were a job that could be finished in a single day or a single trip, we could have taken it on for a discount as a favor... but based on what we’ve heard, it would take at least a month."
If it were just one day, we could have fudged the numbers, but if we were going to be doing this repeatedly over several weeks, there was no way to hide the disparity.
"I imagine so. Even if it’s a request from an acquaintance, if explorers who earn as much as you do were to stop their own activities for an entire month to take a job without proper compensation, it would cause all sorts of problems later on, even if it seems fine now. Furthermore, if you were seen as the source of those negative effects, it would affect not only you but also Tatebayashi-san and her group for making the request."
"I see, there’s definitely that risk too. If word got out online that we took a low-cost job and achieved great results, then people receiving similar consulting might start complaining. They’d say things like, 'Why is this place so expensive when those kids are doing it for cheap?!' or 'They got results in no time, why can't you?' and so on. And then the frustration from the rest of the industry and their clients would be directed right at us..."
"I think that's a very real possibility. Our school receives similar complaints and grievances all the time, after all."
As she said that, Hashimoto-sensei’s face grew even more exhausted.
Ah, I see. That’s probably the "Why aren't my child's grades improving when they're taking the same classes as everyone else?!" kind of thing. From a teacher's perspective, all they can say is that they're teaching the classes fairly. Whether the complaining guardians are ever satisfied with that is another matter entirely.
"Um, hang in there? Anyway, we definitely have to consider the repercussions after taking the job."
Indeed, if word spread that the top-tier of civilian explorers were taking on instructional consulting for a pittance, the blowback on the explorer instruction industry would be massive. If people started arguing about why less-capable instructors were charging higher fees than the best in the business, organizations would stop trying to train newcomers altogether. No one wants to do a job while being constantly criticized. Well, some might persist, but most wouldn't.
If that happened, the know-how for earning safely wouldn't be passed down, the base of newcomer explorers wouldn't expand, and the entire industry could go into a tailspin. Nobody wants to join a profession where you risk your life against monsters and can't even earn a decent living.
"Exactly. It’s not something you’d normally have to worry about, but I think it serves as an excellent reason to refuse this proposal. I'm sure Tatebayashi-san's parents wouldn't want their daughter to be seen as the cause of such an uproar, or to become a target of criticism herself."
"Neither would we. Nobody wants to be on the front lines of a mess like that."
"I’m sure. That’s exactly why it works as a reason to turn down the contract."
I realized then that talking things out and listening to other people’s opinions really helps generate ideas. The inevitably high fees, the reasons why we couldn't accept a low price, and the industry-wide impact if we did—with all these factors combined, we had more than enough justification to say no.
"I think so too. Honestly, looking back at what we’ve discussed since yesterday, accepting the consulting proposal was just too much to ask."
"We originally just wanted to give Tatebayashi-san and the others a bit of a head start if they were going to be explorers. But because of this unexpected proposal, we've been spinning our wheels," Yuji added.
"I think we can successfully turn down the formal consulting role with these reasons. Now, if only her parents are satisfied and things can go back to the original plan... that would be ideal," Hiiragi-san said.
Yuji and I nodded, though we still looked a bit concerned. I just hoped that refusing the professional contract wouldn't cause the situation to spiral in some other weird direction.
"I hope so too. But her parents did say it was fine to refuse, didn't they? I think if you explain it clearly, things shouldn't go too far south."
"I hope you're right. Well, some time has passed, and I'd like to think they'll understand it's impossible once they hear our reasoning from Tatebayashi-san and her friend. Also, I’d rather not talk about money if I can help it, so it would be a huge relief if they withdrew the offer themselves."
If the conversation turned to the actual numbers of a consulting fee, it would inevitably expose our actual income, which I wanted to avoid.
I didn't think it was likely, but if Tatebayashi-san’s parents heard about our income—tens of millions of yen a month—and developed unrealistic expectations for the two beginners, the pressure might drive them to do something reckless for high-value drop items. That would be a nightmare. They could look up the average income of a student explorer online, but knowing that people just one year older than them were making a fortune could easily spark some ulterior motives. I wanted to believe they’d stay level-headed, but money does strange things to people.
"Yes, that would be for the best."
"Agreed. To that end, even if they're a bit hesitant, I want Tatebayashi-san and Hino to convey everything we talked about to their parents."
There was always the chance their parents might suddenly forbid them from being explorers at all, but if that happened, we’d just have to set up another meeting. It would be a shame to crush Tatebayashi-san’s dreams just because we couldn't take a specific job.
Still, they had already given their consent once, so I figured we could manage it depending on how the conversation was framed.
With the discussion reaching a natural stopping point, we decided to take a break using the tea set in the consultation room. Though "tea set" was a generous term—it was just an electric kettle with tap water and some tea bags.
"Phew. So, is that the plan for the consulting situation?"
"For now, yes. Anything more will depend on how Tatebayashi-san’s parents react. We can prepare a few different approaches, but ultimately, it's up to them."
"The easiest way is for them to withdraw the offer. If that doesn't work, we'll just have to meet them and persuade them ourselves."
"I just hope things end peacefully."
We summarized our thoughts while sipping the tea. At this point, we were fully committed to refusing the professional contract; our only focus was how to do it gracefully.
Thinking about it calmly, there was no way we, as mere high schoolers, could take on that kind of responsibility.
"You're right," Hashimoto-sensei said. "I'm not directly involved, so I can't tell you exactly what to do, but from the school's perspective, we can't look favorably on students taking on professional work that carries such heavy responsibility, especially if it interferes with their studies. Even the current explorer activities are only being overlooked as extracurriculars because clear rules haven't been established yet. The school doesn't exactly recommend it."
"Well, that's understandable. There have been all sorts of explorer-related issues lately."
"A bunch of students coming to class looking like mummies because they're covered in bandages, people getting so obsessed with the dungeon that they fail their classes or drop out... it’s been one problem after another, hasn't it?"
"Not to mention the repeaters who try to force new students into their parties... Yeah, the school definitely isn't happy about it."
We counted the various explorer-related incidents on our fingers. It was honestly impressive how much trouble had occurred in the less than a year since the system had started.
It made sense that the school would want to restrict students' activities. And if students were to take on a professional contract where they were legally responsible for someone else's life and death... they might even be "encouraged" to withdraw from the school entirely.
"Exactly. If a student were to take on a consultant-like role involving life-and-death stakes, the school would finally have to take action, even without formal rules. It would be seen as crossing the line."
"That’s a fair point. If anything went wrong, it would be an incident involving current students, and people would demand to know why the school hadn't regulated it. They'd claim the school was partially responsible."
"In this day and age, we can't guarantee that wouldn't happen."
As Hashimoto-sensei let out another heavy sigh, I could practically see the image of the school's leadership, including the Principal, being forced to hold a televised press conference.
Yeah, if there’s a visible pitfall ahead, you do your best to avoid it, even if it means taking the long way around.
"So, while I won't order you to do one thing or another, I trust you to make a wise decision."
" " "Yes. Thank you for the advice." " "
As Hashimoto-sensei looked at us with the serious gaze of a teacher, we bowed slightly and thanked her.
Yeah, no matter how we looked at it, taking the consulting job was impossible. It was best to keep it as a simple case of senior explorers giving a few tips and pointers to their juniors.
"Well then, it's gotten late, so let's call it a day."
"Yes. I’m really glad we could talk today. Knowing the school's stance was especially helpful."
"It gives me the chills to think about what would have happened if we'd just said yes without knowing that."
"I'm glad we could consult with you."
I really felt then how important it was to take the time to calm down and think things through. If we had agreed right then and there during yesterday’s discussion... we all shuddered at the thought, our faces twisting in grimaces.
We cleaned up the tea set and left the consultation room together with Hashimoto-sensei.