“Mister Oonuki, I’m pretty sure this is only your fourth time in the dungeon. Don’t you think you have too much of an affinity with trouble?”
It’s the day after I took down a giant red panda, and I’ve come to the branch of the Seeker Association in Saitama.
By the way, the giant red panda didn’t drop a magic stone, but since there were still quite a few ether crystals left, I brought back forty. That along with the magic stones from the mana tarant I took down along the way means I made eighty thousand yen. And sure enough, the mana jewels had all been eaten.
Also, I didn’t level up, even though I figured something like that could have very well given me five levels.
I came here to get advice from my handler, Miss Sawaki, but… She’s mad.
“I am not mad. I am simply worried because you are being reckless.”
“Oh, did I say that out loud? I’m sorry. But I did not intend to do something like that. It was just bad luck.”
“If we look only at the results, it could be said you were lucky… You survived. No, you really do need to be more careful. I know I was the one who recommended the ruins, but you went far away beyond them, found a place where you could harvest ether crystals, and encountered not only mana tarants but an irregular enemy as well!?”
I think irregular enemies are what they call magic beasts that exceed expectations. The giant red panda fits that description, but the mana tarants have been discovered, so they are regular enemies.
In any case, it’s not as though I went out looking for something that dangerous, but…
“I apologize. I will try to be more careful.”
Swallowing what I’m thinking and apologizing is one of the skills I learned as a working adult.
Well, it will be all right, if no more problems occur.
“Please do. Also, your achievements put you at the top when compared to past records of people around your level. If you don’t count ones who joined a party for power leveling.”
People level up by defeating magic beasts. And quite a few wealthy people put out requests to high rank seekers, so they can go to difficult dungeons and do nothing but finish off magic beasts. They level up through others’ power… I don’t think that is quite right, but to each his own.
“Incidentally, and I know this does not apply to a solo seeker such as yourself, but the association does not recommend this kind of power leveling.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. The experience attained this way does not match the body, and worst case scenario, it could destroy itself. You should keep it to five levels at most.”
“I see. So people can’t do something unfair like that.”
I’ll also be careful. Not that it matters, because my physical abilities will stay pretty much the same no matter how much I level up.
“We are getting off track. Achieving this much means you have braved that many risks. It really is dangerous, you know?”
She tells me again to be careful, and then I look at the tablet she’s holding. It shows a picture of the back of my right hand. I took it with the seeker device’s camera, and it’s a cute drawing of a red panda.
“You want to talk about this tattoo, correct?”
Miss Sawaki looks at my right hand, which has the same drawing shown on the tablet, shining with a faint rainbow light.
Yes, I came here to talk about this.
“Yes. This is adorable, but I can’t enter a deluxe public bath like this.”
“Mister Oonuki, not every place prohibits tattoos. Some accept them due to the demand for inbound tourism, and more and more are accepting them if you cover them with flesh colored stickers… Nevermind that, do you know what this is?”
“No idea. I presented the footage for analysis after I came back, but the AI told me to contact my handler. So I sent a photo and came here.”
She nods with a serious expression.
I guess this is a rare thing. Miss Sawaki then looks like she made up her mind, and speaks.
“This is not commonly known, but we call it a summoning crest.”
“Summon what? Do you mean summoning like in videogames?”
“Yes. They can summon beasts.”
Summon beasts!? That gets my heart racing. Wait, then can that giant red panda…
“Please look at this.”
She shows me a photo on her tablet, as I get excited. It’s a stone with what looks like a pattern of a dog.
———————————
A portion of the reality of this world has been revealed.
Where did his vicious beast come from?
Was it an uninvited visitor from a distant land?
Mysteries invite mysteries, as Zenjurou’s heart is deeply shaken.
Cool, he got himself a summoned beast. That could surely help him conquer the dungeon.