Ah!! Dammit!!
My equipment is ruined!!
I flail on my bed as I remember what happened yesterday.
When I left the ruins of the village, there were close to thirty hobgoblins for some reason.
I got flustered thinking it might be their home and tried to leave, but their eyes followed me, throbbing with bloodlust.
I figured they’d attack, so I took off running, but more hobgoblins appeared in front of me.
I couldn’t deal with that many hobgoblins, so I pushed my way through, but more appeared. In the end, I was surrounded by close to a hundred of them.
At that point, I figured I had to do it, so I attacked, but it didn’t go so well.
There’s power in numbers. Not only that, but some had weapons, and some could use magic, so I was never going to leave unscathed.
The vanguard encircled and attacked me, and arrows flew wildly regardless of trajectory. They even fired powerful magic too, not caring about friendly fire.
Apparently they care about fellow party members, but don’t give a damn about other parties.
That said, swords were swung, arrows pierced, and magic destroyed the earth. I couldn’t dodge, and took damage. Still, my equipment was okay.
Until something troublesome appeared.
It was a hobgoblin, but on a horse, wearing silver armor and helmet and holding a spear.
My survival instincts yelled that one was bad news.
I immediately used Limit Break and cleaned up the hobgoblins around me, but it quickly closed the distance and swung its spear.
I couldn’t block with the greatsword in time, so I used the buckler. Still, the immense power of the attack blew me away.
I kicked the air with the divine bird boots to fix my posture, but it attacked again like it expected it.
I tried to deflect with the buckler, because I figured I’d be blown away again, and it broke.
Two attacks. A four million yen shield was broken after two attacks.
Dammit! I was angry, and closed the distance. I put my strength into the greatsword of fortitude, and attacked fiercely while using Earth Magic.
It looked like it was too intense even for the armored hobgoblin, and as its spear was flung up, I swung to slash its wide open torso.
But I couldn’t. It wasn’t just me and the armored hobgoblin there. There were others.
I was attacked by arrows and magic, and even though I was almost there, I had to back away.
From there, it was one-sided.
I could mercilessly cut down normal hobgoblins that approached, but the armored hobgoblin got in the way.
Even after activating a Speed Up magic circle and throwing rock spears, it was like it knew their trajectory.
I changed my moves and faced the armored hobgoblin with my greatsword, and took down monsters around me with magic activated from magic circles. But it felt like there were even more of them, not like I was reducing their numbers.
This went on for a while, but using Limit Break for a prolonged period and many magic circles meant my magic energy was approaching its limit.
I felt like I took down a lot of them, but they were still coming.
I composed my ragged breathing, and the armored hobgoblin stopped its horse. It then neighed with hostility towards me.
I exhaled, and bet on the only thing I could do.
The monsters around me picked up on the fact that I was up to something and were cautious, but that was a failure, I laughed scornfully to myself.
I used Wind Magic to its fullest and created a tornado centered on me.
This tornado caught the hobgoblins frozen around me, and lifted the armored hobgoblin to the sky.
And of course, it caught me too, but it was all I could do. I had to blow them all away if I was to survive.
I didn’t have a lot of magic energy left, but I should be able to land and run away. The question was where would I fall.
As I thought that, a spear attacked me.
I blocked it with my greatsword just in time, but it was aiming straight for my heart.
I wasn’t expecting to be attacked in the tornado.
The owner of the spear, the armored hobgoblin, was not on its horse, and despite being in a tornado, kept its balance and looked as though it was standing. It held up its spear, and somehow closed the distance.
Oh no!
I blocked with the greatsword of fortitude, parried, and desperately deflected, but I kept being pierced and the protector I just bought was destroyed.
Uah!? I yelled as the eight million yen made me seethe, but I used Parallel Thinking to calmly control the Wind Magic and throw me far away.
I managed to get away, and barely escaped the dungeon with my life.
◇ ◇ ◇
Aaaaaah!!!!
Damn armored thing! I won’t forgive you!!
My equipment! It took my money!
I bury my head in the pillow and scream.
It’s all that thing’s fault. I would’ve been okay if it wasn’t that thing.
I really wasn’t expecting to lose my new equipment yesterday. Don’t tell me to expect that either, how could I have predicted that situation?
I was just exploring, all carefree, and was suddenly attacked. It turned way too fast! I almost died!
Kuh! As I feel frustrated, the smartphone rings.
It says it’s Ai.
I smell money!
I sit up straight, take a couple of deep breaths, and take the smartphone. My heart is pounding like a lady in love, and my wallet demands to be fed, feeling unexpected money coming.
I tell myself to calm down, accept the call, and hear her voice.
Yes, it’s Tanaka. It’s been a while.
Eh? My tone sounds strange?
No, I don’t have a cold.
A job request? Yes! I will take it!
Yes, yes, yes. In the morning. Yes, I will go, thank you very much.
Hn? Did something happen?
No no, it’s nothing! I’m not broke or in debt or anything!
…Yes, later.
I wash my hair, get fired up, put on my suit, and part my hair.
I look in the mirror, and my skin with plenty of milky lotion and face lotion is shining. No matter how you look at me, I’m your average salaryman.
I leave the house, and hurry to Honto.
◇ ◇ ◇
I get there an hour before the scheduled time.
I see employees leaving to go have lunch, all going to their favorite places.
And among them I see Ai, standing in front of me having lunch.
She asks if I’m not too early, with her eyebrows twitching, but I say with devotion that it’s for Honto! I’m showing off my motivation.
I’ll do anything!
Just give me money!
I tap my chest with a sparkle in my eyes as I appeal to Ai. It looks like it worked, and I didn’t have to say how I really felt, and she tells me to wait. She hands me documents and tells me to read them while she eats.
I check them out, and it appears to be a description of a camera mounted mapping device.
Its name is mappingool. It says who named it on the side, and sure enough, it was her daughter.
It says where the name came from too. That mapping and maps reminds you of Goo◯le, so parts of it were added.
Stop…
Mappingool uses camera sensors to record roads where it passes. The camera is also constantly filming, so it could provide valuable evidence if there’s trouble between seekers.
The dungeon is said to be lawless, but once you reach the surface, the law gets involved. That should be a good deterrent… but it’s not.
It’s no good. If there’s evidence, they just have to get rid of it. And if it comes to that, they can silence people.
Filming is a good feature to add to mappingool.
Well, mappingool seems effective anyway, so no complaints here. In fact, it’s pretty fascinating.
I’m not used to mapping, so I just draw lines and point where I went when there are crossroads. I end up getting my way wrong a lot.
Mappingool would ease those worries, and would be a strong ally on floors I haven’t been to before.
The documents mention a power source, the continuous filming time, and precautions among other things. And lastly, it says it can work with portacool.
So, buy both.
I look at Ai, thinking this is really trying to get the most money out of people, and she asks if I have questions.
I turn away and say it’s nothing.
I see Ai is done eating, so I get up to move somewhere else. But she tells me to stop, and that the break isn’t over.
Oh, I see. I’m sorry for thinking only of myself.
I sit back down on the sofa, and she asks me if we can chat.
I want to ask if that will give me an hourly wage, but don’t. I’m sure it will.
Yes, I just restarted my exploration.
It was going well, but I hit a dead end recently.
No, I lost all my equipment on the thirtieth floor, so I’m a little bit troubled.
Don’t worry, I will be happy if I get a little extra in this reward, so thank you for having me.
Hn? Friends? No, I’m alone.
Yes, on the thirty-first floor.
Yes, yes, I’m all right. Don’t worry, I’m not pushing myself too far.
Do I have a problem?
Well… Ah! Do you know of a nice place to rent?
I explain what’s going on to the surprised Ai, and she says she’ll have something by the next time I come here. I wasn’t expecting anything when I asked, much less that she would deal with it.
That’s Ai for you! Ai-mazing! I praise her, but she tells me to stop with a strong look.
That’s the chat done with, so we head to the storage next door.
There were a ton of goods to be shipped last time I was here, and there’s even more today. Most of it is portacool.
I ask if portacool is selling that well, and she says it’s thanks to a certain someone.
The economy must be nice, considering it’s over ten million yen. Well, they probably own a property or two.
She takes me to where mappingool is being prepared, and staff is standing by.
I had a look at the documents about how to use mappingool, but I ask for another explanation to make sure I get everything.
This is a source of money, so I need to do it properly.
Still, I feel hot eyes from the staff. I could be imagining it, but when our eyes meet, they nod. I don’t really get it, but I feel like they’re welcoming me.
I ask about how it maps, and apparently I have to stick a camera to my clothes or equipment. The monitor ranges from twenty-four to five and a half inches like a smartphone, and when I’m asked to pick one, I choose the one the size of a smartphone.
The big ones are for portacool, so if I’m walking around with it, I want it to be the size of a smartphone.
They say they want to have a drone take readings from the sky eventually, but it’s impossible at this stage because monsters attack them.
They tried equipping them with monster repellent, but the weight meant they have to rework it.
I say it sounds tough. I’m making money, so I need to at least sound sympathetic.
I can’t accidentally say I don’t care.
The contract says I have to use it for a month. I have to take it to the dungeon for at least ten days, and they want me to report halfway through.
I bow deeply and say I understand, and they frown. They look worried about something. Are they constipated or something?
I approach and whisper I can use Healing Magic, and she frowns even more as she asks what I mean by that.
I guess that wasn’t it.
Lastly, the reward. I’m getting a million up front, and two more after we’re done.
I didn’t think they valued me that much. Three million for a month’s work.
This was unthinkable back when I was a salaryman.
I bow again, and head to the dungeon in high spirits.
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