Chapter 14 - Chapter 14: Lizardman and Orc
Leveling up with the girl I met in the Special District.
Of course, it's not free.
She can produce magical light, so I'll use that to film inside the dungeon.
If I can capture the video well, I can monetize it, and I can earn money without doing anything dangerous.
It's a bit frustrating that I won't know if the video is being captured unless I go outside, but Sana's leveling is going well.
She even learned two more spells.
Maybe she has talent for magic.
As the two of us rejoiced, a suspicious figure approached.
Brought out by the magical light was a man in dark, modern armor with short hair—the same guy who tried to extort potions from me.
He was clearly showing open hostility. Is he holding a grudge or something?
What a persistent guy—no, he probably doesn't think for a second that he's at fault.
"What is it? You again? What do you want? I bought proper armor, didn't I? Here?"
"Shut up! Because of you, I got kicked out of the guild!"
"Oh! An expelled one? That was popular back in the day."
"Shut up! You're looking down on me!"
The man drew his sword, so I readied my sand-iron bat.
"Hey, hey, have mercy. Sana, step aside for a moment."
"Y-yes..."
"Be careful of monsters."
"Die!"
The man swung his sword down at me with real intent.
In the darkness, I could see the white line of the killing intent-laden blade tip.
Since I just need to dodge this, it's easy to understand.
"If you're serious about this, I can turn the tables on you openly under the guise of self-defense."
"Try it if you can! And that woman of yours, I'll take good care of her, hehehe."
"Really, such a cliché move from a small fry. Don't you underestimate that sword?"
"Shut up!"
This time, he swept horizontally, but the trajectory looked clear.
I dodged with a light step and struck the man's head from the side.
The enemy stumbled and fell flat on his face.
I intended to hold back just enough so he wouldn't die instantly.
"Stop it right there."
"Y-you bastard."
The man tried to stand up, but his feet tangled, and he rolled on the spot.
He rolled over and over again.
It was obvious he was suffering from a concussion.
As expected, against humanoid creatures, this sand-iron bat is a valid weapon.
It can be used to neutralize the opponent, but one must not be careless.
"D-dammit!"
The man finally stood up, using his sword as a cane.
There was no way he could fight like this.
"You'd better not move around too much."
"I-I'll remember this!"
The man stumbled repeatedly and disappeared into the darkness.
I had no intention of pursuing him, and I couldn't leave Sana alone.
This is a dungeon, after all; I don't know what monsters might appear from where.
Besides, I have no intention of cutting down humans.
Goblins and Orcs are humanoid, but they are monsters.
"If he encounters monsters while walking like that, what would happen... Well, never mind."
"A-are you okay?!"
Sana came close to me.
She has a worried look on her face, but being worried by a girl is the height of an old man's joy.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. I won't lose to someone like that."
"Daisuke-san, you're so strong..."
"I'm an old man who faced a brown bear in the Testing Northern Land."
"R-really?"
"Seriously, seriously, hahaha."
This is true.
It's still inside the Item Box.
I really want to take something out of the Item Box soon.
But if I do, I'll get exposed...
Although there was a slight interruption, Sana leveled up.
Now, it's just a matter of whether the video was captured well.
Whether this works or not makes a huge difference in income.
I've done what I needed to do, so I decided to head back.
I took the bicycle out of the Item Box, put Sana on the back again, and headed back through the dungeon.
With the high-level power boost, the slopes between floors are a breeze.
Two people riding is nothing.
Pedaling the bike, I returned to the first floor.
I stopped briefly in a quiet spot near the exit.
I took three wolves out of the Item Box and wrapped them tightly in a blanket.
The blanket I previously wrapped the Harpy in has now completely served its purpose.
I tried carrying them—no problem.
If I can exchange them for about three, it will be a good profit.
"Let's walk from here."
"Yes—um, isn't it heavy?"
"It's fine."
"W-wow amazing..."
"Hahaha."
I returned to the entrance hall.
It's still crowded as usual, but I bypassed the crowd, passed through the automatic gates, and headed toward the merchants.
"Who will buy a wolf~!"
I called out to the many merchants.
"Show me."
"Sure, I just defeated them. The Magic Stones are still intact."
I opened the blanket.
Since they were in the Item Box, they were still warm.
"How about 30,000 yen per wolf?"
"That's fine—transfer half of it to her smartphone."
Three wolves for 90,000 yen, minus 20%, so 72,000 yen.
"Thank you very much."
"Eh?! I didn't do anything though..."
"That's not true. You used your light magic too. You need money, right?"
"Y-yes..."
This probably includes hush money, but does the young girl realize it?
Should I say it directly?
I whispered to her.
"My secret hush money is included too."
"I won't tell anyone."
"Hahaha, I'm counting on you."
Looking up at the sky, the sun was beginning to set.
The two of us returned to the inn.
"Welcome back~"
"We're back~"
"I don't see any guests other than us. Is this place not popular?"
"That's not true."
It seems Sana has met other guests before.
"I see~"
Back in the room, Mio was playing with the game I lent her.
It must be boring to be alone here.
A smartphone would be nice, but the device is expensive, and the data plan is high.
Electricity is expensive here too.
"Well, I'm hungry—I'll eat curry, what about you two?"
"Mio wants curry too!"
My little sister raised her hand vigorously.
"I'll have curry too."
Sana raised her hand gently.
"It's fine, but if you hang out with me, it'll just be potatoes and curry. For vitamins, pine needles or something."
"Pine? What's pine?"
"You haven't seen a pine tree? It's a tree with lots of thin leaves, right?"
"Oh! Is that it? Can those leaves be eaten?"
"They taste bad but are nutritious. When there's no food, I often gnawed on them."
"..."
Well, she doesn't seem to want to eat them much, but it's better than malnutrition.
They grow everywhere, after all.
Since it seems fine with curry, we'll have curry.
"Well, if you get tired of curry, prepare your own meals."
"Curry is fine though..."
"Munch munch..."
Mio ate the curry silently.
If curry is fine, I'm happy too.
But when there are people around, I have to be careful not to be inconsiderate...
Living alone really is convenient.
After finishing the meal, I immediately checked the action camera data.
I took out the Nano HDD unit from inside.
Before the world stood still, large-capacity memory cards were common, but now that semiconductors are precious, it's a bit tough.
HDDs that don't use semiconductors are making a comeback.
Action cameras consume a lot of video capacity, so large-capacity HDDs are standard equipment.
HDDs give the impression of being fragile to impact, but technology has advanced in that regard.
I connected it to the smartphone using the cable included with the camera.
This part is a bit troublesome.
I thought all device connections would be wireless, but the world went into chaos.
"Oh?! It's playing properly."
"Really?! Show me, show me!"
The sisters peered at the smartphone I was holding.
"I thought it might be too dark with just the magical light—but the high sensitivity performance is surprisingly good."
The screen looks a bit grainy, but it's within acceptable limits.
Normally, places that shouldn't be visible are visible, so poor image quality isn't a negative point.
The mere existence of this footage is precious.
"A dog!"
"This is a wolf—well, dogs and wolves are the same."
The footage is good, but since the camera was outside, it was recording continuously.
The fact that I can't control it is a bit frustrating.
Scenes where I finish off prey can't be shown to Mio.
I fast-forwarded the video.
The man who attacked us was clearly captured.
He probably didn't think he was being filmed.
This should serve as evidence of PK (Player Killing).
Well, the dungeon is a lawless zone...
Besides, he said he was fired from the guild.
That guild will likely maintain a stance of "no knowledge, no relation."
Cutting off the lizard's tail.
"Ah, since the video is captured properly, I need a PC."
Editing on a smartphone is impossible now.
A portable laptop with decent performance would be best.
It will cost money, but this is a forward investment.
Since we've gone viral and gained popularity, we should upload videos even if we spend money here.
By the way—what's happening with the uploaded videos?
"Daisuke-san! The number of views on the video is insane!"
Sana seems to be watching my account's video on her own smartphone.
I checked it too.
"Eh? 3 million views?"
The video from the entrance hall is already close to 3 million.
The conditions for monetization are unknown, but even though it's a short video, this should be more than enough.
"It's going viral! Amazing!"
"If we upload videos from inside the dungeon, I think the views will grow even more."
"Amazing!"
"Alright! Let's go to Haneda tomorrow to buy a laptop."
"C-can I go too?"
"Of course, it's fine."
"Mio wants to go too!"
My little sister raised her hand.
"Mio-chan, you have to go to school."
"Buuu!"
"Mio, no."
Persuaded by her older sister, Mio seemed to give up.
"I'll take you when school is closed."
"Really?!"
"Yes."
"Yay!"
She's so energetic, unlike the sickly girl I met at first.
She must have been like this from the start.
The appearance of the dungeon caused various troubles, but regarding the incurable disease, it was a stroke of luck.
Having Sana around means there's magical light, so staying up late a bit is nice.
I'll lend the paper manga I put in the Item Box to the sisters.
The ones I have are old manga, but they don't disappear like digital data, nor do they suffer from the dungeon's unreasonable effects.
Since they don't use electricity, I can read as much as I want.
—The next day after diving into the dungeon with Sana.
After seeing Mio off to school, Daisuke and Sana headed to Haneda.
Again, it was across the sea on the Poon Poon boat.
I wish they would just build a bridge.
But I suppose there's a need to be separated by the sea in case of an emergency.
The two of us walked straight to the electronics store.
To edit videos, something with decent performance will be needed.
And an external HDD.
Since I'm carrying it, I'll get a laptop.
Well, since I have the Item Box, a desktop PC would be fine too.
It will be a significant expense, but I'll buy it without hesitation.
If the video site gets monetized, I can recover the purchase price quickly.
I took it out of the box right there and had them dispose of the box.
I don't need it since I'll use it immediately.
Just like usual, I pretended to put it in my backpack and put it in the Item Box.
Now I can go around empty-handed anytime.
Returning to the Special District, we dove into the dungeon immediately.
Video editing requires electricity, so I plan to stay at the hotel for a while.
At the same time, charging the battery I bought last time will kill two birds with one stone.
I won't need to worry about saving the smartphone battery for a while either.
Sana's level also went up, so today I tried going down to the fourth floor at once.
Since the equipment is ready, no one bothered us.
Sana's magical light illuminated the inside of the dungeon.
I prepared the action camera stored in the Item Box.
Once I got the hang of it, I could fix it at the desired angle.
"Um, Daisuke-san—is it okay to go to the fourth floor suddenly?"
Well, I understand her anxiety.
The recommended level here is around 24.
"Yes, I'm fine if I'm here."
Looking around for prey, something approached.
"Shaaaaa!"
"A sound? What is it?"
I took out the Rebar Mace from the Item Box and readied it.
Appearing before us was a humanoid monster covered in scales all over its body.
"I think it's a Lizardman!"
"I see, so this is a Lizardman."
A bipedal lizard—with a large metal shield and a sword.
If I get it, it might fetch a price.
"Sana, you learned attack magic, right? Why not try it?"
"Y-yes! I'll do it."
"Then I'll draw the enemy's attention."
"Please. Light Bullet!"
Her spellcasting began.
According to her, these seem to be installed in her head automatically.
Oops, I need to buy some time.
"Ora ora!"
I knocked the enemy's shield away with the Rebar Mace and dodged the large sword being swung.
The enemy's scales look hard, so slashing attacks might not work well.
"Strike my enemy! [Magic Missile]"
A light arrow manifested in front of her and was fired at the enemy.
When the white trajectory hit the Lizardman's shoulder, flesh scattered in all directions.
"Gyoeeee!"
I struck the suffering enemy with the mace and knocked him to the ground.
"Sana, stop—lend this to her."
I handed the mace to her.
For an ordinary girl, swinging a block of iron might be difficult, but for her, who has leveled up, it's no problem.
"...Eeei!"
She raised the weapon and swung it down on the head covered in scales.
Still, she seems a bit hesitant, but this is for survival.
Since she chose this path, she has to make up her mind.
When the enemy's head was crushed and his breath stopped—Sana's body glowed.
Another level up.
Well, she should be working on the first or second floor, but since she's defeating enemies on the fourth floor,
of course, she'll level up.
"Haa... haa..."
Sana looked like she was struggling.
"Are you okay?"
At times like this, for some reason, I end up patting the other person's back—Nade nade.
"...It seems that one shot of that attack magic is the limit."
"But the fourth-floor monster was one-shot too."
It's quite a powerful spell.
"Y-yes..."
Probably, as her level goes up, the number of shots she can fire will increase.
In games, there are things where you fully recover when you level up, but it seems that's not the case here.
"Did your level go up?"
She was looking at the status screen.
"It's level 8."
She looked strained, but happy.
If there were a stray monster like "Stray Something" here, I could raise the level all at once.
They run away super fast, but if you use a trick to defeat them, you get plenty of experience points—something like that.
I wish there was something like that...
I felt like fighting, but Sana looked tired.
Until her level goes up more, maybe I should have her focus on support rather than attacking.
I collected the shield and weapon the monster had and put them in the Item Box.
There were no other drop items.
"Well... I need to exchange even this one. There's Sana's share too."
"N-no, it's fine. You don't have to force yourself."
"No, no, it won't do. Sana's magic hit, and it was a fatal blow to the prey."
I put the Lizardman on my back.
Various things were flowing from the corpse, so it would get dirty, but I don't need to worry about that now.
Because Sana has magic.
"S-sorry! It's getting dirty!"
"Haha, this is a man's job—oops, is this harassment?"
As I laughed, I heard heavy footsteps approaching.
"Bumoooo!"
Looking toward the sound, a pig-headed creature was approaching.
"Ah! What is it? An Orc this time?"
"A-ah! W-what should I do?!"
"Check the surroundings."
"Y-yes."
"Yokkoisho!"
I threw the lizard head I was carrying on my back.
"Bumoooo!"
The enemy raised a giant sword, but it seems the weapons they hold differ by individual.
"Alright! Come on!"
I took out the modified Masakari from the Item Box.
I have to try using this too.
"Daisuke-san! There are no other enemies around."
"Understood!"
"Bmoo!"
Just as the enemy was about to swing his sword down, a shrill voice was heard.
"Giiii!"
A white shadow appeared from the air and grazed the pig head.
As it passed, blood spurted from the enemy's head.
"Nboooo!"
The Orc, surprised by the sudden attack, held its head and writhed in pain.
"I don't know what's going on, but it's a chance! Sandbag Summon!"
Multiple sandbags appeared from the air and attacked the Orc's head.
"Fugo!?"
"Ora!"
I swung the Masakari up and jumped—striking the top of the Orc's head.
"Goaaa!"
"Ah!?"
I managed to swing the Masakari down stylishly, but it seems the blade was slanted.
It bounced off the Orc's hard skull.
"..."
I couldn't split the head, but it must have dealt considerable damage.
The enemy's movement stopped.
"Oshiaoraaaa!"
This time, I turned the Masakari upside down and struck the pig head with the part opposite the blade.
"Pugi!"
The Orc's head was crushed, its eyes popped out, and the enemy made a strange sound before falling silent.
Its massive body slowly collapsed.
The vibration of the fall traveled to my feet.
It's hard to insert a blade vertically.
I had to do it with the same feeling as splitting firewood, but I couldn't do that in a flash.
Maybe the Rebar Mace would be better?
In medieval battles, maces and flails seemed to be active, so they must have had high versatility.
"Ah! Damn it—I was planning to let Sana deliver the finishing blow..."
"Daisuke-san!"
Sana came to my side.
"I'm fine."
"I-I was scared. I-I definitely couldn't do something like that!"
"No, no, if your level goes up more, you'll be able to defeat them easily."
"Um, I've been wanting to ask from before—what level are you, Daisuke-san?"
"Haha, that's a secret—but it's pretty high."
"Many people boast about having a high level, but you're different, Daisuke-san."
"I plan to quit being an adventurer and return to the countryside once I earn some small money."
"I-is that so..."
She looked a bit disappointed.
"I'm not doing this work because I admire it or anything~"
"You're different from other adventurers."
"Well, young people might want to become famous by catching huge targets or aim for a fortune..."
Old men are different.
I want a fortune, though.
I stored the camera in the Item Box.
If I leave it moving, it will drain the battery.
While talking with Sana, I realized something was walking on the ground with a "tote tote" sound.
I readied my weapon.
"Daisuke-san!"
"Gu!"
Appearing before us was a Harpy.
"A Harpy?!"
The opponent is a monster, but I feel no hostility.
She was looking at us and tilting her head, but her hair was neatly styled, and her body was clean.
Seeing her appearance, I realized the identity of the Harpy before my eyes.
"Huh?! You're the Harpy I caught before, aren't you?!"
"Gii!"
She spread her large wings and came to me.
She landed on my hand, so I gave her a hug.
I felt absolutely no hostility.
"A-are you okay?!"
"Yes—you were bought, so why are you here?"
"Gii!"
Can she understand me or not?
Most likely, she escaped from where she was bought and flew back to this dungeon.
"More importantly, why are you friendly?"
"Gii?"
Anyway, I put the Orc and the drop items in the Item Box.
I also stored the summoned sandbags.
If they are in the Item Box, their breath must have stopped.
"Um, aren't you friends with that?"
"Hahaha, she seems to be getting friendly."
She looked suspicious and checked the ground.
"...Daisuke-san, there's a small bottle too!"
"Another potion?"
"W-well?"
It seems I can't distinguish it well.
It might be because it's a bit dark.
"Here, I have to carry the Lizardman—I can't do it—get down."
I put the Harpy down on the ground.
"Gii"
"Yokkoisho."
I started walking again with the Lizardman on my back.
I don't know how many kilograms it is, but normally, such a thing would be absolutely impossible.
It's the result of leveling up and gaining power.
Today, I'll exchange them at the campsite.
I'm curious how I can exchange them without using the Adventurer Card.
It can't be cash, right?
—That's what I thought, but I remembered something important.
"Ah! That's right—I don't need to carry it so honestly."
I should take the Lizardman out of the Item Box and carry it once I get close to the campsite.
That way is faster.
I stored the Lizardman in the Item Box and took out the bicycle instead.
"Sana, get on the back."
"Yes."
I rode her on the back, running through the dungeon, and climbed the slope connecting the floors.
When I got close to the campsite, I mixed into the darkness and took the prey out of the Item Box.
"Yoitto! This is good."
I put the lizard head on my back and started walking toward the campsite.
"Gii~!"
The Harpy's voice was heard.
It seems she is flying nearby.
Why did she get friendly?
Well, if there's no hostility, it's fine.
Her face is quite cute, after all.