Chapter 30 - Chapter 30: Unmaintained Dungeon
I came to the site of the nuclear accident to do government work using the Item Box.
Heavy elements like plutonium and uranium have been neutralized, but radioactive isotopes such as cobalt, strontium, and cesium remain.
The danger is still dangerous even now, but it seems high-level adventurers can instantly repair genetic damage caused by radiation.
Especially since I am quite high-level myself.
I wonder if there will be any problems.
Speaking of which, can that thing called an Elixir treat severe radiation sickness?
Since it can cure congenital heart defects, it should be able to cure this, I suppose.
The woman who took charge of me at the site was a Ms. Hareyama.
She seems to be an official from the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy.
It seems like a dangerous job, but she raised her hand because it looked interesting.
She is smiling, but isn't she quite a hero?
She gave me a ride in her car and led me into the mountains.
What was at the arrival point was a concrete wall in the middle of the forest.
It had a shape that fit perfectly into the valley.
"What exactly is this? A secret base?"
"Hehe, please come this way."
There was a steel door in the direction she was leading.
Ms. Hareyama seemed to have the key to that place.
It wasn't an electronic key or anything, but a mechanical cylinder lock.
I went through the door with her.
"Oh~"
The eerie black hole created deep shadows with the dark color of the rock face.
Its mouth seemed to be spitting out pitch black darkness from the dark, as if a giant beast were roaring.
Only a dim light was faintly entering around the entrance, and nothing could be seen in the darkness extending deep into the cave.
From there, a strong sense of terror hung in the air, as if there were traces of eerie creatures or unknown entities lurking.
The entrance was solidified with concrete and had a slope connecting downwards.
"Surprised?"
"Is this... a dungeon?!"
"Yes, it is an unmaintained dungeon."
"Oh, could it be... you're going to throw radioactive waste here?"
"That is correct. We had a plan for a long time, but we didn't have a means of transport."
"Well, it's so deep in the mountains."
Besides, trucks and heavy machinery can't be used around the dungeon.
Speaking of which, how did they make that concrete wall here?
Could it be that everyone did it by hand?
"That, with the appearance of Mr. Niwa, suddenly became realistic."
"Oh, I see."
I asked how they made it there as well.
"I don't know the details, but it seems they used heavy machinery powered by steam."
"Wow~"
――That being said, it's not that simple.
Since electricity can't be used, everything is mechanical steam engines.
It's probably like a Showa-era steam locomotive, and handling it would require skilled craftsmanship.
People who used to drive steam locomotives are probably no longer alive.
Did they train them from scratch?
I tried entering the dungeon a bit, and Ms. Hareyama followed behind me.
There were big rocks rolling around at the entrance, so I put them in the Item Box.
This guy might be usable for attacks.
"Wow, this is an unmaintained dungeon. It really feels like a cave."
It was very damp, smelled of mold, and a somewhat fishy odor was drifting around.
If this is the entrance, it should be the first floor.
The enemies are probably slimes or something.
"I'm entering a dungeon for the first time!"
She seemed excited, but if she's interested, she should become an adventurer... No, she worked hard to become a civil servant, so she wouldn't do that.
Nowadays, civil servants are a popular profession, and the acceptance rate is extremely high.
In the first place, few people can go to university, so it's quite difficult unless you come from a wealthy family.
The current mainstream is intellectuals becoming civil servants, and the poor becoming adventurers.
And those without adventurer traits go into primary industries.
Even though it's a dungeon, it's bright because there is light from the entrance.
It will be pitch black if I go a little further.
I check up, down, left, and right just in case.
"Whoa!"
"Kyaa!"
I grabbed Ms. Hareyama's arm and pulled her in an emergency situation.
I might have pulled a bit too forcefully, so a level correction might have kicked in.
A big slime had fallen where she was standing.
Is it coming from the ceiling here?
It's quite troublesome.
I took out the Rebar Mace from the Item Box and swung it sideways.
"Here!"
The transparent soft body was gouged out and stopped moving.
"I-is this a slime?!"
"Yes, yes! I'm sorry for pulling you so roughly."
"You might have left a mark on your arm..."
She was rubbing her arm.
"Oh dear~"
I didn't have time to regret.
I was surrounded by slimes.
As expected of an unmaintained dungeon.
There are plenty of prey.
"Oh dear! Oh cha! Brown rice tea!"
I threw in an old man joke while crushing the slimes.
A mountain of about ten slimes was formed.
Speaking of which, they said this would turn into money, didn't they?
Even though a huge amount of money might come in, I wouldn't pick up slimes.
"Amazing!"
"Oh?! A potion."
Lucky! Three bottles had fallen.
Is this it? Maybe the drops have accumulated because no one has defeated them yet?
I don't think that's the case, though...
"Is that a healing potion?"
"Yes, yes, want to try drinking it? It will heal your bruises."
"Really?!"
"It heals wounds from monster attacks too, so I think it will heal that quickly."
"I'll try drinking it!"
She's so curious.
They say curiosity killed the cat, but will she be okay?
She drank the potion without hesitation.
Actually, using healing potions outside the Special District violates the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law.
Well, she is being overlooked in this situation.
"It doesn't taste good, does it?"
"Yes, it really looks like medicine... Ah!"
"What happened?"
"My arm that hurt a bit might have healed! And my stiff shoulders might be gone too! Amazing! I want more!"
"Yes, it seems potions don't work very well if you don't use them in a dungeon."
"I see that a lot on the net, is it true?"
"It is true."
Since we can't stay here forever, I went outside.
If only slimes pop in the dungeon, just building a wall should be enough to defend against them.
Transportation is too poor in a dungeon like this in the mountains.
It might be usable for village revitalization, but it's basically a dangerous thing...
I feel again that the Tokyo Bay Special District has all the conditions met.
Since the on-site inspection is finished, I decided to return to the nuclear power plant ruins.
"What will be the schedule after this?"
"It seems to take about a week to make the tank."
"In that case, we'll come here again at that time, right?"
"Yes, thank you for your trouble."
She bowed politely.
Officials usually give an impression of being high-handed, but she was a good one.
"That's good, but do you have a contract? I registered my company, so I want to do business with the company."
"Of course, it's possible. Since the reward is several hundred billion, dealing with an individual would be difficult."
Ah, so the story of the reward I quoted has already been passed on.
It's not that it's difficult with an individual, but you'd just get taxed.
"So, what happens after today? You're not going to say I have to get back to the Special District on my own, are you?"
"No way! I'll prepare a helicopter, so please use it."
"Once the work starts, will I be staying here overnight? I can't go back every day..."
"I'll prepare accommodation, so I'll accompany you."
"It seems like a very difficult job..."
"If you say that, I think Mr. Niwa has it harder, haha."
She was smiling brightly, but being sent alone to the nuclear power plant ruins is quite a hard job.
No wonder no other officials raised their hands.
Especially since there's a possibility of being attacked because of an old man with an Item Box.
"Um, if we start working here..."
"Yes."
"Will we commute by car from the nuclear power plant ruins to that dungeon every day?"
"No, we are building a helipad, so it's a direct flight."
"Good -- I thought I would have to move by car every time I put things in the Item Box."
"The longer the period, the more expenses it costs."
"There won't just be us as workers, right?"
"Yes, of course. Many workers will be deployed to assist at the site."
Machinery can't move near the dungeon, so manpower is inevitably needed.
Labor costs are the most expensive part of construction.
When I returned to the nuclear power plant ruins, it was already noon.
"Why don't you have lunch before returning?"
"Speaking of which, I'm hungry. Is there a place to eat?"
"Here."
She led me to the cafeteria where workers were gathering.
It seems subsidies are being given, so it's cheap.
I ordered two Katsu Curries.
I got a bit wild in the dungeon, so I'm hungry.
I decided to sit at a corner table with Ms. Hareyama and eat.
She seems to have chosen curry too.
Anyway, no matter where you are, ordering curry never goes wrong.
When I lived in Tokyo, there was a standing noodle shop on my commute route, but not a single customer was eating noodles at a noodle shop.
Everyone was eating curry.
I wondered about it, but I ordered noodles anyway, and I deeply regretted it.
It was just terrible.
Even at such a shop, curry was edible, so regular customers were eating curry.
There is also a ramen shop where no one eats ramen, following the same pattern.
What customers were eating there was fried rice.
――So, wherever you go, curry and fried rice are safe bets.
The preamble was long, but the curry I ate was safe in taste.
Neither good nor bad -- the cutlet was paper-thin, though.
"Are you eating that much?"
"Being an adventurer is a business where you get hungry easily."
"Wow~"
"Hahaha."
"But the Item Box is really convenient, isn't it?"
"Yes, in games they call this kind of thing a cheat, but I really think it's a cheat."
"Haha."
After finishing lunch in the cafeteria with many workers, I asked them to call a helicopter.
What came was not a tiltrotor like in the morning, but a normal helicopter.
Probably a small two-seater.
I waited about an hour talking about adventurers with her.
During that time, I exchanged SNS contact information with her, and the helicopter arrived.
As expected, it was a small type with a round windshield and skids attached to the legs.
Well, even if it's small, it's faster than driving on back roads.
"Please contact me when the schedule is decided."
"Understood."
She answered while her hair was messed up by the strong wind from the rotors.
After the final greeting, I ran to the helicopter.
The door was open, so I got in.
"Please."
"Yes, we are departing."
As the helicopter lifted off, the nuclear power plant ruins shrank before my eyes.
Are they going to get rid of all that mountain of tanks?
It's really tough...
Well, if everything is cleared up, 50 billion yen!
With that much, I can live off the left fan until I die.
Speaking of which -- if the abilities of the Item Box suddenly disappeared one day, would they still trust me?
"I can't use the Item Box anymore!"
"Don't lie!"
――They probably won't torture me like that.
I don't quite understand how the skills I got will turn out in the end.
I think if I retire as an adventurer, my level will drop gradually, and the skills will disappear accordingly...
It's natural that I want the power of Appraisal to verify such things as well.
While thinking about boring things, the Special District came into view.
Filming was restricted near the nuclear power plant ruins, but it should be fine to take as many photos as I want here.
This will earn me some views again.
Well, since a huge amount of money is coming in, I don't need to upload videos diligently...
I don't distrust the government, but I still don't know if I'll really get the money.
I've already gone viral and the views have skyrocketed.
It's better to have many options.
I'll try to maintain the channel.
Speaking of which -- there was a rumor that the US military holds air superiority over Tokyo, but what is it like now?
US military bases that were scattered across Japan are already gone.
It's because the world has stopped, and there's no time for that.
Computers don't work, and nuclear weapons can't be used.
Since there are no countries that might attack, we can't allocate budgets to that.
We were busy just trying to rebuild our own country.
Japan was the same.
When landing on the hotel roof, the woman who saw me off when I left came again.
Is she in charge of this place?
When I got off the helicopter, I ran to her.
"Thank you."
"Welcome back."
Hearing such lines suddenly, I got a bit shy.
Well, when I go out and come back while staying at a hotel, they say that...
"Are you in charge of the helipad?"
"Yes, that's right."
"I think I'll be bothering you often from now on, so please take care of me."
"Yes, I'll be taking care of you too."
"To be honest, does using this helipad bring money to the hotel?"
"Yes, of course."
She was smiling.
Well, I see.
Hotels are businesses after all.
I suppose they wouldn't charge if guests used a doctor's helicopter...
Riding the elevator with her, we came down to the first floor.
First of all, you can't ride this elevator or go up to the roof without a hotel employee.
The government side's person in charge is that Ms. Hareyama, so she will probably contact this hotel.
Thinking about it, it's a tough job.
I left the hotel and returned to the inn.
The Oba-chan was at the counter.
"Did you go solo again?"
"No, I was asked to do a dangerous job, so I can't act together. I left the girls to a veteran female adventurer."
"That woman seems quite capable too."
"Well, if she does it seriously, I think she has a decent level of skill."
If her level is over 20, it should be quite high.
There's no point in making small talk with Oba-chan, so I returned to the room.
No one was there, and Mio hadn't returned from school yet.
I took out my notebook PC and started editing today's video.
Footage of the tiltrotor up close and aerial shots of the Special District.
It's rare footage.
In the past, there were sightseeing flights over Tokyo, but there's no one doing that now.
Since there are helicopters, if you pay for fuel and charter the aircraft, aerial photography should be possible.
However, it costs a lot of money.
Since it's not a combat scene, I just connected usable scenes to make a thumbnail image.
Editing was completed quickly.
I opened the video site and uploaded immediately.
I'm looking forward to the reaction.
While waiting for everyone to return, I received a message.
It was from the official Ms. Hareyama.
It seems she sent a draft of the contract -- fast.
I took a look at it for now -- I don't understand it well.
"Oh, right."
I sent a message to the judicial scrivener teacher.
"I am Niwa, who has been taking care of you as usual. I was helped with company registration.
A work contract was sent from a business partner, but is there any legal problem?
Will I be disadvantaged in any way?
――Can I ask the judicial scrivener teacher to check such things?"
While waiting, a reply came.
'It is possible.'
"Wow, I can ask for that kind of thing too."
If you have money, you can do anything.
The richer you become, the more advantageous it is.
It's a world like that, so it can't be helped...
I decided to send the draft to the teacher immediately to check it.
Well, it will cost money, but it's unavoidable.
I don't want to lose 50 billion yen due to a loophole in a boring contract.
Since I'm free, I peeked at the comment section of my own channel.
As expected, the topic is about the Item Box.
There seem to be quite a few people who don't believe it.
Even though it has been officially announced, they still don't believe it.
Well, there are people who like conspiracy theories.
There are also quite a few who say the earth is flat.
Also, there is a lot of jealousy calling the Item Box a "cheat."
Well, I really think it's a cheat skill myself.
Because depending on how you use it, anything goes.
There are many insults, but I leave the comment section alone.
The number of accesses brings money.
If there is actual damage, I will take legal action.
"Well, before everyone comes back, I'll prepare dinner."
I got gyoza from a street stall outside, and a few pre-made side dishes.
Then I went to the inn's roof and made stir-fried meat and vegetables.
As I shook the wok, I heard a voice from behind.
"Ah, I found Daisuke!"
Turning around, it was Mio.
"Mio, you're back?"
"Yeah."
"Did your older sisters stay in the room?"
"No, not yet -- what are you making?"
"Today is stir-fried vegetables."
"I like Daisuke's cooking~!"
She was smiling brightly.
Children often dislike vegetables, but this girl eats everything well.
It might be a backlash from not being able to eat due to poor health until now.
"There's still time until dinner, do you want a snack?"
"Yeah, I want to eat!"
I gave her two snacks with chocolate on them.
My Item Box is full of things like this.
Because of the high level, whenever I move my body, I get hungry no matter what.
Anyway, anything high-calorie is fine.
I think glucose is the most reliable, so I keep tablets on hand.
"If you eat too much, you won't be able to eat dinner, so just this much."
"Yeah."
I cooked with her.
It's something like this.
Putting the finished dish in the Item Box and returning to the room with Mio, everyone had returned.
"Ah, Daisuke is back!"
Ren pointed at me.
"Today was just a preliminary survey. It seems to take about a week until the preparation for the next work is ready."
"In that case -- there are some parts of the video creation I don't understand, can you teach me?"
Sana took out her notebook PC from her luggage.
"Without dungeon footage, the channel views won't grow."
"That's true, but I can't just piggyback on Daisuke-san for everything."
"Well, that's true."
"But! The footage of items and monsters picked up with Ren-chan and exchanging them for money gets quite a few views."
"Actually, many people might be interested in the income and expenses of adventurers."
Kirara came in through the door.
She had already taken off her makeup.
"I'm often asked about this in my live streams -- are you that interested?"
"They say adventurers make money, but I want to know what it's actually like."
"Fu~n."
"More than that, how about the dungeon? Any new rumors or topics?"
"There's a newly discovered floor."
"Oh, the place I dove into."
"It seems the number of missing persons is increasing."
"I see... There are quite powerful traps and enemies, so they might have been defeated."
"There's also talk of teleportation traps."
"Eh? That's troublesome."
I immediately searched on the net.
There are few, but there seem to be such rumors.
In the first place, unless there are people who happened to be near a teleportation trap or whose teammates were sent flying but luckily survived, we won't know if there really are teleportation traps.
Because no one who was sent flying by a teleportation trap has returned alive.
Even strong ones are level 20 or 30, right? If they were suddenly sent to the 10th floor or higher, surviving is almost impossible.
Before that, it hasn't even been confirmed how many floors the dungeon has.
More than that, there is a rumor that concerns me.
The matter of children inside the dungeon.
It had become an open secret that there were children inside -- but recently, the number seems to be decreasing.
Did the crackdown just get stricter... or is there some other cause?
The inside of the dungeon is like extraterritorial jurisdiction...
I hope nothing bad happens.
I'm worried, but I think if such rumors spread, the children outside the dungeon will evacuate -- I think.
"This is bad -- everyone shouldn't go to the newly found places, okay?"
"Of course. Just by watching Daisuke-san's video, I can tell it's impossible."
"The fact that a Minotaur comes out is already a no-go. They say life comes first."
"That's right."
"Even so, Daisuke is going to dangerous places."
Well, what Kirara says is true, but I have a high level and the cheat of the Item Box.
"I can manage with the Item Box, haha."
"Really, that's cheating."
Kirara was grumbling, but we have to play with the cards we were dealt.
It just so happens that I was dealt a Royal Straight Flush from the start, so I'm just using that.
After that, we all ate dinner and went to sleep.
――The day after returning from the nuclear power plant ruins.
I thought I would dive into a dungeon since I heard it would take about a week to prepare the tank -- but...
A message from Ms. Hareyama.
'I am terribly sorry, but can you accompany me today as well?'
What is it -- is there other work?
"If it's another job, I'll charge a separate fee?"
――I sent that message, but a reply came immediately.
'That has already been approved by the Prime Minister.'
Really?
If so, I think I'll accept it, but what kind of work is it?
Well, it's probably work that no one else will do anyway.