Chapter 23

“Nice to meet you. Are you the explorer who brought in this ‘giant Celestial Strain magic stone’?”

“Well, first you’ll need to introduce yourself. Otherwise, I can’t tell if you’re someone I should be sharing information with.”

About an hour later, in the reception room deep inside the Dungeon Management Center, Arnie met with the head of the department responsible for overseeing dungeons in Japan.

“My apologies. I am Tokiko Suzakuyama, Director of the Japan Dungeon Public Safety Investigation Agency.”

“Thank you for the introduction. I will invoke the Explorer Protection Law and only provide the minimum necessary information. You may call me Arnie.”

The Explorer Protection Law that Arnie mentioned was enacted to prevent the government from overreaching on individuals who might amass enormous wealth or gain immense power. The law ensures explorers cannot be forced into serving the state and limits excessive investigation into their personal affairs without consent.

In practice, once someone obtains an explorer license, much of this information can still be investigated, making the law somewhat symbolic.

But Arnie was different. Even though she possessed a legitimate license and official records, the government could not trace her information. She existed as a complete black box.

Thus, her personal data could not be obtained, and only physical tracking was possible—an action that would directly violate the law if attempted.

Still, since she would one day challenge dungeons alongside Akira, his information would inevitably be revealed. That was why Arnie’s strategy was to draw the government’s attention entirely onto herself first.

“The government will assume, ‘That gigantic Celestial Strain magic stone must belong to the monster seen in the recent incident.’ I confirm that assumption. This is indeed the item obtained by my master and me after defeating that Celestial Strain monster, likely the new dungeon’s boss.”

“…I see! Celestial Strains are inherently beyond human understanding. Only ‘Transcendents’ who have reached Central can defeat them. If it’s a dungeon boss-class Celestial Strain…”

“Yes. Probably even a group of Transcendents reaching Central would barely manage to defeat it. But my master can do it alone. I only assisted because we lacked the proper weapons this time, but ordinarily, the master could handle it single-handedly.”

“…Who exactly are you?”

“I will remain silent. However, we are committed enough to Japan to sell this massive magic stone to the country. That is my master’s intent. Please promise not to betray that trust. May I also ask you to accept the conditions for how the stone will be sold?”

Arnie was prepared. “Even if it means making enemies of nations or the world, I will protect Akira. Any means necessary.” She used bluff, lies, her inhuman knowledge, and the authority and intimidation her skills allowed to completely dominate the meeting, leaving Suzakuyama overwhelmed.

“…I understand. And these conditions are…”

“I will hold a public auction, conducted by both corporations and the government, streamed online so anyone can watch. Every bid, and the government’s maximum offers, will be visible to the public.”

“Wh-what!? That is an outrageous demand! Any participating company—”

“A company that hesitates upon seeing this magic stone is unworthy. If that happens, we may have to sell to foreign companies. But for this first auction, only Japanese companies will be invited.”

This implicitly suggested that subsequent auctions might include foreign companies. For the government, losing this stone would be an enormous blow—it was a resource vital for national growth and technological development.

The magic stone Arnie brought in could be called a “treasure unprecedented in dungeon history.” Losing it would be unimaginable. Any nation would want it, even at the cost of territory.

Suzakuyama finally conceded:

“…We will accept these conditions. Once the list of companies is compiled, we will prepare accordingly.”

“Then I will return here in three days to report. Until then, I will manage this magic stone. Understood?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Thank you for coming today. I hope for a successful transaction, Director Suzakuyama.”

Arnie departed, leaving Suzakuyama shivering at the overwhelming aura of someone half her age who radiated the presence of a ruler or a corporate magnate.

“…Whoever she is… she’s someone who must be handled with caution…”

After school, whether students were in clubs or not, by the time summer break ended, most third-year students had retired from club activities. Only those preparing for entrance exams remained at school.

Unfortunately, their high school was different from normal schools. No students aimed for national sports competitions. All focused on exam preparation.

“Shall we go, Kasumi?”

“Yeah, it’s not like we ever get to go to the academy’s training grounds in high school. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Really? Don’t students ever train there while still in high school?”

Kasumi explained that most academy students held explorer licenses, so it wouldn’t benefit the seasoned students to train with mere candidates.

“Oh, I see. So you really only get noticed after enrolling officially.”

“Exactly. That’s why, in my previous life, I wasted some opportunities. The difference between the prep school and the academy is enormous.”

“Then it’s a bit further up the mountain. We could take the bus, but walking’s fine, right?”

“You’ve been there before?”

“Yeah, during summer I received dungeon blessings and went with someone from there.”

“Oh! You said that before! What did you get!?”

Ah… she might notice some of my inherited skills. Better to explain verbally.

“It’s a skill called Duplicate Lv1. Could be useful once developed, but for now it’s just a trick.”

“Show me!”

“Alright, watch.”

I plucked a leaf from a branch and duplicated it before her eyes.

“Whoa, that’s subtle! Can you only duplicate light things? Like talismans?”

“Officer!!”

“Just kidding! But isn’t it amazing? Creating something from nothing!”

“Only lasts a minute though. Hopefully it’ll last longer as I develop it.”

“Wow! Lots of things to look forward to! But honestly, I’m most excited to see if Akira can actually beat Senior Souryuuji. Do you really think you can?”

“Just watch. I’ve gotten a bit stronger.”

The environment would be closed off, but information leaks could still happen. Today, the focus was on Akira versus Senior Misaki—who was far stronger than the explorer I had fought at the Shinjuku facility, despite still being a student.

If a talented person has trained hard for revenge, they’re probably far stronger than I can even imagine.

…I’m really looking forward to seeing that strength.

However, whether by bad luck or some twist of fate, we ended up running into someone at the academy building that I really didn’t want to see.

…Why are you here? Is this some student council business or something?

“Nanjo-kun, isn’t it? Thanks for your work with the student council~”

“W-what… you’re Higashiyama Akira! Why are you here!?”

“A summons from Senior Misaki. Kasumi got permission to accompany me. Well then, that’s that.”

Leaving the still-loud guy behind, we headed toward a facility that looked like a roofed tennis court, with many such courts lined up.

Wow… they really have this many indoor training grounds prepared.

“W-wait! Why are you the one here!? And even Hokujou-san!”

Well then… let’s go. The revenge match.

I’m the one on the receiving end, but…!