To the Dungeon

To the Dungeon

"S-so, shall we head to the dungeon right away?"

"Ah, yes."

I nodded at Inoue-san's words. Takanashi-san also nodded silently.

"Then, could you follow me?"

She took a jacket from beneath the counter and slipped it on.

Inoue-san stepped out through the shop's door and locked it, then flipped the standing sign around to display 'Closed'.

Going around back, we saw a large garage. She pressed a small remote she had taken from her pocket, and the shutter rolled upward with a clatter.

"Oh..."

For some reason, the sight made my heart leap as though I were looking at a secret base.

As my eyes shone with a little excitement, Inoue-san gave a quiet laugh.

"It was my late husband's hobby. I wonder if boys really do like this sort of thing?"

"Ah, yes... I suppose."

I nodded faintly, aware that my cheeks were turning red.

Once the garage door had opened all the way, I saw one imposing car and one motorcycle inside.

"This was my husband's hobby too, but before I knew it, I'd gotten a little hooked myself. Well, let's head to the 'containment site.'"

"Yes. I-I look forward to it."

"I look forward to working with you."

Unlike me, who was nervous, Takanashi-san seemed perfectly calm.

For some reason, though, she kept glancing my way. I sensed no hostility or malice, but... did she want to say something?

However, I was afraid to ask, "What is it? Why do you keep looking at me?" What if I was mistaken? If she said, "Huh? I wasn't looking at you. Don't be so self-absorbed, you creep," I'd cry.

At Inoue-san's urging, I took the back seat, though I would have preferred the passenger seat. The pressure radiating from Takanashi-san beside me made me instinctively shrink into myself.

The car set off with the engine roaring. Behind us, I heard the shutter close.

Her driving was astonishingly careful, making for a smooth ride. She had said she'd gotten only "a little hooked," but she must have loved driving. She had surely driven this car many times.

"...While we're on the way, shall we go over the 'containment site' one more time?"

I heard Inoue-san's calm voice.

"Do you remember what sort of place it is, the habitat of monsters? What you learned at the orientation?"

"Uh, yes. More or less."

"Good. Could you give us a brief explanation?"

"I-I understand."

Was this part of the test too?

I straightened my back and recited what I had learned.

"'The containment site' is where the Self-Defense Force's anti-spirit team establishes a barrier, then brings in Gifted people... adventurers to carry out 'culling' inside the 'labyrinth.' If they didn't, monsters would emerge outside."

"That's right. Monsters are said to keep spawning almost without limit as long as the ley lines remain..."

"Yes."

Monsters were like the 'memories' of the monsters from the Age of Gods that had dissolved into the ley lines. Some people called them shadow forms.

In other words, their original bodies had vanished long ago. That was why destroying them completely was so difficult.

There had apparently been plans to do something about the ley lines, but I'd never heard that any of them had succeeded. Even the magical knowledge in my head told me that interfering with ley lines was extremely difficult, save for a few exceptions.

"Then, Takanashi-chan, could you explain why monsters that come outside are dangerous?"

"Yes. Although monsters differ in intelligence and physical ability, they are all hostile toward humans. They recognize humans as prey."

"That's right. Monsters kill people to obtain mana."

Inoue-san nodded at Takanashi-san's answer.

Monsters were made of mana, not protein.

If you set one on fire with magic, it burned, and if you covered its face with magical water, it could suffocate, depending on the species. In many ways, they had the properties one would expect from their appearance.

However, they supposedly couldn't maintain their bodies by eating meat and vegetables.

The inside of a 'labyrinth' was saturated with high-density mana, allowing monsters to remain active without doing anything. Outside, however, it was a different story.

And since past monsters rose endlessly from the ley lines, it was only natural that some of them would eventually be unable to fit inside and emerge into the outside world.

"Monsters with exceptionally high intelligence leave on their own to harm humans and build up their strength. In doing so, they expand their territory and try to restore the glory they enjoyed in the Age of Gods."

Takanashi-san continued smoothly.

"Exactly. Though the Self-Defense Force handles those particularly dangerous monsters."

Inoue-san's wry smile appeared in the rearview mirror.

"Thank you, both of you. Looks like you remembered everything from the orientation. You're such earnest kids. This old lady can rest easy."

"U-um..."

"Thank you very much."

"I believe adventurers are indispensable to the world we live in."

The car stopped at a red light, and after Inoue-san applied the parking brake, she turned around to face us.

"Of course, I don't want anyone to do anything dangerous, nor do I want you to. But it is necessary. Otherwise, a lot of people would suffer."

She looked at us with a serious expression.

"A lot of people may say heartless things about Gifted people and adventurers. But I sincerely think you're both admirable. There are people in this world who are grateful for and respect your choice. Surely I'm not the only one. Please, don't ever forget that."

"...Yes."

"Understood."

After smiling at us as we nodded, she turned to face forward again.

"But remember: 'Safety first.' That's the most important thing, all right? The more dangerous the place, the more we need to put our lives first."

"Yes."

"Understood."

The light turned green, and the car started moving.

About ten minutes after leaving the shop, rice paddies and fields began to dominate the scenery.

The place where we lived was far from a city. It was nothing unusual to see scenery like this after driving only a short distance.

However, this area was full of neglected, overgrown farmland. Weeds grew thickly in places that had apparently once been rice paddies, while the netting around the field beside them had been badly torn and fluttered in the wind.

As we went farther, a concrete building surrounded by former rice paddies came into view.

It was about twice the size of a convenience store. It was boxy all over, as though design had been an afterthought.

That was only natural. This was the 'containment site'—an important facility that sealed off the monsters' habitat.

We parked in the lot and got out. Inoue-san took a backpack from the trunk, and I adjusted the backpack I had been carrying.

Looking around, I saw only one other car parked there, and it was in the space marked 'Staff Only.'

Inside the building was a modest reception desk in the center, with the entrances to a changing room and a police box on either side.

At the back of the building, to the right of the reception desk from the entrance and between it and the police box, stood a crude metal door.

"All right, let's each change in the changing rooms. Once you're ready, wait in front of the reception desk."

"Yes."

I parted from the women and entered the men's changing room.

I opened a locker, set down my things, and changed immediately.

The outfit consisted of navy-blue coveralls with numerous strips of orange fluorescent tape wrapped around various parts. Along with athletic shoes, this was the adventurer's standard uniform designated by the 'Spirit Affairs Agency.'

...To put it bluntly, it looked awful.

Still, if my 'spiritual armament' were deactivated inside a dungeon, other adventurers would need to find me and carry me out. I supposed it couldn't be helped.

I checked that my backpack contained everything necessary, including a flashlight, a canteen, and energy bars. After checking my shoelaces too, I left the changing room.

To my surprise, Takanashi-san was already waiting in front of the reception desk. Standing ramrod straight, she turned her gaze toward me.

She gave me a quiet bow, and I bowed back. I had thought women took longer to change...

Takanashi-san had tied her long hair behind her head and stood with a dignified air. Her clothes were the same as mine, but because she was beautiful and had such a good figure, she looked perfectly striking in them.

The receptionist and the police officers were also drawn to her.

Come to think of it, had she even brought a backpack?

I glanced at what Takanashi-san was carrying on her back and tilted my head inwardly. I'd been distracted by the impact of her appearance and behavior, but it seemed she had been empty-handed...

Or was it some kind of Gift?

We were about to enter the 'labyrinth'—the dungeon—together. Maybe I should ask.

I knew that rationally. I knew it, but still...

"...Excuse me. Um, I'm going to use the restroom."

"Yes. ...My apologies, but what is a restroom?"

"Huh? No, I mean the toilet..."

"I see. My apologies."

After that mysterious exchange, I hurriedly escaped into the restroom between the reception desk and the changing rooms.

After using it, I slowly washed my hands at the sink. I dried them with my handkerchief and took one deep breath to calm myself.

...It smelled a little, being a restroom.

Regretting that deep breath, I put away my handkerchief.

But this was a problem. Could I really manage as an adventurer?

I didn't know if my heart could take clearing a dungeon with someone I had just met—especially a girl.

Even though she was stunningly beautiful, my confusion and nervousness far outweighed my happiness.

I trudged out of the restroom to find Takanashi-san still waiting at rigid attention.

"H-hello..."

"Yes!"

Her small reply made her seem just like a soldier. Well, I had only ever seen soldiers on television, after all.

I glanced toward the police box. Perhaps the officer didn't want me to realize he'd been staring at Takanashi-san, because he immediately looked away.

Well, if he was a man, I couldn't exactly blame him for looking.

That aside, the police box was where they would respond if anything went wrong in the 'labyrinth.' Since I wanted to be able to rely on them in an emergency, I hoped they would at least look more capable.

Still... I'd heard that most of the police officers stationed at 'containment sites' were non-Gifted.

I looked at the man glaring into empty space with both magic eyes. My Gift was Foresight, but magic-eye abilities could also read the flow of mana to a limited extent.

As expected, I could sense almost no mana from this man. He appeared to be non-Gifted.

The receptionist was the same. Honestly, they didn't seem very reliable against monsters.

I had heard that Gifted people were extremely rare, though I didn't know whether it was true. In Japan, supposedly there was one for every ten thousand people.

Even that was considered a high proportion by global standards. In the United States, I had heard it was one in one hundred thousand... or something like that. Of course, there might be Gifted people who weren't registered with the government, so the real figure was unknown. Besides, the whole thing was just an Internet rumor, making it highly unreliable.

Still, judging by this scene, it seemed true that Gifted people were rare. No wonder the government commissioned private citizens to cull 'labyrinths.'

As I thought about that, Inoue-san emerged from the women's changing room.

"Sorry to keep you both waiting."

"Ah, no."

She was dressed much like us, but as with Takanashi-san, a beautiful woman looked good in anything.

Inoue-san gave us an apologetic smile, then glanced toward the restroom.

"Yahiro-kun, Takanashi-chan, are you both all right after using the restroom? Do you think you can enter the dungeon now?"

"Y-yes. I just went."

"I'm fine too."

"I see. Then let's finish the check-in. Show them your provisional adventurer's licenses."

"Yes!"

With my voice threatening to rise from nerves, I followed Inoue-san to the reception desk.

We completed the procedures there and headed for the iron door at the back.

With a clank, Inoue-san opened the door. Despite its heavy appearance, it moved surprisingly easily.

Beyond it was a room about half the size of a classroom. It should have been an important space, yet there wasn't even a security camera. After all, cameras would be useless here.

In the center of the room was a strange oval 'hole.' My magic eyes sensed a dense concentration of mana.

Its outline looked like white haze, while nothing could be seen inside its pitch-black interior.

I unconsciously swallowed hard at the sight before me. Behind us, the iron door closed.

"...All right, let's deploy our 'spiritual armaments.'"

"Y-yes...!"

As Inoue-san instructed, I deployed my 'spiritual armament.'

I was tense enough to feel it myself, but I equipped it without a problem. The sensation of the backpack on my back vanished, replaced by a golden cuirass and a black jinbaori coat.

I checked the weapon at my waist too, then raised my head.

Takanashi-san was standing there, but...

"Pfft!?"

I accidentally burst out laughing beneath my menpo.

I couldn't believe my eyes. That included the fact that Takanashi-san still wore exactly the same deadpan expression as before.

Her 'spiritual armament' was, how should I put it... In short,

it was a slightly risqué pilot suit from a robot anime.

"...Phew...!"

Also, why did you look so proud, Takanashi-san?

Her eyes sparkled as she exhaled through her nose.