Chapter 6
First Dungeon Exploration (1)
After squeezing my eyes shut once, I looked at Takanashi-san's 'spiritual armament' again.
It was a black bodysuit covering her from the neck down. Red lines ran through various parts, while iron plates had been attached over her chest and crotch, presumably for protection.
The problem was that it revealed far too much of her figure.
The shape of her ample breasts, the impossibly slender waist supporting them, and her large, round rear were all clearly visible.
The plates were small too, making them look like nothing more than iron pasties and a metal modesty panel.
Almost no skin was exposed, but the upper parts of her breasts and the areas from her groin to the upper halves of her thighs were made of sheer material. As a result, her cleavage was completely visible. Actually, without the sheer sections, wouldn't it have about as much fabric as a competition swimsuit?
The only thing that could be called a weapon was the military sword hanging from her belt.
...Yep. It's a sexy pilot suit from a robot anime! A skin-tight one!
Was this woman really from some lewd mobile game?
"Ahem."
"Huh!?"
At Inoue-san's small cough, I hurriedly lowered my gaze to the floor.
This was bad. I'd been staring far too long, no matter how you looked at it.
Telling a healthy high school boy to remain calm in front of a busty, beautiful girl dressed like that was unreasonable. But that excuse wasn't going to work in society.
While sweating nervously, I somehow pretended to remain calm. I tried to look as though I were saying, 'No, that's not it, bro. I was just checking the equipment of someone I'm about to fight alongside.'
...The menpo hid the lower half of my face. And my eyes had already given everything away.
I stole a glance at Takanashi-san's expression. She was staring intently at me too. I thought she was angry at my rude gaze, but apparently that wasn't it.
After repeatedly running her gaze from the top of my head to my toes...
...!!
For some reason, she let out an even more satisfied snort than before.
What is with her? Seriously, what is with her?!
Her ponytail, tied high on her head, seemed to sway like a tail.
And with each breath, her enormous breasts moved ever so slightly.
"Um... are you two ready?"
"Y-yes!"
"No problem."
At Inoue-san's words, I hurriedly straightened my back.
That's right. Today was the clan entrance test. I didn't want to be rejected after making such a pathetic spectacle of myself.
I turned my gaze toward Inoue-san again.
Her 'spiritual armament' didn't offer as much protection as Takanashi-san's, but it did a good job of hiding her silhouette.
Her outfit evoked the Taisho era, complete with a black fedora on her head. A black Western-style overcoat hung from her shoulders.
Underneath it, however, she wore a gray kimono and navy hakama. A white dress shirt covered her chest and neck, while dark-brown lace-up boots covered her feet.
It was an incredibly romantic 'spiritual armament,' like something worn by a literary man from the era when the West and Japan were blending together. Could this be called dressing like a man?
Inoue-san gave a wry smile and adjusted her hat with her left hand. In her right, she held a sturdy cane.
"Then let's go. Everyone, make sure some part of your body is touching."
"Y-yes."
If we weren't touching somewhere when entering the 'labyrinth,' we would all end up at different locations.
The place this strange entrance connected to wasn't fixed. We would still emerge in the same 'labyrinth,' but at best, we might end up in the passage next to it. At worst, we could emerge at a point diagonally opposite our intended location.
That was why we had to stay in contact, but...
After looking back and forth between Takanashi-san and Inoue-san...
"E-excuse me."
"Sure, go ahead."
I lightly placed a finger on Inoue-san's shoulder.
I mean, I had no idea where it was okay to touch Takanashi-san. Besides, both of them were women, so situations like this were genuinely difficult.
As I sweated nervously, Inoue-san's eyebrows formed a worried V.
"Yahiro-kun, you might get separated if something happens while you're holding on like that, so grip me a little more firmly."
"Uh, um..."
"Hmm... I'm only young-looking right now, so I suppose I'm nervous too. How about this?"
"Huh?"
Inoue-san took the hand resting on her shoulder and clasped it in her own.
"There. That should do it."
That was fine? It was okay...?
From her perspective, perhaps it felt like holding a child's hand. But to me, I was holding hands as though on a date with a woman who looked to be in her twenties.
Even though I could barely feel anything through my gauntlet, my heart began pounding for no reason.
"Takanashi-chan, you too, okay?"
"...Yes."
Inoue-san tucked her cane under her arm and held out her right hand to Takanashi-san.
After hesitating briefly, Takanashi-san took it.
"Then let's go. Neither of you is to leave my side, understood?"
"Yes...!"
"Understood."
"One, twooo... three!"
With that call, Inoue-san stepped into the entrance to the 'labyrinth.'
The instant her toes touched it, I felt the scenery whirl around us.
We were being sucked in. That was the only way I could describe it on the spur of the moment. It felt as though I were falling into a hole. An image of myself plummeting headfirst into the mouth of some enormous creature flashed through my mind, draining the blood from my face.
But the sensation lasted only an instant.
The concrete floor beneath our feet was gone. In its place, we stood on ground strewn with stones of every size.
The smell of earth filled my nostrils, and damp air clung to my skin.
The walls were exposed rock, as was the ceiling. Their rough surfaces looked as though someone had dug out a cave by hand, while old wooden pillars reinforced them.
The only light came from lanterns attached to the pillars. Spaced at regular intervals to illuminate the passage, they contained no candles—only small dishes filled with oil.
As we made our way through the feeble light, stones crunching underfoot, Inoue-san turned to face us.
Her hand slipped away from mine, and she gripped the cane tucked under her arm.
Illuminated by the swaying light, her eyes pierced straight through us. Her serious expression made me straighten my back.
"Let me repeat myself. From here on, you two will clear this dungeon. Your objective is to find the exit inside the dungeon and escape."
"Yes."
"And I won't generally offer any advice or support. Do your best, just the two of you. Of course, I'll help if things get desperate... but you understand what that would mean, right?"
"...Yes."
I gave a deep nod.
We had been taught at the orientation that the most important thing for an adventurer was morality. But the next thing we needed was ability—in other words, strength.
To survive and return from a dangerous area like a 'labyrinth,' what we needed above all was power.
Under my menpo, I inhaled for five seconds, then exhaled for another five.
Then I drew the 'staff' from behind my waist.
The 'staff' I used looked nothing like what most people imagined when they heard the word.
It had a grip, a trigger, and even a box-shaped magazine. With its stock cut off, it looked like an illegally modified gun.
However, where the muzzle should have been, there was a golden beak with a thumb-sized red jewel clutched in it. If I tried to load a bullet and fire it, the weapon would surely explode.
"...So that's the staff you mentioned, Yahiro-kun?"
"Yes. I use it to activate Scrolls."
For good measure, I shifted the ejection port aside just enough to confirm that a Scroll case was loaded in the chamber. Then I raised the weapon firmly in both hands. Since I planned to use a sword in my right hand, I gripped the staff with my left. I'd practiced until I could use both hands for this day.
My Scrolls were considerably smaller than normal ones. I had learned online that the standard size was about as long and thick as an adult man's arm. Mine, by contrast, was about the size of an AA battery.
They were highly portable, with room for six rounds in the magazine. Including the one in the chamber, I could load a maximum of seven.
There were other notable features, but I decided not to think about them now.
Instead, I summoned my courage and called out to Takanashi-san.
"Um, Takanashi-san. For now, let's take turns fighting. Coordination would be difficult today..."
Even though we were planning to join the same clan, she was someone I'd just met. It was better not to even consider trying to synchronize our movements in battle.
It seemed more likely that I would shoot an ally than successfully provide support.
"Understood. Then I'll focus on navigation for now."
She nodded and pulled a smartphone out of thin air.
Gifted people could store inside themselves the clothes they had been wearing when they deployed their 'spiritual armaments.' Apparently, they unconsciously used a technique that treated the human body as a world unto itself.
In any case, they could store something as large as a normal backpack along with their clothes, and could also retrieve only part of it like this.
There was no signal inside a 'labyrinth,' but the standard procedure was to save a map issued in advance by the Self-Defense Force and explore while looking at it. As a backup, I also had a paper map in my backpack.
Takanashi-san produced a penlight in her other hand and shone its blue light over a nearby wall.
In a dark section beyond the reach of the lanterns, the light swept across the surface and revealed letters and numbers.
If ordinary markers were carved into a 'labyrinth,' monsters might erase them. That was why the Self-Defense Force had prepared marks visible only under blacklight.
She compared the marks with the map on her smartphone and nodded slightly. I nodded too and turned to face forward.
Holding my staff like a gun, I advanced. I strained every nerve, ready for an enemy to appear.
Inoue-san had told me about the 'labyrinth' used for the entrance test during the interview. Naturally, I had also looked up the monsters that appeared there on the official Spirit Affairs Agency website.
They were opponents I could beat. Their threat level was no different from that of a skeleton.
Even so, my heart was pounding like an alarm bell. My breathing and footsteps sounded unnaturally loud to me.
We had been moving through the 'labyrinth,' which resembled an ancient mine tunnel, for about two minutes.
My breathing began to grow ragged from tension, so I consciously controlled it, aware that it would interfere with my ability to detect things.
Perhaps thanks to that effort, the elven blood in me helped my ears catch a faint footstep.
There was a T-junction ahead. Something was approaching from the right.
I stopped immediately and gave Takanashi-san a hand signal. I had no leeway to turn around and check on her.
Sweat ran close to my eye, threatening to disrupt my concentration, but I kept my staff trained ahead.
The footsteps were still faint. Yet a shadow appeared on the wall around the corner.
It had the silhouette of a dog, but its head was higher than it should have been. More importantly, unlike any ordinary dog, it was holding something.
I immediately realized that it was a weapon capable of killing a person.
A monster emerged from around the corner of the T-junction.
Its dirty brown fur looked like mud. Its sharp eyes glowed yellow, and when it noticed us, it let out a growl, baring its pointed fangs.
It was a bipedal dog, for lack of a better description. It stood about as tall as a middle school student and was lean all over.
Though its body was by no means large, it gave off an eerily oppressive presence.
Its forelegs looked almost exactly like human arms, and together they gripped a simple wooden shield and a sharp one-handed sword. Lit by the lantern's flame, the unrusted blade gleamed ominously.
'Kobold'
A fairy from German folklore said to cause mischief in mines.
And now, in modern Japan, it stood facing me.