Mob
Kousei No Ore Demo Boukensha Ni Nareba Riajuu Ni Naremasuka: Chapter #35
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 35: The Case Inside The Dungeon
"——The application for the Adventurers' Club has
been rejected."
That was the first
thing the Student Council President said to Anna and I when we visited the
student council office after school.
The prodigy, who was
rumored to have the highest grades and a deviation score of over 75, was
looking at us with indifferent eyes through thick lenses.
We stiffened at the
sudden and merciless words of the Student Council President, but then Anna
recovered first and rushed at him aggressively.
"Hey, what's the meaning of this? We've already found enough members and an advisor!"
"How do I know? Please
ask the school about that. The student council just checks if the application
form is filled out correctly before sending it to the top."
The Student Council
President brushed off Anna's complaint as if it was nothing. The Student
Council President's attitude, as if he was only a middleman, was enough to make
even her feel cheated.
"...Does that mean the school went out of its way to
turn us down? Normally, the school would just accept any club that wants to
apply, right?"
"Well, that's right. Unless it's something really
weird like a je*Off research club or a gambling club."
The Student Council
President gave an example of a club with a name that sounds extremely crazy,
which was actually applied for once and was rejected.
"...So you're saying that our Adventurer's Club is
considered the same as the je, je*Off
research club and gambling club?"
The Student Council
President simply nodded to Anna who asked this question in a low voice, a
little embarrassed.
"Or perhaps, even below that."
"By below, do you mean below the ...... je*Off
research club? The Adventurers'
Club?"
"Yes, because in the end, people don't die from
sexual pleasure. Well, I guess it depends on how they do it......"
"Um...... could you please stop saying naughty
words......?"
Anna blushed as she
listened to the exchange between me and the Student Council President. The
Student Council President gave her a sneer.
“From my point of view, as the student council president
with a deviation score of 75, the adventurer club is no different from je*Off
research club. It seems that you who don't seem to have a deviation of 50 could
not understand it."
"Of course I grasped your words properly. Even
though I look like this, my deviation score is 50."
"Uh, I understood it too...? My deviation score is
42, though..."
""42?!""
I unintentionally
harmonized with the Student Council President.
That's strange...? Our high school has a deviation score line of 50.
"...I'm amazed you got into our high school."
"Because this is a private school and I am the
daughter of a company president."
The casual
conversation brought out an unbelievable dark truth.
"...I'll pretend I didn't hear that. I'm the student
body president, you see. ...... Anyway, no matter how much of a bourgeoisie you
are, this decision cannot be overturned."
"Why is that?"
In response to my
question, the Student Council President lifted his glasses, which were rumored
to be fake glasses, in an intellectual manner, and answered.
From what I, the student council president with a
deviation score of 75, observed,......, it seems that the school is not amused
by the increase in the number of adventurers on campus. They think that the
establishment of an adventurers' club will further encourage the
increase."
"I see."
Certainly, from the
school's point of view, it would be a bad thing for them to have students
become adventurers.
If a student dies in
the dungeon, not only will a student die, but his or her guardians may hold the
school accountable.
Of course,
adventurers are responsible for their own injuries and deaths, but there are
always monster parents everywhere.
Parents who buy their
children luxury items such as cards are especially likely to do so.
In such a situation,
our move to create an Adventurers' Club will not be welcomed.
"Therefore, the establishment of the Adventurers'
Club has been rejected. Please take your leave."
The Student Council
President, who had always had a steely face from start to finish, put on a
sales smile at the end and said that.
"Ah, geez! Why
are adults so uptight?"
Anna howled on the
way back home, her arms raised to the sky.
"Well, I'm more concerned about schools that easily
approve club activities that put lives in danger."
I nodded, knowing
that Oribe's words had a point.
After that, we went
to the staff room to talk to the Vice Principal, the Principal, the Director,
and many others, but naturally, the results were not good.
Although some of the
teachers were favorable, they were not involved in the management of the
school, and those who were more or less involved in the management of the
school brushed us off.
Hiyori-chan was not
able to do anything when her superiors were against it, and the Vice Principal
even sniped at her, saying, "You are very motivated to be the advisor of
this new club, huh?" causing her to bow down and pretend that the advisor
position had never been offered to her.
In this situation, it
would be impossible to create the Adventurers' Club.
Even if we were to
try to establish the club under a different name, the school would be wary of
us, and would reject the idea.
Thus, instead of
starting an Adventurers' Club, we were worse off than we had been at the start.
"Well...... they didn't exactly tell us to stop
being adventurers, so that's fine, isn't it?"
"Hmm, the true purpose is to build up a force to
survive the apocalypse, right? There's no need to stick to the form of a school
club."
Anna countered my and
Oribe's words with puffed-out cheeks,
"It's only good when it's a school club! It's about romance, you know! Romance!"
When I met Oribe's
eyes, we exchanged a wry smile, thinking that this girl was so obsessed with
the idea.
Well, I can
understand the feeling.
"But the reality is, there's nothing we can do about
it. The school says it's no good."
"Hmmm, is there any way......?"
I began to have a
light chat with Oribe while Anna, who never gave up, crossed her arms and
furrowed her brows.
"Ah, by the way, how long have you been an
adventurer, Oribe?”
"I've been an adventurer since the first grade of
junior high school. Almost at the same time as Anna. ...Although the difference
in our starting possessions widened our gaps."
"I see,...... So what's in your hands?"
"Huhu, recently I finally got one C-rank card that I
wanted, and I have a few pretty good D-rank cards. You can look forward to see
them yourself."
Oribe grinned. I
replied that I will look forward to it. Then I decided to ask her what I was
most curious about,
"...... Speaking of which, can you use 'that'?"
"By 'that', do you mean the Link?"
"Yeah, yeah. So you do actually know about it?"
Oribe laughed at my
words.
"Well, I have hardly done it in the past three
years. I can use a little bit of telepathy, though."
"Umm.... How did Oribe know about the Link?"
I asked her,
hesitating whether I should ask.
...After the
tournament, I immediately began to do my own research on the Link.
However, no matter
how much I searched the Internet and books, I was unable to find out what it
was, other than occasional rumors of such a technique.
Even in the video of
the final match broadcast on Christmas Day, Shigeno-san's commentary on the
Link was cut and edited.
In other words, the
Link was kept secret by the government.
The reason for this
is, well, I can guess.......
Looking back, I think
that Shigeno-san's slip about the Link in the final match may have been his
expression of cheering for the competitors.
Otherwise, he would
not have mentioned the Link technique, which was not generally known to the
public, in front of such a large audience.
Perhaps Shigeno-san
was also scolded by the guild after that......
I saw him at the
guild the other day and he seemed to be doing well, so I guess he was not fired.
In my case, I was
able to find a mentor and learn about the Link, but I was curious to know how
other adventurers learned about Link.
It is, however, a
technique that was generally kept a secret. Asking about it might be
inadvisable.
So I was afraid to
ask, but Oribe answered readily.
"In my case, I got to know from Anna. Anna learned
it from a professional adventurer that her family sponsored."
"Oh, I see......"
I was convinced from
the bottom of my heart. Such were connections.
Come to think of it,
Anna was the daughter of Dungeon Mart's owner, the young lady behind the 'Grand Sponsor'. Of course she must have connections
with a professional or two.
It made sense that
Oribe had learned the Link through her connections.
But then a question
arose: why didn't Anna use the Link in the match with me? ...... Maybe she
couldn't use the Link at that time?
And just at that
moment, I got a ring on my phone.
I looked and saw that
it seemed to be a PR email from the guild. Oribe was also looking at the phone.
The content seemed to
be a quest to... search for a missing person.
The guild
occasionally sent out requests to adventurers in the form of quests.
For example, they may
ask you to deliver potions to a hospital because they are running low on
potions.
Or, an irregular
encounter has been confirmed in an F-rank dungeon, and the adventurers are
asked to take it down.
Or, a request to
obtain information on a crime in a dungeon.
Such requests were
announced to adventurers by e-mail or posted on the guild's notice board.
I had never taken on
a request before, but I heard that some professional and semi-professional
adventurers were sometimes asked by guild officials to take on a specific
request.
Basically, guild
requests were a kind of social contribution, and although they were not
financially rewarding, they did add a bit of extra prestige to one's license.
Adventurers who
completed many quests were awarded by the city or country, and sometimes even
appeared on the news, so some adventurers took on quests for that purpose.
This time, the
request was to search for an adventurer who had been missing in an F-rank
dungeon for several days. However, it doesn't stipulate to rescue the
adventurer via the adventurer's license.
"Missing for a few days in a shallow F-rank dungeon,
huh?"
Oribe muttered
quietly with an indescribable look on her face. I probably had the same look on
my face.
The quest might be a
search for a missing person, but this was definitely a quest to search for the
person's belongings and determine the cause of death.
The fact that they
had not returned after several days from an F-rank dungeon, which can be
completed in a day, indicated that they were in a state where they could not
move around by themselves. In addition, if they cannot even send a request for
rescue, what flashes in the mind would be the spatial quarantine due to
irregular encounters ...... and the cost involved.
If I had made a
mistake at 'that time' before, I might have been treated as a missing person as
well.......
I was in a somber
mood.
"——Strange."
Oribe mumbled in a
small voice.
"What do you mean by strange?"
"No... I was just curious, so I checked back through
the recent quest e-mails and found that there have been too many people
missing. And that was only in the F-rank dungeon."
After hearing that, I
took a look at my emails and soon noticed that the number of missing persons
had been increasing rapidly over the past few months.
"Indeed, this amount of missing people is a little
strange."
'Right? The
most likely situation in which a person would be missing in an F-rank dungeon
without even being able to send a rescue request would be an irregular
encounter, but if that were the case, this number would be too large. Moreover,
the victims are missing in almost all the different dungeons. If such a large
number of irregular encounters were to occur, it would surely become a hot
topic of conversation. Despite this, I have never heard anything about such an
occurrence."
“…If it’s not the work of irregular encounters, then what
exactly is it?”
"————It smells like a case."
"Uoh?!"
When Anna suddenly
intruded, it made me jump.
“Senpai, this is a case, you know. A case.”
"By 'case' do you mean a ...... crime?"
"If something that could not happen naturally is
happening, then the cause is external,......, which means that this must be a
serial murder case using the dungeons!"
Anna said, pointing
at me with a sharp determination.
"Hmmm, murder case, huh?"
I had heard that
there were people who took advantage of the unique circumstances inside the
dungeon to commit crimes.
It was said that
Japan was one of the few countries in the world where crimes related to
dungeons were rare, and since I had never encountered such people before, I
don't really have a clear sense of it.
Especially in
developing countries where access to the dungeons was not as strict as in
Japan. I heard that in some parts of South America, the dungeons had become a
den of criminals.
But .......
"Suppose that's true, but then so what?"
The thought that a
serial murder was taking place inside the dungeons gave me the chills, but
there was nothing we could do about it. I would even refrain from going to
those dungeons.
Anna replied to me
with a righteous look in her eyes,
"Isn't it it's obvious? We are going to solve this case through our Adventurers'
Club!, of course"
"Haah?!"
What is she saying?
I looked at Anna in
disbelief.
"Why did you decide that?!"
"There is a high possibility that it is what is
happening inside the dungeons! What's
more, it's a despicable crime that targets only low-ranked adventurers! I can't forgive them for that! Besides, if we solve this case, I'm sure those adults
will recognize our Adventurers' Club!"
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no."
Is this person for
real? No matter how much you
aspire after novels and manga, there are always limits!
"You... we're just high school kids. Solving a
murder case? Like that's possible. That's the job of the police."
"The police are unreliable, so I say let's solve it
ourselves! If the dungeon is not
closed off or covered by the news media, doesn't that mean the police aren't
even aware of the case yet?"
"Uuh..."
Certainly, it was
unnatural that there was no real stirring within the public when there were so
many missing people. Even amateurs like me and Oribe noticed it, so there was
no way the adults wouldn't have noticed it.
However.......
"How should I put it... Isn't the assumption that
this is a crime is questionable in the first place?"
"Why is that?"
"Because, you know, there is a proper entry gate to
the dungeons, right? If
they check the entry/exit records, they can easily identify a suspect."
The dungeon's entry
and exit logs were linked to the adventurer's license and were recorded at the
gate. By tracing that data, the culprit should be immediately identifiable.
The fact that the
culprit had not been caught yet means that there was no one who entered the
dungeons at the same time as the victims, or that their innocence had been
confirmed.
"Oh, you- you're right...... ah yeah! Fake license! They're using things like fake licenses and
things stolen from other people to get in and out! Or maybe there's a method that we can't even
imagine!"
"Even if a fake license was used, the surveillance
cameras at the Dungeon Mart should be able to identify them."
Oribe immediately
countered Anna's words.
She was right. Even
if the license was forged, there were security cameras inside the Dungeon Mart.
If you look at the footage, it should be easy to trace the culprit.
"So it may not actually be a crime in the first
place, and even if it was a crime, they would probably catch whoever did it
right away. Even if it they use unimaginable means to get around the investigation,
it would be out of our hands. We can't do anything about it. We are just high
school students."
"Uu......"
After being
completely beaten down by both me and Oribe, Anna had no choice but to groan
with tears in her eyes.
...... Well, if it's
not a crime, then the question remains: why is there this unusual number of
missing people?
Well, I'm sure the
guild or the police will solve that.
"But, but, but! What
if there is a criminal who can tamper with the surveillance cameras and gate
records? We are all going to
dungeons, and tomorrow could be our turn to be missing, you know?"
You are still
insisting......?
"What kind of culprit would be able to cheat the
gate to the dungeons and the surveillance cameras at the Dungeon Mart? Hmm, if it's just the Dungeon Mart......"
"N- no way......!"
We looked at Anna
with wide eyes.
The only daughter of
a certain company that can easily tamper with the data from surveillance
cameras and control access to the dungeon was now standing next to us.......
“…………………………Huh!? M- me!?”
"Wha, what on earth were you planning? Sending us on
a hunt for the culprit, is it......?"
"Hah, no way, us..... too?"
Anna, who had
received our fearful glances, was seriously flustered.
"N- n- n- no, it's not.....!"
Seeing her pathetic
appearance, we decided to stop giving her skeptical looks.
Using common sense, I
don't see the benefit of the Dungeon Mart doing such a thing.
This was because
there was obviously no good equation between the profit to be gained by attacking
new adventurers in the dungeon and what the Dungeon Mart would lose if it was
found out.
Well, after this much
hammering, I'm sure Anna won't say anything about looking for the culprit
anymore.
It would be too
dangerous to try to catch a murderer.
...However, whether
it was a crime or not, there's no doubt that something was happening in the
dungeon.
In the extreme, as
long as there is no damage to me or anyone I know, that's all that
matters.......
I guess I'll at least
warn that guy Ono.
"Hey! Are
you listening to me? It's
really not meee!"
"...Will you please not touch me with your
bloodstainted hands?"
"Hah?!"
Even when I was
making fun of Anna along with Oribe, a lump of anxiety remained in my chest.
[Tips] Quests
The guild mediates
requests brought in by the private sector and companies to adventurers in the
form of quests.
The content of the
quests varies from delivering magic items and cards to defeating irregular
encounters, rescuing people in distress, searching for missing people, etc.,
but the rewards are not very high.
Basically, there is a
strong element of social contribution, and those who have completed a large
number of urgent requests, such as rescuing people in distress or dealing with
irregular encounters, may receive commendations from the prefecture or the
national government.
There is also a
theory that taking on a large number of quests gives one an advantage in
finding a job, and it is said that there are a certain number of student
adventurers who devote themselves to quests.
***
Previous chapter | Novel
page | Next chapter
Help us out and get Advanced Chapters on
our Patreon! (Psst, go and check out the FREE trial on the
first tier!)
Or you can keep our spirit up by buying us Coffee (人ゝω・）
