“Huh? What’s this?”
Then one day, before that grand stage, it suddenly appeared in the junkyard.
A dull, glossy glass bottle containing a sealed reddish-black liquid. Finely tapered like an ampule, strange golden letters were engraved around its neck. Like an illustration that had leapt out of a children’s book, it exuded an anomalous presence amid the junkyard where things from space and Earth intermingled.
“What’s that?”
Mars asked without even looking up from lying face-down on the kotatsu playing my game.
“Well, there’s something in the junkyard I’ve never seen before…”
“Eh? Doesn’t the description say anything?”
“That’s the thing… it just says ‘Mixed Medicine by Leah’.”
I took out the bottle and placed it beside Mars, who was laying railroad tracks in his city-building game.
“Huh, I’ve never seen anything like this either…want to ask Princess about it?”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
Well, whenever something’s unclear, asking Princess is quickest. Snorting through his nose as he stared at the bottle, I lifted the glass container from beside his face, and knocked on the sliding door that was now Princess’s 1LDK room.
“Princess~ Princess?”
“Come in.”
Opening the door to the room with its plush carpeted floor, she merely turned her face towards me while holding a yoga boat pose.
“What’s up?”
“This was in the junkyard, but I’m not sure what it is. The description just says ‘Mixed Medicine by Leah’…”
“A Medicine? Do you know what it was traded for?”
“Let me check.”
I opened the inventory management app on my smartphone and cross-referenced the item numbers. Though she could probably just directly hack in to check, she got up and peeked over my shoulder at the screen instead.
The sweet, pleasant scent of her hair wafted by as her silky strands flowed over my shoulders like sand. At first I was flustered by the closeness, but now I’ve grown used to it – this must be normal in space.
“Ah, it was apples.”
“Fruits are hard to value, huh…”
It had been traded for a box of apples. Foodstuffs are honestly difficult to ascribe proper value to, since the junkyard likely operates on principles of equivalent exchange for its users. The value of apples can vary wildly between someone living locally versus remotely hundreds of kilometers away.
“Shall we run it through the multi-checker for now? It can at least analyze within its limitations…”
“Sure, go ahead.”
I placed the simple field measurement device we used in the frontier lands on the floor of Princess’s room, setting the bottle on top of it.
“…Hm?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah, maybe it was my imagination…”
For a moment, I thought I saw the contents of the bottle sparkle…well, maybe there were just some glittery particles or something mixed in…?
“Alright, running the analysis now. The results should be ready by tomorrow morning, I think.”
“Okay, thanks.”
However, the analysis by the device proceeded unusually slowly…and in the end, the results wouldn’t come until after the presentation.
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“Hadn’t seen you guys around lately, thought you might’ve gotten nabbed by the country or something.”
Despite being occupied with meetings with the Self-Defense Forces liaison, handling the influx of part-time job applications to Kawashima Trading Company, and attending university classes…I finally found time to revisit the wide plaza of the Tokyo Third East Dungeon, somewhere I hadn’t been to in a while. At the edge of the plaza, Kimu san was smoking a cigarette with his balaclava half-on as always, grinning as he said:
“So? What was it about?”
“I’ve heard rumors around here too, that the Gund@m who defeated the Snake of Saitama is originally from Kawashima.”
“No, that’s not right…but I’m having trouble with that rumor. Apparently, even at my company, people as amazing as graduates from Tokyo University or Kyoto University have been applying for part-time positions.”
“Ah, I think my daughter mentioned that too. She said the phone calls are getting annoying.”
The daughter of Kimu san works as a part-timer at our place and is thankfully also a heavy user of our cosmetics. She apparently sometimes leaves comments on the videos of Hime the Princess, who is our vice president and an influencer.
“Well, rumors about arrests and such are just jokes. The company seems to be doing well enough that they don’t need to desperately look for part-timers anymore…I was wondering if they might not come to the underground anymore.”
“No, no, we’ll keep doing business underground…but to be honest, with my university credits also at risk lately, I’ve been thinking of hiring someone else to handle the peddling, besides myself…”
To be honest, with all the busyness and increase in aboveground business lately, the option of completely quitting the dungeon business was honestly on the table. But in a meeting with the three of us from the Kawashima family, we decided on the policy of “not quitting as long as there’s a way to make a profit,” or rather, I decided that.
Apart from Kimu san’s daughter, there are many others working for us who are relatives of adventurers we know. They trusted us enough to introduce people, so I want to properly meet that trust.
“I wonder if we can find someone to come underground while Tonbo is at school? The pay would be good.”
“Hey, it’s not that easy to find someone with item box skills.”
“Well, we’re discussing whether we can manage without those skills.”
At Mars’ words, Kimu san removed the cigarette he had smoked down to the butt from his mouth and pursed his lips in thought.
“…Don’t tell me…you have something like a machine to replace item boxes?”
“No, like drone delivery. Then the person coming to the dungeon would just be a receptionist, right?”
“…I see.”
Kimu san dropped his shoulders, looking either disappointed or relieved. Well, we actually do have something like that, but if it got out, it would cause big trouble…If a machine that allows anyone to conceal and carry items was released, it would enable unrestricted assassinations, terrorism, and so on.
Even now, there are constant calls from various quarters to put skill-holders under a registration system or simply restrict their human rights. Thanks to the strong opposition from people in rural areas whose livelihoods depend on skill-holders, and the influence of first-generation adventurers who became politicians after the emergence of dungeons, I can live in peace. But public opinion is always precarious.
“Well, for us, being able to buy whatever we lack is really helpful, no matter the method. Drones probably won’t be able to bring ashtrays though, so I won’t be able to smoke…”
“These days, the world is harsh on smokers.”
“Absolutely, just smoking at home or outside gets you treated like a criminal. On top of being treated like an ex-con just for being an adventurer.”
As Kimu san said with a wry laugh, a bright voice came from behind him, “The procurement guy!” Riding one of the powered exoskeleton labor suits we handle and making clanking mechanical sounds, the handsome Kaneki san appeared, with two Japanese swords at his hip. He skillfully operated the powered exoskeleton to match my sitting height and cupped his hand to his mouth as if whispering to me.
“Hey…that robot you saw on the news, how much is it, honestly?”
“That has nothing to do with us.”
“Really…?”
Not sure if he was serious or joking, he dejectedly took out 400 yen, so I gave him a canned coffee and cigarettes. Even if we were selling it, what would he do if I said 20 billion yen?
“There’s a rumor that the camouflage on that robot doesn’t just fool sensors, but actually refracts light. Someone claims to have seen it disappear with their own eyes. Incredible, right?”
Kaneki san opened a tab with one hand and rapidly said such things with labored breathing. I wonder where those kinds of rumors even circulate… Kimu san looked at him with an exasperated expression and lightly flicked Kaneki san’s face with his thumb.
“This guy has been going on and on about that Gund@m lately.”
“No, Kimu san, a Gund@m is much bigger.”
The people calling our company every day might be similar to Kaneki san. Well, I wanted to be a special forces pilot myself, so I understand the feeling very well.
“Kaneki san, please don’t call our company.”
“Huh? Call? Why?”
“Apparently, there have been a ton of people calling lately wanting to work part-time.”
“Eh!? Could it be the rumor that you can exchange internal point for that robot!?”
“You can’t do that.”
After making all that fuss and going back to work, Kaneki san was followed by a stream of regular customers from the old Tokyo Dungeon 4 days and those who became repeaters in Dungeon 3.
“Oh! The procurement guy is here!”
“Thank you for your business as always.”
“What have you been up to lately?”
“Well, school and stuff…”
As they bought bentos and drinks, they told me about what happened while I was away and gave me feedback on the products they bought with Kawashima Points… I was able to reaffirm that “business is really interesting after all.”
Then,
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