Dungeon Gacha Life Chapter 39

 Chapter 39: The Violence of Information

"Thanks for coming, Shimotsuki-san."

This was only the second time I'd seen Shimotsuki-san out of uniform.

The first had been half a year ago, at the pool that summer. A shame she was bundled up so much more this time by comparison but the understated outfit suited her well.

Shimotsuki-san sat down across from me with her expression carrying a hint of tension.

After the Stampede was over, I'd gone back to Hachioji Guild. There, I'd given my official account of things and been told the reward payment would go through later.

Noticing she looked like she had questions, I'd asked her, "Could we talk tonight?" and on her suggestion, we'd ended up meeting here.

She probably had a good idea what this was about already. There was something hard-edged, almost resolute, in those narrow eyes of hers.

After that, I called the server over and ordered a few dishes. We agreed to hold off on alcohol for now and both went with non-alcoholic drinks.

Lapis would probably just help herself to whatever I ordered. She's got her own little cup as part of an SR-tier tableware set she pulled a while back so I ended up ordering her orange juice because of it.

The three of us made small talk for a while before the food arrived.

"Touya-san, I want to start with the yakitori!"

"Yeah, yeah."

I pulled a piece of meat off the yakitori skewer with my chopsticks and broke it up into smaller pieces. Once I'd set it on a little plate for her, Lapis dug in with her own tiny fork and knife.

"...You're really used to this, aren't you."

Shimotsuki-san said it with something like admiration on her face. Wasn't exactly something I wanted to get good at, you know?

"She's a high-maintenance pet, what can I say."

"Did you just call me a pet?!"

Close enough, isn't it. Stop looking thunderstruck and eat.

"Okay!"

Lapis pulled herself together and dove back into the yakitori. From her scale, it was probably like tackling a massive slab of meat.

Shimotsuki-san watched the whole scene with a faint, warm smile.

"Heh. You two really do get along, don't you."

For a while after that, we just enjoyed the meal in easy, relaxed quiet manner.

* * *

"All right. Why don't you tell me, then."

Shimotsuki-san brought it up once things had settled down. The grim tension from when she'd first arrived was gone but her eyes were dead serious.

"Please try not to be too shocked."

"I'm sure that's asking too much."

We both smiled at each other. Yeah. Same here, honestly.

Silently apologizing in my head, I activated my Item Box and reached my hand straight into empty air. I heard her breath catch across the table.

"...That alone would be enough to cause a massive uproar, you know?"

"Yeah, I figured."

Which is exactly why I'd been hiding it like my life depended on it. And this? This was still just the opening act.

I pulled out the staff, the robe and the mask. The exact gear the mysterious black-robed sorcerer had been wearing.

I laid them all out on the table for her to see.

"So it really was you, Suzukaze-kun? The black-robed sorcerer?"

She'd probably already guessed that much. Her expression was steadier than a moment ago.

"Yeah, more or less. Figured it was the quickest way to handle things."

Cutting down monsters scattered across the whole city one by one, there was no telling how long that would've taken. Honestly, blasting them all at once from the air seemed like the fastest option.

"Flying, casting that much magic and you've got an Item Box on top of it... Tell me, Suzukaze-kun. Where does all that abnormal combat power of yours actually come from?"

"The Unique Skill I had from the very start."

As soon as I said that, Shimotsuki-san's eyes shifted to Lapis.

"Lapis-chan's Skill. Support Fairy, right?"

"I'm sorry, Ryouka-san. Actually, that's not it."

"Huh?"

Lapis said it with a kind of restless unease, maybe from the guilt of having kept up the lie.

"The real name of the Skill is... 'Gacha'."

"...Gacha?"

Shimotsuki-san's expression froze. Come to think of it, does she even play mobile games? Can't really picture it.

To explain, I pulled up the Status board and showed it to her.

――――――――――――――――――

【Unique Skills】

・Gacha　・Triple EXP Gain

・Item Box　・Status Disguise

・Skill Integration　・Great Fire Archmage

・MP Cost Halved　・MP Recovery Boost

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　etc.

――――――――――――――――――

"That many Unique Skills..."

Shimotsuki-san's eyes went wide with shock. Looking at it again myself, honestly, yeah, that's a lot. Kind of exhausting, even to me.

"There it is... 'Gacha'. This is the same thing as in mobile games, right?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Except the currency isn't money, it's Levels."

At my words, she pressed a hand to her temple like she was fighting off a headache. I get it. I had my own head-in-hands moment with this too, back at the start.

"So you traded Levels you'd already earned to get Unique Skills, is that it? ...That's why you holed up on the safe Floor 3 that first month. Every Gacha pull dropped your Level and with it, your experience requirements. You could still earn plenty of experience down there so there was no need to push forward."

"Bingo."

"As expected of Ryouka-san!"

Lapis and I clapped together. That's exactly why I picked you to share the secret with in the first place.

At how carefree the two of us were being about it, she let out a long, heavy sigh.

* * *

After that, I kept walking her through the details of Gacha.

That dropping Lv also drops your stats but SP stays fixed regardless. Which meant, as long as I kept pulling, I had access to essentially infinite SP.

"Infinite SP... no wonder your Skill count is beyond normal. Skill Levels too."

"Yeah, to the point it's a hassle just keeping track. Pretty much every Skill I've picked up, I've maxed out to Lv10."

"A ton of Lv10 Skills..."

Shimotsuki-san, looking a little paler now, fell into thought again. Then she raised her head, almost hesitant to ask.

"Does Gacha... drop Skill Orbs? It'd have to or there's no way you could use magic."

"Bingo. Actually, Skill Orbs are basically the main thing that comes out of Gacha. The Unique Skills are pity-cap rewards."

"You'd be a billionaire just selling those off. ...And at the same time, you'd have every kind of eye on you, from every direction, all wanting a piece of you."

Being able to skip the long explanations was a real relief.

"Right, exactly. Which is why Gacha absolutely had to stay hidden. That's why I came up with the Support Fairy cover story."

"...Couldn't you have just kept hiding it from me too, then?"

"Because I trust you."

".........."

Ah, she's gone quiet. That was a pretty honest answer, actually, on my part.

Shimotsuki-san had already sensed, all this time, that I had some kind of ace in the hole. And yet she'd never pushed hard for the truth, if anything, she'd quietly warned me not to get caught.

And when the Stampede hit, that same person had thought maybe I could actually do something about it. It was catching that thread-of-hope look in her eyes that made up my mind to step onto that stage.

'When I get back, help me stress out over all this, okay?'

'Leave it to me. I'll definitely be there for you.'

I already had her word on record. So, to make sure she followed through on that promise, I dropped one more information bomb.

"Also, I figure even worst case, if this all gets exposed, I can handle it. Right now, my combat strength is equivalent to somewhere around Lv400."

".........I'm sorry, what?"

To a Shimotsuki-san who was now visibly more exhausted than when she'd walked in, I opened up my Status and showed her.