Dungeon Gacha Life Chapter 40

 Chapter 40: Toward the Future

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【Lv】100

【HP】2377/2377

【MP】1666/1666

【STR】201+600

【VIT】188+600

【AGI】210+600

【DEX】192+600

【INT】224+600

【MND】242+600

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The Status board I'd pulled up displayed numbers that blew far past anything resembling common sense.

"Stat Orbs from Gacha add a flat +600 to every stat. So for STR, that's 801 total... works out to roughly Lv400."

Clearing out all those Stampede monsters had pushed my Level all the way to the cap. Even doing the rough math, Lv400-equivalent seemed about right.

Every trace of expression drained from Shimotsuki-san's neat features as she took it in. I sipped my orange juice and waited for her to reboot.

Eventually, Shimotsuki-san let out a long breath, as if emptying every last bit of air from her lungs. She pressed her right fingertips hard against her temple and propped both elbows on the table. Ah, now she's holding her head in her hands too.

"...I can't believe it goes this far..."

The words came out of her like they'd been squeezed out, faintly trembling.

Well, yeah, guess she would be shocked. Going from "solo swordsman who might be hiding something" to "the mysterious black-robed sorcerer" would've been enough on its own.

And what I'd just handed her was information that amounted to violence itself, about as far outside common sense as it can get.

Still holding her head in her hands, Shimotsuki-san let out a small, groaning sound.

"...I don't know how you managed to keep wearing the mask of an 'above-average solo C-Rank Explorer' through all this. Normally, if someone's this far off the charts, they would let something slip eventually."

"I'm just here for the comfortable, easy days."

I'd been especially careful about it, all six months since taking down the Minotaur. But those days were on shaky ground right now.

"Which is exactly why I need your help, Shimotsuki-san."

At my bright smile, this time, she let out a truly deep sigh.

* * *

On Lapis's suggestion, we decided to take a short break.

On Shimotsuki-san's declaration that she "couldn't get through this without a drink", so we ordered a couple of beers. Might as well, since we'd come all the way to an izakaya.

The two of us clinked glasses with something close to desperation. Lapis stuck with her orange juice. Turns out she can't hold her liquor.

Right around the time both our mugs were nearly empty, Shimotsuki-san fixed me with a level stare.

"Hey. Isn't this way past anything I could actually do something about?"

Fair point.

"Of course I'll help and I won't breathe a word of this to anyone. Not after hearing this much and there's no going back now anyway."

Yeah, I figured. I've been talking with every intention of pulling you fully into this, honestly.

"But if this ever went public..."

"Worst case, I get turned into public entertainment and then worked to the bone as some convenient piece for dungeon-clearing."

That's the future I want to avoid more than anything. A "black" government instead of a "black" company, the same problem and it defeats the whole point.

Of course, I've got no intention of just going along with it quietly, either. Which comes with its own set of headaches.

"Honestly, that's not a joke and it could very easily go that way. No, the people at the top will almost certainly be pushing for exactly that."

It's just a guess on my end too but I think the same thing. Sure, they might approach carefully at first but that's what they're really after underneath.

"So, I figured I'd get ahead of it and put an offer on the table first, from my side."

"You put something worth negotiating over on the table and settle this before it spirals?"

"Yeah, exactly."

That said, right now, I don't have any actual connections. I'm at the level of not even knowing where to start negotiating from.

"...The furthest I can personally get you is the Hachioji Guild branch chief."

In other words, the head of the whole Hachioji Guild. Explorers call them things like "Guild Master" or "Guild Head."

I'd seen them around a few times but never actually talked to them.

"What are they like?"

"Someone with real results and real trust behind them and very hands-on. It was their idea to release Hachioji's full-floor map data for free, you know."

That public map had saved me more than once. I've got my own Skill for it now but there's no question it made exploring a lot easier back then.

Sounded like someone worth relying on.

"Then could you tell the branch chief, from your side, that the black-robed sorcerer wants to open negotiations?"

Might as well pull her in properly too. As one of the few people who actually knew who the black-robed sorcerer was.

"Understood. I'll make sure to convince them and have a meeting set up between just you and the branch chief sometime tomorrow."

Shimotsuki-san gave a firm, resolute nod.

"Counting on you. I'm hopeless at that side of things."

Everyone's got their strengths and weaknesses, after all. I'd better spend my own time getting my negotiating material together.

* * *

"So, assuming we get the branch chief into a negotiation. What's your actual plan?"

Shimotsuki-san asked, pushing the empty dishes to the edge of the table.

"Gacha stays a hundred percent secret, no matter what. What I'd actually put on the table is just combat strength and results, such as suppressing Stampedes like this one, clearing high-difficulty dungeons, thinning monsters and priority sales on any rare items that come out of it."

That should cover the basics, I figured.

For the Explorer Association or the government, that ought to be worth enough to make keeping me on good terms worthwhile. And if it wasn't enough, I could always release some of the mountain of Skill Orbs and gear I'd stockpiled.

"In exchange, there are two conditions I won't budge on. One: no work arrangement that ties down my freedom more than necessary. And..."

I laid out the line I absolutely wouldn't cross.

"Two: keeping the media and anyone else like that from barging in without consideration."

"In other words, full and total privacy protection."

Right. That's the one thing I won't give up. I don't want to be worked to exhaustion and I sure don't want to be a hero.

"Exactly. On the surface, all that needs to go public is the bare fact that 'the black-robed sorcerer is cooperating with the Japanese government.' For the country's purposes, that alone should be more than enough of a deterrent."

'I'll cooperate as much as I reasonably can so just spare me the hassle.'

When it came down to it, that was really all I was asking for.

"An Explorer with that kind of power, offering to cooperate of his own free will, I think there's real room to negotiate here."

Honestly, an S-Rank Explorer's basically a strategic weapon with the safety switch removed.

And here that weapon was, offering to behave itself on its own. The least they could do was sit down at the negotiating table first, for once.

"All right, now, about what we owe the branch chief for playing go-between with the higher-ups..."

After that, the two of us kept hashing out the details, working toward the negotiation.

Well, it's not like everything was going to go perfectly. There were just too many unknowns from here on out.

Still, I figured we could find some reasonable middle ground.

The rest was just a matter of seeing how it played out. Might as well give it everything I had.

And if it all fell through anyway, I could always figure something out then. Especially with someone I trust, who shares the secret, is right here to lean on.

Come to think of it, things had gotten oddly quiet and I glanced over to find the Gacha fairy dozing off. Ah. Guess it was already past her bedtime.

Before I knew it, quite a lot of time had slipped by.