Jiro Tanaka: 28 years old – Has Girlfriends

Girlfriend(s): Suela Handelberg & Memoria Tris

Occupation: Dungeon Tester (Regular Employee)

Magical Aptitude: Eight (General Class)

“So, we’ll be starting now it’s 800 yen for a hundred grams.” (Memoria)

“Has the price gone up?” (Jiro)

“Yes, the products excavated from the dungeon of the Insect King are rare, and there is a demand for them because they are luxury items.  At worst, I can consume them myself.” (Memoria)

“Do you have a sweet tooth?” (Jiro)

“I have a taste for such.” (Memoria)

“Is this an amount you can indulge in?” (Jiro)

The sight of all these items lined up on the counter was not a quantity that would be suitable to be indulged in.

The honey that I brought was from a demon called Flegby, which is reputed to be very fragrant.

Three one-kilogram jars were filled to the brim.

That is, at 800 yen per 100 grams, one jar sells for 8,000 yen or 24,000 yen for three jars.

That is a pretty good deal for a day’s income.

The downside is that prices fluctuate, but since we are the only ones in the dungeon at the moment, we don’t have to worry about that.

But why does the sound of the old cash register, *ka-ching*, make my heart skip a beat so much?

As usual, I was making a sale at Memoria’s store, and my heart fluttered a little when I noticed that the price had gone up since the last time I brought it in.

“Senior, are you done with your sweet-lovey-dovey-strawberry-shortcake talk? Oh it’s just honey. Oh, that’s what I said.” (Kaido)

“That’s not what you said.” (Jiro)

I wondered what it would take for him to leave the sale to his Senior, but I’m not going to say it because it’s an opportunity for me to legitimately talk to my girlfriend during work.

The best I can do is to swing my fist down toward Kaido who said something annoying without saying a word.

“Yeouch!? You’re being unreasonable Senior!” (Kaido)

“Come on, Memoria will come again.” (Jiro)

“Yes, see you again.” (Memoria)

“Yeah.” (Jiro)

After Kaido’s tearful complaints, I received the receipt and cash before leaving the store.

“What are you going to do after this, Senior? If you’re not working, let’s go out for a drink!” (Kaido)

“Idiot, there’s the report first.” (Jiro)

“It’s okay, this dungeon is just a light amount of content on the placement of insects.” (Kaido)

The only thing that office workers talk about when they are close to the end of the workday is their work or activities after work.

Kaido seems to want to talk about after-work activities, but I want to get on with my work first.

Especially if there’s something I’m worried about.

“…Kaido, what was your first thought when you entered the Insect King Dungeon?” (Jiro)

“Well, I just thought it was weird… and I didn’t like it because there were so many insects.” (Kaido)

“I had a similar feeling. They are a nuisance, right?” (Jiro)

“That’s right.” (Kaido)

“However, if it turns even nastier than before. That sounds funny when I think about it.” (Jiro)

“I don’t understand why Senior becomes a workaholic. I have never thought that work is fun.” (Kaido)

“It’s only recently that I’ve been able to enjoy my work.” (Jiro)

I’ve been in three different dungeons, Machine King’s, Ogre King’s, and the Undying King’s, and I’ve added my improvement to them.

The Machine King Dungeon has the disadvantage of having a small number of roaming monsters, which is difficult to improve from a production cost standpoint. Therefore, we proposed a new type of golem and improvement on traps.

In the Ogre King Dungeon, we proposed to give classes to goblins and divide their roles to improve efficiency, as well as propose new tactics.

For the Undying King Dungeon, we proposed new buildings that would be easier to make ambushes, as well as tactics that would take advantage of their roaming patterns and undead characteristics.

And all of them have produced some kind of result.

That makes me wonder what kind of improvements I can make this time.

“So, what are your thoughts, Senior?” (Kaido)

“Well, for now, considering the maintenance and dungeon characteristics, we can’t use traps.” (Jiro)

“It seems to be easy to set up, but it seems that insects might get also caught in it.” (Kaido)

Machine King’s and Ogre King’s dungeons are pure labyrinth-type dungeons, while the Titan King and Tree King are pure field-type dungeons.

The most important characteristic of Insect King’s Dungeon is a hybrid, the same as the dungeon of the Undying King, which has both a field called the Sea of Trees and a dungeon similar to an ant’s nest that spreads out underground.

As for the Dragon King, we have not received any information on whether it is a hybrid, a field, or a labyrinth.

So, for now, I’m just going to assume that it doesn’t matter at this moment and leave it at that.

Instead, I think about the work I am doing now.

“If we go deep into the dungeon, there should be intelligent bugs, but there aren’t any now. My impression from fighting the monsters in the dungeon is that they are mainly faithful to their appetites. I guess the idea is that it is better to make them ferocious than to equip them with intelligence. Which means, sadly, that we can only use simple tactics.” (Jiro)

“Yes, it was like, ‘If you see prey, you attack’.” (Kaido)

“However, Souls live on magic, so they don’t really need food. That’s why there is no conflict involving food between monsters. In that respect, it can be said that the production cost is good, but on the other hand, it is rare that performance is bad due to the maintenance cost. However, it’s too unreasonable to cover everything with quantity.” (Jiro)

What I felt when I fought the dungeon of the Insect King was just manpower tactics focusing only on numbers.

Perhaps the reason why enemies constantly attacked us was because the bugs are even more adept at reproducing than goblins.

The strategy of relying on their numbers is very simple and powerful.

On the other hand, however, their power seems to be too varied to be covered by their numbers.

To put it simply, there is little variety in tactics and strategies.

They reproduce and attack.

This is all the thought that makes up that dungeon.

There are variations in individual differences, but there is no thought about coordination.

Various insects simply attack their prey.

It is rare to find a dungeon that embodies the simple-is-best principle of power in numbers.

The problem is that the danger of numbers can be avoided to some extent by moving quickly, as we did.

Do they think it is not a problem because the deeper you go, the more enemies there are?

The contents of this dungeon were different from those of other dungeons, which made us twist our heads for a while.

“I think it would be a good idea to simply prepare land that is advantageous to the individual. …hmmm.” (Jiro)

“Better yet, why don’t you prepare a giant insect? Look, it’s like a Kaiju.” (Kaido)

“That’s just one idea, but if it is the strongest individual, they’ll need to be adaptable. If we focus on that, we’ll have to think about what kind of monster we’ll create.” (Jiro)

In a sense, it is complete, or in this case, it would be more accurate to say that it is finished.

In a sense, the dungeon itself is complete, but in this case, it would be more accurate to say that it is finished.

If you change one thing, you will create another problem.

The more I think about it, the more difficult it becomes.

“It’s difficult, isn’t it?” (Kaido)

“Ah, there’s not enough information on the shallow floors. Maybe we need to go a little deeper. If we do that, what we can see will change, and we should be able to come up with improvement plans. Kaido we’ll be in insect hell for a while.” (Jiro)

“Uuugh, please give me a break~” (Kaido)

“I’m sure you’ll be able to find a way to make it better. Tomorrow, Masaru will join us and it will be easier than today.” (Jiro)

“That’s the least you can do. I envy Minami and the others.” (Kaido)

“It’s hard for men in times like this.” (Jiro)

“Where’s Gender Equality?” (Kaido)

“It’s lost in a dream.” (Jiro)

“It’s unfair. I demand the Equal Employment Opportunity Law be applied.” (Kaido)

In the end, it all boils down to one word: lack of information.

So, today’s conclusion was the same as before, with only a few minor points to be pointed out and the status quo to be maintained.

It’s almost like we can’t scratch an out-of-reach itch.

“Hmmm, that’s right! How about making an insect repellent spray? If the bugs don’t come near you, you can explore the dungeon more quickly.” (Kaido)

“But first, I think it would be faster to form a special unit with insecticide and roll in a side-by-side attack.” (Jiro)

“Yeah~” (Kaido)

“Whether it’ll work or not remains to be seen.” (Jiro)

And if the dungeon could not be improved, the conversation moved on to the next strategy.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had this conversation, but I can’t help but say that it’s inevitable because it’s my job and it comes up frequently.

The content of the conversation ranges from serious to silly, but this time it is going to be a little bit silly.

One idea is to keep people out as Kaido did, but in my mind, I’m imagining troops in protective gear with gas tanks on their backs marching through the sea of trees, belching out white smoke.

It’s a scene that I can’t bring myself to act on with the chance of encountering a Hollywood movie opponent who might be immune to our attack and eventually have our head bitten off.

“I’m back.” (Jiro)

“Something’s different, isn’t it?” (Kaido)

“Is it? I say it every time I come back to this room because it makes me feel like I’ve come home.” (Jiro)

“I don’t know if it’s like that, but for me, even if I take off my protective gear, I still feel like I’m about to go back to reality.” (Kaido)

While we are stuck in an inconclusive conversation, we come back to the party room.

Kaido entered the room after I unlocked it and we both went inside.

The first thing we do is to go into the equipment room, store our armor and weapons, and then sit down at the table in the living room.

We sit down at the table in the living room and open the computer without saying a word to each other.

It’s not an unspoken agreement, but our experience has taught us that it’s not a good idea to keep piling on work, so we don’t engage in work conversation.

“Phew, we’re done.” (Jiro)

“Hmm~ That’s right. This time we’re done! Senior, let’s go drink!” (Kaido)

I smoke a cigarette and Kaido stretches his back to let each other know that we are done, and today’s work is done.

“Well, once in a while is okay.” (Jiro)

“Yeah! Let’s go now that you’ve decided.” (Kaido)

“At least let me take a shower.” (Jiro)

I agreed to go out for a drink with Kaido, as I had no plans to meet Suela or Memoria afterward, which was a rare occurrence for me.

It was around five o’clock in the afternoon.

It’s a little early, but it’s okay to do something like this once in a while.

“Then meet me at the entrance of the underground shopping mall in an hour!” (Kaido)

“Sure.” (Jiro)

I saw Kaido off to his room and stayed in the party room because I wanted to smoke a little more.

I’m a bit bored, so I open my tablet to check my status, but before I can do that, I notice that I’ve received an email.

“Hmm? A work email?” (Jiro)

I check it, thinking that it must not have happened before I entered the dungeon.

The title is about a rare monster.

It just so happened to be what Kaido had mentioned before entering the dungeon.

He was curious and decided to open the e-mail.

“…that’s unusual.” (Jiro)

In the first place, information about the dungeon had never been made known to the public before.

I read the email silently as if I were reading an important document.

“It was just a reminder.” (Jiro)

The content of the message was not important.

Some parties are aiming too much for rare monsters, and it’s hindering work progress, so it’s just a matter of being careful.

Our job is to test the dungeon, and killing monsters and making money is just a side income.

From our point of view, it’s a story that we don’t need to be told.

However, I was more interested in the last sentence of the email.

“……” (Jiro)

“There have been reports of fighting over rare monsters between parties in dungeons. Please refrain from fighting among fellow testers.” (Jiro)

The General Affairs Department’s message had the effect of making a crease between my eyebrows.

PK player kills

It’s a common story in games, but has it come up in real life?

This sentence didn’t even mention which party fought which party.

Either it wasn’t that much or they didn’t include it to avoid discord among the testers.

Either way, that’s where the warning comes, which means we may need to be careful in future attacks.

Our party is basically trying to avoid being in contact with other parties, so there is less danger.

However, it is not absolute.

I quietly turned off my tablet, praying that I wouldn’t have to assume the role of a fighter.

“…I wonder if I care too much about that?” (Jiro)

I myself have experienced trouble between testers in the past.

I’ve been provoked multiple times, and I’ve indirectly retaliated in various ways.

I thought that problems had come, but seeing that there had been no damage, it might be a different matter.

And even if we were being manipulated at the time, the company must have realized that it was pointless to directly fight with testers and have testers fight among themselves.

If there is more damage in the future, the company will take some measures.

I can’t imagine the Supervisor not doing anything about it.

I’m going back to my room now, hoping that nothing will happen.

If I keep staring at the email, I’ll keep Kaido waiting.

If that happens, the split bill will be changed to my treat.

I must avoid that at all costs.

I push the embers of my cigarette into the ashtray, and make sure the fire is completely extinguished, before leaving the room.

“What shall we drink today?” (Kio)

“Kakakakaka, a ghost liquor is highly recommended.” (Fusio)

“Hahahahaha! A man should shut up and drink ogre wine!!” (Kio)

“…what a coincidence, instructors.” (Jiro)

“Kakakaka, do you think it’s a coincidence?” (Fusio)

“Of course not.” (Jiro)

And as we round the corner of the road I’m quickly caught in the clutches of the mighty two.

“Oh Jiro, how unkind! Why don’t you invite us out for a drink!?!” (Kio)

“It’s true, you have lovers now, and we’ve been holding back, but it’s not yet time for you to settle down. It’s only natural that you should invite us to have a drink even if you have lovers.” (Fusio)

I realized something at this very moment.

I’m going to have a trainwreck of a hangover tomorrow.

No matter how much I had grown in status, I was still no match for these two.

What could I do?

“Is it okay if Kaido comes too?” (Jiro)

“Of course!” (Kio)

“He is also someone we trained, so it’s fine.” (Fusio)

I have to spread out the damage even a little bit.

I’m sorry Kaido, but at least I’m sure that this demon yakuza and skeletal gentleman will buy you a drink.

Whether the timing is good or bad, the slight uneasiness I was feeling earlier is completely forgotten, and instead, I realize the future of the hangover that is sure to come.

And I, who am not averse to having a drink with these two, narrowed down the list of places where I would drink.

Jiro Tanaka: 28 years old – Has Girlfriends

Girlfriend(s): Suela Handelberg (Dark Elf) & Memoria Tris (Vampire)

Occupation: Dungeon Tester (Regular Employee)

Magical Aptitude: Eight (General Class)

Job Title: Warrior

Note for the Day

I can smell trouble.

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