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TL: ALT
Chapter 36 – Black Guild
After having lunch with Serika and Haitani-san, I took the Oedo line of the Tokyo subway from Tochomae to Hikarigaoka station.
Hikarigaoka Park, where I wanted to go, was only a few minutes away.
As Haitani-san said, the Hikarigaoka Park dungeon with all the Hobbits is a “bad” dungeon for most explorers.
Hobbits work together when the subspecies are all together.
Their coordination is better than a poorly organized explorer party, she said.
If they are not careful, they can get past the vanguard and kill the mages and healers in the rear.
Unlike MMORPGs, there is no “aggro” system for monsters in dungeons that has become a reality.
Monsters with low intelligence can be provoked to attract them, but even this is not absolute.
If the intelligence of the monsters is a little higher, they will avoid the high-defense vanguard and target the relatively low-defense rear guard.
This is especially true if the rear guard uses attack or healing magic.
As a result, the threat level of a monster that works with other subspecies jumps dramatically higher than when the monster is alone.
However, since Hobbits are rather weak monsters on their own, they are said to provide little base experience.
Therefore, it is said that a mob of Hobbits offers little in return for the risk and effort involved.
The fact that Haitani-san, a dungeon expert, did not know about this dungeon until she searched for it shows how unpopular it is.
Of course, there would be few other explorers.
…Or so I thought.
“…What is that?”
In the park, on the grassy area where the dungeon portal is located, a strange group of people were lined up.
The number of people was 6 x 6, making a total of 36, plus a few more.
The reason I knew this at once was that the explorers were lined up in six rows of six people each.
In front of them stood several men and women in suits, looking like teachers at a school morning assembly.
Among them, the man in the most aggressive suit gave the order to the six by six.
“Thank Dungeon-sama for this afternoon!”
“”Thank you, Dungeon-sama!!!””
The 6×6 bowed in unison and shouted loudly.
The volume is so loud that it almost deafened those watching from afar.
No matter how big the park is, the residents in the neighborhood must be annoyed.
…I’ve had enough of this, but the weirdness continues.
The men and women in suits huddled against the 6×6 with frightened expressions on their faces,
“Clear the weeds around the portal!”
“Clean the toilet near the dungeon!”
“Greet the neighbors loudly so they can hear you!”
…and other incomprehensible demands.
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
And the 6×6 rushed out, one group pulling weeds, one group cleaning toilets with the tools they had brought, one group going to the outside of the park and saying, “Dear neighbors! Excuse us from afar! Thanks to you, we Rakan are able to explore the dungeon! Thank you!” and other shouts…
…Wait, Rakan?
I didn’t intend to watch them, but I couldn’t help but observe the situation.
“Hey, you! Pull up the weeds by the roots! Even goblins are smart enough to do that! Are your parents goblins? Call your parents and apologize for being no better than goblins!”
“Why don’t you wash the back of the toilet? Have you forgotten the debt of gratitude I owe you for saving your life when you were dying? You do such a lousy job because you lack gratitude! You ungrateful bastard!”
“The neighbors complained about the lack of sincerity in your words, you know! Go apologize to the neighbors who send us complaints because they expect scum like you to do your job, and thank them as much as you can!”
The demands continued to escalate.
Or maybe the first demand was just an excuse to make things difficult.
By the way, while the men and women were dressed in expensive (but rough) suits, the 6×6’s were wearing sweatshirts and shaved heads.
Even the women, without exception, had shaved their heads with clippers.
I still classified them as explorers because they wore inferior equipment, such as leather armor, over their sweatshirts and weapons on their waists and backs.
The strange scene wasn’t over.
Five blue-faced sweatshirt explorers rushed into the park and knelt before the suit-wearing ones.
“I-I apologize, sir!”
“Why are you late, Nakamura?”
“Ya-Yamaguchi is gone!”
The suit-wearing one reported to the other suit-wearing one,
“Hey, Yamaguchi’s gone! Go after him!”
He immediately gave the order.
The suit-wearer who received the order panicked and began to make a phone call.
“Who is the leader of this party?”
“I-it’s me!”
“Your friends who are bound by the Rakan bond have run away! It’s because you didn’t take care of him properly!”
“I am sorry!”
“Did you give the members even one ten-thousandth of the love you received from Ojou-sama?”
“I did!”
“You didn’t!”
“Agh!”
The man in the suit kicked him in the jaw, and the leader in the sweatshirt was knocked flat on his back.
“If you had given even one ten-thousandth of a percent of Ojou-sama’s love, he wouldn’t have left! Or are you trying to tell me that Ojou-sama’s love is that small, huh?”
“I didn’t mean that… Gugyahh!”
“Don’t talk back to me! What kind of leader are you if you don’t show love? You’ll have to start over as a soldier!”
“N-no way…!”
“That’s just right! You’re the reason we have a vacancy! What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to look for someone! Through the Explorers’ Association…”
“Idiot! How can people be matched by an association? Call your parents, siblings, and relatives here and now! Ask them to become explorers!”
“O-okay…!”
The leader in the sweatshirt―or, rather, the former leader―pulls out his cell phone and begins to make a call with trembling hands.
…Isn’t that enough?
I’m getting sick, too.
No wonder Rakan is hated by the other explorers…
I feel sorry for those who have been taken in, but I have no obligation to help them.
I have no way to help them, even if I wanted to.
I recorded it with my phone, but I’m sure the Association knows how Rakan does things.
Still, they let them go free, so there’s no point in suing them.
I’ll go Stealth and hide.
They’re always working on some obscure task around the portal, so it’s the only way to get through undetected.
But just then, a group of men in black came from the parking lot of the park.
In the center of the circle of bodyguards is―that woman.
“Junko Tozaki.”
As always, she has a cruel smile that makes you break out in a cold sweat just looking at her.
Cold eyes, as if she despises everything in the world.
I heard that she was adopted by the charismatic founder of Rakan, but it would not be strange if she said that she was his real daughter.
“Haven’t you been on an exploration yet?”
Junko said coldly, and the man in the suit who had been so overbearing suddenly dropped to his knees on the ground and knelt down.
“I apologize! My leadership was inadequate…!”
“Aren’t you collecting your levels slowly these days?”
“It’s all my fault!”
“I see. Then you’re done.”
“Huh?”
“I say I’ll absorb your levels. You’ll be level one, and you can start over as a soldier.”
…Absorb levels?
The man in the suit is visibly dismayed as I frown.
“B-but… I’m in charge of this district… and in order not to be taken lightly by the soldiers, at least my level…”
“Didn’t you hear me? I’m telling you to start over again as a soldier. I’m saying that I’m still going to use a supervisor who can’t even contribute enough to the level.”
“B-but…”
“What? Are you unhappy?”
The man in the suit (the supervisor?) gritted his teeth after opening and closing his mouth.
“N-no, that’s outrageous! You are giving a useless supervisor like me a chance to start all over again from level 1…! O-oooooooh! No, I don’t want to start from soldiers; I don’t want to!!!”
“…Seize him.”
The men in black grab the supervisor as he tries to run away.
“Hee, you defy me? Don’t you want my love? I can make you feel so good.”
“Ooohhhh, I don’t want it, noooooo…”
The man is completely deranged.
The man who just a few minutes ago said that he would degrade the sweatshirt leader into a soldier panicked when he was told that he would be degraded into a soldier as well.
“You wouldn’t dare disobey that, would you?”
“Hey, what do you think?”
“That would be an honor, wouldn’t it?”
“Don’t just stand there and talk!”
The men in black kicked the supervisor.
“Ugh, bugh, gugaah!”
“Yes, right?”
“Y-yes, I’ll give… my accumulated level… to Ojou-sama.”
“Yes, I have your word.”
Junko crouches down and touches the man’s neck.
No, she dug her fingernails into his neck.
“Level Drain.”
Ugh, aaahhhhh… Kuoooooooohhh!”
The man’s voice of desperation, at first tinged with fear and loss, changed to a moan of pleasure.
Perhaps he was incontinent, the stain spreading from the man’s pants to the floor.
“Not yet. You’re accumulating a lot of it. I’ll empty you out.”
“Ohh…”
“Tajima! You’re in front of Ojou-sama! Show your manhood!”
“If your level is lowered, you’ll get more SP from the enemies! Ojou-sama has given you a chance to reconsider your way of life! Thank Ojou-sama for her deep love!”
“Yes, she’s giving a scum like you a chance to be reborn!”
“If you have a dream, you can do your best, right? Remember the passion you had when you first became an explorer!”
“You should take life more seriously! You, why did you join Rakan? Aren’t you trying to become a real man?”
“Hang in there!”
“Don’t lose!”
“Don’t run away!”
“You’re a coward if you run away!”
“You’re just a loser if you keep running away!”
“””Ta-Ji-Ma! Ta-Ji-Ma! Ta-Ji-Ma!”””
I notice that in addition to the men in black, the other suit-wearers and the people in sweatshirts have joined in the chorus.
The guys who had been assigned to clean the weeds and the toilets were also gathered around,
“”T-A-J-I-M-A!””
Surprisingly, each of them did the alphabet pose and cheered for their former supervisor!
I was… shocked to see such a scene.
“…No wonder Minazawa-san is so wary of them.”
The leader of such a crazy black guild is now picking a rivalry with Serika.
If she remembers me, I’m sure she’ll take the opportunity to make fun of me.
I don’t want to get involved, but I can’t just pretend that I didn’t see it… and escape.
At least I’ll gather some information.
I check if my Stealth is still on, and then I use Appraisal with Spying on Junko Tozaki.
Normally, the target would know that I used Appraisal.
However, with Spying, it is possible to check the status without the target noticing.
This is a powerful skill that I just got as a bonus for achieving a special condition.
So, the result of the Appraisal is…
“This is…”
I was stunned when I saw the status in my field of vision.
Status──────────────────
Junko Tozaki
Secretary to the Chairman of Rakan Holdings / Guild Master of the Explorers’ Guild Rakan
Official Level Ranking (Japan) 24th
Level 2874
HP 27015/27015
MP 25828/25828
Attack Power 29852
Defense 27363
Magic Power 24391
Mental Strength 24004
Agility 22816
Luck 20692
・Unique Skills
Level Drain S.Lv3
・Acquired Skills
Lightning Magic 2, Simple Appraisal
・Equipment
Scorpion Tail (Whip. Attack +1400, inflicts Poison and Paralysis on rare occasions.)
Vampire Queen’s Dress (Defense +1210, Mental Strength +1300, Instant Death disabled. Absorbs 10% of the HP of the damage dealt when attacking)
Queen’s Earrings (Resistant to Poison, Paralysis, Petrification, Sleep, Confusion and Silence. Agility -750)
SP 74
────────────────────
Skill──────────────────
Level Drain S.Lv3
Absorbs another person’s level. Absorption requires the consent of the target. One of the following benefits can be given to the person whose level was absorbed, depending on the S.Lv.
S.Lv1 Ecstasy
S.Lv2 Own SP
S.Lv3 A skill owned by the user (if given, the user’s skill will disappear)
────────────────────
…It’s just crazy.