[Fukuoka Airport — Kirihara Amane]
A man was waiting for us as we stepped out of the arrival lobby of Fukuoka Airport.
“It’s been a while, Kirihara.”
“Uchimura-kun, thank you for coming to get us.”
Uchimura Yousuke and I had attended the same national university, and we had entered the National Police Agency as bureaucrats together as well. He was now the superintendent of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police. I respected him as an officer, but I didn’t think much of him as a man. He wasn’t really manly enough.
When we got to the taxi stand, three unmarked police cars were waiting for us. My team was only made up of five members, so two cars should have been enough, but Uchimura told me he needed to see me in private so we rode alone together in one of the cars.
“To think that you really quit the police force to become a dungeon adventurer. When I first heard it, I couldn’t believe it at all.”
“Well, I still have my sights set on becoming the first female Commissioner General of the National Police Agency. I’ll be back in the force soon enough as well...”
“What? How come?” Uchimura asked.
“I’ll be joining the Adventurer Crime Countermeasures Headquarters once it’s established under the National Police Agency. There are more and more adventurers every day. It’s only a matter of time until some of them turn rogue. If the criminal is a high-Rank adventurer, even the Special Assault Team won’t be able to handle it, let alone regular officers.”
“No way!”
Uchimura must have thought I was joking and let out a little laugh as he drove us toward the destination. He saw how serious I looked and tried to camouflage his laughter as a cough.
“Wait, you’re not joking,” he said, after a while.
“If you’re doubtful, should I show off a little and go take down all the yakuza in Fukuoka? I should be done within the day.”
“Hang on. There’s no way you—”
“That one was a joke,” I said with a smile.
It seems hearing me laugh made him relax a little. I have a feeling he might be reading the situation wrong. I said I wouldn’t do it, not that I couldn’t do it.
I wasn’t sure whether Uchimura properly understood me or not, but he turned his attention back to the road and changed the topic.
“Well, us policemen do have a debt to settle with the dungeons. I heard you weren’t the only one to make the leap and become an adventurer,” he said with a grim expression.
I agreed with him. We did have a debt to settle with the dungeons. Being on the field or behind a desk made no difference here. One of our own had been killed by the dungeons. Strange monsters were running rampant right under our feet, here in Japan. Not a single officer who took pride in their job could be content with looking the other way
“That man was part of the Osaka Prefectural Police, right? As of now, he’s the only Japanese person to have lost his life to the dungeons...”
“Yeah. Sergeant Satou... No, he was promoted by two ranks, so I should refer to him as Inspector Satou... I heard he always took good care of his subordinates. Many mourned him.”
“Did you know his son became an adventurer?” I asked. “He wants to avenge his father. I met him once, and I must say the thirst for vengeance I could see in his eyes left me a bit uneasy. If other former officers truly became adventurers, it’d be good if they could be there for that kid... Well, adventurers’ personal information is classified, so I can’t really confirm whether there are any anyway.”
“I know some people in the Osaka Prefectural Police. I’ll ask around.”
The car continued down the Urban Expressway Circular Route and finally entered the city. The dungeon had appeared close to Kuramoto Crossing, which was located in Gofukumachi. It would have been truly troublesome if it had appeared right in the middle of the crossing, but luckily, it seemed to be on the sidewalk instead. Traffic was partially halted currently, but there were plans to build an underpass so pedestrians could cross the road.
“This is the crossroads between Taihaku Street and Shouwa Street, you know,” Uchimura told me. “If we were to stop the flow of traffic here, the whole city would end up paralyzed. To be honest, the police department would like to see that dungeon disappear.”
“The Ministry of Dungeons wants it preserved for now. I do understand your concerns, though. When a dungeon appeared on Yokohama Shindo Road, I was the one in charge. It becomes a huge headache for those handling traffic when dungeons appear on major roads.”
The car entered the parking lot of the Yamato Royal Hotel, situated in Hakata Gion. One night in that luxurious hotel cost over thirty thousand yen, but I could easily claim back all my travel expenses. Dungeon Busters paid great attention to the hotels we stayed at when we headed out on missions outside of Tokyo. After all, potions couldn’t take care of mental fatigue. Having a good rest was key when it came to lowering your stress levels.
“Well then, we’ll be off, Ane-san.”
After checking in, my teammates headed out to Nakasu for a good time. I still had things to settle, so I didn’t join them.
Uchimura had been waiting for me and we made our way to Kuramoto Crossing together, which had been closed to pedestrians ever since the dungeon appeared and JGSDF soldiers had set up a barricade. On top of that, several police cars were on standby next to the dungeon area, which meant that half of Taihaku Street was closed off as well. I was puzzled. Traffic was heavy, just as I imagined it would be at such an important intersection. Even taking that into account, aren’t there still way too many guards?
“Quite tight security you have going on here,” I observed. “In Yokohama and Kanazawa, dungeons have also appeared on main roads, but the areas weren’t so well guarded.”
“Well...” Uchimura trailed off. “It didn’t used to be like this. We upped security after the Tokyo Olympics. Woori said they’d collaborate with Venisuela, right? This dungeon is the closest to Woori and might eventually become accessible to citizens. We get a lot of tourists from Busan so we need to be careful.”
Woori—or the Republic of Woori—had recently announced plans to help Venisuela revamp its oil refineries. These refineries would in turn allow the Venisuelan oil industry to recover. Many countries in both North and South Gamerica, including the United States of Gamerica, had expressed displeasure at this turn of events.
Everyone expected Woori to try to act as a mediator between Joker and the advanced countries during the upcoming G20 summit, scheduled to take place in November in the Kingdom of Saud Arab. Naturally, Japan, Gamerica, and the EU had no intentions of playing along. Even the Oriental Republic of Sina had shown their annoyance, stating that Woori was “free to do whatever they liked” but that they “could not agree.”
“There haven’t been any incidents yet, so there are no reports of that, but some Woorian tourists have been sighted checking out the area around Hakata Dungeon,” he explained. “The JSDF soldiers told me that the way these people carried themselves led them to think they were fellow soldiers.”
“Woori isn’t part of the International Dungeon Adventurer Organization. I assume they’re starting to fret over their lack of intel on the dungeons. How regrettable... If they just joined the IDAO, Japan would help them. Still, can’t anything be done about these people?”
“Looking at the barricade isn’t forbidden, as long as they’re not trespassing. Since they’re not breaking any laws, we can’t do anything about it. Even if we were to prove they were soldiers, they could still say that they only came to have fun in Japan during their holiday. Handling spies is the job of the Public Security Intelligence Agency, not us.”
We passed through the barricade as we spoke and entered the prefabricated building that had been constructed next to the dungeon. There, I received a briefing on Hakata Dungeon. The monsters on Floor 1 were apparently weak enough that most soldiers did not consider them monsters at all. Just stepping on them was enough to kill them. It should be similar to Sapporo Dungeon, then.
“All right, there shouldn’t be any issues. We’ll most likely be done by tomorrow evening.”
“Tomorrow? That’s fast!” Uchimura said.
“Clearing a dungeon is just like doing office work. You simply end up wasting time if you drag things out. Setting up deadlines and getting through the work in one sitting is much more efficient. Wouldn’t you agree?”
I got off the folding chair and stretched a bit. Uchimura-kun looked at me, seeming a bit flustered. Oh, now that I thought about it, I was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans today. My curves were in plain sight.
“Hmm... Would you like to...get dinner with me tonight?” he asked.
That wasn’t very smooth now, was it? If you want me, you’re going to need to do better. Surpass human limits, for instance.
Still, I couldn’t help but wonder how an elite bureaucrat like him would cry out if I teased him with my whip.
“I’m sorry. I like to rest up before I dungeon dive. Please drive me back to the hotel.”
Was I always such a lascivious woman? Perhaps disciplining monsters in the dungeons for so long had made me a little mean.