[December 2020 — Ezoe Kazuhiko]
A whole year had gone by since the creation of Dungeon Busters. A lot had happened during that year: the full activation of the Dungeon System, the training of the Crusaders, the birth of the Ministry of Dungeons, the rise of Joker’s Legion... I had never gone through such hectic times in my life before.
The year 2020—and its endless twists and turns—was finally nearing its end. There was only one more month to go. Dungeon Busters was now a rather large company with over sixty employees, including adventurers and support staff. We were doing pretty... No. We were actually doing so well that it was almost criminal at this point. As the manager, I had to somehow give back to my employees and my local community.
“And so, that’s why I decided to organize a fancy year-end party to thank everyone for their hard work.”
“Ezoe-san... You planned a budget of two hundred thousand yen per person? Do you think we’re back in the middle of the bubble economy era?!”
I pretended not to hear General Manager Mukai’s complaints.
We were planning a buffet-style party at a high-class teppanyaki restaurant called Anzai Grill located a few minutes away from Koiwa Station on foot. Koiwa, which was in Edogawa City, was far from being known for its classy restaurants and bars. However, this particular place was so fancy it wouldn’t have looked out of place in Aoyama or Azabu—two of Tokyo’s most luxurious neighborhoods. Their meat was also top class. If we gathered a bunch of adventurers who each ate several kilograms of meat in one sitting at such a place, the bill would rack up fast, naturally. To be honest, two hundred thousand yen per person was the bare minimum.
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“A lot has changed this year. The Legion has started clearing the Brezilian dungeons, and the Crusaders are being fully reorganized. We won’t stop pushing forward either. Next year, it will finally be time for us to challenge Rank A and Rank S dungeons. Tonight, however, please forget about the dungeons and their hardships. Enjoy all the delicious food and alcohol we have prepared. Let’s toast to our past and future successes... Cheers!”
The sixty people in the room cheered, raising their glasses of champagne. Naturally, Mari and Shingo had glasses of non-alcoholic olive cider, since they were still minors. I personally thought letting them have one glass of champagne wasn’t a big deal, but as adventurers, we couldn’t break the law so casually.
“Dang! These Wagyu beef-wrapped sea urchins are to die for!”
“Hey! Look! That guy’s downing a five-hundred gram chateaubriand steak in one go!”
Hmm... Maybe I should have just taken them to a regular izakaya, huh?
Watching the youngsters devour incredibly high-quality A5 wagyu beef made me want to yell at them to slow down and enjoy the taste. Perhaps I only thought this way because I was already a forty-year-old geezer. A year ago, I had still been eating rubber-like meat at cheap yakiniku restaurants, but now I could enjoy A5 grade wagyu without worrying about the cost. In Japan, these kinds of delicacies were readily available, as long as you could pay for them.
I guess it makes sense that the people living in slums support Joker. I can’t imagine they would like us very much if they saw us right now, at the very least.
I couldn’t say any of that aloud, but it didn’t mean I didn’t think about it.
I suddenly felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I set down my plate on the table and took out my cell phone to check the e-mail I’d just received.
“Whoa...” I let out, surprised at the subject of the mail.
It read: “Regarding the Clearing of Nagoya Dungeon.”
✦ ✦ ✦
[2020 — Nagoya Dungeon]
Let us go back in time. In January 2020, the predecessor to the Ministry of Dungeons—the Dungeon Adventurer Administrative Bureau, which had been under the Ministry of Defense at the time—organized a gathering and invited civilian adventurers. Back then, an adventurer named Satou Souta refused to join Dungeon Busters. He was the son of the officer who had lost his life in the S-Rank Dungeon that had appeared in Umeda, Osaka.
After that, he trained in Yokohama Dungeon for a while, and after reaching Rank D, decided to enter Nagoya Dungeon. Part of the reason he chose to relocate was that Nagoya Dungeon was close to his hometown of Osaka, but his true motivation lay in the fact that Nagoya Dungeon had yet to be cleared.
“If I want a shot at destroying Osaka Dungeon, I need to become a Buster first. I’ll clear Nagoya Dungeon and go after Osaka Dungeon next!”
Satou Souta originally operated alone. However, the IDAO eventually decided that the names of C-Rank adventurers and above had to be made public. As of December 2020, there were only a few dozen C-Ranker adventurers in the countries who were part of the IDAO, and a majority of them belonged to organizations such as Dungeon Busters and the Dungeon Crusaders. Naturally, a solo adventurer who had reached Rank C on his own was bound to stand out, and countless journalists came to Souta for an interview.
“My goal is to clear Osaka Dungeon. If anyone lives in the Osaka-Kobe region and holds the same objective, you’re welcome to join me.”
The first person who answered Souta’s call was former officer Aikawa Shouichi, the man his father, Satou Kouji, had saved at the cost of his own life. As soon as he had learned that the place he had entered was a dungeon and realized the coworker he admired, Satou Kouji, had passed away while inside it, becoming the only Japanese individual to lose their life to the dungeons, Aikawa immediately left the police force to become an adventurer. Once he learned that Souta was Satou Kouji’s son, Aikawa hurried to his side.
Others who lived in the region decided to join them, and Rising Sun, Souta’s very own team, was born. They had taken inspiration from the Order of the Rising Sun, a decoration of honor. Their logo, five red lines radiating from a red dot, was also modeled after the order’s decoration.
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Name: Satou Souta
Title: Species Limit Breaker
Rank: B
Possession Limit: 32/32
Skills: Card Gacha (3), Sword Mastery (Lvl. 9), Unarmed Mastery (Lvl. 9), Tenacity
✦ ✦ ✦
Name: Aikawa Shouichi
Title: Species Limit Breaker
Rank: C
Possession Limit: 23/25
Skills: Card Gacha (2), Enemy Detection (Lvl. 4), Dagger Mastery (Lvl. 3)
✦ ✦ ✦
Name: Manabe Rumi
Title: None
Rank: D
Possession Limit: 25/28
Skills: Card Gacha (2), Flame Magic (Lvl. 5), Wind Magic (Lvl. 4)
✦ ✦ ✦
Name: Endou Yuriko
Title: None
Rank: D
Possession Limit: 20/23
Skills: Card Gacha (2), Bow Mastery (Lvl. 5), Kunai Mastery (Lvl. 4)