[Edogawa City, Shishibone — Dungeon Busters Headquarters — Ezoe Kazuhiko]
For Dungeon Busters Inc., December 2020 ended up becoming a break of sorts. The company had matched the start of its activities with the appearance of Yokohama Dungeon, and its fiscal year effectively started in August. This meant the account’s closing month was July. However, we had taken the chance to settle the accounts once in December. Going forward, the company’s fiscal year would run from January to December. This choice had been mostly prompted by the fact that most employees at Dungeon Busters were freelancers required to file their income tax returns. Having all of them handle their tax returns would be needlessly long and complicated, so the general affairs department had offered to act as a proxy and file them on their behalf. Most had gladly accepted.
If the company had chosen to follow the regular Japanese financial year—with accounts opening in April and closing in March—they would have had next to no time to handle all of these tax returns, putting a lot of pressure on the general affairs department. As soon as the decision to modify the calendar was made, everyone had agreed that the sooner, the better, and it had been set for the end of 2020.
“Ezoe-san, I found a receipt for a club called Rose Lips. Is it from the time you guys went out to have fun in Susukino back in January?”
“No, this was part of our information-gathering efforts. We went there to see how the citizens of Sapporo were being affected by the dungeons...”
“Do you think the tax office will buy this? Shishido-san was with you, right? Let’s just write it off as entertainment expenses for guests. Just so you know, we won’t foot the bill as a company for the places you went to alone! You’re not a one-man business anymore! Try to remember that Dungeon Busters Inc. is renowned all over the world! The tax office will be keeping a close eye on us now, so I’ll be strict when checking our expenses.”
Even the ever-calm General Manager Mukai looked ready to kill someone. All right, all right... Time to let sleeping dogs lie. I’ll get out of his hair and go smoke a cigarette.
Good grief. A year ago, I could still pass all of my club spendings off as business expenses, but my expenditures were now being controlled like those of an office worker with an overbearing boss. Well, if I used company funds however I pleased, the other members would eventually come under fire too. Letting General Manager Mukai handle this was probably for the best.
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[Tokyo, Chiyoda City, Kasumigaseki — National Police Agency]
New busters had finally appeared. For the people in charge of maintaining security in the country, that meant another source of worry had arisen. Busters could materialize cards above ground. If the card being materialized was a monster, the solution was rather straightforward, as killing it would be enough. However, there was no way to deal with dungeon items being materialized.
“We currently have every adventurer sign a Jointly Sealed Covenant to ensure they will not bring items acquired inside the dungeons above ground, but there’s still a risk of dungeon items being used to commit crimes.”
As soon as the National Police Agency had gotten wind that Satou Souta, the leader of Rising Sun, had become a Buster, discussions on the way to handle potential criminal adventurers had started up again.
“First of all, we need to decide who is supposed to deal with criminal adventurers. Is it the job of the National Police Agency or the Ministry of Dungeons? That’s the first point we need to settle. If the responsibility falls on the police and a Third Investigation Division is established, I have to wonder whether regular investigation methods would even work in the first place. I also doubt investigators will be able to apprehend superhumans.”
“I see... Kirihara-san, what is your opinion on the matter?”
Kirihara Amane, one of the members of Dungeon Busters, had received a referral from the Ministry of Dungeons and been invited to this meeting. She was a former career policewoman and, if a Third Investigation Division was created to handle this task, Kirihara would become its leader. To do that, she would need to be promoted to senior superintendent at the very least. However, the police force’s general rule was that this rank was only to be awarded to officers who had worked at the National Police Agency for at least ten years. A twenty-eight-year-old senior superintendent was bound to receive harsh criticism. Naturally, Kirihara herself was well aware of this risk.
“The Ministry of Dungeons is responsible for the management of adventurers and information gathering. However, criminals who break the law are for the police force to handle, even if these criminals also happen to have superhuman powers. They’re still Japanese citizens and should be dealt with by the police in the same way every other citizen is dealt with.”
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Everyone nodded. Although the National Police Agency was a place for backhanded competition based on who went to which school or who achieved what, everyone present was still a police official. They all agreed that handling criminals was under their jurisdiction.
“However...” Amane continued. “The most likely offenses are above ground use of dungeon items and minor offenses committed by low-rank adventurers. When it comes to magic abilities in particular, a lot is still unknown. This means gathering information on adventurers will become crucial. We will need to stay in constant communication with the Ministry of Dungeons.”
“Why do you assume that only low-rank adventurers will commit crimes? Species Limit Breakers—that’s what they’re called, right?—have tremendous powers. Don’t you think they’d try to use them for their personal gain?”
“I could never affirm that no high-rank adventurer will commit crimes. But still, do you know how much gruesome fighting one needs to do to become a Species Limit Breaker—or in other words, a Rank C adventurer?”
Everyone looked puzzled by Kirihara’s question. Outside of the strong-looking beauty, only middle-aged men were participating in this meeting.
“All of you have graduated from prestigious universities and have succeeded in passing the civil service examination... If we say the effort you’ve put in to get there is worth ten points, then becoming a Species Limit Breaker should be worth at least a hundred points. In Gamerica and the Oriental Republic of Sina some people have lost their minds trying to get there. What I’m trying to say is that becoming a Species Limit Breaker requires a lot of effort and a strong mind. Do you think the people who achieve this would turn to crime for petty reasons, such as making a bit of cash or screwing with someone they don’t like?”
It was said that people who suddenly got their hands on a big sum of money tended to self-destruct. Hence, it wouldn’t be all that strange for people who suddenly got their hands on incredible powers to turn to crime. However, someone didn’t just become a Rank C adventurer. To get from Rank D to Rank C, at least two hundred thousand Rank D monsters had to be killed in a row. If one monster took around one minute to defeat, it would take more than 3,300 hours. All this time was not spent studying in the comfort of one’s home, but rather fighting gruesome monsters at the peril of one’s life. Anyone who could devote themselves to a cause to that extent was trustworthy.
“Adventurers of D-Rank and under can be apprehended by regular policemen. We just need to dig up all the items and skills that are likely to be used for criminal activities. After that, we’ll be able to establish a list of crimes that can be committed with these skills and items. That’s a good first step, don’t you think?”
Skills and items related-information were an absolute necessity, which meant the National Police Agency could not handle everything on its own. As such, some thought that even if a Third Investigation Division was created, it would be smarter to establish it directly under the Ministry of Dungeons while making it a branch office of the National Police Agency. This was the last idea to be discussed before the end of the meeting.