Name: Ezoe Kazuhiko
Title: First Contacter
Rank: F
Possession Limit: 0 / ∞
Skills: Card Gacha, ______, ______, ______, ______, ______
✦ ✦ ✦
Akane-san giggled. “As expected of the First Contacter. Your possession limit is infinite, and you have six skill slots.”
“You can see this? And by ‘possession limit,’ you mean card possession limit? Your surprise at me having six skill slots means...?”
“First, this is the Status screen. You can only call it out when inside a dungeon. It is indeed visible to everyone else, so be careful about checking it when there are others around. Next, the possession limit. This is the maximum number of cards that you can have in your possession while inside a dungeon. For normal people, this is capped around twenty to thirty. Due to the reward you received, this limit has effectively been lifted for you. Then lastly, about the skill slots. Normal people only have two or three slots, whereas you have six. This skill that you already possess, ‘Card Gacha,’ is not something that I am familiar with...”
“Uhhh...‘gacha’ refers to a loot box system — I think that’s what the kids call it nowadays? — inside video games where things like items and characters can be obtained through a random selec— You know what, don’t worry about it. I think I have a pretty good idea what it is. Back to the possession limit. My Status is showing ‘0’ at the moment. Are you not being counted?”
“That is because I am currently materialized and also due to the fact that I am a Legend Rare card, the very rarest kind. When you enter the dungeon, you will attain monster cards. Do you wish to try entering now?”
“No, I will need to make preparations first. I’ll listen to the rest of what you have to say in my house. Let’s go up for now,” I said while turning towards the stairs.
However, Akane-san made no move to follow me. When I turned around, she sighed softly and said apologetically, “As I have just mentioned, servants can only be summoned within dungeons. As soon as I attempt to leave, I will become cardified. You will be able to converse with me only when down here.”
“I see. Is there any penalty or cost for summoning you?”
“Not particularly, no...”
“Then I’m sorry, but can you turn back into a card for me? I want to put down everything that’s happened on paper. And more importantly, I’ve been wanting to go to the toilet for a while now.”
“As you wish. And one last thing: please call me ‘Akane’ without any honorifics. You are my Master, and I am your servant, so you adding ‘-san’ to my name confounds me.”
“Very well. Then you can also stop calling me ‘Master.’ Call me by my last name or first name. Being called ‘Master’ confounds me.”
“Your wish is my command, Kazuhiko-sama.”
Right when I was about to object to the ‘-sama’ suffix, Akane turned into a card with a small ‘poof.’ This time, her card fell straight to the ground without floating in midair. I picked it up in a fluster, then put it away in my chest pocket.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was after I had finished my business in the toilet and was enjoying a puff under the ventilation fan that a realization hit me. According to my smartphone, the time was only just past 10 a.m. Feeling puzzled, I checked my wristwatch. By my rough estimate, I had spent around twenty minutes checking out the dungeon and talking to Akane. And true enough, the wristwatch that I had been wearing when going down there was indicating 10:30 a.m.
“What does this mean? Is my watch broken? Or could it be...” I unconsciously brought a hand over my mouth. “...that the flow of time is different?”
Without further ado, I immediately proceeded to test my theory. I prepared two quartz watches, put one of them on, and tied the other to a spool of kite string. After confirming that the two were synchronized, I lowered the latter while observing from aboveground. As I had half expected, the second hand started spinning as if out of control. I quickly pulled it back up and once again reset the time. This time, I lowered it even deeper and waited a full minute before retrieving it once more. Lo and behold, despite having started off at 0:00, the watch was now off by about two hours. Through this experiment, I was now fully convinced that time inside the dungeon passed faster than outside.
“I’m going to need to ask Akane about this, just in case.”
Resolving myself to the fate of muscle soreness, I once again descended the stairs that led underground.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Within a dungeon — which also includes being inside the Safety Zone on Floor 1 — time flows 144 times faster than outside. In other words, one hour outside equates to six days inside.”
With Akane’s words, how I would be spending my two off days became set in stone. The entrance to this dungeon had appeared in the yard of my house. In other words, this dungeon was mine. Even if I did six days of work inside the dungeon, only an hour would have gone by aboveground. That being the case, I had plenty of time. A remodeled Safety Zone would surely also be a big contribution to any dungeon exploration efforts. Having decided on this, I immediately started planning out a DIY project.
“First of all, to keep everything out of sight of my neighbors, I’ll need a fence around my yard. In order to prevent rainwater from getting in, I’ll also need to install a firm lid on the entrance. Next would be the stairs and Safety Zone. The stairs are steep, so I’ll be installing handrails on the sides and rubber mats on the steps. Right, an unloader would probably also be a good idea. As for the Safety Zone, I’ll put in flooring and wallpaper, and confirm whether or not I can bring electricity in from outside. If I can’t, then there’ll be no choice but to prepare a few household batteries.”
My plan was to convert this Safety Zone into a work room. Installing appliances that would require a constant supply of electricity — such as a fridge — would probably be impossible, and I did not hold out much hope of getting an internet connection down here. Even so, doing normal work on a laptop shouldn’t be much of a problem. I could even put in a sofa for when I felt like taking a nap. And so without further ado, I went to start my car.
The home center happened to have the perfect thing for blocking prying eyes: fence slats 180 centimeters high and 90 centimeters wide that also came with all the associated nails and parts. Ten of these kits should be enough. Let’s also grab a bunch of artificial vines to block up the gaps.
Next, I proceeded to renovate my yard. I pulled out all the clumps of weeds, flattened the ground with a shovel, and then laid down tiles. As this would also serve to block out sunlight, I did not have to worry about the weeds growing back.
The dungeon entrance I surrounded with concrete bricks, before throwing a blue tarp over the whole thing. All this work took up pretty much the whole day.
“Never would I have imagined that my very first task would be to give a leg massage.”
After having brought a beach chair down to the Safety Zone, I then materialized Akane and had her massage my thighs and calves. Despite her complaint, she still obeyed my order. Probably thanks to her Sex Technique skill, she proved to be very good at it. She seemed to know just the perfect way to relieve my sore muscles.
“Would you like me to do something that feels even better for you, Kazuhiko-sama? I can help provide relief to something even hotter and harder. You can have your pick of my hands or chest. Or would you prefer my mouth...?”
Smiling seductively, Akane reached for my lower body with her white, slender hand. However, I made no noise of protest. She lifted her face, then sighed. The massage had felt so good that I had already fallen asleep.