Madness of the Blue Blood Labyrinth - Chapter 9
We were supposed to meet at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the entrance of the Explorer Support Association’s Kofu branch.
Yet Rize showed up about fifteen minutes late.
“Yawn… Good morning.”
“You’re late.”
“I spent too much time on my makeup. Should’ve said noon instead.”
We’re about to go fight creatures, so why even bother with makeup?
Whatever. I won’t question it. Men and women are fundamentally different beings, with entirely different thoughts and values.
“Alright, let’s get changed into our gear. See you back here in five minutes.”
Five minutes in girl time means twenty.
Yoshida said that once. Makes sense now.
And yeah, it really was twenty minutes.
I usually ignore most of what that playboy says, but maybe I should start listening to about twenty percent of it from now on.
“Alright, let’s go.”
According to a famous researcher—forgot the name—the entrances to dungeons, known as dungeon gates, are considered some kind of interdimensional portals. Most of these gates are located within Explorer Support Association buildings.
Or rather, they build the Association’s facilities around the dungeon gates to keep an eye on them.
So once you’ve suited up in the changing room, you can head straight into the dungeon.
Not that any of this really matters to me right now.
“Where’s your gear?”
“I don’t have any.”
Rize, carrying a massive, ominous scythe almost as tall as her, and wearing a skintight, belt-heavy black racing-suit-style outfit, looked at me with a puzzled expression.
I can’t say much, considering I came completely unarmed, but is that outfit even protective? Seems questionable.
“Why?”
“I’m broke.”
My current total savings, including what I made from my last dungeon run, is about 400,000 yen. Barely enough to buy an entry-level gear set, if that.
Creature-resistant gear, made from special materials with unique crafting methods, is ridiculously expensive.
Besides, I don’t even know what to buy.
The Association mainly handles the sale of dungeon resources and Explorer gear.
Since the staff are government employees, everything is done by the book. They only give you standard explanations, so asking for recommendations is pretty much pointless.
If there were any former Explorers among the staff, it might’ve been different, but there’s no such luck at the Kofu branch.
That’s exactly why I sought out Rize in the first place.
“You should’ve gotten at least some basic gear during your training, right?”
“You mean that ugly leather armor and the toy sword? It was so lame I refused to take it.”
“…I get it. Honestly, I never used mine either.”
That hideous design looked like something straight out of an ancient video game from a hundred years ago.
They said it could stop a bullet, but there’s no way I was ever going to wear it.
And when I looked it up later, it turned out it’s almost useless against creatures from the sixth level of the Kofu Labyrinth onward.
I even saw a video of a giant wolf snapping it like a rice cracker. Seriously, don’t just let creatures dispose of your junk because you don’t want to deal with it.
“I became an Explorer to enjoy life. At the very least, I’m not going to do anything Explorer-related that’s not fun.”
“There’s always that one guy who’s off in his own world, doing things in the most bizarre way for fun…”
Say whatever you want.