Volume 1 Chapter 1 A World with Dungeons (I)
"Hey, Takeru"
"Huh...?"
Thud!
"Ugh!?"
Classroom... before homeroom.
I was about to sit down to get ready for class when suddenly someone called out to me from behind.
Then, as I turned around, I was hit in the face out of nowhere.
"Hey, hey, watch out! You said you really wanted to learn the fighting skills of a Seeker 'no matter what', so I'm helping you practice!"
"W-What!?"
The guy who hit me, Sagawa, said this with a grin on his face.
Of course, I never asked for that.
"That's right, Takeru~! You said you wanted to get stronger, right? Come on, get up!"
Hearing this, I was lifted by Sagawa and his 2 friends, and they forced me to stand up.
"Come on, get ready"
"N-No, but..."
"Don't hold back (grin)"
"...Okay"
I got the hint and took a fighting stance.
"Oh, you look determined!"
"Good job, good job! Good luck, Takeru!"
Sagawa's companion said so, and the scene of 2 friendly students 'playing around with each other' was created.
Of course, this is an excuse to hit me.
But if I don't go along with it, I'll be called back later and beaten up.
So, in the classroom, I had to force myself to fit in with Sagawa and the others.
"Here we go, here we go!!"
* * *
"Hey, Yuki... Why did you say you wanted to learn martial arts from the Seeker Sagawa? It's only natural that you would get hurt if you said something like that!"
"...Yes, sorry"
I was just called by my homeroom teacher and was in the student guidance room.
"Sagawa is certainly a high school student who became a famous seeker, so I understand why you admire him. However, I don't think it's right to try to curry favor with a famous person like Sagawa."
"...I'm sorry"
"I know you want to be friends with celebrities, but have a little more discretion! Stop acting so recklessly and reflect on your actions!"
"...I'm sorry..."
Sagawa and I were seen as a 'group of friends who always hang out together,' as our teacher said.
But really, people thought I was 'forcing myself to stick' to Sagawa's group.
Sagawa is a 'seeker' who makes a living by exploring dungeons, which everyone dreams of doing.
Plus, he is still a high school student.
Normally, you can only become a seeker after turning 20, but if a high school student like Sagawa has talent, they can also become a seeker.
So, those who can be 'high school seekers' like Sagawa are very valuable, and not just the school, but even the government values them.
Because of that, more people started using 'overwhelming power' to take over schools like Sagawa does.
In fact, this has been pointed out as a social problem, but the government wants to 'secure excellent seekers,' so they pressured the media not to cover the 'bullying problems of high school seekers.'
Of course, the media also followed the government's wishes and rarely covered social problems caused by seekers.
As a result, Japan became a country where terrible seekers could run wild.
* * *
'Dungeon'
It is a mysterious underground structure that appeared 20 years ago, before I was born.
Currently, there are 120 dungeons known around the world.
By the way, the reason this was called a 'dungeon' started when people on the Internet whispered that it was something they often see in fantasy worlds.
And even now, 20 years later, we still don't know the cause or reason for its appearance.
Even now, there are many mysteries surrounding these underground structures, but the emergence of the dungeon has brought great benefits to mankind.
That's because the ore found in the dungeon was a substitute for the energy that turned into oil.
The ore from that dungeon is called 'magic stone'.
This was also born from the Internet.
Of course, this is an analogy to a fantasy novel.
Then, the appearance of the 'magic stones' that became an alternative energy to oil greatly affected the world's power balance.
And the place that benefited the most from this was... Japan.
Until now, Japan had no energy resources, but after the dungeons appeared, the amount of 'magic stones' was much higher than in other countries, and the mines for these stones were located in the middle layers, 10-15 floors, much closer to the surface compared to other countries. Because of this, Japan discovered and explored magic stone mines and extracted alternative energy from them before anyone else in the world.
Afterwards, Japan, which succeeded in getting its energy from magic stones, announced to the world that it would completely stop importing energy like oil, coal, and natural gas, which had looked down on them before.
In response, energy-exporting countries like those in Europe, America, the Middle East, and Russia protested. However, because many other countries that were not energy exporters strongly said, "we should definitely use this!" for the next generation clean energy 'magic stone energy', the protests quickly died down.
By the way, it was clear to everyone that the protesting energy-exporting countries really wanted to promote and use 'magic stone energy', so their protests were just out of 'jealousy'.
Countries that only had magic stone mines much deeper than Japan mainly had to rely on imports from Japan, while buying magic stones from explorers who defeated monsters.
In this way, Japan became the world's number one 'energy superpower' in terms of magic stone reserves, mining, and exports.
As a result, the world's power balance was forced to change greatly.
Until now, the relationship with 'America', which had been mocked by other countries and its own people as 'an outwardly friendly alliance but in reality just a puppet state', became 'an equal alliance or even more' after the dungeons appeared.
Initially, America was reluctant to accept Japan's attitude, but like other countries, America had limited reserves of magic stones, the next generation energy source. As a result, America was forced to rely on imports of magic stones from Japan, and it was no longer possible for America to dominate Japan as a vassal state as it had done before.
And so, it became recognized as equal with other countries... like Britain, Russia, and China, allowing for proper diplomacy.
That said, Japan still has some weak points.
This was because of another gift from the dungeons to humanity.
Another gift from the dungeons... is the appearance of 'levels', 'skills', and 'statuses' which are called 'human evolution', and this leads to Japan's weakness as an energy power... a 'shortage of seekers'.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Donate me
Support Me with USDC
(ERC20)
Support Me with XLM
(Stellar Lumens)