Before checking Hime’s status, the four of us gathered for a meal.
Time feels strange inside the PD, so we’ve established a strict schedule for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and sleep.
「Not feeling eating curry?」
「Yeah, curry is…」
「It’s delicious, but…」
「Not today.」
We’ve eaten curry for nearly half of our time in this dungeon.
The magical water flask (filled with curry) produces an exquisite curry that’s incredibly tasty. We’ve enjoyed it in many ways—over rice as curry rice, on bread as curry bread, or even mixed with broth for curry udon.
It’s as good as its name suggests: exquisite curry.
On top of that, the flask has a dial on the side, allowing you to adjust the spiciness from sweet to level ten spicy. Truly a well-thought-out design.
So why aren’t we eating curry today?
We’ve had it every day.
We’re tired of it.
I mean, how does Kuro eat the same dog food every day without getting bored? He’s still eating it happily.
In the end, the four of us settled on Cup N〇dles for dinner.
I had suggested having a fancy meal for our final night, but that idea was shot down—it felt too much like a ‘last supper’ and bad luck. Instead, we opted for something simple yet comforting for our worn-out bodies.
We poured in the hot water and waited.
And then—
「「「Itadakimasu!」」」
Ayame, Milk, and I all opened our Cup N〇dles lids and said it at the same time.
It was about two minutes after we added the water.
「You know, I’ve noticed this before, but people from Osaka really don’t wait the full three minutes.」
Apparently, Hime was the type to wait exactly three minutes.
「If you wait three minutes, the noodles get a little too soft towards the end.」
「Papa starts eating after just one minute.」
「Yeah, my dad and brother are the same… Actually, I’m the same. If I’m impatient, I’ll dig in after a minute too.」
Today, because we were eating together, I waited the full two minutes. But honestly, I wanted to start at one minute.
At just over a minute, the noodles are still slightly crunchy. And that’s surprisingly good. By the time you’re finishing, they’re at their perfect texture.
After we finished our Cup N〇dles, we rounded off the meal with some canned bread, freeze-dried salad, and brought our stomachs to about 80% full. We also took some vitamin supplements to fill in the nutritional gaps.
The minister had given us a stash of food, which included a lot of supplements. Hime, being used to taking supplements regularly, explained how to make up for missing nutrients.
But, honestly, I was starting to miss regular homemade food.
Once we finished eating, it was time for the second half of the status check.
We all looked at Hime’s stats.
――――――――――――――――――
Oshino Hime: Level 84
Exchange Value: 777,777D (Rank: 1015 [JPN])
HP: 998/998
MP: 0/0
Attack: 854
Defense: 776 (+7)
Dexterity: 869
Agility: 2101 (+520)
Luck: 78
Skills: Center of Attention, Swift One, Bunshin, Kinshitsu Souwa, Basic Dagger Arts, Off the Mark, Lightning Fast, Fleeing Hare, Advanced Dagger Arts, Preemptive Strike, Golden Straw Sandals
――――――――――――――――――
Her agility stat is as ridiculously high as ever.
Despite its misleading name, Off the Mark is actually a highly effective skill that increases her evasion rate against long-range attacks.
Lightning Fast temporarily boosts her agility.
Fleeing Hare increases her agility whenever she tries to distance herself from an enemy. Clearly, most of her skills revolve around agility.
Preemptive Strike is another of her skills, allowing her to deal more damage to enemies during the first ten seconds of combat.
This skill also perfectly complements Hime’s fighting style.
Lastly, Golden Straw Sandals is a skill that boosts the growth rate of her agility.
She acquired this skill when she reached level 80, and it’s a little terrifying to think how much faster she’ll become from here on out.
Her luck stat is also the highest among the three of them, which is another noteworthy trait.
「With buffs included, your agility is actually higher than Takeuchi-san’s now.」
「True, but he probably has his own buffs and equipment to boost his stats. He’s not japan’s number one just for show… But still, Golden Straw Sandals… Taira, what do you think?」
「What do I think about what?」
「You know the saying: ‘A man should wear golden sandals to seek out an older wife.’ Well, here I am—an older wife with actual Golden Golden Sandals.」
「Older? It’s only a one-month difference!」
「Oh, and yet, you were so passionate when you said I’m the one you rely on most.」
…Guh!
Bringing up what I said during my confession now? That’s just unfair!
I mean, it was in the moment—well, I did mean it, but…
「Hime, until this battle is over—」
「You promised no jumping ahead, didn’t you?」
「Th-this doesn’t count as jumping ahead!」
Milk and Ayame chimed in with smiles, gently scolding Hime.
「Alright, next up is me.」
I showed my stats to everyone.
――――――――――――――――――
Ichino Taira: Level 84
Exchange Value: 777,777D (Rank: 1016 [JPN])
HP: 2989/2989
MP: 310/310
Attack: 1497 (+149)
Defense: 1387
Skill: 1256
Agility: 1299 (+129)
Luck: 2318
Skills: PD Generation II, Presence Detection, Basic Swordsmanship, Basic Concoction, Detailed Appraisal, Hellfire Magic, Inventory, Monstrous Strength, Fire Magic, Stone Throw, Heat Up, Basic Spearmanship, Reflect Magic, Substitute, Treasure Up, Fairy Circle, Kinshitsu Souwa, Water Magic, Advanced Swordsmanship, Gale, Neverending Battlefield, Lucky Punch
――――――――――――――――――
I have the fewest new skills among us.
It’s nice that I gained Water Magic, but it doesn’t really mesh well with Fire Magic. I still don’t understand why I got it.
However, it does combine well with Ayame’s lightning magic—when I soak enemies with water, it seems to make her lightning spells even more powerful.
Gale is a skill that boosts agility by 10%, and when I got it, Hime was a little envious.
Neverending Battlefield grants buffs the longer a battle lasts, increasing my stats by 1% for every minute, up to a maximum of 60% after one hour.
But it resets as soon as the fight is considered over.
Finally, Lucky Punch increases the chance of landing a critical hit based on my luck stat. With a formula of luck × 0.05%, that means my current luck stat gives me a guaranteed 100% critical rate. If my luck exceeds that, it doesn’t make any difference. On a critical hit, the damage is doubled, and 10% of the remaining damage, after accounting for the opponent’s defense, bypasses their defenses.
Well, that’s about it—
「That’s not a big deal.」
「How can you say that?!」
「What are you even talking about?!」
「You’re too much!」
I got scolded.
「Your luck stat is insane. It’s skyrocketed since the last time I saw it.」
「Yeah, it’s been growing even more lately.」
「‘not a big deal’… Your stats are nearly double mine at this point, aren’t they?」
Hime compared her stats with mine, noticing the huge disparity.
It seems my luck-driven advantage is getting more and more pronounced.
「Even with all this, I still can’t beat Takeuchi, right?」
「Our opponent has been diving into dungeons for ten years straight, and even before the dungeons appeared, he was already a martial arts master. Sure, we have PD to help, but we haven’t even been training for a full year. There’s no way we can catch up that easily.」
Hime sighed.
「Well, considering we managed to break through twenty floors in such a short time, it’s already an impressive feat. Normally, they say it takes at least five years to get that far.」
That’s true. Thanks to the fivefold monster appearance rate and the magic power recovery service from Danpon, we hardly wasted any time. Our D-Coins also piled up significantly. For luck’s sake—and because we were a bit delirious from all the PD training—we synchronized all our exchange values to 777,777D. But we still have a mountain of unexchanged D-Coins left.
If we exchange all those, it’s certain all four of us will break into the top 1,000 ranks. Not to mention, if we sell all the rare items we’ve collected, we’ll be filthy rich.
…Oh right, our savings already exceeded a billion yen, and if we complete this mission, we’ll get another 3 billion.
「Training ends today. Once we rest up here, it’ll be time to return to the surface.」
I checked my pocket watch.
It was Sunday, 12:25 PM. Five minutes until our meeting with Minister Uematsu.
In PD time, that’s 500 minutes—8 hours and 20 minutes.
Plenty of time to rest. I was about to lie down on the bed when—
「Alright, alright, no napping until you’ve had a bath and brushed your teeth! We’re almost out of shampoo, so grab some more.」
Milk pulled off the covers, stopping me from collapsing into bed.
We had received plenty of daily supplies from Minister Uematsu, including things like toothbrushes and other necessities. And since we had the magic water flask, it made sense to keep up with hygiene.
I opened the box of supplies and, as expected, found a certain… rubber product inside.
That guy really thinks of everything…
I grabbed the shampoo and turned around to see that the girls had already started taking their clothes off.
「Wait, what are you all doing?」
「There’s no changing room, so we’re just stripping here.」
「The bathroom’s in the next room.」
「If we undress in there, our clothes get all damp, which is super annoying.」
They each chimed in with their reasons for stripping down right here.
Yeah, I get it—clothes do feel nasty when they get damp in the bathroom, even if you leave them on a shelf.
「Wait, that’s not the point… wasn’t it supposed to be my turn to take a bath first today?」
That was the plan, right?
But then Milk said:
「Since it’s the last day, we decided we’d all bathe together.」
「It’s not like it’s the first time we’ve bathed together. At this point, there’s nothing left to feel embarrassed about.」
「W-we’re practically married, after all.」
「Yeah, but… tomorrow’s the big battle. I’d really like to relax and calm my nerves tonight. Can you understand that?」
I looked around, hoping for some support.
「I don’t understand.」
「I don’t get it.」
「I have no idea what you mean.」
All three of them answered with bright smiles.
-0-
Back in the real world, at 12:29 PM, we exited the PD and opened the door to the prefab shed. Minister Uematsu was already waiting for us.
「Did you all rest well yesterday?」
「「「Yes, thank you.」」」
「Yeah, pretty well, thanks.」
We’d gotten six hours of sleep. That’s good enough.
The four of us accompanied the minister back to Ikomasanjo Amusement Park, and as we walked, he filled us in on what had happened.
Apparently, Danpol had leaked information to the media about the global simultaneous black dungeon raids.
Our personal details hadn’t been exposed, though.
I have no idea what Danpol’s thinking.
「And another thing—I’ve prepared some equipment for you. Let me explain.」
The most powerful equipment the Japanese government can provide, huh?
I’d almost forgotten about that.
The type of gear we receive could drastically change how difficult this black dungeon raid will be.
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