-Aihara’s POV-
My name is Aihara. I used to work for the Ministry of Defense, but now I serve as the chief of the Osaka branch of the Dungeon Bureau.
At thirty-seven, I had risen to the position of planning officer at the Ministry of Defense, and many believed I was destined to climb further, possibly even becoming the vice minister someday. However, I fell out of favor with one of the senior officials, and before I knew it, I was sidelined from the path of promotion. Ten years ago, when dungeons first appeared, I was reassigned as the head of the newly established Osaka branch of the Dungeon Bureau.
In hindsight, perhaps that was a blessing in disguise.
I had dedicated my life entirely to work, yet my wife and daughter followed me to Osaka without complaint, even after the abrupt transfer.
Being removed from the high-pressure world of career advancement released a tension I hadn’t realized I carried. Now, I have more time to spend peacefully with my family.
The people I work with—whom I once regarded as fawning superiors, backstabbing colleagues, or opportunistic subordinates—now feel like comrades I can truly rely on.
Life had finally settled into a tranquil routine.
「Chief—there’s a request for a meeting with you」
It was my new secretary, Yamabe-kun, who entered my office.
Good grief. I had made it clear that I wouldn’t accept any sudden meetings after 4 p.m.
「Sorry, but my wife is making her specialty curry today. She’s been simmering it since yesterday, and it’s her masterpiece. If I miss dinner, it will ruin her mood. Can we reschedule this for tomorrow?」
I replied with a relaxed smile.
「The thing is… the visitor is Oshino Hime-sama. Apparently, she has something she’d like you to see—」
「Why didn’t you say that first?! What’s the availability of the reception room?!」
「The reception room is booked for a meeting with Representative Saito shortly—」
「Move them to the conference room! We’re going into emergency mode!」
I pressed a button as I spoke, triggering the sound of sirens.
Screams echoed from the hallway outside.
「Ch-Chief, what on earth is going on—」
「You’re a mid-career hire, so you probably don’t know. Do you understand who Oshino Hime is—」
「Yes, of course! She’s the chairwoman of Tenka Musou and Alpha of that legendary team, Messiah! I saw with my own eyes her epic battle against the Dungeon Seekers. She’s made countless contributions to this very bureau, the literal savior of the Osaka branch!」
「Exactly! And that’s the problem!」
What has she brought to this Dungeon Bureau so far?
A hammer that grants experience points without the need for combat, provided to us at a nominal price. Capture balls for taming monsters. The development and supply of a device that enhances low-grade magic stones into high-grade ones.
As Yamabe-kun said, her contributions are immeasurable.
But—she goes too far.
Each of the matters she brings is far too significant for a single branch of the Dungeon Bureau to handle.
She and her team have expressed their desire for these items to be used and distributed not through the Tokyo headquarters but here at the Osaka branch, where they can keep a closer eye on things. Naturally, Tokyo headquarters is less than pleased with this arrangement.
Ordinarily, it would fall on me to persuade Tenka Musou to entrust these matters to the main office. However, before I could even attempt such a thing, I received a direct order from Minister of Defense Uematsu to accommodate their requests as much as possible. Thus, my hands are tied.
The Osaka branch’s revenue has reached unprecedented heights, but at the same time, overtime hours have also surged to an all-time high. To cope, we’ve brought on many mid-career hires and new recruits like Yamabe-kun. Just as things were finally starting to settle down, they’ve come to visit us again.
Something is up. I can feel it.
「Call Sonoyama-kun.」
He was the one who handled the negotiations for the hammer that grants experience points. I want him to assist me this time as well. That’s what I thought, but—
「He’s on his honeymoon in France. Just earlier, he posted a picture of the Arc de Triomphe in the Dungeon Bureau’s social media group—」
「What? I haven’t seen anything like that.」
「Ah… my apologies. It might have been on the Discord group instead.」
I see. So there’s a separate social media group without the higher-ups.
It can’t be helped. I’ll have to handle this myself.
After all, we fought alongside them during the Dungeon Seekers incident.
The visitors were Oshino Hime and Ichino Taira.
Ichino-kun is a young man who calls himself Beta of the team Messiah.
He’s a Sharp Abnormal, an individual gifted with the unique trait of extreme luck. Yet, seeing him in person, he looks like any other high school student. Though he’s wearing a suit, it’s clear he isn’t used to it.
It’s less that he’s wearing the suit, and more that the suit is wearing him.
However—
(This is the man who defeated the strongest Saigo Suzuhara…)
Saigo Suzuhara, known as the strongest, is no weakling.
His power is undoubtedly real.
Even with the advantage of certain skills, defeating him isn’t something just anyone can achieve.
It’s not a feat a mere eighteen-year-old high school student should be capable of. But… I should stop overthinking this.
「It’s been a while, Chief Aihara. It seems Sonoyama-san isn’t with you today.」
Oshino greeted me with a gentle smile. Though she appears to be an elementary schooler in stature, she wears her suit impeccably.
The heiress of the Oshino Group and daughter of the legendary King Campbell.
She’s also a Sharp Abnormal in agility and possesses the unique skill of cloning herself.
「Sonoyama is on leave. So, what brings you here today?」
「We’ve brought an item we’d like the Dungeon Bureau to take into custody. It’s a rare and valuable one, so we’ve come to discuss how it should be handled.」
A valuable item, is it?
I’d heard about this beforehand but wasn’t told what kind of item it was.
「May I see the item in question?」
「Of course. Let me start with this.」
What she presented was a monocle.
This must be an Appraisal Monocle—a magical tool that functions like an appraisal skill.
While undoubtedly a rare item, it’s not entirely unheard of in Japan’s dungeons. If I recall, even the president of the Umeda trading post owns one privately.
If the only item she’s offering is an Appraisal Monocle, there’s no need for excessive caution.
The trading post’s purchase price for one was around 30 million yen, if I remember correctly. If she’s offering to sell it directly to the Dungeon Bureau, we’d gladly buy it.
「Ah, this is fantastic. The appraisal skill is highly valuable, after all. An Appraisal Monocle would be a great help. As for the purchase price—」
「Ah, please wait. The discussion isn’t over yet.」
With that, she began producing more monocles, one after another.
Ten of them in total.
This can’t be—
「Our guild, Tenka Musou, has succeeded in developing and manufacturing the Appraisal Monocle.」
「What!?」
「That said, it requires a lot of rare materials to produce. It’s not something that can be made cheaply, but—」
She listed the required materials.
They were indeed rare. While the Dungeon Bureau has some in stock, it’s only enough to make about three additional monocles.
To have gathered enough materials for ten—she must have leveraged the connections of the Oshino Group, or rather, the GDC Group.
If we were to procure the materials ourselves, one set would cost roughly 7 million yen. Considering the savings in fees and the effort spent hiring appraisers, it’s an incredible deal.
This year alone, the Osaka branch spent about 6 million yen on appraisal-related costs. Even if we bought each monocle for 10 million yen, we’d recoup the expense in less than two years.
We had been prepared to purchase a single monocle for 30 million yen, so this is nothing short of extraordinary.
Moreover, since we can’t secure enough monocles immediately, we won’t completely replace the need for appraisers, minimizing potential backlash.
…Still, this is no small matter.
If she’s offering these monocles to the Dungeon Bureau, that means our branch will have the authority to allocate them to other branches as we see fit.
Which branches should receive them first?
This provides an opportunity to earn significant goodwill from other branches or even secure certain favors in return.
In fact, if I play my cards right, this could be my ticket back onto the Ministry of Defense’s fast track to promotion—but no, let’s not entertain that thought.
「Thank you very much. We’ll promptly discuss a proposed purchase price for the Appraisal Monocles in a meeting. We’ll also need to inform the relevant departments and revise the budget, but we’ll do our best to accommodate your requests as much as possible.」
Given the track record of Tenka Musou, it’s unlikely they’d make any unreasonable demands.
「Aihara-san, there’s one more item we’d like you to see.」
Ichino-kun spoke as he produced a canteen.
A magical canteen, no doubt.
Considering they brought it here, it’s unlikely to be an ordinary one.
Typically, magical canteens dispense water when a magic stone is inserted. However, variants exist that produce tea, juice, seawater, and even more unusual substances. The flavor and type vary greatly—there’s even a canteen that dispenses crude oil. Ironically, the advent of magic stones rendered oil nearly worthless, making this canteen a money-losing item every time it’s used.
「What kind of magical canteen is this?」
「Please feel free to use one of our Appraisal Monocles.」
At Ichino-kun’s suggestion, I used the monocle—and was rendered speechless.
A canteen that produces healing potions…!?
This could revolutionize everything. Currently, dungeon-sourced healing potions sell for a minimum of 2,000 yen. Demand for these potions, capable of curing any injury, far outstrips supply.
And now, a magical canteen capable of producing them exists?
Magic stones have been in oversupply, causing their buyback price to plummet and leading to stockpiling issues and high storage costs, not to mention the discontent among explorers.
The magic stone fusion device alleviated some of those concerns by reducing storage expenses. But this canteen could shift the entire paradigm.
Depending on the quality of the potions it produces, this might allow the buyback price of magic stones to rise from the current 400–500 yen range. We’d also no longer have to endure complaints from pharmacies and hospitals about potion shortages.
Still, something feels off.
「Why would you share this information with us? This canteen is practically a goldmine. If you were to monopolize it, both wealth and prestige would be yours. The stable supply of potions is a global dream. Frankly, even if you only granted us the right to distribute the potions produced by this canteen, we’d consider it an incredible boon.」
There’s no way they haven’t realized this.
「What exactly do you seek in return for this?」
When I posed the question, Oshino-san’s lips curled into a sly smile.
What in the world do they want?
「What we desire is all of the D-cans that the Dungeon Bureau acquires from now on.」
「D-cans…?」
「Yes. We ask that the Dungeon Bureau purchase D-cans at 5,000 yen each and sell them all to us at the same price. Quietly, without public knowledge. If you can guarantee this arrangement, the rental fee for the magical canteen will be…」
The price she named for the exclusive deal was, once again, astoundingly low.
「Exclusive purchase rights…is it?」
Not just priority rights—exclusive rights.
And for D-cans, no less.
Given their contributions to the Dungeon Bureau, and considering that D-cans aren’t essential for daily life or exploration, granting exclusive supply rights shouldn’t be an issue.
At 5,000 yen each, the price aligns closely with the average auction rate. Without shipping or handling fees, it’s a fair deal. Dungeon explorers would likely bring future D-can drops directly to the Bureau.
On average, about 300 D-cans are produced daily, roughly 100,000 annually. Even assuming 80% are sold, that’s 80,000 D-cans a year, or around 400 million yen.
And they want to acquire all of it exclusively?
Why this level of interest in D-cans?
They’re notoriously difficult to open without extraordinary luck, and even when they can be opened, the contents range wildly from jackpot to junk—
I glanced at Ichino-kun.
The Sharp Abnormal of luck.
So that’s their angle.
It also explains the stream of rare items they’ve been able to procure.
「…Very well. For now, the Osaka branch will accept the purchase and exclusive sale of D-cans. As for the other branches, implementation will depend on the outcome of negotiations, so the timeline is uncertain—」
「Understood. Oh, and regarding the wholesale price for the Appraisal Monocles, 9 million yen per unit will suffice. We’ll leave some with you now, and we can settle the payments for sold units later.」
Nine million per monocle—far below our projections.
It’s clear Oshino-san intends for us to use these monocles to swiftly conclude negotiations with the other branches.
I began drafting contracts for the purchase of Appraisal Monocles and the leasing of the magical canteen.
To secure approval for Tenka Musou’s exclusive D-can deal from the Dungeon Bureau Headquarters, I’ll need to win over at least half the branch directors. Capturing the main fortress requires filling in the surrounding moat first.
Tonight’s overtime is inevitable.
It seems I won’t be able to enjoy my wife’s masterpiece curry either.
「Ah, Ichino-san. I need your signature on this document.」
「The contracts are signed by Hime—I mean, Oshino, so—」
「No, not for the contract. My daughter is a huge fan of Beta-san. I’ll prepare a autograph board if you wouldn’t mind signing it.」
「If that’s the case, I’d be happy to.」
Ichino-kun graciously signed the board.
With that, I had my ace for winning over my daughter.
Now, all that remains is apologizing to my wife and choosing the right moment to play my trump card.
Tenka Musou’s Contribution Value: Significant Increase.
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