「So, what do you want?」
That day, as I was relaxing at home, Danpol showed up.
It wasn’t a sudden intrusion.
He rang the doorbell properly, and on top of that, he even brought a box of sweets.
A 24-piece box of Toraya’s bite-sized yokan.
Did he choose it knowing that Mom absolutely loves ‘Yoru no Ume’?
「Jumping straight to business, huh? I wouldn’t mind some tea first, though.」
「Did you really think I’d welcome you?」
Sure, in the Elf world, Danpol saved me.
Without him, my activities there would have come to a halt, and I’d have been completely stuck.
But that was the Danpol of the Elf world—not the Danpol of Earth.
Does he even realize how many people have died because of him?
One person perished in the Expo Park Dungeon, a large number lost their lives in the Stone Stage Dungeon, and during the simultaneous Black Dungeon conquest worldwide, Hime’s siblings’ group was partially wiped out.
Apparently, he’s now the principal of an academy, but I have no idea why the world has forgiven him.
There’s barely any criticism of Danpol online—almost suspiciously so.
Could the information be censored?
What happened to freedom of speech?
「I just had something I wanted to ask you.」
「…Ah, I see.」
After all, I’m supposedly this world’s hero.
And I managed to travel to the Elf world.
Of course, Danpol would have questions.
But I had no intention of answering for free.
In exchange, I’d be getting information from him.
Resources? I couldn’t care less.
If he’s not sharing, then neither am I.
「Listen, Danpol. I—」
「I wanted to discuss ideas for the school festival.」
「—am not about to give out information so eas… Hmm? School festival?」
Was that some kind of code?
Or was he just messing with me?
「You see, I’m the principal of Dungeon Academy, right? So, I want to make the festival a grand event. But with only four students in the Exploration Department and two in the Production Department, we have a total of just six students. Even if we set up stalls, at best, we’d manage two. So, I thought I’d step in this year.」
「How the hell would I know? Talk it over with your own students!」
「Well, you see, my students actually respect me. To maintain that dignity, I need to pull off something spectacular, something new, so they can continue to be proud of their principal.」
「Then why not ask King-san? You two get along, don’t you?」
「Hahaha, if I did that, he’d kill me again. Besides, King’s assigned partner is my clone, and I don’t have command authority over that clone, so it’s impossible.」
Hah… a school festival, huh.
「It’s Dungeon Academy’s festival, so why not just offer a dungeon experience? There’s got to be plenty of people who’d love to try a dungeon where they won’t die.」
「Haa…………」
Danpol let out a deep sigh.
What’s his problem?
「Dungeon Academy already does that every Saturday and Sunday, accepting a limited number of guests by lottery. That’s not a new idea at all.」
「How the hell was I supposed to know that?」
People affiliated with the EPO corporation can use Dungeon Academy freely without going through any lottery.
「Besides, a school festival draws hundreds, even thousands of people. There’s no way we can handle that many.」
「Can’t you just add more entrances? There’s no rule saying you can only have one, right?」
「You sure know a lot.」
「That’s how it was in the Elven capital.」
「Did Her Majesty tell you that?」
Wait a second—does Danpol not know that I’ve been to the Elf world?
The Elf world… huh?
That means—
「Hey, Danpol. Remember when you used the world’s memories to recreate another world? That was pretty fun.」
「Are you suggesting I recreate another world for the festival? That’s impossible. There’s nowhere near enough energy.」
「No, it doesn’t have to be an actual other world. What about creating something that just looks like one? A ‘virtual otherworld summoning’ or something?」
「Virtual otherworld summoning… Hmm, that does sound interesting. I’ve heard that isekai summoning is pretty popular in Japan… Yeah, setting up NPCs would be a hassle, but as long as I have the data, it should be possible. I’d like to learn more about isekai summoning. With my frame of reference, I’d probably end up making something like the Kojiki story where Izanami crosses Yomotsu Hirasaka to the underworld.」
「That’s definitely not what we’re going for… and I’m not exactly an expert on this stuff. Hold on.」
I pulled out my phone and made a call.
After a few rings—
『Ichino. What’s up?』
「Hey, Aoki, you said you read a lot of isekai novels, right? Are you pretty knowledgeable about that stuff?」
『Of course! What, you wanna talk about it? I’m down, let’s go!』
「Ah, no, I just wanted to ask you about it in person. Also, mind if I bring someone along?」
『Huh, Ichino introducing a friend? That’s rare. Sure, bring ‘em over.』
Alright, that should do it.
Once I get some basic info, I’ll just dump the rest on Aoki.
-0-
「What the hell did you bring with you?!」
Dungeon Academy School Festival Arc—Coming Soon?
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