D-Genesis: Three Years after the Dungeons Appeared Volume 1 (eBook)

Kono tsuranori (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022
250 Seiten
Publishdrive (Verlag)
978-1-7183-5140-0 (ISBN)

Infos

Three years ago, dungeons suddenly appeared on Earth after an experiment in Area 51 went awry. Now everyone-from average citizens to soldiers-explores these monster-filled labyrinths in search of wealth, power, and magic.

Keigo Yoshimura is an office worker with no sense of adventure, who dreams of quitting his job to live the easy life. While out on a business call, he stumbles on the birth of a new dungeon and accidentally gains a magical skill that turns subterranean exploration into an RPG. Things spiral out of control and Keigo winds up as the world's top explorer.

With help from Azusa Miyoshi, his mathematically gifted colleague and new business partner in dungeon diving, he might be able to turn the status screens he sees into piles of cash. Unfortunately, Keigo ends up under the scrutiny of the military, government agencies, and even more sinister forces. What happened to his dream of taking it easy?!

Textauszug

Chapter 01: And So, We Quit Our Jobs

September 27, 2018 (Thursday)
New National Stadium, Vicinity of the Aoyama Entrance

“It just had to rain now, didn’t it?” I muttered, watching the droplets pound against the windshield.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, I’d parked my car on the side of the road. Although autumn had deepened, the heat index inside the vehicle was rising.

“So, did everything go well?”

The cause of the skyrocketing heat index posed this question in a displeased tone from the other side of my hands-free phone call. The voice belonged to Yoshitake Enoki—my boss, for better or worse.

After a mistake in his management had angered a client, he’d sent me—a lowly employee—to apologize. No wonder the client doubted his sincerity.

“No,” I replied. “Looks like they’re terminating the deal...”

“What?! And just how did you apologize to them?”

In response to such a serious incident, you sent out someone else to do your grunt work, and you expected anything less? Are you an idiot? That’s what I wanted to ask. What I really, really wanted to ask.

“I hear what you’re saying,” I replied instead. “Even so, I wasn’t directly involved in this situation.”

Sure, various departments used me at their convenience, but I was a researcher, more or less. This was a sales job. Furthermore, I hadn’t been given a sufficient explanation for the situation. Until I met the client, I hadn’t known the problem was a failure in product development due to a misuse of DGB-2473.

“What are you talking about?” Enoki asked. “Your team created the materials, right?”

Huh? Where do you get off saying that? You’re the one who sold the materials to be used in an environment outside the guaranteed range.

“But aren’t there annotations about DGB-2473 in the user’s manual?” I asked. “If used outside the guaranteed environment, it won’t produce the specified values. That much should be ob—”

“Did you explain that to the sales department?”

No, I didn’t. Still, before carelessly claiming that something is usable, you should at least read the instructions for the materials you’re selling.

“No, not directly,” I answered.

“In that case, this is your team’s mistake.”

On the other end of the phone, Enoki ranted about proper business protocol. Ugh, I’ve had enough of this guy.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“You’re sorry? In other words, you’re admitting that this is your screwup. You really are useless. We’re done here. Since you lost such an important client, I’ll be docking your pay. Don’t expect any bonuses either.”

What? I wasn’t even involved in this mess. This is all thanks to your crappy management!

Just as I tried to voice my complaints, Enoki hung up. Figured.

I sighed. This was all so absurd. A dock in pay? No bonus? What had Enoki been on about? “If we succeed, it’s all thanks to me; but if we fail, you’re to blame.” How did a guy like that end up as anyone’s boss?

“Then again, he’s probably gotten that far ahead because he’s that sort of person...”

If you merely looked at his profile, he had an amazing work history.

“Ugh, I feel like dying.” I sighed again. “How am I supposed to go back to work...?”

The rain pounding against the roof of my car grew louder. When I turned on the engine, cheerful music started playing on the radio. Perhaps I could raise my spirits, even a little. Gripping the steering wheel with one hand, I lifted my index finger to tap out the song’s rhythm. As I turned on the windshield wipers, the music suddenly cut off.

“Huh?”

“Breaking news,” the radio announcer said. “In America, a mid-depth dungeon has finally been captured!”

“Incredible!” someone else replied.

It sounded like this development had caused quite the stir within the news studio. Hearing that a mid-depth dungeon had been captured didn’t mean that much to me, but apparently it was important enough for a news flash.

“There must have been some incredible items inside a mid-depth dungeon,” noted someone in the news studio.

Three years had already passed since dungeons first appeared in the world. The initial chaos had died down, and exploring dungeons had become as commonplace as fishing in slightly dangerous locations. Defeating a monster sounded dangerous, but the act itself wasn’t too different from hunting or fishing. To some extent, each of those activities posed life-threatening risks.

Maybe diving into a dungeon and having one of those “adventures” would help me blow off some steam.

While considering this, I started the car. This area—located around the outer gardens of Meiji Shrine—boasted many structures related to the upcoming Olympics. Even now, construction had started on several large buildings.

As the rain picked up momentum, the sound of water pounding against the rooftop resounded throughout my car.

“Given that it’s been three years since the dungeons appeared, this feels like a long time in the making,” said the radio announcer. “Today, we welcome dungeon researcher Haruki Yoshida. Thank you for being here, Mr. Yoshida.”

Haruki Yoshida, huh?

I’d heard that name a lot lately, but I was skeptical of him being a researcher. After all, no one knew his dungeon rank. Did he even dive?

“Thank you for having me,” replied Yoshida.

“The mid-depth dungeon was captured in Denver, Colorado—part of Area 36. Known as Evans Dungeon, it was discovered in Summit Lake on Mount Evans, and it’s been said to contain thirty-one levels. What are your thoughts on the matter, Mr. Yoshida?”

“Only a small number of minor-depth dungeons, which are up to twenty levels, have been fully traversed. As such, this is quite the accomplishment.”

“I see. Incidentally, what exactly is a mid-depth dungeon?”

“Great question. So far, about eighty dungeons have been discovered throughout the world, and for the sake of convenience, they’ve been classified into three categories: minor-depth, mid-depth, and massive-depth.”

“I’ve heard the term ‘deep underground’ before, but that doesn’t appear to be in use here.”

“Correct. ‘Deep underground’ was originally an MLIT term—that is, a term used by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism. For MLIT, ‘deep underground’ was used to describe a concept related to subterranean utilization. Therefore, it wasn’t suited to dungeon classification, and to prevent misunderstandings, new terms were created.”

“I see.”

“Dungeons are defined by their number of floors. Those with fewer than twenty-one are minor-depth, and those with fewer than eighty are mid-depth. Anything with more than that is a massive-depth dungeon.”

Actually, I’d heard another rumor. As a result of various military-funded dungeon dives, the boundary at which small arms became ineffective had been used to determine the classifications.

“Well then, despite being mid-depth, Evans Dungeon isn’t very deep, is it?” the announcer asked.

“No, it’s hard to say anything for certain, as these classifications are merely for the sake of convenience,” replied Yoshida. “For starters, we still haven’t identified a massive-depth dungeon that meets this exact definition. To give an example, the Self-Defense Force’s countermeasures team has reached the twenty-first level of Yoyogi Dungeon in Tokyo. Thus, we’ve confirmed Yoyogi to be a mid-depth dungeon or higher, but...”

“Until we descend farther, we won’t know the actual number of levels?”

“That’s right. If twenty-one or more levels are found during an actual descent, we know the dungeon to be mid-depth. However, very few dungeons have been captured to such an extent. Seeing as no one has reached level eighty, we don’t know whether such a floor exists in any dungeon.”

“I see. So, it’s possible that dungeons are only thirty-one levels?”

“Until someone reaches the thirty-second level, that remains a possibility.”

“However, it’s been announced that there are five minor-depth and four mid- to massive-depth dungeons in Japan. How do we know this?”

“Those are merely estimates. Right now, by measuring a particular sort of vibration that occurs during the formation of a dungeon—otherwise known as a dungeon tremor—we can estimate the depth of the underground space occupied by the dungeon. The JDA refers to this as ‘dungeon depth,’ expressing the number in meters.”

“Incredible.”

“Because Japan is such an earthquake-prone country, we already had Hi-net and GEONET in place when the dungeons first appeared. By comparing the records of those systems, we were able to estimate the approximate depth of known dungeons. Even so, the insides of dungeons are mysterious spaces. In reality, we don’t even know if there’s a strict relationship between the number of levels and a dungeon’s depth. ‘If the occupied area has a great depth, there...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 7.7.2022
• Reihe/Serie: D-Genesis: Three Years after the Dungeons Appeared
• Reihe/Serie: D-Genesis: Three Years after the Dungeons Appeared
• Illustrationen: Kono tsuranori
• Übersetzer: Kono tsuranori
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: adult protagonists • Dungeons • Light Novel • Military • Science Fiction • Slice of Life
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-5140-2 / 1718351402
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-5140-0 / 9781718351400