Book 2: Chapter 43

Book 2: Chapter 43

Chapter 43.

An hour after the selection began, Tenji's name was finally called.

Only four participants were left in this square in front of the red brick warehouse. Tenji, without looking at them, knew they were the team he was going to test with.

Tenji felt a little gloomy.

[Huh, I kind of feel wrong about this. Why am I picked at last?]

Just as Tenji thought, the other remaining participants looked at Tenji with hostile eyes. He was wearing the uniform of Japan Explorers High School.

And so, they walked into the multiple tents before the gate, just as Kujo had said.

After the three of them entered, Tenji also went under the tent. He saw a board marked "Entrance."

The tent was large and seemed to be made up of large military-style tents that were connected horizontally for a long time.

As soon as he entered the tent, Tenji saw a white gate and some oil slick from the sub-dungeon. Apparently, the tent was set up in this location so that he could dive through the gate directly from this tent.

Inside, nearly ten regular Chariot members were going about their businesses. Godo was also there, staring at a document on his desk with his glasses on.

Then there was one professional explorer who greeted the four members of the 26th group with a huge smile.

"Hey hey, are you guys the last of the 26th group? I'm Fukuyama Yohito, a member of the guild [Chariot]. I'm a second-grade explorer and I will be joining you as your examiner and captain, so please look forward to it."

Fukuyama smiled with a fresh, handsome smile and tried to win the heart of a woman in the 26th group - Rikka Tachibana, a 19 years old college student.

Of course, Rikka didn't feel wrong about being looked at so passionately by her respected seniors.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

There, Godo coughed a lot.

"Oops, sorry about that. I'm a sucker for cute girls. I'll explain the test, but first things first... I'm going to ask you to sign a contract, so take one from the table there and sign it. Give them to Mr. Godo. Now! Hurry up! Move!"

Without showing any remorse for his previous behavior, Fukuyama quickly pushed the four test participants and led them to the table where the contracts were placed.

There were four contracts and ballpoint pens on the table. The four of them skimmed through the contract details.

[There doesn't seem to be anything unusual about this. It just says that the test contents from here on out must not be shared with anyone other than Chariot's guild members. Anyone who breaks this rule will have to face punishment or penalty. That doesn't sound like a problem.]

Tenji quickly judges that it is a perfectly fair contract and signs it with his practiced hand in the signature line.

There are many opportunities to sign a contract like this when you are an explorer. That is why there is even a lecture on contracts in the first year of high school.

Tenji had experience looking over and signing contracts as a luggage carrier, so he looked up before the other three and went above Godo sitting in a chair.

"Godo-san, please."

"Oh, Mr. Tenji. Good luck to you. I'm only here as an examiner so, I can't give you any advice but, in terms of field experience alone. There are very few people who can compete with Tenji-kun... I have high hopes for you."

"Are you sure you don't have any questions about the contract?"

When all four of them had gathered again, Fukuyama threw such words at them.

No one asked any questions, and Fukuyama nodded yes.

"Then I'll explain about this test briefly."

Rikka Tachibana, who was right next to him, gulped.

Kusatsu Gouta - a 22-year-old college student-- and Mizue Katsunari - a 17 years old senior in high school - The two men in the group also turned more serious.

"This sub-dungeon is riddled with prolific monsters. What's even more special is that it's also a private room type dungeon. Therefore, the test you guys will be doing is to conquer one route of a fifth-grade sub-dungeon. That's all, any questions?"

"Oh, uhm... Can I ask you something? What are prolific monsters are?"

"May I call you Rikka-chan?"

"Yes!"

"I'm sure you're a regular college student..." he said. "That's not very deep in monster knowledge, is it?"

"Excuse me?..."

"I didn't know the first thing about monsters when I joined Chariot! I was just a nobody to begin with."

Tenji saw Rikka and Fukuyama's white teeth shining bright.

And Tenji was surprised by that fact, Fukuyama said. He wonders how good someone who is originally a nobody can be selected for Chariot's A-team.

"Nobody?"

"Yeah, well, we'll talk about that in the sub-dungeon, but let's get back to the subject. I mean, I'm the one who went off topic! Haha, sorry, sorry. So, fertile monsters, as the name implies, are monsters that give birth to a large number of children and create a succession of subordinates, so to speak, having characteristics like ants."

"Is it like ants?..."

Rikka clearly had a look of dislike for insects.

"But don't worry, it's not insectoid this time. Normally, new monsters don't re-pop in sub-dungeons, but they can spawn. So, it is advisable to attack sub-dungeons with prolific monsters as soon as possible. However, this time I dared to leave this sub-dungeon for about a month."

They abandoned it for a month.

There was no one who didn't know that fact, or rather, it was easy to guess from the context.

At that moment, the tension between them increased several notches.

"Well, the early answer is that you're going to show me how you're going to take on a sub-dungeon crawling with monsters." Fukuyama said again.

Fukuyama's white front teeth sparkled a bit.