CH 127

“Nice to meet you. My name is Kizaki.” (Shiki)

It didn’t take long to find the child I was looking for. As expected, the child was a high school student and was much quieter than I had expected.

It seems that he has no intention of becoming an explorer and is currently writing a book for the literature club. I didn’t get a chance to read it, but I was told that it was in the genre of science fiction. He said he was inspired by the information about dungeons that is updated daily on the Internet.

When I asked him if he wanted to make an old-fashioned RPG if it was a dungeon, he said that he had thought about it a few months ago. However, he gave up because the kind of setting he came up with was somehow similar to the real dungeons that exist on earth today.

He had researched the dungeon first, and said that he is without talent, he could only cut and paste what he saw.

But I guess that’s not true. If my guess is right, then the boy’s ideas were not influenced by the dungeon, but by his own thoughts. And I am convinced that my guess is correct.

My children, friends, and the top explorers in Japan, I used the skill [Resonance] on them with and without their permission.

I don’t know if I have the right to call it parental love, as I left my children behind because they were my children. It was a skill that I used out of my single-minded concern for Touka and Haruka, but it was a skill so powerful that even the two of them, who had grown tremendously without anyone knowing, didn’t notice it.

The magic power that shifts with use is so subtle that only the most skilled person would notice it if they were paying full attention, and I know that once it is used, there is no way to notice it.

That kind of skill didn’t work on the boy I’m facing. The “resonance” reached the boy properly. Realizing that a connection had been made between myself and the boy, I tried to check his status.

Of course, he hadn’t become an explorer. Not being in a dungeon, this boy has no status. By nature, humans do not have status, and it only appears the moment they step into a dungeon.

It’s easy to see what happens when you try to see the status of someone who doesn’t have a status. All statuses are displayed blank. The name, level, and skill are blank.

But the boy was different.

His level was 28, his Proficiency was [Sword], and he had three skills that you often see. It was safe. At first, I thought the boy was hiding the fact that he was an explorer. There are examples of people who are not explorers but still have the status.

There may be dungeons like my children’s that the country is unaware of. And he also has an unconfirmed dungeon. I couldn’t believe that there was only a single dungeon that was born so late and it only appeared at my children’s place.

I would investigate whether the boy in front of me was a registered explorer after I finished my story. As I paused to catch my breath, a column at the top of the status bar caught my eye.

It was a column labeled [Name]. Sometimes it was just a first name, sometimes a last name, and sometimes a full name. And although few, there are cases where it’s just the nickname.

The name written in the boy’s column was “Satou”. I had heard that it was the most commonly used surname in Japan. If I didn’t know the boy, I wouldn’t wonder anything about this status.

However, the boy’s name was definitely not Satou. There was no way that Satou was a nickname, and people whose names were not their real names, such as nicknames, were generally people who usually called themselves by other names. This did not apply to the boy.

“Excuse me, I’d like to ask you again, have you ever been in a dungeon before?” (Shiki)

The boy shook his head. He didn’t seem to be lying. I’m not observant enough to see through everyone’s lies, so there’s a good chance I’m being deceived. I believe that it is dangerous to assume that you can see through other people’s lies.

Besides. I can’t for the life of me believe that this boy is fighting a monster with a sword.

At 28th level, he’s not that high. Many people who are unsuited to be explorers quit before they reach level 10, and even if they don’t, many people feel unsafe and quit by level 20. 28 is one step beyond those barriers. It’s only one step ahead, but when you’ve reached that point, you’re pretty good at exploring.

You can run around the dungeon, look at your enemies and friends, and wield a large blade that you would normally avoid wielding. The first and most basic wall of an explorer.

I don’t think the boy is beyond it.

Therefore, I came to the conclusion.

“So it’s being disguised?” (Shiki)

“Huh? I’m sorry, can you repeat that.” (Satou?)

Fortunately, what came out of my mouth was not heard. I immediately laughed to cover it up and told him that it was time to go. This time had been arranged through the high school the boy attended. It was after school and the boy had important club activities to attend to. [T/N: The Satou I know is OP God-like and a lolimagnet.]

“Thank you for your time.” (Shiki)

I greeted the teachers who showed me around and left the school.

Touka and Haruka are certainly strong. There is no one in the world who is stronger than my children. Even if they were, they could probably be counted on one hand. But they are still weak.

The most important key to making the dungeon safe is the boy I was talking to a few minutes ago.

“Hello, I’ve met the boy you spoke to the other day. We should be able to assume it’s true. Oh? You’re not done yet, are you? There’s no hurry, no need to hurry, at all. Though, I want to get this done before my son and daughter are in danger. Sorry to bother you.” (Shiki)

No one knows the truth behind the dungeons. However, there were several men and women who are approaching it. [T/N: Shiki may be a piece of sh*t father but he still cares in his own stupid way. I really want to see his status.]