Several sets of special-fiber innerwear, combat boots, a camera for streaming, and a magic bag with a capacity equivalent to roughly two shipping containers—this last one had been the most expensive.

Altogether, it came to eleven million yen.

Of course, the exact price would fluctuate. If anything, it would probably skew higher. Even so, Tooru decided to accept the investment.

In the end, if he was going to explore dungeons, he was going to need all sorts of things anyway.

If that was the case, then maybe riding along with a strange young lady he found oddly likable wasn’t such a bad idea—so he thought. To put it plainly, that was all there was to it.

Besides, while people might show up trying to sell him things, he doubted investors would conveniently keep appearing in the future.

Normally, they would be far more condescending about it. A rich person scamming a poor nobody who’d been a cleaner just days ago—there were probably countless ways to do that. If the other party were truly cunning, Tooru wasn’t confident he could tell. So, he figured this young lady would do. If he was going to get swindled, he’d rather it be by this blonde drill-haired girl.

So then—what was Kujou Reiko getting out of this investment?

“I would like the right of first refusal on dungeon-produced items other than the magic cores that Toorubro-sama acquires. Of course, I have no intention of purchasing them at unfairly low prices. I shall buy them at market value—or even above market value. And since it is merely a priority right, it is not absolute. There may be times when you wish to give such items to someone else, after all, and in that case I have no objections whatsoever. If you are simply selling them to whoever will buy, then I would like you to think, ‘I shall ask the Kujou house,’ something along those lines.”

“Uh… that’s it? That really makes a ten-million-yen investment worth it?”

“To be perfectly frank, it is an extraordinary bargain. Naturally, I mean for us. In fact, I did consider investing a much larger sum, but after taking into account Toorubro-sama’s current… frothy assets, I set the amount at a level I believed you could accept without undue strain. That said… I would not mind investing more, you know?”

Ohohoho, Kujou Reiko laughed, every inch the refined young lady, leaving Tooru with nothing but a wry smile.

By Tooru’s “frothy assets,” she must have meant the money he’d gotten from selling the dragon scales and such to Anthem after saving them at the start. The transaction amount hadn’t been made public, but anyone who knew what to look for could probably guess.

Even if everything fell apart, he could just pay the money back. She had invested an amount he could realistically return—that was her idea of kindness, perhaps, though he wasn’t sure.

Then again, strictly speaking, with an investment, even if the recipient failed after sincerely trying, they weren’t obligated to repay it… which meant this was probably consideration for his feelings.

“Honestly… I can’t shake the feeling that even ten million is too much to give a guy who was a bottom-tier cleaner until just recently. I know I probably did things that justify that level of investment, but… emotionally, it doesn’t quite sink in.”

“It truly is an exceptional bargain. For us, this is an exceedingly profitable investment.”

“Well, it did make me feel like I should at least make sure you get your money’s worth.”

“I have absolutely no concerns regarding the profits Toorubro-sama will generate. Of course, should we judge that our gains are excessive, we will consider additional investments. In fact, I am quite certain that will be the case.”

“Man, even her smug face is kinda nice.”
“Wow, Tooru-bro’s being surprisingly decent, huh?”
“Hard to believe this is the same guy who was losing it on that elf.”
“Hey, M’lady—what about Tia-tan? Nothing for her?”

“Ah, of course. How careless of me. I ought to give Tia-sama something as well… perhaps not an investment, but at least a token of goodwill, something to mark our acquaintance.”

The way she said it—so casually, like she’d simply forgotten—made Tooru a little uneasy. If you lined up a dragon-slaying swordswoman and a former cleaner, there was no question which one should carry more weight.

In fact, Anthem’s manager, Hamamatsu Nanami, had unconsciously looked down on Tooru as well—and he could fully understand why.

Yet despite that, Kujou Reiko seemed to regard Tooru as the principal and Tia as his attendant.

It wasn’t so much that she had carefully reasoned it out and decided on her attitude after thorough analysis—rather, it felt as though she had instinctively seen through the positions and relationship between Tooru and Tia.

Well, even if one were asked what kind of relationship it actually was, all that could be said was that they were the one being possessed and the one doing the possessing, and that they hadn’t even known each other for a full week yet.

“I don’t need anything,” Tia said. “I’ve already got a weapon, and armor too.”

“Oh? In that case—Jouichirou. Bring the thing, Pattern C.”

“Roger that~”

With an astonishingly casual reply, the butler reached into his pocket—or rather, it seemed he had a magic bag attached like a gun holster—and pulled out a square box wrapped in paper.

With the same deftness one might expect from a stage magician, he unwrapped it, opened the box, and presented its contents for Tia to see.

“What’s this?”

“Nine Line’s dungeon manju,” Kujou Reiko explained. “These are matcha-flavored dough, honey, lemon, and mandarin orange. As for the fillings, we have chunky red bean paste, white bean paste, apple jam, and cream.”

“Huh? I don’t really get it, but if you’re giving them out, I’ll take one. You already opened it anyway.”

“By all means. Please help yourself. I shall have one as well.”

“M’lady, mind if I grab one too?”

“My goodness, you are a butler. Do show at least a modicum of restraint. Matcha will be acceptable for you.”

“Gotcha.”

“Mmm! This is good! Tooru! This is really good!”

“lol”
“What kind of stream is this even.”
“Not answering any questions for Bro at all lol”
“Tia-tan eating manju is cute too though.”
“Even the tea feels scary now.”
“Look closely, the butler’s already pouring tea.”
“Damn, he’s competent.”
“Tooru-bro’s eyes are dead lol”

“Uh… I mean, I don’t really mind, but are they always like this?”

“M’lady’s streams are usually dungeon exploration.”
“She doesn’t do much casual chat.”
“Product promos are usually done inside the dungeon too.”
“You probably don’t know, Tooru-bro, but she’s seriously dungeon-crazy.”

“Ah… sorry. I’m a total casual, so I don’t really get how amazing she is.”

“Other than Anthem’s Kagurazaka Chizuru, she’s the youngest A-rank explorer.”
“Chizuru has state backing, so you could say she’s got training wheels on, but M’lady’s the real deal.”
“Not saying Kagurazaka Chizuru isn’t legit though.”
“Apparently she’s been doing dungeon runs since she was a loli, hiring escorts.”
“Heard she used to chug high-grade potions whenever she got injured.”

While Tia and the others were eating manju and drinking tea, Tooru sipped at the black tea Jouichirou had prepared earlier, quietly chatting with the viewers in the comment section.

He was aware of it himself, but Tooru wasn’t particularly good at interpersonal communication. Whether it stemmed from an inferiority complex born of his circumstances or was simply his personality, he didn’t know—but when people tried to get close, he felt an urge to pull away.

I’m not the kind of person you expect me to be, he wanted to say.

When it came to Anthem’s members, Tooru felt he had managed to keep exactly the distance he intended.

On the other hand, he hadn’t been able to do the same with the cat beastkin mother and daughter next door. The mother, in particular, had come on far too strongly toward Tooru—and because there had been nothing in it but friendliness, he felt like he couldn’t properly push her away. As for her daughter Mika… rejecting a child that young outright was difficult in itself. With the elf Irselia, by contrast, he didn’t really need to hold back, which made things easy—aside from the fact that she annoyed him.

In that sense, Kujou Reiko might be exquisitely balanced.

She would close the distance without hesitation, yet never push beyond what was necessary. One moment it felt like she was simply indulging her own curiosity; the next, she seemed to be guiding Tooru forward. And yet, in that guidance, there was no sense of selfish desire. At the same time, her initial approach to Tooru had clearly been driven by personal satisfaction, and she was also making investments to gain profit.

That was far more trustworthy than someone who acted as though they didn’t care about gains or losses at all.

Especially when she showed Tooru—of all people—unquestioning respect.

Ordinarily, Tooru wouldn’t have felt any fondness for someone who casually proclaimed that “dungeons are fun”… and yet, for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to dismiss Kujou Reiko as just a frivolous rich girl. There was something about this young lady—something that made him hesitate to spit contempt her way.

“By the way, Toorubro-sama. Do you have some time? If you are amenable, after we take care of a few matters, would you care to go dungeon exploring together?”

She said it as if it were an offhand remark in casual conversation, and the tone was so light that Tooru took a moment to process the meaning of her words.

“I mean, yeah, I said that’d be fine, but… right after this?”

“Yes. I did say that I came to tell you that dungeons are fun, did I not? In that case, once we end this stream, how would you feel about doing a dungeon exploration stream on your channel next?”

She said it with a beaming smile—like she was inviting a friend out to play.

Faced with such guileless enthusiasm, Tooru let out a wry chuckle without thinking.

“Well, sure, I guess. Which dungeon were you planning on?”

The reply came instantly, without the slightest hesitation.

“Why, the Sugai Dungeon, of course!”

◇◇◇

The dungeon-exploration gear provided by the investment—innerwear, combat boots, and the magic bag—were put on first. After some thought, Tooru chose his usual work clothes as his outer layer. He had declined dungeon outerwear on the grounds of cost, but when it came to clothing suitable for dungeon entry, workwear was all he really had at the moment. He’d probably get called “worksite bro” again, but he didn’t care.

The streaming camera he’d been given was the latest model, and its operation wasn’t complicated. It had been simplified enough that even Tia could use it if shown how, and linking it to his mobile terminal allowed him to connect it to his personal channel on the video platform in about two minutes.

Since he was at it, he also created an SNS account to promote the channel. Growing tired of the hassle, Tooru handed the mobile terminal to Tia and gave her a rough explanation of how to use it. He more or less told her to look up the finer points herself—or ask the viewers later—but Tia simply nodded cheerfully, offering no complaints.

They left the run-down apartment behind and were given a ride in the rental car Kujou Reiko and Kashizaki Jouichirou had arrived in. As the butler took the wheel and they set off, Tooru realized—only now—something important.

“Come to think of it—can we even enter the Sugai Dungeon after the Dungeon Stampede yesterday? The local dungeon branch office is physically gone, isn’t it…?”

“Ah, that’s already been cleared on our end. I got personal permission from the Dungeon Agency, so there’s no problem. They have to dispatch explorers anyway to investigate a dungeon after a Stampede. It’s possible the local dungeon division hasn’t been fully briefed yet, but that’s about it,” Jouichirou explained.

Though the roads were unfamiliar and the land unknown, the butler drove the rental car as if he’d been commuting this route for ten years.

“Hey, hey, Reiko. I managed to do that follow thing, right? Oh—and this is a follow-back! Ehehe… it’s kind of nice, isn’t it?”

“Ohohoho. Then that means I was the very first to follow both Toorubro-sama and Tia-sama. Let’s see now… ‘Pleased to work with you!’—there we go.”

“Oh! A reply came in! Ahaha! So it’s not just videos—you can interact with text like this too. Wow… this world really is amazing.”

For some reason, the holy sword wielder and the young lady were sitting side by side in the back seat, giggling excitedly.

“Officially, we’ll be entering under the pretext of an A-rank explorer conducting a post-Stampede dungeon investigation. I’ve already downloaded the maps published by the Dungeon Agency, so what we’ll be checking is whether the actual terrain has changed and whether the monster spawns have shifted. There’s no way the Sugai Dungeon is still D-rank, so depending on how things shake out, it might turn into a very profitable dungeon for this city.”

“In that case, I can quit being a cleaner without any lingering regrets.”

“Either way, you wouldn’t be able to keep that job for long,” the butler said. “By the way, what’s the status of your explorer license, Bro-san? If it’s still provisional, we’ll register you as an accompanying member and go in together.”

“Ah… I forgot about that. Hey, give me the terminal for a second.”

“Huuh? Fine, I guess.”

Tia handed over the mobile terminal with a smile, her reaction oddly reminiscent of an elementary school kid. Rather than feeling annoyed, Tooru found himself letting out a wry smile instead.

He knew his own temperament well—he had a narrow emotional tolerance, and whether the other person was male or female, he disliked these kinds of bothersome intermediary steps. And yet, for some reason, when it came to Tia, it didn’t bother him.

In any case, he took the device, passed biometric authentication, and checked his ID information. His explorer license was still provisional. Now that he thought about it, he’d been told something along the lines of “submit a magic core and your full license will be issued,” but with all the chaos surrounding the Dungeon Stampede, the paperwork was probably backed up.

No—he hadn’t even submitted a magic core in the first place. The one he’d picked up during the Kamioka Dungeon run was still inside Anthem’s magic bag.

“Yeah, still provisional,” Tooru muttered. “And with both the Sugai Dungeon and the Noumi Dungeon branch offices destroyed, can you even process that kind of paperwork right now?”

“The Kamioka Dungeon’s branch office is still standing, even though the dungeon itself vanished, so processing is technically possible. Plus, the city hall has a dungeon division too—you can handle procedures there. Besides, your license issuance is already tied up with Anthem-related matters, so the Dungeon Agency should process it on their end. They’re probably just behind.”

For today, we’ll treat you as our accompanying member, the butler added lightly.

Works for me, Tooru thought, handing the terminal back to Tia—though it was technically his to begin with.

And while all that back-and-forth was going on, they arrived at the Sugai Dungeon.

No—they arrived at what should have been the familiar Sugai Dungeon, now a place he no longer recognized at all.

The dungeon branch office of the Sugai Dungeon—where Kawai Sakiho used to sit at the reception desk every day wearing a bored expression—had been utterly destroyed, and the remains had been left exactly as they were. The asphalt of the parking lot had been violently torn up, and Tooru’s kei car was still sitting there as well, its front end completely crushed and abandoned. The passenger-side door was gone; it should have been lying a few hundred meters away somewhere, yet for some reason he hadn’t spotted it along the way.

Recalling something, Tooru opened the rear door of the scrapped kei car and retrieved his trusty rebar bludgeon from inside. Because the frame had been warped, the door would never close again—but that was fine.

If they charged him for removal costs, he decided he’d complain to Section Chief Sadoyama. It felt like something he could probably take care of.

“That’s your weapon of choice, huh, Bro-san.”

The butler said it without any particular emotion. He himself carried nothing that looked like a weapon, and he was still dressed in a black suit.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. This suit’s custom-made. Same goes for M’lady’s dress. Also, if you hand over the streaming camera, I’ll handle filming.”

I’m used to it, he added casually. There was no hint of like or dislike in his tone. Objectively speaking, a precious young lady was eagerly getting involved with some sketchy former cleaner of unknown background, yet the butler didn’t seem to feel much of anything about it.

“Uh… Kashizaki-san. Just to check—don’t you think you should be against your important young lady hanging around with a weird guy like me…?”

“No, not really,” Jouichirou replied. “If anything, it’s rare for M’lady to take an interest in other people. She keeps tabs on explorers, sure, but actively going out of her way to get involved with someone? This is probably the first time. Honestly, I thought it sounded like a pain in the ass—but if she wants to do it, I don’t have the right to say no.”

Taking the streaming camera from Tooru, Jouichirou ran through the final checks with practiced ease, then gave a dry, humorless smile.

“Ah—just to confirm. For this run, are all the magic cores and rare drops our side’s share? We could split them evenly if you prefer.”

As for the distribution, Kujou Reiko had declared before departure—wearing a smug grin and breaking into loud laughter—that “You may take everything, Toorubro-sama!”

She probably really didn’t need the money.

Whether she had money to spare or not, she had prioritized what she wanted to do—teaching Tooru how fun dungeon exploration could be—over whatever profit a single dungeon run might bring.

“No, no, that’s totally fine,” Jouichirou said. “Just the fact that you went along with M’lady’s unreasonable request makes me want to thank you. She’s never invited anyone along before. Like, seriously.”

“…Was she a loner?”

“As a rich young lady, she’s completely outside the norm—and as an explorer, she’s far too strong for someone her age. There’s no way any classmates could keep up with her. People assume she runs with a clan sometimes since she’s A-rank, but honestly? She’s a hardcore loner.”

The butler let out a dry laugh.

For just a moment, Tooru almost felt sorry for her—but when he thought about it, he couldn’t really figure out what he was supposed to sympathize with. In the end, it just meant she’d been doing whatever she pleased. Poor thing, couldn’t make friends? That would be none of his business.

“Shall we enter now, Toorubro-sama? Jouichirou. I’ll leave starting the stream to you as well—if that’s all right?”

At some point, Kujou Reiko had already moved to the dungeon entrance. She was now wearing silver gauntlets on both hands—more like knuckle guards than armor, weapons in their own right—and she clashed them together with loud clang, clang sounds as she spoke.

“Alright then, let’s go, Bro-san.”

“Uh… yeah, sure. Call me whatever you like.”

Looking up slightly at the grinning butler, Tooru felt a sense of half-resignation and shrugged. It was a hassle to make him change how he addressed him.

In the end, at this point, Tooru knew next to nothing about Kujou Reiko or Kashizaki Jouichirou. He’d more or less been swept along to this place, but so far, he didn’t regret it. If anything, he was content to keep letting himself be carried by the flow.

—Dungeons are fun?

That was something Tooru had never thought, not once, right up until now. He hadn’t even been standing on the stage where such a question could be asked. When he occasionally saw explorers on TV or SNS, all he felt was a vague sense of wishing them good luck out there.

That he would be doing something like dungeon exploration himself—just a few days ago, he’d never even imagined it. Every day had been the same: endlessly hunting trash mobs that spawned in the upper floors of a D-rank dungeon, getting moderately tired, then going home. And that had been fine. Perfectly fine.

“Come now, let us begin the stream—and then the exploration. Toorubro-sama, Tia-sama, are you both ready?”

Watching the blonde drill-haired young lady beam with what looked like genuine delight, Tooru could only let out another wry smile. He wasn’t straightforward enough by nature to believe so cheerfully.

But still—yes.

She said she would teach him, so he would let himself be taught.

She had boldly declared that she would guide him, so he would let himself be guided.

If she could—then make him believe it.

That dungeons were fun.