Chapter 15: Ryo and Streaming and Dungeon Difficulty

Several days after the scouting trip.
Saturday.

Ryo and Kaoru had finished their preparations and arrived at the Musashi Provincial Capital Ruins Dungeon.

It was a historic site beside a large shrine.

Vermilion-painted pillars stood in rows where building columns had once been.

Next to them was a small building that served as a modest exhibition hall.

The exhibition hall itself had free admission and simply displayed materials about the site, along with the remains of old structures preserved in the floor.

However, now it was no longer accessible without an explorer’s license.

Which made sense, because within a hollow of the historic site, an earthen staircase gaped unnaturally open.
That was the dungeon entrance.

The two spoke to the staff at the exhibition hall entrance—formerly an unmanned archive, now guarded due to the dungeon’s appearance—and descended the earthen stairs into the dungeon.

They began preparing in a slightly spacious hollow that felt like an entrance area.

“The stealth difficulty itself is low, so I think it’ll be fine, but please handle the drone settings and control carefully,”

“I know.
I won’t slack on that.”

Kaoru nodded as he took the drone from his bag and let it float.

“You’re wearing that coat this time.”

“Yeah.
It’s durable, and it has lots of pockets, so it’s easier to stash weapons and gear.”

“You don’t store spare weapons in your SAI?”

“I do.
But pulling them out of the SAI always has a bit of lag, so if I need to act instantly, it’s easier if they’re already in my pockets or holsters.”

Wearing a black coat with a large collar that hid his mouth, Ryo moved his body slightly to check the fit.

“And if combat breaks out, depending on the opponent, I might need to get a bit serious here.
Even a small lag could be fatal.”

That was why he was fully equipped.

“When you look like that, you really seem like an assassin.”

“Assassin… not bad.”

“And your fighting style fits too.”

“True.”

Ryo reacted as if he had just gained tremendous insight, and Kaoru smiled wryly at the sight.

“Anyway, let’s get started soon.”

“Okay.”

The announcement on Warbler had already been made.

As usual, Okado Dia reacted with lightning speed and rewove it.
It had been less than a minute, so she was probably glued to Warbler.

One week later, the second stream began.

Ryo turned to face the floating drone camera.

Kaoru gave him a signal from behind the camera, and Ryo nodded back.

After a brief pause, Ryo spoke his greeting.

“Ah, hello.
It’s Ryo.

It’s been a week.
How has everyone been?”

As usual, the greeting was stiff and awkward.

: He’s here
: Long time no see
: Still stiff lol
: Bad with set phrases?

Even so, the viewers’ reactions were not bad.

: From Dia’s Warbler
: From rampaging Dia
: Came to see why Okado Dia is losing it

“Thank you to everyone coming from Okado Dia’s Warbler.

And thank you to Okado Dia as well for the RW rewave on Warbler.

But Dia, hearing what’s going on over there makes me a bit worried…
Are you okay… you know… in general…?”

: She might already be done for…
: Her manager scolded her last week too
: So she’s getting scolded again today?

“I see.
So she’s not okay…

Shall we have a moment of silence before moving on?”

: Moment of silence lol
: No, why a moment of silence
: She’s rampaging from the afterlife apparently lol
: Sounds like she’d be eating grass in the grasslands lol
: Warbler’s going to be noisy again today

It might be better to leave it alone rather than worry too much.

Thinking that as he read the comments, Ryo moved the topic along.

“Now then, today’s dungeon is—”

: By the way, you’re dressed in black
: With that blank expression, total assassin vibe
: Cool in a chuuni way

“We’re at the Musashi Provincial Capital Ruins Dungeon.”

: Where?
: Dunno lol
: Where’s that?

“It’s a dungeon in Fuchu City, Tokyo.

It appeared at a historic site next to a large shrine called Okunitama Shrine.”

: So it’s the Okunitama Dungeon
: You should’ve said that first

“Ah… about that, I need to correct something in everyone’s knowledge.

I know that name is commonly used, but—”

Seeing the expected reaction, Ryo raised a hand to pause them.

He then explained that there was, for specific reasons, another location officially called the Okunitama Dungeon, making this name inaccurate despite its common usage.

“So if we call this place the Okunitama Dungeon, there’s a risk of confusing it with the actual Okunitama Dungeon, so I’d appreciate it if you could avoid that.”

: I’m an explorer and I didn’t know that
: If that’s the case
: Got it

Once the viewers seemed satisfied, Ryo returned to the main topic.

“So today, I’m hoping to show you a scene that’s unique to dungeons.”

: Isn’t exploration itself unique?
: Isn’t that normal?

“I expected that reaction.

But it’s not monster sleeping faces this time.
I want to show you something like dungeon nature.”

: I kind of get it
: So scenery that’s different from exploration or battles
: True, we don’t usually pay attention to backgrounds

“This time I’ll also be moving mainly with stealth, but if combat happens—

There are a lot of tough enemies here, so my equipment is heavier than last time.”

: That’s why the black outfit
: Assassin style
: With stealth, it feels like a spy
: Chuuni goodness
: Feels like a child soldier trained from a young age
: He uses knives too
: Isn’t his looks also a weapon?

“Sounds like I’m being praised, which is embarrassing.”

: Bet he likes it
: You like that outfit, huh
: Expressionless but looks happy, cute

“Oh, right.
By the way, does everyone know about dungeon difficulty ratings?”

: The A and S stuff?
: Wasn’t it like A5 beef?

“That’s it, that’s it.

Basically, the difficulty of exploring the dungeon itself is ranked from A to E.

Harsh environments like deserts or extreme cold, complex mazes, or lots of hard-to-solve puzzle-like gimmicks raise the difficulty rating.

And the strength of the monsters that appear in the dungeon is rated from one to five.”

: Exploration difficulty is hardest at A
: Monsters are strongest at 5, right
: There’s no S, by the way
: AA does exist though

“Thanks for the extra info.

The Tamagawa Sandbank Dungeon from last time is officially rated D-2.

Considering Sharkdiles, you could argue for a 3, but you can reach the deepest area without fighting them.

The dungeon layout is a maze, but not a complex one, so E wouldn’t be strange either, but the danger of encountering Sharkdiles bumps it up to D.

If you just cut სავight through Sharkdile territory straight to the boss, it might be more like E-3.”

: So that dungeon is low difficulty
: Sharkdiles really stand out
: That still sounds rough
: They start swarming near the end there