The story about the sea dungeon spread like wildfire. It is a dungeon where you can catch fish after all.

Fishing in the current seas is a life-or-death ordeal. You have to defeat the monsters that appear from the ocean while trying to reel in a single fish. You also need to fend off creatures that go after the bait. Nets are easily destroyed by monsters, and if you send out a fishing boat, you’re risking it sinking.

As a result, only highly skilled explorers can even think about eating fish. The price? It would likely cost as much as a stack of cash equal to the fish’s weight.

But the Shallow Sea Dungeon is different. You can catch seafood, and the monsters on the first level are weak. Not weak for explorers, but weak even for regular people.

So naturally, they rushed to register as hunters as soon as people heard about this. The Hunter Guild was soon packed with people, and the atmosphere was that of a festival.

…Many of them struggled with the difficult exams though, having to retake them multiple times. Some people simply paid the entry fee to go fishing.

Yes, it was a rare dungeon that allowed regular people to enter, thanks to the lack of danger and the abundance of fish. Rumors began circulating that this was one of the results from the Underground District’s experiments aimed at expanding humanity’s territory by securing resources.

“Wow, look, I caught something! Some sort of fish!”

“What’s the name of the fish?” 

“No idea, but it’s definitely a fish!”

“Do fish have legs?”

A man was happily raising a squid he caught. None of them had ever seen fish before, so to them, squids and shellfish were all “fish”. People lined up along the beach, fishing just like those men.

“Ice, get your ice~! Cooler boxes for sale~. Only 10,000 Ele per box. If you don’t keep your fish cold, they’ll spoil quickly~.”

“Will this spoil too, mister?” 

“Of course. If you don’t invest in a cooler now, you will look like a fool later.”

A curious child held up a piece of kelp, and the crafty merchant Krita nodded seriously before selling them a cooler. 

He was making a killing, as always, selling cooler boxes left and right, laughing all the way to the bank.

“We’ll buy your fish in bulk! Our store pays the highest prices!”

“I buy them for more than this guy.”

“We buy them individually, one by one.”

A crowd of merchants gathered, fiercely competing to buy the freshly caught fish. With demand so high, more and more merchants appeared every day, all eager to sell fresh fish to people who had never tasted it before.

Krita would have normally joined the fish-selling game, but without a shop or capital, he could only grit his teeth in frustration.

The white waves lapped at the sandy shore, where an area labeled the “swimming zone” was sectioned off. It was still early for summer, but the beach was crowded with people enjoying their first-ever beach trip. Soon, the ever-charitable Krita will probably open a beach house in the swimming zone.

With low humidity, the hot sunshine, and the refreshing sea breeze, everyone was experiencing their first resort-like vacation.

One girl in particular was also enjoying the sea.

“Salty… Water being salty is impossible, so this dungeon’s ocean must be a special one. Maybe it’s modeled after an environment outside Earth.”

The girl licked the seawater not knowing that seawater was salty, and smiled happily. Just one line was enough to recognize that this is the pitiful girl, Tsurugi Touka.

That figure of hers with water up to her ankles, and her hand running through her hair, made her look like a beautiful sheltered girl if she didn’t talk… If she didn’t talk.

“My first ocean. Dry feels like melting into carbon dioxide.” 

Floating on an inflatable ring with a Pomeranian-like Spirit on her head, Dry drifted along with the waves, enjoying the cool water and the buoyancy.

“Oh, sharp comeback, Dry-chan. Did you finish getting ready for your transfer?” (Touka)

“Passed the test. All that’s left is attending.” (Dry)

“Wow, I heard the transfer test is pretty tough! Impressive!” (Touka)

“Yeh, but as long as you treat it like training, it’s not that hard. Starting to enjoy studying more and more.” (Dry)

“If it were to study alien languages, I would do my best to learn though… The current education system is just terrible.” (Touka)

“Earth’s language is part of the universe too, so can’t we call it an alien language?” (Dry)

Dry tilted her head slightly, making a witty remark.

“I don’t need that kind of wordplay, Dry-chan!” (Touka)

Touka huffed in anger, unwilling to let the “alien language” excuse slide. She still wasn’t in the mood for studying, even though her future held a scenario where she’d beg Dry for help with makeup exams after receiving the results of her finals. But not knowing the future, she focused on enjoying the beach day.

“Oh, caught a fish.” (Dry)

Dry lifted her hand while still floating on her ring, pulling in a fishing net filled with various sea creatures that wriggled and flopped around.

“Ooh, that completes our Hunter quest, right? We each had to submit ten fish.” (Touka)

Indeed, the two of them had taken on a Hunter quest.

“Think we’re good. Once we turn this in, we get 5,000 Elemetal. It is different from Ele, but what is it used for?” (Dry)

They both tilted their heads, puzzled by the unfamiliar reward.

“It’s probably an item you can exchange for Ele. I bet there’s a shop next to the Hunter Guild that does it. Let’s go submit our fish!” (Touka)

“Good idea. Divide these up.” (Dry)

They split the fish between them: sea bream, horse mackerel, sardines, Spanish mackerel, squid, sea urchin, octopus; everything was “fish” to them. Once done, they headed toward the Hunter Guild.

“We can walk around in swimsuits outside, right?” (Touka)

“Should be fine. Getting hotter. Maybe make this our regular clothes?” (Dry)

Touka wore a black two-piece swimsuit, and Dry wore a frilly pink one-piece. Neither of them planned to change out of their swimsuits.

◇◇

Sandals slapped against the ground as they walked to the Hunter Guild, but they didn’t mind the gazes they attracted. Some people gulped as they watched water trickle down the girls’ skin, but without any hostility or danger in the air, Touka and Dry simply ignored them with a peaceful mindset.

“The Hunter Guild is so crowded now. There was no one here  just a little while ago.” (Touka)

“Even lonely cry of crickets echoed loud and clear.” (Dry)

“Do crickets even exist?” (Touka)

They were a bit taken aback once inside the Hunter Guild. The place that had been empty just days ago, where rabbits yawned in boredom, was now packed wall to wall.

“Well, at least the delivery counter isn’t crowded.” (Touka)

The adjacent counter, designated for delivering goods, was empty. Because rewards were paid in Elemetal -a currency no one could use- no one was taking those quests.

Naturally, Touka, who couldn’t resist something interesting, had dragged Dry along to take the quest, since they’d soon be classmates.

They figured they could submit their quest easily since there’s no line, but…

“Huh? Someone’s lining up here.” (Touka)

“Yeh, someone we haven’t seen before.” (Dry)

At the counter, a small girl was pressing something against a rabbit’s cheek.

“It’s impossible-usa~. We can’t exchange that-usa~.”

“You can. You definitely can. If not now, then when? Now’s the time. Let the true power of rabbits shine.”

“Even if I reached the peak of a rabbit, that still can’t be exchanged-usa~.”

The girl and the rabbit were having a heated argument, with the rabbit looking unusually troubled. Touka, who loves trouble more than her 3 meals of the day, couldn’t resist stepping in.

“What’s going on? Uh…little girl?” (Touka)

Touka trailed off mid-sentence.

“Whoa, a super pretty girl. The only other girl I’ve seen this pretty was Libra-chan!” (Touka)

The girl turned around at Touka’s voice. Her long, glossy black hair resembled the feathers of a crow, flowing down her back. Despite her dignified features, there was an innocent and adorable charm to her. She looked like she could be an idol. However, for some reason, she wore bunny ears and a bunny suit, which on her small frame gave off an air of guilty pleasure.

“Wow, beauty!” (Dry) 

Dry echoed Touka’s amazement, clearly struck by the girl’s beauty.

“Thank you. I’m in a bit of a bind here. This rabbit here says my money isn’t valid, even though it should be.” 

“That’s a casino coin-usa. I don’t know which casino you got it from, but we can’t exchange it for money-usa yo!”

The cute girl’s face fell, and she looked down at the coin in her small hand. A golden coin that probably came from a pretty high-end casino. 

Touka chuckled, crouching down slightly to match the girl’s eye level.

“You see, that’s a casino coin. It’s not real money.” (Touka)

“But this coin should be worth a hundred million Ele. I came here to exchange it for money since the casino closed down.” 

“Aah… You mean from Gold Rush? Yeah, I heard that place shut down. It was all over the news.” (Touka)

Touka connected the dots, remembering the recent news scandal. This girl must’ve gotten her hands on one of the coins, Touka mused with a small smile.

“Exactly. I didn’t expect it to go under, so I came to the Hunter Guild to exchange the coin. If I don’t, I won’t be able to eat lunch today.”

“That’s a tall order-usa! Even at a pachinko parlor, only certain places exchange coins-usa!” 

“No, if you melt down the gold and sell it to a pawn shop, you’ll make more money than just exchanging it. The Hunter Guild should buy the energy contained in this coin.” 

“There’s no energy in a piece of plastic-usa yo! No deal~.”

The rabbit crossed its arms in an X, firmly rejecting her. 

The girl puffed-up a pout, but she must have judged it was no good, the girl’s bunny ears drooped in disappointment.

Seeing this, Touka and Dry exchanged glances and nodded. The girl was just too pitiful, evoking a desire to take care of her like a lost puppy.

“Oh well, guess I have no choice. I’ll treat you to lunch. My name is Tsurugi Touka.” (Touka)

“Dry is Dry. After we submit our fish, we’ll go eat together.” (Dry)

Offering to treat her to lunch was no big deal for them; they had enough money to spare.

The girl’s face lit up like a flower blooming, and she gave a polite bow, smiling as she introduced herself.

“I am said to be a relative of Lanpeach Kouza. My name is Mira, an Artificial Spirit who crosses galaxies and handles requests reliably and affordably. Pleased to meet you both.”

Mira gave her introduction with a soft smile on her lips.

Previous Chapter l Next Chapter