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High School Hack and Slash Chapter 13 Part 3

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Pasifista

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「Err, I’m against it.」

「Mai voted against her joining, huh. Just in case, care to tell us the reason?」

Seiichi urges Mai, who is raising an objection as if it is only natural, with a face that is saying since the beginning, he’s not particularly eager about the idea either.

「It’s only natural, isn’t it? She was clearly being fawned upon. A woman who does princess play is without a doubt a troublemaker, right?」

Mai-san, who is discarding the idea quite readily, is resting her elbow on her crossed legs.

By the way, princess play is a style of play in online games where a female character is being waited upon, financially supported and fawned over by male characters like an idol.

There’s a high probability that the ones behind such female characters are GIRL players, but the more GIRLish such characters, the better the bite.

If they never come to an offline meeting no matter what, they are definitely guilty as charged.

This is an example of how the moe points can be better understood by those of the same sex.

It’s just, if you do princess play in real life, you’d have to fish with your real self as the bait, and that’s by no means deceiving them, so I think that’s quite acceptable.

「Well, her look was on an idol level, though. What’s your opinion, Shizuka?」

「I’ll follow Touma-san’s opinion.」

Shizuka, sitting on her bed, is throwing everything to me.

I’m also totally intending to ignore and pass everything to Seiichi, though.

「So refreshingly unwavering, aren’t we? Then, Touma… somehow, don’t you look withered over there?」

Listlessly seated on Shizuka’s chair, I resign my upper body on the desk.

Thanks to reimbursing for two tables of the student cafeteria, the balance of my sen card has been reduced to zero.

I had Shizuka lend me some money to cover the shortfall, but the sense of pimpness is no joke

No sen means no food.

Being unable to eat delicious food is miserable.

I couldn’t care less about additional members or whatnot, so I am brimming with desire to dive into the dungeon and earn some sen at once.

Seiichi, sitting in Mai’s chair, crosses his arms and leans against the backrest.

「The fact of the matter is, our party is in need of an additional essential member. To be more specific, a mapper.」

「A skin revealer (mapa)… Seiichi, in what manner are they necessary?」

」I’m a NINJA, not a dancer, so I don’t need such a thing. In short mapping, an essential support member for navigational support. To be more specific in class term, it’s be『Secretary (Recorder)』 or『Guide (Path Finder)』.」

Sitting on her own bed, Mai tilts her head.

「Not a damage dealing member?」

「In the beginning, a standard damage dealer class will without a doubt come in handier. If a class is too rare, that means it has strong perks, after all.」

I feel like I’m being jabbed here.

It can be said that the probability of Seiichi’s class turning into『*** Apprentice』 by mistake during the next class change has just increased.

「But it’s essential for us who are exploring off-map areas.」

「Indeed, the battles have taken place in areas not written on the map, right? Ours, I mean. Doesn’t that mean, can’t we just move back to places written on the map?」

The intricate mazes in the dungeon are stored as map data by the academy.

The map for the first stratum is distributed for free, and maps for the second and subsequent stratums can also be purchased at the purchasing department.

The price seems to rise steeply the deeper the stratum, but I guess it’s been arranged to be plenty affordable by the time they explore the corresponding map.

「If you’re asking whether we can or can’t, the answer is it’s possible. We just need to randomly add someone into our party, and then dive into the dungeon with that person as the leader.」

「I see. So smart of you.」

「But, you see, I think we’d better off to just keep going as we are.」

In class we’ve already been taught about the description as well as what we have to take note of the off-map areas.

Speaking of the strength of the monsters, there seems to be many cases where the monsters that are left not subjugated to exceed the standard level of the stratum.

In other words, the monsters within the range of the students’ active areas are defeated and repopulated in moderation.

And the miasma is circulating within a reasonable degree, it seems.

I think the reason why our party’s earning has been so ample is probably because the level of the goblins in the off-map areas is high.

「Err, if I remember it correctly, the appearance probability of treasure chest is pretty high at off-map areas, right?」

「It seems, but that’s not my reason. The most common reason for returning from the dead from the dungeon is actually not due to being killed by monsters. More or less.」

He holds up three fingers, then lowers them one by one.

「Killed by monsters. Nasty deathtraps. And then, the one that seems to be the most common is parties killing each other.」

「… Yikes.」

「For example, aiming for their rare items. If you snatch it before it vanishes in the dungeon, you can take over its ownership from the one who returns from the dead outside. And since the one who is killed won’t recollections of it, even if they discover the stolen item outside, they’d have no way to prove it.」

「How about putting your name on it?」

「I bet you’ll only end up being laughed at scornfully. The custom is the weak is the one at fault, you know?」

Perhaps feeling chills, Mai shivers and hugs her legs.

「The basic rule is that if you meet another party in the dungeon, consider them an enemy. Now that the first stratum is crawling with new students, the probability of bumping into other parties is especially not low. However, we have yet to encounter even one of them. In other words, that’s what I’m talking about.」

That means the threat of engaging another party is higher than the risk of exploring off-map areas, huh.

If that’s the case, then we certainly need a mapper.

In the capture strategy of grid-filling old dungeon-type games, finding the gate connecting the stratums proves to be an ordeal in itself.

「In that case, rather than hiring them as a temporary fill-in member, we have to completely make them our comrade, right?」

Mai-san, whose nose is flaring, is somewhat scary, but Shizuka-san doesn’t seem to have any objections about it either.

「W, well, it’ll come to that, but both『Secretary (Recorder)』 and『Guide (Path Finder)』 are upper step classes of『Officer』. But since『Officer』 is a non-combatant class, those who become one seems to tend to rechange their class, so the candidates are few in number.」

From its name, it certainly doesn’t seem suitable for battle.

「But we have Touma’s『that』 with us. If we add someone who seems to have the quality for it into the party, you’d be able to see their class options, right?」

「As long as they satisfy the requirements.」

「That’s enough. In that case pulling in someone with the first step『Officer』 class is the right option. We can then expect for the superior branching.」

「Wow, somehow you seem to be giving it a lot of thought, Seiichi. I thought your head was filled with nothing but lewd things. That’s kind of cool.」

In response to Mai, who is really staring at him with a gaze of admiration with no shreds of malice, Seiichi is unable to get angry and can only show a bitter smile.

「Back to the story. I highly doubt that the girl from earlier just happened to be an『Officer』.」

「Yup…. She’s not. She’s a『Swordsman』.」

I take a glance toward the door to make sure of it and nod my head.

「Oh, the first step rare class, huh. For someone who does princess play, to think she doesn’t end up with『Debauchee (NEET)』, so she’s of the battle faction, huh.」

「It’s thanks to power leveling, isn’t it?」

「If she’s led by upperclassmen, she may indeed be able to raise her level, but the fact she obtained a proper class means she has most likely not parasitized them…. In rare cases, though, I heard there are those who are born with a skill or even a class, you see.」

In that case, doesn’t that mean even if they don’t raise their level, they’re already on superman level from the class’ attributes correction alone?

「Even if they are born in an ordinary family, I bet those who are called genius or superhuman are as expected seen as『heretics』 in society. And it can be said to be a kind of system for such people to automatically be sent to this place, you see.」

「That’s…. One harsh world.」

「I’ve been thinking that perhaps you are exactly of that case, but I’ll leave it at that for now.」

Until I came to this academy, not only had my class been『None』, I also had nothing such as a skill.

I had a bit of a wild childhood, though.

「Well, even if it’s a rare one, it’s of the『Fighter』 branching nonetheless, so I doubt she has the quality to be an『Officer』. I guess that means she’s failed the screening.」

「That sounds right.」

I take another look at the door, but see no movement at all.

Even though the failing notice should have resounded well, the guts seem to be a commendable one.

Shizuka is also staring fixedly at the other side of the door, so I bet she is seeing the shared display of the Interface as well.

「No matter who it is, as long as they have lost their essence crystal (Soul Device), they won’t be able to become our comrades in the true…. Say, Touma. What is that?」

「Well. I remember it when I hear those words of yours. I wonder if I should return it to its owner.」

I take it out of the item box and roll the multi-sided crystal in my hand.

It’s an item dropped by the Onmoraki, but unlike goblin crystals, it’s shaped like Shizuka or Seiichi crystal.

「… Where did you pick up such a thing? Rather, whose is it?」

「It came out when I punched the weird thing in the student cafeteria. I think it’s probably hers.」

*Creak* When I open the door of the room, I see the back of Saki, who has been in dogeza the whole time there.

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