3 bar menu

Contagious Heroism – Part 01

The soft chime of a glass bell echoed filled the room. It wasn’t a harsh, grating sound. Instead, it was smooth, mellow, and pleasant to the ears.

“Ugh…”

Soaarunay woke up. It hurt. Every joint ached, likely from sleeping face-down on the unforgiving floor. Her right cheek, pressed against the ground, burned a bright red.

“Ow…”

She slowly rose. She was dressed in a simple Japanese winter outfit—sweatshirt, jeans, and a down jacket—belonging to Sasakura Ayano, the original owner of the body.

The bell tinkled once more. Gasping, Soaarunay looked around. A dim room. Inorganic gray walls surrounded her, but the furniture—a bed and table—exuded an antique charm.

She flicked on the magic lamp atop the table, and light flooded the room.

“I’m back.”

A magical mishap had destroyed Soaarunay’s body, nearly costing her her life. By some fortunate twist of fate—or perhaps unfortunate—she had slipped through the barrier between worlds.

After drifting aimlessly for what felt like an eternity, she stumbled upon Sasakura Ayano, a body alive but soulless, and seized the opportunity to possess it.

Life in Japan, meeting Hikaru, the high-density mana crystal in Mount Midori. Finally, Soaarunay made it back home.

Triiing.

“Ah… I might have overslept.”

As to why she slept on the floor—thick dust coated the table and a nasty odor emanated from the neglected bed. While she was wondering what to do, exhaustion washed over her, and she succumbed to sleep. The floor, mirroring the dungeon’s design, effectively absorbed dust, remaining relatively clean.

Ting-ting-ting.

The sound came from the adjacent room. Soaarunay pushed the door open, its hinges creaking loudly, and she stepped inside the starkly different space.

Waist-high stones resembling tombstones stood at regular intervals, each topped with glowing blue orbs the size of fists. Numbers were etched into the bases supporting the orbs. The ringing was coming from the orb on the base marked 33. It was glowing yellow instead of blue.

“33… What?! 33?!”

Though still groggy, Soaarunay hurried to the row of stones and held her hand over the orb.

“How?! How is the boy I left on the 37th floor on the 33rd floor?!”

She glanced up. All the other orbs were blue, save for the one marking the 6th floor. Essentially, these orbs were magic items that indicated which floors within the dungeon had intruders.

“As far as I know, nobody’s ever set foot into this dungeon. There was some explorer a century ago, but then the entrance vanished from sight or something. The Saak family didn’t pay it much heed. But now, there’s an intruder on the 6th floor. Why?”

When Hikaru got whisked into this world, Selyse and the others hadn’t entered the dungeon yet, and Gerhardt had just started battling on the 6th floor. The next day, the orb on the 1st floor would turn yellow, indicating the entrance of Selyse’s group. Soaarunay would later know that something big was happening.

When Soaarunay touched the orb, the ringing stopped.

“That sound means he got the contents of the treasure chest. What was in the chest on the 33rd floor again? Ah, yes, the Five-Colored Refining Staff, used by Zackeros, the Crimson Lotus Archsage. It’s capable of buffing the four types of elemental magic and nonelemental ones—every mage’s dream weapon. No, that’s not the point! Why is he going up instead of down?!”

Soaarunay’s voice turned hoarse. She couldn’t wrap her head around it.

She had explained to Hikaru that this place was the Great Labyrinth of Runay-aas and showcased magic that defied conventional understanding. When she traveled from Japan to here, she cast the spell for crossing worlds without using any magic formula, and upon arriving at this dungeon, she seamlessly melded into the walls. Such sorcery had been honed by the Saak family across generations and was strictly confidential.

After witnessing the impossible, Hikaru would’ve known that this was the genuine Great Labyrinth of Runay-aas.

She also told him that the 37th floor was a small room situated right in the center of the vast labyrinth, and that continuing from there would lead him to the essence of magic. He could learn about the craft developed by the Saak family through generations.

Hikaru should have grasped what that meant, but without hesitation he headed for the exit.

“The secrets of the Saak family’s magic are right here!”

Soaarunay couldn’t make sense of Hikaru’s actions.

Meanwhile, Hikaru changed his plans to take a break and ventured to the 32nd floor. He had a bit of a hard time navigating the maze, but he eventually found the exit and used Mana Detection to pinpoint the shortest route.

Luck favored Hikaru. The 32nd floor was a forest. Not a jungle, but more like a serene woodland near populated areas. Fruits hung from trees, squirrels frolicked on branches, and fish swam in the streams—common river fish sold in the Kingdom of Ponsonia.

Gathering fallen leaves and branches, Hikaru returned beneath the number 32, where the dungeon’s floor was visible. He retrieved the item he’d obtained from the treasure chest earlier.

“This is it.”

A short staff. Its grip was about fifty centimeters long, with a gem the size of a ping-pong ball embedded at the tip. Hikaru was familiar with the sparkling rainbow hues.

“There’s highly-concentrated mana inside. Meaning…”

He touched the tip of the staff to the floor.

“If I do this…”

As he rubbed it briskly against the ground, sparks flew.

“Aha! Sparks! And big ones, at that.”

After a few more attempts, the sparks ignited the fallen leaves. Once it grew into a bonfire, Hikaru felt a sense of relief. His damp clothes, soaked from the rain, had been uncomfortable.

“I can catch some fish and grill them. That should solve the food problem. Now, about water. Maybe I’ll look for some edible fruit instead of drinking straight from the river.”

Nodding to himself, Hikaru settled in, warming up.

Had Soaarunay witnessed Hikaru’s actions, she might have screamed in shock. After all, he had used a staff so valuable that its worth was immeasurable as a mere fire starter.

Luckily, Soaarunay’s magic items couldn’t verify what he was doing exactly, and the only spectator to his actions was a squirrel perched on a branch.

There were five ticket gates at JR Fujinota Station, but the premises were deserted. The recent buzz surrounding the new otherworlders had put Fujinota in the global spotlight, attracting a flurry of researchers and tourists from far and wide. For a while, all five gates were utilized, but as the wave subsided, things returned to normal. Now, only commuters passed through the ticket gates.

“Ugh… Why do we have to meet the editor at this ungodly hour?”

There were two men outside the ticket gates.

One sported a hefty camera slung over his right shoulder, while the other carried a shoulder bag. Both tall and well-built, they could easily be mistaken for former hardcore sports club members from their college days.

“You moron. It’s all your fault, Tamaru. You let slip to the editor!”

The man with the shoulder bag delivered a powerful elbow strike to the cameraman.

“Ouch! Uh, sorry… But the editor was relentless.”

“That bleary-eyed editor from the society department may be a dimwit who let Ayano Sasakura’s scoop slip from his hands, but back when he was a rookie, he was dubbed the Barnacle because once he latched onto a story, he wouldn’t let go until he got all the answers he wanted, no matter what.”

“Huh… Sounds kinda lame.”

“You’re even lamer for letting the Barnacle get you to blabber about Hikari!”

“Ouch!”

Another elbow strike made Tamaru wince.

These two were Hino and Tamaru, part of the society department at Nitto Shimbun. Often paired, they were recommended for jobs that required all-out effort. People often remarked how odd it was to see people with such energy in the 21st century. Together, they were dubbed the Rising Sun Duo.

Ayano Sasakura, a colleague from their department, had been hospitalized for a while but recently returned and brought her superior a scoop about Tokigawa, a former Nitto Shimbun employee and secretary to the Finance Minister. As far as Hino knew, the editor had suppressed the scoop due to Tokigawa’s strong hold over Nitto Shimbun’s upper echelons. He had a deal to leak information from the ruling party in exchange for puff pieces. The editor didn’t dare risk bringing down Tokigawa with the scoop, fearing serious repercussions.

In the end, the scoop was picked up by foreign media and later reported in Japan.

It was in Fujinota where Tokigawa was involved in shady land deals, and it was in Fujinota where the new otherworlders played a key role in exposing him.

The editor was reprimanded by the executives for not securing the scoop and failing to properly assess Ayano Sasakura’s report. He then took out his anger on the Rising Sun Duo by sending them to Fujinota.

But the heavens had not yet forsaken them. Before them appeared a lovely girl—she introduced herself as Hikari—and Hino deduced her as one of the new otherworlders.

It was no wonder Hino was eager, as gathering information on Hikari could lead to a sensational scoop.

The next morning, the editor called, fuming, “Don’t you two jump the gun! I’m on my way over now, so you better pick me up!”

Hino believed the editor’s anger stemmed from Tamaru’s inadvertent leak of Hikari. He could very well deliver another elbow strike hard enough to shatter ten roof tiles. Tamaru looked like his ribs were about to crack.

“Seriously, why is the editor bothering to come all the way here? Isn’t it their job to sit at their desk and give orders?”

It was them who found Hikari, and it was them who were going to write the article. Hino wasn’t about to let the editor swoop in and take all the credit.