Level-up Maniac, Level up in Modern Dungeons - Episode 27:

　March 31st.

　I’m heading to Shinjuku Dungeon again this morning.

　I headed to the Explorers Association Shinjuku branch without leaving the station, and found someone already waiting for me in the lobby.

　Feeling anxious about having kept him waiting, I jogged closer.

“Good morning, Hinata-san! I’m sorry to have kept you waiting! I look forward to working with you today! Osu!!”

“Um, well, I’m not expecting you to come, so please look up… I mean, why did you greet me like an athletic guy…?”

　The true identity of the person I’m waiting for is Hinata-san, whom I rescued from the Goblin Knight the other day.

　To explain more about Hinata-san, her real name is San. She is a 20-year-old university student, and although she is small in stature, as viewers had commented on in previous streams, some parts of her body are quite noticeable.HinataHinata pure whiteMashiro

　Her facial features are cuter than beautiful, but she has very good posture and somehow gives off the air of a young lady from a good family.

　At first glance, he gives off the impression of being a gentle person, but even though they had only just formed a party, he was still diving into a dungeon just a few days after a party member died, so he probably isn’t just as kind as he appears.

　He might be a militant who prefers killing others, so as the one who made the rude suggestion, he decided it would be safer to remain humble.

　You see, when he first asked me if I wanted to form a party, I turned him down, but then yesterday I was the one who asked him to form a party.

　But fortunately, Hinata-san didn’t seem to be angry at my rude suggestion, at least on the surface.

　Hinata-san said while giving a wry smile at my attitude.

“Thank you very much for joining us today. Well then, can we go get changed and meet in front of the dungeon gate?”

“Got it, Osu!!”

“Um, please speak normally. Like before…”

“I understand, Hinata-san.”

　So, we each headed to the changing room and got changed.

　Then, having prepared our equipment, we regrouped in front of the dungeon gate (a place similar to a ticket gate at a train station, which you cannot pass through without an explorer’s license) that leads to the dungeon.

“Well then, shall we go?”

　We pass through the dungeon gate and move into the dungeon.

　Coming out into the hall on the first floor of the Shinjuku Dungeon, I didn’t go straight in today, but instead approached the “Black Obelisk” inside the hall.

　A black obelisk that gives you status when you touch it.

　However, it has another special feature: the “party formation feature.”

　Hinata and I touched the Black Obelisk at almost the same time. At that moment, a display similar to the status bar appeared in our field of vision.

　The name of the person currently touching the Black Obelisk was displayed there. I reached out my hand and touched Hinata-san’s name that was displayed.

　Immediately afterwards, a message appeared asking “Do you want to send a party request to Hinata Mashiro? Yes/No?” so I selected “Yes”.

　I couldn’t see it, but Hinata could see that a party application had been made and a message asking her whether she wanted to accept it or not.

　And the moment Hinata-san reached out her hand into the air and touched the void, the message “Party formed” appeared in my field of vision.

　By the way, the party leader is automatically selected by the first person to apply.

　The party will be disbanded the moment any party member leaves the dungeon, but the party can also be disbanded at the discretion of the leader.

　Its only function is to equally divide and distribute experience points.

　Also, when defeating a monster and distributing the experience points, this function will not work unless all members are near the defeated monster (said to be on the same floor and within 30 meters). A good example is when we rescued Hinata from the Goblin Knight.

“Well, now that we’ve formed a party, let’s begin our exploration.”

“Yes, that’s right. Oh, and Samejima-san.”

“What is it? Ah, it’s about how you call me, but you can call me Takeo. When senpai calls me “san”, it makes me feel a little uneasy.”

　I interrupted Hinata-san and said that first.

　I don’t know if we’ll be friends for a long time, but it feels strange to keep calling him “Samejima-san.”

“Is that so? Umm… then I’ll call you Takeo-kun, okay?”

“Yes. That’s fine.”

“But, senpai, we aren’t even from the same high school, right?”

“Oh, it means a senior in life.”

　Hinata-san had a complicated look on her face for some reason.

“Well, you are certainly my senior in life, but… we’re only two years apart, right? I don’t like being treated like a senior, so…”

“?”

　Maybe she didn’t like being called senpai. For now, I’ll just call her “Hinata-san” from now on. I nodded casually and said, “Okay!”

“So, what’s your story, Hinata?”

“Oh, that’s right. Umm, I checked it yesterday, but I’ll check it again. Today’s exploration will be streamed on my channel. Is that okay?”

　Hinata said, pointing at the drone camera floating nearby.

　Explorers are required to film their exploration activities, but if they are in a party, it is sufficient for any one member to take the filming.

　At the previous party, Hinata-san had been taking pictures with a drone camera. Incidentally, this drone camera seems to belong to Hinata-san. I guess she is from a good family.

　Anyway, I’m planning on filming with my helmet camera just in case, but today Hinata will also be filming. –Actually, it seems she always broadcasts on the days we explore.

　What Hinata-san was checking was, since we were in a party, would my image be shown on the stream, so was it okay?

“Yes, it’s fine.”

　Of course, I nodded. I have nothing to hide.

“Thank you very much. Well then, I’ll start streaming.”

　Hinata-san then started up the drone’s camera and began streaming.

　Suddenly, the voice of Voiceroid began to ring out from the drone.

“Good morning,” “Good morning,g” “Good morning” “Good morning” “Let’s go” “Hinata-chan, you’re cute today too!” “I was worried after what happened last time, but I’m happy to be able to watch Hinata-chan’s stream again!”

　And so on, the comments are read out one after the other.

　and–,

『Hmm?』 『Hmm?』 『Hmm?』 『Eh?! Junky Nikki?!』 『Aaaah?! Junky Nikki?! Why Junky Nikki?!』

　Just as the viewers began to notice my presence, Hinata-san spoke up.

“Good morning, everyone. This is quite sudden, but we’ve decided to do a dungeon stream today. So, this is Takeo-kun – erm, Janky-niki-kun… no, not that, erm…”

　He’s having trouble knowing what to call me during the stream.

　I mean, Junkie Nikki-kun… I don’t particularly mind, but I’d kind of hate being called that in real life.

“Takeo is fine, Hinata-san.”

“Oh, yeah. Well… I’ve decided to form a new party with Takeo-kun over here, so I look forward to working with him.”

“Hello.”

　I gave a random greeting to the viewers of Hinata-san’s channel.