Ordinary Person × Modern Dungeon × Summer Vacation Life = Rise to Success!? 〜A Private Dungeon Was Made at the Remains of a Secret Base From Childhood〜 - Episode 11: Playing in the Water with Childhood Friend ②

Episode 11: Playing in the Water with Childhood Friend ②

“Take this—!”

When Otama-chan kicked up, the river water splashed all the way to me.

“Cold! Wait, I didn’t bring a swimsuit or anything!”

“Ahaha, you didn’t care about that stuff back then! Come on over—! Take this!”

*Splash!*

Another burst of spray flew out. It was sparkling as it caught the sunlight.

Otama-chan’s slender, long, white legs shone dazzlingly.

“Geez…”

She flusters me one moment, then starts playing like nothing happened the next…

Well, whatever. I’ll join in and have fun without overthinking it.

Of course, going in just in my underwear like yesterday was a bit much. So I decided to keep my pants on and go barefoot.

In exchange, I took off my shirt and stepped into the river.

“Hey! You splashed me first! Take this!”

“Kya! That’s cold—! Hyaa!”

*Splash!!*

“Bl-bluh! How can you splash that much!?”

“Don’t underestimate an explorer’s leg strength! You’re just a newbie, Kou-chan!”

“I’ve leveled up recently too, you know! Hyaa!”

“Kya! Not bad! Then how about this… W-whoa!”

*Sploosh!!*

Otama-chan lost her balance and fell into the water on her butt.

“Ugh, I used too much force…”

Her white T-shirt got soaked. And underneath, her blue floral-pattern swimsuit showed through.

“You okay?”

Trying not to look at her see-through chest area, I offered her a hand.

“Th-thanks…”

She grabbed my hand tightly, and I helped her up.

Otama-chan’s head was now at the level of my chest.

“…Heheh. You’ve become reliable, huh?”

“W-well, yeah…”

Looking down at her face from such close range made my heart skip a beat.

Was she always this cute…?

“…Alrighty then.”

Otama-chan splashed backward through the water.

“We’ve still got more to play—eh?”

Then suddenly, she fell silent and looked up at the sky.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

“E-eh…!?”

“I said, what’s wrong?”

“Uh, um…”

Saying that, Otama-chan made a finger-gun shape and pointed toward the forest.

“Is there something in the forest…?”

“Water User Skill—activate: Water Gun!”

At that moment, water shot out from Otama-chan’s fingertip like a laser beam.

“Wha…!?”

The water scraped bark off the tree. It left a narrow horizontal cut.

“Y-you could do something like that?”

“Ah…”

Then Otama-chan made a surprised face herself and shouted,

“Yaaay! What is this!? This is awesome!!”

She grabbed both my hands.

“H-hey…”

“Kou-chan, thank you! I think I just unlocked the [Water User] skill for doing something like ‘Getting completely soaked in a dungeon’!!”

“Huh…?”

That’s actually a thing?

“My tactical range just expanded! Yay, I’m so happy!”

Saying that, Otama-chan hugged me.

Mmph!

“H-hey, c-cut it out…”

I felt something soft through her wet T-shirt. But I tried not to think about it…

“Secret bases are the best!”

*Squish squish*

Yeah right, like I can ignore that!

“H-hey, calm down.”

“Why? Something great just happened!”

“Just let go already!”

If she clings to me any more, I’ll lose my self-control.

I grabbed her shoulders and peeled her off.

“You could at least share in my joy a bit more… Oh well.”

Otama-chan let go without resistance.

“Geez…”

Was she doing it on purpose, or was she just so excited she wasn’t thinking straight?

…Probably the latter.

“Okay! Time to test this out—wheee! I can do all kinds of things!”

Otama-chan made veils of water, floated water balls—just as she said, she played with water.

She looked genuinely happy.

“Hmm…?”

*Shimmer…*

At that moment, something flashed silver in the water a little ways away.

I squinted and looked closely.

“A fish…!”

About a 20-centimeter fish was swimming behind a rock.

It kind of looked like an iwana (char).

“Otama-chan, look over there.”

“What is it—? Ah! There’s a fish!”

“Can you drive it toward me using your new skill? I want to catch it.”

“I’ll try. Wait, are you gonna catch it with your hands? You sure you don’t need a net?”

“Yeah, I still remember the feeling.”

“Alrighty, here I go!”

Using her [Water User] skill, Otama-chan created a wall of water behind the fish. She was slowly driving it toward me.

Even though she just learned the skill, she was oddly good at controlling it.

I kept my hands in the water and waited, trusting Otama-chan.

Eventually—

“Kou-chan, it’s all yours!”

The fish fled into the shadow of a rock near me.

“Alright.”

I slowly crept closer and reached behind the fish.

Then—

*Splash splash!*

I grabbed the fish and lifted it into the air.

“Got it!”

Just like when I was a kid, I shouted in joy.

“Wow, nice job, Kou-chan!”

“Still got it.”

The memories of playing together as kids came back.

*Poof!*

The fish I caught turned into a magic stone about the size of a large candy.

“Ooh, so that’s how you get magic stones, huh?”

Then, the Magical Creature Encyclopedia appeared in front of me.

Encyclopedia No. 138/251

Name: Iwakageuo

Rarity: ★

Capture Skill: Water Resistance (Small)

Capture EXP: 250

Drop Item: Magic Stone (Medium)

Description: A fish that only lives in clean rivers inside dungeons with a certain minimum water level. Such environments are rare.

“Whoa!”

A one-star rarity creature.

“What? What? Let me see too—!”

Otama-chan peeked in from the side.

“You can see the data of creatures you’ve caught.”

“Hmm, let’s see… Eh!? You get 250 EXP from just one fish!? And what’s a capture skill!?”

“I don’t really know either, but it probably comes in handy for something.”

“Hey, hey, show me your status! Please!”

Otama-chan grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously.

“If you don’t show me, I’ll cry! Pleeease!”

“Alright! Alright, stop yelling.”

…Geez. During the Explorer Training, she said asking about others’ statuses out of curiosity is bad etiquette.

Well, it’s not a bad thing to show someone knowledgeable about dungeons. So I don’t really mind.

I displayed my status in the air.

“Here, it’s up.”

“Hehe, I shall now take a look.”

Name: Natsume Koichi

Level: 16

Experience: 358 / 812

HP: 110

MP: 67

Attack: 58 (Bonus +13)

Defense: 46 (Bonus +2)

Speed: 92 (Bonus +1)

Wisdom: 40

Skills: [Child’s Heart], [Enhanced Item Drop], [Water Resistance (Small)], [Sleep Immunity]

Special Ability: Magical Creature Encyclopedia, Swarm Attack, Magical Creature Capture Net (Lv.1)

“W-wait a second! Why are you 10 levels higher than before!?”

“I mean… Oh yeah, I caught a rare bug yesterday. It gave 1200 EXP. This guy here.”

Saying that, I flipped through the encyclopedia and opened the page for “Golden Giant Dung Beetle”.

“Cool, right? Though it turned into a magic stone…”

Then Otama-chan stared at the page and said,

“1200 EXP is on par with deep-zone monsters… Like Red Cyclops and such… And you even got a skill I’ve never seen…”

“That impressive?”

Cyclops… That’s the one-eyed giant, right?

Yeah, I don’t think I could beat that now.

“Ugh, no fair! No fair! I’m level 21, but at this rate you’ll catch up! I’ve been working hard for three years as an explorer! Waaah!!”

Saying that, Otama-chan started hitting me with her fists.

“H-hey, stop that!”

It’s not like I did anything wrong.

“Uuugh…”

After sulking for a moment, Otama-chan looked up at me.

“Alright! I’ve decided!! I’m gonna hole up in this dungeon! That okay, Kou-chan!?”

Otama-chan clasped her hands together and pleaded.

“Please!! I’ll do anything!!”

…Seriously, this girl.

Always so over the top.

There’s no need to even think about it.

“—Of course you can. This is everyone’s secret base, after all.”

I gave the obvious answer.

Then Otama-chan…

“A… Thank you!!”

Hugged me again.

“H-hey!”

“I love that about you, Kou-chan!! I love you!!”

“If you say stuff like that, I’ll get the wrong idea……..”

—And so, the two of us continued to play in the water, explore, and relax in the dungeon until night fell.

==================

Encyclopedia No. 116/251

Name: Ninja Water Strider

Rarity: 0

Capture Skill: Water Walking

Capture EXP: 5

Drop Item: Magic Stone (Small)