Dungeon's Final Boss: Banished by My Boss, the Goddess, to Earth—So I'll Continue My Past Life - 53

Chapter 53: After the Auction

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The auction ended without any further hitch. The auction’s management organization would be responsible for collecting the payment from the winning bidder and depositing it into Piroane’s account. For now, I just gave her one piece of advice—not to go and spend it all at once. Piroane, who looked like she was about to dance with joy, was already getting excited about setting up an editing team and came straight to me.

“Jiro, do something about it.”

“…I had a feeling this would happen.”

There was no way Piroane knew how to hire people. Then again, neither did I. But even if we didn’t know, there was no need to go through the trouble of setting up a dedicated editing team.

Video streaming had already surpassed television as a form of entertainment. There were already people and companies out there specializing in this kind of work… Or it was only natural to assume that. That said, I lacked the knowledge.

I did a quick search on my phone to gather some information and also consulted with Mio. I managed to find a few companies and freelancers that specialized in filming and editing videos for content creators, but all I got were their names and contact details.

I had no idea which one was the best choice. If I took the easy route and carelessly hired just any editing team, I’d be the one stuck dealing with the aftermath. It was clear that putting in the effort to find the right team from the start would save me more trouble in the long run.

I’m starting to think I have a knack for putting myself at a disadvantage.

“Oh, about that…” 

Mio said, sounding excited.

“I actually asked around as soon as you mentioned it…”

She had already found a company that contracted with independent video streamers for editing work. Apparently, both Yune and Yinling Jones, who had collaborated with Mio, also used their services.

“And also, this person, and this person…”

Mio introduced me to a few other D-Tubers, but I didn’t recognize any of them. I had used YouTube to spread the word about the Dungeon Ojisan incident and the Dungeon Convenience Store, but I wasn’t really into following D-Tubers myself.

The reason? It was the same feeling of detachment I had when I saw the hype around that sword. 

The winning bidder at the auction never revealed their identity. Of course, it was possible to remain anonymous. As long as the payment went through smoothly, it wouldn’t be an issue. From a personal information protection standpoint, it was understandable. What made it strange was that if an Awakened had obtained it, people would inevitably find out once they started using it.

Most Awakened worked in teams, so information always leaked out eventually. In fact, openly acknowledging ownership of such a weapon could make it easier to recruit allies and secure corporate sponsorship. Not many people sold magic stones to the D-Ministry at the standard buyback price like I did. The stronger an Awakened was, the more likely they were to receive support from companies that wanted direct access to dungeon materials beyond just magic stones.

Even I had been approached multiple times, but I turned them down because it was too much of a hassle. I was making a decent profit through my work like handling instant-clearance dungeons for the D-Ministry and assisting the self-defense force’s dispatched teams in leveling up. Piroane also sold magic stones at the D-Ministry’s buyback price and was doing quite well for herself.

Honestly, she didn’t even need to sell that sword—she could have easily afforded to contract an editing team just with her earnings from magic stones. It was just that the public’s reaction to the sword had been far beyond expectations.

“Jiro-san?”

“Oh.”

I had been lost in thought about something completely unrelated.

“Sorry, I got too caught up in the video.”

“Oh, no, no, it’s totally fine!”

I brushed it off, and Mio quickly waved her hands, denying any issue. Since we were both watching a video on one phone, our faces were quite close. Her face was bright red.

Did having an old guy’s face this close make her nervous?

I should be more mindful of that.After that, I focused on properly reviewing the video.From a layman’s perspective, it didn’t seem unnatural. When using filming drones, there was almost no risk of shaky footage, but they couldn’t always keep up with the sudden movements of Awakened individuals. In the videos I watched, I could see that they had put effort into handling such moments smoothly, ensuring the viewers wouldn’t be pulled out of the experience.

“Alright, should we set up a meeting with them? If everything works out, we can arrange for Mio’s payments to be handled alongside Piroane’s contract.”

Since we had already discussed this before, it shouldn’t be a problem.

“But wouldn’t that be asking too much?”

“Piroane should learn to give back a little. Otherwise, it’d start feeling unfair.”

Piroane should learn how to be considerate. Helping Mio with the editing was a given.

“Oh! But that reminds me. If we’re going to hire them, Yune-san and the others were talking about doing another collaboration. How about we judge their work based on the video from that?”

“A test run, huh? That’s a good idea, Mio.”

“Really? Ehehe.”

Seeing her look so happy made me feel warm inside, too.

Her presence really feels soothing.

“Alright, I’ll bring it up to Piroane. And since we need to discuss the collaboration with Yune-san and Yinling-san, why don’t we all meet up somewhere?”

“And invite the editor too, if possible?”

“If we can, yeah.”

It would be a last-minute invitation, so there was no guarantee they’d agree.

“Well, we’ll see how it goes when the time comes.”

At the very least, we’d be able to discuss the collaboration with the other D-tubers, so it wouldn’t be a waste.

“That’s true!”

Mio responded brightly and immediately started messaging people on her phone.

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