Dungeon's Final Boss: Banished by My Boss, the Goddess, to Earth—So I'll Continue My Past Life - 9

Chapter 9: ＃＄％＆ Old Man

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It seemed that my business, the Dungeon Convenience Store, that I set up in the Shinjuku Dungeon, had been a success. As someone with a hundred years of experience as a dungeon guardian, I could say with confidence that incorporating a support role into a party was difficult.

The role of a support usually taken by mages, who had to handle both offense and healing roles. However, since their primary duty was to attack or heal, they had to conserve their magic power and couldn’t focus entirely on giving support buff. Support abilities were tremendously effective, but once a person provided support, they often became unable to fight. In battle, they would need to be protected. If someone existed who could cast support magic on themselves, fight on their own, and never run out of magic power, that person would be beyond genius. That person would be way too overpowered.

Most people could only specialize in one thing. Increasing the number of dedicated support members meant more people waiting in the backlines during combat, which also increased the burden on the frontliners. For dungeon challengers, the dilemma was always the same:

“Wouldn’t it be better to add another attacker instead of a support role?”

And so, most party leaders chose to add more attackers instead. Of course, I hadn’t personally spoken to any of these dungeon challengers. This was just my own deduction after observing the challenger for years, but seeing how the Shinjuku Dungeon challengers structured their parties, I knew I wasn’t wrong. With the buff food as the Dungeon Convenience Store’s main product, there was a chance that people would start reconsidering the importance of support roles. However, raising someone skilled enough to match my level of support magic proficiency—both in terms of effect and duration—would not be an easy feat.

After all, I had a hundred years of experience. I was confident that the demand for the Dungeon Convenience Store would not fade. That said, the Shinjuku Dungeon was expected to be cleared by the end of the year, so I needed to plan for another store location. I could cover the cost of the necessary materials using the magic stones they had given me as currency.

But first, I needed to secure my living expenses. After all, that was why I had created the Dungeon Convenience Store in the first place. I focused my consciousness on the crafting function within my Item Box. I had done a quick Wikipe search on the global uses of magic stones, but humans had yet to realize their true potential. Magic stones could be used for many things, but their fundamental nature was that they could become anything.

In other words, as long as you knew how, you could create gold or gemstones from magic stones. This was the true form of alchemy. This was what alchemists had always dreamed of.

As a result, I now held a 24-karat gold bar in my hand weighing 1 kilogram. Selling it wouldn’t be a problem. A quick online search showed plenty of gold buyers, so I took it to one of them and sold it. My bank account balance increased by an extra digit.

…Wait. How is this taxed? Miscellaneous income?

Thinking about taxes made me hesitant to spend my money recklessly. Well, to be honest, as long as I had magic stones, I could create almost anything I needed. And I didn’t require much food anyway. As long as Ihad rent and taxes covered, I didn’t actually need that much money, so I wouldn’t have to do this too often. More importantly…

…Am I being watched?

Since I was already out, I decided to take a leisurely stroll, stop by a café for coffee, and just enjoy my time relaxing, but I noticed people glancing at me. It wasn’t the passing glance of a stranger. It was the “I know who that guy is” kind of look. As I sipped my coffee, I focused on enhancing my hearing just to test something. Among the countless conversations around me, I caught the phrase:

“#$%& old man.”

…The other background noise was too much, and I couldn’t listen to their full conversation. Sure, I was an old man, but that didn’t mean random people should be calling me that. Something felt off. Still, it wasn’t anything to be overly concerned about.

Once I finished my coffee, I visited a bookstore, stopped by a clothing store to pick up casual outfits for going out, and bought some shoes besides my walking shoes. In the station restroom, I entered a stall and stored everything inside my Item Box. Then, I took the train home to my apartment. Upon returning, I checked my mailbox, then headed up the stairs—just as my next-door neighbor was stepping out.

She was a slightly hunched woman in sweats. Her long hair was dyed, but she didn’t seem to be wearing any makeup. She gave off the vibe of a completely relaxed gyaru.

“Oh, good evening.”

“Good evening.”

She greeted me in a mumble, and I responded. Since the hallway was narrow, I moved to the side to let her pass. She glanced at me—then suddenly froze.

“?”

“Dungeon Ojisan!”

“Huh?”

“You’re Dungeon Ojisan, right!?”

She suddenly perked up and closed the distance between us. In such a narrow space, there was no room to escape. Before I knew it, we were practically touching. And that was when I realized—since she had been hunched over earlier, I hadn’t noticed just how well-endowed she was.

“Ah, it’s me! You saved me that time!”

“Huh? Huh?”

“I’m Mimimi Amanokawa!”

“Who?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

We stared at each other, frozen in place. No, I wasn’t trying to play dumb. She was probably the woman I had saved from the Spriggan Giant.

“I mean, I get that you’re the girl I helped that time, but—”

“I knew it!”

“—what’s with ‘Dungeon Ojisan’?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

“J-just come with me for a second!”

The woman who introduced herself as Mimimi Amanokawa grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the apartment she had just stepped out of.

The nameplate on the door read “Ayukawa.” The layout of the room was nearly identical to mine, but due to the furniture and decor, the atmosphere felt completely different. In the living-dining area, there was a sturdy PC desk with a desktop computer set up on it. Behind it was a bed with pink sheets, giving it a cute aesthetic. Stuffed animals were neatly arranged along it, all with a consistent design—probably characters from some anime.

And at the foot of the bed, in the space between it and the closet… I saw it. The golden pickaxe I had seen that day, propped against the wall.

“This!”

After leading me inside, Mimimi fiddled with her smartphone for a bit before showing me the screen. It was a video-sharing app, commonly known as “Yotube.”

『Hey, drop that pickaxe here.』

『Huh? Uh, okay!』

The voice sounded unfamiliar at first, but the person speaking in the video was unmistakably me. The footage showed a woman gripping the pickaxe in front of a camera, with me standing on top of the fallen Spriggan Giant, speaking to her. This was that day’s battle, caught on video. And to make things worse… I was wearing the exact same suit  I wore today. At last, I understood the meaning behind the stares I had been getting recently.

I understood, but…I was still shocked.

“…Huh?”

A video?

“I’m actually a D-Tuber, and my name is Mimimi Amanokawa. You saved my life the other day! Thank you so much!”

As I stood there in a daze, staring at her smartphone, Mimimi bowed deeply to me.

How careless of me.

Up until this moment, I had completely forgotten about the existence of Yotube and D-Tubers. I had been away from Earth for a hundred years. There were probably tons of things I had forgotten, aside from just the details of my work. Maybe I had moved too fast without considering everything thoroughly first.

“Uh, so… How is this doing?”

“How is it doing?”

“I mean, in terms of views or, uh, trending?”

There’s a specific word for this… What is it again?

“Oh! It’s super viral!”

That’s right, viral.

I checked the view count. It had one million views.

One million… Is that a lot or not?

“The clipped version is even crazier!”

She showed me another video. It was just the part where I flipped the Spriggan Giant over with my foot and stomped on it. Ten million views. The title?

“Dungeon Ojisan.”

…So that’s what those people on the street were saying.

“My live stream archives usually get around ten thousand views max, but this one hit a million! It’s insane!”

“I, uh… I see.”

I had no idea what to say anymore.

No.. What’s done is done. There’s nothing I can do about it.

“…Well, at any rate, I’m just glad my next-door neighbor made it out alive.”

“Huh? Oh, um, y-yeah.”

Hmm?

Why was her face turning bright red? Had she just now realized that she had invited a random old man into her apartment? If that was the case… I should probably make myself scarce.

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