[Good News] After My Childhood Friend Was Stolen by a Playboy, I Woke Up With a Crazy Fast Level-Up Ability and Turned My Life Around in One Year ~ Then a Famous Streamer Broadcast Me Without Permission and I Went Super Viral!~ - 84

Chapter 84: 【First Stream in Ages】Investigating the S-Rank Dungeon “Dragon’s Nest” #KeitaOgawa #SRank #PiyokoHikuidori #LeviaGuild

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Current time: March 19, 2031 (Monday), 10:30 AM.

We had arrived at the trailhead of a certain mountain famous in Iwate. We hadn’t actually come to climb the mountain. Rather, it was because the door to the dungeon we were raiding this time existed at the foot of the mountain. Thus, we had arrived by transferring between buses and taxis (with Michida covering the travel expenses).

Near the closed trailhead, a large group of about twenty members from the Levia Guild had already gathered. The average rank of the party members was roughly A+, marking them as high-rank explorers. The fact that such a force had to be assembled spoke volumes about the difficulty of an S-class dungeon.

“Good morning! Looking forward to working with everyone today!!”

Taking the initiative, Piyoko greeted the Levia Guild members with her usual business smile. However, in response, the Levia Guild ignored her greeting and instead directed sharp glares toward us.

“Ugh… K-Keita-sama… Are we really not welcome after all?”

Piyoko’s shoulders slumped beside me.

Given that I had dealt a blow to Asmodei Guild—which belongs to the same corporate group—and was a rookie explorer who was a massive topic of conversation online, there likely weren’t many people in the same industry who thought well of me. Furthermore, our participation in this exploration was under the guise of a “special slot,” so there were bound to be those who envied that even more.

“Just a rookie,” or “getting cocky for a kid…” “I have more career and experience, so why isn’t anyone looking at me? Why aren’t they praising me?” 

Adults with conceited spirits who delude themselves into thinking they were special just because they had continued to do the same thing for a long time. Society was mostly filled with people like that. As I watched them with those kinds of cynical thoughts and cold eyes from a distance, three people from the group walked toward us.

“Are you the rumored Keita Ogawa-kun?”

The one who spoke was a man in the center with long brown hair and sharp, handsome features. He was clad from head to toe in rugged blue armor and carried a spear on his back that was longer than he was tall.

“Nice to meet you. I am the First Captain of the Levia Guild, Teruhiko Ikeda. I’m the one mainly taking command of this dungeon dungeon attack, and Second Captain Kishida and Third Captain Shiina will be assisting me.”

“Yo! I’m Mamoru Kishida!! I’ll protect everyone as a Warrior! Looking forward to it, comrade!”

“Levia Guild Third Captain… Yui Shiina. I’m an Archwizard, for what it’s worth… nice to meet you…”

From my perspective, the spiky-haired Kishida on the left was in heavy equipment that didn’t pale in comparison to Ikeda’s, and the greatsword on his back looked like his business card.

On the other hand, the woman named Shiina, who had dark indigo semi-long hair, was different from the two in rugged gear. She wore a robe with a fair amount of exposed skin (especially the thighs)… I couldn’t tell if it even was a robe, but she was wearing a strange outfit presumably exclusive to Archwizards. Thankfully, these three had appearances that deviated from the more generic party members, so they were very easy to remember.

“Nice to meet you. Again… I’m Keita Ogawa. This is Hikuidori Piyoko. We are grateful you let us participate in this exploration.”

“…”

I intended to greet them in my own way, but Ikeda looked at me with a slightly surprised expression, blinking rapidly.

“Is something strange?”

“Ah, no. I knew about you beforehand… but seeing you in person, I was a little surprised. Honestly, after what happened, you see. I happened to see that stream as well, but it was so extreme that I imagined you to be a somewhat barbaric person… As I thought, preconceptions are scary things.”

“It can’t be helped that you’d think that… but even with those preconceptions, you gave us permission to participate in this exploration.”

“The one who gave permission wasn’t me, but the Representative. Of course, after seeing that commotion, there were many voices saying the Levia Guild didn’t want to get involved in trouble. However, once the Representative said it was okay as long as you did a stream that served as PR for our company, permission was granted by his final word. Because of that, other members might be scared of you or wary, but I want you not to worry about that. To be honest, Kuzushima’s misdeeds were so terrible that rumors reached our ears, so I think there were even some who found it entertaining that you actually managed to crush him…”

“Then I won’t worry about it.”

“Haha! That’s a help! Ah, also, let me do a final confirmation before we enter the dungeon. I’m sure you’ve heard the conditions from your agent, but for this investigation, ninety percent of the investigation rewards go to us. And you are not to participate in our work at all, and you will stream until the very end. Is that clear?”

“No problem… but if those conditions are met, does that mean I can do as I like?”

“Yeah, I don’t mind. What? Are you planning to do something?”

“I don’t have anything, but Piyoko is very particular about her streams. She seems to want the freedom to handle the stream format as she sees fit, at least so she’s satisfied.”

“I don’t mind that at all.”

I managed to get his word on that while using Piyoko as a convenient excuse. Now then, it was about time to enter the dungeon, and it seemed Piyoko was ready for the stream as well. As usual, Piyoko and I attached small cameras to our collars, and Piyoko remotely pressed the switch to begin the broadcast.

“Everyone!! Kon-Piyoko~~☆ Today we’re starting Explorer Piyoko’s… Dungeon Stream!! Today is actually a public stream for the first time in a while!! Long time no see to all the listeners who aren’t members, Piyoko♪”

“Otsu-Piyoko”

“Been waiting”

“Kon-Piyoko!”

“PIYOKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

“Kon-Piyokooo!!”

“A greeting I’ve heard more than my parents’ greetings”

“The. Usual.”

“As I thought, it has to be this”

“So happy it’s a public stream!!”

“Where’s Keita?”

“Show us Keita”

As soon as the stream began, the number of concurrent viewers started to increase rapidly, reaching about one million, while the comment section flowed at high speed.

“As for why I’m rarely doing a public stream… It’s because we’re filming while cooperating with the talented Levia Guild-sama! We were super lucky to be allowed to accompany the investigation of the dungeon ‘Dragon’s Den’ by the kindness of Levia Guild-sama, even though they were originally supposed to explore it alone! That’s why I want everyone to see such a wonderful guild in action! So, Ikeda-chi! Please give a greeting to the listeners yourself as the party leader♡”

“Hi everyone!! I am the First Captain of the Levia Guild, Teruhiko Ikeda!! As the representative of the guild, I’ll do my best to show everyone our skills, so please support us!”

“Who’s this?”

“What? A sponsored segment?”

“Where’s Keita?”

“If Keita isn’t appearing, I’m out”

“No interest in small fries”

“Handsome guy lol”

“A dud episode”

“Piyoko has fallen too”

“It’s over! Disband!”

“You don’t understand the demand of the viewer, huh?”

Despite Ikeda’s energetic greeting, the viewers seemed to have cooled off/ Harsh comments began to flow in the chat, and the concurrent viewer count plummeted instantly.

“Whoa!? E-everyone, calm down!! Keita-sama is here too!! He’s definitely in the stream, so don’t worry!!”

Panicked by the deteriorating stream, Piyoko turned the camera toward me, as I had been standing outside the frame.

“KEITA IS HEREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!”

“Say he’s here from the start”

“What a relief”

“I almost cancelled my membership”

“More handsome than the guy just now”

“As I thought, it has to be this”

The moment I was on screen, the listeners’ attitude flipped entirely. The viewer count that had been dropping sharply and the toxic comment section somehow stabilized.

“Ah, ahaha… Popular people really are on another level.”

Ikeda’s smile twitched at the blatant difference in the viewers’ reactions. Piyoko let out a sigh of relief and began to proceed with a strained smile.

“W-well then, let’s do our b-best again today, Piyoko~~!”

And so, with an awkward atmosphere lingering between us and the Levia Guild due to the difference in listener reactions, we passed through the door into the S-class dungeon, “Dragon’s Den.”

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