The following week, we were called to the principal’s office.
Apparently, due to the recent incident and the Dungeon Bureau’s failure, the government is going to conduct an official investigation.
Since this issue involves dungeons, explorers, and education, it quickly spread like wildfire.
News programs and talk shows were all about this, and the internet was abuzz, mostly criticizing the Dungeon Bureau.
Dungeons have a broad impact on military power, the economy, public security, and education, and since their discovery, numerous problems and challenges have emerged one after another.
The existing systems were unable to handle these issues effectively, so the government established the Dungeon Bureau to address them.
As a result, the Dungeon Bureau took charge of creating laws and public services related to dungeons, and the Dungeon Association was established to deal with dungeon-related issues on a daily basis.
Since then, the Dungeon Bureau became the key organization pushing the country’s dungeon policies and handling the issues.
However, a major problem with this organization has recently come to light.
The Dungeon Bureau had been using high-handed tactics with its subordinate organizations. By controlling the budget, the lower organizations had no choice but to comply.
The investigation revealed many problems, but the biggest issue was that the Dungeon Bureau had intentionally misrepresented the difficulty of dungeons, specifically their ranks.
The Academy Dungeon was not a mutated D-rank dungeon but an actual A-rank dungeon. However, it was a rare A-rank dungeon with only five floors, and when the magical energy hadn’t fully accumulated, strong bosses wouldn’t appear. Despite knowing this, the Dungeon Bureau deliberately labeled it as a D-rank dungeon to cut the budget.
So, why hadn’t stronger monsters appeared until now?
Apparently, a Dungeon Controller had been installed.
This made it so that only B-rank or lower monsters would appear. The magical energy absorbed by this controller was regularly collected and, shockingly, was being funneled into an underground operation where it was converted into money for the Dungeon Bureau’s slush fund.
What was even more surprising was the true identity of the Dungeon Controller.
It turned out to be an egg of a Megiddo-Flare Dragon.
The egg absorbed magic to hatch, and they had been exploiting this property. The development of this controller was done by none other than Yabuki’s father, who had figured out how to drain the magic so the egg wouldn’t hatch.
Unfortunately, Yabuki didn’t know the details, and when he accidentally added his own magic, it triggered the egg to hatch, releasing the Megiddo-Flare Dragon.
The fact that such a dangerous thing was intentionally kept in the Academy Dungeon caused a massive uproar.
“I can’t believe this happened…”
Not watching the news much, I was at a loss for words after hearing the explanation.
Sakura was silent beside me, but Eriina seemed to have already researched and understood everything. It didn’t matter much, but I wish she’d stop poking me just because she knew more.
When I glared at her, she returned my gaze with a ridiculously cute smile…
“There’s one thing I need to apologize to you for…”
“Has the story ended? Then, excuse me, but we need to conduct an interview.”
“Huh?”
At that, an unfamiliar woman and a camera crew entered.
An interview?
“Nice to meet you, I’m Iwase from Tokyo TV.”
“Uh…”
This was bad. If it were just a stream, I might have been okay, but TV? That would definitely get back to the crazy woman. She might not watch streams, but TV is a whole other matter…
“I saw the recorded video of your stream, and you did an excellent job. There’s a rumor that you were once a party member of the S-rank explorer, Shido Makoto. Is that true?”
So they’re asking about that… This is the end.
“Uh…”
“This is really bad. Let’s go.”
“Yeah…”
I start walking, with Sakura -san holding my hand.
“Wait… What happened?”
“That’s terrible…”
“Huh?”
The principal rushed over, seemingly concerned, but when Sakura -san, who’s always so angelic, murmured with a glare, he stopped in his tracks.
Sakura -san and I walked out without saying another word.
I had expected to live a peaceful life, but I guess I failed at that…
“Sakura -san, thank you.”
“No problem. Let’s go back to the dorm… You should rest for a bit.”
“Yeah…”
We trudged back to my room.
Principal’s Office (Eriina Sayamura)
“What happened? You didn’t want to be on TV?”
“Don’t you know the situation, Principal?”
“Situation?”
It seemed the principal didn’t know.
Tōma -kun had mentioned that he escaped with the help of the Dungeon Association, but perhaps the teachers weren’t informed?
“Excuse me. What happened? Why are there cameras here?”
At that moment, Student Council President Shiraishi entered.
“President Shiraishi. It’s been a while. I’m Iwase from Tokyo Television. I was trying to interview Yumeno-ma-kun, but it seems I upset him.”
“Iwase-san… an interview with Yumeno-ma-kun? Are the cameras still rolling?”
“No, we’ve stopped filming for now.”
“So, does that mean Yumeno-ma-kun was filmed? …He was, right? And now they’re not here, and Sayamura-san is angry?”
Exactly.
“Principal…”
“Ah.”
“I despise this.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Weren’t you aware of the situation? Yumeno-ma-kun fled from the Shidou party and came here, right?”
“Yes, I know that… but that’s the thing, he’s so strong. He has a track record. There’s no need to be afraid anymore, right? Even if he went back, he could handle things just fine.”
I see. So that’s how he perceives it.
If you watch Tōma -kun closely, you can tell he’s still mentally shaken at his core.
I had heard a little about his past from Sakura , so I guess that’s what’s behind it. But I wonder if they didn’t know.
“Tōma -kun… I heard that he escaped from a terrible situation involving Shidou-san’s sexual harassment… Shidou-san was trying to force him into a physical relationship despite him being a minor. He fled here, hiding where he was going. If something like that aired on national television, Shidou-san would definitely notice. And if he tries to do it again, will the school protect him? Will Tokyo Television?”
“Eh?”
For now, I just need to calm the situation down and explain what I know.
