The Archmage’s Destruction Strategy - Chapter 43

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#043. Awakened Association

“I never thought I’d meet someone who had been trapped in an underground bunker for 8 months.”

Sung-jun, who had hitched a ride on a truck heading from the road near the abandoned farm to the city, introduced himself and Seoa as Japanese people who had evacuated to an underground bunker at home on D-day.

After all, due to the translation magic, his words would sound like fluent Japanese to the other person’s ears, and if he was caught having come from China across the sea, it seemed like it would cause troublesome situations in various ways.

The old man, who had suspected that Sung-jun’s group might be robbers with awakened backgrounds targeting the cargo loaded on the truck, readily offered to give them a ride to the city after hearing Sung-jun’s story.

Of course, due to the nature of the small truck with limited seating, he was giving them a ride in the cargo bed rather than the passenger seat.

For information gathering, Sung-jun suggested putting the young girl Seoa and Shirasaki Miyu in the passenger seat, then got into the cargo bed himself with the Japanese Awakened who had originally been in the passenger seat.

“After about 8 months, the emergency food we had prepared in advance ran out. So I took the risk and came out with my younger sister. That’s when we met Shirasaki-san, who is an Awakened.”

“So you two aren’t Awakened?”

“I attended an Awakened training institution abroad during the previous Awakened boom. So I probably won’t be registered with the Awakened Association.”

“That’s an interesting story. So you don’t know anything about how the world has been going since D-day?”

“I heard a little from Shirasaki-san, but it would be better to assume I know almost nothing.”

The man in armor seemed to take interest in Sung-jun and told him roughly about what had happened in Japan after D-day.

And that information contained much more shocking content than Sung-jun had expected.

“So you’re saying that after D-day, Japan has been procuring the nation’s food entirely from dungeons?”

“That’s right. All the crops that had already been planted rotted black, and while the crops that had been harvested in advance weren’t damaged, that amount wasn’t enough to sustain a population of over 100 million. The blackened crops were so toxic that they couldn’t even be fed to animals.”

According to the man, strangely enough, Japan suffered no damage from Corrosion Entities on D-day like other countries did.

Even the Corrosion Entities that had been appearing intermittently through Dimensional Gates completely disappeared after D-day.

Instead, along with massive earthquakes that occurred nationwide, caves called ‘dungeons’ began appearing all over Japan.

“When news spread that edible plants for humans were discovered inside the dungeons, the Japan Awakened Association began actively recruiting raid teams to conquer dungeons nationwide. Thanks to that, we can now supply food stably, albeit in insufficient quantities.”

“Isn’t it impossible for Awakened alone to procure that much food?”

To Sung-jun’s question about whether there wasn’t a limit to the amount of cargo that could be transported by that number of people, even if there were 10,000 Awakened, the man shook his head and said:

“There are areas inside the dungeons where edible food grows naturally, and the raid teams’ role is to subjugate monsters and secure safe zones up to where those natural habitats are located. Once a safe route from the entrance to the harvest site is secured, harvest teams composed of ordinary people transport the harvested food outside.”

Sung-jun took the opportunity to ask about the identity of the armor the man was wearing.

“The armor you’re wearing…”

“This is equipment called ‘drop items’ from the dungeon. Just like those in game dungeons, treasure chests are periodically generated inside the dungeons. The equipment obtained from them has the effect of dramatically increasing the wearer’s physical abilities and defense. Magic stones that can be extracted from monster bodies can be dissolved in water to create fuel that can be used instead of gasoline. It’s no exaggeration to say that Japan’s current economy is sustained by dungeons.”

The more Sung-jun listened to the man’s words, the more he thought that post-D-day Japan had changed like a story from the worldview of ‘hunter genre’ novels.

‘Well, I can check the details with my own eyes.’

The truck carrying Sung-jun dropped off Sung-jun’s group at Nagano City, the dungeon town closest to Kanazawa where Sung-jun had landed.

There, Sung-jun learned that most of the residents who had been widely scattered across the country before D-day had moved their residences to center around dungeon towns where food could be obtained.

“Elderly and middle-aged people who flowed in from outside areas live on the outskirts of the city. If you go somewhat inward, there are container residences, but the living conditions become worse the further outward you go.”

“Is food distributed through rations?”

“There are rations, but the quantity is ridiculously insufficient. So people who can use their strength somehow enter the dungeons as harvest teams to help with food transportation work. Harvest teams can take part of the food brought from the dungeon as wages instead of money.”

The man in armor who arrived in the city put some of the vegetables loaded on the truck into a sack he had brought.

Seeing this, Sung-jun guessed that the man was an Awakened hired as an escort during transportation.

‘Since the food situation isn’t abundant, they hire Awakened to prevent attacks…’

Unlike the outskirts where many people with emaciated appearances were visible, as they entered the city center, they began to see a bustling cityscape that was reminiscent of life before D-day.

Shops that gave off delicious smells though he didn’t know what they were selling, Awakened walking around in groups of three to five equipped with various equipment like a scene from a game.

Sturdy men walking the streets with happy expressions while carrying sacks presumably containing food.

However, while looking at the lively people even in this gloomy era, Sung-jun felt a strange sense of dissonance.

‘Satisfaction… satisfaction…’

Sung-jun handed a bottle of premium brandy to the old man who had given them a ride, as he had promised when he first got the ride.

Then he found a restaurant that seemed to have few people nearby and sat at a table.

While he was getting information from the man in armor in the truck’s cargo bed, he had instructed Seoa, who sat in the passenger seat, to also obtain as much information as possible from the old man.

When the three people sat at a table in the restaurant they found for information exchange, a server inside quickly ran over to Sung-jun’s group.

Then with a bright expression, he spoke to Sung-jun, who appeared to be the oldest among the group.

“Welcome! What would you like to order?”

“Do you also accept bartering?”

Of course, in Sung-jun’s pocket was a fairly large amount of Japanese yen that he had received from the Chinese Government before crossing over to Japan.

However, in a situation where he knew nothing about how Japan’s current economy was operating, proposing currency that might not work as a means of transaction could draw attention, so Sung-jun deliberately proposed trading through bartering instead of yen.

‘If they demand currency, it means the government system is operating normally, and if they accept bartering, it means the material shortage is more serious than expected.’

The staff member calmly took the order without showing any sign of being flustered by Sung-jun’s request for bartering.

“Hmm, our shop doesn’t have an appraiser, so trading with dungeon materials or equipment would be difficult. What kind of items would you like to order with?”

“With things like alcohol or cigarettes.”

“Ah, that’s possible. There are always people looking for those, and there are shops that specialize in purchasing them. So what would you like to order? You need to decide on the order amount first to see what kind of trade would be possible.”

Sung-jun took out a carton of cigarettes from his bag and handed it to the staff member.

To avoid arousing strange suspicions, these were Japanese cigarettes that he had obtained with difficulty through the Chinese Government’s cooperation.

“How would it be if I wanted to order as much as possible with this?”

“Then it would far exceed the amount that three people could eat, wouldn’t it? As you can see, our shop isn’t that big, so we don’t handle food that expensive.”

The server told him that about one pack of cigarettes would be enough to order food for three people to eat their fill, and Sung-jun opened the carton and handed one pack to the staff member.

Along with a request to prepare food with moderately recommended menu items.

Then he waited for the food to come out and started a full-scale information exchange.

“So this is food made from dungeon ingredients… Shirasaki, have you ever seen anything like this?”

“Sorry, but this is my first time seeing it too. I’d never heard of edible ingredients growing in dungeons before.”

“Then all these phenomena started occurring after D-day.”

The taste of the food was just so-so.

It seemed like something made with meager ingredients and meager seasonings to a level where you could somehow fill your stomach, like food of commoners in medieval fantasy served in modern dishes.

It would be difficult to categorize as ‘delicious’ even as a polite remark. While picking at the food, Shirasaki Miyu said:

“If this were fantasy, there would at least be some sausage in here.”

“Well, it’s not that bad though, is it? The texture of the potatoes feels similar to real ones, and the carrots feel similar to original carrots except for being green in color. Though it’s definitely a diet seriously lacking in animal protein.”

After looking at the food for a moment, Sung-jun called over a passing server and asked:

“Don’t you have meat or desserts here?”

“Ah, if you want meat, you’ll have to go to a bigger shop. Monsters that can be used as meat only appear from the deep 4th floor and above, but Nagano Dungeon has only been conquered up to the 3rd floor. Plus, there are stories that eggs, which are used a lot in desserts, only appear when you conquer the 6th floor or higher.”

The server also informed them that if they wanted meat or eggs, it would be better to go to big cities like Osaka or Tokyo.

“So current Japan’s food procurement range changes depending on how many floors the Awakened have conquered in the dungeons.”

Shirasaki Miyu, who usually showed no particular interest in anything other than fighting and games, spoke with an unusually interested expression.

“It’s changed like a world inside a game.”

Her words were exactly right.

A world where the quality of equipment and resources you could obtain improved the deeper you went into dungeons, and the economy operated through magic stones harvested inside dungeons.

A world where even Awakened who weren’t confident in their abilities could gain wealth and honor by only subjugating up to safely conquerable floors.

A world where even ordinary people without superhuman abilities could obtain the goods necessary to continue their lives by transporting food from harvest sites that Awakened had conquered.

It was a world that was too different from the post-D-day world Sung-jun had experienced before, seemingly designed in a form that was kind to humans.

‘I hope my prediction is wrong, but…’

After finishing the meal, Sung-jun handed the server a pack of cigarettes as a tip for providing information.

Then he took his group toward the ‘Awakened Association Nagano Branch,’ the institution that managed the Awakened who conquered Nagano Dungeon.

***

“D-rank party ‘Wings of Emergency’ is recruiting front-line members! Those with 3rd floor equipment or higher armor preferred! Are there any close-combat class warriors interested?!”

“Selling a fresh dagger just brought from the 2nd floor! It has additional damage against 3rd grade and below monsters!”

“A dagger? Who would buy that? Maybe if it were a longsword.”

“Looking for adventurers to do the monster subjugation Quest that occurred on the path from Harvest Site 3 to Gathering Site 4!”

The Awakened Association had become a venue for party recruitment for monster subjugation occurring within dungeons, settlement of subjugation rewards, and trading where ‘treasures’ obtained inside dungeons could be exchanged with other Awakened.

There, hundreds of Awakened equipped with various equipment that could literally be called a ‘world inside fantasy’ were showing a scene reminiscent of an ‘adventurer’s guild.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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