Chapter 10 – Plan to Become a Streamer: Preparation Arc

Well, I supрose it’s оnlу nаturаl.

I gоt lаid off.

Onlinе news reроrted thаt оur соmрanу’s Prеsident had bееn аrrеsted for viоlating thе Dungeonizatiоn рrevention duty.

Тhis is аn immediate prison sеntеnce without probаtiоn, you knоw.

Ovеr thе раst thirty years, аppаrеntlу not a singlе реrson who intеntionallу caused a Dungеоn to aррeаr has evеr returned aftеr being thrоwn bеhind bars.

Is this era dystoрian оr whаt?

Sсarу, scarу.

Тhinking thаt, I went through thе prосеss оf rеcеiving unеmрloуmеnt benefits at the Hello Work office.

Since the company vanished due to Dungeonization, they said the benefits would be issued immediately.

What a great era.

Then, right next to me, I spotted a familiar face.

“Huh!? Senpai!? You’re alive!?”

It’s Mashiro!!

That’s right.

Her place is just one station away from mine.

And the Hello Work office is located between my place and hers.

It was inevitable we’d end up at the same spot.

“Ah, yeah. I left you with that mysterious beautiful Streamer girl, and I was helping the cafeteria ladies evacuate.”

I fabricated a plausible story.

Since no one can verify it, it doesn’t matter if it’s truth or lie.

Actually, I heard that after Spice cleared the Dungeon, the ladies were rescued safely.

“Is that so… I saw something amazing. It was like, Dungeon Streamers are seriously awesome.”

“Yeah, yeah… They really are amazing, huh.”

As we both finished up getting our unemployment benefits sorted, we ended up deciding to go grab some tea or something.

But, in the city we live in, there aren’t many fancy places like proper cafes.

The ones that exist are individually run, often combined with art galleries, and are a bit hard to just walk into.

So, we went into the food court at the shopping center, Aeon.

It’s one of the smaller Aeon stores.

Since it’s a weekday afternoon, there are just a few grandpas and grandmas milling about.

I ordered Nagasaki champon, Mashiro ordered a karaage bowl, and we took our seats.

Neither of us ordered what you’d call “cafe” fare.

“What are you gonna do now, Senpai? I’m thinking I need to find another job right away.”

“Are you sure? Getting caught up in a Dungeonization like that, you must be in shock or something. Aren’t your parents telling you to stop?”

“They told me to take a little break, but I’m scared of having a gap in my work history.”

Mashiro crossed her arms and groaned.

Society is harsh.

Incidentally, Mashiro is slender enough to cross her arms properly and neatly.

Slender, or maybe an athletic build.

“As for me… I’m gonna take about half a year off…”

“Huh!? Right up until the limit for receiving unemployment benefits!? Is that okay, Senpai!? You’re already in your thirties!”

“I’m still in my twenties, barely! I’m thinking maybe I’ll do some vocational training too.”

Vocational training.

My mind is made up.

I’m going to do Dungeon Streaming.

I need to buy the equipment for it.

We dug into our Nagasaki champon and karaage bowl without a word.

Mashiro, you sure eat a lot!

“It’s stress eating!! More importantly, Senpai, listen to this. That Streamer girl who saved me… she’s not even streaming… But she was doing all that magic-like stuff, and I’m like, how can she do that? Who was she, I wonder? Little Black Pepper Spice…”

“Who knows…”

Playing dumb, playing dumb.

Later, when I tried to head off towards the city, Mashiro tagged along.

“I’m free anyway! I’ll come with you!”

“Wha, you’re coming along?”

“What’s with that reluctant face!!”

Mashiro puffed up her cheeks angrily.

I need to buy my streaming equipment without her finding out…

‘And yet, Master, aren’t you a little happy about this?’

I silently patted my bag.

We arrived at the nearest city.

We entered a large electronics retailer.

Now then, streaming equipment is…

“Senpai, what are you buying?”

“Eh, it’s nothing, really. Mashiro, you go do your own shopping.”

“I don’t really want anything right now.”

“You don’t say.”

So she just came along to watch me shop out of pure curiosity!

She’ll find out!

Flota is inside the bag, and she can only do voice chat, so Mashiro will find out!

…And I can’t even get advice from her.

No choice.

I’ll try to secretly gather the equipment.

“Video editing software? What are you gonna do with that?”

“For my next job hunt…”

“Ahh, I see! Huh? Isn’t that the Civilian A-Phone section over there? Are you gonna be a Streamer or something?”

Gulp!!

That was pushing it, I guess.

A-Phone is short for Adventurer Phone.

Thanks to some unclear effect, it maintains communication even inside Dungeons, can fly autonomously within Dungeons, and has a function to film streams.

Other than that, it only has the basic chat app Zatcode and various SNS apps installed.

It’s safe to say ordinary people rarely use these.

“For reference, just for reference…”

“Heeeh. Is that sooo?”

What’s with that suspicious look.

I bought the A-Phone with my card.

T-twenty thousand!? That’s quite the price…!!

‘Heeh! Did modern humans make this!? Creating a Familiar purely with machinery is quite impressive. It only has minimal abilities and its will is weak, though.’

Hey Flota, be quiet!

Mashiro is looking around going, “Did I hear something!?”

The official A-Phones issued by the government’s Labyrinth Ministry are supposedly priceless, but they’re only distributed to registered Streamers who have filed with the country.

I hear they’re far more high-performance.

Civilian A-Phones have most of their functions restricted, only allowing minimal Dungeon Streaming, and yet this price!

“Ten installments…”

I bought it.

Right there, I entered into a contract for the Civilian A-Phone.

Fingerprint and voiceprint…

Streamers use something called Virtualize, where they put on an Avatar and become someone else.

At that time, their appearance and voice can change completely, but their fingerprint and voice wavelength… their voiceprint doesn’t change.

‘Contract completed.’

‘This one gained a little bit of will! It’s my junior!’

Flota sounds happy…

“Senpai, I really did hear a voice from somewhere!? That’s weird…”

Dangerous!

Please, just stay quiet…!

And so, I somehow managed to finish my minimal shopping.

Next, I want something like a textbook for becoming an Adventure Streamer.

The internet doesn’t have much accurate information.

So where I’m heading next is a specialty shop for that kind of Adventure Streamer-related goods, but…

“Mashiro, you’re still coming along?”

“Of course I’m coming with you!!”

This junior with a cat-like aura was practically on the verge of purring.

In the end, after that, I had Mashiro wait outside while I purchased the target books and items.

To appease my junior who was grumbling about being made to wait, I ended up having to treat her to lunch.