Translators notes:
I've just recently started translating from Japanese and decided to start with this novel since nobody picked it up for over 2 months.
Since I'm not very fast in translating please expect a chapter every 1-2 weeks. It's fun translating this novel, so I hope you can also have fun reading it.
If you manage to find any mistakes in my English grammar or spelling and/or mistakes in translation, please comment, I'm eager to improve myself.
PrologueA man came walking out of Hokkaido's biggest dungeon - The so-called "Chikaho" in Sapporo - looking around and letting out a small sigh. There's one profession, placed inside the dungeons, everyone admires - The adventurers.
Girls tend to wait idly nearby Chikaho's entrance, looking at it with sharp eyes.
Waiting for adventurers to appear.
If a male adventurer, who seemed to be single, appeared, they would approach him without any discrepancies.
Nevertheless, this mans appearance isn't being reflected in their eyes.
It's not that he isn't recognized because he's ugly.
This man.
His presence is just too thin.
Even online, it's the same.
There are almost no views on his "Become an adventurer!" blog site.
No matter how much he updated his blog, it won't get many views.
The page views are always in the single digits.
They are like guests, who entered the wrong room by accident.
Leaving his blog without reading his posts.
As it seems becoming an adventurer doesn't make you popular.
It's the sad truth.
Even though he was walking at a snail's pace, today too, nobody noticed his presence.
It's pitiful like the figure of a man walking slowly because of wanting someone to notice him.
Fortunately, his slow pace stopped the eyes of none.
His pride was preserved.
But it was not without consequences…
This guy, called Karaboshi Haruki, let out a heavy sigh.
…let's go home.
The existence of dungeons was confirmed 5 years ago.
It happened all of a sudden in multiple places all over the world.
Some countries survived, others fell.
Including the G8 (The 8 leading countries) light and dark were separated.
It's unclear why the dungeons were born and how they all occurred.
What is a dungeon in the first place?
After raising their defences the surviving countries now put all efforts into analyzing the situation.
Like all the other countries Japan was also hit by the calamity.
After restraining the stampede of the sudden dungeon occurrence we are now in a time of peace.
When the people were still confused, nationwide standards for adventurers were set in Japan.
Those qualified adventurers risk their lives to explore the dungeons and kill monsters.
There are multiple reasons for them to do so.
Maybe your relatives or important people were killed by those monster.
Maybe you longed for an RPG.
Maybe you want to get rich fast.
In recent years there were many reasons, like having a better chance at job hunting.
"Since I used to be an adventurer I'm confident in adapting to harsh environments."
It takes tremendous guts to dive into the dungeon to appeal to themselves as the highest servant.
Setting aside diving into the dungeons, some people awoke special abilities that never before existed.
For example, some gained the ability to leap through the air, using the force of their sword. Some even got the ability to see through the nature of raw materials and items found in the dungeons.
Some call these special abilities "your real self".
In other words, they find their real self inside the dungeons.
There's a high demand for them. (1)
Risking their lives, they see their hopes and dreams inside the dungeon.
Now adventurers became Japans fourth big industry.
Tired from exploring the dungeon Haruki drove back to his home in the countryside.
Koraboshi (空星) - A star floating in the sky. A truly beautiful surname.
Haruki (晴輝) - A cloudless sky, shining wonderfully.
You can't complain about names with such meanings. this
But because of the combination of those two, I was called "Air" since elementary school.
It's indeed ironic.
Even when he came to a drinking party people said "Huh? Isn't that just some air?" because of that.
… he wants to think, that it was not harassment.
Even though he was right in front of them,
"Have you ever seen Koraboshi?"
"… eh, dare? (who?)"
"He's a boy from our class."
"Huh? There's such a guy?"
"Should be. His name is on the attendance list. But I've never seen him."
is what they said.
By no means was it harassment!
Haruki, whose presence had become like air, however, retired from his job at a printing company one month ago to become an adventurer.
So that he wouldn't be called air again, getting a presence that can't be ignored.
Right now, however, his presence was still like air.
Today's hunting outcome where 10 000 yen (~ 88USD/78€ in Winter 2018).
Most of it was taken up by travelling expenses.
After stopping the car in front of the house, he opened the shutter of the garage.
"…eh?" (Haruki)
The parking space behind the entrance of the garage was taken up by a hole.
"A sinkhole? … no, no, that seems unlikely." (Haruki)
There were stairs going down from the entrance to the back of the garage.
It was not a sinkhole.
Of course, it wasn't like this when he left home.
That's why the hole had to have opened when Haruki came back from the Chikaho.
"It did indeed occur then… " (Haruki)
It is not unusual for dungeons to appear suddenly.
There are many stories of dungeons appearing nearby family houses in threads on "Nara".
This is no anomaly.
Although it is a place, where you can't know when a monster will appear, Haruki knelt down in front of the dungeon, his shoulders trembling slightly.
"My snowplow… !" (Haruki)
With the appearance of the dungeon, the snowplow he stored inside the garage for snow removing in the winter, had disappeared.
This is (personally) a bigger problem than the appearance of the dungeon.
The winter in Hokkaido is no joke.
No matter how many countermeasures are taken, some accidents will happen.
It is hard to even see the ground under the snow. (suffering tone)
In such winters, removing snow is the most important thing to do, when you want to survive.
And the best solution for this is your own snow plow.
As for Haruki's home, his garden is ten times as big as the building.
It can only be called a punishment to clean such an area manually.
One costs about 300 000 yen (~ 2650USD/2340€ in Winter 2018).
It was hard saving the money to buy it…
While tears fell, he looked at the criminal, which took away his snow thrower, which could be called a saviour in the country of snow.
On the first steps around the entrance is a stone tablet lying on the ground.
It is slightly larger than a hand and about one centimetre thick with the appearance of a stone.
It is light and seems to be easily throwable.
The surface was slippery.
Haruki's first impression was that it is a stone tablet.
But as he looked closer he could see a square cut in the top right corner
A button?
Without thinking about it, he touched the square.
In the same moment, the tablet began to glow slightly and grains of light hit Haruki's chest.
"…wtf!?" (Haruki)
Reflecting it with both arms combined in front of the chest, there is no shock.
I'm afraid to open my eyes.
It seems that I'm not injured.
"What was that?" (Haruki)
Slightly tilting his head, he noticed, that his senses were slightly deteriorated.
When he tried to hold that feeling, suddenly a light lit up in front of him and transformed into the form of the stone tablet.
Hurridly he took the stone.
On the surface of the stone was now a white text that previously hadn't existed.
Karaboshi Haruki (27) Gender: Male
Available Skill Point(s): 3
Class: Swordsman
+ Vitality
+ Strength
+ Dexterity
+ Perception
+ Technique
+ Special (TL: Not S.P.E.C.I.A.L. though)
Could it be a skill board?
(1) might be a reference to the High conscious system.