Earth Dungeon 88.1

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Chapter 88.1. Verification

A mixed-use building in Asakusa. 

It seems to have been around for about 30 years. Even in the inner town, it stands on the border where residents of the middle and lower classes live. Construction workers have repainted and refurbished the building's exterior, and interior. It's not brand new, but it stood out a bit among the old buildings surrounding it.

Asakusa Street has running trains, and there's a collapsed tower due to dungeon monster attacks, but it has been left untouched. They couldn't repair it and postponed the plans for reconstruction.

Mischievous children are playing tag, and running around joyfully, and older women are gossiping about various topics, from recent rumors to government news. In this peaceful, secluded world, they were in their bubble.

But now, people are keeping their distance from relatively clean mixed-use buildings. The reason is that five limousines were parked in front of the building. Five luxury cars. You couldn't tell them apart just by looking at the exteriors of the cars, and several men in black suits were standing around them. 

The guards, clearly well-trained and with their physique, were openly holding automatic rifles and on high alert.

If you look closely, you can see that they've prepared the same type of limousine so that it's not obvious which one the person they're guarding is in. The limousines emit a faint magic light, indicating that they are made of magic alloy and can withstand anti-tank attacks and magical assaults without flinching.

In other words, it's evident that someone from above the clouds, whom the people here have never met, has come to visit.

The mixed-use building has 15 floors. There's only one tenant in the building, it's named the "Kamishiro Research Institute". The 10th floor has all its walls removed, creating a spacious floor with various machines and tools, including small isolated blocks that resemble vinyl houses.

There are planters with bright red flowers in place, and they are in full bloom.

As Minamoto Fuuka looked at the flowers, she thought, the flowers were mysterious and looked like morning glories.

She's a beautiful girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, and long, elf-like ears, possessing the [Elf Transformation] skill. She's a member of one of the three prominent families known as the "Tokyo Three Houses", and she's the daughter of the Minamoto family.

"What do you think? With my touch, they flourish effortlessly, right? They're in full bloom, aren't they? I did struggle a bit with their cultivation." 

Kamishiro Serika said, puffing her chest proudly. She's an albino beauty who has earned the genius title, of inventing various groundbreaking items.

Recently, she acquired the research institute and even started a security company formerly owned by the Suwa family. She sent employees from her Kamishiro Ironworks to work in the logistics portion of the outer town's union, expanding her wealth.

Researcher recruitment has also begun smoothly, and she is currently the most talked-about up-and-coming girl in the upper class.

Nonetheless, in her heart, Fuuka can't help but smile wryly and think, "But I'm up-and-coming too.", She's just up-and-coming for the past 20 years or so.

Standing in before Fuuka is a middle-aged man with his arms crossed – her father, Minamoto Kuroshirou. He oversees the army and possesses immense military power, financial strength, and political influence. To ordinary people, he's known as the "Man from the Clouds".

"As expected of Kamishiro Hakase. So, what's the effect of these flowers?"

"They even cured baldness."

"Don't be cheeky, Fuuka!"

His formerly lush hair regained its moisture, and his body went from being overweight to having a healthy figure. But that's only up until yesterday. He had lost his celebratory wine glass to his wife, so it's only a matter of time before he regains those extra pounds. If his hair becomes lush, even a fool will notice. He tried to make excuses, saying it was the magic hair regrowth tonic, but he became too healthy.

"Fuuka, pay attention! You're not being helpful at all!"

"We can't find that girl no matter what we do. We've found several suspicious girls, but there's no evidence. Father, who went from bald to having a full head of hair, is more important."

"Girl?"

"You don't need to worry about it. Let's focus on getting an explanation."

The word "girl" made Kamishiro-san tilt her head with a seemingly harmless smile and ask, but her father calmly redirected the conversation.

Feeling like she had said too much, Fuuka fell silent. What she had just said was something she didn't want others to hear.

"I understand. These are the spring flowers recently added to Core Store's lineup. These flowers easily wither. After all, as soon as you think the buds are coming out, they wither."

The recently added Spring flowers and Winter flowers. She thought it would be easy to cultivate if they were Store-bought, but they easily withered. It turned out to be a difficult flower to cultivate, and he left it to Kamishiro-san, who seemed to have succeeded.

"The effect is simple. The cores used for exchange are of low rank, so we didn't expect much. When you brew these flower petals, they grant 6-hour heat resistance micro-effects. Spring flowers also have environmental adaptability and keep the surrounding area at 25°C. However, the environmental adaptability isn't very strong, and changes the temperature by plus or minus 5°C."

"...It's a subtle effect. It doesn't have much use in summer or winter. Probably at that temperature."

"Heat resistance micro-effects have a few degrees of cold and heat resistance. So, it's not really worth the trouble of cultivation. This plant won't grow unless it's within a temperature range of plus or minus 5 degrees."

"Hmm... What's the point of this item? I don't understand dungeon-made items."