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Chapter 45: The Whereabout of Mana
Yuuma was struggling against the frog while receiving instruction from Tanaka.
He kept chasing after the hopping frog with pickel in his hands. Swinging down his pickel, pressing the switch on its handle when the frog discharged its bodily fluid and finally watching them die by the electric shock.
In this regard, Yuuma received some tips and tricks from Tanaka as he told him that he only needed to press the switch when his attack hit his opponent to save his battery power.
Since he used a pickel with a long handle, he was in a much better situation than Tanaka who used a short sword with short range but his body was still sticky.
「Tanaka-san… Are we going to do this every day?」
「Well, just get used to it.」
He left the 『Blue Dungeon』 with Tanaka who was smiling cheerfully. Yuuma went straight to his home after parting ways with Tanaka in the small park when the day almost ended.
Well, that’s the conclusion of his first day working as an Explorer.
He kept doing the frog hunting in the dungeon for three days after that.
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「This is… Strange indeed.」
In the morning of the fourth day. Maika spoke with a frown on her face in front of Yuuma who just came to the office.
「So it really is impossible, is it?」
Maika groaned while pointing the “Mana Measuring Tool” for commercial use toward the bewildered Yuuma.
「U~hm… You should’ve killed more than twenty bullfrogs, right?」
「Yeah, I defeated tons of them with Tanaka-san but…」
「Then your mana index should’ve been raised. Defeating a bullfrog should’ve raised your mana index around 0.2~0.3, so defeating twenty of them should raise your mana index to 4~6.」
The president came from behind Maika with an equally puzzled look on his face.
「What’s the matter?」
「Yeah, it’s a strange case indeed. Yuuma-kun’s mana index is still zero.」
「Eh? It should’ve risen a bit after three days right?」
「Yeah, completely strange indeed.」
「Is that thing broken? It’s an early model after all.」
「Let’s try it――」
Maika pointed the measuring tool toward the president and pressed the switch. And then, when she looked at the display after it released a clicking sound,
「１１０７. The number is correct.」
「Yeah, it’s correct.」
Maika then pointed the tool at Tanaka who was working on his desk.
「Let me measure yours next, Tanaka-san.」
「Eh? Ah, sure.」
She pointed the measuring tool to Tanaka’s abdomen and pressed the switch. And then, they looked at the number displayed after some clicking sounds.
「６２３」
「Yes, it’s still good.」
The measuring tool displayed the correct number for both the president and Tanaka. Seeing that, the president scratched his head with a troubled look on his face.
「So the tool isn’t broken.」
Yuuma looked anxiously at the president and Maika who discussed this matter.
「Uhm… Could it be that it’s really hard to raise my mana index?」
The president and Maika exchanged glances upon hearing Yuuma’s question.
「Well, sure enough, there’s a hypothesis about different individuals raising their mana index but… That’s a really rare case.」
「Yes! Such a case is close to impossible. That’s why I think there’s no problem with you.」
The president and Maika revealed a troubled looks on their faces. Yuuma on the other hand was worried that defeating too much metal slime had caused this adverse effect on him.
「Anyhow, let’s see the situation a while longer. Even if it turned out that your mana index isn’t raised even a bit later, we can still think of another way.」
The status quo was maintained by the president’s single order. Yuuma and Tanaka headed toward the blue dungeon again to defeat the bullfrog and tried to raise Yuuma’s mana index.
And then, two days later――
「U~hm.」
In the president’s room, the president and Yuuma were sitting in front of each other on the sofa, they hung their heads down with serious looks on their faces.
The president closed his eyes, folding his arms with a troubled look on his face.
「Yup, not having your mana rose after all those effort is strange indeed.」
「Does that mean there’s a problem with my body?」
Both of them were at their wit’s end. Even the president with his wealth of experience was troubled since he had never seen such a case before.
「Maybe. I’ve never heard about a body constitution that makes it harder to raise mana their index but, I can’t say that there’s nothing like that either. Let’s try to examine it for now.」
「Examining it? What do you mean?」
「I have an acquaintance researching the effect of mana in the human body. Let’s t ask for that person’s help.」
The president stood up, then took the phone on his desk to make a call to someone.
Yuuma also stood up and walked back to his own desk while scratching his head. His situation was rather unusual.
He thought that his mana index would rise as long as he defeated a slightly stronger monster in a deeper part of the dungeon. And yet, reality said that his mana index didn’t rise at all.
At this rate, he would stay as a mana-less person, and that would mean the end of his career as an Explorer. Meaning that he might be fired too.
Being fired from this company means that there would be no other company willing to accept Yuuma.
Yuuma sat in an anxious mood, Tanaka who was sitting at the desk beside him then called out to Yuuma.
「Are you okay? How’s it going?」
「We’re going to investigate the reason why my mana won’t increase… It seems the president going to ask for his scholar’s acquaintance’s help.」
「Ah, that person huh.」
Tanaka let out a smile as if he knew the said scholar.
「You know about that scholar?」
「Of course. That scholar-san sometimes makes a request for us. And that person is a woman.」
「He~, I see.」
It seems the scholar was Tanaka’s acquaintance too. Tanaka let out a weird laugh while Yuuma pondered about the said scholar.
「I-Is something the matter?」
「Well, Yuuma-kun. The truth is…」
Seeing Tanaka beckoning at him, Yuuma brought his ear closer.
「That scholar-san is in fact our president’s ex.」
「Eeh!?」