A selfish request

Tamashi cut down a water slime with his spear, and Kengo then crushed it beneath his shield using his weight, sending the slimy substance flying everywhere—including Tamashi’s face and clothes.

“Damn it, Kengo! Can’t you be a little more careful?” spat Tamashi begrudgingly, wiping the slime’s remains off his face.

“Sorry, bro. It just looked so fun, y’know?” replied Kengo sarcastically.

It was their second day inside the dungeon, and they had just defeated their thirty-seventh slime, which were all the slimes that Awayuki had spotted at the very start. Therefore, it was time to face the pack of goblins.

“Alright, everyone, since it’s getting late and we’re all tired, we’ll rest for the rest of the day and figure out a strategy for fighting the goblins while we eat dinner,” Tamashi announced.

This whole dungeon was about fifty by fifty kilometers of nothing but a hilly plain, with only a few lonesome trees here and there. The day and night cycle worked the same as on Earth, and because Tamashi was purposefully taking his time with defeating each enemy, they had already spent a night here and were about to do it for a second time.

"Mika, you’ll be first on lookout with Awayuki again. Mom, you’ll be second, and Kengo third. I’ll go last and observe the goblins so we can prepare better.”

“You can count on me, big brother!” Mika exclaimed enthusiastically.

Himawari and Kengo nodded silently, and Tamashi summoned a tent he had bought from the System store before entering the dungeon—prebuilt, with sleeping bags and mattresses included.

After dinner, everyone except Mika went to sleep using the Fall Asleep spell. Dungeons were the main reason Tamashi considered this spell so important. Not only could a person fall asleep instantly and remain sleeping for as long as they wished, they would also awaken perfectly rested and energized, even if they chose to wake up by the spell’s effects once or twice in between. This made the spell incredibly useful during dungeon expeditions, where sleeping inside the other dimension was unavoidable, as there was no way to return until the dungeon was cleared.

When it was Tamashi's turn to guard their tent, he got out of the sleeping bag and went outside without bothering to be quiet, since a person using the Fall Asleep spell needed a strong stimulus to wake up, something like pinching or slapping them.

Kengo was sitting on a blanket right by the tent’s entrance, gazing silently at the starry sky. Hearing Tamashi slide the tent’s zipper, he turned to him with a lost expression.

“Hey,” Kengo said eventually, looking up at the stars again.

Tamashi returned his greeting with a “hey,” as well, then sat down next to him without saying anything else.

They both just sat there and studied the sky for a few minutes, before Kengo finally broke the silence.

“Hey, Tamashi. Can I ask something selfish?”

“Shoot,” Tamashi replied without turning his head, since Kengo was not looking at him either.

“Do you think,” Kengo asked after a brief pause, “that we can... take someone in?”

Surprised, Tamashi turned to his brother, who was still staring up, not meeting his gaze.

“Take in? Do you mean like let them move in with us and include them in our party?” questioned Tamashi, unsure if he had understood what Kengo was trying to convey.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Kengo confirmed. “And before you answer, let me at least explain myself.”

“Sure, I’ll listen.”

Kengo took a deep breath, then continued with a heavy tone.

“I go to a lot of gyms, but at this particular one, there’s this girl I sometimes talk to... We just used to spot each other when lifting at the start, but lately, about two or three months ago, we started chatting more often. Turns out, her situation at home isn’t great—her mother died by suicide when she and her sister were very young, so they don’t even remember her. Now they live in a run-down apartment with their abusive and twenty-four-seven drunk father, who blows all their money on booze and gambling, so she has to work three jobs just to take care of herself and her sister.”

Suddenly, the sky wasn’t so peaceful and dreamy, instead looking empty, cruel, and distant, as if mocking humans for being unable to reach it. Tamashi wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the right words, so he just stayed quiet and let Kengo speak.

“I know it’s a lot to ask, since you already have to take care of us three, but... I really want to help them—her and her younger sister, I mean. Especially now, when the world has turned upside down.”

Kengo paused and turned to Tamashi, finally looking him in the eyes for the first time since they’d started this conversation.

“So, can you please help me get them out of the city, letting them stay with us, at least until they manage to get their own place?”

Kengo’s voice was steady, his tone serious and calm. Even so, Tamashi noticed a hint of fear in his eyes—fear of him rejecting his request.

Meeting his brother’s honest brown eyes—eyes he had inherited from their father—Tamashi could see how sincere and determined Kengo truly was, and how deeply he wished to rescue those two sisters, despite having known them for only a few months.

He’s really a piece of work, isn’t he? Tamashi thought, sighing loudly.

“You’ll go help them even if I refuse, won’t you?” Tamashi asked in a resigned tone.

“Yeah...” Kengo answered after a while.

“Then we’ll go the day after we leave this dungeon.”

“Really—?”

“But,” Tamashi interrupted, “the two of us will be going alone. I refuse to bring Mom and Mika to the city—especially now, when there’s undoubtedly chaos and violence all over the streets.”

“Thanks, bro—seriously!”

With those words, Kengo threw himself at Tamashi and hugged him tightly.

“Yeah, yeah, stop being weird and go to sleep already. We have a tough fight tomorrow.”

Tamashi eventually managed to push his brother away, and after Kengo went inside the tent, he lay down on the blanket, gazing up at the alien sky above, deep in thought.

Taking in two more people, huh...

Even though Tamashi had already accepted Kengo’s request to rescue the two girls from Tokyo and bring them to his house, he was still somewhat reluctant, weighing the pros and cons of having two new people by his side.

On one hand, it’s more people to take care of and keep an eye on, but on the other hand, having a bigger party means having a stronger party. They’d also soak up some of the XP from killing monsters, but thanks to the XP distribution system that I recommended, it would overall work out in our favor in the long run.

The XP distribution system in place at the moment favored larger parties—it reduced the XP each person gained when multiple people participated in a kill, but the XP distributed among everyone involved was greater than what a single person would have earned by killing that same monster solo.

And then there’s the issue of where they’re going to live. While my house is more than big enough to accommodate two more people, I'm not sure how I feel about living with two complete strangers. What if that girl from Kengo’s gym is just a scammer pretending to be a victim?

Rapidly scratching the top of his head, he sighed and stood up, deciding to clear his mind by going over tomorrow’s plans.

In the end, whether I allow the two sisters to stay or not depends on what kind of people they are. If they can’t make themselves useful, they’ll just be wasting my time.