chapter01 · 012-ep11

Episode 11: Missing for Twenty-One Hours

And so, before I could answer that question, I got hauled off to a hospital.

Two cracked ribs, contusions across my whole body, and scrapes on top of scrapes.

"You walked out of there on your own two legs. Remarkable."

The guy from the Guild's medical unit said it with a completely straight face. Wait, is that a compliment?

"Ahaha, well, it was nothing—"

"No, I wasn't complimenting you."

...Right.

When the treatment was done, this time I was shown into a small room deep inside the Guild. One desk, four chairs, nothing on the walls. It's an interrogation room no matter how you slice it, but saying that out loud felt like it would make it officially one, so I kept quiet.

Across from me sat two Guild staffers, one of them Mishima-san, seeing me for the first time since appraisal day. And right beside me sat my big sister.

She was still in her gear, and stitched across the chest of her black combat suit was a Clan emblem I knew all too well. The one I've seen on TV more times than I can stomach.

An S-rank explorer, in a major Clan headquartered in Nagoya. And that's my big sister. Unreal.

"Um, big sis—"

"Let me say this first."

She cut me off.

"I'm not angry. You came back alive."

Oh, she's not angry. Thank g— no, wait. Having the reason be "you came back alive" is not reassuring at all.

"But you are going to explain."

Lined up on the desk were the drops I'd brought back — fangs, fur, and next to a horn, that black crystal.

Mishima-san had done nothing but stare at that crystal this whole time.

"Ichinose-sama. First, let me convey the appraisal results."

Mishima-san lowered her eyes to the paperwork.

"A Goblin Emperor's magic core. Estimated difficulty C. A specimen found, only quite rarely, in the middle depths and below of C-rank dungeons."

...Huh? C-rank? That thing was that strong?

"And this came out of the F-rank Kanayama dungeon."

"...It's really C-rank?"

"We ran the appraisal three times. There is no mistake."

The other staff member had his head in his hands. I understand that feeling. I did the exact same pose at this Guild on appraisal day. Except this time, I'm the one causing the pose.

"Is there any record of one coming out of an F-rank?"

"None."

"Not a single case, at least as far as I know."

Wait. Hold on. Isn't this quietly turning into a huge deal?

The middle depths of a C-rank dungeon — that's where Japan's C-rank-and-above divers go, all hundred thousand of them. And an F-rank me killed something that lives there. That makes twice in two weeks I've been told "no precedent."

"Ichinose-san. Where did you find this?"

The staffer leaned forward.

Here we go — the main event. What I could say, what I absolutely could not say — no mistakes allowed.

"There was a hidden passage, deep in Floor 1."

"A hidden passage."

"I touched a wall and it opened. Three rocks in a row with no moss on them."

The staffers exchanged a look. Wait, did I say something bad?

"Beyond it, the space opened up wide. Goblins, more than I could count. And that guy—"

I pointed at the crystal.

"I got surrounded, couldn't get away. And when I came to, I'd already won."

That's all true, right? I didn't say everything, but none of it's a lie. Probably.

If they pushed — how I knew where the hidden passage was and how to open it, or how a Lv-21 rookie soloed hundreds of goblins and a C-rank — I'd go with "I was too worked up to remember." Yeah. Committing to that.

After that came a steady stream of detailed questions. The passage's location, the size of the space, the goblin count, the Emperor's size, in order, and finally the talk turned to my weapon.

"What weapon did you use?"

"The rental iron sword. The loaner one. A completely ordinary iron sword. Seriously, shockingly ordinary. Ordinary to a degree that would astonish you."

That part alone is a total lie. I'm sorry, Mishima-san. Also, that was my third "ordinary" in a row just now. Normal people don't say "ordinary" three times.

Mishima-san's pen stopped for exactly one beat, then she wrote it down without a word. What was that beat just now? ...I'm in the clear, right?

"...An Undiscovered hidden region, then. We will assemble a survey team at once."

The staffer stood up.

"The Kanayama dungeon will be temporarily closed, effective today. With a magic core emerging from an F-rank, a grade re-evaluation becomes necessary as well."

"Huh, closed? Then my practice spot is—"

"Gone."

My sister answered instantly. Don't answer before the staffer does.

Are you serious. I had every last dead end in that place memorized. And the reason it's closing is me, the guy who found the hidden passage. I found my own practice spot and then got it shut down. How does that even work?

"The discoverer's report will be handled on our end. Ichinose-sama, please go rest for today."

When it was over and we stepped into the corridor, my ribs gave a prickling sting every time I inhaled.

All the way down the corridor, my sister beside me didn't say a single word. She said she wasn't angry, but she is absolutely going to say something after this.

And sure enough, she stopped right in front of the elevators.

"Saku."

"Y-yes?"

"Before you dove, you were Lv 21, right?"

Ugh. The one question I wanted least.

"Y-yeah. I was."

"C-rank individuals are recommended 120."

She says it without looking at me, which makes it so much worse.

"Even I would be dead at Lv 21."

I had nothing to fire back. She hasn't been fooled for one single second, has she.

"You killed it with the rental iron sword, right?"

"Yeah. With the rental."

"I see."

Huh? That's it? I thought I was in for way more than that.

The elevator arrived and we got in together. Just as the doors closed, my sister spoke.

"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine."

I couldn't help looking at her face.

"I had things too. Things I couldn't tell Mom and Dad."

"Big sis..."

"But."

She finally turned to face me.

"Next time you're gone for twenty hours, I will look for you. For real."

For real, as in, an S-rank throwing the full strength of the strongest Clan in Chubu at the search?

That's not a search anymore. That's a military campaign.

"I'll be careful. I will be careful with every last ounce of my being."

"Mm."

When we got off the elevator and stepped outside, it was fully morning. Come to think of it, first time out in almost a whole day. So bright!

...Anyway. First order of business once I'm home: sleep like the dead.