ch21-ch40 · 033-ch32

Chapter 32 (Epilogue of Chapter 1)

"What is the meaning of this...?! What in heaven's name is going on...?!"

Glaring at her device monitor, Kujo Reiko's well-shaped lips trembled violently, and she carefully exhaled the confusion and excitement swirling within her chest.

Reiko was the daughter of the Kujo zaibatsu, and at nineteen years old, she was an A-rank explorer.

During the labyrinth practical training held in middle school, she hadn't shown particularly high magical affinity, and unlike the members of Anthem, she hadn't attended a state-run explorer training academy.

She simply loved dungeons and magic, and loved fighting magical creatures.

Like most children of the Other World Generation, she had admired the exploits of high-rank explorers, and Reiko had tried to make that admiration a reality.

She had no innate talent, but she had luck.

Because Kujo Reiko was a rich kid.

The Kujo zaibatsu had thrown its support behind explorers at a fairly early stage during the chaos following the World Fusion, and owned several famous companies in dungeon-related industries. There was an environment where essential items for dungeon conquest could be easily obtained, and there was money to obtain them. Furthermore, Reiko's parents let her use that money as she pleased.

Kujo Reiko was a true young lady, acknowledged by herself and others alike.

She truly had no talent as an explorer. So much so that it bore repeating. Her magical affinity was lacking, and to begin with she was rather clumsy, and those around her said her battles with magical creatures were incredibly precarious at first. In reality, she had been injured again and again and again.

She let money talk and gathered up premium potions, rapidly healing injuries that would normally leave aftereffects, and without learning her lesson, she kept challenging dungeons. She had been doing so since middle school, and now at nineteen, she was an A-rank explorer.

As far as Japan, which didn't much promote underage explorers, was concerned, this was an exceptional measure.

The nation desperately wanted powerful explorers. That was why there was a national project to train middle school students who showed excellent magical affinity—like Anthem's members—as explorers from that point onward. But they couldn't sacrifice the lives of boys and girls for that. The reason magical affinity was measured during compulsory education was precisely that.

You don't have the talent, so don't become an explorer.

Otherwise, you'll die.

In this sense, Kujo Reiko was far too irregular. There were explorers who hadn't shown particularly excellent numbers in magical affinity but later made it big, but no matter how you looked at it, she was too young, and to make matters worse, she had become too strong.

After all, she had repeatedly hired adult explorers and dove into dungeons as she pleased. As long as she had this "supervisor," dungeon exploration was permitted even while she was a minor, and the submission of labyrinth produce was also recognized. This law had been established to gather and train children with high magical affinity—like Anthem's members—but this law had also been useful to Kujo Reiko. There weren't many children who forcibly exploited this law, but Reiko was one such case.

Children were treasures of the nation and ought to be protected—but the various things dungeons produced were also treasures of the nation. Since she was going to dive in on her own and keep surviving anyway, they might as well issue her an explorer's license as an exception and have her provide magic cores and labyrinth produce.

Post-World Fusion Japan had grown somewhat accustomed to irregularities.

But that was beside the point.

Kujo Reiko had built up experience in this way, suffered major injuries more than anyone her age, and probably consumed more premium potions than anyone else in the world. When she was sleep-deprived, she would sometimes knock back a potion in place of an energy drink.

Nowadays, she also promoted dungeon equipment and convenient goods from companies under the Kujo zaibatsu as a streamer, and in that sense, perhaps her parents' investment in her had paid off.

Such a Reiko was now utterly astonished.

The mysterious man appearing in the livestream of the A-rank explorer clan "Anthem" as they worked to suppress the Dungeon Rampage in S City—called Worksite-bro or Toru-bro in the comments—stirred up indescribable emotions within her, and she couldn't sort out her feelings properly.

"Joichiro! Is Joichiro waiting nearby?!"

Without taking her eyes from the stream, she stood up with enough force to send her chair flying, calling the name of her attendant—whether he was a butler, a personal secretary, or whatever he was.

In less than half a second, the room's door opened, and Kashiwazaki Joichiro appeared, his black suit and white shirt worn sloppily. His features were well-formed, but his half-grown hair made him look like a delinquent, and he hardly looked like a young lady's butler.

"Yo. What's up, Ojou?"

"Joichiro! Were you watching that Anthem stream?"

"I was watchin' it just now. Man, that's insane, huh? The S-rank 'Fairy Princess' Ilseria Lumiestel is basically just an extra, right? You were watchin' too, weren't ya, Ojou?"

For someone who was supposed to be a zaibatsu young lady's butler, Joichiro's tone and attitude were far too casual.

But there was a reason for that. While the Kashiwazaki family had served the Kujo household for generations, Joichiro had been dragged along to indulge Reiko's dungeon hobby since he was young, and as a result, he had spent far more time training as an explorer to look after her than receiving butler education.

Once he, four years Reiko's senior, reached adulthood, there was no longer any need to hire a "supervisor," and every day was spent repeating dungeon attacks with Joichiro in tow.

Even if they hired a proper butler now, there was no way they could keep up with Reiko, who had become an A-rank explorer. Joichiro understood that he wouldn't be fired even if his attitude was bad.

Besides, Reiko herself didn't particularly mind Joichiro's rough attitude.

He'd been like this since long ago, and it would be creepy if he suddenly changed his attitude.

"Of course I was watching. It is precisely because I was watching that I called for you."

"Hoh?"

"This... this man. Toru-bro-sama? What a strange name. I am curious about him. I had seen clips on social media, but until this Dungeon Rampage occurred, I had not watched their live streams very much."

"Ah, right, you hate Anthem, don't ya, Ojou?"

Joichiro laughed with a light, frivolous grin.

Because she had to look up at him due to the height difference, when Reiko glared at Joichiro, she inevitably ended up thrusting out her chest and chin.

"I do not loathe them. I simply haven't much interest, that is all."

"But you're totally riled up against that Kagurazaka young lady, aren't ya?"

"She is the same age as me, and the young lady of that Kagurazaka household. It is only natural that I would be somewhat conscious of her."

"She got into that explorer training academy you couldn't get into, after all."

"Hmph! If you think paltry talent alone could stop me in my tracks, you are sorely mistaken. I could match that samurai woman now."

"Nah, you really worked your butt off, didn't ya?"

Perhaps recalling how Reiko used to trip just from running a little, Joichiro wore an especially warm smile, but since it annoyed her, she landed a low kick on his thigh.

"How impudent! Enough of that, Joichiro. I am curious about this Toru-bro-sama. Who is he, what in the world is that blade, and I am also somewhat curious about that holy sword-wielding swordswoman. Can you look into it?"

"I figured you'd say that, so I looked it up already."

Taking a mobile device from his suit's inner pocket, Joichiro didn't show off or brag, but looked at the screen as if it were only natural.

"Let's see... his real name is Hayasaka Toru. Twenty years old. He was working as a cleaner at a D-rank dungeon in S City when he encountered an irregular situation and picked up that cursed blade and holy sword. At that time, he happened to help the Anthem members who were exploring a dungeon undergoing a Labyrinth Mutation, and it basically blew up from there. After that, Anthem exposed a meeting involving prefectural assembly members and the mayor and whatnot, and Toru-bro was involved in that too... you didn't know about that either, Ojou?"

Why is he already looking into this ahead of time? Reiko nodded, slightly taken aback. No matter how long he'd been her childhood friend butler, wasn't he a little too perceptive?

"I do not know. The internet is not my forte."

"You let money talk and set up this ridiculous streaming setup, and now you're sayin' that?"

Joichiro cast his gaze around Reiko's desk with an exasperated look.

Due to her product promotions, and because she liked labyrinth exploration streams, Reiko herself streamed dungeon explorations, but she hadn't quite gotten used to online communication. Reiko had a bit of a complex about it.

"Ojou, you should do casual talk streams again. A rich young lady like you'd normally get hated on, but you're popular, y'know?"

"How noisy you are. I do not wish to become popular. More importantly, I shall make contact with this Toru-bro-sama."

"Huh? Eh... he's blowin' up like crazy right now, y'know? Plus he's tied up with Anthem, and that Ilseria was totally flipping out... isn't that gonna be a hassle?"

Glancing at the monitor on the desk, the elf's body camera showed Toru-bro with an incredibly fed-up look on his face. It was a far more blatant expression of annoyance than Joichiro's half-hearted butler-like pose.

Apparently Ilseria was picking some kind of fight with him, but Toru-bro didn't seem to be engaging much.

To make such a blatantly fed-up face right at an inhuman—well, she wasn't actually human—S-rank explorer...

Just then, into that scene, Anthem's leader Saito Megumi cut in.

〈That's enough, Ilseria! Now is not the time for that! The rescue squad hasn't even arrived yet! We have to find people who need help and save them!〉

Faced with such a straight-shooting, righteous argument, even the elf couldn't maintain her stubbornness. The camera shifted from Toru-bro to Saito Megumi. She was in terrible shape from being drenched in hydra blood, but she didn't seem to care about that at all.

And then, just like that, Megumi's hand reached out and took the stream camera from Ilseria.

〈I think from here on, this will become a rescue operation. We can't stream intense footage of ordinary people, so we're cutting the stream here. We don't really understand a lot of things ourselves, but we'll share information through Anthem's official channels as much as we can. To everyone who cooperated, everyone who watched, everyone who cheered us on—thank you so much. See you!〉

With a soft click, the stream cut off.

The streaming site, utterly tone-deaf, picked out several "Recommended Streams" on the monitor, but Reiko closed the browser out of disinterest.

"Man... she's one year older than you, Ojou, right? She's got her act together, huh?"

"I would not be averse to showing respect to Saito Megumi. Though I do not care for that haughty elf or the samurai woman."

"What about the Saintess?"

"I have no particular feelings about Mido Airi."

Reiko let out a huff through her nose, and Joichiro showed her an exaggerated, bitter smile. She felt somewhat embarrassed, as if her inner thoughts were being seen through, but at the same time, she wished he would guess a little more accurately at the feelings she herself didn't yet understand.

"Joichiro. I am curious about this Toru-bro-sama. However, I do not even understand why I am curious."

Why do you think that is?

Taking her meaning, Joichiro nodded immediately and answered plainly.

"It's 'cause Worksite-bro has no talent, right? Just like Ojou didn't. And yet a guy like that instantly killed an estimated upper S-rank hydra. No way you wouldn't be curious. Ojou, you're probably not curious about Worksite-bro's strength or that creepy blade or the holy sword woman—you're curious about what kind of guy he is and how he's gonna act from here on out, aren't ya?"

Something clicked into place.

Reiko had experience to draw upon. Letting money talk, she had chugged potions while repeating dungeon attacks at a frequency that would look insane to an outsider. That repetition was Kujo Reiko's backbone. Now she had both strength and fame as an A-rank explorer, but she still remembered being a clumsy girl who had admired explorers.

What about him—what would become of him?

Toru-bro, who had saved Anthem from crisis twice, had looked terribly fed-up. He hadn't looked happy at all. He had easily cut down a monster that even Ilseria couldn't instantly kill, yet he hadn't shown even a hint of pride.

That couldn't be right.

She had never seen strength like that.

What would he do from now on?

Who would show him the way?

Surely, from now on, all sorts of people would try to use him. No one would leave him alone. A cleaner who could instantly kill S-rank monsters—there was no way they could leave someone like that alone.

"I see. Somehow, I understand now. Thank you, Joichiro."

"Don't mention it. We headed to S City?"

"Yes. I am curious about him. What kind of person he is, what he likes, what he dislikes, and what he thinks is worth trading for what. I had no talent but I had money. He had neither, did he? I am curious what such a person will do from now on, and if he does not yet know, then I, Kujo Reiko, shall involve myself in his choices."

Dungeons were fun.

So don't make such a boring face.

"Got it. Well, I got a helicopter ready, so let's get movin'. We'll use the helipad on a building owned by a local affiliate company. Car'll be a rental, and we'll book a hotel on the way. You've got your magic bag, right?"

"Eh? Ah... ah, yes. Your preparations are remarkably thorough..."

Honestly, it was creepy.

Joichiro took the opportunity to flash a smug grin and said:

"'Cause I'm Ojou's butler, after all."

◇◇◇

Kujo Reiko was not the only one.

The footage of the estimated upper S-rank hydra being instantly killed had spread across the world, and the Dungeon Rampage in S City and its outcome were the focus of intense attention from all labyrinth-related parties.

The world was now watching a friendless, rock-bottom man who had spent three years as a cleaner at a D-rank dungeon in a provincial city, and Hayasaka Toru had shown results that no one could have imagined.

On this day, the world took notice of Toru.

—The Twin Sword Vagabond.

The world would eventually come to call that extreme stubborn man, who possessed not one but two mythic-class swords, by that name—but that was still a story for a little while yet.