Dungeon's Final Boss: Banished by My Boss, the Goddess, to Earth—So I'll Continue My Past Life - 44

Chapter 44: Global Attention

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Morning came. It was my routine to turn on the TV while having my morning coffee. Back when I worked for a company, it was a convenient way to check the time, weather, and quick news updates all at once. Now, I had the  freedom to wake up and sleep whenever I wanted as long as the D-Ministry didn’t summon me. 

Though, I feel like I was much more rushed back then. I think I even wished I could just sleep forever. Well, whatever.

“Rock Barnhorn arrived in Japan last night.”

The female announcer, who was popular for always making food look delicious on camera, reported this with an unusually serious expression. The footage showed a massive man walking through the airport at night, with a swarm of reporters pressing in on him. But he walked on, unbothered, shielded by his bodyguards. However, he left a single remark for the microphones around him.

“I came to claim the modern day Excalibur.”

With absolute confidence, he said that and walked away.

Rock Barnhorn? Who is that?

I searched his name, and the top results were all news articles about the same topic. After scrolling down a bit, I found his Wikipedia page. Rock Barnhorn was an American Awakener. A towering, pro-wrestler-like S-rank Awakener. He was said to be the number one Awakener in America and boldly claimed that meant he was the strongest in the world. His most famous achievement was single-handedly resolving a large-scale Overload event in the U.S.

I see. But… Modern day Excalibur? Could it be… No, he must be talking about that sword. So they were treating it like Excalibur.

That sword… I understood the situation, but I still wasn’t entirely convinced. As I sipped my coffee, feeling somewhat conflicted, the segment on TV smoothly transitioned to another breaking news report.

“Breaking news: It has been confirmed that Claire Saloon will be attending the upcoming Awakener online auction in Japan.”

Claire Saloon? Even someone like me, who barely remembers anything about Awakeners, had heard of that name before. I didn’t recall the details, though. I searched her name and found that she wasn’t an Awakener.

She was a member of the founding family of the company that developed a globally dominant operating system. She was known for her dedication to volunteer work and environmental conservation. Apparently, she was also known to take extreme measures in her endeavor. Now I remembered. I’d seen her name a few times in online news articles.

“But if she’s not an Awakener, why would she want a sword?”

What would someone like her do with that? I had no idea.

After finishing my coffee, I got dressed and stepped outside.

Now, what should I have for breakfast? 

Since I didn’t have to rush around in the mornings anymore, I had been going out for breakfast at family restaurants or cafés lately.

“Jiro-san! Going for breakfast!?”

Just as I left my room, Mio peeked out from the apartment next door.

“Yeah, I am.”

“Can I come with you?”

“Sure.”

“Yay!”

And just like that, Mio stepped out. Lately, we’ve been going out together like this quite often.

“Then how about Yoneda Coffee?”

“Oooh! Sure! They’re famous for having big portions!”

Yoneda Coffee’s menu had large portions, which must be a blessing for Awakeners who tended to have high-calorie intakes. I had never seen Piroane join us for breakfast. She didn’t seem like a morning person—maybe she really wasn’t one.

As we sat down and placed our orders, Mio spoke up.

“Things are getting pretty crazy, huh?”

She was talking about that sword.

“Looks like a lot of people are coming to Japan just to see it in person.”

According to Mio, aside from the two names mentioned in the morning news, other big names were also heading to Japan. S-rank Awakeners from around the world, billionaires, even actors and artists were coming.

“Everyone wants to see the strongest sword in the world.”

“The strongest sword in the world, huh.”

I still couldn’t accept it.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“…Are you starting to regret selling it?”

“No way. Besides, it belongs to Piroane.”

“That’s true, but…”

“If I seem upset, it’s just because I’m disappointed in my own judgment.”

I felt bad for making Mio worry.

“Really? So even Jiro-san can feel that way too, huh?”

“I learn from my mistakes. That’s just how I am.”

“Huh, I see.”

“That’s right.”

“Oh yeah, I saw on Ururun’s video that even Tougo Shimazu-san might be attending the auction.”

“Tougo Shimazu…”

Oh, right. An S-rank Awakener from Kyushu. I think he was in charge of clearing dungeons in Kyushu, Okinawa, and Shikoku.

“Does he use a sword?”

“Yeah, apparently.”

“Then I wonder what the other S-rank Awakeners will do?”

“The other top Awakeners in Japan, like Shin Mouri-san and Youki Nijou-san, are more magic-focused type, so I don’t think they’d be interested. But Shin Mouri-san does run a dungeon-raiding company, so he might want to buy it for his team.”

“I see.”

At this point, all that was left was to sit back and watch as people from all over the world engaged in a brutal battle of wealth.

“When we get the money, we’ll use some of it for you too, Mio.”

“The editing team… You were serious about that? That’s a lot of extra cash to spend though?”

“In fact, might as well hire someone to look after her every need too.”

We enjoyed our large breakfast at Yoneda Coffee while chatting about such things. The katsu sandwich was delicious.

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