The S-Rank Explorer Who Acted Like a Total Jerk to Save the World Accidentally Leaves His Stream On and His Love for the Saintess Plus All His Secret Self-Sacrifice Gets Completely Exposed - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

BOOOOOM!!

With a massive roar, the huge body of the giant Orc King slammed into the ground.

When the dust cloud cleared, there stood a guy shouldering a flashy, over-decorated greatsword, wearing a sleazy grin.

That’s me, Kisaragi Renji.

“Hey hey hey, did I just steal the show again? Hero boy over there was just watching, huh! Man, you guys are so lucky your leader’s an S-rank explorer like me!”

I leaned in toward the camera lens on purpose, striking a taunting pose.

The semi-transparent window floating in the air—the dungeon stream’s comment section—was scrolling down like a freaking waterfall.

‘Ughhh, it’s this asshole again’
‘Stealing the last hit? Seriously no’
‘Kaito-kun was the one chipping away at it…’
‘Shut up trash’
‘Die’
‘Die’
‘Die’
‘Renji die’
‘Retire already you old geezer’
‘Kaito and Elicia-chan are way too pitiful’
‘Parasite scum’

A total storm of insults.

You could practically feel the killing intent pouring out of the text flood.

Concurrent viewers over 500,000, and honestly like 99% of them were straight-up haters.

Japan’s most hated explorer party, ‘Brave Souls’.

And the guy everyone calls the root of all evil, the leader? Yeah, that’s me.

“…Renji, you…! I told you right now we’re practicing coordination!”

A frustrated voice came from behind me.

Hero Kaito.

A good-looking blond young guy, but right now he was covered in mud, biting his lip so hard it was bleeding a little.

“Coordination? Hah, your sword’s too damn slow so I cleaned it up for you. You should be thanking me, y’know?”

“Wha—”

“Please stop it! Kaito fought plenty well!”

Stepping forward to shield him was Saintess Elicia.

See-through silver hair, pure white priest robes that looked super clean.

Those beautiful eyes of hers were now stabbing right through me with pure disgust, like I was literal garbage.

“You’re the absolute worst, Renji-san. Stealing a teammate’s chance to grow just because you want the materials… You’re a disgrace to every explorer out there.”

“Hmph, don’t give me that pretty little speech. Dungeons are all about results, got it? Who do you think’s been protecting softies like you guys?”

I picked up the drop item that fell on the ground—a Rare A ‘Ring of Great Strength’—and made a big show of stuffing it into my pocket.

“This one’s leader privilege, so I’m taking it. No complaints, right?”

‘Huh?????’
‘This guy’s greed is insane’
‘That’s gear Kaito-kun needs though’
‘Disgusting’
‘Makes me sick’
‘Someone please kill him’

The comment section exploded again.

I snorted through my nose and flipped the camera the middle finger.

“If you’re pissed, then get stronger than me! Alright, that’s it for today’s stream. Good work, everyone!”

Click.

I shut off the drone’s streaming function.

“…………”

Right then.

The fake twisted smirk I’d been wearing vanished from my face.

What rushed in to replace it was this heavy, lead-like exhaustion.

(…Phew. Another solid heel performance today, huh)

I let out a big breath.

My heart was still pounding like crazy.

My side felt hot. The impact from when I tanked one of the Orc King’s hits out of camera view was still lingering.

I glanced over at the two of them real quick.

Kaito was punching the ground, and Elicia was hugging him from behind, comforting him.

The feelings aimed at them were “sympathy” and “cheers”.

The feelings aimed at me were “hatred” and “contempt”.

(…Yeah. This is perfect)

I clenched my fist a little inside my heart.

If I acted like a “good leader”, what would happen?

Kaito’s weaknesses would get exposed, Elicia’s mistakes would get torn apart.

The two of them—the ones prophesied to save the world—were still young.

So someone had to play the villain, gather all the hate, and become a lightning rod to keep the world’s pressure from crushing them.

“…Let’s head back. The car’s already waiting.”

I said it in a deliberately low voice and turned my back on them.

While walking, I pulled out the ‘Ring of Great Strength’ I’d just pocketed.

Then, as I passed by, I slipped it into the side pocket of Kaito’s backpack with a smooth sleight-of-hand move.

(Kaito, with your strength stat, this should let you swing that next greatsword no problem)

Next I pulled out my phone and shot a message to my usual gear craftsman.

‘Elicia’s robe had a small tear on the back. Get it patched with that special magic thread. Send the bill to my account like always—”anonymous”‘

Sent.

I happened to glance down at my own arm.

Under the coat, it was covered in bruises and cuts.

I always prioritized recovery magic on the two of them, so my wounds could only get patched up with potions.

Old scars throbbed like they were pulling tight, but I kept my face blank and just kept walking quietly toward the exit.

◇

The ride back was dead quiet, like a funeral.

Me driving in the front, Kaito and Elicia in the back.

Through the rearview mirror I could see the two of them exchanging looks, like they’d made up their minds about something.

After a while, Kaito finally spoke.

“…Renji”

His voice shook a little breaking the silence, but it had this solid core to it.

“I’ve got something to talk about. Can you come to the guild meeting room tomorrow?”

“…………”

So it was finally happening.

I gripped the steering wheel tighter.

It came a bit sooner than I expected, but yeah, it was about time.

Kaito’s level had gone up plenty.

Elicia’s support magic was pretty much complete too.

There was no need anymore for me—the “stepping stone”—to keep getting covered in mud to protect them.

I met Kaito’s straight, honest eyes in the mirror.

Man, those eyes had really grown strong.

The crybaby kid who only knew how to get protected back when we first met? He was long gone.

Something lonely welled up deep in my chest, but right behind it came this bigger wave of pride.

I lifted the corner of my mouth and put on my usual “villain” face.

“Heh? What’s with the serious tone all of a sudden. Well fine, I’ll carve out some of my precious time for you. Better be an interesting talk, yeah?”

“Yeah… It’s important. About the future of the party.”

“Gotcha. I’ll look forward to it.”

I stepped on the gas.

The Tokyo night lights flowing past the window looked a little blurrier than usual.

Tomorrow, I’d get kicked out of this party as the world’s number-one most hated guy.

And that was fine.

That was the scenario I’d chosen and kept playing all this time.

But what I didn’t know yet…

Was that the ending would turn out nothing like I’d imagined… and it’d blow up into a massive mess that dragged the whole world into it.