The Virgin Hero Who Fought in the Dungeon for 20 Years Returned to the Surface Only to Find the Population of the World Has Dropped Drastically, with a Male-to-Female Ratio of 1:1000 - 101

Chapter 101: What Is an S-Rank Explorer?

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

Kazuki, who had been silently listening to Shougen until then, spoke with a pained expression.

“You—you didn’t seriously lie to Ryuuto for my sake, did you?”

At Kazuki’s words, Shougen fell silent and showed them a bitter smile. Kazuki’s fingers trembled as she clasped her hands together over her chest. They were siblings. 

Ryuuto understood that his older sister’s emotions were being stirred by her husband Shougen’s feelings, but honestly, as his brother he had no idea how to respond. It was awkward. More than that, seeing her older sister show her feminine side was emotionally rough to watch as a younger brother.

“Sorry. I couldn’t bear to see Kazuki possibly lose Ryuuto again.”

“You idiot.”

Shougen slumped onto the sofa. Gentle-eyed Kazuki placed her hand over his palm. The two of them stared at each other, their gazes entwining. It felt like romantic mood music could start playing from somewhere. Ryuuto’s face twisted in a strange way.

“Okay, okay, stop. I don’t want you two cuddling in my sacred room and scheming to make a second child.”

“Wha—!? No, that’s—”

“Ha!? N-no, I’m not—”

“More importantly, first of all! Shouldn’t you two be saying something to me, the victim here?”

Shougen and Kazuki stood and bowed in unison.

 “Sorry.” 

They didn’t try to cover it up or lean on their authority. Feeling deflated, the energy Ryuuto had to be angry evaporated for good this time.

“Good, honest apology. Fine. I’ll let the lie about Rinka go this time.”

“Sorry about that.”

A warm, cozy mood settled between them. The sharp tension from earlier had melted back into the usual gentle atmosphere, and Yurina, Kazuki’s secretary who hadn’t said a word before, looked relieved and averted her eyes.

“Hey, Ryuuto. He didn’t mean any harm. Forgive him, okay?”

Unusually, Kazuki spoke in a contrite tone and apologized again. Ryuuto leaned back on the sofa and waved a hand dismissively.

“Yeah, yeah. This topic’s done. You still have other things to tell me, right? Let’s get on with it. I’ve got school tomorrow, you know. If this drags on I’ll oversleep.”

“All right. Then I’ll get to the point. Sit up properly.”

“Ah—okay.”

This guy had planned this from the start, huh.

“First, the main problem is that the enemy Ryuuto fought claimed to be the True Demon Lord.”

“Yeah.”

“Normally, you’d think the remnants of the Demon Lord that Ryuuto had defeated would be coming back for revenge. At least, that’d be the more realistic scenario. They claimed to be commanders of the True Demon Lord’s army, but how credible is that, really?”

“Hmm, can I be blunt?”

“Mm. Tell us everything, no holding back.”

“To be honest, we don’t really know.”

“W-well…”

“But, Shougen — you know that girl Loria is A-rank in the Association, right? If someone could crush her that thoroughly, maybe they aren’t just small fry.”

“Ryuuto, as you said, Loria was one of the Association’s top operatives. In normal missions she could handle things alone, and shallow-layer monsters wouldn’t leave a scratch on her. However, for better or worse, she’s a balance-focused neutral type.”

“Balance-focused?”

“Loria Himejima performs best in a party. She’s not the kind who single-handedly dominates. She’s the neutral balance type.”

“Neutral type?”

“Yes. Modern exploration parties tended to work best when composed of five roles — physical attacker, magical attacker, balanced/neutral, healer, and pure defense. Loria, for better or worse, is not specialized in attack nor defense. She isn’t particularly outstanding at attacking or defending, but in actual combat a balance/neutral type like Loria who watches the whole battlefield and keeps an eye on everything is important. In other words, she often acted like a conductor. If, when she fought the True Demon Lord’s commander Chiriat, she’d had several A-rank allies there to support her, the result would have been very different. At least they could have held out until Association reinforcements arrived. But there’s no point in speculating. If a being greater than the Demon Lord has truly appeared, the scale of the problem is enormous.”

“That would mean S-rank deployments would be called for.”

Shougen said this with his arms folded.

“S-rank? What’s that?”

“Officially, A-rank is considered the top tier among explorers, but that’s not the whole truth. Above them, there’s an outlier class called ‘S-rank.’ There were only ten of them in the world. Luckily — or unluckily — our country had four S-ranks under its wing right now.”

“No way.”

“Ryuuto, let me tell you: those women are monsters. Each of them, at their peak, would match our best. There are political considerations, but when a force claiming to be the True Demon Lord appears, those S-ranks would be the ones to handle it. But—”

“Yeah? You sound hesitant.”

“…Their teamwork is awful.”

“That’s right.”

“Hmm.”

“The S-rank explorers each commanded clans themed around their own signature colors, and their rivalry was out in the open. Moreover, they’d already shown they could eliminate threats solo, so neither the Association nor the government had succeeded in controlling them. Because of their power and isolation, the public called them the ‘Noble Rose Knights.’”

“That sounds kinda like Takarazuka.”

“Hey, Ryuuto. Do you have any leads on the one claiming to be the True Demon Lord?”

“Even if you ask me… I don’t know. All I can say is that whether or not those guys were calling themselves commanders, if this True Demon Lord really was stronger than the previous Demon Lord, then this wouldn’t be something that would be resolved easily. It’s seriously troublesome. If we screw up, humanity could be wiped out.”

“We can’t drag the now-recovered Japan back into war. And there’s Rinka to consider.”

“Right.”

“Currently, the government and the Association are cooperating to investigate this threat claiming to be the True Demon Lord. And yes, it’s almost certain that Rinka’s life or death is held by this True Demon Lord.”

“Also, the True Demon Lord seems to have chosen me as their playmate. Their sense of time is weird, but they’ll definitely strike eventually.”

“…Right. So, leave everything to us, including the problem about Rinka.”

“Huh?”

“The Association will mobilize S-rank and A-rank explorers to repel this so-called True Demon Lord army. So Ryuuto, you don’t have to fight anymore.”

“What? No way…”

“Ryuuto. Do it for Kazuki. Take our feelings into account. You don’t have to be the sacrifice who charges forward alone. We’ll handle the True Demon Lord army. You were given a second chance at life — enjoy it. We politicians and the Association will take care of the dirty work. That’s what we wanted to tell you.”

“Hey, Ryuuto. Promise me. Don’t go storming off into the dungeon alone again. Leave Rinka to us, okay? You made it back to the surface, so please. I’m begging you….”

“…Fine. I won’t dive into a dungeon on my own to look for Rinka. Nee-chan, Shougen, rest easy. I know dungeons better than anyone. I know running around blindly won’t help. Rather than diving into the pond, it’s better to stand on the fishing spot. Eventually, the fish will show their heads on their own.”

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー