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 - 77

Chapter 77: Gift of Love and Idle Talk

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“Oh, hey, are you okay?”

“Yes. Ryuuto-sama, please don’t worry, I’m fine.”

“Haruka, is something wrong with her?”

“Ahaha, if I had to say, maybe her head?”

Somehow, Haruka is saying something awful, but I’ll forgive her just this once!

“Oh, right, I brought this as a gift to celebrate your promotion.”

“Eh, Ryuuto-san, is that for me!? Waaah, I’m so happy!”

“Geez, if you’re that happy, it puts the pressure on me. I’m not sure my gift can live up to the expectation.”

“Can I open it!?”

“Sure.”

“Wow, what is it, what is it… Oh! It’s a beautiful pen!”

“Yep, it’s a pretty nice ballpoint pen. Since you’ve been promoted as an explorer, you’re probably gonna have to fill out more paperwork, right? I checked with the Explorer’s Guild just to be sure—they said they still have tons of paper forms because they keep written records. So, I figured you’d have a chance to use it. I couldn’t think of anything super amazing, but… if you like it, I’d be glad if you used it.”

“Ryuuto-san! I’m really, really happy! This is the first time in my life I’ve ever gotten a gift from a man, and honestly, I truly, truly feel that I’m so glad I got promoted today. I’ll treasure this pen forever! Every time I write something with it, I’ll remember you, Ryuuto-san.”

“Now, now, you’re making too big a deal of it.”

Ryuuto scratched his cheek bashfully. Moe. Just watching that innocent gesture—like a boy turned into a concept of purity—felt so sacred, it seemed like it could purify my soul.

Rion smiled fondly as Haruka bounced up and down with joy at Ryuuto’s present. I get it, I totally get it. If it were me, I’d pretend that ballpoint pen was Ryuuto himself and spend my nights exploring all 108 comforting techniques with it. Maybe I could negotiate with Haruka to borrow that pen somehow?

“Ah, yes yes yes! I’ve got something too! I brought a promotion gift for you too, Haruka! Here, this one!”

“Wow, I’m so happy! Thank you, Kyouka. Oh, it’s beautiful!”

Damn it, Kyouka beat me to it!

Haruka’s eyes sparkled as she held the pure white small handbag Kyouka gave her.

“It’s the new release from Chanel. As a proper lady, it’s good to have at least one nice thing to bring along when going out. It’s super useful, you know.”

“But isn’t this expensive? I feel bad…”

“It’s fine! You’re always helping me out, Haruka. At least let me show off a little for once.”

Kyouka subtly puffed out her proud, full bust, stealing glances at Ryuuto’s reaction.

Tch. Come to think of it, her family’s insanely rich! Wait, that Chanel bag… Doesn’t that easily cost in the six-digit yen range!?

“So, so… um, Ryuuto-san, do you have a moment?”

Fidgeting nervously, Kyouka inched closer, her voice slightly trembling and her cheeks blushing red.

“What is it?”

“Well, um, this might be a bit weird, or maybe it’s strange to call it a token of familiarity, but… Ryuuto-san, you never wear a watch, right? I was wondering if that’s, like, your personal philosophy or something…?”

“Oh, a wristwatch? Nah, it’s not a philosophy or anything. I used to wear one, but during that last monster incident, it just disappeared somewhere. I thought about picking one up at Komeri or something.”

“Komeri…”

Feeling a sense of closeness at Ryuuto’s down-to-earth nature, Rion chuckled quietly.

“Actually, um, I happened to prepare something like this. Ah, but if you don’t like it, Ryuuto-san, you can totally throw it away.”

“Hm? Oh, a watch! Huh, is this for me? You’re giving it to me?”

“Yes, well, hehe…”

So nervous that she became a bundle of awkward movements, Kyouka handed over the box. Rion’s eyes widened when she saw the watch inside.

“Can I try it on?”

“Of course, please do!”

“Wow, it really suits you, Ryuuto-san.”

“Hey, this is a pretty nice watch.”

Hey, wait!? Isn’t that a Rolex Daytona? That’s got to cost hundreds of thousands of yen.

“Ehehe. Do you like it? When I told my mom about you, Ryuuto-san, she brought it back from the store since they had extras. But really, it’s nothing special.”

That’s nothing special to her!?

Kyouka cast a triumphant smile toward Rion, who had practically turned into a clay haniwa statue. 

Urgh. The terrifying power of the wealthy. 

Ryuuto and Haruka, seemingly unaware of the Rolex’s value, continued to gush with innocent joy. Based on everything so far, Rion now had solid confirmation that both Haruka and the great hero Ryuuto shared a similar economic sense to her own.

“Guh!”

What do I do, what should I do!?

For a moment, she considered spilling everything. But if she did, Ryuuto would surely return the Rolex to Kyouka with a disappointed look. That would make everyone feeling bad. Kyouka had likely calculated this as well and used her family’s wealth as a weapon to present the Daytona.

“Hey, Kyouka-chan. Are you sure I can really have this? I don’t know much about watches, but I’m seriously gonna take it. Like, for real—I’m not giving it back, okay?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine! I said from the beginning it was a gift for you, Ryuuto-san! Just take it already!”

“Haha, well, then I’ll gratefully accept it. I’ll think of this watch as you, Kyouka-chan, and take good care of it.”

“H-hauu~”

What a killer line!

Whether struck by its power or not, Kyouka swayed dramatically and barely remained standing with Haruka’s help.

“Ugh…”

I brought a gift too, but considering Kyouka’s lavish gift… It feels hard for me to give them my gifts…

As Rion swiftly hid the paper bag she was holding, Ryuuto quickly noticed.

“Hey, Rion-chan. Could that be… a gift for Haruka?”

“Ah, yeah. Um, it’s nothing much, but… here, Haruka.”

“Eh, yeah. Thanks, Rion! Oh, gloves!”

Rion had prepared hand-knit gloves as Haruka’s promotion gift.

“Mmhm. I knitted them. It’s gonna get colder heading into winter. Compared to Kyouka’s, they’re pretty plain. A-and, I also have something for you, Ryuuto-san…”

“Oh! A scarf!”

Ryuuto pulled out the scarf from the bag, then cheerfully wrapped it around his neck like a child, beaming from ear to ear.

“I’ve always dreamed of getting a handmade scarf from a girl! Thanks, Rion-chan. I’ll treasure it!”

“Eh… Ehehe.”

Seeing Ryuuto so happy, Rion relaxed, and slowly, happiness began to well up inside her. She glanced to the side—Kyouka was frozen with an indescribable expression on her face.

“Thank you both for the presents! And, um, Ryuuto-san—about that promise…”

“Yeah. Let me join your party. I’m really looking forward to exploring with you all.”

“Yay! Kyouka, we did it!”

“Eh, ahaha. I’m super happy too…”

“Please take care of us, Ryuuto-san.”

“Yeah, Haruka, Kyouka-chan, Rion-chan! I’m looking forward to working with you!”

Ryuuto and Haruka clasped hands and spun around in circles like kids. In any case, the gift strategy was a huge success.

Suddenly, when Rion shifted her gaze, she noticed a dress-clad figure blended into the wall. It was Kyouka. Perhaps she was ashamed of having tried to approach Ryuuto using the power of her wealth.

“Good grief.”

 Rion shrugged her shoulders before approaching the mysterious figure.

“Kyouka.”

“What is it, Rion? I’m currently in full-on self-reflection mode.”

“Th-this.”

“Huh?”

Rion took a stole out of a bag and wrapped it around Kyouka’s neck.

“It’s not a big deal. I just had some leftover yarn and time, so I thought I’d try making one. See, it matches mine. If you don’t like it, I mean, it’s totally fine—”

“Rion—!”

“Wah, wah, wah!”

Kyouka suddenly turned and hugged her tightly. Since Rion was shorter, she got completely engulfed in Kyouka’s huge breasts and couldn’t breathe.

“I—I was way too selfish! I acted all cheeky yesterday, and today I did something awful again! Please forgive me!”

“O-okay, okay, I get it, now let go, let go!”

“We’re besties forever from here on out! Until the end of time! We’ll share the good and the bad fifty-fifty! Even Ryuuto-san’s body and his baby-making juice too! We’ll split those too!”

“I don’t want thaaaaaat!!”

Despite everything, the two of them got along quite well.

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