I, Who Was Criticized as the World's Weakest S-Rank Explorer, Am Actually the World's Strongest Explorer - Episode 35

Episode 35

(Note: Special for this chapter, dialogues through the telephone are in ‘….’)

“Ah, it’s Amakusa. Kanzaki? What’s going on?” 

‘Sorry about everything.’ 

She suddenly apologized. I wasn’t sure what “everything” included. 

“………What do you mean?” 

‘I just woke up and found out a lot of things. It seems like… almost everything has been credited to me. Why did this happen…?’ 

“I don’t know the details either. But apparently, an explorer reported it.” 

When I said that, she made a dissatisfied sound. 

‘……I told them clearly before I lost consciousness. I said Amakusa defeated them.’ 

“…..Well, I don’t mind. But I’m a little worried that they’ll have too many expectations of you because of that.” 

I wasn’t in a great situation either. But right now, I was more worried about Kanzaki. 

‘My……… worry?’ 

“Huh? Oh, yeah.” 

‘…Thank you. I’ll contact the Explorer Association and correct this.’ 

“I see. Got it. Are you okay, though? Any injuries?” 

‘…Uh, yeah… I’m okay…’ 

“…You sounded a little shocked. Are you really okay?” 

‘Well… I’ve never had anyone worry about my injuries before… Hehe… Thank you.’ 

She sounded incredibly happy. 

“Alright. Just don’t push yourself too hard, okay? It’s fine on my end, so take it easy and rest.” 

‘…….Yeah. I’ll do my best to fix this. …Amakusa, you do your best too.’ 

“…Yeah, thanks.” 

I felt grateful for her concern. And with that, the call ended. 

Yuna gave me a sharp look. 

“Did she thank you for your contribution or something, and start teasing you?” 

“I told you, it wasn’t like that… She thanked me for helping and said she’d move to correct the misunderstanding.” 

“…Ah, I see. There are still some decent people among explorers, huh?” 

It almost sounded like she was implying Kiryu-san wasn’t a decent person. 

………Well, maybe he wasn’t. But he was just too caught up in his ideal image of an explorer. 

…Still, Kanzaki had made sure to say what needed to be said. 

I had felt bad about thinking she had taken the credit. I had done something wrong.

—

Kanzaki Rin was in the Explorer Association’s conference room. The staff member sitting across from her had an expressionless face. They spoke in a monotone as the conversation progressed. 

“….So, what’s this all about?” 

“I’ve told you several times… I didn’t defeat the monster with five magic stones. Amakusa did.” 

“……..About the abnormal species subjugation, the records show that you defeated the monster with five magic stones. Could you just accept that? It’s not a bad deal for you, is it?” 

Rin immediately shook her head. 

“No, that’s not it. I didn’t defeat it. The one who saved me on the scene was Haruto Amakusa.” 

“Ha… That can’t be right. You were on the brink of death and only saw some weird things.” 

The staff member seemed to be following instructions to push the conversation this way. 

Even if Amakusa had indeed defeated the monster, that would raise his evaluation. 

The Explorer Association wanted to use him as a scapegoat, and the current narrative was more convenient for them. 

“No. I want the results of a proper investigation. The magic stones we just recovered should have traces of the person’s magic power. If you check that, it should match Haruto Amakusa’s, not mine.” 

“We’re not going to investigate that.” 

“…Why not?” 

“Let’s say Amakusa really did defeat the monster. That would create a problem. The Explorer Association didn’t properly investigate it. Who do you think would take the responsibility for that?” 

“The staff of the Explorer Association, right?” 

“Exactly. And that’s not good.” 

“…Not good? If you make a mistake, shouldn’t you reflect on it and apologize?” 

The staff member puffed out his cheeks in displeasure at Rin’s words. 

“That’s not always the case in the adult world. And hey, your results would improve. Society’s perception would improve too. That’s good enough, right?” 

“……..What about Amakusa’s image?” 

“His image is already at rock bottom. Right now, it’s more important to focus on promoting someone like you. Having a young, beautiful, strong S-Rank Explorer like Rin Kanzaki in Japan will be much more popular with the public.” 

The Explorer Association’s words irritated Rin. 

“I never asked to be ‘promoted’ like that.” 

“…Anyway, it’s better and more convenient for everyone if you take the credit for this. The Explorer Association really wants to push you and Kiryu-san as the ‘beautiful couple’ of the S-Rank Explorers. We want both of you to be seen as Japan’s representatives and compete alongside the world’s top explorers. This incident, where both of you were involved in solving the problem, is perfect for that image. Don’t you get it?”

“I don’t understand. I’m not interested. Anyway, there’s one thing I want from you… please do it properly.” 

When Rin said this with magic power, the staff member briefly raised his eyebrows in surprise. But he quickly smiled faintly and shrugged. 

“…Yeah, yeah. I’ll pass the message on.” 

“…Make sure to announce it properly.” 

“Got it, got it. I understand.” 

The staff member gave a half-hearted response, and Rin exhaled quietly. 

It was entirely possible that the test results would be conveniently falsified, or that the results wouldn’t even be made public at all. 

So, Rin asked one last question, as if she were giving up. 

“Does this mean it’s the consensus of the entire Explorer Association, including the president?” 

“Well, yeah. Anyway, the Association wants to focus on promoting you and Kiryu-kun to help boost the explorer industry. In the first place, Amakusa has been slacking off and lying for years, right? He’s reaping what he sowed.” 

Hearing those words, Rin exhaled quietly. 

“If the Association isn’t going to do anything, then I won’t cooperate with any further activities as an S-Rank Explorer.” 

“…Huh?” 

“Seems like new regulations are coming out, right? If nothing is done, they’ll be able to demote me from S-rank to A-rank, right?” 

This was a new regulation about S-Rank Explorers, likely designed to remove Amakusa from the rankings. 

Rin had seen it on the news, and she lashed out with anger. 

The staff member quickly stood up, flustered. 

“Wait, wait a minute. Are you joking? You’re saying you don’t care about the honor or salary of being an S-Rank Explorer?!” 

“I don’t care. If they want to throw me away, I’d actually welcome it.” 

Even without those perks, Rin could make as much as she wanted. With the strength of an S-Rank Explorer, she could easily earn a living by just delving into dungeons. 

“……….” 

The staff member tried to persuade her, but Rin left the room before he could say anything more. 

Once she was alone, Rin let out a small sigh. 

“….Anyway, I recorded our conversation earlier. Now, the question is where to release it.” 

Even if she leaked it to the media, there was a high chance the information would be buried under pressure. 

And even if she tried to release it herself, she wasn’t sure how much impact it would have. 

“But….. I have to do something, or Amakusa…” 

Rin was deep in thought. Then, she faced another major problem. 

She wasn’t very good with technology. 

She had only just managed to use the voice recorder after practicing several times before coming here. 

“How do I… make a channel on a streaming site…?” 

Rin picked up her smartphone and tried to input text with voice commands. She wasn’t good at flicking or typing, so she always typed by voice. 

“SNS… how do you use it…? 

…How do I transfer the voice recorder data to my smartphone? 

…Should I just record with the smartphone’s voice memo app? But the sound quality might be bad. 

Is there… anyone who knows more about this…? I… don’t have any friends… Ah, I’ll ask Amakusa… but… would it be… bothering him…?“ 

Rin was troubled. 

A more difficult battle than dungeon exploration lay ahead.