I, Who Was Criticized as the World's Weakest S-Rank Explorer, Am Actually the World's Strongest Explorer - Episode 61

Episode 61

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

What does Rin think about this situation? Does she care about all this? 

I’m a little concerned. But if anything, I feel more anger and frustration… 

Still, I couldn’t help but worry about Rin. 

Yuna’s furrowed brows were filled with concern. Seeing her, I let out a deep sigh. 

“Alright. I’ll ask her myself.” 

I said, reaching for my phone and opening Rin’s contact info. 

………I wonder what she’s doing right now. 

I put the phone to my ear and dialed Rin’s number. 

But… there was no sign of her picking up. 

“…She’s not answering.” 

“…Right. You don’t know where Rin’s house is, do you?” 

“I don’t… but—” 

I thought for a moment. 

I need some information to figure out what Rin’s doing in this situation. 

Since I can’t reach her directly, I’ll have to contact her relatives or people around her. 

If I don’t know those people….. 

I couldn’t stop thinking about Rin. Her tearful face kept coming to mind. I couldn’t just leave her like that. 

“Maybe I should ask Kirishima-san.” 

“…Do you know how to reach her?” 

“Yeah, it’s a grey area, but… since we’ve registered our addresses with the Association, they should be able to find it easily.” 

“…….I see.” 

Yuna glanced at me with a bit of worry, but I grabbed my phone and tried to contact Kirishima-san. 

The phone rang a few times, but there was no answer. 

…Maybe she’s busy? I was about to leave a message when I got a return call. 

‘Amakusa-san? Is something wrong?’ 

“Kirishima-san. Sorry, do you have a moment?” 

I could hear several background noises through the phone. 

Voices and bustling sounds, with the occasional click of typing—definitely a busy atmosphere. 

‘Well, sort of.’ 

“…Were you busy?” 

For a moment, I heard a light chuckle from Kirishima-san before she answered. 

‘Yeah, actually, the number of dungeon appearances has been increasing rapidly lately….. and managing the explorers has become quite difficult.’ 

“Dungeons… now that you mention it, they seem to be increasing.” 

‘Yeah. And on top of that… most of our Association’s staff has little experience or knowledge. So we’re struggling to keep up… It’s like we’re finally paying for all the time we’ve been slacking off.’ 

I could hear the frustration in her voice. It was reflecting the hopelessness of the current situation. 

I was wondering if it was okay to bring up my personal concern at a time like this when Kirishima-san spoke up again. 

‘So, what’s going on? The Kamino Town Dungeon has been pretty quiet lately, hasn’t it?’ 

Right. I shouldn’t keep her hanging. 

I had no choice but to ask the main question, even though it felt a bit awkward. 

“Actually, I can’t get in touch with Rin… and I’m a bit worried about her.” 

‘…Kanzaki-san, you mean?’ 

“Yes. Apparently, there’s a lot of talk online…” 

‘…Now that you mention it, I think I’ve seen some of those posts.’ 

I noticed her voice drop slightly. 

For a moment, there was a brief silence. Then she responded again. 

“Well, um… I was wondering if it would be possible to look up Rin’s address…” 

‘Kanzaki-san……. I can look up some information, but I can’t exactly give you the details… Just wait a moment. 

.

.

.

I’ve checked, and it looks like she’s accepted a request today. She’s heading to a dungeon in Saitama.’ 

“…Could you give me more details about that?” 

‘Well…’ 

Kirishima-san sighed lightly before answering in a softer tone. 

‘Actually, there’s a record that she’s heading to a dungeon in Omiya. It’s a request from the Association.’ 

“………Do you know the location?” 

‘I’ll send you the address for the dungeon. …It seems like lately, a lot of requests have been coming in for Kanzaki-san. It looks like two or three requests have been issued in a single day… some of which she’s rejected.’ 

“…Two requests in a day? That’s impossible, no matter how you look at it.” 

‘It’s too reckless… There’s talk online that Kanzaki-san has been rejecting requests, but… it seems like poor management. Or maybe, it was intentional overloading with impossible requests.’ 

…Kirishima-san is right. 

Even if she heads out to the dungeon as fast as possible, completing even one in a day would be impressive.

Dungeon exploration requires physical strength. If you spend a whole day exploring, you need to rest properly, or your performance will inevitably decline. 

……..If you keep doing reckless exploration every day, eventually, you’ll hit your limit. 

Rin… Is she pushing herself too hard because she’s worried about those online posts? 

“…Is it possible to summarize the details of those requests?” 

‘…Yeah, I’ll check on that.’ 

“Please.” 

If I can show the people online who are criticizing her rejections the actual status of those requests, maybe they’ll understand. 

Since Rin created a channel recently, if I post it there, they should get it. 

…If not, it’ll really be a shame for Rin. 

After hanging up the phone, Yuna returned to the room. She was holding my Bullet Sword. 

“………Yuna?” 

“You’re going, right?” 

“How did you know?” 

When I took the Bullet Sword from her, Yuna smiled. 

“Take care of Rin, okay?” 

“Yeah. Let Mom and… Stepdad know that I might be late coming back.” 

“Got it. Well then, have a good trip.” 

“Yeah, I’ll be back soon.” 

I quickly prepared my gear and rushed out of the house. 

………..If Rin is just happily accepting requests, thinking about others, and not worrying about anything, then that’s fine. 

But if she’s… taking on reckless requests because she’s concerned about what people are saying online, that’s a different story. 

…I have a bad feeling about this. 

It’s that gut feeling I get from being a former S-Rank Explorer. 

…If I’m just overreacting, then I’ll laugh it off. 

But if I worry too little… and something happens later, I’ll regret it. 

It takes about an hour to get to Omiya by train from my house. 

However, if I use physical enhancement to move, I can cut down the time significantly. 

As the city started to darken, I jumped through the streets. I blended into the shadows and raced toward my destination.