“Dad, pass me the soy sauce.”
“Here.”
“Thanks. Hm, tasty!”
A woman’s neatly trimmed black hair shook, as a smile appeared on her face that gave off a kind of childish feeling. Next to her was a cute ornament that was like something a child would like. It looked old in parts, but it was clear it had been well taken care of, and was nicely polished.
“Haha, good to hear. Well, you’re always happy when you eat, Kasumi.”
“I haven’t been here in a week. It’s always when I eat the food you cook that I feel like I’m back.”
“Yes, thanks, Kasumi.”
Father and daughter sat at a table.
The TV was reporting about the person that stopped a stampede in its inception. A little over a week had passed since this second stampede, and the horrors of the first one left wounds that had not yet healed. Who was this person who stopped it from happening again before it could even get going? Everyone’s eyes were on him.
The association announced this person would receive the S rank, and there would be a live broadcast on the scene. Who was it? The association did not reveal a name or a photo. Information about this adventurer would be revealed the day he would be unveiled as an S rank.
Everyone was curious, and waited for the reveal.
Kasumi was no different.
Her father did not usually show interest in adventurers, but seemed very interested this time.
“…It’s thanks to that kid and you that I get to spend some peaceful time like this. Thank you so much.”
“Geez, that again? It’s fine, you helped us a lot too. I’m just repaying you for that.”
“If you’re talking about raising you two, that’s just obvious. And cooking is like a hobby. Besides, I couldn’t help him when he really needed it…”
“Geez, that couldn’t be helped! I was sad about it too, but if nothing can be done, we just have to accept it… It was only recently that people started treating people with low stats better…”
“Still, that’s because second generation adventurers, children of two adventurers, are too strong, so talking points changed. In the end, people still tend to reject ones that are too different from them. It’s sad…”
“It really is silly. If we didn’t have the people they mock, we wouldn’t be able to control the dungeons that keep increasing, and humanity would go extinct.”
“Kasumi, don’t just blindly trust your views either. The world is big, and all elements mix together in complicated ways. Nothing is simple.”
“Yes, I know. Ahh, I wanna see my big brother, but I’m being avoided…”
The father heard his daughter’s sadness and was thinking about how to change the subject, but the newscaster on the TV spoke with excitement.
‘Ooh, he is finally here. The hero who stopped the stampede in our country, and the new S rank adventurer!’
The camera was pointed to the back of a young man on the stage.
Four beautiful women followed, and four strange looking beings. The audience cheered their arrival.
“Is that him? I heard about him from an excited friend, but isn’t he the first person in this country to have monsters obey him? That’s incredible.”
“That’s not quite right. That rainbow slime is a monster, but the others are golems.”
“Golems… Like from those golem cores?”
“Yes. Apparently it’s because of his achievements that your lab has been getting golem cores.”
“Ah, so that was him too. Lately there have been more items and skills sent from the first area over here for research. Apparently it was this new S rank Rare Monster Hunter who sent them. There was a lot we wanted to research but didn’t have samples back when I first joined, so it’s nice that we’re getting all sorts of things from the field.”
Said the father with a happy expression, making her happy as well.
Kasumi’s mother died shortly after birth, and she and her older brother were raised by their father. He abandoned all his hobbies for them, and made breakfast, boxed lunches, and dinner every day while working hard. He had no time for himself. And two years ago, the day came when their father could stop worrying about money.
Around this time, the money sent by the big brother slowly increased, but it was time for Kasumi to start working in dungeons.
Her brother’s rank was F at this time, which was by no means high. It was second from the bottom, almost as low as one could go. He joined a high school with a boarding system to escape his hometown, graduated, and moved to the first area to run away again, this time from school. If he died, his name would be removed from the association’s registry. They were happy that he was still alive after one year as an adventurer, but his rank was depressingly low
Still, the money he sent increased every month. It was too much money for an F rank. They did not know his contact information, so Kasumi thought the money he sent was a message.
‘Don’t worry about me.’
Kasumi was happy her brother was trying hard.
“Still, what is he up to? He must be living well to send a million yen in a month.”
“We really should have gotten his contact… I heard the association will give it to you.”
“Hm, I checked at the end of last year, and he was still registered as an F rank. Maybe he did leave contact information… But I’d feel awkward to talk…”
“Me too. But he’s trying hard, so we should step up already. We could call and say we’re checking on how he’s doing.”
As they talked, the cheers on the TV got louder. Apparently they missed the main event, where he received the promotion.
“Ah, bad timing.”
“Yes. We didn’t even see his face or name.”
They missed the most important part.
But an S rank adventurer was big news, so they could check the association’s home page later.
‘We have good news for everyone. The new S rank adventurer has been kept a mystery for a long time. We are sure everyone wants to know who he is and what he is like, and so, the dungeon association is granting every broadcaster two questions!’
“Ooh. Nice going, association!”
“They know how to get people excited.”
But then they heard a name they did not expect.
‘But let us ask him here first. New S rank adventurer Amachi Shouta!’
““…Eh?””
They could not immediately process the name they heard.
But on the TV, was the person they said goodbye to years ago. His face had the confidence it once had, before dungeons appeared, before he was held back by stats. It was the big brother Kasumi loved.
‘Yes. Hum, where should I stand?’
“B-big brother!?”
“Shouta!?”
What followed was a torrent of questions, that Shouta answered plainly and sometimes avoided. Both thought he quit being an adventurer and found a profitable job, and could not process him actually being an S rank adventurer. They could only look on with mouths open.
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