The Darkness Was Comfortable for Me

Chapter 113: The Truth of the Darkness and Guild Staff

For the boy, the ranking of explorers is most likely an absolute thing.
Naturally, he fell silent when he heard I am bronze.

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My rank is most likely lower than his, so it can’t be helped.

“That’s…”

“That’s…?” (Hikaru)

“Awesome! That’s awesome! People say experience is king in the dungeon, so when I heard that you can fight better the higher your Tier is…I thought it would still be impossible for me, but there’s people like Hikaru-san who can already be fight ready!!”

“Uhm…that’s a different reaction from what I expected.” (Hikaru)

I thought he would react with ‘what, so you were a bronze?’, but the boy reacted in the opposite way.

But that’s troubling in itself.

I can fight only because of the special abilities that I got as a Chosen.

There’s the Affection of Spirits as well, but I also have Points that I can use to buy powerful potions and Barrier STones, so I am counting on those when I am exploring.

In other words, I am completely cheating the system here.

“No…I could fight to begin with.
It is not like I could suddenly be battle ready.” (Hikaru)

“I-I see… That’s a given, right?”

Looks like he has swallowed my lie at least.

It is not like the only means to get stronger are in the dungeon.

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They have seen me use Spirit Abilities a whole lot, so I was a bit worried that it would be exposed that I am a Loved One, but it looks like that was needless worry.

Well, it seems like there’s no Loved One that can use Spirit Abilities in this world, so they probably only see me as a skilled guy…or a guy that has a whole ton of spirit energy potions.

And in reality, Jojordan alone had used his abilities more than 20 times with just the healing abilities and the Water Screen alone.
I think going all the way to 30 times is within the realm of possibility.

The boy is most likely 2 years younger than me.
I have increased my age by 2 years when I came to this world, so maybe it would be more accurate to say 4 years?

Whichever the case, the dungeon is a place where you place your life on the line.

You should think of pushing yourself as surely dying.

“I am thinking about making a contract for Dark Spirit Abilities just like you, Hikaru-san! You were really cool after all!”

Just when I was relieved here, the boy threw a bomb at me.

His comrades around also shrugged their shoulders.

No, please stop him.

“…No, I don’t recommend darkness.
If you are going for something, Light is far stronger.” (Hikaru)

“E-Eeh~, but…”

“If you are going to be working as an explorer from here on, you really shouldn’t go for darkness… You should go for water or light.
It takes quite a lot of time before darkness becomes strong… It doesn’t have any attack abilities either.” (Hikaru)

“I see…”

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That was close.
I was about to unintentionally drop the boy into the literal thorny path of darkness.

I have gotten pretty knowledgeable about Spirit Abilities now, but if I had to put it bluntly out there, darkness isn’t strong.

For light, there’s Light and Cure Glow which are handy and easy to use, and I don’t know about the 3rd Ability, but the 4th Ability is the Photon Ray that’s like a beam cannon.

It has the trifecta of support, healing, and attack.

The Water Spirit Abilities also have strong healing abilities, and the Water Screen managed to block the fire breath of the Demon Lord.

Compared to that, darkness has no direct defensive means or attack means or healing means.

They are all support abilities.
It is because I am a Loved One that it looks a bit strong.

If the boy gets darkness, even if it were to be raised to a certain degree, he would simply evolve into a bit of a better porter that can use Shadow Bag.

In that sense, if I had made a contract for Light Spirit Abilities, I could have even had the chance of being unmatched by spamming Photon Ray.

…Well, I now have an attachment towards Dark Spirit Abilities, and it has saved me countless times already, so I won’t be changing my contract though.

Even after we parted ways, several other explorers spoke to us.

That’s just how much Rifreya and I stood out in that fight.

And the reality is that, even when I forfeited from the Viewer Count Race, my viewership didn’t decrease.

If I remember correctly, there were close to 1.5 billion people at the end.

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That’s how rough of a fight it was.

Of course, if there had been strong explorers, I think it would have been a fight we could have won easily.

The sky was going dark and the party had begun.

It is a buffet style party.
The attire of all the explorers was prettier than I thought, but there were a decent amount who were wearing things that were no different from casual clothes, so there was a lot of variety.

There were a lot more female explorers who were dressed up compared to the men.

As expected of the lord’s mansion, even when it is indoors, it is pretty bright.

A chandelier is shining brilliantly at the ceiling.
Looks like it is furnished with a light magic tool.

Rifreya went to where the other female explorers were to greet them, and I also went there to give my thanks to the healer girl from the Crimson Vials that helped me.

And then, I immediately gave an excuse about going to the toilet to slip away, leaned on the wall by myself, and am now watching the whole place absentminded.

I am still not used to places with a lot of people.

I was originally not good with them, but it has gotten worse since comoing to this world.

A staff member of the guild that I have seen before had a binder in hand and was going around speaking to the explorers.

It is a mystery what they are asking around, but it seems to be work.
Even though they are in a party… Seems to be quite the rough job.

The greeting of the lord had begun, and he spoke words of appreciation for the Demon Lord subjugation.

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The dungeon city apparently can’t maintain its form without explorers, so that means even the lord is treasuring the explorers.

It may be called a party, but it seems to simply be an event to gather and have pleasant talks and a meal.

The condition is that you have to have participated in the Demon Lord subjugation that time, but I don’t think you can tell whether someone here has participated or not.

Well, they probably have already accounted for that.

It is most likely something like a welfare from the lord to the explorers.

“Ah, sorry, do you have a bit of time?”

While I was eating something similar to gyoza by myself, the female staff member of the guild spoke to me.

I don’t know what she was asking around with a binder in hand, but it seems like it is my turn now.

“We have investigated the contribution of this time’s Demon Lord subjugation.
Please let me ask a number of questions.
Uhm, first of all, is there no doubt that you are Hikaru-san?”

The staff member asks me this while looking at my face intently as if half in doubt.

I rarely show myself at the guild, so it looks like she doesn’t remember my face in the first place.

“That’s right.
Spiritus Bronze Rank.
Is something the matter?” (Hikaru)

“In this time’s subjugation, it seems like you will be the number one achiever.”

An unexpected thing was told to me.