To the boy, was the explorer rank truly absolute? Or perhaps expected—upon hearing "Bronze," he was utterly speechless.

Probably, my rank is lower than his, so there's nothing I can do about it.

"S—?"

"S?"

"Incredible! This is amazing! I've heard that in the labyrinth, experience matters most, and that higher ranks mean better combat skills... I thought I was still too inexperienced, but apparently, there are people like Hikaru-san who can fight right away!"

"Um, that's not the reaction I expected."

I thought he'd react with something like "Oh, just Bronze?" but instead, he took it the other way.

But that's actually troubling.

The only reason I can fight is because of the special privileges granted to transferees.

The spirit's favor is one thing, and the fact that I can exchange points for powerful potions or barrier stones if needed means I'm deliberately planning my exploration around that advantage.

In other words, I'm quite blatantly cheating.

"No... I could fight before, too. I didn't just suddenly become able to."

"S-so that's right... yeah, that makes sense."

He seemed to accept my lie for now.

There's no shortage of ways to grow stronger besides the labyrinth.

Honestly, I was a little worried that my heavy use of spirit magic might expose me as someone favored by spirits, but it seems I was overthinking it.

After all, in this world, being favored by spirits doesn't seem to involve using spirit magic at all, so I'm probably just seen as exceptionally skilled—or simply someone who happens to have a lot of spirit energy potions.

In truth, Jajarandan had already used his healing magic and Water Screen at least twenty times just from looking at them. Probably around thirty uses would be perfectly normal.

The boy seemed to be two years younger than me. Strictly speaking, since I increased my age by two years when I arrived in this world, he'd actually be four years younger.

Either way, the dungeon is a life-or-death place.

It's about right to think of it as a place where pushing yourself too hard will inevitably lead to death.

"I want to make the same 'Darkness' spirit magic contract as Hikaru-san! It looked so cool!"

The kid drops this bombshell right after I've let out a sigh of relief.

His friends around him shrug helplessly.

No, please, don't do that.

"……No, darkness isn't recommended. If you're going to pick one, light magic is far stronger in the dungeon."

"Eh, um... but..."

"If you're going to be an explorer from now on, you really should avoid darkness... go with water or light instead. Darkness takes a long time to grow strong. And you don't even have any attack techniques."

"Is that so...?"

Dangerous. I nearly unintentionally led the boy straight down the literal path of darkness—the thorned road.

I've become pretty knowledgeable about spirit magic myself, but honestly, darkness isn't strong.

Light magic is convenient and easy to use—both Light and Cure Glow are helpful, and even though I don't know what the third technique is, the fourth one is that beam cannon-like Photon Ray.

It's got support, healing, and attack—all three covered.

Water spirit magic also has strong healing effects, and Water Screen can even block the Demon King's Fire Breath.

In contrast, darkness has neither direct defensive nor offensive capabilities, nor any means of recovery.

It's all just auxiliary techniques. I only seem a bit stronger because I was the "beloved one."

Once the boy takes control of the darkness and nurtures it somewhat, it'll just evolve into a slightly better porter called a Shadow Bag.

In that sense, if I had instead bonded with light spirit magic, I might have been able to dominate simply by firing off Photon Rays repeatedly.

...Well, now that I've grown attached to dark spirit magic and it's saved my life countless times, I'd never consider switching contracts.

After parting ways with them, several explorers even approached me.

That probably just means my partner Refleia and I stood out quite a bit during that battle.

In reality, even after the viewership race was abandoned, the number of viewers never decreased.

In the end, it was expected to approach 1.5 billion people.

That was how intense the competition had been.

Of course, if a strong explorer had been present at that location, the battle would have been much easier.

As the sun set, the party began.

It was a standing buffet-style party. The explorers' attire was cleaner than expected, though many still wore casual clothes, making the gathering quite diverse.

Compared to the men, female explorers seemed to dress up more.

No surprise, considering it was the lord’s mansion—inside was surprisingly bright.

Chandeliers glimmered brilliantly from the ceiling, apparently equipped with light-based magic devices.

Reflia went to greet other female explorers, and I also thanked the woman who was the recovery specialist of the 'Crimson Vial' for helping me out.

Then, I quickly excused myself, saying I needed to go to the restroom, and slipped away to lean against a wall, gazing blankly at the overall scene.

I still find crowded places difficult.

It wasn't something I was ever good at, but since arriving in this world, it's become unbearable.

Inside the venue, staff members I'd seen before at the guild were walking around with binders in one hand, asking explorers questions.

What they were asking about was a mystery, but it seemed like work. It's a pity—this is supposed to be a party, yet their job appears to be quite demanding.

The lord began his speech, delivering words of gratitude for the defeat of the Demon King.

The labyrinth street apparently can't maintain its form without explorers, so the lord must value them highly.

　

Though called a party, it seems to be more about simply gathering to eat and chat.

It's supposedly required that one participated in the battle against the former demon king, but I suppose it wouldn't matter much if someone unrelated showed up.

Maybe that's already accounted for.

It's probably something like welfare benefits for explorers from the lord.

　

"Ah, sorry, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Just as I was quietly snacking on something like dumplings, a female guild staff member approached me.

Holding a binder in one hand, apparently it was my turn to be interviewed about something.

"We're conducting a contribution assessment for this demon lord's defeat. May I ask you a few questions? Um, first of all, you're definitely Hikaru, right?"

The staff member scrutinized my face, sounding half-believing, half-doubtful.

Since I don't often show up at the guild, I guess they didn't recognize me at all.

"That's right. Bronze Rank (Spiritus). Is there something wrong?"

"It looks like you'll be the top contributor for this mission."

An unexpected word just came out.