Chapter 4

“I-I am so very sorry. We are currently looking into this matter…”

Inside the Japan Adventurer’s Association on the top floor of a high-rise building in Toranomon, telephone rings had been echoing continuously since morning.

Hakamada, a public relations representative, wiped beads of sweat from his thinning scalp and bowed repeatedly over the phone.

“Since ExtremeChat is outside our jurisdiction… regarding account bans and the like, could you please direct your inquiries to their site instead…? Yes, I am terribly sorry for the inconvenience, but thank you very much…”

Hakamada finally placed the receiver down, stood up before the next call could come in, and hurried toward the meeting room. The tablet by the entrance displayed the text “A-Rank Adventurer Next-Strategy Meeting.”

Knock, knock, knock. After he knocked three times, a slightly displeased female voice responded. Letting out even more sweat from his forehead, Hakamada opened the door and stepped inside.

“Pardon the interruption during your meeting!”
“What is it? Is it some kind of emergency?”

A sharp-looking beauty wearing black-rimmed glasses glared at Hakamada. Seated right across from her was a young, idol-like man.

“Yes. We’ve been receiving complaints from multiple organizations since this morning.”
“Complaints? What on earth is this about?”

The woman furrowed her brow.

“Director Yatsuka, are you familiar with an adult site called ExtremeChat?”
“ExtremeChat? Never heard of it.”
“Well, it’s a site like this…”

Hakamada pulled out his smartphone, opened ExtremeChat, and held it out in front of Yatsuka’s face.

“Hey! What are you showing me!?”
“No, it’s not like that! Director! Please take a good look at this man!!”
“He isn’t wearing clothes!”
“No! He’s wearing briefs!”

Yatsuka continued the conversation while turning her face away.

“So, what about this man?”
“He started an entirely uncensored dungeon stream on an adult site!”
“Eh!? You mean even monster carcasses don’t get mosaic censorship?”
“That’s right…!! What’s more, he’s solo-clearing the newly emerged Somalia Dungeon…!! Because of the continuous succession of overly brutal scenes, we’re getting a storm of complaints from youth groups, religious organizations, and others.”

Placing a hand over her mouth, Yatsuka fell into thought.

“What’s the man’s name? Is he registered with the Japan Adventurer’s Association?”
“His name is Morokoshi Daitoku. He registered 24 years ago and climbed up to C-rank. The last time he dived into a Japanese dungeon was 20 years ago.”
“An old-generation relic… How troublesome. Revoke his adventurer license immediately. And post a notice to that effect on the association’s official website.”
“Understood!” Leaving those words behind, Hakamada the PR man left the meeting room.

After letting out a deep sigh, Yatsuka turned her gaze to the young man seated in front of her and offered a light bow.

“Hayato. I’m so sorry about the commotion.”

The man called Hayato flashed a cheerful smile and replied in a sympathetic tone.

“You’ve got it tough, too, Yatsuka-san. Having to babysit the old generation.”
“It can’t be helped. It’s my job.”
“I’ll touch on that guy’s situation a bit during my own dungeon stream, too. I’ll make sure to mention that it was the work of an old-generation outsider who has nothing to do with the Japan Adventurer’s Association anymore.”
“Really…!? It really helps having a top adventurer like Hayato say that!”

Yatsuka’s cheeks flushed, and she looked genuinely delighted.

“Raising the overall image of adventurers is also part of an A-rank’s duties, after all.”
“I really take my hat off to Hayato’s high level of awareness.”

After that, the two engaged in discussions regarding “how to conduct future training to increase the number of A-rank adventurers.” Naturally, there was no room for romance anywhere in sight.