Chapter 35
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Ryūgūin had always enjoyed naming things.
Doing so made him feel as if he held power over the object he had named. This tendency was evident from a young age. His parents had their hands full with their son, who would arbitrarily name everything as he pleased before learning the proper terms for things.
Of course, this quirk of his was still going strong when he reached high school age.
Obedient to his own peculiar tastes, he would do things like give nicknames to acquaintances he thought he could use.
And now, in this other world, his vulgar proclivities were on full display once again.
Ryūgūin complained that the name 「Newly Constructed Most Challenging Dungeon」 was too long, and in the end, he called on all the guilds in the country to refer to it as the 「Nexby Dungeon」 or 「Nexby」 for short, combining the words 「newbie」 and 「ex.」
Coming from the Hero who had cleared numerous 「Newly Constructed Most Challenging Dungeons」 before, no one could bring themselves to say, 「Whoa, that’s way too lame!」 even if they thought it. The name was immediately accepted.
Every time someone referred to it as the 「Nexby Dungeon」 in front of him, Ryūgūin would get a blissful expression on his face as if he had just snorted some kind of powder.
It was the same this time.
Ryūgūin also decreed that the 「Time Dungeon Joint Exploration Party」 would be called 「Arcana Saviors.」
This gave Ryūgūin quite the brain-drug rush.
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Now then, the two parties Ryūgūin selected for the 「Arcana Saviors」 were both S-rank parties.
They were both top parties belonging to major clans.
The first party was called 「Wandering Zephyrlily.」
They were a recently talked-about S-class party consisting entirely of young maidens.
Next was 「Caduceus,」 led by Iraiza, a famous adventurer once considered one of the world’s best. Naturally, all the members were women.
Both parties were comprised solely of females.
For Ryūgūin, the most important factor wasn’t ability or skill, but whether they were attractive women.
Of course, the two aforementioned parties were S-rank.
However, due to being crowned with the highest rank of S, Ryūgūin was completely unaware of the immeasurable gap in actual strength between lower and upper S-ranks.
The Guildmaster of Lemone—Balen—was considered one of the most capable among the guildmasters of the several large adventurer guilds scattered throughout the Arcana Kingdom.
There were countless stories of adventurers he had taken care of in their rookie days who were now high-ranking.
It was precisely because of this that he had a grasp on the detailed information like the abilities and personalities of a great number of people, from promising newcomers to grizzled veterans. He was also skilled at utilizing that information as needed.
This was back when Ryūgūin proposed the joint exploration.
Ryūgūin’s head was already filled to the brim with delusions of success; he was in no state to listen to others.
To Ryūgūin, as they sat facing each other on the sofa, the attentive Balen giving him advice on dungeon capture and party selection was nothing more than a nuisance spouting pointless opinions to his heroic self.
「Thanks for all the input. So, are you a hero?」
Ryūgūin asked in a grim voice.
「N-No.」
Balen replied, taking a moment to grasp the Hero’s true intent.
「If you’re so capable that you can lecture me, then you should handle everything yourself. The Nexby conquest. Gathering the party.」
「Hero, that wasn’t my intention—」
Balen lowered his head to the displeased-looking hero.
「If it can be done without me, the Hero, then do it with your own power! You primitive apes!」
「Wandering Zephyrlily」 was a party seen as a rising star that had just recently reached S-rank, including their potential.
Furthermore, 「Caduceus」 was a party that had been certified as S-rank with the expectation of one outstanding member and the rest still growing, with the exception of their leader Iraiza.
If Ryūgūin had sincerely incorporated Balen’s opinion during this exchange, the tragedy that would later befall them could have been avoided.
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