Awakening to a Special-Grade Explorer

A month had already passed since then.

Tenji had successfully returned to his lectures at school and was beginning to enjoy his student life very well.

The first day back at school, Tenji was immediately confronted by Aika Asagiri's wailing and crying as soon as he entered the classroom, but his classmates managed to soothe her.

Asagiri had also been told by the Japan Explorer Engineers Association not to tell anyone else that Tenji had been left behind, and while she cried, she tried not to mention it.

But she cried over and over again, and later on rumors started to circulate that they were dating.

Asagiri was a popular girl in her class because of her good looks. Tenji managed to clear up the misunderstanding.

Incidentally, he didn't tell anyone other than his teacher about the Awakening of his Calling. And, since he was in first year of high school, at the stage of learning the surface of being an explorer, he didn't make a weird scene at school.

Tenji, Asagiri, and Rui had taken only three days off from school, and they had also attended the funeral ceremony for the eight regular members of the Chariot who had passed away.

The explorers were accustomed to attending, but for Tenji, Asagiri, and Rui, it was the first funeral for a professional explorer.

They all decided to attend the funeral on Godou-san’s request. This time, all three of them were not outsiders.

[After the funeral, we had to participate in a guild ceremony called the Chariot Way of Farewell. Chariot's Way was not a traditional ceremony of sharing grief like a funeral, but a farewell ceremony where we would offer a drink and send them off like an explorer.]

The place was a luxurious one, renting out an office building owned by the Chariot.

Apparently, death is so personal to the explorers that it is better for them to act cheerful rather than sober, so that they can maintain their state of mind in the future.

And so, the chariot-style farewell party was over. Afterwards, Godou-san took all the explorers who had participated in that raid to a luxurious barbecue.

Tenji had been told in advance, and from there his sister Maharu was allowed to join them.

It was called the "party for the hard work" and was held by Godou to make all of them feel good about their hard work. Of course, everything was bought by Godou, and Tenji and Maharu ate the high-quality meat without guilt or mercy.

The two siblings would later be called "wallet-eaters" by Chariot, but Godou paid for everything with a smile on his face.

“I’m home.”

Tenji, the wallet eater, came home from school.

The poor siblings have a little more money to spend on food because they got 6 million yen before. Therefore, their complexion is better than before and they look somewhat happy.

“Big brother, I got you a package that came in the mail!”

As Tenji was taking off his shoes at the entrance, he heard Maharu's voice like that from the living room.

Hearing those words, Tenji's expression brightened all at once. There was only one thing Tenji could remember about the "package" arriving.

The sound of thumping, hurried footsteps echoed through the house, and Tenji opened the living room door with great vigor.

“Where are you?”

“What's wrong, big brother? You're in such a hurry.”

“...The package?”

"Oh, it's on my desk. What's that? It was huge."

While receiving a painful look from Maharu, who asked him what in the world he had bought, Tenji found a very large package on his desk.

He quickly takes a pair of scissors from the stationery case and cuts into the duct tape.

“What are you so excited about? What did you buy when you're poor?"

“Don't be so stingy. Godou-san told me to buy this for those five million yen, so I had no choice."

"Godou-san?"

Maharu snuggled her shoulder against her brother's and peered into the cardboard box with Tenji.

Just as Tenji finished cutting with the scissors and opened the cardboard by force.

There, although wrapped in foam and bubble wrap, was a certain item that Tenji had obtained through the school. It was a neat package.

"Geez.” Maharu shouts after seeing the package.

“I love it! Finally, my brother got his weapons and suit, and of course he got them at a discount through the school!"

Tenji sniffed as if he were bragging to his sister and slowly removed his weapons and suit from the box.

As for weapons, he had bought a cheap fifth grade iron sword so that he could disguise himself as a [Swordsman].

Even though it is a fifth grade, it costs no less than 100,000 yen, so it was a painful expense for the Amagi siblings.

It looked similar to a Western sword, and there were almost no decorations or special metals. But it is still powerful and sharp enough to fight monsters up to the fourth-grade level.

And then there was an inner suit which he always wanted.

This was the kind of equipment that any professional explorer would wear, and Tenji had bought a blue-colored, fourth-grade inner suit.

Normally, it would have cost 50,000 or 100,000 yen more to buy all these items. But that's where Nippon Explorers High School comes in.

If students ask their teachers, they can get them wholesale from the association at a discount. It is a kind of right for the students.

Tenji had made full use of it and bought it at the lowest price. Of course, this was the price after negotiating over and over again. The poor siblings have a bargaining technique that is second to none.

However, when she saw it, Maharu's eyes lost their sparkle.

"Ehhh? You're being unfair! You'll have to buy one for me when I get to high school too!"

“Your big brother earned it by himself. When you can earn your own money, you'll buy one too."

"Ehhh? Stingy big brother."

Having said that, Maharu would definitely force her brother to buy her a suit.

Partly because of his character of being kind to his sister, but more importantly because he didn't want her to have a life as an explorer like himself, where she would regret not having a suit.

Unlike Tenji, Maharu has a special ability called "Scorching Sun" which is a unique ability. For some reason, it is currently sealed with a certain item, but once it is unsealed, Maharu's talent will be terrifying. As an older brother, Tenji cannot help but have high hopes for his younger sister's future.

"Oh, by the way, big brother. I found a ham sent from Inagaki-san's house again. Really, what did you do?"

“Again? Rich people really like to send food, don't they? But, well, I appreciate it because it helps me save money on food.”

Inagaki meaning of course, was sent by Inagaki Rui.

Rui is in the same class as him, but he could not willingly talk to Tenji himself because the association forbade him to tell others about it.

However, he makes an effort to invite Tenji to make up with him every time they have a gym class or a moving class, so he is seen as a good guy for the girls around him.

Because of this, Tenji had come to be able to forgive Rui, little by little.

“Is it possible that my brother is popular at school?"

“I'm just a regular student.”

“Well, Maharu can eat a lot, so anything is fine with me.”

Maharu hummed happily as she roughly opened the two gifts.

As soon as she saw it, she immediately reached for the citrus jelly and gobbled it up.

Tenji looked at him and thought that since she was growing up, she could eat more.

“Okay, I'll have to work harder."

Tenji muttered as he stared at the weapon.

The month that Mizuhashi had said was about to pass.

The press and mass media had already switched to other information, and there was almost no more talk about the Ochanomizu Dungeon, Godou-san, or the three students from the Explorers High School who were involved.

[For a while, there was a lot of talk in the high school about the application not being approved, but recently I've started to hear a few people say that their applications have been approved.]

[Even if I got more money than I could afford from Godou-san, it would only be a temporary solution.]

After all, Tenji must continue to dive in dungeons as a luggage carrier, or as a provisional explorer who has awakened to his fifth-grade calling as a "swordsman”.

However, the Tenji of today is different from the Tenji of the past.

But He's an aspiring explorer with a special calling, the Hell Beast Summoning.

It seems that he has not yet reached his full potential, but this can mean that he has only been able to demonstrate a fraction of his abilities in his calling.

Finally, this is where Tenji's real growth begins.

The signs were already beginning to show.

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Author Note:

[Volume 1: Afterword]

This concludes the first Volume. Volume 2 will start from the next chapter.]

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