The F-rank Adventurer, Who Was Supposed to Be Just a Helper, Accidentally Goes Viral for Blowing Away an S-rank Monster – It Seems the Home I’ve Been Living in Was an Unusually Powerful Dungeon Inhabited by the Strongest Species

“Hello. You’re Hikone Hoshi, right?”

While watching the activity near his house, a woman approached him. She was a woman with long, neatly styled black hair, wearing a sharp suit.

“Yes, that’s right. Hello.”
“I’ve moved into that house over there. My name is Sekino Anyako. Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too.”

Ms. Sekino greeted him with a polite bow. So it was a move, after all.

“!”

Then it hit him.

Could this be… his first “neighbor” encounter!
He was thrilled! He had always longed for neighborly interactions.

“Ms. Sekino!”
“…! Ah!”

He excitedly asked her a question.

“Where did you move from?”
“Uh, from the city—not the guild!”
“Oh! Why did you move to such a remote area?”
“I, I thought a cooler place would be nice!”
“I see.”

Ms. Sekino answered generously. He hoped she’d come to appreciate the beauty of the mountains.

As he thought this, Ms. Sekino began to ask him questions.

“…! Is that a pocket watch or something?”
“Yes, it is! I found it in a dungeon!”
“Is that so…”

She seemed interested in the pocket watch he was holding. It was an item dropped by a Treasure Mimic in a previous stream.

But he wasn’t quite sure how to use it… Ah, right!

“Ms. Sekino, do you know much about items?”
“I know a fair bit… I guess.”
“Really!”

He showed her the pocket watch.

“Is this broken, do you think?”
“Why?”
“When I point it at my pets, the needle moves, but it doesn’t respond when I point it at myself.”
“…I see.”

Ms. Sekino looked at it with wide, interested eyes. He thought it was nice of her to take it so seriously.

“Can you demonstrate?”
“Sure.”

He pointed the pocket watch at himself and pressed the protruding part. But the needle didn’t move.

“Hmm. Seems like it’s not working.”
“…!”
“Ms. Sekino?”
“…No.”

Her expression seemed to stiffen for a moment, but she quickly softened it.

“I don’t quite understand.”
“That’s okay. Hmm.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of help.”
“No! Thank you for looking at it.”

After finishing their conversation, Ms. Sekino turned to leave.

“I should get back to my work.”
“Yes! I look forward to getting to know you!”
“Me too—oh!”

Suddenly, a small box fell from Ms. Sekino’s pocket. He picked it up and handed it back to her.

“Here you go.”
“Ah, thank you! See you later!”
“Bye!”

As Ms. Sekino entered her house, he murmured to himself.

“…I wonder if she’s under stress.”

The small box he returned to her was labeled “stomach medicine.”

★

At the newly established house next to the Hoshi residence.

“Haaah!”

Ms. Sekino, bursting through the front door, collapsed on the spot as if finally relieved. Hearing the noise, people came rushing out from inside the house.

“Chief!”
“Are you okay?!”
“Stay conscious!”

Ms. Sekino Anyako, the woman in question, was actually the chief of guild staff.

“I’m… alright…”

Her response made everyone around her breathe a sigh of relief. Everyone present in the house, including those involved in the moving process, was related to the guild.

The guild had built this house next to “Hikone Hoshi” specifically for investigation purposes. They used funds and materials from the guild headquarters and dungeons, constructing it at an incredibly rapid pace.

“But Chief, to take on this task alone…”
“Who else but me could do it…”

Ms. Sekino, the Guild Chief, was exceptionally responsible. Unable to leave everything to her subordinates, she volunteered for this operation. However, it seemed to be taking a toll on her stomach.

Ms. Sekino, managing to regain her posture, asked her staff.

“Did you record our conversation?”
“Yes, right here!”
“Thank you. Even a single conversation with him can be material for future strategies.”

Supported by her staff, she moved to the living room to catch her breath. A staff member then asked her a question.

“By the way, Chief, that pocket watch he had, it’s the one he got from the Treasure Mimic during his stream, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”

The conversation turned to the pocket watch Hoshi had.

“What exactly is that?”
“…It’s a ‘Mana Measuring Clock,’ an S-rank drop item.”
“S-rank!?”

Ms. Sekino answered while covering her mouth.

She had feigned ignorance in front of Hoshi, but she was sure of its nature, a necessary act to conceal her position as the Guild Chief.

“So, what does it do?”
“There are various uses… But to put it simply, it measures the strength of monsters and explorers.”

Indeed, the “Mana Measuring Clock” that Hoshi possessed could measure the strength of its target. It had 100 scales, indicating the strength level of the person or creature measured.

When measured, Melon and Cotton Candy, Hoshi’s pets, pointed to around 80 on the scale.

“But he said it was broken, right?”
“No.”
“Eh? Didn’t it fail to measure Hoshi-kun’s combat power?”
“That’s not it.”

Ms. Sekino answered, narrowing her eyes.

“The needle was moving delicately, as if it was unsure where to point.”
“What does that mean?”
“That reaction means…”

Ms. Sekino held her stomach again.

“It’s unmeasurable…”

“…!!”

The staff members continued questioning, holding their heads.

“Chief, just to confirm…”
“What is it?”
“Those two pets, Melon and Cotton Candy, they’re S-rank magical creatures with magic cores, right?”
“That’s correct.”

Magic cores, formed by absorbing immense amounts of mana, are extremely rare. Creatures with them can live outside dungeons and possess incredible strength.

According to some data, an ‘A-rank monster’ and a ‘D-rank monster with a magic core’ are of equal strength.

Frighteningly, Melon and Cotton Candy were ‘S-rank magical creatures with magic cores.’ Their strength was unimaginable.

With the two pets measuring around 80… Hoshi’s combat power was ‘unmeasurable.’ It had to be at least… above 101.

“…”

Faced with this reality, the staff members and Ms. Sekino looked up, lost in thought.

(We’ve been handed an unbelievable task…)

Though they already knew, being confronted with more facts made it impossible to think clearly.

But the troubles were not over yet.

Ding-dong.

“…!?”

The house’s doorbell suddenly rang. Ms. Sekino, in a low voice, quickly checked with those around her.

“Did anyone call someone?”

“No.”
“I didn’t.”
“Me neither.”

No one had invited anyone over.

“Coming!”

She answered loudly but with maximum caution as she opened the door, and there stood—

“Hello~. My name is Erika♡”
“Ah, uh…”

Erika, an elf and a sisterly figure to Hoshi, stood there with a bright smile.