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The interviewer said in a slightly playful manner instead of straight up going for pleasantries. \'Only a fool would sit down here. At least not when the No.2 of Yugria Kingdom\'s Explorer Association is still standing around.\'

"...Allen, it\'s alright to sit down...... Aren\'t you going to sit?" Senpai asked in a concerned tone.

"Please worry not, senpai. This (interview) is all within my expectation."

However, it probably didn\'t diffuse his worries as senpai turned to face my interviewer and said, "......Please pay it no heed, Satowa-san. It\'s kind of like a part of his etiquette, feel free to continue. Also, and I always say this, there\'s really no need for formalities."

Satowa, the interviewer, chuckled upon hearing senpai\'s words and sat down on the sofa.

"I\'m Allen Rovenne, from the Royal Academy! Excuse me!"

"Ahh!"

After ascertaining that Satowa had taken his seat, I introduced myself with a crisp voice, — which seemed to have surprised senpai who was sitting next to me — lowered my head at a perfect 45-degree angle, kept it bowed for three seconds, and then sat down on the sofa— or so I wanted to. But the sofa senpai had been sitting on since a while ago was unbelievably fluff. It was like I was sitting on a lump of feathers, and no doubt, if I relaxed my body here, I would inevitably end up making a cocky posture— my back completely reclining on the sofa under the inevitable force of this fluffiness with my chin sticking up like I was some sort of a big shot. \'Naive, just that much isn\'t enough to test my skill.\'

I lowered myself on the sofa with my thighs barely touching its surface and sat as if I was sitting on an air chair with the help of body strengthening.

".....I see, it must be a rule from the \'Unceasing Prudence\' creed that I\'ve been hearing rumors about. I had been skeptical about it, but now that I\'ve seen it, I must say— it truly is worthy of attention."

Satowa offered his complimentary words— just as I had calculated. But that wasn\'t enough to loosen my guard.

"Paying respect to superiors is just natural."

"...Oh? This certainly holds profound meaning. If I may, I surely would like to learn a point or two about the teachings of the renowned master Schord Bainfause. Hahaha." Satowa said this with a broad smile, showing the graceful and deep lines on his face around his eyes.

Here came another landmine... No doubt this would spell the end of my luck if I explained this in a bragging tone.

"You flatter me, however, I\'m but a rookie to the core as of yet. It would be impertinent of me to teach others." (Allen)

"You\'re still too humble... The whole Royal Capital is abuzz with the rumors of you and Master Schord." (Satowa)

"...It seems like the rumors have grown a pair of wings of their own and traveled far and wide... It\'s quite a troublesome matter." (Allen)

"Hoho. But there is no denying Allen-kun has received an S evaluation in the Royal Capital\'s practical exam, am I wrong?" (Satowa)

"This humble self doesn\'t think so. In fact, what happened that day was that the examiner seemed to be suffering from a hangover, so I dare say it might have been a slip-up on his part." (Allen)

"Ahaha! You sure have a talent for humor, to simply attribute the result of the Royal Academy\'s exam to a slip-up due to a hangover! You have me thoroughly amused!" (Satowa)

As we continued this Japanese-style exchange of empty pleasantries, with Satowa bombarding me with compliments here and there while I played them down with humility, he suddenly said this,

"Still, I\'m impressed. You have such amazing skills and accomplishments under your belt at your age, yet I don\'t see any sign of arrogance from you. Your dreams must be something far away at the horizon that can only be reached by humbling yourself. By the way, did you come here to register as an explorer this time? A talent like Allen-kun coming here for registration, what could be the purpose behind it?"

\'...Here it comes, the reason for applying.\' That must be the sign that we were at the end of the interview. I decided on a whim to register as an explorer so I hadn\'t come up with any convincing reason to parrot off. I mean, it was all about me selling the materials I harvested to earn money, but there was no way this reason was gonna fly at all.

I also had the reputation of senpai to uphold as he had gone out of his way to introduce me.

Just as I was wracking my brain on how to express my \'enthusiasm\', senpai, who had been staring at the drifting clouds outside the window while keeping his silence all this time, chimed in, "Ah, I just happened to get a chance to go on a material collection trip with him. He seems interested in harvesting more, so I recommended him to register with the association to secure potential outlets."

...Nice follow-up! Senpai!

Since senpai has already laid the foundation by talking about materialistic things such as money as a third party, I just needed to express my enthusiasm now. \'A capable man\'s consideration is really on a different level.\'

"That’s right! I’ve had the opportunity to accompany senpai on his material collection trip and we also camped together since yesterday. I was truly impressed by his extensive knowledge in this field so I\'ve decided to pursue the path of an explorer in hopes of improving myself."

Senpai\'s face seemed to have tensed up for some reason, but it was the truth in the end. Satowa listened to all this thoughtfully and said,

"I see. Riyad-kun here is indeed one of the renowned explorers in the Royal Capital\'s Explorer Association.

With a deep knowledge of medicine materials stemming from the pharmaceutical business his family operates, the Mt. Penglai Company, which boasts the largest commercial sale of magical medicinal products in the kingdom, Riyad-kun definitely has top-notch skills in medicine material collection, especially considering his age, even in this capital. In fact, it was through his several achievements of finding new varieties among other things that he was promoted to B-rank despite still being in school.

Of course, the B-rank is but a little fly compared to the mammoth title of Royal Academy graduate. It was a waste that RIyad-kun\'s rank had fallen to B-rank due to taking repeated, long-term collection requests along with advancing to 3rd year."

...When senpai said \'Family\'s pharmacy business\', I imagined it to be something like the town\'s local drugstore. But from the conversation, it seemed to be quite a famous company, huh?

However, I was right on the money. Senpai sure was a famous explorer. Furthermore, he didn\'t even care about his former A-rank and instead prioritized following his own passion. I quietly glanced at senpai and saw him scratching his cheek with an embarrassed look.

I was really in awe that senpai didn\'t put any pretense and faced me with his true self, hiding his prominent background.

"But beyond that profound knowledge, what I truly admired about senpai is his passion. I spent an entire day accompanying him on the collection trip, and from the way he taught me so many things, I\'m sure this is something senpai truly enjoys.

From senpai\'s perspective, they might be nothing more than trivial materials with hardly any worth. But from his conduct, I have experienced his gratitude toward those materials, to never forget to enjoy the act of collection and his enthusiasm as an explorer."

Senpai\'s face stiffened once again. Sawato, on the other hand, listened to all this with gleaming eyes.

"Haha, interesting. So I presume Allen-kun is impressed with Riyad-kun, am I right?"

"No, \'impressed\' is an understatement. The sole reason why I have managed to take a step as an explorer is all due to the grace of senpai. In fact, my gratitude and respect for him are as profound as the feelings I hold for my parents."

"What the hell are you doing, Allen!? Sawato-san, don\'t take whatever he says at face value. His line of thought just ran on a slightly derailed path. It\'s the teaching he received to treat seniors with respect, you know? What they call social etiquette, ahahaha!"

"Huh? But it\'s my true feeli—"

I was about to say I truly admired senpai from the bottom of my heart when he interrupted me and forcefully steered away from the topic.

"More importantly, please look at this! This is the fur and horn of the horned rabbit that he had taken down in one attack! This proves his skills as the top scorer. And this was just his first monster battle. He was calm from beginning to end, thoroughly analyzed the situation, and then when the horned rabbit just happened to climb up the cliff, he jumped from the top of the cliff and struck it down in the fleeting moment they passed each other by!

He even said his aim missed because he accidentally used too much strength. After all, this was his first battle. He was planning to strike at the horn\'s base. Man, this is definitely impossible for me! If you ask me, I really can\'t imitate this style, that\'s how freaky his battle sense is! His reputation as the <Unceasing Prudence> Master Schord Bainfaus\'s secret weapon is really not in vain!"

Sawato then said while curiously looking at the fur and horn,

"My, this is quite a huge specimen. Although horned rabbits aren\'t that strong, the attribute holders are especially quick on their feet. Not many C-rank explorers can bring them down as cleanly as this."

"I know, right? It was just \'coincidental\' that I ran into him yesterday and by \'chance\' accompanied him for his first collection trip. He made me sound like someone above the clouds but if you ask me, his abilities are all just in a world of their own that I really don\'t think I can ever catch up. Seriously! Don\'t take whatever he says at face value and by all means, please refrain from spreading what you\'ve just heard!"

I had kept my silence, sensing senpai was trying to wrap up the conversation here, but seeing the subtle wrinkles around Sawato\'s eyes, I accidentally said something uncalled for.

"Speaking of, Senpai did say \'This is already too big for two people and we don\'t have the luxury of bringing back so much meat today so I would like to finish it all without wasting anything\'. The sentiment of gratitude toward living creatures that shines through from that statement also made a strong impression on—"

As I was speaking, I saw Riyad-senpai holding his head. Crap... Even after telling the truth, I made the rookie mistake of blurting out too much seeing that subtle wrinkle around his eyes...

"Ahaha, birds of a feather flock together, as they say. By the way, how did you two meet?"

"Oh, our encounter was indeed fateful! Well, senpai actually lives in the general dormitory of the Royal Academy—"

After 15 minutes

"I must say, I\'ve heard an intriguing story today. I understand Riyad-kun\'s concerns. I\'ll report it to the president as part of my duty, but I won\'t go around spreading rumors like that."

Sawato followed up to reassure senpai. But senpai remained slumped in the corner of the sofa like a burned-out boxer, not moving.

Editor Note - Is this really how Japanese interviews are conducted? Sounds exhausting. The interviews I went through were more straightforward and felt like cross-examinations more than anything else.

T/N - As a matter of fact, yes. Without going into the details, seniority matters very much there. So if you guys are wondering, and I am sure you are, this is precisely the cause and as explained in his monologue, such politeness are usually hammered in their mind. That\'s why mc politeness and response may come out as strange to others.