>>4016938>she does it so she can get to the bottom of literal hellThat would be true for anyone.
>boys trying to prove they're strong/mature is well known tropeThat's exactly my point. It's common because it's true to life. That's how boys really think/act. The difference is that it isn't as emasculating for a boy to compare himself to a normal peer or to an adult as it would be for a boy Riko to compare himself to Reg. And so what they do about it is less desperate, self destructive, and dangerous.
When Tokiyuki worries that he isn't contributing enough to repay Yorishige's kindness, he rides himself ragged as a messenger not resting enough. Which does unintentionally put him in danger. But a boy with as much one sided reliance on Reg as Riko would end up intentionally confronting some horrible abyss creature.
It would just be this awful soul crushing cycle of a boy always feeling worthless and guilty, doing something pointless and self flagellating to punish himself for it, and then getting rescued making him feel even worse. Until eventually he doesn't get rescued.
>the sovereign of childrenRiko has two relics. Her mom's pickaxe that she uses so infrequently that it lives on Reg's backpack. And her white whistle which, so far, only powers up Reg. In their most recent confrontation with the sniper, she was absent doing first aid. And in the one preceding that with the squid, she literally stood there doing nothing. For a boy delver to be happy with himself, he'd have to be lot more involved than that.
Just imagine nenless Gon having to stand there and watch as Killua dealt with some monster because he was so impotent that any attempt at assistance would only make things worse. That state of affairs just simply could not continue for long.
