The End of an Adventure and a Day Off

"Good morning."

I awoke to a voice. My eyelids were heavy, and it felt like my body

remained asleep.

"Big Brother."

Ruti's red eyes hovered over my face.

"Good morning, Ruti."

"Good morning…" Ruti looked at me and nodded. "Tisse will make

breakfast today, so you can take it easy."

"Hngh. No, I can make breakfast like I always do…"

"You're really exhausted. You have to rest today," Ruti declared. She

wasn't going to budge on this.

"Okay, I understand… Can I at least help a little?"

"No."

With nothing else to do, I looked at the ceiling while lying in bed.

There was nothing of particular interest up there.

"Phew…"

The drowsiness hit me instantly.

Normally, this would have been unacceptable. I'd trained myself to

wake instantly at the first sound of an enemy's footsteps, no matter the

environment.

Yet here I was…bedridden and about to pass out again from

overexertion.

"So this is what it's like without any kind of endurance-modifying skill."

I was the Guide. I was born with a blessing level of 31, and I started

taking skills the moment I was aware of that. A life without skills was

completely new to me.

"Ruti told me to rest, so maybe I should just sleep a little more."

I gave in to the drowsiness and closed my eyes.

As I dozed off, I thought about the recent adventure.

After the battle with Demis was over, we returned to camp, and I told

everyone what I'd learned. Then we went through the spoils we'd taken

from the facility.

Speaking with the first hero had been a shock, but it hadn't changed all

that much. He'd validated our chosen way of life, so there was no reason to

question ourselves.

Before we left the ruins the next day, I returned the Sacred Avenger to

its original resting place. Despite being the Hero's sword, it was quite

dangerous for the Hero to wield. Van would carry one of the holy blades

made by ancient humans instead. It was a mighty sword that would

undoubtedly delight Cardinal Ljubo.

With Ruti's Holy Demon Slayer broken, Van's weapon was now the

strongest in the world. It would lead him to victory against the demon lord's

army.

We decided not to tell Ljubo what happened in the ruins. What we

learned there was enough to turn the world on its head. We told him that it'd

been an adventure to find equipment the ancient elves left for the Hero. Esta

and Van did an excellent job of convincing him.

That brought the whole incident to a nice, neat conclusion.

A lot happened, but it was a good adventure.

Firewood crackled from some other room.

There was a mouthwatering scent.

A chikuwa stew for breakfast?

"Redddd!"

"Gyah?!"

I'd been comfortably enjoying sleeping in when something small

forcefully kicked my nose. I held it and rolled out of bed from the sudden

shock.

"Oh? I didn't think you would take that much damage."

"Lavender…my skills aren't working, so I'm weaker."

"Hmph. It was pretty funny. Can I do it again?"

"Absolutely not!"

Lavender had come flying in and kicked me. What was this all about?

"Well, it's a short errand, so I'll leave soon."

"A short errand?"

Apparently, she had some business with me. Here I was thinking she'd

kicked me for no reason.

"You saved Van from Demis… Thank you," the fairy mumbled.

"Oh? Never thought I'd hear that from you."

Were pigs going to fly next?

"Here, this is for you. As thanks for saving Van."

Lavender threw a stone the size of a fingernail at me.

"Oh!" I frantically moved to catch it. My reflexes were dull, and I

almost missed. Opening my fingers, I saw a jewel resting on my palm.

"Is this…a blue sapphire?!"

"Shh! Not so loud!"

Lavender raced to cover my mouth.

I nodded.

"You understand? Good. If Rit heard you, it would ruin the proposal

she's been waiting for."

"How did you—?"

"I've said it before. With a word, I can get gold or jewels or whatever

else I want."

She had no qualms about leaning on her archfay privilege.

People who had to serve high-ranking types like her usually had it

rough. As a former knight, my stomach ached a bit.

However, the best thing to do was be glad for the gift.

A blue sapphire really did suit Rit's sky-colored eyes.

I'd journeyed to the Wall at the End of the World and fought a gem beast

to get a blue sapphire for Rit's ring. Ultimately, the monster ate all the

jewels, though, so I was never able to get one.

"I finally got my hands on a blue sapphire."

The time had finally come.

Wide-awake now, I slipped the jewel into an interior pocket of my shirt.

Clothes for adventurers were always made with such pockets, which

thieves couldn't reach. Removing objects from them was difficult, but they

were perfect for storing something precious you received from a client or an

item you wanted to keep on you at all times.

"Good morning, Red!" Rit greeted me cheerfully.

"Good morning, Rit."

"Hmm? You must still be tired. You seem a little different from usual."

"Ha-ha, it's probably just because my blessing is weakened. Though, I

am pretty tired, too."

The biggest reason was the thing in my pocket…

I had to make sure she didn't find out.

Her knowing wouldn't really be a problem. I'd already told her my plan

when we went out hunting for gems before…but I still wanted this to be a

surprise.

"Ah, good morning, Red."

"Good morning, Tisse, Mister Crawly Wawly."

The spider on Tisse's head raised his right foreleg in greeting.

"We were just setting out breakfast," Tisse said.

"I'm here, too." Ruti waved to me while holding plates from behind

Tisse.

So cute.

"Today, I made an oden-style stew using Oparara's chikuwa, along with

some chikuwa bread," Tisse declared.

I regarded the statement dubiously. "Chikuwa bread?"

"It's delicious," Tisse replied, brimming with confidence.

She and Mister Crawly Wawly had both taken the Cooking skill. And

they had talked with Oparara a lot. The food they made was sure to be tasty.

I couldn't help chuckling a bit at how the bread looked with the chikuwa

sticking out of it.

Tisse didn't show it much, but she had a sense of humor. This kind of

food suited her well.

""Thank you for the meal.""

After eating, everyone helped clean up the dishes.

I wanted to pitch in, but I was told to rest again. Thus, I remained sitting

in my chair and leisurely sipped tea.

It had been a delicious breakfast.

"This is relaxing…"

I never would have expected Demis himself to show up. Thinking back,

it was incredible that we managed to make it out alive. Paired with the fight

against Van, that was two battles that were bad for my heart paired back-toback.

But that was over now!

With Veronia aiding humanity and Van the Hero joining the fight with

the Vendidad, the idea of driving the demon lord's army from the continent

seemed very plausible.

Van was sure to leave his mark in history as a grand hero. My job as the

Guide was done.

"Now then, I need to refill the medicine stocks that were depleted while

we were away," I said.

"You can do that tomorrow!" Rit shouted as she returned from putting

away the dishes. "There are other apothecaries in Zoltan, so you don't have

to push yourself!"

"Well, there's no sickness going around, and no monster swarms have

popped up recently, so I guess you're right."

Preparing medicine would be difficult without skills.

I'd compensated for a lack of dexterity with a wealth of practical skills,

and now that they were weakened, I wasn't much good at work.

"Yeah, it's probably better if I just rest," I said with resignation.

"Right." Rit beamed.

"That's enough," Ruti agreed. "You worked really, really hard, Big

Brother. You should take a day to recover."

"Ruti, Tisse, the breakfast was great," I praised.

"I'm glad you liked it. Chikuwa truly is magnificent." Tisse's relatively

expressionless face looked proud.

How was it that she ended up loving chikuwa so much? Oden was

eastern cuisine and not popular enough to have spread across the continent.

Perhaps a grand adventure had led her to discover oden.

"I'll watch the shop. These past few days, I've gotten good enough to be

dubbed the shop's poster girl," Ruti said.

I cocked an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Leave it to me."

Ruti was on fire. What happened while we were at the ruins?

I was a little sad that I hadn't been here to see her growth.

"Wait a second, Ruti! It's Red & Rit's Apothecary, so I'm the poster

girl!" Rit protested.

Ruti just shook her head at the complaint.

"You're more like the lady of the house than a poster girl."

"…Who said that?"

"Gonz."

"Gonz, huh?" Rit was smiling, but she looked furious.

Farewell, Gonz. It was nice knowing you.

"I feel bad that you're both working while I do nothing." This was

possibly the first day I'd taken a day off alone since Rit moved in.

What should I do?

As I pondered absentmindedly, Mister Crawly Wawly hopped on my

shoulder.

"Hmm? What is it?"

He spun his front legs with a rousing look on his face.

"Mister Crawly Wawly says he'll guard you if you're going out," Tisse

translated.

He's worried about me because I'm weakened?

Taking a day off with Mister Crawly Wawly didn't sound too bad.

"All right, Mister Crawly Wawly, I'm counting on you."

His body swayed as though to reply, "Leave it to me."

The store opened, and Mister Crawly Wawly and I headed out together.

I'd been down underground for a few days, and it felt like summer had

arrived while I was away.

I could already hear the bees buzzing as I strolled through the

neighborhood.

"It sure is hot," I muttered.

Mister Crawly Wawly peeked his head out from my clothes and nodded.

At first, he rode on my head, but apparently, it was too hot up on my black

hair with the summer sun beating down.

Were I in his position, I probably would've hidden, too.

"Big Bro Red!" called a child.

"Hey, Tanta."

It was Gonz's nephew, the half-elf Tanta. He beamed brightly.

"It feels like it's been forever."

"I was out for a few days."

"I went by your store a bunch of times, but you were never there."

"Sorry, sorry. There's been a lot to do lately. But that's all taken care of

now."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but don't worry. I'll keep my promise to get a boat so we can

have fun."

"It's not just that! There are more things I want to do with you, too!"

Tanta grumbled angrily.

Over the course of the Van incident, I'd gone to Sant Durant, a fairy

village, and the underground ruins. I'd been away from Zoltan a lot. And

this time, I'd left without saying anything, since it was too hard to explain

why Red the apothecary was going on an adventure with Van the Hero to

explore ancient ruins. That's probably why Tanta was so upset.

"In that case, do you want to play some now?" I suggested.

"Can we? You don't have an errand to run?"

"I'd planned to visit Mogrim, but that can wait until the afternoon. I left

Rit to run the shop while I take the day off."

"Ohhh! I thought you never did anything without Ms. Rit." He looked

genuinely surprised.

"Do we really spend that much time together?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

There wasn't much I could say when the kid nodded that seriously.

"So what should we do?" Tanta asked.

"What do you want to do?"

"Let's talk about how to renovate your store."

"Oh? Renovations, huh?"

"There are lots of things you should probably change once Ms. Rit has a

baby, right?"

"A baby?!"

"What are you getting embarrassed about?" Tanta asked.

"You're talking about having kids."

"Aren't you an adult? You need to stop getting embarrassed and think

about what you'll do when you have a kid. A home isn't done once it's

built. A home grows along with a family!"

"Right…"

I couldn't argue with that.

Tanta had the look of a proper craftsman. I was ashamed of getting so

awkward over this.

"Interior design will be key. You need to put some serious thought into

how things will change after you two have a kid!"

"G-got it."

Tanta pulled some paper and wax pens out of his bag and started

sketching out the interior of a room.

I was going to have to take this seriously.

I imagined Rit and me there, a small baby in her arms. I'd reach out, and

the infant would squeeze my finger.

What a happy future.

Tanta and I talked about renovations for a while.

Come noon, I was walking down the street looking at the sketch of a

children's room that Tanta had given me.

"You think it's pretty good, too, right, Mister Crawly Wawly?"

He poked his head out and looked at the picture, then clapped his

forelegs together. Apparently, he liked it.

"You'll babysit once we have a child? Ha-ha, that's reassuring."

I laughed a bit, imagining him waving a rattle to soothe a crying infant.

He was swaying some, too, perhaps enjoying himself.

"It really is hot, though…"

The heat was getting worse as the sun rose in the sky.

The sunshine was intense, and there was a swell of warm air rising from

the ground.

"Want to grab a drink at the place over there?"

Mister Crawly Wawly nodded.

"Welcome." The waitress greeted us cheerfully when we stepped inside.

A few people from the neighborhood were exhausted and hiding from

the heat.

It was a typical Zoltan scene. Somehow, it made me feel hotter.

We took a seat at an empty table.

"What can we do for you?"

"We'll have a beer and a water."

"Would you like any food to go with that?"

"Hmmm…what would you recommend to go with a beer?"

"How do Cataphract-style meatballs sound?"

"Oh? The chef is from the north? Then an order of the meatballs,

please."

"Sure thing."

The waitress headed into the kitchen.

The drinks and food were on the table in no time.

I took a bite of the meatballs first.

Hmm, there's a nice kick of garlic to it. It's definitely different from the

standard Zoltan recipe.

It was tasty. But more importantly…

"Why is a cold beer so good on a hot day?"

I drained the mug with gusto.

A cold beer at noon on a hot day was just perfection.

Mister Crawly Wawly drank his water with similar enthusiasm.

Despite the heat, it was a peaceful day.

"Whoa! What the—?!"

"Where'd you come from?!"

The outbursts prompted me to look around. I saw that a horse had come

through the door. Its hooves clicked against the floor as it approached.

"Are you a friend of Mister Crawly Wawly?" I asked.

Mister Crawly Wawly hopped up and down. The horse whinnied as if in

answer.

"It doesn't look like you were just passing by and stopped into say hi."

The horse whinnied again and snorted. It sounded serious, but

unfortunately, I couldn't really understand it.

"Mister Crawly Wawly, what's your friend saying?"

He used the water on his plate to draw a map on the table and started

explaining. This was one clever spider.

"Hmm, so his mate disappeared, and the owner is unreliable, so he went

looking for help to find her."

Mister Crawly Wawly waved his forelegs happily. Perhaps he was glad

to have conveyed the message to me successfully.

A missing partner, huh…

"What will you do?"

Mister Crawly Wawly looked troubled. He'd agreed to guard me, so he

couldn't run off to help his friend. Still, a missing mate was a big deal and a

race against time.

Horse or not, that wasn't something to ignore.

"Can I go with you?"

Mister Crawly Wawly hopped joyfully.

I gulped down the last of the beer and stood to find this horse's missing

mate.

This world was filled with battle, but it was just as full of adventure, too.

Three hours later.

"That's things settled!"

Mister Crawly Wawly and I toasted with some well water to celebrate a

safe resolution.

The story went like this:

First, we investigated the pasture the mare disappeared from. We were

able to pin down that the perpetrator was a griffon.

After that, we tracked down the griffon and retrieved the horse.

However, the griffon had apparently been searching for a mare to be his

mate. Griffons preyed on horses, but occasionally, they fell in love with

one.

Then we ended up looking for a mate for the griffon. Also, we defeated

the beast hag that caught the griffon and tried to dominate it.

Finally, we found a horse willing to accept the griffon, and everything

ended happily ever after.

I was sure a splendid hippogriff child would arrive this time next year.

"Whew, that was a pretty wild day."

Although my blessing was weakened, my fighting style didn't rely on

magic or Martial Arts. And Mister Crawly Wawly was there, too, so a small

problem like today's wasn't much trouble.

However, this was supposed to be my day off.

In a world filled with adventure, you could stumble onto a quest just by

walking down the road. And Zoltan had fewer adventures than most towns.

Also, the client was none other than Mister Crawly Wawly's friend, and

the adventure concluded happily, so all's well that ends well.

I'd even walk away with some profit once I sold the feather we got from

the griffon. Plus, it would make a fun story to tell.

"Not much tastes better than water after a nice adventure."

It was just simple well water, but it was refreshing and cool, which made

it all the better. Beer on a hot day was great, but cold water was probably

still the best.

"Do you always have adventures like this?" I asked.

Mister Crawly Wawly raised his right foreleg in response.

I'd imagined him always being with Tisse, but it looked like he acted on

his own quite a bit, too.

Thinking back, the animals at the pasture had a lot to say to him.

"One day, I want to hear the stories of some of your adventures."

Mister Crawly Wawly waved both of his forelegs happily.

As I approached Mogrim's shop…

"Mr. Red!"

…I heard a familiar voice.

"Al! I didn't know you were back in Zoltan!" I exclaimed.

Al's and Albert's old comrades came running over.

"Oh, wow, Mistorm and Godwin, too," I added.

"It's been a while."

"Hey there, apothecary."

Behind Al were Mistorm the retired adventurer and Godwin the thiefturned-merchant who managed a trade route to the Wall at the End of the

World.

"You look like you're doin' well, too, Mister Crawly Wawly." Godwin

smiled when the spider poked his head from my clothes.

"Why are you in Zoltan, Al?" I asked.

"We had a delivery to make at the Zoltan Adventurers Guild. We can

only stay for a little while, but we talked it over and decided to go visit our

family and friends. We just finished our business at the guild!"

"Ah, I see."

"I was planning to visit your shop, too. I never thought we'd run into

you out here!"

Seeing how glad he looked, I couldn't help but smile as well.

"You should still come by. I'm sure Rit would love to see you," I said.

"Of course!"

Al had grown bigger and stronger. The time he'd spent staying at our

house felt so long ago.

"I was just telling old stories to some youngsters at the Adventurers

Guild," Mistorm said.

"I was there putting in a request to fix up the road when Al and the

others found me. They had me surrounded. Things looked pretty rough for

me until Master Mistorm stepped in," Godwin explained, embarrassed.

"Right," I replied. "I forgot you were the one who broke in to kidnap

Al."

Al and his party had likely planned to interrogate him and find out why

he wasn't in prison.

Mistorm started chuckling. "The look on his face was priceless. In the

end, we settled things by having Godwin treat everyone to a nice meal."

"Ah, so that explains this odd procession," I remarked.

This world was truly full of surprises.

"Were you busy with something?" Godwin inquired.

"Yeah. As a matter of fact…" I pulled out the blue sapphire from my

pocket. "I was going to get a ring made and propose to Rit."

"What?!" Al shouted in surprise.

"You actually found one. Not bad, Red," Mistorm praised.

"So Rit the hero and the apothecary are finally gettin' married," Godwin

muttered.

The pair nodded to themselves.

And then everyone smiled.

""Congratulations.""

It really was nice having people celebrate our happiness.

Finally, I arrived at Mogrim's shop.

On any other day, I would have been there in no time, but it had taken

quite a while today.

"Sorry for dragging you all over, Mister Crawly Wawly."

His body shook, and then he swayed, assuring me that he had fun.

Yeah, it was a pleasant trip.

"Red, eh? Break your sword again?"

"Hey, Mogrim. No, this is about something else." The dwarf blacksmith

appeared from the back of the store. "Mink isn't watching the counter," I

remarked.

"Her stomach's gotten bigger, so she only watches the shop for half the

day now."

"Wow. Time flies."

Mogrim's wife, Mink, was pregnant. It became clear she was with child

last winter, and now spring was almost over. Of course she was showing by

now.

"If I'm bein' honest," Mogrim began, "I wish she would just rest all day,

but apparently, that's not great for a mother. It's my first kid, so I don't

really know about any of that stuff."

"Your first kid, huh? I'm sure there will be a lot of new experiences."

"When I put my ear to her stomach, I can tell the baby's moving…"

Mogrim's gruff, bearded face was a mess. I'm sure he was struggling to

contain all his excitement and joy at the idea of his child being born.

I remembered Tanta's sketch that I had tucked into my pocket and

imagined a future with a child.

Yeah, it'll be great. And the first step…

"Mogrim, I'm here with an important request."

"Hmm? If not your sword, then what? Come to buy a kitchen knife or

something?"

"Actually…" I set the blue sapphire on the counter.

"This is—!"

"Yeah. I want you to make an engagement ring!" Mogrim wrapped me

in a massive hug. "Wh-whoa."

"Well done, lad! I always regretted not bein' able to make a ring for the

two of you!"

I gently tried to extract myself, but his thick arms would not yield.

Ultimately, I surrendered to the embrace.

Mister Crawly Wawly moved to the top of Mogrim's head and danced

with joy.

"Three days?!"

Mister Crawly Wawly jumped a little in shock. My outburst had startled

him.

"You can make a ring in three days?!"

"Aye. Matter o' fact, I already made the ring's base."

"I never put in an order, though…"

"You're the sort of man who follows through when you say you'll do

something. Whether it was a blue sapphire or a diamond, I knew you'd get

the stone you were after eventually. I figured it would be good to prepare in

my free time."

Mogrim examined the gem through a small loupe. "Hmm."

"How is it?"

"This here's a great gem. Easily the best of all the blue sapphires I've

ever seen." Mogrim nodded with evident admiration. "I can make the

ultimate engagement ring with this!"

"Ohhhh."

Mogrim was fired up.

Lavender had apparently acquired a spectacular gemstone.

I needed to thank her the next time I saw her.

"All right, with that settled, we need to pick out the design! You had

dinner yet, Red?"

"No, not yet."

"Then you're eating here tonight! The store's closed for the day!"

Mogrim hurried outside with heavy footsteps and hung the CLOSED sign

out on the door.

"Oy, Mogrim! I wanted to check out a secondhand spear!"

"No one asked you! Come back tomorrow—we're closed today!"

"But—"

Mister Crawly Wawly swayed as though shaking his head at the scene.

It was night by the time I headed back to the shop.

A shady man approached me as I walked toward home.

"Hey, you look pretty skilled. Interested in making some money?"

"No, I've got enough adventure in my life."

"Wait, you can get rich gathering the horns of fire almiraj—"

Ignored.

The light from my house came into view.

"Phew, we finally made it back. Thanks for all your work, Mister

Crawly Wawly."

He raised his right foreleg snappily. Then he tapped his head and looked

at me.

"Hmm? Did I have a fun day off? Yeah, it was a great time."

It truly was.

Home got closer with every step.

"Red!"

"Big Brother."

Rit and Ruti were sitting on the bench out in front of the store.

"Were you waiting for me?" I asked.

Rit nodded. "The moon is lovely tonight, so we thought it might be nice

to wait outside."

"We have snacks, too." Ruti showed me a plate filled with nice, round

cookies.

"Those look tasty."

"Did you eat already?" Rit inquired.

"Yeah, I had dinner over at Mogrim's place."

"Oh? How is Mink doing?"

"Her stomach has gotten quite a bit bigger. Mogrim is trying to keep her

from working in the shop too much."

"Heh-heh. I bet he'll be a good father," Rit said.

I brushed off the dirt on my clothes and joined her and Ruti.

"Isn't this bench a little tight for three people?" I asked.

Rit shook her head. "No, this is good. The big, luxurious chairs in the

palace were okay, but it's nice being close enough to touch shoulders, too."

"Really?"

I had sat down in the middle, in the space Rit and Ruti had left between

them. Rit was to my right, and Ruti to my left. We snacked on sweets while

our shoulders touched. The ample amount of egg used in the cookies made

them rich and tasty.

Mister Crawly Wawly leaped down to the ground and raised his right

foreleg. He was surely off to see Tisse inside.

"Thanks for today. You should tell her what happened," I said.

He nodded as though to reply, "Of course," then hurried into the house.

"How is your blessing, Big Brother?"

"My skill level has come back a bit. At this rate, I should be back to

normal in around a week."

"Good."

"Once I recover, what should I spend my new skill point on? It's my

first level up since coming to Zoltan. Maybe I should invest it in a common

skill I've never considered before."

"Like what?" Rit asked.

"Hmm, what indeed…?"

There were a lot of common skills, but…

"Steering might be a good one. I kind of want to try flying the airship."

"Ohh! I've gone to check where it's kept, but I haven't seen it in action."

"It'd be nice to ride it sometime," I agreed. Rit nodded, and I did the

same.

"I entrusted the airship to Tisse, so you can ask her about it later. If you

do go flying, I want to come," Ruti said.

"Sounds like fun." I'd suggested Steering as a bit of a joke, but it was

beginning to sound like a good choice. "Or maybe Drawing?"

"Drawing?" Rit smiled. "That'd be lovely!"

The Drawing skill allowed you to sketch out anything you saw or

imagined.

It wasn't particularly useful for combat or on trips. It could be handy for

creating a map, but you needed precise scale measurements for maps. The

Survival skill or something similar was better for that.

Thus, I'd never considered the Drawing skill while I was a knight.

"What prompted you to think of Drawing?" Rit asked.

"Some stuff happened today that involved pictures is all."

I showed her and Ruti the picture that Tanta had made for me. He hadn't

connected with his blessing yet; he'd done it without the help of a skill. It

was the work of a child, but it was still good enough to convey an idea for

our house.

I also had the plans Mogrim made while we talked about the ring's

design, but that could wait for another three days.

"Tanta drew this for me. It's a design sketch for future renovations."

"This is…a child's room," Rit whispered.

"Yeah, it looks nice, right?"

Rit smiled. "Ehehe. It's lovely."

"I'm curious what sort of things you did on your day off, Big Brother,"

Ruti commented while looking at the drawing.

"I ran into Tanta in the morning. He drew this while we played around

until about noon… Actually, you haven't heard about everything that

happened in the ancient elf ruins yet, right? I should go over everything."

"Mm. I would like that."

"It might be a little long…but it's not too warm to sit outside and chat

for a while."

I told Ruti the story of our adventure.

A lot of things happened.

We learned the truth about the Hero Administration Bureau and that the

ancient elves were actually humans. We saw Van's growth and Demis's

miracle that overwrote it all.

"Demis?!" Ruti froze up in shock at that part. I understood why. God

had literally intervened during our adventure. "I really should have gone

with you. That sounds dangerous."

"It was. I seriously thought it was over this time," I replied.

"I lost hope, too, but seeing you lose your cool made me feel like I had

to keep my head about me…," Rit said.

"And that's what saved me."

Without Rit, I would've charged at Demis in rage and despair. He was so

overwhelmingly powerful that I'd completely given up hope.

"I want to give Demis a good punch," Ruti growled, shaking her fist. To

her, Demis was the mastermind who'd forced the Hero blessing on her and

made a giant mess of her life. It was only natural that she wanted to give

God a beating. "But as long as you're safe, Big Brother, then it's all right."

"Are you okay, Ruti?" I asked. "With everything we learned about the

Hero, I mean."

Van had been badly shaken by how previous bearers of the Divine

Blessing of the Hero lived. However, Ruti just shook her head.

"I'm not the Hero anymore."

"Right."

She'd already turned the page on that story. I'd been a little worried

about telling her, but she'd truly overcome the bonds of her blessing.

After that, I recounted what transpired after the battle and what

happened today. That included the run-in with Tanta, the adventure with

Mister Crawly Wawly, reuniting with Al and Mistorm, having dinner at

Mogrim's place, and Mink talking about her future child.

And I also talked about how happy I was to spend time with everyone.

"A lot happened even though you took the day off," Rit commented.

"Yeah, but it was a fun day. This is my slow life."

This world was full of adventure and fighting. That was as true here in

the small backwater of Zoltan as anywhere else. Even heroes couldn't

change this world. But I was free in my heart. No matter what the world

was like, I was determined to be happy.

And we were.