Homecoming
I laid the equipment the Immortals had used before a cairn of piled stones. Standing before it, I closed my eyes and offered a silent prayer. Shari stood beside me and did the same — eyes shut, head bowed.
You're a ghost, though.
At any rate, we'd dispatched the Immortals without much trouble and burned every last corpse. Even the ones already in pieces — I wasn't about to risk them coming back as skeletons or some other kind of monster. One memory of those skeletons in Daina Village, cobbling together whatever missing parts they could find and charging at us, and this was the only way I'd sleep at night. With this, every member of the subjugation force who'd been raised as a monster here could finally rest.
As I prayed, Oren's face came to mind — the man who'd once taught me the fundamentals of being an adventurer. His body wasn't here, but I offered a prayer for him all the same.
Once the Immortals were taken care of, I spent a little more time looking around Horn Canyon. I even climbed back up to the spot where Mireia and I had stood watching the monster army. Traces of the fierce battle lingered everywhere, and the hole I'd fallen into was still there.
If I hadn't fallen into that hole, I would have seen Mireia fight to the very end. Where was she now? What was she doing?
From the high ground of the canyon, I gazed for a moment at the faint outline of the Demon Realm in the distance, then hurried my steps back toward Kubel.
"Finally..."
The smell of salt-laced sea wind drifted over me. It wasn't my hometown, but Kubel felt like one in my heart — and there it was, at last, right before my eyes.
"I'm back..."
The journey from the Demon Realm Underground all the way here had been a long one. I hadn't expected to be this moved on the way, but now that I'd actually arrived in Kubel, I felt like I might cry.
No. This wasn't the time.
First things first — visit the guild and let them know I was alive. I cut across the familiar streets and headed straight for the Kubel Adventurer Guild. I'd been gone a long time, but Kubel hadn't changed a bit. The streets still bustled with people, and the stalls still gave off delicious smells.
I wondered if Tina and Meruru were doing well. From here on out, it was back to a peaceful adventurer's life. I had the power I'd gained in Einblad, too. Once I got a little more comfortable controlling my mana, I might even be able to aim for a higher rank. If I became a Gold Rank adventurer like Mireia, I'd make a lot more money besides.
Picturing that bright, blooming future, I opened the door to the Adventurer Guild.
Inside, the guild was moderately crowded with adventurers. Some stood at the request board, picking out jobs. Others handled request-related business with the receptionists at the counter. Still others sat in the waiting area, looking for party members or simply taking a rest. All of it was a welcome sight.
And the most welcome thing of all...
"Eeeek?! A ghost! It's a ghost, so it is! Yunoa's ghost has appeared, so it is!"
From the demi-human specialist counter, Meruru's eyes went round as saucers as she jabbed a finger at me and shrieked. Every pair of eyes in the guild snapped toward me at once. Tina, who'd been busy at the regular counter, spotted me and clapped a hand over her mouth.
"...Yunoa?"
"Ahaha... it's been a while, everyone."
"You're not a ghost?! You're the real Yunoa, so you are?! Meruru has to check, so she does!"
"Gah!"
Meruru came flying at me with terrifying momentum, diving onto my back and latching on. With both legs wrapped around my waist, she mashed my face with both hands like she was kneading dough.
"It's real! It's real, so it is! It feels solid, so it does! It's warm, so it is!"
"Mmph! Mm-bluh-mmph!"
She was kneading my face so thoroughly I couldn't get a word out. But it didn't feel bad. Being mashed by Meruru, I finally felt it — I really had come back to Kubel.
I sat in the guild waiting area, waiting for the reception desk to quiet down for a moment. Shari, the little demon ghost, clung to my head and watched the adventurers coming and going. The receptionists were always busy, but mornings — when adventurers piled in to take requests — were the busiest of all.
I sat there soaking in the feeling of being back in Kubel, and before long a familiar face appeared in the guild.
"Huh? Senpai! That's Yunoa-senpai, isn't it!"
It was Silphy, the female adventurer with the mushroom-like bob. I'd met a race that actually wore mushrooms on their heads in the Demon Realm, but that hair of hers still looked like a mushroom. The moment she spotted me, she sat down across from me with a delighted expression and started firing off questions.
"What on earth happened? Everyone thought you were dead, senpai!"
"I almost was."
"Where have you been all this time? They said you fell from an impossible height."
"Haha... it's a long story, I guess."
I'd only gone on two requests with Silphy, but somewhere along the way she'd started calling me senpai and looking up to me. She hadn't changed a bit, even after all this time. It struck me, quietly, that I'd actually made a fair number of acquaintances in Kubel.
"Have you been doing well, Silphy?"
"Mmm... I'm getting by, I suppose. Same as always. For me, being an adventurer is a matter of making a living."
Weren't all adventurers making a living at this? Still, a Silver-rank adventurer shouldn't have any trouble putting food on the table. A faint shadow crossed Silphy's face. Was she short on money or something?
"Anyway, there's something I wanted to ask."
I said it to Silphy, partly to change the subject.
"About that subjugation force I disappeared from. Do you know what happened? And Mireia?"
"Mmm... I don't know the details myself, but..."
"Just tell me what you know. I have no idea what happened while I was gone."
"Well then..."
Silphy slowly filled me in on everything that had happened. The subjugation force that had set out for Horn Canyon had returned victorious in the end, but the mood had been grim. It wasn't simply because the casualties had been higher than expected. Bloodstain, the so-called Lord of Blood, had appeared, and the scale of the attack had been far greater than anyone had anticipated.
Among the returning adventurers, the kingdom's incompetence in issuing the subjugation order had become the number one topic of conversation. When demons and monsters attacked, sending a force commensurate with the threat was the obvious thing to do. But at Horn Canyon, they'd been thoroughly deceived by the demons and had assembled a ridiculously underpowered subjugation force. The adventurers who'd participated all agreed that making it back alive had been a miracle.
"Hmm. I see."
So Mireia hadn't lost after all. Judging by the number of Immortals left in Horn Canyon, I'd already figured the subjugation force hadn't been wiped out. And I'd been there — I knew better than anyone that the force had been hopelessly outmatched by the monsters.
"So after that, a lot of people started saying you should avoid kingdom-issued monster subjugation orders if you can help it... Not that you can always avoid them, but the mood is that you have to look after your own life, at least."
"What about Mireia? Any news on her?"
"Mmm... I'm not sure. I haven't seen her since that day. There's a rumor she went to the capital, Pipnel, though..."
The royal capital, huh. Well, for someone like her, there'd be more to do in the capital than in Kubel. When it came to raw strength as an adventurer, she was extraordinary. Still, I hoped I'd get a chance to see her again someday. She probably thought I was dead, too.
But I had no intention of going to find her myself anytime soon. At some point, Mireia had started relying on me to an uncomfortable degree, and honestly, it had made me uneasy. If it hadn't been for her in the first place, I never would have gone through what I did at Horn Canyon.
"Yunoa? Do you have a moment?"
I was chatting with Silphy about this and that when Tina called me from the reception desk. It seemed her busy work had finally wrapped up, and she had time to talk. I got up immediately and headed to her counter.
In the time I'd been gone, Tina's dark circles had grown even deeper. Even if she confessed she'd once been a Saintess, no one would believe her looking like this.
"How've you been feeling lately? You look exhausted."
"Ah... well. It's not like this is anything new. Congratulations on making it back safely. And... there's a bit of a problem..."
Tina suddenly pulled out a stack of documents and laid them on the counter.
"A problem?"
"As you know, you were processed as deceased from that subjugation force. And because of that..."
Tina's words made me a little uneasy. Of course they'd thought I was dead. Even I had been certain I was done for when I fell into that hole. But that had caused a problem? And the guild was pulling out documents over it? I had a bad feeling about this...
"What... kind of problem?"
I asked cautiously, and Tina pointed to a section of the paperwork. It was part of the adventurer registration form I'd filled out when I first registered with the guild. But at the top of the document, a chilling stamp had been pressed in red ink.
Name: Yunoa
"Since you're listed as deceased, your adventurer registration has been expunged."
"Whaaat?!"
The unexpected news wrung a weird noise out of me before I could stop it. What the hell was this?
"What do you mean, expunged? I came back perfectly alive!"
"Well... the guild is an institution that runs entirely on paperwork, so once something's been processed as expunged, there's nothing we can do..."
"Shouldn't they have at least listed me as missing, since there was a chance I'd come back?"
"Every single witness said you were definitely dead."
They'd all seen me fall into that hole and were convinced I'd died. Still, though.
"So what happens now? I can't take requests from the guild starting tomorrow? What about reinstatement?"
"This is a first for me, too. It's beyond my authority... Maybe you could just register again under a new name?"
Tina said, looking thoroughly at a loss. What kind of situation was this? If I registered with the guild under a new name, what would happen to the adventurer rank I'd built up until now?
"Ha... haha... hahaha..."
I let out a hollow laugh, and Tina spoke as if something had occurred to her.
"This isn't something a receptionist like me can do anything about. I'm sorry. Um... why don't you try meeting with the Guild Master? He has full authority over this Adventurer Guild, so if you inquire with him directly, something might work out..."
The Guild Master, huh. So when a problem like this came up, the only move was to pull the I want to speak to your manager card. I generally thought people who demanded a manager over every little thing were being unreasonable, but I figured I had every right this time.
I was standing here perfectly alive, and they'd stripped my adventurer qualifications because I was dead on paper? Absolutely not.
...Get me the Guild Master!