Homecoming
By the time the sun stood high at midday, a party came into view at Britus Village.
A watchman who had only just finished lunch let out a wide, drowsy yawn. He flinched the moment he spotted figures approaching the village, then let out a sigh of relief when he realized they were people, not gnolls.
That relief did not last. He studied the party that had appeared at this hour with a puzzled frown — and then his eyes flew so wide they looked ready to split, as if he had just grasped something enormous.
"Hey. Hey. Heyheyheyhey!"
He immediately started pounding on the shoulder of the other watchman sharing his post, hammering at it like a madman.
"Wh-what? Why?"
"That — th-that!"
"What… huh? What is it. Mercenaries?"
"No, that's — that's not it…!"
"They're back early. But why are you making such a fuss? The ones out on recon must just be coming in a little sooner. Wait — did they find something? Or is someone hurt?"
The other watchman's face turned grave at once.
"…Don't tell me. After things had been quiet for a while, they're at it again…"
After Yoo Shin-hoo's party had gone out to investigate, roughly half a year had passed without a single raid. Yoo Shin-hoo's party had not returned either. At first the people of Britus Village had held high hopes, knowing what the group was capable of — but once five months came and went, they gradually began to give up. Some even jumped to the conclusion that the gnolls had stopped attacking because the party had been captured. It was true that when people who went in to investigate failed to come back, the raids tended to be delayed a little.
And it had been nearly half a year since the raids had stopped. In preparation for an attack that could come at any time, they had hired a number of mercenaries and were running reconnaissance of the surrounding area, if not ranging too far. That was why the mercenaries lately had mainly been hunting, carrying out small-scale subjugations, and taking recon missions around the village.
"No. Nononono! Y-you idiot! Look properly! Look!"
The other watchman, suddenly sworn at, frowned.
"Look at what, exactly…"
"Fuck! Their faces! Look at their faces! Are your eyes just for decoration?!"
"You son of a… what the hell are you…"
He finally narrowed his eyes and looked at the faces of the approaching mercenaries, then made a puzzled expression.
"Huh? Were there people like that among the ones who went out today…? Four women? Wow, every last one of them is pretty… wait… huh?"
As he took in the party's makeup, he soon realized it looked familiar. One man. Four women. Plus one kid. He had thought they might be newly arrived mercenaries, since he did not recognize the faces — and then a memory buried deep rose to the surface.
"Y-Y-Yoo…"
The watchman could not finish the word. Then he immediately shouted himself hoarse.
"Y-Yoo Shin-hoo's party! Yoo Shin-hoo's party is back!"
A frantic shout reached us. Looks like they had spotted our party. That was quite the intense reaction for a homecoming greeting.
"Wow. It's the village…"
Ha Yoo-jin and Nam Eun-ju said it with exhausted faces. Their minds seemed more worn out than their bodies.
"A b-bath…"
Na Seoyun muttered it under her breath.
"Finally…"
Joo Ha-yeon gazed at the village with shining eyes. Na-yeon was the same; she made no effort to hide how glad she was.
"Well. We've finally arrived. Once we're inside, head straight to the inn. I'll meet with the village chief alone."
"…No. I'll go with you."
"It's fine. Just rest."
Joo Ha-yeon looked conflicted.
"Judging by that reaction, if you go to the inn you're going to draw a lot of attention. Shut that out and get some rest first."
At my words, Joo Ha-yeon finally nodded. The desire to come with me versus a longed-for bed — and once I handed her a justification on top of that, the latter won in an instant.
"…I'm sorry. And thank you. Then I'll excuse myself first."
"A wise choice."
We had already reached the village entrance. Only one watchman was looking at us. The other had apparently run off to carry the news inside. The remaining watchman's eyes were a tangle of shock, admiration, reverence, and respect.
And he had every reason to feel that way. Every investigation team that had set out until now had failed to return. We were the first to come back. It was not that no one had given up midway, but as far as I knew those stretches had not even lasted two weeks. In other words, no meaningful investigation had ever been conducted. So it was not hard to understand why they were reacting like this to people who had made it this far after half a year.
On top of that, even though the village chief had set half a year as the outer limit, he honestly would never have believed we could survive in there that long. Our appearance was bound to be all the more dramatic.
"I'm Yoo Shin-hoo. We've completed the investigation request and are returning."
The watchman answered in a trembling voice.
"Y-yes. I-it's been a long time, Sir Yoo Shin-hoo."
"It has. I didn't think it would take this long."
I answered with a light smile.
"Ah — aah… I-I've gone to inform the village chief. I'm sorry, but if you could wait just a moment…"
"I see. Then I'm sorry, but could you let my companions through? We're a bit worn out. I'll stay behind, so don't worry."
"Ah — o-of, of course. You must be tired. Yes. Y-you're cleared. You can go through."
"Thank you for the consideration."
I gave a slight bow, and the watchman did not know what to do with himself at the courtesy.
"Thank you, Shin-hoo. Then…"
"Yes. Get some good rest. I'll be along shortly."
"Hyung, see you later!"
"Oppa, good luck!"
"Take care."
"Thank you, Shin-hoo oppa."
The rest of the party all took off toward the inn as if they were flying. Knowing exactly how they felt, I saw them off with a wry smile.
A brief silence settled in. The watchman asked me, somewhat cautiously,
"S-so… how did the mission go…"
"Hmm… I'd like to tell the village chief first. It's an official request, after all."
"Ah… h-haha. Right. Sorry about that."
The watchman answered with an awkward smile. Of course he would have been curious. There had been no returnees until now, so this was the first news. He looked like a village militiaman, so of course he would want to know. It was a matter that directly concerned their safety. I spoke to him lightly.
"No, of course you'd be curious. Hmm… I can't go into detail, but… I think I can at least say that there's no bad news."
There's no bad news. At my words, the watchman's face lit up.
"Th-thank you."
"Don't mention it."
"Ohhhh! Sir Yoo Shin-hoo!"
The moment my conversation with the watchman ended, Rusell, the village chief of Britus Village, came sprinting at an astonishing speed.
"Ohhhh," huh… He wasn't this kind of person…
He was greeting me so intensely that his behavior was nothing like it had been half a year ago.
"Y-you've come back alive… truly, truly…"
"Yes. And we completed the request properly."
The investigation request. At my words, Rusell's expression grew even brighter. Then tears even welled in his eyes.
"Th-truly… I truly thank you…"
A voice and manner overflowing with emotion. I had not expected him to actually cry, so I was a bit taken aback myself.
"Th-this… Village Chief…"
He did not even know what news I had brought, and he was already shedding tears just from hearing that the request itself had succeeded. I could feel, if only indirectly, how starved for information he had been — how frustrated.
"Th-this unsightly display… First — first, please come inside. But the others…"
I told him that, thanks to the watchman's consideration, the rest of the party had headed to the inn first. The village chief praised the watchman and immediately led me to his office.
I gave him a rough account of everything that had happened. As he listened to what our party had been through, the gnolls' purpose in kidnapping people, and the story of the great battle at the end, his expression remained steeped in shock the entire time.
"Th-then…"
"Yes. There won't be any more of those bizarre Golden Gnoll raids going forward. In fact, I don't even know if they'll be able to maintain their forces at this point."
"…You've truly, truly suffered so much. I don't even know how to thank you…"
He was thrown into confusion for a while by a story he could hardly believe, but once I told him the location of the battle traces and handed over the corpse of the Gnoll Hero and the corpse of the chieftain of the Worshipping Golden Gnoll Tribe, he seemed to fully accept that everything I had said was true. On top of that, once I told him where the final war had taken place, he immediately sent people — so it would be confirmed in the end.
"Does this mean the request is complete?"
"…That's right. H-haha… The reward I offered you is rather inadequate, isn't it."
The village chief wore a complicated expression — gratitude, admiration, and even a hollow, dazed feeling mixed together — at the fact that we had not merely investigated, but had resolved the entire matter.
"I think this needs to be reported to the lord as well."
It was certainly an incident of that scale. The resurrection of the Gnoll Hero… The village chief seemed to realize this was beyond what he could handle, and informed me that he would report it to his superior — the lord of Tidrind Castle and head of the Tidrind family, Torfen Tidrind.
"…So does that mean the reward is going to increase?"
In a room at the inn, Joo Ha-yeon asked me.
After my conversation with the village chief, Rusell, had ended, I had given the party a rough summary of the results. I put off the detailed discussion for later, enjoyed a long-overdue bath myself, and even finished a meal. The moment I lay down on the bed, thinking about sleeping in one for the first time in ages, someone knocked on the door. Swallowing a flicker of irritation, I opened it to find Joo Ha-yeon standing there.
I felt puzzled. We were both equally exhausted. Especially her, as a priest — even more so. Even after receiving the inheritance, most of it was concentrated in divine power, so in terms of physical stamina she was the more tired one, not me. I had not expected her to come find me despite that.
The conversation that followed was led by Joo Ha-yeon, who pressed me for more details about what I had discussed with the village chief.
"Probably. Once it reaches the lord's ears, our achievements will become more widely known, and the treatment and rewards that follow will inevitably go up. There's a very high chance he'll even bring us a new request. And if everything we brought back is confirmed as completely true…"
The lord might start using us to chip away at the gnolls' forces. It would probably start with the nearly broken Golden Gnolls and the Black Gnolls. Especially the Black Gnolls — as long as they had a Gnoll Hero candidate, they would be the top priority.
Even then, the soul would just find another candidate. Unless the soul completely lost its power after several such cycles, or the gnoll race itself was driven to extinction, the danger would always be lurking.
"…What if they blame us?"
That's what she's worried about?
"I made sure to mention that the seal was about to break anyway, so if anything, we'll be praised. They won't do something as stupid as pinning the blame on us."
At my expression — the one that said of course you have to spin things like this — Joo Ha-yeon gave a remarkably charming smile.
"You're so shrewd. As expected."
Joo Ha-yeon also looked satisfied that I had exaggerated the situation in our favor.
"Is that what you were worried about?"
"…No. You handle these things well on your own. I'm not worried about that."
"…Then why did you come find me?"
It was not lingering worry that had brought her here. She had to be exhausted enough already, so I could not understand why she was lingering like this. At my puzzled expression, Joo Ha-yeon realized I was being genuine and looked rather deflated. Then she seemed to realize something.
"…Ah. Epathos…"
"Huh? What about the Floor Master of the Tutorial?"
Joo Ha-yeon squeezed her eyes shut. Then, as if she had made up her mind, she looked straight at me and spoke.
"Shin-hoo."
"…Yes?"
"What do you think of me?"
Huh?
For a moment I could not understand what she was saying. But I could not miss the subtle nuance in her tone. And of course, that led me straight to the kiss at the Holy Land.
In an instant, my face gave me away. I was completely flustered.