At Tunrad's Grave
The friends stood well back, watching Do-ha sit before Tunrad's grave.
"Ugh, why did you have to go and say something so pointless…"
"Tell me about it."
"You bastards?! You were curious too!"
"Ahem."
At Canteas's words, the friends cleared their throats and looked anywhere but at each other.
They really had been curious. They just hadn't dared to ask.
A soft shift of movement.
"Dimerof."
Having finished his greetings to Tunrad, Do-ha walked over to him.
"Selenia… has there been no word from her?"
"You probably have a rough idea already, since you heard it from Canteas… but she went back to Alfheim, the kingdom of the elves. That was already fifteen years ago."
After Do-ha vanished, she had stayed on the Western Continent for five years, living alongside her friends.
In the end, though, she had said her final goodbyes and returned to Alfheim.
Five years had passed since Canteas was summoned to Earth. Add it all together, and the friends hadn't seen Selenia in a full decade.
"So contact just… stopped completely?"
"She'd send the occasional letter, but she never left Alfheim."
The friends understood her heart well enough.
The person she loved had died.
And every time she looked at her friends, those happy days came flooding back.
So Selenia had gone to Alfheim — to escape the memories that kept tearing at her.
"We're still dealing with the elves without any trouble… but she never shows up at official gatherings either."
Emilton let out a sigh.
"…Should I try contacting her?"
"No. It's fine."
At Dimerof's words, Do-ha shook his head.
He wanted to see Selenia so badly it hurt — but what right did he have?
"Still, maybe you should meet her…"
"And if we meet? What am I supposed to say? That I went back to Earth, found my family, so now I can see her again? Is that it?"
Now that I've gotten what I wanted, let's pick things up nice and easy?
How much of a bastard would that make him?
He could be shameless toward his enemies without limit. With her, he simply couldn't.
"If we're truly meant to be, we'll meet again somewhere."
Do-ha forced a smile and shrugged.
No point dragging the mood down because of him. What was any of this even for.
"Anyway — never mind me. You two aren't dating?"
Canteas dug at his ear as he eyed Dimerof and Emilton.
Namgung Je-u had settled down ages ago and even had kids. So why were these two still single?
"Keep this up and you'll end up lifelong singles like me."
"Are you worried about us, or hoping that's what happens?"
"Hey, I'm worried, of course."
When Dimerof gave him a half-lidded look, Canteas laughed and waved him off.
As if he'd want his friends living out their days as lonely old hermits.
"I was going to tell you anyway…"
After clearing his throat a few times, Dimerof reached over and took Emilton's hand.
"We… we're seeing each other. I should have said something sooner, but I never found the right timing…"
"That's right. It's already been five years."
"What…?"
Looking at the embarrassed pair, Canteas's face went slack with pure shock.
No way. They had to be joking.
These two had been stuck together for over forty years, and only now they were dating?
No — more than that. Five years?
Didn't that mean they'd started right after he disappeared?
"Y-you're joking, right??"
"I had a rough idea."
"What?! How!"
Hearing Do-ha, Canteas shouted.
He hadn't even suspected — so how had Do-ha known?
"When Dimerof was being treated. Emilton came running and threw her arms around him. I saw that and figured it out. Ah~ so there's something between these two. That sort of thing."
Back when they were living in Belhart.
How many battles had they fought? How many times had they been patched up?
It wasn't even the first time Dimerof had barely escaped death.
But even then, Emilton had never thrown her arms around him. Not once.
A hand settled on a bony shoulder.
"Now you're the only single one left."
Namgung Je-u shook his head and clapped Canteas on the shoulder.
"N-no wait! Do-ha's single too!"
"You insane bag of bones… are you and I the same? I just haven't been able to date — I still have a woman who loves me."
Assuming, of course, that Selenia still did.
"Aaaargh! This can't be! Even that crazy woman is dating!"
In the end, Canteas's misery boiled over. He ran off into the distance, sniffling.
"That bag of bones not even a dog would bother with!"
Hearing Canteas, Emilton bristled.
"Congratulations."
"Thank you."
When Do-ha smiled and offered his congratulations, Dimerof and Emilton smiled back.
And none of the gathered friends knew.
That the bond Do-ha had spoken of was already drawing near — and fast.
"Ah, young man Do-ha!"
Song Man-deok, hard hat on and blueprints in hand, spotted Do-ha and came running over with a bright smile.
He'd been overseeing Paju's construction, and it had been quite a while since they'd last met.
"Have you been well?"
"Oh, of course. You seem to have been quite busy lately."
Fighting New Age, uncovering that cult called the Demon God Cult, and even clashing with Heracles on top of it all.
Whenever hunter-related news came on, it was packed with stories about Do-ha.
"I think you're the busier one, sir."
Do-ha turned to look out over Paju.
This was where the barricades had originally stood.
Now that the monster subjugation was over, the massive fortifications that had ringed the area were gone, and roads had been laid just like any other district.
Places that had once been nothing but ruins now had new buildings rising one after another.
"This used to be Yadang Station…"
"That's right. So we're planning to keep the station as is."
"That's why you put up commercial buildings around it?"
The structures going up near the station weren't residential — they were commercial.
"Exactly. Residential spaces will be built further inland."
"The construction speed is incredibly fast, though."
It hadn't been long since they'd taken on Paju's reconstruction, yet several buildings were already going up.
Count the five-story ones, and there were far more.
"They're solid, right?"
If a building collapsed, it would be a catastrophe.
"Heh heh, don't you worry about that. Like I told you last time, we don't do shoddy construction. The reason the work is so fast is all thanks to our dwarf friends. With those fellows, you can put up a ten-story building in about three days."
"Well, dwarves are exceptional — that's true."
Back in Belhart, ten dwarves had once dug through and erased an entire mountain in a single month.
Looking at that, the buildings going up so quickly made perfect sense.
"And because you've kept funding us, we were able to hire a lot of C through E-rank Awakened."
Awakened who didn't want to work as hunters, or who were too scared to fight monsters, had come to the construction site to work.
They might be low-ranked among hunters, but on the job site, each and every one of them was worth a hundred ordinary workers.
"Look over there. That fellow's been coming out as a laborer for a little while now — his ability is super strength, I hear. D-Rank, I think he said."
Old Man Song pointed to an Awakened carrying three H-beams at once.
Normally, moving ten-meter H-beams required heavy machinery. Thanks to the Awakened, they could haul them along at speed.
"If we keep going like this, we should be able to put up buildings all the way to the Han River line within this year."
"That's great. Is there anything else you need?"
"Nothing! Please stop sending food already. Haven't I already been paid the full construction fees?! It all comes out of that!"
Because Do-ha called in meal trucks every day and shipped in drinks and snacks by the ton, Old Man Song was at his wit's end.
Early on, the workers had carted snacks off by the armful. Now they'd run away even if you told them to take some.
"Stop fretting over our side and start looking into places to make contracts with."
"Contracts…"
At Old Man Song's words, Do-ha stroked his chin.
Just as the old man said, it was time to find people who would move to Paju.
What good was it if Paju escaped being a ghost town and new buildings went up?
If not a single person lived here, the whole place was useless.
"A lot of people will probably want to make contracts just because it's your land… but you need to look carefully. Someone like Hwang Man-soo could slip in."
Mentioning Hwang Man-soo's name, Old Man Song's expression darkened slightly.
And no wonder — having been burned by that bastard, it was still an unpleasant memory.
"Ah, right — could I ask one favor?"
"Yes, go ahead."
"Are there any dwarves hanging around with nothing to do? It's already fast enough as it is, but if we had just a few more dwarves, I feel like we could go several times faster."
"Even faster than now??"
At his words, Do-ha tilted his head.
There was no need to push the pace that far.
Even now, putting up a twenty-story building only took about three days, didn't it?
Even if they filled all of Paju with buildings, the current workforce was enough.
"I don't plan to fill Paju completely with buildings."
The parks and mountains that had once been in Paju — gone for now — he intended to restore as they were.
"I don't plan that either."
"Then what?"
"Just a moment."
Old Man Song tucked the blueprints he'd been holding into his coat and pulled out a sheet of paper.
"Young man, you see here?"
He unfolded a map and held it out to Do-ha.
"The Han River?"
"Mm. I'm planning to build a port along this Han River line."
That way, they could follow the Han River all the way out to the Yellow Sea where Yeonpyeong Island sat.
If they opened up just this stretch properly, they could put a maritime logistics center nearby.
"It's narrow for giant ships to pass through… and if we accidentally cross into Kaesong territory, North Korea would… ah."
Talking about North Korea, Do-ha scratched his head.
"Young man, you've been out of it lately, haven't you? How long has it been since North Korea disappeared? We couldn't take North Korean land, but the coast bordering North Hwanghae Province can be freely navigated. The Military Demarcation Line is useless now."
"Oh — that sounds good."
"Right?"
All the land coming down along the Imjin River belonged to Do-ha.
So if he just gave permission, work could begin immediately.
"Or we could build it at Jangdan-myeon, where Dorasan Station used to be."
"Hmm. That side might actually be better."
Dorasan Station was still part of Paju, but because it sat a bit removed, not many people had lived there.
"But with just the current personnel, it's not enough…"
No — the truth was it wasn't that it wasn't enough.
Construction was fully possible with the current numbers. The problem was time.
They hadn't even finished building Paju City Hall yet. When would they make a maritime logistics center?
"I'll find you some dwarves."
"Oh, you will?!"
At Do-ha's words, Old Man Song beamed.
Most of the dwarves currently on Earth already had jobs, and the rest had gone over to Belhart and weren't in any state of mind to work.
He'd contacted old work friends a few times, but every time they just repeated that they'd come over once they'd adjusted a bit in the dwarf kingdom.
"About ten more should do it… no need to get them right away. We'll need them starting in about two or three months."
"Yes. I'll look into it."
At Old Man Song's words, Do-ha gave a bitter smile.
Truth was, he needed to visit the dwarf kingdom sometime soon anyway.
Old Man Song said a few months from now…
When the time came, he'd cross over to the dwarf kingdom and meet Tunrad's family.
His friend Tunrad had been a prince of the dwarf kingdom, after all.