Three Thousand Nights Later
Around the time two women in a certain magic tool workshop were harboring entirely different emotions toward the same voice,
the man at the arrow's tip was strolling down the street without a care in the world.
Why this sudden chill...?
A shiver wracked his whole body, making him rub his arms over his clothes to shake it off.
There wasn't even any wind—why was he trembling like this?
A strange sense of unease crawled up his spine.
Still, he kept walking without stopping, and he made it home safely.
"Uncle, you don't have any criminal record or anything, right?"
"...What kinda ominous question is that out of nowhere?"
Time passed, evening fell.
The moment Hailey got home, that was the question she fired off.
Hailey, asking out of the blue if he had a criminal record.
For a split second, his brain froze, body going rigid, but his mouth worked on autopilot to shoot back at her.
"Well, to become an adventurer, they do all sorts of background checks..."
"Then you got the order wrong, didn't you?"
She gave a short sigh of relief at his belated explanation, then scolded him like a kid.
If that was the reason, she should've explained first before asking.
Who in their right mind would hear "Are you a criminal?" out of nowhere and go, "Yep, sure am!"?
Even an innocent person would panic, and a real criminal would obviously deny it anyway.
Whatever. She'd made her point, so now it was time to answer.
"Nothing special besides the slave trader thing."
"Good... that's a relief..."
Hailey let out a brief sigh of relief at his answer.
She'd trusted him deep down, but apparently a little anxiety had lingered.
It was unavoidable for him, but who picks slave trading as their first legit job?
Most were either too shady for normal work or poor souls scraping by luring street urchins into the trade.
Of course, in his case, it wasn't shadiness—it was having absolutely nothing going for him.
"If anything, everything else is so squeaky clean it's surprising."
He smirked at Hailey, now fully reassured, emphasizing that empty slate to build her trust even more.
"Hehe, no worries then."
She beamed and picked up a quill pen.
Looked like she was dead serious about turning him into an adventurer.
Sure, you're not worried, but I am!
It takes forever to heal even a little scratch.
Her evaluation's sneakily high... this is a problem!
Don't overhype this uncle's stamina, please?
I barely have any natural recovery to begin with.
Ever since she'd learned he could use magic, Hailey had doubled down on pushing him toward adventurer status.
But... she's having so much fun with this...
It felt wrong to shut her down flat when she looked that happy.
In the end, he let out a silent sigh and a long exhale, deciding to let her have her way for now.
He could get a nominal license to stick in a drawer, and occasionally tag along on trips outside the city.
With that in mind, the evening passed uneventfully.
Hailey's humming filled the air, and the day ended without incident.
Morning came, night receding as the sun rose.
He was walking the streets as usual when it happened.
"Over there—that guy...!"
"You sure?"
Women's urgent voices suddenly rang out on the street.
A frantic conversation, like they were searching for someone, brushed past his ears.
Probably had nothing to do with him.
With that thought, he kept walking his usual route.
...Right up until the sound of anonymous footsteps closed in.
"Hey!"
A hand grabbed his shoulder with a thud.
A voice that had been distant now sounded right behind him.
"Yes?"
He halted at the grip, turning with a dazed syllable.
What jumped into view was an intense red.
Slightly curly, wavy hair.
The moment he reflected in the girl's red eyes,
life sparked in those wide-open orbs.
"Whoa—it's him, it's really him!"
"Guh...!"
Soon after, her excited voice hit, followed by a red bullet of a girl's crown slamming into his gut.
Unable to withstand the joyful headbutt, he spat out something like a dying gasp.
"I knew it from your face! When'd you get back?!"
Regardless of his suffering,
Balen kept chatting away with her vibrant face.
"Uh, just recently."
Meanwhile, he hunched over, clutching his stomach from the physical shock, barely stringing words together.
Guessing she was Balen wasn't hard.
After all, he'd already met Hailey and Shane...
And he could count on one hand the people he knew with hair that bright red.
As his blurred vision cleared,
he spotted two more figures besides Balen.
"Who's this guy? You know him?"
A familiar voice from one of them.
The woman who'd been loudly promoting yesterday.
By now, the whole story clicked.
His voice, recorded in the magic tool during yesterday's street demo,
had somehow reached Balen's ears by chance.
"Yeah, a pathetic piece-of-trash man."
Then a voice from the last figure.
Pure vitriol meant to shred his dignity.
He vaguely remembered hearing that sharp abuse somewhere before...
Oh, right then...!
If it was someone tied to Balen, it had to be that magician from back then.
The blue-haired woman who'd dumped Balen on him, holding the Great Sage Arcanion's teachings hostage.
As that memory surfaced, he couldn't bring himself to look up.
"You made it back before three thousand nights?!"
Oblivious to the ominous vibe, Balen kept yapping away.
Three thousand nights—what she'd mentioned once.
A unit he'd tossed out casually, figuring a kid would forget it quick.
That absurd timeframe had spanned years... and now,
it stood before him as an accidentally kept promise.
"Uh, uh yeah... sure."
"Hmph... As if you didn't totally forget. Bet you only came back 'cause your wallet got a little fatter."
He mumbled an awkward affirmative, and immediately a cold voice cut in from beside Balen.
Anything he said would just give them ammo.
Lacking the face to speak, he clamped his mouth shut.
"Sepi sis! You're being too negative, right?"
Balen called out the blue-haired woman by name, chiding her, then dumped the response on her.
Telling me that...
He eyed Balen warily at her expectant question.
Icy blue eyes stabbed down like daggers.
Yeah, answering like Balen wanted would be suicide.
This uncle has nothing to say, even with a hundred mouths.
She'd dumped her on him out of nowhere and vanished.
The awkward tension flowed without words, so the promo lady from yesterday tilted her head.
"So... what's the relationship between you three?"
At her question, everyone's eyes—including his—flicked toward her.
She must've personally delivered his voice recording.
Should he thank her or curse her?
"Uh, well... hard to pin down exactly, but like my childhood dad!?"
Balen hemmed and hawed at the relationship question before landing on something plausible.
"A bastard I wouldn't mind ripping apart right now."
Sepi, on the other hand, spat venom without hesitation the second Balen finished.
Of course she'd say that.
He totally got it.
At least it wasn't summary execution.
"Anyway, great! Come visit our workshop!"
With the mood sinking after Sepi's words, Balen perked up quick and bright.
He wanted to tag along carefree, but morning training with old man Gente awaited.
"I kinda have somewhere to be right now..."
"Huh? Where you off to this early?"
He hesitated, pointing down the street, and Balen whined about him rushing off first thing.
She was thrilled to reunite after so long, but bummed he'd leave right away.
"Uh, I got business at this old guy's place I know."
"Hmm, mind if I tag along then?"
"Huh?"
Yet when he vaguely named the destination, Balen sidled up, asking to come along.
"It'll take a while even once we get there..."
"No prob! I'm great at waiting!"
Stab—
An arrow called conscience pierced him.
Great at waiting, huh...
Is that my influence she's talking about?
You've got a real talent for stabbing with a smile.
"A-alright... come along then."
Unable to refuse, he reluctantly agreed.
Who knew his supposedly deadened conscience still worked.
He rubbed his aching left chest—where the arrow had hit—with his right hand and started walking.
"Watch out, Balen—if he tries anything funny, kick him right in the nuts!"
"Hehe, see ya~!"
With an extra set of footsteps following, Sepi's harsh advice rang out from behind.
But instead of heeding the grim warning, Balen just cheerily called back and chased after him.
Wasn't she being a bit too rude for a girl talking to a guy?
That hatred felt personal.
"Sorry 'bout that—sis has been through a lot."
As he pondered, Balen, walking beside him, asked for understanding.
Some bad stuff happen?
Curiosity bubbled up, so he asked.
"What happened?"
"Well, I heard she keeps getting rejected on blind dates with 'No single moms with kids'..."
"Ah."
An involuntary short sigh escaped him.
Now he knew the root of that deep grudge.
He instantly regretted asking.
Turning into a mute honey-bee mode.
Damn...
I'm genuinely sorry now.