Homecoming
"We are deeply sorry, Sword Saint. We will apprehend the culprit and take action as swiftly as possible."
The moment Penelope was revealed to be a fake maid — a succubus who had come hunting for Evan's essence — the entire kingdom was thrown into uproar.
The personnel administrators, in particular, were beside themselves. They launched an investigation at once, tracing every leak until they found where the information had slipped out, and in the process arrested every person connected to the affair.
The culprit was a minister. A minister of the Palace Affairs Department.
More precisely, it was the secretary assigned to the desk beneath his.
"I didn't know! Your Majesty! I truly, truly had no idea she was a succubus!"
"Ignorance does not erase the crime."
"Your Majesty! Consider everything I have done for this kingdom!"
In the end he was cast out, and his seat was filled by someone else. The Blue King used the opportunity to comb through the ranks for similar cases, and discovered that high-ranking officials and nobles quietly keeping succubus secretaries was, in fact, a rather common practice.
Had the succubi ever felt so inclined, they could have paralyzed the kingdom's entire administration in an instant — they had spread into every corner of the state.
"Aha— so we've been found out. My old man wasn't much in the stamina department, but his walls were top-notch. His wife's in for a rough time now, isn't she?"
"W-what nonsense! Seize that woman at once!"
"Bye-bye!"
Needless to say, catching a succubus who could vanish her own body in the blink of an eye was next to impossible.
You had to know a succubus was present in advance, install magic on the spot, and then maintain and service that magic at regular intervals.
And even if you managed to catch one, there was nothing useful to do with her beyond killing her or turning her into a sex slave — which made the whole endeavor less worthwhile than throwing money into the street.
"…Be more careful from now on."
In the end, even the Blue King could not eradicate the succubi. All he could do was issue a warning so that a disaster like this would not happen again.
It was the most efficient and rational approach available, which made it all the more inevitable.
How were you supposed to stop creatures that appeared and approached whenever and wherever sexual desire existed? You could hardly lock every official in a cell.
"—The Minister of the Inner Palace who secretly leaked the information has been dismissed and expelled. Thorough re-education has also been conducted to ensure nothing of this sort occurs again."
"Hmm… And the compensation?"
"Compensation for the Sword Saint has been prepared separately. …Canelly, the state-certified alchemist, said she would handle it herself."
"Is that so? Then you may go."
Wondering what strange object Canelly was going to foist on him this time, Evan nodded and waved the messenger off.
The messenger bowed at once and vanished. Only after he was gone did Rebecca, who had been hiding behind the reception desk, cautiously poke her head out.
"…Is he gone?"
"He's gone. Did you do something wrong? Why were you hiding?"
"I didn't do anything wrong! …But I'm the one who introduced her as a maid without verifying anything. Under normal circumstances, that would be grounds for my dismissal."
"Come on, Rebecca. You're not getting fired."
"Why not?"
"Because you're my first."
The guild staff who overheard Evan's words went wide-eyed and stared at the two of them — mostly at Rebecca, with looks that said she had somehow managed to snare this young Sword Saint. Rebecca flailed her hands, insisting it wasn't like that at all.
"E-Evan? What on earth do you mean by…"
"Hm? You're my first assigned staff member. It'd feel a little weird to ask for someone else at this point."
"Ah, aah— so that's what you meant…"
Even knowing better, Rebecca let out a faintly disappointed sound, then cleared her throat and took her usual seat across from Evan.
She began explaining his assignments much as she always did.
Today, however, there was one difference.
"By the way, Evan, do you ever take a vacation?"
"A vacation?"
"Yes. I'll be on leave starting in a few days. Just thinking about getting a proper rest for the first time in ages already has me in a good mood."
"Then who am I supposed to get my requests from?"
"We've already arranged temporary staff to brief you on assignments, so you needn't worry about that."
"I prefer you, though, Rebecca."
Her heart gave a little thump. For a fleeting moment she felt a flutter of excitement toward this young boy, then laughed it off with a haha as if to ask herself what she thought she was doing, and looked at Evan again.
"That's exactly why I'm saying this. Why don't you take a vacation yourself, Evan? I don't think I've ever seen you rest."
"I've rested plenty. Just recently I spent about a month doing nothing but training — no work at all."
"…Most people call it rest when they do nothing and play around. Training doesn't count as playing."
Looking at Rebecca, who was staring at him as though he were beyond help, Evan realized that nearly half a year had already passed since he first arrived here.
Anyone who had watched his every move over that time would have branded him a mad ascetic. For the past six months, Evan had swung his sword without missing a single day, and most of that time had been spent hunting monsters.
There had not been a single stretch of time in which he neither swung a blade nor cut something down.
Hmm… a vacation, huh.
Mok Cheon, the man who had taught him the sword, had once said:
Clutching something tightly is not always the answer.
Sometimes, emptying yourself is the path to being filled.
"When did you say?"
"Starting next Monday."
"All right. Then I'll take time off starting then, too."
"Really? In that case, I can recommend a resort—"
"Ah, no. That won't be necessary."
Evan declined the pamphlet Rebecca held out, grinned, and told her where he was headed.
"I figured I'd go home for a while. It's been a long time."
"This is mandragora extract — excellent for the body — and this is Grade-1 minotaur meat, and ah, this is tentacle meat, considered a delicacy!"
The moment she heard I was going home, Anya, the maid, bustled about packing every random item she could get her hands on.
Watching the goods being loaded onto the carriages, I looked at her with a faintly overwhelmed expression.
"You don't need to bring that much, do you?"
"I most certainly do! The Sword Saint is returning to his hometown — I cannot allow him to present even the slightest drop in dignity!"
"Hauling five carriages' worth of gifts seems like the thing that actually lowers the dignity…"
But Anya ignored me as though she couldn't hear a word, and kept loading. In the end I gave up and simply watched, and at last the preparations for returning home were finished.
The mountain of luggage she had packed filled no fewer than five carriages — enough gifts that I wondered whether the sparsely populated village could even eat it all.
"All done! Sword Saint, shall we go?"
"You're coming too, Anya?"
"Pardon? Of course I am! I'm your dedicated personal maid, aren't I? If I leave your side for even a moment, I'd be disobeying orders! They'd cut my head off!"
How was I supposed to coldly send away someone clinging to me and insisting she didn't want to die? In the end I climbed into the same carriage as her.
Anya was so delighted about going to my hometown that she wore a constant, beaming smile. Anyone watching might have thought she was the one heading home, not me.
It's been a while. Dad, Mom, the villagers…
And my childhood friend, too.
The carriage set off. I gazed out the window and let my thoughts drift for what felt like only a moment — and before I knew it, we had arrived at the village. One by one, the villagers poked their heads out, wondering what was going on.
Tourists were unheard of here; the only visitors the village ever saw were the occasional peddlers with packs on their backs. Six carriages rolling in at once was more than enough to startle them.
I opened the door and stepped out in front of the villagers.
"Evan—?!"
"Is that really Evan? And what in the world are these carriages?"
They rubbed their eyes, half-convinced they were seeing things. I greeted them warmly.
"It's been a long time! Uncle, Auntie!"
"Well, I'll be — it really is Evan!"
"So what's all this about?"
"You said you were going to the city… why are you back already? Did you go bust?"
"Oh, hush, you old woman."
I lightly stepped past the still-chattering neighbors and looked toward my father and mother, who were running toward me from farther off.
"Evan? Is that you, Evan?"
"Evan!"
"Mom, Dad!"
I ran straight into their arms, overflowing with joy — and then I noticed that my mother's belly was sticking out far more than usual. It was too swollen to dismiss as ordinary weight.
It looked less like fat and more like something else was in there. I looked up at the two of them with a dawning suspicion, and my father cleared his throat and spoke.
"It's your little sibling."
"A sibling…?"
"Yeah. After you left, things got a little lonely, so we, uh…"
I nodded as if I understood. Before, I wouldn't have had a clue what that meant — but after receiving a proper sex education, I got it just fine.
The two of them had had time on their hands, had sex, and gotten pregnant. That was what he was saying. Well, my parents were people too — of course they had desires…
"—Evan?"
And then came the voice of the youngest woman in the village — the one my own age. I slowly turned my head toward it. Eri, her skin lightly tanned, was staring at me with a dazed expression.
And the moment I saw her face, a soft sound of admiration slipped out of me. I hadn't noticed it when it was just the two of us — but after living in the city, I could tell easily now.
"It's been a while, Eri — Eri, Eri-ri!"
"…Idiot. It's Eri. Can't even remember a name?"
My childhood friend was a beauty.
One who wouldn't lose to any of the beauties in the city.