The Returnee Wants Peace

It had been just a day since staying at Duke Echerzen’s fortress.

It might be premature to say, but I felt my reputation had subtly improved here.

How should I put it? The treatment was similar to before, but I could sense more trusting gazes.

“How on earth did this happen…”

At the outdoor training ground of the ducal house.

In that well-maintained but bleak place, Sir Eola, who was in charge of Rosha’s escort, muttered curiously.

Her gaze was directed towards the knights of the Count’s house training in a corner of the grounds they had borrowed.

“What?”

“Well… Usually, the training ground is not casually shown or opened to knights of other houses. It’s customary for us not to approach that area either. But for the Duke’s knights to personally introduce the training ground and willingly offer space…”

“…Hmm.”

“I also felt deep goodwill from the faces of the servants we encountered this morning. It certainly wasn’t like this yesterday, it’s a bit strange.”

Eola, being cautious by nature, seemed somewhat wary.

“Well. Could it be because Froy… the Duke came?”

“Ah, that could be it. I heard he came earlier than expected.”

“The head butler’s attitude probably plays a part too. Look at that.”

As Koko said, the head butler had just appeared, checking if anything was lacking.

Other members of the Ducal household looked at him with respectful eyes. The head butler seemed to have quite a good reputation in this fortress.

“Coming by every 30 minutes to check and report, he’s clearly fawning over you.”

“Why is he doing that? It’s burdensome.”

“Well, he wants you to put in a good word with the Duke. Just enjoy it. The Duke’s bad relationship with his subordinates is something they need to sort out themselves. Tsk, he only does disagreeable things… This is all the Duke’s karma.”

Koko glared at the window of the office where Froy would be.

It seemed to have considerable resentment about not being rescued from yesterday’s trap in time. Eola smiled as if finding it cute, though.

‘…Koko’s right. It might be presumptuous of me to intervene anyway.’

Rosha, completely unaware of her sleep-talking last night, decided to just focus on what she needed to do now.

Sitting on a flatly cut tree stump, she reached out her hand to the granite in front of her.

The dark blue granite that Froy had provided as material for the shrine was being intricately carved under her touch.

Scrape, scrape-

‘…I can definitely feel that time has passed.’

Just seeing that no one found Koko strange was proof of that.

In House Aper, Koko was seen as a being that did more than its share despite having the appearance of a bird. Of course, people who saw Koko for the first time were surprised, but that was all.

Moreover…

‘Somehow this peacefulness feels ominous. It feels like the calm before a storm.’

She thought while carving the left pillar of the shrine.

This point in time, 3 years had passed when she woke up.

Though she hadn’t fully realized it yet, she heard that due to the continuous trials, most small cities except for large ones had been destroyed by demonic beasts.

Except for small provincial cities where survivors were resisting, most people were gathered in the capital and large cities.

But that doesn’t mean the big cities are completely safe either. They’ve only held out because of the large population, but even Aden, the largest city in the north, had parts that were devastated.

She was starting to feel anxious again.

Grandfather had told her to keep her awakening a secret, but she wondered if it was okay to spend time like this.

“Sir Eola, when do you think would be a good time to return home?”

“Well…”

“Since we’ve confirmed the Duke’s well-being, I was thinking we could rest for a day and depart tomorrow morning. Wouldn’t that be enough for the knights to recover from fatigue?”

But Eola, hearing Rosha’s words, answered with an ambiguous expression:

“We’ll probably need to stay for three more days, young lady. Until the full moon passes.”

“Full moon? Why?”

“That’s because of the trial.”

Clang!

At the sudden voice, Eola drew her sword at the speed of light.

I heard one of Marian’s specialties was drawing the sword, and indeed, she was worthy of being Marian’s favorite disciple.

Rosha turned her head to where Eola’s sword was pointing.

“You’re not surprised? How boring.”

It would be a waste of all her experience to be surprised by something like this.

The owner of the youthful voice was a boy with orange hair. He had the feel of a mischievous boy with light freckles, but his pupils were vertically slit.

‘Wolf… is it a wolf?’

Though he had a human form, Rosha could clearly see it. The image of a huge wolf reflected in [The Guiding Lantern].

His claws were long and sharp enough to tear through steel, and his fangs were pointed enough to chew through stone.

The boy’s strength, speed, and stealth were vaguely estimated under the lantern. It seemed certain that he had an ability to transform into a wolf.

“Aren’t you curious who I am?”

“A wolf.”

“…Huh?”

“Well, I can tell you’re a rude wolf at least.”

“…How did you know that? Did someone tell you? Or is it those eyes? You felt a strange power, is it because of those eyes?”

Perhaps because he was half-beast, his intuition seemed quite useful. Rosha, not particularly wanting to answer, changed the subject.

“What do you mean ‘because of the trial’?”

“If you tell me how you figured out I’m a wolf, I’ll tell you too.”

“…I’ve been tolerating your attitude out of consideration for Froy, but keep it up if you want.”

She responded like this because she had a feeling it would work best.

Indeed.

When Froy’s name came up, the boy blinked and shrank, saying, ‘No, well…’

‘Froy did say he was gathering ability users before, so it was true.’

Judging by his reaction, he seemed to be Froy’s subordinate.

“Step away from Lady Roshanak, beast.”

Just then, a large knight in black armor approached and warned in a deep voice.

It was the very knight who had been blocking the gate before entering the fortress.

“…What are you saying, tin can? Just keep practicing your useless swordsmanship.”

“If you’re a beast, live like one in the mountains. Don’t loiter around here.”

The two clearly didn’t get along.

Koko, who had been snickering watching them fight, explained briefly.

“There’s only one trial related to the full moon, isn’t there? The 20th trial.”

“…Ah.”

“During your absence, the humans here somehow managed to overcome the trials, but this was the only one they failed.”

Full moon.

A red aura of madness.

An alluring scent.

The contents of the trial seemed to vaguely come to mind in Rosha’s head.

At that moment.

Ding!

Trial Precursor: You have heard news that an unsolved trial will return on the night of the full moon three days from now. Somehow you already know the contents of the trial? Someone who has noticed your presence is using tricks to hasten the trial. Stop this!

Time remaining: Until the trial begins

Reward: Trial difficulty lowered to ‘Extremely Easy’

*Due to the influence of Hardmode, if the quest fails, the trial difficulty will increase to ‘Despair’ level.

*Optional quests may occur during the trial.

It was a blue window that appeared after a long time. But above all, there was a paragraph that caught her attention.

‘Someone who has noticed my presence?’

* * *

Although the makeshift shrine wasn’t completed yet, she decided to deal with the quest first.

She could meet the deity later anyway.

“Are all these really necessary?”

“Yes. I think so.”

In the office of the fortress.

Froy worriedly watched Rosha stuffing several ‘supplies’ into the subspace of her cape.

He seemed to think she was overdoing it, having just woken up.

“I’m definitely not overdoing it.”

Thanks to the elixir, her bones and joints moved smoothly without any stiffness. Her muscles had atrophied a bit, but not enough to be noticeable.

Given her physical condition, she couldn’t be in better shape than this.

More importantly.

‘Who on earth is using tricks to hasten the trial?’

She wanted to meet them and see their face.

Fortunately, there was a way to find them.

‘Since the20th trial is mediated by the moon, to manipulate the trial, it must be a place close to the moon. Usually, such places are high mountains.’

Coincidentally, Rosha was in a fortress in the northern mountain range, which has the highest mountain on this continent.

Looking out the office window at the vast northern mountain range spread out, Rosha said:

“You’ll help me with what I’m doing, right?”

“…I can’t let you go alone, so I suppose I have to.”

After pondering for a moment, Froy shook his head as if he had no choice.

Then he suddenly added:

“However, we need to bring a few more people.”