The Second Salvation Myth of a Retired Regressed Hero

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“Master! You’re going to delay us until the last minute again?”

Millaine, the vice guild master of the World Tree, urgently prodded her master as the Cradle inspection neared.

“But still…”

Eloah, the World Tree’s master, found the current situation quite unpalatable.

The Cradle, considered the second most important facility after each nation’s Sanctum safeguarding the Holy Stones, operated independently from external interests and power structures – not even the Royal Family could easily interfere with its special nature.

In other words, an incident like today where the Cradle’s gates were forcibly opened due to external pressure was unprecedented, an utter humiliation from the Cradle’s perspective.

“…Shouldn’t we just not go? We’re not on bad terms with the Headmaster for life…”

“Ah, really! That again!”

When Millaine shouted, Eloah flinched and shrank her shoulders. Millaine’s anger nearly dissipated at her master’s adorable, delicate demeanor before she forcibly scowled again.

“The boss monster killer, the boss monster killer! As it’s always been, the alliance’s path for decades to come will revolve around that apostle. And it’s an immense fortune that they were produced at Skeletonia’s Cradle, where we conveniently happen to be the nation’s strongest guild!”

“I know, I know…”

“No matter what!”

Millaine leaned forward, slamming both palms onto the table with a bang.

“We must recruit them!”

“…”

Eloah could no longer voice any objections, as Millaine’s words rang unquestionably true.

It wasn’t that Millaine was being selfish. Even if it meant clashing with the Headmaster, the boss monster killer was an invaluable asset that had to be secured at all costs. Millaine’s perspective as the one largely managing guild operations was utterly rational and correct for the guild’s sake. Eloah understood this well herself.

While Millaine wished to respect her master’s opinion where possible, this was too significant an issue. She had resolved to take a hardline stance this time.

“Let’s go already, you’ve even put your armor on, so quit stalling!”

“Ah, alright…”

Millaine forcibly dragged Eloah by the wrist. Despite Eloah’s abilities paling in comparison, she offered no resistance as she was pulled along.

Their relationship resembled sisters more than a master and vice master, with Eloah being led around by her rough-mannered ‘younger sister’ Millaine.

Yet the moment they exited Eloah’s chambers, her presence transformed completely, the very air around her taking on a different weight.

The World Tree’s guild master exuding a century’s experience and charisma. This was the Eloah known to all.

In truth, she was a tender-hearted elf unable to forget someone who had died a century ago, but that true self was known to only a handful.

Seeing them off were the guards and coachman as the two boarded a resplendent carriage.

Eloah leaned back into the plush seat. Now alone with Millaine, she relaxed her previously stiff expression, slouching her body.

“Aaah… I really don’t know how I’ll face the Headmaster…”

“You need to steel your heart. That Headmaster fellow understands the rationale, even if begrudgingly.”

Though Millaine nagged incessantly, she didn’t dislike this side of Eloah. Perhaps it was precisely these human moments that made her regard Eloah as an elder sister all this time.

“Courage! Courage! Our guild’s very existence hinges on this matter! For our members’ sake, courage!”

Millaine retrieved a chilled chocolate from the carriage’s cold storage compartment, popping it into the slouched Eloah’s mouth. Despite her listless expression, Eloah obediently opened wide like a chick, munching the chocolate.

Sitting by Eloah’s side, Millaine recited the briefing materials while feeding her chocolate after chocolate.

Like an elder sister forcing a sleepy elementary student sibling to eat breakfast before school. Of course, Eloah was over 80 years Millaine’s senior, but it resembled that nonetheless.

Due to the Cradle’s efforts to limit information leaks, the provided intel was scant at best – barely mentioning that the boss monster killer was the current top ranker.

Leaning on Millaine’s shoulder, Eloah listened to the briefing while enjoying the chocolate and tea. For all appearances, her mind was already calculating furiously regarding this matter – her position as the strongest guild’s master wasn’t earned through half-measures.

And as the carriages briefly halted, a gruff voice came from beyond the curtained window.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Bunny Ears.”

The peacefully snacking Eloah’s expression instantly soured, her long ears pricking up sharply.

An unwelcome voice that had forced its way into this affair.

The coachman’s voice came through the speaker.

[Master. The hero from the neighboring Vielorn Kingdom is in the adjacent carriage…]

“I’m aware…”

[…Understood.]

The perceptive coachman quickly caught his master’s sullen tone, lowering the microphone.

“Phew…”

The curtain opened.

“Long time no see.”

The man across waved his hand casually.

Thick, tiger-like facial folds deepened as he grinned wryly, numerous scars on his rugged visage resembling bared fangs.

The inspection’s unwelcome guest – Haineken, the hero of the Vielorn Kingdom.

“…Indeed.”

Eloah responded curtly with an expressionless face, making no effort to hide her displeasure.

“Kekke. Still quite unpopular, I see.”

However, he seemed unfazed, waving instead at Millaine beyond Eloah. Millaine simply stuck her tongue out in response.

While a cutthroat competition was expected over the contract terms for the boss monster killer, most had anticipated the World Tree’s victory.

But amid that atmosphere, the situation had been overturned by this neighboring hero Haineken’s intrusion.

Eloah frowned as she identified the two individuals behind Haineken, one of them being the Vielorn Kingdom’s Minister of Finance.

‘So the rumors of the Vielorn Royal Family directly intervening were true…’

It had truly become dangerous. No matter how gargantuan the World Tree Guild, it couldn’t compare to a nation-state.

If Haineken’s guild backed the Royal Family’s financial might in this recruitment battle, the World Tree would face immense difficulties.

‘Just how did he get wind of this…?’

At the national level, all guild masters had been gathered under strict information security protocols to plug any leaks. And yet that scoundrel had eavesdropped like a ghost, barging his way into this affair.

The Vielorn Kingdom’s intelligence capabilities were unmatched across the continent. The Vielorn Royals were abnormally obsessed with intelligence gathering, reportedly pouring astronomical and inefficient amounts of resources into it annually.

Backed by such intelligence was Haineken’s guild, the foremost in the Vielorn Kingdom. Thanks to this, coupled with his greed for talents, Haineken was often called the ‘talent hunter’.

Normally a stalwart ally against the Demon Lord’s forces, he became an exasperating adversary in situations like this.

Eloah abruptly shut the curtain. They had already faced each other’s backs on the battlefield many times – no need for such formalities between them.

“Kekke.”

Haineken laughed with a rumbling, scratchy sound like a tiger’s growl – the casual demeanor of someone confident in their trump card.

Eventually, the two carriages arrived side-by-side at the Cradle, where numerous resplendent carriages had already gathered – all the nation’s prominent guilds had come. And then.

“Open the gates!!”

The Cradle’s firmly shut gates were finally forced open.

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“So this is the Cradle…”

“Ah, this must be your first time visiting the Cradle, Master?”

Eloah gaped around like a tourist, forgetting all decorum at this place she was seeing for the first and last time. Millaine found her master’s demeanor adorable, watching with a smile.

“Wow… Damn, I never thought I’d return to the Cradle…”

“Stop gawking. You look like a country bumpkin.”

An Earthling guild member attending to assist Haineken scolded him.

An Earthling, a tainted commodity in the talent market. For him, the Cradle was a place imbued with the pain of being an outcast.

Yet returning here as someone established only tickled the sense of superiority stemming from his ugly, deep-rooted inferiority complex.

“Please let us know where you wish to go, and we’ll guide you.”

The inspection party decided to first observe the students’ classes. While the inspection was merely a formality, they should still go through the motions.

Naturally, the party requested to attend the boss monster killer’s class. However, the instructor assigned as their guide refused, citing student privacy as the reason for not disclosing their identity. This instructor leaned closer to the Headmaster’s line than the guilds’.

But the inspection party wouldn’t take no for an answer so easily.

“Hey there.”

“Y, yes, yes!!”

The hero Haineken slipped away to a secluded area, throwing his burly arm around the scrawny assistant instructor in a threatening manner. His arm’s width nearly matched the instructor’s head, without exaggeration.

“I seem to have gotten lost. Which class is the Cradle’s current top ranker attending?”

Casting a shadow over the instructor’s face, he asked with a disturbingly tiger-like grin.

“Th, that’s… against po, policy… individual…”

“Hmm?”

“Yes!?”

A mere rookie instructor couldn’t possibly withstand the overwhelming presence of the hero known as the ‘White Tiger’ of Vielorn.

In the end, Haineken led the inspection party to the unarmed combat class, the guild masters following silently despite clicking their tongues at his ungentlemanly methods.

They soon arrived to observe the students’ self-training session in the unarmed combat class.