By the time we descended the tower of the spiral staircase, the ceiling of the underground space, which had been losing light for a long time, had begun to glow a faint white light.

　The magical pathway that had been stolen by the magical beast Skoll has been regained and the sky above the ground has finally become luminous again.

　Regardless of the logical story of .......

　After the death struggle, the morning sunshine we witnessed as we left the dark tower was filled with a warmth that gently relieved our tense minds and general fatigue.

　It was not only the heat in the literal sense of the word, but also the seeming joy of having my vision filled with light.

(...... What a nostalgic feeling.)

　I remember having similar feelings before.

　That was last year, which I'll never forget.
　It was the event that led me to settle in Green Hollow Town and start a weapon shop.

　I was hired by a party of heroes who were taking on the Thousand Year Corridor of the Abyss to investigate the Demon King's plans, and after being left behind to make up for the heroes' mistakes, I looked up at the light as I escaped with my life.

　The dazzle and warmth of it is something I'll never forget.

(I never thought I'd see the day when that would feel like a memory: ......)

　Back then, just stepping into a dungeon was painful, but now, this is how I'm diving into the deepest, most unexplored areas.

　It's hard to pinpoint a single reason why I've become unconcerned.

　Maybe it's because my mental wounds have healed over time, or maybe it's because my sense of responsibility has increased since I started working as a weapons dealer.

　And the biggest change will be the presence of this.

I'm not sure if it's going to be ......?　What's wrong?

　The garnet is stretched languidly in the warm light of a freshly wished-for morning and a cold breeze with the residue of the night.

　The way her short blonde hair waved in the breeze in the sunshine is not an exaggeration, but really, I feel as if I could watch it forever.

I'm sure you'll find it hard to relax if you stay up all night. This is how the sky should be.
Yeah. It's hard to keep up with people in the dark.

　While being laughed at by Garnett from the side, I casually look around.

　Everyone else - Sakura and Noir, Hild and Lionel, Ezell and Eddie - have relaxed expressions as they look up at the ceiling, which has regained its light (sleigh).

　Except for one person, Dustin.

"Luke. I'm going to explore the area for a while longer and then return. I'll be fine.
"...... You're going after Norzuri?　Isn't that a violation of the terms and conditions set forth by management?
''Even if we encounter the Demon Lord's Army, we won't engage them. It's only a reconnaissance. There's no denying the possibility that Norseli may have left some clues behind.

　I gave a small shake of my head and urged him with a hand gesture, 'Do what you want.

　It's not easy to make this man change his mind, and to begin with, Dustin is neither a member of the White Wolf Knights nor an adventurer who signed a contract.

　The official treatment is that he is only an outside collaborator who came forward out of generosity.

　In other words, I'm not in a position to give orders to Dustin from the start.

　Of course, if Dustin's arbitrary decisions worsen the relationship with the neutral city (Asropolis), then it is possible to do something with the authority given to the White Wolf Knights, but it is also true that I have faith that this will not happen.

　Regardless of what he said and did in private, Dustin was not an adventurer who would trample over this kind of arrangement.

　In the past, when he was much more fleshed out with the Demon King - a different entity from Gandalf, of course - than he is now, the guild gave him orders to extend the defeat due to various ties, but Dustin was not In the past, he had defeated the Demon King after following the rules of the game.

　If all he cared about was defeating the Demon King in the quickest and fastest way possible, he would have lost his life when he challenged the first one, instead of earning the title of Demon King hunter.

''Thank you for being so quick to understand, Lord Commander.

　Dustin turned on his heel as he said this in a voice that was caged with a sarcastic sound, and finally said something odd.

'If you return now, don't expect to be able to rest any time soon. Move on as if you have one more job left to do.
'......?　What kind of ...... is that, you've already gone.

　Without understanding the intent of the statement that we had one more job left to do, we headed back to Asropolis.

　The natural landscape surrounded by light has a completely different atmosphere than the dark and chilly outward journey, and it made me feel as if I had stepped into a different level.

　Maybe it was because the nocturnal demonic beasts had become docile, or maybe it was the fact that we had overrun the Fenrir Wolves' pack on the outward journey that was intimidating, but we were able to reach Athropolis without any interference.

　We crossed the great tree root bridge that had already been prepared and entered the city of Athropolis, where we were guaranteed safety.

'Ah, I'm tired!　After all, we've been moving around all night, haven't we? Even if you take a break before reporting to the manager, you won't be punished.
'No, Sir Garnett. The report is of paramount importance, Sir Garnett. I'm sure Fraxinus, the administrator, is waiting for the good news.
I know. I'm just saying.

　Almost at the same time as Hild took Garnett's completely unserious joke and stopped in his tracks, demons came out one after another from the windows and alleys of the windows and alleys of the houses that were integrated with the trees, and they all turned their gaze towards us at the same time.

　A lot of demons jumped out before you could wonder what was going on.

　Beastmen, fishmen, lizard men (lizardmen), elves, dwarves, and a group of races whose names are unknown.

　All of them are revealing their excitement in unison, and they all have intense emotions on their faces.

''What, what?!''

　Garnett hurriedly jumped out to protect me, but the crowd didn't care about that and surrounded me.

　Half of the cheers that flew from mouth to mouth were in the language of the demon race, which I couldn't understand a single word of, and the other half were in a language that even humans could understand.

　That's right - they are delighted from the bottom of their hearts and are welcoming us with excitement.

''Hey, just calm down a bit ......!　Thanks, but we'll report to the admin at ...... wow!

　The large demon man (Ogre) grabs my body and holds it up high so that I can see it better from the crowd.

　The sight of Garnett trying to drag me down in confusion, and the way Sakura is surrounded and fumbling even after she left in [Shrinkage], can be seen clearly from here.

　Ezell smiles shyly as she is praised.
　Eddie is trying to keep the crowd from coming into contact with his sister, but he is losing strength.

　Over there, Lionel is pulling Hild, who is almost drowning in the crowd, up by one arm.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find out what I'm talking about when I tell you about this.

''That bastard realized it was going to happen, so he ran away, didn't he?　You'll remember that later.