Soon after that, we turned back to the White Wolf store on the ground and decided to go about our normal routine.

　Of course, it's a big deal at first.

　Both Erica and Leila were just as surprised and confused as Sylvia was earlier, and they tried to ask me and Garnett a bunch of questions.

　Naturally, the answers I can give are the same as Silvia's, so I'll give them the maximum amount of explanation I'm allowed at this point to somehow put the contradiction to rest.

　And so, I immediately tried to return to my weapons store business--










...... I'm free.

　It's the middle of business hours and I'm forced to sit alone in my living room chair and take it easy.

　Humans are a funny thing: When you're busy, you can't help but want to take a break, but when you're trying to work, you're forced to take a break and it's even harder.

　That's exactly what happened to me right now.

I asked the store again: "Well, let's just go back to ......

　I got up from my chair and left the living room, stepping toward the store and casually peeking out from behind the checkout counter.

　Then Leila, who was sitting in the chair behind the counter, turned around to notice me visibly.

'Oh, God!　Get some rest!　We'll be fine on our own!
'No, even ......, but you don't have Noir or Alexia today. If that's the case, I'd rather work ...... too.
It's okay. From the beginning, I made the schedule on the assumption that the manager and his team hadn't come back yet. We've got help from the branch office, and it's only easier with Garnett here.

　The girl, a branch employee who was organizing the shelves, heard Erica's voice, and waved her hand in a flutter.

　Indeed, it was made clear just the other day that our return to earth would be today.

　If they were working on the premise of our absence, it would rather be in the form of one more Garnett's workforce than planned.

'The manager isn't in his element by any stretch of the imagination, so please take a break and get some rest.
You know what? It's gonna be a month before I can collect it.
'Don't push yourself until your body gets used to it. That's my advice as a medicinal practitioner. I'll give you some nourishing and tonic water pills as well.

　I can't say it strongly enough, either, if you ask me as a pharmacist.

　Even when I was helping my parents with their business before coming to Green Hollow, prescribing to the injured and sick would not have been unusual.

'But it's not like there's nothing to do. The Knights have Sir Sofia all over the place, and I'm going to take a ...... walk.
Wait. Are you going to go out there by yourself?

　This time, Garnett objected from the side.

It's not a good idea to not have a single bodyguard. It's the position we're in now,
...... Right. But we can't take you out now, can we?

　Comparing the number of customers visiting the store to the number of employees, excluding those who were left out on breaks, as expected, if Garnett left, the burden on everyone else would increase.

　Garnett was an extra head count, but he had already revised his schedule to account for it, so he couldn't be gone now.

''It can't be helped. I'll just show up at the Order and let the guy who looks bored go along with me. I don't know if he's there or not, but .......
"Then I'll go out with you.

　At the girl's voice that was suddenly thrown at us, Garnett and I all turned to look in that direction.

'It's Sakura, isn't it? You're back too?'
''Yes, as a matter of fact, last night. I finished handing over my work on the fourth level, so I thought I'd pass the time by walking around town for the first time in a while. How would you like to join us if you would like to?

　It was truly a crossover proposal.

　It is also known that Sakura has been working with me a lot for a long time, and since she is one of my friends, she won't get any strange intuitions about me in many ways.

　And since we've been so busy with each other's work lately, we haven't had much opportunity to sit down and talk, so this is a good opportunity to talk about what's been going on for a while.










　--So, I decided to take Sakura for a wander around Green Hollow Town.

　I didn't have a particular goal in mind.
　I'm just going to walk around as I feel like it.

　When I first set up my weapon shop, I used to walk around like this a lot, but after I got busy with this and that, my opportunities for doing so were decreasing.

I feel like it's been a long time since I've walked around town like this.
'Green Hollow isn't small by any means, either. When you're just busily shuttling back and forth between destinations, it's rare to stretch your legs this far.

　Sakura is also looking around with a fresh look on her face.

　I think it's rather common in every land that we always go down the same main street in our daily lives and rarely go near the next alley ...... that is one street off of it.

　Now we were walking down just such an alley.

　Even though we've lived in this town for more than a year, we felt as if we were in a tourist destination.

　The space between the houses is narrower than the main street, and the cobblestone streets that would shake violently if a carriage were to pass by, and I walked leisurely to match Sakura's stride.

'...... I'm sorry for the other day,'

　On the way, Sakura muttered to herself.

''It was one of the incidents at the fourth level. Even though the situation was so bad that two demon generals appeared, I couldn't even go to cover them.''
That was more my fault. The situation has become so stable around me that I acted on my own, not thinking that there would be an unexpected attack. I should rather think that the Norsemen did a good job.

　I deny outright that Sakura's self-doubt, which seems to be harboring unnecessary guilt, is not true.

　Shoulder to shoulder, we walk forward to each other.

　It's an overreaction to stop and face each other all the way.
　It's enough to lightly pass it off as overthinking it, and that's fine.

'Thank you for ....... Oh, ......?

　Sakura's expression faltered and she stopped abruptly to look at a section of the town.

'What's up?'
'I believe this was a vacant lot. It's been building for some time now.
'The economy is booming and there's a lot of redevelopment going on. I'm sure that's part of it: ......

　Just as we were about to continue our chit-chat like that, someone familiar to us emerged from the doorway of that building.

'Is that ...... Alexia?'