After repairing the shrine, we left the cave.
　Just as we had done, we rode on Dara's back and moved through the air toward Sevalia.
　I'm a bit of a low altitude flyer, wary of diabolus attacks during the flight.
　I paid special attention to the red dots on the map app, and I was also more nervous than usual during the encampment.

　It took us three days to get to Sevalia, but we arrived safely in town without any particular attacks from demons.
　I thought that if the Diabolus was still there, they would attack us, but I wondered if they were gone.
　Either way, I'm relieved that I made it back without incident.

　We tried to leave with Irina and her friends and report to the association, but Irina and her friends didn't go back to the temple, but Dara went back to the temple and followed them to the adventurers' association.
　She wants to talk to the head of the branch directly about what happened.
　I didn't want her to come with us, so I told her several times that it was fine, but she wouldn't back out, so I had to reluctantly agree.
　And now we're talking with Bence at the Adventurers' Association.

'What!　So you've defeated the six monsters by yourself, Okura-san, as well as the mysterious giant demon?

''Yes, and Sisha and her team even repaired and strengthened the wards. I can't thank Mr. Bence enough for introducing me to these wonderful adventurers.

No, no!　It's outrageous that I introduced them!　This is all thanks to Mr. Okura, who came to the place and graciously accepted the request!

Oh, hahaha... no, that's not true.

　Irina-san and the others told us what happened at the shrine, and we added that the demons that attacked us were the diabolus we were looking for.
　As a result, even Bence-san seems to think I fought off six Diabolus by myself.
　Come on, give me a break. That's why I didn't want to come with Irina and the others........
　Bence-san, who is excited to hear what the girls have to say, goes on to speak more quickly in praise of us.

'Okura-san!　I'm proud enough of this one!　Letting the escort target escape safely and taking on six of the example demons alone to retake the shrine is a difficult feat even for an A-ranked adventurer!　I'm just an adventurer that Mr. Kristoff has taken a shine to!

　Ooh, a difficult feat even for an A-ranked player... isn't that a bit too much of a stretch?
　If we let Mr. Bence go on like this, we're going to be in big trouble.
　We don't want our reputation to rise any more excessively and bring in more trouble, so let's make an excuse.

It's not that big of a deal. Let's say that was just good luck, or maybe it was thanks to the magic tools we had........

'Oh!　I didn't know you had such an amazing mage!　That's what I'm talking about, Okura-san!　Could it be that your daughter is the one who made that magic tool?

　Hearing my words, Bence-san's eyes lit up as he looked at Esther this time.
　Oh no, I failed!　Was it a mistake to put out a magic tool as an excuse?
　No, but I couldn't think of any other good ideas....
　I can only hope that you'll mend things well here.

　Receiving Bence-san's gaze, Esther smiled bitterly as if she was troubled.
　Then she put her cheek in one hand, showed a little pretense of thinking, and began to cut it out.

...Yes, but I didn't make it from scratch, I just tweaked it.

''But to be able to make it into a magical tool that is still effective against that monster, not only Okura-san, but all of your party is amazing!　I didn't know the Priestess was powerful enough to repair the shrine's wards!

Uh-huh, not so much.

'You really are a great man, Mr. Sisha!　We need to learn from them, too.

　After being complimented by Bence and Irina, Sisha is smugly beaming with satisfaction at that.
　Humble yourself in the air at least a little bit, Connolly!　
　And don't you dare follow the example of Irina and her friends!

●

　I managed to calm Bence-san down and left the association after finishing my report on this request.
　Huh, I was able to push through the excuses just barely, but it was a bypass to make it seem like I was the only one who went to the shrine and defeated Diabolus.
　But I couldn't afford to neglect Irina and the others' protection, so I had no choice.
　If I could at least register at least one more person as an adventurer...is there any point in complaining about it?

　The escort is over, so we'll say goodbye to Irina and the others here.
　When they left the association building, they bowed their heads deeply to us.

''Thank you very much for providing us with an escort at this time. I'm sure Master Testudo would be pleased with what you and Okura-san did.

'I'm glad I was able to help you. I still plan to stay in Sevalia, and I'll be happy to help you again if you need anything else.

'Yes, I'll be the first to talk to you about it then.

　Since Sisha and the others put up a ton of wards like that, though, we won't have to worry about that shrine being attacked.
　We were able to defeat the main culprit, Diabolus, in one fell swoop, and I think it's safe to say that the investigation into Sevalia is now complete.
　However, we can't discard the possibility that something is still going on, so I'm going to wait and see what happens.

　I was about to leave the place with a sense of relief with this, but Irina-san suddenly clasped one of my hands in both of hers.

''Okura-san,''

What?

''This is a personal one for me, but I would like to pray for Okura-san's safety in the future, if I may be so presumptuous.

　Irina-san's cheeks are slightly red as she calls my name.
　You are praying for me personally........that means you are praying for me as an individual, Irina-san, and not as a servant of the temple?
　As I froze, upset, she let go of her grip and continued to talk more.
　..............I don't feel a bit sorry for you.

''And ... may I invite you to the temple at a later date?　This was a very serious matter for the Temple, and I would like to thank Mr. Okura and his team for solving it.

　
　Besides, I'm going to receive a significant amount of money as compensation for this escort.
　They're thinking of at least 20 million G's for re-setting the wards and all that.
　Since Irina and the others can't make the decision on their own, it was decided to pay them after returning to the temple and discussing it with the temple leaders.
　That's why it's outrageous that they even ask for a thank you.

''We're honored to be invited, but as for us, we only received a request from the association... and we'll get paid, even if you don't ask us to do such a thing.''

Please do. We will discuss it during the trip and would like to thank you and Mr. Okura for your help. I'm sure the head priest will be happy to give us permission to come.

　Hmmm, will you back off?
　It's rude to say no when you've said so much.

...Okay. I will visit you at a later date.

'Thank you!　If you would like, you can bring the kids who came with you last time, too. I will introduce them to Dara at that time. Would it be all right if I told the association of the date?

Yes, that's it, please.

　As if they were satisfied with my approval, Irina and the others bowed their heads again, thanked me and parted with us.

''Hmmm ... I guess that's it for now.

"Okura-dono, thank you for your hard work this time!　It was a great success!

Well, if you say so, it'll make all the hard work worth it.

　Diabolus beat me to a pulp and made my face a mess of tears while I was snotty, but I feel like a man has risen to the occasion if he's going to be praised like this.
　Hmmm, thanks to the fact that I didn't get caught crying into a raggedy shit by the end and running away!
　

''Even though it was unavoidable, I took on the task of going to the temple.......And Onii-san, you were grinning when you were holding my hand. You seemed happy even before you came back from the shrine...

'Wow!　No, it's not!　....only, when a woman holds my hand, I'm a lot of things, too.

'One of the things I look forward to is seeing Okura-san's reaction, but you know what? Would you like me to hold your hand too?

'I don't want you to go straight to the grindstone!

　I ran away in a hurry as Sisha came at me with a gurgling hand.
　I'd taken off my helmet when I got to town, so he could see the grin on my face when he grabbed my hand....
　It can't be helped, I'm a man too. I can't maintain my normalcy after being called that while my cheeks are red.
　The atmosphere between the two of them had scared me, but that was also broken by Noll, who didn't read the air.

''Even so, is this the end of the investigation of Sevalia?

''We took out six Diabolus, and we were able to thwart their attempts. Even if there was a mastermind behind it, if he had taken this much damage, he would have run away like he did with Queres.

I suppose. I would have liked to get that mastermind or something like that out of the way if I could, but I don't think there's going to be anything unusual happening around Sevalia now.

　With the sudden request for an escort, I was even able to encounter and defeat the Diabolus I'd been looking for all along.
　Moreover, defeating all six of them at once was a great achievement.
　Since we even defeated Grandulis, who seemed to have been triggered by the magic stone, it looks like the mastermind has already escaped.
　We'll just have to wait and see how it goes and if there are no more reports of Diabolus' discovery or anything else, the investigation will end without a hitch.
　As we were optimistically thinking about it, we heard Estelle's anxious muttering.

''I really hope that's the case, but.......''

Esther, what is the meaning of this?

'I'm just curious about something. The shrine was broken when we arrived, wasn't it?　Was that really destroyed, even inside?

'I don't know about that but why does it bother you?

I'm not sure, but I've learned a few things about the mastermind behind this case.

'What, is there something you can tell me about it?

　
　When it comes to the contents of the shrine, it's Testudo-sama's divine body, right?
　Why do you care if it was destroyed or not?
　I couldn't think about it, so I just listened to what Esther was saying.

There were magical traps along the way, weren't there?　I think the person who set this up is the one controlling the Diabolus, and if so, it's a summoner or someone with similar powers. It's a good idea to use a summoner or someone with similar powers to a wizard. The reason why the traps were so poorly done is because they were not very good at magic.

'Well, it's true that Diabolus's status indicated that he was a subordinate, so that's very likely...'

The fact that the black magic light stone contained in the black magic light stone, the ability to strengthen the demons and influence the location of their occurrence, is understandable. But considering the competence of the trap, it is possible that they were working together with other mages and others on that one.

'We still can't rule out the possibility of a single person, but then we'd have to consider that there's more than one of us acting together.

　The possibility that the true identity of the guy controlling it is a summoner or demon user is an idea that I had in the back of my mind when I saw the military family member description in the status.
　The trap was also a demon summoning system, so I wonder if it's more likely to be a summoner?
　But besides that, I didn't expect there to be more than one mastermind from the magic trap....
　In that case, as a partner, there might even be a collaborator of a mage with the ability to make that magic light stone?

　If it's a summoner or demon user, from that guy's point of view, is Diabolus a demon that doesn't need to be hit just to let him do some reconnaissance?
　If you think about it, it makes sense that there are multiple of them.
　If they were capable of treating Diabolus like that, what kind of demon would they use if it became a full-scale battle?

I've been thinking about it all the way up to that point, and I'm wondering if Testudo-sama's sacred object at the shrine might have been taken away.

What, did they take it away?

'Because when it comes to summoners and wizards, when it comes to demons, it's like a profession, you know?　Maybe he's trying to do something through the medium of that deity.

'But that's just your imagination, isn't it?　To begin with, it has not been decided that Master Testudo is a demon...

　What Esther is saying now is just an expectation.
　Even the deity might just be erased by Freesia's Inversagitta, like I thought.
　But since Irina-san was looking for the collapsed shrine and said there wasn't even a piece of it.......I can't deny the possibility that it was taken away.

　I don't know much about summoners and such, but considering what has happened so far, what Esther says makes sense.
　If they were to summon a demon using a goddess with that much power, how terrifying would it be to come out?
　But, as Noor says, it's not decided that Testudo-sama is a demon.....
　I tried to escape reality like that, but Sisha, who had been silent, spoke up to deny it.

''........Noor-san, regarding the existence of Testudo-sama, I think it's almost a demon.

'Oh, by the way, what was it about the troubled look on your face when the power of the shrine returned?　Does that mean you're convinced it's a demon?

Yes, that spreading power made me feel more like a demon than a sacred object. But there was no hint of evil, so I don't think it's a bad thing.

　Testudo-sama, it's been confirmed that you're a demon........
　It would be bad for Irina and the others if I said it there, so you refrained from saying it?

''Mm, in that case, the people in the temple worship demons.......''

There's a lot of things to believe in. He actually protects people and shows his power, so even if he were a demon, he would still be an object of worship. The fact that the Goddess alone has that kind of power must have looked like a god to those who saw the actual Testudo. A true manifestation of God.

　God's descent, you know.
　
　The biggest concern from now on is what they will do with Testudo-sama's divine body that may have been taken away.
　If they do something, the mastermind may still be in the vicinity of Sevalia.
　Either way, as the future battles may intensify, strengthening our strength is a must.
　For that, we'll still have to go through the mess!

　Right after I made up my mind, the phone in my pocket vibrated.