I’m back in the faraway town, but things are a little strange. Normally at this time of the day, I would hear the kids going around being noisy, but not today.
I use Presence Detection, and sense people.
And when we leave the room, we see Suiren coming this way.
“Welcome back. I’m glad to see you came back safely.”
We reported back through the communications device, but I guess actually seeing us makes her feel relieved.
She looks at Morrigan, Karina, Miharu, and finally, at Argo and his party, and tilts her head.
“Ah… They’re the adventurers I talked about.”
I say, and that’s enough for her.
“More importantly, what happened? It’s so quiet here.”
I ask.
“Yes, about that. I will explain, but let’s move to the dining hall first.”
She says before she turns around and starts walking, and we follow her.
We head to the dining hall, and the normally noisy kids are all sitting here, quiet.
Something doesn’t feel right, because it’s not lunchtime yet.
They smile when they see us, but they don’t run towards us to talk like they usually would.
“We have some things to talk about. Everyone go back to your rooms and stay quiet.”
She says, and the kids nod and leave. But it’s not just the kids who leave, but the other adults besides Suiren too.
I guess we would feel pretty cramped in the dining hall with all these people here.
“Hum, what about my sister and the others?”
“They are currently out. With Shun, Kaede, and Kotori too.”
Suiren prompts us to sit down, as one of the people who left brings us tea.
“Firstly, Miss Eris and the others are out because we have an emergency. Ignis and the others were here, so there was no damage for the time being, but the town was attacked by monsters. That was why we told the children not to play outside.”
“Wasn’t there something like a barrier around here?”
I ask, and Suiren explains with a troubled expression.
“Yes, there should be… But Ignis is speculating that the functions of the demon king’s castle have stopped. He also talked about the being known as demon king not existing anymore, but that was honestly too complicated for me.”
Hearing that is enough for me to understand that this faraway town has completely lost its defenses against outside threats.
Not to mention that the monsters living in the dark forest are all riled up due to people invading it.
“So my big sister is outside!?”
Chris jumps to her feet, but just then, Eris returns with Shun and the others.
“E-Eris!”
Chris looks relieved, but once Eris looks this way, she approaches us with tears in her eyes and hugs Morrigan.
“Grandma, you’re all right…”
“Fufu, and I’m glad to see you are too, Eris. And you’ve grown so much… The same could be said for Chris and the others, but it really makes me feel the passage of time. And nice work, by the way.”
The dam breaks when Morrigan says that, and Eris starts crying.
I’m sure a lot of things are running around her mind. Chris and the others… And Argo too for some reason, all start crying, as Argo’s party consoles him.
Meanwhile, Miharu runs away from us, as Shun opens his arms wide with a happy expression on his face. But he’s completely ignored as she passes by him and jumps into Kaede’s chest.
Let’s pretend we didn’t see that. Naoto is consoling Shun while holding back a laugh.
“It got pretty noisy all of a sudden. How about we go back to the room to talk calmly?”
“But, hum… Everyone outside…”
Eris nods as she responds to Suiren, but it seems her attention is outside.
Are the monsters drawing closer?
“Don’t worry about that, we’ll go there instead. Right!?”
Says Argo. He probably wants to show off.
Guilford and the others look exasperated, but they all say ‘fine’.
“Then I’m going too. You guys don’t know this area, right? Chris and the others can stay here and take it easy.”
It looks like Naoto wants to come along too, but I signal with my hand for him to stay.
Honestly, I don’t really have a reason to stay, so I leave with Hikari and Argo’s party, and use Presence Detection and Magic Energy Detection.
There are people positioned around the town, and apparently they’re taking down monsters coming near.
I’m sure they’re fighting away from it so as not to damage the town.
I head towards the largest magic energy reaction I can feel, and find Ignis, along with adults that live in this town, fully equipped.
“You’re back?”
I nod, and he tells me the situation.
So the barrier surrounding the town really is gone, and monsters are wandering in here.
Then I introduce Argo and the others, and they are all moved and quickly accept them when I talk about the invasion of the castle in Elesya and rescuing the elves.
Their complete lack of wariness actually makes me concerned, but the beast person Hiriluk says it’s fine if they met with Suiren before coming here.
It’s actually Argo and the others who are a little nervous about Hiriluk. Is it because he’s a wolf
beast person like the beast king?
“Master, are we hunting meat?”
And in the middle of all this, Hikari is exactly the same as always. So I pat her head, and we go towards the monsters with Hiriluk.
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Thanks for the treat.