Time was said to flow equally for everyone.
However, the value of time differed for each person, and for some, a brief moment could bring about a period of great upheaval.
“You all worked hard.”
“Well, that’s just the nature of our work.”
“That’s right.”
“We’ve uprooted them completely. Hahaha!”
On the day a sudden blizzard hit,
The trio of Kevin, MacGowan, and Hackerts finished their scouting and reported back to Mimir.
Two years ago, after successfully completing their special scouting mission, they were recognized for their achievements and got promoted to senior ranks in the systematically restructured Arunvida.
“How are the orcs faring?”
“Since that wretched bastard was killed… I mean, after he died, they’ve completely fallen apart. Now, they run at the mere sight of humans.”
Mimir nodded his head at Kevin’s report and responded.
“I see. It seems the time has come to declare the end of the war.”
Now, two years had passed.
After the death of the grand chieftain Pagabutan, the elder shaman Kargato led the remaining orcs, but after their desperate resistance, Anastasia’s forces finally eradicated them.
For two years he had been persistently moving his base and waging a thorough guerrilla warfare, but in the end, they tracked him down.
After that, the orcs were practically incapacitated, and the imperial army also retreated.
“Life’s finally good without them around.”
“It was always difficult for them to get along with the people here.”
The imperial army initially stayed in Arunvida, but once the campaign began, they set up a separate base and operated from there.
However, military operations often brought them into contact with the residents, and each time they caused various problems with the residents of Arunvida.
“Still, it’s good to see you’re getting along well with the others.”
“Well, unlike those who serve under the imperial banner and look down on us… we’re not exactly looking for fights all the time.”
“That’s true.”
“And, well, the princess is helping us out so much, so how could we act recklessly?”
“Her Highness is also pleased with how things have been going in that regard.”
Over the past two years, Anastasia had used every method available to her to improve Arunvida’s reputation.
Fifty years ago, a legion of orcs moved south to invade them.
Two years ago, to stop that same invasion, Arunvida made great sacrifices but had successfully held the line.
Though little was known about the ominous dragon that had appeared back then, aside from that mystery, the fact that they had held off a monster wave of 150,000 and an orc army of 500,000 was enough to boost Arunvida’s reputation significantly.
“By the way, MacGowan, how’s your arm doing?”
“Much better now. I’ve gotten used to it and can even make myself tea with this arm.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Hey, you’d better swear loyalty to the princess for life! Do you even know how much it costs to get that arm?”
“You’re just stating the obvious, Hackerts.”
The giant MacGowan had lost one of his arms in the previous war.
However, as a reward for successfully completing the special scouting mission, he was fortunate enough to receive a magical artificial joint surgery supplied by the Magic Tower.
“Anyway, everyone worked hard. Go ahead and get some rest.”
The trio beamed with broad smiles and ran off toward the newly completed bathhouse, while Mimir saw them off and stepped out onto the terrace.
Many changes have come to Arunvida over the past two years.
The first thing that caught the eye was the huge teleportation portal installed at the southern gate of Arunvida.
Even now, many people were using the portal, and it had brought about numerous transformations around it.
Though there were still quite a number of monsters remaining in Arunvida.
Unlike dungeons where monster corpses vanished and left behind magic stones or occasionally dropped materials, Arunvida wasn’t home to dungeons but to natural monsters. As a result, their materials were traded at high prices.
A merchant guild under the Clayton merchant group had been buying these up and continued to make additional purchases.
Naturally, this led to a growing need for lodging facilities.
In addition, the value of gold coins which previously held little practical use had skyrocketed, and just like in any other ordinary city, monetary transactions became more active in Arunvida.
Moreover, while Arunvida didn’t have any magic stone mines, it was rich in high-quality iron mines and mines with rare metals buried inside them.
The First Princess Olicia entered into an agreement with the ruler of the north Anastasia to develop such mines, and thanks to this, a large number of workers had been hired.
With the influx of gold, Arunvida’s facilities were completely transformed. This resulted in an effect akin to an industrial revolution.
If only the war’s end were declared, ordinary people might soon visit the city for tourism.
Now that the number of monsters has plummeted due to the monster wave that the orcs forcibly created, Anastasia begun expanding human territory through the residents of Arunvida and Olicia’s reinforcements.
Could such changes have been imagined two years ago?
Certainly not.
But surprisingly enough, the catalyst for these changes all began with the appearance of a single person.
“I wonder what he’s doing right about now.”
Two years ago.
He, who had shown more dedication to Arunvida than anyone else, had now grown into a strong and dependable young man.
***
“It’s finally over!”
Following Dilaila’s shout, Klein and his companions who had just stepped out of the Adventurers Guild nodded with bright expressions.
“This dungeon was pretty successful.”
“Pretty? At times like this, you should say it was perfect.”
The one who responded to Al Ross’s comment was Artia, the granddaughter of the Head of the Mage Union.
Just like she said, they had just completed another dungeon perfectly and submitted the related report to the Adventurers Guild on their way out.
With this, the total number of unexplored dungeons they had cleared amounted to around twenty.
Even by general standards, it was by no means a small number. But what was even more surprising was that all of the dungeons were unexplored dungeons for which no information was even available.
It was an achievement that was nothing short of incredible.
This had kept them busy without a moment’s rest, but their skills had improved rapidly as a result.
Their ability to deal with situations they had never experienced before had also improved significantly, and above all, they gained a solid reputation, which led to collaboration offers coming in from all over the place.
“Thanks. You’ve helped me out again this time.”
One of those collaborators, Anais, expressed her gratitude.
She was the daughter of Robert, the former commander of the Knights of Judgment, and Shane’s former fiancée. She too had been gaining considerable fame recently.
While the reputation of the Knights of Judgment certainly helped, she had also made a name for herself by clearing a significant number of dungeons with her own team.
Although she sometimes worked with Klein and his team, like this time, she mostly conducted her own explorations.
“Oh, yeah. You worked hard too. Um… so how are things these days?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know… about breaking off the engagement with my big brother.”
“It doesn’t really bother me.”
The engagement between Shane and Anais ultimately didn’t last.
It had been a decision made because of Oliver G. Daniel, the current commander of the Judgment Knights. He determined that the rapidly rising Clayton family could no longer be controlled.
However, neither Shane nor Anais had been particularly invested in their engagement. Their relationship was never that deep to begin with.
In fact, it almost seemed like both had used their engagement to pursue their own goals.
It was Klein who was caught awkwardly in the middle who found the end of their relationship unfortunate.
He had thought that experiencing love might bring about a significant change in Shane.
“How is he?”
“My brother?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s still staying in Arunvida.”
Even though the situation there was nearing its conclusion, Shane remained heavily involved with matters in Arunvida.
He was taking on many responsibilities in place of Lowell, the head of the busy Clayton family, who was preoccupied with the recently stabilized Great Mezaiya Forest.
Anais was about to nod her head with a hint of disappointment at Klein’s response.
“Oh, and this. Big brother asked me to give it to you.”
“A letter?”
“Yeah.”
Receiving the letter Klein handed her, Anais tucked it away and gave a brief smile.
“He hasn’t forgotten, after all.”
“Ah…”
Then Klein gave an awkward smile.
On the surface, Anais still seemed to have some lingering feelings for Shane.
Of course, this was merely Klein’s misconception.
What Anais was waiting for had to do with a promise she made with Shane, not anything related to their engagement.
Klein who didn’t know of this couldn’t help but feel frustrated whenever Anais, whose expression rarely changed, smiled like that.
It’s a shame, really.
It had been nearly three years since Shane had changed.
While Klein no longer worried about Shane returning to his old self, he still wished Shane could soften a little more.
Yeah, someday that day will come.
Meanwhile, Klein had made a name for himself at the Adventurers Guild, and Shane had also firmly established his reputation among the mages.
Even now, various papers were being published under Shane’s name, causing a stir among mages of similar schools of thought each time.
Artia had gone through a similar experience about a year ago, and Klein had to endure the aftermath for a while.
“Sir Klein. What’s the next plan?”
It was Alex who had approached Klein and spoken to him.
By now, he had fully matured into a warrior and was equipped with a variety of weapons on his back.
A sword, a hand axe, a spear, and a bow, among others.
Alex, who had learned swordsmanship from Klein and absorbed techniques from the adventurer party he occasionally collaborated with, had now become a remarkable adventurer, recognized by both Klein and others.
Among adventurers, he had even earned the impressive title of the “King of All Weapons”.
Although Alex himself felt the title was excessive and seemed to shy away from it, his ability to handle weapons had gained widespread recognition among many adventurers.
“For now, I’m planning to take a break. We’ve been pushing hard for two years, so it’s time to rest and regroup for a few months.”
It was a break they should have taken much earlier, but because the group was so motivated, they managed to carry on until now.
Now, just clearing dungeons wasn’t enough to boost their reputation further, so the group nodded in agreement.
“I wonder how my brother is doing…”
They exchanged letters from time to time, but Shane seemed to be busy as well.
Klein was also busy exploring dungeons based on the information Shane had given him.
I should write him a letter too.
Klein walked through the bustling city with this thought and the desire to see Shane at least once.
***
Shane opened his eyes, rose from the bed where he had been sleeping, and dressed himself after washing up as usual.
He sat down in his chair and opened the letter from Klein that had arrived. It contained a strange misunderstanding about how Anais seemed to miss him, along with a note saying that Klein wanted to see him.
This was Shane’s room.
And in this room, there was a sluggish movement that came from the bed.
“Mmm. A letter? It’s not from some other lover, is it?”
The person who emerged from under the blanket was none other than Anastasia.
She was as naked as the day she was born. She poked her head out from under the covers and looked at Shane with gentle eyes.
“Something like that.”
“Oh? Are you calling out another woman’s name while I’m here?”
“It’s not a woman. It’s a letter from my brother Klein.”
“Well, that’s a relief. If it hadn’t been, I would’ve made sure you completely forgot her by tonight.”
“……”
To get straight to the point, Klein’s concerns in the letter were utterly pointless.
At least, as long as Anastasia was here in front of him, Klein’s assumption that Shane was someone who knew nothing of love was no longer true.
How did it even come to this?
How had this relationship with Anastasia begun?
Shane tried to ignore the memories of last night that were beginning to surface. And in the end, he recalled how it all started.
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