Chapter 23: I Did It
I felt a familiar presence behind me.
“I’m home, Son-in-law!”
“Welcome back, Sensei.”
Sensei, dressed in a disheveled light purple kimono, seemed completely at ease in what was originally her home. Without a hint of decorum, she flopped onto the floor, her kimono splayed out around her. Is she a cat now?
“Sensei, your kimono is going to get wrinkled.”
“It won’t, it won’t. This garment isn’t so flimsy that it can’t handle a little wear.”
It’s a kimono, what do you mean by ‘handle’? I decided not to dwell on it too much and simply replied, “Is that so?”
“Come on, you’ve been here enough times now; you should be used to it by now.”
Sensei called out to the woman peeking in from the entrance—Mika.
“Then, if you’ll excuse me…”
Her voice was pleasantly clear. Mika timidly stepped into the hut and approached me as I continued my preparations.
“Ichi, have you been doing well?”
“I’m doing just fine as always. How about you?”
“I’m well too… but,”
“But?”
“…I’ve come to realize again what I’ve done during this journey.”
Since I wasn’t the one involved, I couldn’t say much. Still, I had words I wanted to convey.
“I believe you and Sensei can heal those who have made mistakes—up to their limits.”
“When you say that, it makes me feel a bit shy…”
“Stop it. I’m the one who feels shy.”
Mika was truly easy to read. Once criticized for her lack of expression, she now blushed deeply at my words.
“Besides, I think that the existence of Ryuguin itself was like an embodiment of absurdity. But even without Ryuguin, there are plenty of absurdities in the world. I believe you two can stylishly shatter such misfortunes.”
With Sensei and Mika together, they were practically unstoppable. I felt no fear of defeat.
“Ichi, please stop.”
Perhaps it was my emotional outburst that caused Mika to crouch down and hide her face. As she let out a soft “Ugh,” the bracelet I had given her sparkled from within the sleeve of her clothing.
“Son-in-law, I heard something interesting.”
Sensei, now lounging and waiting for food, spoke in her relaxed posture.
“I heard that several Dark Guilds in the Royal Capital vanished overnight about a week ago.”
She raised an eyebrow at me, a smirk playing on her lips.
“That was you, wasn’t it?”
How does she know…?
It was true that I had wiped out the Dark Guilds, just as Sensei said.
But I didn’t act out of a sense of justice.
It happened a few days ago. After descending from the mountain, I reunited with Milan for the first time in ages, and we were casually browsing the market. Milan, though small, was clever and had her ear to the ground, even picking up on news from the far-off Royal Capital.
According to her, not long after that day (…), the political turmoil caused by Ryuguin’s aftermath had led to an increase in the activities of villains. Amidst this chaos, several bandit groups were rising to prominence.
I thought to myself, “What a hassle,” treating it as someone else’s problem—until that moment.
An ingenious idea struck me. It was a solution to the dilemma I had been grappling with for some time. Milan strongly urged me to visit her home, but I managed to soothe her as she tugged at my arm and declined.
I immediately returned to the hut, took out the Communication Orb, and connected with old man Madison for advice.
It took just over two hours.
The result was the annihilation of four new bandit groups and Dark Guilds.
There were zero casualties.
All members present were neutralized and handed over to the authorities.
If they wanted to extract information, they could do so; if they wanted to deal with them, they could handle that too. What I wanted was—
“Sensei, how did you figure it out so quickly?”
“Of course, I did.”
I playfully bowed my head in mock reverence.
“Ha ha, show me more respect!”
Sensei played along with my antics.
“By the way, how did you know it was my doing?”
“That’s simple. On the day of that incident, I sensed your presence from the Royal Capital.”
“Uh, where were you at that time, Sensei?”
“I was in a town called Lemone.”
Lemone was far from the Royal Capital. How could she sense my presence from so far away…?
“You needn’t be on guard. Naturally, I can sense it; I am your protector, after all.”
Protector?
Can a protector really sense something from that far away?
I felt as if I had a GPS embedded in me, but I decided not to pry any further.
As I continued cooking, I kept updating her on recent events. Just then, I heard a gentle knock on the door.
“I’ll get it,” Mika said, slowly opening the door.
And there stood—
“Everyone, it’s been a while!”
Puffy had arrived.
“Hey, it’ll be ready soon, so come on in and make yourself comfortable.”
As I called out to her, she gracefully stepped into the hut, saying, “Then, if you’ll excuse me,” as she entered.