Chapter 26: The Off-Duty Forest, and the Receptionist Playing Bait

It was a wonderful awakening.

No angry shouts acting as an alarm, no signs of surveillance from outside the window. I spent plenty of the morning sleeping, and once my mind and body had recovered to a perfect state, I headed to the forest on the outskirts of town as planned.

The goal was pure refreshment — forest bathing.

“N-Nagi-san…! It is the utmost honor to have you accompany our gathering request today!”

“Ah, no. Thank you for letting me join on such short notice, Zack-san.”

The one who came out to greet me at the forest entrance was Zack, the leader of the C-Rank party “Iron Wind.” As a mid-tier adventurer with common sense, he was for some reason completely tense around me, standing at attention and saluting.

“N-Not at all! To be able to protect the beast tamer who tamed those people… no, the master of the counseling window — that is an adventurer’s greatest blessing!”

“I haven’t tamed anyone. I’m just a counselor.”

It seems that among the general adventurers, I’m being treated like a “mastermind pulling the strings of dangerous folks from the shadows.” I am extremely displeased by this.

Escorted by Zack and his party, I stepped into the depths of the forest where sunlight filtered through the trees.

The chirping of birds. The sound of rustling leaves.

I took a deep breath of the clean air.

“Haa… This is the best. I didn’t know the forest could be this quiet.”

“T-That’s true… But there is an unnatural lack of monster presence…”

Zack placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and surveyed the surroundings. It was true that this forest should have frequent appearances of low-level monsters, but so far not even a single goblin had shown itself.

— It was then.

Kabooooom!!

Deep in the bushes far ahead, a tremendous explosion erupted and a pillar of pale blue cold air pierced the heavens.

“W-What the!?”

“Zack-san, ahead — a giant boar monster is… wait, Hiiiie!?”

The party’s scout screamed.

Looking over, the giant boar monster that had been about to appear on our path had instantly become a “giant ice sculpture” and shattered into pieces.

“…Is that extreme-tier freezing magic…? Don’t tell me — that logic-driven mage is…?”

“Wait, something’s coming from the right too!”

This time, deep in the trees to the right, a sword flash that seemed to tear through the air sparked.

Swoooosh!

The pack of wolf monsters that had been approaching was instantly turned into a leveled wasteland by invisible slashes.

“The A-Rank swordswoman’s… Vacuum Blade…!”

“Above! A poison spider in the trees!”

“No, it’s already dead! A pitch-black shadow silently slit the spider’s throat… collected the monster’s corpse, and vanished!”

“Even the underworld’s grim reaper is here!!”

Zack and the other general adventurers were completely terrified, trembling violently and clinging to each other.

Deep in the forest, at an exquisite distance that would absolutely never enter my field of vision, extreme-tier magic, vacuum blades, and an assassin’s dagger danced wildly — destroying the ecosystem of this forest at breakneck speed.

“…I see.”

Listening to the explosions rising in the distance, I quietly let out a breath.

The second clause of the “Ladies’ Agreement.” — Do not cause any trouble for his private life on his off-duty days.

They hadn’t broken the rules.

They hadn’t entered my line of sight, the path I was walking was completely clear, and not a single drop of mud had splashed onto my clothes. In other words, their interpretation of “not causing trouble” equaled “securing absolute safety by annihilating the monsters along with the forest from afar — stalking.”

(As always, they’re an extreme bunch…)

Rubbing my stomach, I realized I felt somewhat exasperated — and yet, at the same time, a little bit warm inside.

Speaking from my experience as a clinical psychologist in my previous life, for people with strong codependent tendencies to “suppress their own desires” is an agonizingly painful thing, enough to make them vomit blood. Right now, they were desperately suppressing the intense urge to walk beside me or embrace me, devoting themselves to being “invisible guards” in order to keep the rules.

It was clumsy, excessive, and causing massive terror for Zack and his party.

Even so, not coming out directly and interfering with me was their form of “endurance” — and proof of their growth.

“N-Nagi-san! If we go any further, our lives will be in danger! The forest is going to be leveled!”

“…You’re right. We’ve gathered enough medicinal herbs, so shall we head back?”

Comforting the trembling men, I decided to turn back the way we came.

＊　＊　＊

By the time we exited the forest and reached the city entrance, the sun had begun to dip.

Zack and the others fled back like frightened rabbits, yelling, “G-Good work today!!” — I felt truly sorry for dragging them into this.

I walked alone along the cobblestone path toward the guild dormitories.

Lively music and the cheers of people drifted from the city’s central plaza. Today was the annual “Foundation Festival.” Food stalls lined the streets, colorful flags waved, and the faces of everyone passing by looked joyful.

“…A festival, huh.”

I stopped in my tracks and gazed at the hustle and bustle in the distance.

My heart had truly rested today. I walked at my own pace, quietly organized my thoughts, and no one disturbed my rhythm. My nerves, which had been stretched taut by the trauma of my past life, were now completely unwound.

— Precisely because my heart had recovered and gained some leeway, I ended up noticing a “small void” that had been born inside me.

No one was pulling my right arm.

No one was trying to manage my health.

No one was nagging me from behind.

To think that I would feel… so “lonely” because of that.

“…They really weren’t kidding when they said the mummy hunter becomes the mummy.”

I let out a small, self-deprecating laugh.

Even I, the counselor, had been truly drawn in and saved by the noisy yet warm presence of those girls.

I turned toward the back alley behind me — toward the “invisible stalkers” who were surely erasing their presence and watching over me the whole time — and muttered in a slightly louder voice, intentionally making sure they could hear.

“Aah. It sure would be fun if I could go around the festival with someone.”

Right after I said that —

Ruuuuustle!!

From behind the bushes and wooden crates, three shadows leaped out with tremendous momentum.

“Me!! Nagi, I’ll escort you!”

Lise, covered in a massive amount of leaves, pounced on me like a dog wagging its tail.

“It seems you were able to rest well. Logically speaking, I am the only one who can fill your loneliness.”

Despite having a bit of mud on her face, Fran readied her staff with a smug look.

“Yahoo, Onii-san! Luna said, ‘Permission to make contact has been granted,’ and let me come out! Let’s go to the festival!”

Roux energetically dove onto my back.

All of them bore the unmistakable traces of having gone on a massive rampage in the forest. Hearing my mutter, they must have broken past the limits of their endurance and jumped out.

“…You broke the promise, didn’t you?”

When I deliberately teased them, the three girls flinched, their shoulders shaking.

“N-No we didn’t! Because Nagi said he was lonely!”

“It’s an exception clause. If there is a request from the operations manager, the agreement is temporarily lifted.”

“Onii-san invited us! So it’s fine, right?!”

Watching them desperately make excuses, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“…Hehe. Well, it can’t be helped. I’ll issue a special permit.”

“Yay!!”

At my words, the three of them lit up their faces brilliantly, like flowers in full bloom.

The strongest swordswoman on my right, the genius mage on my left, and the dual-natured thief on my back.

Once again, my holiday was completely filled up by this supremely noisy, thoroughly dangerous, and undeniably heavy bunch of carnage-causers.

“Well then, shall we go?”

Receiving the resentful stares of passing men silently wishing for me to “explode in my next life” against my back, I stepped into the festival plaza with an uncharacteristically buoyant step.