The mayor’s house was a large, wooden single-story building. “I’m home,” Lance declared triumphantly from outside. His mom opened the front door in response.
“You’re back, Lance?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh my! And you brought visitors?”
“They want to talk to Gramps.”
“I see. But he just left about an hour ago. He’s probably praying at the lake.”
The mayor was out at the moment, apparently saying his daily prayers. He was a very devout Fore Elf.
“All right, let’s head to the lake then.”
“Should we really be interrupting his prayers, Lance?”
“I’m sure it’s fine. It’s just another part of his daily routine.”
I thought it was a sacred ritual… Well, we didn’t want to waste time waiting around, so Captain Ludtink ordered us to head for the lake.
The beautiful water, sparkling and blue, came into view after a fifteen-minute walk through the forest. This was a place I’d been told not to go under normal circumstances. There we found the mayor, Lance’s grandpa, standing at the shore.
“I’m home, Gramps.”
The mayor turned when he heard Lance’s voice. Unlike our magic healer, he was an elderly-looking man covered in wrinkles. As always, he had a very unapproachable atmosphere.
The mayor’s eyes almost fell out of their sockets. “It’s my idiot of a grandson!”
All the birds flew out of the nearby trees. The mayor’s shout had startled them.
“Wh-What’s with you?” Lance said.
“What’s with me?! I thought I’d die of shame when I heard why you went to the royal capital!”
Before Lance could make sense of anything, the mayor swept the feet of his grandson out from under him, sending him toppling to the ground.
“Oof!”
Then the mayor took to his knees and bowed his head.
“Forgive me, Great Healer. This dunce of a boy disobeyed his orders.”
“Ah, so that’s what you mean?”
It seemed the mayor didn’t know the details of my breakup with Lance. He only heard the story from Lance’s parents after he left for the city.
“You have my apologies, Mell Risurisu.” The mayor spanked Lance on the behind, shouting at him to apologize to me too. “C’mon, say it already!”
“Ow! That hurts!”
“It’s nothing compared to the pain Mell Risurisu felt in her heart!”
“Okay, I get it, just stop spanking me!” Lance, still on his knees, looked up at me hesitantly. Then he bowed his head. “Um, yeah. I was in the wrong.”
I wasn’t ready to forgive him right away, but I accepted his apology. The rest would heal with time.
“I’m truly sorry. As you already know, Lance is lacking when it comes to brains,” the mayor said.
“Oh, no, I’m quite glad that he ended our engagement,” I said.
“But that’s no good. You need to bring the next generation of children into the world.”
“About that, Mr. Mayor. I come with a plan to stop the ritual of offering sacrifices.”
“Wh-What?! You mean to send the Dark Dragon out into the world?” The mayor explained that, judging by the state of the woods and the lake, he sensed the Dark Dragon would soon be desiring a sacrifice. “Great Healer, it’s far too dangerous. The world will be plunged into peril. I beg you to reconsider! I’ll even offer up an old fool like myself as the sacrifice!”
“Really, it’s perfectly all right.”
“A-All right? But how?”
“I brought us the great hero known as the Dark Dragon Slayer.”
“The what?”
“His name is Sir Ciel Aiskoletta.”
The sight of Sir Aiskoletta—wearing a full-body suit of armor that was hardly ever used these days—made the mayor’s eyes go as wide as saucers.
“D-Don’t tell me. Did you summon a hero, Great Healer?”
“No, I found him by total coincidence.”
“A great hero? By coincidence?”
“Correct.”
Sir Aiskoletta now spent his days weeding the garden, picking medicinal herbs, and baking cookies at my house. It sounded unbelievable, but it was all completely true.
“I shall vanquish this Dark Dragon with my trusty crystal sword.” Sir Aiskoletta unsheathed the sword and made his declaration. His sheer power sent a shudder through me.
“We plan to depart tomorrow. May I ask you to prepare accommodations for Sir Aiskoletta and these knights?”
“I-I’ll do it at once!” The mayor jumped to his feet, grabbed Lance by the scruff of the neck, and made him stand up. “Be sure to clean your room, Lance.”
“Huh? What for?”
“For the knights to sleep there, obviously!”
“Then where am I supposed to sleep?”
“The henhouse will do just fine!”
“What?! That’s too cruel!”
“Not as cruel as breaking up with Mell Risurisu to try and make her want you! Now sleep in the henhouse and think about what you’ve done!”
The mayor was going to take care of Lance’s punishment. I hoped he would reflect on his own foolishness inside that henhouse.
“You’ll be staying with your family, yes, Mell Risurisu?”
“That’s right.”
“Then have a good rest before tomorrow. I intend to apologize to your family later on.”
“Oh, no, there’s no need for that.”
“No, he did something terrible to you, so I need to make things right.”
As a kid, I always thought the mayor was so scary. That hadn’t exactly changed, but now I saw he was a serious person with a strong sense of justice.
“Okay, everyone’s dismissed for now. We’ll meet tomorrow morning in front of the mayor’s house.”
We all split up at the captain’s orders.
Sir Aiskoletta, Doc, Captain Ludtink, and Vice Captain Velrey had things to discuss before our mission. Garr and Sly were going to take a walk around the village. Ulgus found himself surrounded by young children, excited to see a real-life knight. He told me he planned to teach them his style of archery when he had some time. The Lichtenbergers were going around to ask about mythical beast sightings. Their love for those creatures blossomed no matter where we went.
“Zara, um, would you like to come to my family’s house now?” I asked.
“Absolutely.” Zara’s expression stiffened again.
Album stuck his head out of my bag and murmured to himself. “Time to meet the Pancake Family…?”
“Pancake Family? Really?”
Album’s ridiculous remark brought a smile to Zara’s face. That seemed to ease his nerves a little.
“Amelia and Rih are coming too.”
“Kreh kreh!”
“Kreh!”
“Album too!”
“Of course, Album will be joining us.”
“You betcha!”
I knew my family would be surprised when such a large party arrived.
“It’s a five-minute walk from here.”
“Okay. Do you think my souvenirs will be good enough?”
I didn’t know Zara brought gifts for my family until then.
“They’re cookie cream sandwiches from the royal capital. Will they even like them?”
“Aren’t those the famous sweets you have to stand in line to get your hands on?!”
“They sure are. I swung by on my lunch break yesterday. I ordered them a week in advance, so I didn’t have to wait in line.”
“I didn’t know you could do it like that!”
We ended up arriving at my family home while we were still chit-chatting. It was a wood house a bit smaller than Lance’s.
Baskets of dried mushrooms and foraged medicinal herbs were sitting outside. Freshly cleaned shoes and hats were lined up to dry, and a single glove had fallen on the ground. Even from the outside, I could tell the house was still full of life just like the last time I saw it.
We walked around back to see the shack with shelves of random goods. This was the one and only store within the Fore Elf village. Traders from outside entered the forest every few months to bring us new goods. While we didn’t sell much, business was still decent, since there was nowhere else to buy anything.
Of course, the money didn’t last long with such a big family to care for.
“So this is where you grew up, Melly?”
“Yes…”
I could hear my family members bickering inside. It sounded like someone ate someone else’s treat—not at all uncommon in our household. One had to learn how to stash their food away if they wanted to keep it for themselves.
“Um, I’m sorry they’re so loud.”
“It’s nice. They sound so lively.”
“Lively…”
Suddenly, the door went flying open.
“I’m running away from home! I’m gonna live in the royal capital like Big Sister Mell!” The girl storming out of the house was Mill, the sister who was nine years younger than me. As soon as she spotted me, she pointed at me and yelled, “Ah!”
Mill appeared to be too shocked to think. She stood there as still as a statue.
She’d gotten so big since the last time I saw her. Mill had really grown into her big sister role.
“I’m home, Mill.”
“S-Sis? Is it really you?”
When I nodded, she shot straight at me like a bullet.
The force almost knocked me over, but I managed to stay on my feet. The old me probably would have fallen. But I was a knight now, and my training felt like it was paying off.
“Sis! Why did you move to the royal capital? I missed you!”
“Mill…”
“I don’t want your money, or the food from the city! I don’t care if we stay poor! I just wanted you to be here with us forever and ever!”
When Mill started bawling, I pulled her into a hug. Mill was the most glued to my side out of all of my siblings. Maybe she hadn’t understood the purpose of my move to the royal capital when we said goodbye.
As I rubbed her back to soothe her, another person emerged from the house. He was a middle-aged man with a beard and graying hair—my dad.
“Mill! One stolen sweet potato isn’t something to cry over… What the hell?!”
Not only was Mill sobbing, but there I was, back without any warning. I had Zara, Amelia, and Rih with me too.
The rest of my family came out when they heard Dad’s shout.
“Ah, it’s Mell!”
“Mell’s with a man!”
“What are those big birds?”
“Those are mythical beasts!”
The scene turned to one of chaos as they started to shout their every thought.
“Quiet, all of you!” Mom’s single order made everyone fall silent. As soon as she saw me, she smiled and said, “Welcome home, Mell.” I nearly cried when I heard those familiar words again.
“I-I’m home.”
“You didn’t even write that you were coming, Mell. What in the forest happened?”
“W-Well…”
“The knights are gonna arrest you, Mell! Look, that guy’s got a griffin crest on his shirt! It’s the logo the knights use!”
No, I’m not actually under arrest. The silly comment came from Lolo, my brother who was three years younger than me. Still, it was very rude. I wasn’t some criminal who’d come to see her family’s faces one last time.
“You’ve got it all wrong! This is Zara! He’s the person who’s going to do the unthinkable and marry me!”