“Er, um, Arisa, I asked for Lujib’s factory and Tonperry’s workshop, but neither of them are here.”
“Yeah, about that…” Arisa hesitated. “The factory’s out of business, and the workshop had a new sign up. Both are run by new people and are working with the Gorgoru Trading Company.”
That was one of the two largest merchants in the city of Arcatia.
“You knew the former owners?”
“Yes, they were close with my grandmother when she ran this place and looked after my mother when she took over.”
“This place used to be bigger?”
“When grandmother was alive, she employed a lot of people and had several storefronts. Things went downhill in my mother’s day, and now it’s just this location.”
Roro’s mother hadn’t had much of a head for business or had poured her funds into something else, scaling down the size of the operation.
The current version of the Hero’s Rest was the original shop opened by the founder, so it had been the last to remain in operation.
“Hmm. Do you want to make it like the old days, Roro-tan?”
“I know that won’t be easy…” Roro hung her head a moment, then met Arisa’s eye. “But I do think it would be nice.”
A faint smile, clearly dwelling on bygone days.
“Then why not go for it?”
“You think I can?”
Roro gave the two of us a hopeful look.
“You can. Right, Master?”
“Yeah. Fortunately, you’ve got steady business. With the profits you have, as long as you can find the right people, it won’t be too hard to open more locations.”
The current location was actually too small to handle the volume of people at peak time.
“If you’re scaling up, it’s not just a matter of more staff; you’ll need someone to work under you in charge of all locations, as well as a dedicated bookkeeper.”
“Well, the two of you could…”
“It can’t be us,” Arisa said firmly. “We’re not sure how long we’ll be staying.”
Roro looked up. “…True, you are adventurers. You said as much from the start, but…somewhere along the line, I started to feel like you’d be here forever.”
She mustered an awkward smile and seemed to be on the verge of tears.
“We’re not going away anytime soon,” I said, drawing her into an embrace.
Arisa was mouthing “playboy” at me, but I had no such intentions. She just looked so much like Lulu that I found myself treating her similarly.
“But you will leave eventually.”
“……Yeah,” I admitted. No use lying about it.
“Best to find your new core staff while we’re around.”
“……Okay.”
Roro nodded into my chest.
“Master—what’s wrong, Roro?!” Lulu cried, coming back in from the store and racing over in shock.
“Nothing. I’m okay.”
Roro mustered her best smile, answering Lulu’s concern with bravado.
Arisa clapped her hands once, forcibly changing the mood.
“So! We’ll look at personnel and expansion later; for now we need to settle on where we get our stuff!”
She spread out a list of people we could work with, and Roro dried her tears, picking options with Arisa’s advice.
I took over for Liza and was crafting for fun while I waited for customers.
The door opened, and in came Tia—who called herself the Great Sorceress’s apprentice. She was actually the Great Sorceress herself, Arcatia, ruler of the city of the same name.
Tia snuck across the shop toward me, craning her neck.
This was odd, since she usually burst through the door yelling, “Is Roro here?”
“Hello, Tia. Should I call Roro?” I asked, but she put a finger to her lips, shushing me.
Clearly, her visit was a secret.
“How’s Fen doing?”
“He’s been like this the whole time,” I said, pointing at the puppy sleeping on the shelf.
“Ah. It’ll be a while before he can join the fight, then.”
Tia was one of the few people who knew that Fen was really Fenrir.
“I’ve got something to discuss with you in private. Can we go elsewhere?”
“Got it.”
I stepped out back, had Nana take over, and joined Tia in one of her safe houses.
“Okay, that should do it. I’ve got an Anti-Eavesdropping spell active, so no one can spy on us.”
Tia hung her wide-brimmed hat on a hatstand and settled down on the couch.
With a clatter, a living doll brought in snacks and drinks. The beverage proved to be the nutritional supplement sold at the Hero’s Rest.
She knocked her glass back in a single gulp.
“Damn, that’s good. I can’t imagine a morning without one of these now.”
“I’m glad you like them. But do remember not to overindulge.”
“I—I know that! Rimi’s on my case about it, so I never drink more than five.”
“That’s more than enough.”
“Ugh, Satou, you and Rimi say the exact same things.”
Rimi was the name of the Great Sorceress’s head apprentice.
“I can’t get any work done without these, so what’s the big deal?”
“Are you that slammed?” I asked, watching her wave her empty cup around.
“My regular duties had me busy enough, but that mess really piled it on. And we don’t even know who caused it…”
“By mess, you mean the undead horde and the greater demon?”
“Yes, so much cleanup.”
“You think that’s the end of it?” I asked.
Looking exhausted, she shook her head.
“It would have been so easy if Zanzasansa—the necromancer controlling the undead—had been behind it all, but there’s no way.”
“You knew him?”
“Yeah. We’d drifted apart over time, but we were friendly once. When we set up the necromancers’ guild here, he worked harder than anyone. He was never the kind of guy who’d do something like that, so I have no idea what led him to it.”
This last bit was a whisper, clearly to herself.
She obviously had some faith in the man, but I know how he’d treated Roro’s childhood friend, the boy necromancer Shashi. He’d warped the young man’s mind with a curse, so I found it hard to agree with any positive spin.
But I put aside the question of his character for now.
“You think Zanzasansa was dealing with demons?”
“Never heard the like. His parents were killed by demon lord cultists, so I thought he despised them.”
“So someone controlled by the demons was controlling Zanzasansa?”
“I can’t say for sure, but there’s clearly another mastermind in the mix.”
A mastermind…
“Well, that greater demon has got to be their ace in the hole, so I doubt they’ll be up to anything else.”
“No more demon sightings?”
“Nope. No lesser demons, not even an imp—and we used to regularly get those.”
I was searching my map every spare moment I had, but I hadn’t spotted any demons around the city or the Jungle Labyrinth.
“Any idea what this mastermind might have been after?”
“Yes, most likely—oops, that’s a secret. The less people know about some things, the better.”
I had to agree with that principle.
“Then let me just ask this—were they trying to revive a demon lord?”
“They were not. I’m sure of it.”
Tia looked confident.
And for all her secrecy, she’d answered right away. Perhaps she’d realized that I was actually Nanashi the Hero.
“Well, if there’s anything I can help with, just say the word.”
“Yes, if the world is in danger, I’ll do just that.”
She said it like it was a joke.
…Was it, though?
This world was kind of always in danger, so it was hard to rest easy.
But I’d been gathering intel everywhere and had heard no rumors or legends, so I was hoping things would be okay.
“So was this what you asked me here to discuss?”
“It was not. I wanted to see how you and Roro are progressing.”
“We don’t have that kind of relationship.”
Tia was clearly talking of romance.
No matter how old they are, girls can’t get enough of this topic. Not that men hate it or anything…
“Don’t give me the runaround! This is urgent! The fortress city has very few humanfolk to begin with!”
Tia lowered her voice.
“I’ve tried dispatching boys her age, but she never bit.”
Roro was busy trying to keep her shop afloat, so I doubted she had time to fall for anyone.
“I’ve never seen her talk to any boys the way she does with you! With as many brides as you have, one more won’t make a difference! I mean, Watari had a preggers wife back home, and he still had time to knock Mimi up while he was here.”
Watari—oh, Roro and Lulu’s great-grandfather. I’d rather she not lump me in with those other heroes.
“Hold on, Lulu and the other girls aren’t my brides.”
“What? Pull the other one.”
Tia shot me a skeptical look.
“I swear.”
“But you know everything about each other, like old married couples?!”
“I’m not sure which one you’re talking about, but there’s no romance anywhere. I’m in love with someone else.”
I had no plans to fall for anyone but my beloved Ms. Aaze, high elf of the Bolenan Forest.
“Do I know her?”
“I strongly doubt it.”
“Okay. As long as you’re taking it seriously, I think polygamy is a fine institution, but no such luck?”
Tia flopped over on the table.
Stop shooting me hopeful looks.
I will not be cheating with Roro.
“Ugh, no way? You’ve gone and raised the bar, Satou! It’s gonna be hard finding any men as good as you.”
I was level 312.