“Haha, come on, just a bit.”
“Hmph, good grief... I just can’t beat you, Sola.”
“Hehehe.”
We ended up having a light drinking party before dawn.
Once we’d emptied a few bottles, Derek let slip, “I’m thankful for a whole lot of stuff with this incident, but there’s one thing I’m grateful for above all else.”
“Huh? And what would that be?”
“You explained things to everyone around town, right?”
“Eh...? Yeah...”
About the bergbear and the fire, he means? Why is he thanking me for that?
“You did a real good job keeping things vague.”
I slapped my glass down atop the desk with a clang!
It couldn’t be... What did he mean by that...?
“W-What’re you saying?”
“When you said ‘maybe a fire spirit saved us’ or whatever. And the way that you avoided mentioning that light that came shooting down.”
“Derek, you couldn’t mean...!”
“Torne, we’re the only ones here. Go ahead and tell me what you’re thinking right now.”
What I’m thinking...?
“Derek, so you realized...?”
“Torne, I wanted to confirm it. Not with anyone else, but with you.”
“...”
Just before dawn, a strange silence fell over the shop, lit only by a small Light magic stone.
What... What I’m thinking?
Yeah, that’s right, there is something on my mind!
I mean, I studied as hard as I could to be an adventurer once. I was a weakling, after all, so I tried to make up the difference with knowledge. That’s why I knew. The three of them being there like that was strange.
“...”
“It’s fine, Torne. We’re talking about my daughter, after all.”
“Sola...”
“Please, I want to hear.”
I can’t win against these two.
And so, I decided to speak openly...
“...What I say next may make you all disappointed in me.”
“It’s fine. Just get on with it, man.”
“Hehehe.”
“Hmph... First off, the place we found them was strange.”
“The place?”
“Yeah. Do you remember where we first spotted the fire coming from?”
“The middle of the small mountain.”
“That’s right.”
“Huh? What’s strange about that?”
“We found them about 700 mels from town.”
“Eh...?”
“Even at the shortest, it should be 2 kel mel... 2000 mels, to the center of the small mountain... It’s just too far away. How did the three of them move 1300 mels that fast?”
“But there’s no guarantee that they were there when the fire... Ah.”
“That’s right, Sola. Yuuta’s Fire magic stone. When you put it all together, Yuuta had to be the one who started the fire, likely to attack the bergbear.”
“The... bergbear...?”
“That’s the next thing that’s odd.”
I took a sip of booze, then continued.
“There were bergbear claw marks and blood where we found Anti and the kids.”
Sola’s expression changed to one of shock and disbelief. It was rather strange, seeing her with anything other than a smile.
“That can’t be...”
“First off, a bergbear wouldn’t let one nearby prey animal escape, much less three kids. There’s no chance it would choose not to eat them.”
Sola gripped her skirt tightly over her knees.
“And secondly, that blood wasn’t Anti’s. It was from the bergbear. Bergbears get around by rolling around mountains. Their bodies are coated in long, hard fur that normal trees or even swords can’t pierce... If it was bleeding, it had to be from someone attacking it.”
“What are you trying to say...?”
“And lastly, there’s the case of the disappearing forest fire.”
“...”
“Do you really think a fire spirit would just show up on cue like that?!!”
Oh, boy. Looks like the booze is hitting me harder than I expected.
“Derek...”
“It’s alright. Everyone’s safe as a result.”
“Yeah, that’s right. And there’s one person who happened to be there for all of this.” At this point, Sola must have reached the same conclusion. “I mean Anti, of course. Damn, I can’t believe I’m saying something so ridiculous... But everything fits. How did she get from the mountain to town so fast?! And with two kids! And that bergbear must’ve been after them, so what happened to it?! We’ll keep looking, but... I get the feeling we won’t ever find it. And then there’s the flames. Just how... How did they all just disappear?”
I ended up throwing out every dang question that came to mind as they sat there and silently listened.
“Sorry...”
“Ah, no... It just sure must be something for you to say all that, right?”
“Yeah...”
“Still, are you sure you’re not making some kind of mistake? I can’t imagine our girl being wrapped up in all that strangeness...”
“Sola, I understand how you feel...”
“Derek...”
“But try thinking about it. Why did the kids move all that distance? Why is the bergbear gone? Why did all that fire disappear?”
“...To protect us all.”
“That’s right, Sola.”
None of us had a clue how she’d done it. But it was clear as day why she’d done it.
She wanted to protect everything and everyone.
In order to protect the kids, she moved them.
In order to protect us, she drove away the bergbear.
In order to protect the town, she extinguished the flames.
“...”
I picked up from where Derek had left off.
“There was a strong will to protect at work there. And aside from the runts, the only one there who’d feel that way was...”
“Anti.”
Right, it could only be her.
“The little miss did it. That’s the only thing I can think of it. I must be nuts.... I’m a failure of a gatekeeper. Why is this the only thing that comes to mind?”
“Stop making that face, Torne.”
“Hey, the little miss had her Skill Bestowal just recently, didn’t she? What sort of ability did she get, Derek?”
“Torne.”
“If she got a skill strong enough to let her take down a bergbear on her own, then she may end up getting ranked gold in the future! Unlike me...!”
“Hey, Torne...!”
“Ah...! Sorry...”
I really spoiled the atmosphere, there. Damn, looks like I let the booze get the better of me...
“Sorry... I went too far, there.”
“Speaking hypothetically...”
“Huh?”
“If my girl did have that kind of power, what sort of future would she have?”
“Her future...? You mean, the sort of work skilled adventurers handle? Right...”
I switched over from booze to water.
“Haa... There’s all sorts of stuff, like getting employed by the royal court or hired by nobles. I don’t really know, but she definitely wouldn’t be hurting for money, at least.”
“I don’t think Anti would be interested in things like that.”
“Ah...”
“Right. But still, I want to ask Anti.”
Yeah... That’s right.
What did the little miss want to do? That was what mattered most.
What was wrong with me...?
“I sure am jealous of Anti, having parents like you two.”
“Wha...? Haha, what’re you saying?”
“Hehehe.”
“I’m serious. You see, my folks...”
All the awkwardness washed away after that, and I ate until dawn broke. It was the most enjoyable meal I’d had in some time.
Not long after, Anti woke up.
She looked to be doing well, the little tomboy.
Apparently she was concerned what we thought of her running off into the forest on her own. But I knew. If she hadn’t gone, we would’ve lost a whole dang lot. I was confident of that fact.
“I just need you to tell me one thing.”
“What’s this all of the sudden...?”
“Did you run into the bergbear?”
The little miss’s expression froze when she heard Derek’s question. Somehow, though, she managed to get the words flowing again.
“...I saw something that looked sort of like it in the distance, and ran away with Yuuta and Ana in a panic.”
“...”
Just what do you think a bergbear is, you dang fool? The second you saw something that “looked sort of like it,” you were already done for.
And then, she added, “There’s no way an innocent little 15-year-old girl like myself could beat a bear, right?”
The question was just if you’d ran into it, little miss, so why is your response about whether or not you’d beaten it?
Seemed she was still just a child in a lot of ways...
“...Yeah, that’s true...”
Derek looked somehow relieved and satisfied with that answer. And Sola was all smiles, too.
There were two things I learned from that exchange.
First off, the bergbear had probably been defeated, and the little miss was also the one who put out the flames.
Secondly, she wanted to hide that fact. She didn’t want to be famous. She had just wanted to protect everyone.
I slowly closed my eyes.
I was real grateful, and proud of her, too.
She had power, but she didn’t let that make her arrogant. Instead, she was hiding it and trying to protect others.
That was how I’d wanted to be when I was young.
If it weren’t for the little miss, the townsfolk would’ve ended up drowning in sadness and grief.
But the little miss, this golden-haired girl, fought all on her own and protected us all.
And now, she was making it clear she wanted to keep her power secret.
As if I’d ever say a word. My lips were sealed.
I was real, real proud of her.
With that burning heart, she protected everything.
She really was the best poster girl in the whole damn world.
A few days passed, and sure enough, we didn’t see hide nor hair of the bergbear. And so, the gate started closing at the normal time again.
Thanks to the forest being burnt, monster sightings ground to a halt. This may actually give us a chance to expand the town...
The eatery was open today for Anti’s farewell party. Apparently she was going to try her hand at being an adventurer in Donius.
To be honest, I was kind of looking forward to it. Unfortunately, though, I ended up being on duty.
Damn you, Konobo... I won’t forget this!
Apparently everybody from her school was really getting into their magic training, so hardly any of them were coming. I understand, but that’s still damn insensitive. I mean, if it weren’t for the little miss, the whole town would’ve been wiped off the map.
Of course I wouldn’t say any of that, though.
Tomorrow morning, the little miss would pass my station. I had to think about how I’d greet her then...
After all, those were the words that would see the hero who saved the town off on her modest journey.
The name’s Torne Krieger. Everyone here in Cardiff just calls me “that old-timer gatekeeper,” though.