Volume 6

Chapter 83: Homecoming and Bulking Up

The Village Chief and Ryu stared at one another.

“…Stare…”

“Is there something on my face?”

Their conversation was short. The silence lasted only an instant.

Ryu closed the distance so fast that her body blurred.

Then the Village Chief vanished as well.

Ryu’s arm tore through his afterimage, while the Village Chief’s counterattack struck hers. Neither landed a proper blow.

It was a truly absurd sight.

“I can’t even tell what’s happening…”

“The Village Chief is merely fighting evenly with Ryu, whom Eve and I believed we couldn’t handle even together.”

“…Seriously?”

“I think Grandpa is honestly stronger than me now. Is he really human?”

While Raphiel, Eve, and I spoke, the fight apparently reached its conclusion.

“Mm… Enough…”

“Finished already?”

“Mm… The next time we met… I meant to eat you…”

“You meant to? Does that mean you have changed your mind?”

“…Mm… If I eat things I find… I’ll be scolded…”

Ryu looked at me as she spoke.

Her declaration that she would no longer eat random things almost brought tears to my eyes.

Showing her nothing but educational television throughout the ride home from Luresia had been worth it.

Leaving that aside—

Luka’s eyes shone as she pointed out the thing she had been dying to mention.

“Grandpa got huge! He looks like the final boss entering his second form!”

“Village Chief, what happened to you?”

“I trained myself back into shape. I may have overdone it a little.”

“A little…?”

We had returned to Papel Village only to find that the Village Chief had bulked up into a mountain of muscle.

And it wasn’t merely his muscles.

His proportions had changed as though even his skeleton had transformed.

He looked like one of those terrible image edits that flooded internet searches.

“So training is all it takes to end up like that…? Also, why are you naked?”

“My clothes no longer fit. I shall have to remain this way for a while.”

In other words, he intended to walk around completely nude.

“Then you’re banned from the restaurant until your new clothes are ready.”

“!?”

“How can you react like you don’t understand why? If I let a stark-naked old man into the restaurant, our reputation will be ruined.”

“How cold of you, Eight. Ah, speaking of the restaurant, you should hurry over. There’s something amusing to see.”

Something amusing?

Curious, I headed to Dining House Tsurugi Hachi for the first time in a while and found Hinoka in the kitchen.

When she noticed me, she smiled.

“You have returned. There were no problems with the restaurant.”

“It certainly looks that way. Thank you.”

One glance at the adventurers made that clear.

They were happily eating Hinoka’s food, and the atmosphere was warm and peaceful.

Well—aside from the part where Hinoka manipulated her shadows to perform every kitchen task at blistering speed simultaneously.

She worked faster than I did.

“Hm? Boss! You’re back!”

The adventurer calling out to me was Rorondo.

He appeared to be eating a karaage set meal.

“Boss?”

“It’s the Boss! You’re back already!”

“That means we can eat your cooking again tomorrow!”

“Hinoka-chan’s food is great too, but I still like the Boss’s seasoning best.”

“You were just stuffing your face and praising Hinoka-chan’s cooking.”

The adventurers’ warm words made my chest tighten.

Hearing things like this truly made me want to work hard again tomorrow.

Then—

“…Eight.”

“Hm? What is it, Raphiel?”

“There’s a waitress I both recognize and don’t recognize.”

“What?”

For a moment, I had no idea what she meant, so I followed her gaze.

A woman in a waitress uniform stood there.

Her fearsome expression didn’t seem particularly suited to customer service, but the adventurers appeared perfectly comfortable with her.

I certainly knew that face.

She was the Saintess who had once come to Papel Village to persuade Raphiel to leave, then disappeared without a trace—Saril.

“Why is she half-transparent?”

“…She’s become a wraith.”

“A wraith?”

A wraith was a type of undead monster, born from the powerful regret or resentment a human carried at the moment of death.

Ordinarily, they attacked the living.

Saril didn’t feel like that at all. She seemed a little nervous, but she was chatting amiably with the adventurers.

…Well, if the customers didn’t mind, neither did I.

Saril noticed us and floated over.

“It’s been a while, Raphiel.”

“I-It has. …Why are you a wraith?”

“Orvier killed me. When I regained awareness, I was like this.”

“Orvier will pay.”

Raphiel’s mood visibly soured, but Saril calmly interrupted.

“Settle down, Raphiel.”

“B-But…”

“It’s over. More importantly, I lost because I was weak. I should consider myself fortunate to still be alive in any form.”

“Are you not dead?”

“…Ah. So I am.”

Apparently, the Village Chief had found Saril while he was training in the forest.

He brought her back to the village and suggested to Hinoka that she might work as a waitress at my restaurant.

So the amusing thing the Village Chief mentioned was an undead Saril working at the restaurant.

…No, that wasn’t amusing at all!

“Eight, I have a request.”

Once Raphiel and Saril had finished talking, Hinoka addressed me.

What could she want that required such a formal tone?

“What is it?”

“I wish to go mushroom hunting. Come with me.”

“Oh. All right.”

That came out of nowhere!