34 - parting gesture

"I see. ....... They are not back?"　

Thor was upset by the sudden rejuvenation of Yuril, but since he didn't seem to notice it, he decided to blithely ignore it.

Even if he tried to sneak back into the room, he had already used up all of his available strength in the previous battle.

In addition, I was short on magic power.

In order to change the subject for now, I asked her how Sora and the others were doing, and she replied that they had not been seen at the lodging house.

Driven by a bad premonition, Thor decided to leave the situation to Yuril and hurried to the outer gate.

Around the gate, guards and adventurers, basking in the afterglow of their victory, were loudly talking about how they had fought.　

A short distance away from the noisy crowd.

Thor's eyes found Thora sitting slumped against the stone wall.

He also sees Moe leaning against a girl, touching her head and clearing his throat strangely.

The child is the first to notice Thor, who slows his pace in relief to see that the two are safe.

"Oh, Tor-chan!"

"Oh, it's Thor!"

Thor picks up Moo, who comes running up to him cheerfully, with one hand and approaches him to look into Sola's face.

The girl's expression was a mixture of tears, exhaustion as if she had just finished a big job, and a refreshed feeling.　

When Thor reached out his hand and touched her cheek, she nodded weakly.

The difference from her usual condition indicates that the problem is not only the lack of magic power.

Sola, who had been lost in the touch of Thor's hand for a while, began to talk in a whisper, perhaps feeling more at ease now.

"......You know, Thor. I finally understand. I'm really sorry for everything I've done.

"You don't have to talk if it's too hard."

"No, I want you to listen to me. It must be very heartbreaking for you to know that other people are willing to give up their lives for you. Yes, I'm very sorry. I'm sorry, Thor. From the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry. ......"

"I see. I'm glad you understand that. By the way, I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me what's going on.

"You want to hear the story about how Moo beat Inosie?

"Uh, so it's me. ......"

When they told him the general situation, Thor nodded his head and said nothing.

He hugged them tightly with both arms.

"Thor, what's wrong?"　

Sola's voice is raised and Moe buries his face in Thor's shoulder happily.

Thor puts his mouth to their ears and whispers in a calm voice.

"You did well, Thora and Moo. I'm so glad you're all right. And I'm sorry. I thought it was cool for adults to protect you, but here we are."

"No, it's not your fault, Thor!　The only one to blame is me for doing what I did."

"Moo, I did everything To-chan told me to do!"

"No, no, no, that's not right, that's a bad way to protect them!　If you ever do that again, I'll be really angry."

"...... Sola, I told you I wouldn't get mad."

Sola looks annoyed at Moe's words, who is pouting when he is pulled by the cheek.

Thor's eyes narrowed in amusement at the sight of the two, who were now completely at ease with each other.

"You two have become good friends. I'm happy for you, Sora.

At Thor's words, both of them simultaneously broke into a smile, as if they had timed it perfectly.

While the three were relaxing, a voice called out to them from behind.

"Hey, old man, you're late! The festival is over.

"Hello, Mr. Toll."

Hello!

"...... Hi."

"Hello."

When they appeared, it was Carles and a quartet of young adventurers.

"Yeah, we got to the wrong place for a minute. I guess these guys took care of you. And I heard they protected you too. Thanks a lot, guys."

"Oh, don't get crazy. I didn't do that much."

Sola told us that Carles had returned with the four men, and that he had also hurried to protect Mu, who was sitting outside the gate.

He stayed with them until the guards arrived and opened the gate.

After Likan, the guard who had closed the gate without permission, was taken away, he joined the attackers and went on a rampage.

"I owe you one."

"Not like you, old man. You can go your own way. Don't worry about the details.

Thor was uncomfortable with these unusual words, but it was not until two days later that the meaning of them became clear to him.

The day after Dadaan's border town succeeded in repelling the "outbreak" from the kobold forest, the expeditionary force led by Deputy Director Sacco returned.

According to their report, a huge dungeon was forming in the desolate outer town of Bossalia, as they had long suspected.

The top rankers raided the dungeon and saved the day.

The only problem is that it was the day before the "outbreak" occurred.

In other words, the sudden outbreak may have been caused by the backflow of the noxious gas that had been injected into the Bossalia area, which was triggered by the disappearance of the dungeon.

This is why the nearby kobolds' caves were suddenly activated.

Furthermore, the unusual increase in the number of goblins a few days ago may have been a sign that a new dungeon was forming.

The extent to which this incident was a setup is still under investigation.

The return of the elite quickly settled the fuss and brought about various changes.

The most significant of these was the denunciation of the Guard.

The poor manner in which they moved from the report of the discovery to the interception.

Furthermore, they were caught in a diversion and allowed to enter the city.

The second one, in particular, was saved thanks to the efforts of Thor and his team, but it was still a major blunder.

One mistake could have resulted in a repeat of the Bossalia incident.

The incident was not made too public, and only the cooperation of a couple of adventurers passing by was announced.

The two adventurers not only slaughtered dozens of hobgoblins, but also their chief.

There was no doubt that they were very skilled, but the absence of a top ranker made it very difficult to identify them.

There were even false rumors that a mysterious beautiful woman with a broom was also involved, leading to all sorts of speculations.

There was no way that Sacco could have overlooked this serious situation.

Although the Guard is affiliated with the Adventurers' Bureau, it is treated differently from the staff, and since the Adventurers' Bureau Chief doubles as the Guard Chief, it is almost an army directly under Dadan.

The Guard Corps, which has been exposed to an abysmal situation, has been reorganized, and the qualifications of its members have been reviewed.

This resulted in a considerable reduction of power on the part of the Director-General.

However, Dadan is not going to get off scot-free.

The personnel costs saved by the reduction in personnel were easily used to repair the exterior walls of the building.

It is likely to be quite noisy inside and outside of the city for a while to come.

And deeply related to this disturbance was the treatment of the gatekeepers.

Aside from Lycan, who closed the gate on his own accord, Carles was also to be punished for leaving his post in the event of an emergency.

It was revealed at the court temple that Rikan's action was out of resentment that his comrades had told the Security Division about Thor.

"I couldn't stand ...... it, wondering when the word would get out. I just couldn't ...... let them nail me again."

"No, I didn't tell anyone. I wasn't even going to tell you in the first place."

To Rikan's astonished look, Carles continues as if nothing is wrong.

"Why would I, a servant of the god of thunder who respects honor, go around talking bad about anyone?

The older gate guard knew it was true when he saw his superior guards and inquisitors, who had come as witnesses, shaking their heads.

Likan, devastated, nodded his head in disbelief.

Likan's ruling was to expunge the adventurer's record and ban him from the city.

For some reason, Carles, who had been under house arrest for a month, also announced that he would resign from the Guard and accompany Lycan.

The next day, Thor goes to see Carles and the others off alone as they leave the city.

"He's been my partner for a long time, even if he's such a useless guy. I won't give up on him so easily. Well, he seems to be sorry for what he did, and I'm sure the two of us can handle it."

The young man, who had been easily cut off by his friends when he lost his left hand, was deliberately strong with Thor.

"Oh yeah, can you tell Sora that I'm sorry I couldn't fulfill my promise to take her to the store, old man?"

"Yeah, I'll take you instead, don't worry."

"Shit, I didn't want that to happen. Also, make sure you tell Chibisuke that I'm the cool brother."

"That's difficult. I try not to tell lies.

Carles gave a small smile at the honest reply.

For some reason, Thor thrust out his left fist as he left.

Understanding that it was a farewell gesture, Carles grinned and pulled his hand out of his pocket, attaching the tip of his lost left hand to it.

"Here's a parting gift, take it."

Carls was puzzled by Thor's sudden words, and was even more confused by the discomfort at the tip of his hand.

His eyes, which had been looking down in a hurry, widened to their fullest extent.

There it was, his left hand, which he thought he had lost.

The young man held his breath for a moment, for it was impossible and could not have happened.

It was a scene he had dreamed of dozens, if not hundreds of times.

Since the day he lost the tip of his left hand, his bright future had suddenly ended there.

A strong sense of pride that no matter what kind of monster he faced, he would not fall behind.

The friends he thought were his most precious comrades-in-arms.

A lover to whom I could trust my back completely.

All of this has vanished.

Many times during the night, I wake up with a pain in my hand that is supposed to be gone.

I can't count the number of times I've seen her off with the sympathetic glances of other adventurers I knew.

The year of regret that followed before the breakthrough was the longest year of Carles' life.

He was able to recover from it thanks to the sight of the man who, almost every day, silently continued his lonely adventures.

Suddenly Carles remembers the scene when Thor, who had guided him in his early days, was restoring a bent sword and smiling bitterly at the fact that this was all he could do with his skills.

"What the hell,...... old man, you're not useless at all,...... you've grown into a great skill!"

Thor nodded silently and turned on his heel as Carles fell to his knees, his strength slipping away.

A tearful voice followed his back.

"Hey, old man!　d*mn, what can I say? ....... I mean,...... thanks for not retiring."

"Don't worry about it. Your ...... encouragement has helped me a lot, too."　

Replying over his back, Thor, as usual (・・・・・), raised his left hand in farewell.