The mayor sat down, clasped his hands on the table, and smiled.
It was the smile of soone who had gotten out of a lot of trouble.
"Young man, I believe you. I really do. But understand... without the monster cores, how can I officially confirm that the dungeon has been cleared?"
Haru remained silent.
"Those are the rules," continued the mayor, opening his hands as if he were innocent. "I don’t make the laws, I just follow them."
"Aldric."
The mayor blinked.
"What?"
"Aldric, the map guy," Haru repeated. "He’s alive and can tell a lot about certain things that happened in the dungeon..."
The mayor’s smile beca a little less comfortable.
"Ah... well..."
"Not to ntion," Haru continued, "that half the village probably heard sothing earlier today. Noise coming from the direction of the Vandris mansion."
The mayor opened his mouth. It closed.
"Well, that can be interpreted in several ways..."
"It can." Haru sat down and leaned back in his chair. "But would you prefer it interpreted by Aldric or by ?"
The silence that followed was long.
The mayor changed his strategy.
"Listen, young man. How about you stay until tomorrow?" he said, in a softer tone. "If the monsters appear, you’ll see that the dungeon wasn’t cleaned. But if they don’t appear... I’ll pay you. Mayor’s word."
Haru looked at him.
"You don’t have the money."
"Yes, I do..."
"You spent it all hiring a cleaning crew." Haru spoke slowly, as if reading from sowhere. "They’ll arrive in five days. They were supposed to do what I already did."
The mayor turned white.
"And you still owe Aldric on top of that," Haru added.
No answer.
The man sank slightly into his chair. His smile had completely vanished.
"How do you know that?"
"He told quite a bit while we were at the mansion."
Silence returned. This ti, heavier.
The mayor rubbed his face with both hands.
"Alright," he said, his voice weary. "Alright. You cleaned it up. I accept."
He opened a drawer, took out a piece of paper with a worn stamp, and began to write.
"There’s a clause in the municipal law. Official authorization for public charity. When a citizen provides service to the community without a prior contract..." he paused, choosing his words carefully, "...the municipality can formally recognize the service. Without paynt, but with legal validity."
Haru looked at the paper.
"In other words, you give a nice piece of paper and pay nothing."
"Yeah... technically correct."
"I understand."
Haru was quiet for a mont.
"So I learned sothing today," he said, more to himself. "If you’re going to raid, it has to be official first. With a contract. With witnesses. With proof in hand."
"That’s how it works here," confird the mayor, in a tone that sounded almost apologetic. "Without official registration, you can clear ten dungeons and not receive a penny."
Haru kept that information in mind.
The mayor finished signing the paper, blew on the ink, and then stopped.
"Look..." he said, as if playing his last card. "What if I give you a letter of recomndation too?"
Haru raised an eyebrow.
"You’re young," continued the mayor, in an almost paternal tone. "Young people need credibility to do anything in this world. A letter from soone official opens doors that money sotis can’t."
"What exactly is this letter?"
"It’s an official docunt where I, as mayor, affirm that you are technically competent. That you successfully completed a high-risk task. It’s valid in any city that respects municipal administration."
Haru crossed his arms.
"Yours alone is worth almost nothing."
The mayor opened his mouth.
"To have real weight, you’d need letters from important figures. Guilds, nobles, kingdom officials. A letter from a village mayor..." Haru shook his head, "...it’s practically just decoration."
The mayor snorted.
"Well, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
Haru didn’t answer.
He got up from his chair and went to the window.
On the other side of the dirty glass, the village spread out in the dim daylight. Crooked houses. Dirt roads. Thin children running between old tents.
A place that barely existed on the map.
And a letter from a mayor who barely existed in the governnt.
He stared for a while. Then he sighed.
"Okay. I accept."
"Where would you like to recomnd you?" the mayor asked.
Haru thought for a second.
"That elite school in the capital. I don’t know the exact na."
The mayor froze.
"Could you... tell the na? I’d like to confirm."
"I don’t know the na," Haru said, shrugging. "I mainly went there to pick up girls. And I’m only going now because becoming Isabela Valtherion’s personal guard would be the fastest way to rise in the ranks."
The na fell like a stone.
The mayor was completely silent.
Then he began to tremble.
Haru noticed the change, but didn’t pay any attention.
"Are you alright, sir?"
The mayor swallowed hard; just by Haru ntioning the na Valtherion, he already knew which school (academy) Haru was referring to.
"What... what is your na, my young hero?"
The voice had changed. Before, it was the voice of a man trying to pull off a scam. Now it was sothing completely different.
"Haru Mizuki."
The mayor took the pen with his still-trembling hand and slowly wrote the na. Then he signed the letter, stamped it, and handed it to Haru with both hands.
"You’re not going to... you’re not going to get this information to Mr. Valtherion, are you?"
Haru took the paper.
"No. I don’t see the relevance in that." He folded the letter and put it away. "Although his daughter almost died here a few tis... but it was her fault. I never asked her for help."
The mayor turned as white as a sheet.
"Isabela Valtherion almost died in Ashvale... If this reached Mr. Valtherion’s ears... Ashvale would cease to exist on the map."
"Hey."
He winked.
Haru was looking at him again.
"When did you say these guys would arrive here?"
"In five days... to be specific, four days now."
"You’ve already paid, how much?"
"One hundred silver coins."
Haru was quiet for a mont.
"What ranking was the dungeon you put in their contract?"
"Veteran." The mayor lowered his head. "It was the highest I could pay."
"Is Veteran above or below Lower Master 1?"
"Below." The mayor grimaced. "Way below. Like... way below."
Haru morized the information, stood up, and walked to the door.
"Hey, but wait!" said the mayor. "What do I do when they arrive? The dungeon has already been cleared, I..."
But Haru had already left.
The mayor sat behind his desk, alone, explaining the situation to the walls.
Haru walked down Ashvale’s main street with the folded letter in his pocket and his hands in his pockets.
Four days. A veteran group arriving to clear a dungeon that no longer existed.
Paid out of the pocket of a bankrupt mayor, who owed money to the man Haru had just pulled from a dungeon.
"What a world."
He pushed open the inn door and went inside.
"So? Where were you?" Isabela asked.
"Looking for money."
"What!?"
"It was supposed to be charity!" she said, crossing her arms.
"Charity my foot... You have money. I don’t."
Isabela opened her mouth to reply, but Haru had already continued.
"We’re going to stay another four days."
"Why?" Kira asked.
"Because I want my money. And it’s coming in four days."
"We can leave without you..."
"You can go." Haru shrugged. "I’m not leaving here until those five days are up."
Isabela huffed.
"Seriously..." he said, in the most tired tone imaginable. "After all this, we need to rest, redhead."
"I’m not your redhead!"
"I’m going to rest." Haru was already going up the stairs.
"Redhead!" Kira said, just to provoke Isabela even more.
In the room, he closed the door and stood in the middle of the room for a mont.
He slowly took off his clothes. He took a shower with the cold water in the basin. Then he stood in front of the small mirror hanging on the wall.
His right eye was still black.
He stared at his own face.
He rembered Corvus falling. Cedrick. Vandris. Kaelthar. Even Vorath.
One by one.
He had felt almost nothing while it was happening. It was as if his body acted on its own and his brain arrived later to see the damage.
"I never thought I would kill soone."
He took a deep breath.
"And the other gars who died... what happens to them? Do they co back to Earth? Or..."
There was no answer.
He threw himself back on the bed, looked at the dark wooden ceiling, and let sleep co.
...
[[Day 1/4]]
Isabela woke up early and went to Kira’s room without knocking.
"Did you sleep?" Kira asked, sitting on the edge of the bed with her hair ssy.
"Badly." Isabela entered and closed the door. "Tell more about yourself."
Kira looked at her suspiciously.
"Why?"
"Because we’re stuck here for five days and I have nothing else to do."
Kira was quiet for a second. Then she gave a half-smile.
"Okay."
Yukihi also entered the room.
...
In the inn, the afternoon custors spoke quietly between sips of their drinks.
"Have you heard about Vandris Manor and the Dungeon?"
"Who hasn’t?"
"My cousin lives nearby and said she felt the ground shake."
"The ground shook and the dungeon disappeared along with it?"
"The dungeon disappeared?"
"That’s what they say. No one went in to confirm, but the monsters stopped appearing near the forest."
The innkeeper was cleaning the counter and pretending not to hear.
[[Day 2]]
Aldric opened his eyes.
The ceiling was white. It slled of herbs.
He tried to sit up, but the pain in his chest made him lie back down imdiately.
"Slowly." The voice was that of an old woman. The village healer. "You were unconscious for three days. Your ribs are still healing."
Aldric lay there, staring at the ceiling.
Rembering everything. The manor. The basent. The screams...
"Where’s the boy?" he asked.
"Which boy?"
"The one who brought here."
The old woman shrugged.
"At the inn, I think. Looks like he’ll be staying a few days."
Aldric closed his eyes again.
"Who the hell is this boy?"
Aldric opened his eyes again, realizing sothing. "What?! I can’t feel my right arm... why can’t I feel my right arm?!"
He looked at his arm and scread, "Aaaaaaaaa! My right arm, my arm!"
"Shut up!" shouted the healer, hitting him with a straw broom...
"IT WAS MY MASTURBATION ARM!"
...
[[Day 3]]
Haru woke up early and went downstairs to et the guards.
"Hey." Haru stopped in front of them. "Does one of you know how to fight for real?"
The two looked at each other.
"Depends on what you call ’real’," said one of them.
"How about so quick training?"
"Deal!" they both agreed, almost in unison.
...
[[Day 4]]
The morning arrived with fog and the sound of new hooves in Ashvale.
There were 4.
All in light armor. Weapons strapped to their saddles. Faces of people who had done this a thousand tis.
"Veteran Rank..." said the leader, more to himself. "For a miserable village."
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