‘They really had the press working overtime.’

It was late at night in the quiet Ifühl Counter office. Alina heaved a sigh as she glanced at the newspaper spread out on her desk. In bold letters it read: “The Tower of Chalk Capture: Special Edition!”

The gutter press was having its way with their story, recounting the recent capture of the hidden dungeon from start to finish in overblown, flowery terms. The guildmaster, too, had gone public on the affair, issuing a statement in which he ‘nobly’ proclaimed that he “wants to lavish the Executioner with praise and honour” or something to that effect.

Alina, of course, wanted nothing of the sort; she just wanted him to hurry up and get rid of her overtime.

He had informed her that his promise to increase the number of receptionists assigned to Ifühl Counter and to eliminate overtime would take some time to implement. While eagerly awaiting that promised day, Alina once again found herself working late into the night.

‘I want to go home… I’m too tired for this…’

She muttered as she rifled through her drawer out of habit. She was looking for a potion, that devilish drink that compels the drinker to high spirits, but she came up empty. Come to think of it, she recalled, I gave my last bottle to him.

‘Well, at least I didn’t get exposed as the Executioner, so let’s leave it at that.’

Alina slumped listlessly over her desk.

As a matter of fact, Alina had been prepared for the worst—that the guards at the guild headquarters, having discovered that she was the Executioner, would spread the word throughout town, making her identity widely known and preventing her from ever donning the receptionist’s uniform again. As for those guards, Glenn had merely told her that he had “made sure they kept mum”. Alina felt she’d just caught a glimpse of the organisation’s dark side, so she didn’t inquire any further, but thanks to it her her identity had been kept under wraps.

‘Good grief, how long is this overtime going to last for? All because that rabble can’t defeat a single boss.’

She spat out her usual complaint and grimaced.

After the Tower was captured, dungeon after new dungeon started being discovered in its vicinity. In the absence of the Silver Blades, who were taking a hiatus due to their leader’s severe injuries, scores of adventurers unduly confident in their own abilities rushed to capture the new dungeons in their stead, but predictably they had failed to make headway in any of them.

Alina had gone out of her way to capture the Tower of Chalk, yet once again she found herself sucked into the daily—or should that be nightly—grind of overtime.

‘Hurry up and defeat them already… they’re just bosses…’

She lamented, but then she had a sudden thought:

Well, they are doing their best out there.

Adventurers brave the dungeons, knowing full well the dangers involved, in order to get the job done. Alina still thought it idiotic to do a job so fraught with risk.

Suddenly, Alina recalled what happened in the Tower of Chalk the other day. When she saw the Blades confirm each other’s safety and share their joy, she had come to realise something.

Ah, I see. This is the work the adventurers chose, she thought.

Just as she continued to work as a receptionist despite the overtime, so they continued to work as adventurers, regardless of the risks involved. Because it’s the path they’ve chosen. At the end of the day, both the receptionist and the adventurer endure their respective risks for the sake of that which they won’t give up. Both are foolish, both are lofty, both are working as hard as they can, and in that respect both are the same.

They’re doing their best out there, so maybe I should work a little harder myself.

Alina thought—though the fact still remained that overtime is an evil, and she immediately revised her resolve to work seriously for just a little while. Three minutes or so.

‘Miss Alina!’

It was then that Alina heard a voice that she didn’t want to hear, or should’ve been there at all for that matter, and pulled her face into a grimace.

When she turned to the direction of the voice, towards the counter that was supposed to be closed at this hour, she saw the figure of the intruder standing in the dark lobby. It was Jade Skleid.

How he had managed to get past the locked front door, she couldn’t summon up the interest to ask. Instead, she wrinkled her brow as much she could and said in a in a voice of menace:

‘I’m in the middle of work, I’ll have you know.’

‘I know, that’s why I came.’

He snorted in a meaningless gesture of conceit.

Jade’s body was in a pitiful state. He wasn’t wearing the armour and sword he usually had on him, and his thin shirt, wide open at the front, revealed the bandages that covered his entire torso. The same was true of both his arms, his left being in such poor condition that it had to be in a sling.

He was leaning on a cane, with which he could barely walk, causing Alina to wonder if there was something wrong with one of his legs.

To all appearances, he looked like an injured man, but the face staring back at Alina was radiant with health.

‘It’s partly my fault that you have to work late today, so I thought I’d offer my help!’

‘Don’t need it.’

‘…’

‘For starters, how come you’re so lively? I thought that even with Rururi’s skills it would take a while for you to heal.’

When Alina destroyed Silva’s mirror, the skill he had stolen from Rururi returned to her. But the wounds which Jade suffered were severe, and the little healer’s magic, which provides a burst of instant healing rather than long-term recovery, proved to be ineffective. The diagnosis was that he would need three months to fully recover, and that in the meantime he should refrain from adventuring and recuperate at home—or so Alina was told.

‘My body may be in tatters, but my mind is fit as a fiddle, so I got bored.’

‘How on earth can you be so full of energy?’

When she heard of Jade’s condition, Alina realised a terrible truth. He was so wounded that even the magic of that crack healer hadn’t worked on him—which meant that the cheap, wholesale potion she had given him shouldn’t have had much effect either. Moreover, she had already drunk half the bottle, so there shouldn’t have been enough left to make a significant difference.

In other words, he had been on the verge of death the whole time. Even Alina, after all this time, was taken aback by his apparent immortality.

‘Ha-ha-ha.’

Oblivious to Alina’s inner thoughts, Jade smugly puffed out his bandaged chest.

‘It’s because you gave me that half-drunk potion filled with your love for—’

‘Die!’

‘Blegh!’

Alina’s iron fist sank into Jade’s face, which crumpled like an accordion, before she grabbed him by the bandages.

‘What the hell’s your problem? Now you even intrude on me during my overtime shift. What do you want? Do you want to die?’

‘It’s because you’re going back to your own house.’

‘Of course I’m going back to my beloved home! They just finished repairing it!’

‘But I wanted you to nurse me.’

‘Shut up and die!’

Alina let out a heavy sigh.

In the end, nothing had changed.

Her house was fixed, her identity as the Executioner remained under wraps, she had to work overtime as usual, and when it came to this stalker he increasingly clung to her like a bloodsucking leech. Her depressing situation hadn’t changed a bit—however.

‘Jade.’

‘What is it?’

‘Help me with my work.’

Alina muttered, almost inaudibly.

As Jade’s expression brightened as if he’d just won the lottery, Alina’s warped in displeasure. But needs must when the devil drives. To get home and into bed quickly, she had to take all the help she could get.

‘Looks like tomorrow’s overtime too.’

As she grumbled, Alina thought.

Her situation might not have changed, but somehow she felt like she could give it her best tomorrow too.

Fin.

First of all, I’m sorry I didn’t release a chapter on Wednesday. I had some things going on and was feeling a bit under the weather, so I just didn’t have the time or the energy.

Second: yay, it’s the last chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it. I certainly did.

Now you might be wondering whether I’ll continue to translate the next volume, and to that I can only answer: you’ll have to wait till Monday to find out. Before then, let me know in the comments whether you’d like to read it.