The moment I tried to approach the goddess, Samady’s voice resonated in my mind.

(Lark, could you please stay still?)

(Samady-san…?)

As instructed, I stood still. Then, a light began to gather around my body and the goddess’s, glowing brightly. Unintentionally, I closed my eyes, and when I reopened them, Samady was standing next to me. The surrounding landscape was a pure white space, with no one else but the goddess.

“Hey, Samady-san… is this place by any chance the divine realm?”

“Yes, I’ve brought only you and her. Lark-kun, I apologize for causing trouble again due to my poor management.”

Samady bowed deeply, and then, as he raised his head, he addressed the goddess.

“You’ve already regained consciousness, haven’t you? Stand on your own two feet.”

“Samadyla-sama—”

The goddess stood up unsteadily, letting out a pleading voice.

“No need for excuses. Your forcible repatriation has been decided in the council. Further punishment is being considered, so you should stay in prison until the decision is made.”

“No! Not that—”

The goddess tried to defend herself in a panic, but as Samady moved his hand, she disappeared instantly.

“Phew, really. It’s hard to manage all the worlds by myself, so I have other gods helping me, but I think I need to review the system.”

“Yeah. I’ve been bothered twice already by this god stuff, so I’m in favor of that.”

When I gave a sarcastic remark, Samady bowed again. “I really am full of remorse for troubling you, Lark-kun. Once this matter is settled, I intend to meet with all the gods associated with this world… Now, I’m going to send you back. I brought you here while time in the original world was stopped, so it should feel instantaneous for the others.”

At his words, my body began to glow again, and before I knew it, I was back in the castle.

The soldiers and the king of the Holy Kingdom were confused as the goddess had suddenly disappeared.

“You! What did you do to our goddess?”

“She’s not here anymore. She’s locked up in the prison of the divine realm. Now what?”

“What nonsense! Our revered goddess is the only god in this world!”

“There’s no way she’s the only god… There are far more gods than you think.”

Just as I let out a sigh and said those words, Kelvin and the others entered the room, and surprisingly, so did Idel.

Looking around the room, Idel spoke to me in disbelief, “Hey, Lark. You’ve really gone and done it, haven’t you?”

“Did I? I just came to rescue Father. I’ve already locked up the instigating goddess in the divine realm.”

“Goddess… Wait, don’t tell me you went to the divine realm?”

“Yes, I’ve been there a few times before.”

“You really are something else…”

I gave a wry smile to Idel, who wore an astonished smirk, and asked, “What do you think we should do next?”

“What should we do… hmm? What happened to you, Guldo-san?”

Idel looked at Father, being carried by Shafal, and wore a puzzled expression. The moment I explained the situation, an overwhelming aura emitted from Idel’s body, causing the soldiers of the Holy Kingdom to scream out in fear.

“We received reports of his capture, but I didn’t know he was subjected to torture… Judging from Guldo-san’s condition, his wounds have been healed already, right?”

“Yes, I used holy attribute magic to treat him, but I couldn’t restore the blood he lost…”

“I see. In that case, it might be best to take Guldo-san home as soon as possible.”

The moment I nodded in agreement to Idel’s proposal, the king of the Holy Kingdom started to yell as if he had just come to his senses.

“Do you think you can just leave like this? This is essentially an act of war!”

“Shut up. Do you still not understand what you’ve done?”

Idel retorted in an angry voice, but the king continued to speak unabated, “We have received a divine revelation from the sole goddess of this world!”

“Listen here… You seem rather dense, so let me explain this clearly. The Holy Kingdom has sent soldiers into our country without permission, kidnapped a citizen and even tortured him. You can’t simply sweep all of this under the rug with ‘it was the goddess’s oracle’. Are you underestimating Recommetys?”

As Idel said this, another voice echoed in the room, talking over his words. “That’s right. After causing various troubles for my country, you have the audacity to solely blame us. What kind of nerve do you have?”

When I looked towards the source of the voice, Ars was entering through the door.

“Oh, Lark-kun. I’m sorry I’m late. It seems like a lot has already been settled.”

“Ars-san… I’m sorry, I acted on my own…”

“No, it’s fine. I expected you would do something like this, and had made various preparations. So, leave the rest to me.”

Ars smiled gently and approached the king of the Holy Kingdom, whispering something in his ear. As the king listened to Ars’s words, his face gradually turned pale, and when Ars said with a smile, “So, be prepared, okay?” the king collapsed onto his knees.

“Um, what did you say?”

Curious about the conversation, I asked Ars who had returned to our side.

“Well, to summarize, I told him to step down as king. More specifically, I warned him that if he continued to rule the Holy Kingdom after we report this incident to the surrounding countries, he would face all kinds of sanctions.”

Seeing Ars’s broad grin, Idel let out a wry laugh.

“As expected, our king is brutal.”

Once things had settled down a bit, I asked Shafal to send the monsters we had brought with us back to the Silver Dragon Mountain, while Idel, Fatjer, and I were teleported to Diblo’s study in Leblanc Kingdom via Ars’s teleportation magic. Diblo was startled when we suddenly appeared, exclaiming, “Whoa!?”

“Lark-kun, don’t just run out of the castle like that! …wait, why is Ars here too?”

“I’ve been saying this for a while now, haven’t I? If the Holy Kingdom were to mess up, I’d play my last hand. To execute that, I’ve been making various arrangements with the kings of surrounding countries. And while I was there to inform the king of the Holy Kingdom about the results, I brought back Lark and the others.”

“What, you were serious about that? Well, the Holy Kingdom does have many problems, but still, it’s a country ruled by a god, so it’s not something to meddle with lightly…”

Diblo seemed taken aback. Is he worried about getting the gods angry? I cut into the conversation to ease Diblo’s concerns.

“It’s fine. The goddess of the Holy Kingdom is currently imprisoned in the divine realm.”

“Eh?!”

Upon hearing that, both Ars and Diblo let out simultaneously surprised cries.

“Hold on, Lark, can you really meet the gods?”

“Yes, I’ve been praying for years, so my ‘Faith’ skill level has reached MAX.”

“Whaatt?!”

Ars raised his voice in surprise, which is rare. Diblo next to him was also taken aback.

Is it that unusual to max out the ‘Faith’ level? …Well, if you think about it, there shouldn’t be that many people in the world who can meet the gods. Anyway, I’ll wait for Ars and Diblo to calm down while I leave the study with Idel, who is carrying Father, and lay Father to bed in the room I use.

When I returned to the study, the two of them had calmed down somewhat. After that, I report what happened in the Holy Kingdom. When I mentioned that I had punched the goddess, they were surprised again. After listening to my story, Idel opened his mouth with a grin.

“I’m always surprised by Lark, but I didn’t expect him to punch a god. You’re probably the first human to physically attack a god.”

“I just…got carried away…I didn’t like her personality.”

As we were discussing future plans, a maid came into the room to report that Father had awakened. We all moved to the room where Father was, and when I opened the door, Father was sitting up in bed waiting.

“I thought it was a dream when Lark came to save me…but it seems to be real.”

Father looked at me and said that with a relieved expression. Feeling warmth in my eyes, I impulsively hugged my sitting Father. He seemed a little surprised at first, but soon put his hand on my head and stroked it gently. After that, Father said he was going to take another nap and laid down in bed, so we left the room so as not to disturb him. At that time, I asked Ars, who I was worried about.

“Ars-san, I know it’s a bit late, but will what I did in the Holy Kingdom cause an international problem?”

“No, it would have been troublesome if the timing was a bit earlier, but it’s no problem since it was right after my preparations were finished. Besides, they were the ones who attacked first.”

Ars answered with a smile and disappeared with a teleportation spell, leaving the words “Don’t worry.” Following Ars, Idel said he had something left to do and teleported somewhere, and Diblo also returned to his study.

“Well, Father is safe and sound, that’s good.”

Muttering to myself, I looked out the window, wondering if Shafal and the others had safely returned. Just then, Shafal was returning… Huh? There’s a light blue dragon following Shafal. Is that…Noah?

Anyway, I went out to the courtyard and waved, saying “Hey,” and Shafal, who noticed me, came down to the courtyard. Before I could ask why Noah was here, Noah spoke first.

“Lark-sama, please make us, the retainers of Shafal-sama, your familiars! This time, I, as the representative of the retainers, have come to ask!”

…Excuse me?

“……Um, how did we end up on this topic?”

As I tilted my head in confusion, Shafal cleared his throat and began to explain.

“Well, uh, I am currently drawing strength from Lark, preparing for the imminent battle by training every day, right? When I informed them of this, my retainers insisted they could be of help as well.”

“……Strength? Battle?”

What on earth is this dragon talking about?

Then, Shafal whispered to me, drawing his face close to my ear. “I couldn’t be truthful about my daily life because it would shatter my image……”

……Well, whatever. I owe Shafal for this time, so I’ll just play along.

“Um, there’s still time before the battle starts, and we have preparations for becoming familiars. For now, could you go back and if we need strength, could we then officially make a familiar contract?”

“I see……Understood. Then, I will return to the mountain and relay this to everyone.”

With that, Noah flew off towards the silver dragon mountain.

“Good. If Noah were here, my life would’ve become easier……” Shafal murmured with a relieved expression. I pretend to be surprised at his words.

“What are you saying? Aren’t you going to train for the upcoming battle, Shafal?”

“Eh, th-that was merely an excuse……”

“You’re being punished for showing off because you don’t want others to know about your lifestyle. Transform into a human and run at the training grounds properly. If you slack off, you won’t get any meals.”

Leaving a despairing Shafal behind, I returned to the castle.

After sunset, when Asura and the others returned to the castle, they questioned me after seeing Father sleeping in the bed, so I told them what had happened.

“So something that incredible happened while we were gone……”

Asura, having finished listening to the story, spoke with surprise. Well, anyone would be surprised if they were told we picked a fight with a country.

“But I didn’t know the god of the Holy Kingdom was so rotten.”

“I was taken aback by it too.”

By the way, I kept the fact that I punched the god a secret from Asura and the others. It would be bad to surprise them anymore.

Now, with the Holy Kingdom mess sorted out, I tell Asura we will return to Recommetys tomorrow. It was a bit of a last-minute report to Leticia and Rin, but they both agreed, so that was good.

“I’ve caused a lot of trouble for everyone because of me, sorry about that.”

“No, it’s fine. We enjoyed our time living in Leblanc.”

“There’s nothing you need to apologize for, Lark-kun.”

“I also had fun with everyone coming over here.”

In response to my apology, Leticia, Rin, and Asura reply in turn.

“Everyone……thank you so much.”

I expressed my gratitude to everyone and spent the last day in Leblanc.

◇◇◇

The next day, we returned home in Recommetys through the teleportation magic of Asura’s attendant.

“Nothing beats the comfort of home……” Father said, stretching as soon as we entered the house.

I completely agreed with him.

While making breakfast in the kitchen with Rin, Noir casually popped his head in, meowing as he was approaching.

“Noir, long time no see. Thanks for everything.”

“Meow~”

Noir rubbed his body against my leg.

Afterwards, breakfast was ready so I took it to the living room where everyone but Shafal, who was inside me, ate together. Shafal, in  the end, skipped training.

After breakfast, I left Father to watch the house with Rin, while I head to the guild to report what happened at the Holy Kingdom. I promised Ars about this yesterday.

Upon entering the guild master’s room, I see Fia and Lala chatting on the sofa.

“Oh, Lark, it’s been a while.”

“It’s good to see you. Fia-san, Lala-san, may I report on what happened in the Holy Kingdom?”

“Yes, of course.”

I then proceeded to explain what happened in the Holy Kingdom to Fia and Lala.

After listening to the story, Fia opened her eyes wide, about to speak. “It seems things were more difficult than we had anticipated,” she said.

“Yes, it was quite tough,” I responded.

“So, you’re planning to return and live here now?” she asked.

“That’s the plan. However, it appears that Father  isn’t quite back to his usual self, so I’d like to take a brief hiatus from my receptionist duties, if possible…”

“Alright, I understand. I’ll let the guild know that you’ll be taking some time off.”

“Thank you.”

Expressing my gratitude to Fia, I exited the guildmaster’s office.

◇

Life seemed to return to normal as if nothing had happened, despite the intense battles we’d experienced until recently. The day after we returned to Recommetys, our party took on a request that required us to travel a fair distance. The task was to subjugate Kobolds, beast-like monsters ravaging a village’s farmland. The difficulty wasn’t high, but the destination was about half a day’s carriage ride from the royal capital. So, we accepted the job partly as a change of pace.

“Asura! There’s one in the bush on the right!”

“Eh, ah, got it!”

Having arrived in the village and been told about the forest where the Kobolds resided, we were now under attack by them. There were only about a dozen Kobolds, but unlike goblins, they used strategies like hiding in bushes or shooting arrows from the trees, so they were surprisingly tough to deal with. In response to the Kobolds, our party formed a battle formation. Asura and I provided magical support from the rear, Leticia took on the Kobolds in the vanguard, and Lin supported Leticia. That was our formation.

“The forest restricts the magic we can use… it’s a pain. Asura, can you handle the rear support alone?”

“Eh? Lark, are you going to the front?”

“No, I want to take out those hiding in the bushes and shooting from the trees, but it’s a bit tricky from here. Is it alright if I step out of formation for a bit?”

“Understood. I can handle it alone for a while.”

With Asura’s agreement, I levitated and climbed the trees using wind magic. Ever since my failed experiment with flying, I’d been secretly practicing, and I could now float in the air for short distances. I took down the Kobolds in the trees and returned to Asura. Now, all that was left were those in the bushes and those confronting Leticia and the others.

However, the fight lasted for several more minutes due to the Kobolds calling in Goblin reinforcements. Everyone was growing tired, and it seemed like we might start to see injuries if we kept this up. I didn’t really want to do this, but… I asked Leticia and the others to back off and sent countless wind blades flying, cutting down the monsters and the forest alike.

I’d read in a book that unnecessarily damaging the forest could incur the wrath of the Goddess of Fertility, so I had tried to avoid harming it as much as possible, but I had no choice now. The surrounding area was now completely clear, and the remaining Kobolds and Goblins, without places to hide, were standing still. Leticia took down the remaining monsters, and the battle was over. As we collected the monster materials, I spoke up.

“Did anyone else feel like the number of monsters in this quest was unusual?”

“Yes, I thought it was a bit much for a D-rank request…”

“I agree with Leticia.”

“I also felt that this quest was rather tough…”

It seemed everyone had felt the same. As we searched the forest for the cause of the abnormality, we found a cave that seemed to be the Kobolds’ nest. Inside, I discovered a large collection of ores and gems.

“I’ll put aside why monsters would have so many gems… But with this amount, it suggests the Kobolds have been using this place as a base for quite some time.”

But the quest paper said that the Kobolds had only started appearing a few days ago…

As I pondered the mystery, Rin, who had been investigating a different area, called out, “Lark-kun, come over here!” I went over to see her peering into a deep hole that seemed bottomless.

“Hey, Lark, could this be…?”

“Yeah… Let’s call Leticia and Asura over too.”

I called out to Leticia and Asura, and they joined us by the hole. They looked into it, their faces filled with astonishment.

“Could this be… a labyrinth?”

“I believe so,” I answered Letitia, who murmured as if in disbelief.

“The Kobolds that have been ravaging the village fields these past few days likely came from this labyrinth… We should report this to the guild as soon as possible.”

Everyone agreed with my suggestion, and we hurriedly left the cave and exited the forest. After returning to the village, we warned the village chief about the labyrinth in the cave and advised him to stay away. Then, we decided to return to the guild as quickly as possible.

Thinking it would be quicker to ride Shafal than a horse, I summoned Shafal and took to the skies towards the royal capital. Incidentally, Asura was thrilled to fulfill his dream of riding a legendary dragon.

But still, a labyrinth, huh… I hope this doesn’t turn into a major issue.