10.5

Epilogue

It had been several days since the battle with the Mobile Fortress Destroyer.

The mood in the Adventurer's Guild was surprisingly joyous today.

It was obvious why everyone was so happy.

The adventurers looked at the guild staff with expectant eyes.

"Kazuma, it feels weird for me to be the one to say this, but I must thank you for protecting this town… I'm grateful…! One day, I'll tell you everything about myself, and the reason why I want to protect this town."

Darkness, who was in casual clothing, smiled warmly as she said this.

Darkness and I were some distance away from the other adventurers.

I replied to Darkness:

"To be honest, you looked really cool back then."

When she heard me say that, Darkness was probably imagining how great she looked, not backing down in the face of the Destroyer…

"Is, is that so…?"

She blushed a little and turned her face away shyly.

I continued saying to the embarrassed Darkness…

"But you were also the one who contributed the least."

"!"

Hearing me say that, Darkness maintained her pose of averting her face and trembled.

"Well, Darkness just stood in front of the town the entire time–I was working hard, you know! I broke the barrier and healed Kazuma! And I shared my mana with Megumin!"

Aqua showed up out of nowhere and said to Darkness without any ill intentions.

Darkness shook again when she heard that.

"As for me, I fired two Explosions in one day, a stellar performance. And the second shot obliterated the Destroyer!"

Megumin who showed up out of nowhere also said without any ill intentions, which made Darkness shiver again.

"Kazuma was great too! His command was on point. He also defeated a large golem despite some minor mistakes, extracted the Coronatite ore, and provided me with mana…!"

Wiz who suddenly showed up said with absolutely no ill intentions. Darkness couldn't take it anymore and covered her face with her hands.

"Wiz was superb, casting an explosion spell, icing my hand, and even teleporting the Coronatite ore that was about to explode away… The MVP should be Wiz, right?"

After I finished, Darkness, who was covering her face, started shivering.

"… So, after acting stubborn and talking about protecting the town, what did you do?"

"What's this!? This new feeling…! Wahhh–!"

After teasing Darkness until she squatted down blushing, I felt satisfied–

And the noise in the guild was abruptly silenced.

I lifted my head and saw the reason why it was so quiet.

Appearing before me was a troubled guild staff member leading a brunette woman with two knights.

I see, the bounty was larger than defeating the Demon King's army boss; it was a mobile fortress that was threatening the towns and cities of every country.

So, the bounty wasn't presented by the guild staff, but the knights of this country.

No, they might even try to recruit me to be a knight.

As we were watching with great expectations, the woman looked in my direction.

Her gaze fell directly on me, with serious eyes filled with intense emotion.

Indeed, if I needed to use an example…

– Those were the sharp eyes of a person looking at their father's murderer.

"Adventurer Satou Kazuma ! You're under arrest for the crime of treason! Come with us!"

Afterdrawing