129. Rache's Miscalculation

The oracle concluded, and I found myself standing once again in the rugged, rock-strewn wilderness. Parting with Ren-kun after finally seeing him again was bittersweet, but now that I had officially become an Apostle, there would surely be plenty of chances for us to meet. That thought kept the loneliness at bay.

『Oh, Tort, you’re back already?』

As I stood there in a bit of a daze, Shiroru spoke to me, his tail swishing back and forth. Come to think of it, does Shiroru not receive oracles? I wondered. It would be nice if we could visit Ren-kun’s house together.

"Yeah. How much time has passed?"

『Hardly any. Look, Masso and the others are still talking.』

Just as Shiroru pointed out, Masso-san and his group were still in the middle of a conversation with the guide. I had seen the moment Halfa received an oracle before, so I knew how it worked, but the disparity between perceived time and reality was truly staggering.

"Oh, that’s right. I... I’ve become an Apostle for Ren-kun—I mean, for the Destiny God."

『Hmph. Does that actually change anything?』

"Hmm? Not really, I don't think. It just means I’ll receive oracles directly from now on."

『Is that so? Well, it’s certainly more convenient to be called directly!』

Until now, we could only communicate through the Pandora Gifts. By the way, it turned out that the short sentences written in those letters were Ren-kun’s desperate attempts to see if he could somehow bypass the restrictions on exchanging information. Apparently, the rules dictated that he could generally only interfere with anyone who wasn't an Apostle or a Maiden through indirect means, like skills. Attaching an instruction manual for an item was just barely acceptable, and he was even allowed a 5% margin of error for typos. He apparently planned to insist the entire opening sentence was just one big typo. Personally, I thought he was pushing his luck with that excuse.

"Oho, it seems Tort-boy's business is finished as well. Well then, we shall take our leave. We have matters that must be attended to."

By the time I returned to the group's side, Masso-san seemed to be wrapping up his conversation. We bid farewell to the guide and made our way back into Aingurna.

"You may leave the report to the Gurna Council to me. As for the Guild, Rache is here... though it would be helpful if Lowell and the rest of you could file your own reports as well."

"I feel like there's some subtext there, nya~? But filing reports is a pain anyway, so that actually helps me out, nya!"

In any case, our exploration regarding the Mystery Key had reached a natural stopping point. Masso-san would take charge of the report to the Gurna Council, and in exchange, I handed the key over to him. It couldn't be helped, really. Even if it only worked in ten-floor increments, no one would believe we could move instantaneously through the dungeon without physical proof. It had been incredibly convenient, so I was a little sad to see it go.

I had already handed the documents Godfee likely left behind to Masso-san, but I was still holding onto the items we’d seized from the warehouse-like room. There was a significant amount of gear, and the others probably didn't have a good place to store it all anyway.

After seeing Masso-san off, we headed to the Guild to file our own report.

"...Nya? Oh no, nya! We used a shortcut, so we’re back way ahead of schedule, nya!"

It seemed the realization had finally dawned on her. Since we were able to skip the entire return journey, we had completed the round trip in half the expected time. That meant Rache-san's "freedom" had also been cut in half. On the bright side, her work shouldn't have piled up that much yet, so it wasn't all bad news for her.

"I-It's still too early to go back, nya! Oh, I know, nya! Those special individuals who hear the strange voices should still be out there somewhere, nya! We should go around defeating them ourselves to make sure no one else accidentally takes them down, nya!"

She clearly didn't want to go back to her desk, as her resistance continued. It was true that I was curious about those special individuals, but...

"Regardless of that, we still have to report back. Even if we were to go after those special individuals, we’d have to persuade Buffy-san first."

"That’s... impossible, nya..."

Sensing the odds were against her, Rache-san's shoulders slumped dramatically. Despite her moaning, she didn't resist any further and followed us obediently to the Guild.

"Oh, welcome back, everyone. You're back much sooner than expected."

It was already getting close to the time the Adventurer's Guild would normally close for the day. Perhaps because of the hour, there were only a few adventurers lined up at the reception. We were able to speak with Buffy-san immediately. I felt bad for catching her right at the end of her shift, but we laid out everything we had learned during the expedition.

"I see. That is indeed a troublesome situation. We will issue a notice for others to stay away from the special individuals... but there is a risk that someone might defeat one without realizing what it is. As Rache-san says, it might be better to proactively eliminate them."

"Exactly, nya! Which is why I—"

"Rache-san, you have other work to do, don't you? If you have enough spare time to go hunting, perhaps I should return your workload to its original volume?"

"...I will do my paperwork quietly, nya."

Rache-san, who had been fighting so hard against her desk job, went quiet in an instant. Buffy-san really was a force to be reckoned with.

Ultimately, the matter was turned into a nomination request for us. The reasoning was that with Halfa’s Song of Soothing, we would be able to resist the influence of the voices. After discussing it as a party, we decided to accept. I was genuinely concerned about the situation, and if we managed to take the monsters down, there was a chance we might even get our hands on another key.