The lady clerk from the bakery came over in her own long dress, carrying a cake. On it, in ketchup, were the words “I’ll kill you.” She’d even carefully drawn a skull.

A chilling smile hung on her face. “Dear customer, is this the cake you ordered?”

Arnold nodded with perfect confidence. “Yep. That’s my order. I remember I also asked for a cute girl clerk dance service. When’s that coming up?”

“...We do not provide that kind of service here~”

“This is a scam shop! I want a refund!”

“#.” Caro was visibly angry. She raised a fist that could only deal HP -0, and forced herself to keep smiling. “Then, dear customer, please enjoy our clerk boxing performance~”

Boxing? What was that supposed to be?

Then Arnold got hit with a full combo of Caro’s “Bard Ultimate Exploding Supreme Fist.” She even summoned Lucy for some reason. No one knew what she was doing, but Arnold really did take HP -1.

It was a little cute, so it dealt damage to him.

Caro handed the cake to Arnold. “Hey, hey. So how’d it go over there? Did the two sisters come looking for you?”

“...Yeah. I don’t think they need me anymore.” Arnold recalled the look on Hua Fanlin’s face when she drew her sword at him. He was quite satisfied with that expression. It was the face of someone who had found herself again. “If it’s her now, then even if she had to go to war head-on with House Valentin, Hua Fanlin wouldn’t feel any fear. As for how things end between the two houses... I’m not that interested in noble affairs.”

“Ehhh~~~” Caro dragged out the sound, then complained to Arnold, “You really are no fun! You stirred things up this much, and in the end you’re not getting any benefits at all? You obviously could’ve used this chance to bring both sisters into your harem and enjoy a wonderful retired life. C’mon, getting kicked out of your party, then being liked by other cute girls and starting a lovey-dovey harem life is a classic! That’s the kind of plot everyone loves.”

What was she even talking about? Did she want him to go be with other girls?

Arnold let out a sigh. The road was long and the burden was heavy. In a situation like this, it was obvious enough that Caro did not see him as a romantic option.

He remembered a line from The Amorous Prince:

“A man must learn to put himself in her shoes. He must see things from the perspective of the girl he loves, and understand what she’s thinking.”

So he tried a little perspective-taking.

Then he reached a conclusion.

Caro was feeling inferior.

I see!

He was a Heroic Rank Adventurer. If he were Caro, he probably wouldn’t think of a Heroic Rank Adventurer as a romantic partner either. Caro was also a girl with a lot of pride. You could tell from that time she refused his suggestion. She might be unreliable a lot of the time, but when it came to important matters, she took them seriously.

So that meant... because he was too strong, she hadn’t considered him as a love interest?

That was possible.

Then what should he do?

“Caro, do you want to become stronger?”

Caro looked at Arnold in surprise. “Stronger? Well— if it’s about getting stronger, normal people would all want that, right? No matter what, once you’re stronger, there are more things you can do. Sure, people say greater power means greater responsibility, but in the end, whether you do anything with it still depends on the person.”

The girl muttered to herself, “But if a Bard wants to get stronger, it’s not like you do that through fighting. Training is something you should take slowly, on your own.”

Clearly, she had no intention of signing up for some kind of cram school.

When she chose the path of a Bard, she already knew how she should move forward. She just wasn’t in a hurry. In this world full of legendary creations, in this world with endless wonderful stories, she had plenty of time. She wasn’t in a rush to do anything.

She only wanted to watch how the stories of this world unfolded.

Having his suggestion rejected made Arnold a little sad. But he could understand Caro’s mindset.

Should he just confess first?

...No. He had a feeling that if he confessed now, if he laid his feelings bare, then in the future, Caro might start avoiding him.

Their relationship hadn’t reached that point yet.

How strange. They’d clearly already slept in the same bed, yet she seemed completely unconcerned. Was this how orphanage education worked these days? Should he anonymously write this country a letter with some suggestions?

Arnold found himself a little worried about the nation’s basic education.

Caro then waved a hand. Like Arnold, she looked at the dappled sunlight falling through the gaps in the leaves. “Since there’s nothing here you can interfere with anymore, what are you planning to do next? It looks like you don’t really have any purpose left in this city.”

The girl’s gaze slowly pulled back from the mottled sunlight, then landed on Arnold, carrying a slight weight with it.

Sunlight and gazes should both be weightless.

“As for that— there are still a few things to do in this city. But I’m wondering whether I should tell you.”

In an instant, the weight in the girl’s gaze grew heavier.

No, more accurately, that probing stare really did put pressure on him.

Arnold sighed. “With your personality, you definitely want to know. And maybe you’d even want to investigate it. But personally, I really don’t want you to know.”

“What the hell! People who bait others like that are the worst! You bring it up and then refuse to finish— people like you deserve to get struck by lightning!”

Caro instantly got worked up. Arnold was clearly acting like he had some huge juicy secret, and now he wanted to dangle it in front of her.

But recently, Arnold had grown. Or rather, ever since he fell for Caro and decided to make Caro fall for him too, he had been studying every day, trying to figure out how to get along with a girl named Caro.

So he leaned against the counter again and looked at the cake with the skull and the words “I’ll kill you” on it. He lightly tapped the counter with his finger and sighed.

“But a certain clerk miss has made things very difficult for me with this kind of attitude! Look at this. I clearly ordered a handmade cake with a heart and ‘I love you’ on it, but the finished product turned into this~ And I also ordered a cute clerk dance, but instead I got punched. So now, well, there are some things that are hard for me to say out loud!”

This bastard!

What Dragon Slayer, what False Hero? This guy was a straight-up beast. Had he already eaten those two sisters clean down to the bone or what? He was obviously not a good person at all!

He just wanted to see her make a fool of herself!

As the saying went, if food is tossed at a traveler, even a passerby would brush it aside; if it’s shouted at a beggar, even the beggar would disdain it. If she had to throw away her dignity like this just to hear what Arnold wanted to say...

Damn it...

Caro recalled the dances she had seen in her original world and started dancing stiffly. Her face was full of the urge to punch someone, but in the end she still put up with it and danced right there at the shop entrance. It even drew some passersby to stop and watch.

That made Caro’s face flush a little coldly red, but as a Bard, this kind of thing...

No, it was still insanely embarrassing.

“L-love you~”

She ended with that.

It was humiliating. She felt like she was no longer pure. But she still quickly grabbed Arnold by the clothes. “Now hurry up and tell me! What is it?!”

Arnold was completely satisfied.

He knew Caro’s “love you~” was totally insincere, but hearing the girl he liked say she loved him was satisfying in itself. Right now, he probably felt the same as the otaku from Caro’s original world who admired underground idols, spent tons of money to attend events for a handshake, and finally got to hold hands with their idol.

Still, Arnold wasn’t the kind of man who took payment and didn’t deliver. After receiving his compensation, he cleared his throat.

“Ahem. In truth, there isn’t really any difference in strength between Fanlin House and House Valentin. But during the banquet, didn’t you feel that Fanlin House was far too weak, while House Valentin was far too dominant?”

Caro nodded. Anyone with eyes could see that.

“Then here’s the question. When our party visited this place two or three years ago, Fanlin House was actually faintly stronger. So why did the situation reverse in such a short time?”

This dog of a man was way better at telling a story than she’d expected. Or maybe it was because he’d lived through so many stories himself. Did adventurers also do report summaries and that kind of work? Or was this just part of his talent?

Caro silently evaluated Arnold’s storytelling skills. Then, matching his rhythm, she asked, “So what exactly happened in between?”

“Heh heh~” Arnold showed a mysterious smile. He bent down and motioned for Caro to bring her ear closer. After she did, he whispered a single word.

“A labyrinth.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!!!!!!

A labyrinth! A labyrinth had appeared! A dungeon! A labyrinth! Adventurers! The hype elements were maxed out! Caro had only heard that one word, and already she could feel her blood rushing straight to her head—

Though speaking of that, why was her mind suddenly full of goblins? Was it because there had been way too many goblin-themed stories these past few years?

“A labyrinth derived from the Ancient Spirit Tree.”

Caro froze at once. She looked toward the center of the city, where she could vaguely see parts of the golden ancient tree.

It was a tree with intelligence.

An ancient tree? Producing a labyrinth? What kind of thing was that?

Seeing Caro’s baffled face, Arnold looked a little helpless too. “This matter was special to begin with, so we sealed the information back then. Or rather— the Adventurers' Guild ordered us to seal it. And they gave Fanlin House the authority to manage the labyrinth born from the Ancient Spirit Tree. At the time, Helen and Melissa set up barriers together to make sure the labyrinth wouldn’t bring harm to the world. We also stressed to Fanlin House, who had permission to enter it, that if they wanted to explore it, they needed at least someone with the strength of a Heroic Rank Adventurer to lead the team. That labyrinth was not weak. But...”

By this point, Caro understood.

“You mean they got themselves killed?”

Got themselves killed?

“...Fanlin House sent a large number of people to explore the labyrinth... and then they were swallowed by it.”