“Besides, I’ve found the ring.”

After a while, Carl-san’s voice could be heard.

But Ar-niisama still hadn’t removed his hands from my face.

“This is…?!”

“For some reason, it appeared after a mutant Giant Rat was defeated.”

“A Giant Rat?”

“Perhaps… When I dropped the ring outside the village, the Giant Rat ate it. The ring received a little bit of divine magic, so it is possible.”

I heard about it from Amanda-san before. In the case where one wanted to apply a defensive power on their equipment, other than having an enchanter like Georg-san endow the equipment with a magical circle, there were other ways to endow divine protection on it.

Rather than engraving a magical circle on an equipment, it would be easier and cheaper to have someone possessing a magical power to endow divine protection on it, and it seemed a lot of people did it for their wedding ring just like Carl-san’s.

It seemed like monsters didn’t only eat living creatures, they also ate things that possessed magic, and that was why Carl-san’s ring was eaten.

“Is that when you went out of the village with Tania?”

“You knew?”

“It’s a small village. Of course I’d know! As I guessed, you and that woman—”

“Like I said, it’s a misunderstanding, Mary. I did go out of the village with Tania, but it was in order to visit a grave.”

Hee. The gravesite was located outside the village.

Certainly, the graveyard—where the Undeads appeared in the game—was located slightly distant from the village.

Such kind of thing was the same as how it was in Elysia Online, huh?

“Visiting the grave?”

“Yeah. There is a hill where we could take a look down towards the village a short distance away from the village, right? We went to Thor’s grave there. I put a fragment of Thor’s axe in his gravesite, simply to satisfy myself.”

“…I didn’t know.”

The Monster King during the previous Monster Flood was an Undead. According to the story I heard a bit from Ar-niisama, the people who were defeated by the Monster King in the battle turned into Undead themselves and attacked the others, so maybe, Thor-san also…

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“I thought I had to say this sooner or later, but I didn’t marry you just because the Monster Flood was occurring and there wasn’t the time to look for anyone else. That’s why you didn’t have to worry about anything.”

“I… Sorry, Carl. I had always loved you, so… When I heard that you were looking for a marriage partner, I thought that… Since anyone would be fine, then I would be fine, right? That’s why I told your father that I’d like to marry you, Carl.”

“Is that so? …Sorry, I didn’t realize it. I thought that you had always loved my older brother for sure. That’s why you must have been reluctant to marry me…”

It seemed that Carl-san was chubby back then, and all the women preferred his older brother who was popular.

“Give me a break, I’m not such a woman. I don’t like someone who’s too friendly to all the women in the village. I like your kindness and I feel healed by being with you, Carl!”

“Mary…”

“Ah~. Cough. I wonder if you guys still remember that there are other people around you? And we also have a young girl over here.”

It felt like Frank-san’s words and his purposeful cough made the two become separated from each other.

When Ar-niisama’s hands that were covering my eyes finally went away, Carl-san and Mary-san were bright red…

Yup. Being lovey dovey is sure nice, isn’t it?!

“Mary. Will you please insert this ring once more?”

“Of course, Carl.”

The two of them stared at each other with blushing cheeks.

And as their faces gradually drew near—

Eh. Why are you covering my eyes again, Ar-niisama?!

“Yes, yes. Save that kind of thing for later~”

I heard Amanda-san’s voice along with the sound of hands clapping, and Ar-niisama’s hands left my face.

Geez, I thought as I looked up at Ar-niisama, but he then patted my head.

Y-you wouldn’t be able to gloss over it with just this, okay?

“Ah, sorry. …Even so, I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone no matter what…”

“Carl. What about giving them today’s lodging as a service?”

“Of course I’m also thinking about that, but that alone won’t be enough. I received a help not only to make up with you, but also in defeating the Armored Insect… That’s right.”

“Come with me to the inn,” said Carl-san as we followed him along. Then, he took out something from behind the axes that were Thor-san’s memento that decorated the wall.

Eh. Wait a bit!

Isn’t that… a key?!

“If you’d like it, I’ll be giving you this. There is a dungeon called as [The Cavern of Ordeal] near this village where there won’t be that many strong monsters appearing, but this is apparently the key to enter a hidden room in it. It’s an item that I received from Thor with the hope that we’d be going there together once I become an adventurer and be able to fight, but I’d always be staying here making a living with the inn together with Mary, so it’s not something I can use anymore.”

Carl-san looked at the key with a very nostalgic expression before he handed the key over to Frank-san.

Eh, but…

If I remember it correctly, [The Cavern of Ordeal] is a dungeon that’s located near the Initial Village. In other words, this Graham Village is the Initial Village that one visits in the very beginning of the Elysia Online?!

“Thor said that apparently, there would be a treasure chest in the hidden room that’s guarded, but the guard isn’t that strong, so it’s just perfect as a test of strength.”

Yup, yup. Certainly, there was a boss deep inside the dungeon.

It was a monster in the form of a black, murky beast from the canine family… what was it? Eehh, that’s right. Mad Dog would show up there.

The guild master, Cecilia-san, helped me in defeating it and it was an instant kill, though…

I looked at the faces of the people around me.

Ar-niisama, Amanda-san, Frank-san, and Virna-san. And then there was also Karin-san who wasn’t here.

…Yup. We’d definitely be able to defeat it in an instant.