* * *
I received a special request from Sabira.
It was a request to visit her childhood home.
Ragner ended up accompanying me on this trip.
It had already been five days since Sabira became a full-time employee and was appointed as ‘Field Team 1 Leader.’
‘Right, Sabira must have family too, and we haven’t taken care of that at all.’
Today, Ragner was also dressed casually. His unmotivated, indifferent expression was the same as ever.
I looked at him with interest.
Didn’t she say he looked like someone who found life boring and had lost the meaning of living…?
So he was originally a person capable of making such a variety of expressions, as I had seen through the screen?
“Hello, Ragner!”
“Is the part-time job off today?”
“Ah, the owner lady was sick, so the restaurant is closed for the day.”
“Oh dear, is she very unwell?”
“She said it was just a mild cold. But since she has to cook food for customers, she said she couldn’t cook while sick.”
It was a rare day off.
Of course, even a day off wasn’t particularly special, but Sabira had given me a quest, so I should fulfill it.
We met at the village entrance and headed to the house where Sabira used to live.
Coincidentally, her house was near the eastern side of the village, and thinking about whether she ever wished to return home while wandering the forest made me feel a little sorry for her.
‘I still want to go home right now.’
No, hold on. Think of the ten billion and the twenty million won in the safe, and endure it.
I’m on a working holiday… I’m on a working holiday….
“Ah! What kind of person was Sabira in life?”
I wanted to think about something else quickly, so I brought up a new topic.
“Sabira was… a spirited one. She ran around all over the village like a troublemaker without ever getting tired.”
He answered in a calm tone, recalling memories.
“She must have been very active as a child.”
“She was still like that even when we graduated from the training ground.”
So her personality was the same before she died.
“She had a mischievous side too. She loved pranks.”
“I have no choice but to agree with that.”
Ragner let out a small laugh.
“It seems you’ve already been a victim.”
“Since Sabira joined, there hasn’t been a single day I haven’t screamed.”
Because she habitually loses her head, whenever she’s in the dungeon, I’m always on edge wondering when I’ll run into it.
“Sabira! Why on earth is your head in my desk drawer!?”
“Don’t play ball with your head!”
“I told you, if you don’t tie that damn head up with rope, I won’t let it slide!”
Did the defects the monsters mentioned perhaps include personality defects…?
“I feel like I’m aging by the day…. She’s mischievous, but far too mischievous.”
Wait… Come to think of it, wasn’t Sabira supposedly a righteous person befitting a hero?
Does this neighborhood use the word ‘righteous’ differently?
I let out a deep sigh and continued.
“So what are Sabira’s family like?”
“Ah, that one doesn’t have any family.”
“…Pardon?”
Sabira, you… why were you born under such a tragic fate?
“Both her parents passed away when she was young, and she has no siblings. So the villagers took turns looking after Sabira.”
“Then the house we’re going to now is….”
“It’s been empty without an owner. I sometimes visit to dust and clean, but it’s hard to maintain properly since no one lives there.”
We walked for a few minutes.
We arrived in front of the house where Sabira had lived.
Just from the exterior, it was immediately clear that it had been neglected.
Fortunately, it seemed the neighbors came by and did simple maintenance, as there were traces of weeds being cut around the house.
“Did she ask you to bring things she used in life?”
“Ah, yes. Nothing big—she said I just need to bring one thing.”
When Ragner opened the door with the spare key he had, a musty smell of dust rushed out.
“I’ll clean up a bit while I’m here. Take your time looking around.”
“Okay.”
He headed skillfully toward where the cleaning tools were gathered.
I timidly stepped inside the house.
“Huh?”
The moment I entered, a photo hanging on the wall caught my eye.
Red hair tied back tightly.
Between eyes curved like a bow with a smile, vivid purple pupils were visible, and between wide-open lips, white teeth showed.
A healthy beauty with bold features and a striking impression.
It was Sabira in life. A grown-up version, too.
Though she looked a little young.
“Wow, she was really pretty.”
So a person who looked that fine loses her head at the drop of a hat, clings to me annoyingly, and wrote a love letter instead of a cover letter?
“Hoho… Ragner.”
“Yes?”
“By any chance, did you ever date Sabira?”
Crash!
The sound of cleaning tools tumbling to the floor echoed loudly.
“Ah….”
Ragner slowly turned his head.
His expression was one of disgust, as if the mere thought was horrible.
He didn’t say a single word, but that alone was a sufficient answer.
“I’m sorry, I overstepped. I just suddenly got curious. Sabira is such a beauty.”
“There was nothing.”
“Yes, I can tell just from your expression. I’m sorry.”
I had been curious because Sabira came on to me so blatantly. If that had been her personality from the start, wouldn’t any man have fallen for her at least once?
After I realized I had no resistance to her husky voice, whenever I let my guard down even a little, she would whisper teasingly in my ear.
In Ragner’s case, they had grown up together like siblings from such a young age that he had apparently never even considered her that way.
Enough. Let me just finish the quest quickly.
‘Let’s see…. What Sabira asked for….’
First, she said to visit the house. Then, if I go to the kitchen, there’s a floor made of fitted wooden planks….
“Ah, around here.”
She said there was one particularly dark-colored plank.
“Is this it?”
She said if you tap it, the sound would be different only there.
I raised my fist and lightly tapped around the floor.
Tap tap, tap tap, thump thump.
“Here it is.”
She said to bring that energetic one with nothing to do and have him pry it open.
Yes. The real reason Ragner came along was to open the house door and to have him do the heavy lifting.
I had planned to ask him first and if he refused, ask Ruadis, but surprisingly, Ragner willingly followed along.
“Ragner, could you help me with this?”
He, who had been sweeping the floor with a broom, strode over to me.
“Could you pry open this plank for me?”
“Hmm….”
Ragner drew the sword at his hip and slid the tip into the narrow gap between the planks.
“By the way, do you always carry your sword?”
“I feel uneasy without it. It’s like an occupational disease for adventurers.”
He lightly pried off the plank without any apparent effort.
“Wow. You’re really strong.”
I was envious. If I were that strong, I’d have nothing to fear in the world.
“I used to make a living with my strength in the past.”
It didn’t seem to be just my imagination.
After the Sabira incident, I felt like the distance between me and Ragner had narrowed considerably.
“Oh, there really is an empty space?”
She said if I pried off the plank, a box would be buried there. Bringing that back would complete the quest.
“Is that it?”
“Yes, she said to bring just this.”
After restoring the plank I had pried off and lightly cleaning the floor, we left the house.
Ragner stayed behind, saying he would do a thorough cleaning.
* * *
I returned to the dungeon with the box in my arms.
“Sabira! I brought what you asked for!”
For Sabira, who had become the first-floor boss and Field Team 1 Leader, a dedicated boss room was prepared where she could stay while waiting.
With Brownie’s help, I secured a large area right in front of the reward room, and designed it so that Sabira could only be encountered after breaking through several gates in order.
I opened the boss room door to hand over the box.
“Oh, you brought it? Just take that for yourself, Boksil.”
“Pardon? Me?”
“I had you dig it up to give to Boksil. It was well-preserved, luckily.”
“What’s inside?”
“Open it.”
I gave her a suspicious look.
“It’s not something weird, is it?”
“There’s something inside that will make Boksil’s love for me grow immensely.”
It was too unsettling, but curiosity won out, so I undid the lock and opened the box.
“Huff….”
The moment the lid was lifted and the contents were revealed, I covered my mouth.
“How is it? Fallen for me?”
“…Yes.”
Inside was—get this!
Money, packed full.
“Boksil likes money, right? Use it to help run the dungeon. I’m dead, so I have nowhere to spend it—. If I’d known this would happen, I would have spent it all without saving.”
“This… really… can I take it?”
“Really, take it. Thank you for helping me. You found my friend and my head. Think of it as a reward.”
From now on, I should lower my decibel level when shouting at Sabira.
