I couldn’t believe Freet’s claim that she had ‘accidentally overheard’ the conversation while passing by, so I gave her a subtly suspicious look.

“You seem to have heard it through the kitchen window. Did you happen to pass by the kitchen window by chance?”

“Yes, I was hungry. Sometimes when I’m hungry, I come down to the kitchen and sneak some snacks. I’m sure even the gods would turn a blind eye to such petty theft. Anyway, I happened to pass by the window and accidentally overheard the conversation.”

“…”

No matter how I thought about it, it seemed she had been eavesdropping in the kitchen the whole time… but I decided not to press the issue further.

Well, she might have been curious.

Even I was secretly curious until yesterday about what Rolf would say.

For that reason, instead of inquiring further, I said this:

“So, did you find any good snacks in the kitchen?”

“Ah, I found a cookie basket. Would you like to share?”

“Yes. I’m a bit hungry actually. Are there raspberry cookies too?”

“Of course.”

Freet nimbly jumped back through the window into the kitchen and came out with a basket piled high with cookies.

I felt a twinge of guilt about eating cookies that the servants of the baron’s household had worked hard to make, but I decided to ignore it.

Hadn’t I personally stepped up to become the villain to prevent retaliation against the baron’s family?

I thought I deserved to eat this much at least.

I picked up a raspberry cookie from the basket and munched on it while casually asking Freet:

“But will it really be alright?”

“Ah, it’s fine. If we just take a few and put the basket back in the kitchen, they probably won’t even notice anything is miss—”

“No, not that. I mean sending off the second son of Count Kölnhausen like that.”

I swallowed the rest of the cookie I was holding and continued:

“I may be ignorant of worldly affairs, having only wielded a knife beyond the rift, but I know enough to understand that the Kölnhausen family is a powerful presence in this region. Causing friction with Kölnhausen can’t be a good thing for the Grand Temple either, can it?”

The Kölnhausen family was quite influential in this region.

That was also why I hadn’t refused to meet Rolf and had agreed to see him.

If the powerful Kölnhausen family were to exert unfair pressure on the Kettlenburg baronial family, the baronial family would truly be in danger.

In any case, because of their status, I had intended to politely reject Rolf while maintaining proper boundaries… but Freet had clearly crossed the line.

With that level of insult, the Kölnhausen family would surely harbor resentment towards the Grand Temple.

However, in contrast to my expressed concern, Freet’s answer was simple.

“It’s fine.”

“But—”

“I don’t regret intervening earlier. Even if time were to turn back, I would make the same choice. If I hadn’t intervened, Yulia would have had to keep listening to that guy’s nonsense.”

There was no time to be surprised at the word ‘that guy’ coming from Freet’s holy mouth.

That was because she suddenly held a cookie up to my lips.

“Don’t worry about such things and try this cookie. I don’t know what they put in it, but it’s very sweet and delicious.”

I stopped myself from voicing more concerns and ate the cookie she had brought directly to my mouth with a crunch.

She was right.

The cookie was sweet and delicious enough to erase all the worries that had filled my mind.

I never thought there would come a day when I would look forward to entering a rift.

When I used to go in and out constantly, it was just tiring and painful.

But after resting for so long, I’ve reached the point where I’m actually excited about going to hunt monsters.

With that strange anticipation, I stared at the rift visible before me.

Soon, we… that is, myself, Freet, and two of Freet’s personal guard knights would enter that rift together.

Freet’s personal guard knights were also awakened ones with abilities, and they said they would be coming along with us this time.

So as all four of us were examining the rift, Freet suddenly asked me:

“Should I go in first? Or would you like to go first, Yulia?”

“I’ll go in first. If we’re unlucky, there might be monsters right in front of the rift.”

That’s why either I or the captain always went in first when entering rifts.

In case we encountered the unfortunate situation of facing monsters right at the entrance, experienced awakened ones like the captain and I were the ones who could respond quickly.

And so this time too, I was the first to step beyond the rift.

As I entered, hearing the familiar ringing in my ears, a long sigh immediately escaped my lips.

“Hah…”

There were too many.

I had expected there to be many, but there were really too many.

As I stood frozen in front of the poisonous mushrooms blooming as far as the distant horizon, Freet and her guard knights also came through the rift.

Freet seemed to have the same thought as me when she saw the mushrooms.

“There are so many, it’s disgusting.”

“It’s going to take quite a while to oil each of these one by one. Fortunately, they’re all asleep now, so they won’t attack us, but…”

Monsters are usually nocturnal, and these poisonous mushrooms were no exception.

We had timed our entry into the rift to be exactly noon in the rift’s time, taking advantage of that fact.

Under the scorching sun, they were all in a deep sleep.

I instructed Freet and the guard knights in a low voice so as not to wake them up:

“As long as you follow my instructions carefully, there shouldn’t be any danger. First, be extremely careful not to wake them. Just lightly sprinkle the oil, and absolutely do not touch them or make loud noises.”

“What’s the second thing we need to be careful about?”

In response to Freet’s question, I immediately answered:

“If you accidentally touch one and wake it up, don’t think about fighting. Run away immediately.”

One of the guard knights politely raised his hand and asked:

“Why do we need to run away? Can’t we just quickly and cleanly dispose of the monster that wakes up on the spot? We’re awakened ones too. Surely low-level monsters like these—”

“No. If one wakes up, you must run away without fail.”

I stared at the holy guard knight who had asked the question with as stern a gaze as possible.

“If one mushroom wakes up, the others will wake up in succession. They’re connected to each other. And if several wake up at once… they start spewing terrible poison indiscriminately around the area.”

“…”

“That’s why we need to take advantage of the time when they’re all asleep to apply the oil and set them on fire. If even one wakes up, you ‘must’ run back through the rift without looking back.”

Only after hearing my explanation did the holy knight who had asked the question nod in understanding.

But even so, the uneasiness didn’t fade.

I was worried that they might make mistakes, since everyone except me was a novice who had never entered a rift before.

I really hoped nothing would go wrong.

Inwardly wishing for that, I glanced towards the rift entrance we had just come through.

What if the man I was longing for suddenly appeared there as if by magic and helped us?

…I thought for a moment, but of course nothing like that happened.

I turned away, letting go of useless expectations.

It was time to grill these mushrooms to a delicious crisp.

Benjamin, the old butler of the Kettlenburg baronial family, was busy handling his duties as usual today.

His role was to manage the mansion and the territory on behalf of the bedridden baron.

He was doing his best in that role.

Of course, even if he did a sloppy job, there was no one to scold him, but he had no intention of working halfheartedly.

The old butler, who had gradually filled his heart with loyalty over the long years, always gave his all.

He managed the territory that had been emptied as everyone fled—

Cleaned the shabby mansion where guests had long stopped visiting—

And gave encouragement to the dispirited servants of the mansion.

He believed that if they endured day by day like this, someday the barony would regain its past prosperity.

Recently, saviors had even come to help them, so he believed the situation would surely improve soon.

However, what actually came to him was another disaster, even more difficult to deal with than rifts and monsters.

“An incredibly important person has arrived!! An incredibly high-ranking person!!”

The young servant, one of the few capable servants left, was the first to bring the news.

He was delivering the news in an excessively loud voice due to lack of proper training, but Benjamin didn’t scold the young servant.

Instead, he focused on the news the servant had brought.

“A high-ranking person? Who are you talking about?”

“They came in a golden carriage! There were so many knights guarding the carriage! There was a flag on the carriage, and it had a golden lion embroidered on it!”