The Returnee Wants Peace

Rosha, who was reaching for the flute, suddenly raised her head.

What… did he just say?

‘Helping the woman with a wanted order, he said?’

Memories of fleeing in paradise, lamenting the content of the sacred relic’s trial, flashed by like a kaleidoscope.

Of course, the ‘woman with a wanted order’ might not be her.

But somehow, she had a strong intuition that it was referring to her.

If so…

‘Was it Froy who appeared and helped me whenever I was in danger?’

Yes, no wonder.

It had been strange how the ring on her finger occasionally got hot as if it was malfunctioning.

An indescribable emotion rose like mist in a corner of her heart.

How grateful and relieved she had been to know that there was someone helping her even in such a remote place.

But Froy seemed to be clueless, both when she had asked before and even now.

“…”

Lowering his hand that was about to attack, he softened his stance and said:

“I don’t know anything about this, so I’d appreciate it if you could explain in detail.”

“Do you really not know? Hmm…”

The mercenary seemed to ponder for a moment at Froy’s attitude of suddenly stopping his attack.

But at that moment.

Whoosh-

A terrifying force shot out sharply from Froy’s fingers, which had spread out very naturally.

Right after, the space oddly distorted along the trajectory where the force had passed.

Crack!

Though the range wasn’t large, it was powerful enough to cause instant death if caught in the line.

Froy clicked his tongue lightly after confirming that the mercenary had barely avoided the attack by rolling.

“Tsk, it wasn’t an attack meant for you to dodge.”

“…You bastard!”

“I’m curious about your story, but I don’t necessarily need to hear it now.”

The implication was that rather than listening here where he couldn’t fully trust it, he’d rather interrogate from a position of advantage.

Realizing this, the mercenary drew his sword and charged fiercely.

Clang clang clang!

Their figures disappeared with a compressed explosion.

Though it was difficult to catch even an afterimage with normal eyes, one could roughly feel how they were moving by sensing the flow of magical power.

To swing the sword five times in just the blink of an eye.

The mercenary had considerable skill, but Froy was also quite impressive to block all of it.

‘I should… just do my part.’

Calming her complicated thoughts, Rosha carefully reached for the flute.

A thin flute wrapped in black energy.

She was tense, worried about being discovered midway, but fortunately, it seemed no one had seen her take the flute.

The problem was the notification sound that came when she got her hands on it.

Ding!

-You have acquired a Hard Mode exclusive item. Check the information!

Huh?

Distorted Flute (Hard Mode Exclusive)

A flute whose original function has been distorted due to the influence of a strange energy. When blown, it can induce the water dragon’s berserk state by consuming a certain amount of magical power.

-Magical power consumption becomes extreme if used by an unauthorized being.

-If you examine the flute closely, you can discover a ‘hidden truth’.

More than anything else, the words ‘hidden truth’ somehow felt familiar.

‘The last line being in such small print that it’s barely readable is also…’

Thinking about it carefully, it was similar to the ‘Guide for Returnees’ she had seen during the first trial.

And then.

“Hmm, finally found something useful.”

Koko, who had poked his head out from inside her clothes, quietly opened his mouth.

“Huh? Do you know about this flute?”

“No, it’s the first time I’ve seen this object. But looking at that flute, I can roughly guess the cause of the trial. I told you before, didn’t I? It’s strange that this happened when merpeople and water dragons are in a symbiotic relationship.”

“…When?”

“Tch, didn’t I tell you 12 years ago!”

It’s amazing to remember something said in passing 12 years ago in the first place.

However, when she tried to recall, she did remember Koko saying something similar.

But…

‘Logically, mermaids are legendary creatures, how would I know if merpeople and water dragons are in a symbiotic relationship? So back then, I thought maybe it came from some novel setting.’

But after returning and going through the trials she had experienced before again, and learning that the original forms of the trials had actually existed.

She thought that perhaps merpeople were also an existing race.

‘Well, at this point, it wouldn’t be strange even if unicorns existed, let alone merpeople.’

Rosha slowly closed and opened her eyes.

The information window said to examine the flute closely, but she already knew the ‘method of examining closely’.

Swish-

She infused mana into her eyes in a familiar way.

With [tthe Guiding Lantern] residing in her eyes, she could clearly see how the black energy was entangled in the flute.

Moreover, she felt like she knew how to unravel it.

‘It’s like untying a knot.’

Knot untying was one of the concentration training exercises done when learning basic magic. Koko used to hand over his own ball of thread whenever there was free time and make her do it…

Rosha revived old memories and carefully untied the knot.

It wasn’t untying with hands but had to move magical power delicately, but her knot untying skills hadn’t rusted, so she could finish quickly.

Finally, all the black energy was released from the flute and dispersed into the air.

An updated information window automatically appeared.

Clear Melody Flute (Hard Mode Exclusive)

A flute that has regained its original function after the strange energy disappeared. When blown, it has the effect of clearing the mind, and can summon the water dragon by consuming a certain amount of magical power.

-Magical power consumption becomes extreme if used by an unauthorized being.

It was at that moment.

“G-give it back!”

She saw a man staggering towards her, clutching one shoulder.

It was Count Ainbert, the commander of the Barcel Duchy. Though he had suffered a major injury to one arm, it seemed he had managed some emergency treatment.

“Give it back, I say! It’s mine!”

As he tried to snatch the flute, she stepped back for now.

But Koko subtly encouraged her, looking at the staggering count.

“Just give it to him. It’s okay to give it, isn’t it?”

That was true. Now, even if the flute was blown, it wouldn’t have the effect of making the water dragon go berserk.

Rosha casually handed the flute to the rushing count. The count grasped it tightly as if it were his lifeline and hurriedly blew into it.

Peeeep-!

He seemed to have no idea how to play the flute, as only one note came out.

Though the tone was very clear, it seemed to fall far short of Koko’s artistic sense.

The creature, frowning deeply, couldn’t stand it and jumped out of her arms!

“Huff, huff… Hahaha! With this, the Emperor…”

“I thought it was a whistle, you fool!”

The count, sent flying by Koko’s fluttering roundhouse kick, crashed into a tree trunk.

He had already lost all his magical power to the flute, and Koko’s kick seemed to have a big impact, as he seemed to have fainted for a moment.

“Oh dear…”

There were duchy forces that had approached with the count, but when she lightly drew up her magical power, that was the end of it.

Froy approached, tilting his head, through the soldiers who were retreating hesitantly.

“What on earth…”

“How did it go? Is the battle over?”

“After checking the sharp sound that suddenly came, they fled elsewhere as if it was done. But what was that sound just now? Surely not…”

Rosha showed the flute from the count’s hand with an ambiguous expression. Froy exhaled shortly as if dumbfounded.

“Um, Froy…”

After observing him for a moment, she carefully opened her mouth. It was to ask about what the mercenary had just said.

However, at that moment.

A huge rumble that made the ground shake sounded.

Boom-

‘…What’s this now?’

The rumble sounded once and then quieted down.

Realizing that the sound had come from the lake, they hurriedly moved there.

When they arrived at the lake like that, surprisingly, the water dragon was lying collapsed.

A strange sight of black energy visibly draining from the trembling water dragon in real-time.

“W-what’s going on?”

“Fall back for now!”

The confused attack teams had retreated far back and were observing the situation.

However, Rosha focused more on the black energy dispersing into the air rather than the water dragon.

She hadn’t noticed earlier, but now she saw that the energy wasn’t naturally dissipating but moving at a constant speed towards somewhere.

“That’s…”

Froy also seemed to have confirmed that movement, furrowing his brow.

At that moment, Hajin’s voice suddenly sounded in her ear.

-Now’s the time, noona. Let’s start the operation.