After defeating the black dragon, Ryan and his team agreed that they would leave the elven village at dawn.

  The generosity the elven king showed them came in the form of a reward.

  Even though Ryan felt guilty, since the dragon had reached the elven forest in the first place by following his and his companions’ trail.

  Even so, he accepted the king’s generosity and kept the real reason for the dragon’s invasion a secret.

  When dawn arrived, Ryan, along with Helen and Mirian, gathered in the plaza.

  The old man and his granddaughter were already there.

  The sun began to rise, illuminating the entire place.

  "So, you’re really leaving this soon?" Mirian asked, a hint of uncertainty in her eyes.

  Helen stepped forward, stretched her body, and yawned.

  "That’s right. We’ve already been away from the capital for a month. They probably think we’re dead."

  Mirian approached, rubbing her eyes.

  "I hate waking up this early. We should’ve left at noon."

  'I hate waking up early too, but Helen wouldn’t stop nagging.'

  The old man stepped forward and took Irina’s hand.

  "Hey, young man, why don’t you just stay here and marry my granddaughter instead?"

  "Grandpa!" Irina pulled her hand away.

  "No way!" Helen and Mirian shouted in unison.

  "You two are certainly in sync." The king added as he approached them with quick steps. In his hand was a small box emitting a faint glow.

  "Father, is that...?"

  "Yes, it’s a fine gift, don’t you think? The heroes asked for something that would help them on their journey."

  "But what kind of gift is it?" Ryan placed his hands on his chin, trying to figure it out.

  "Analyze."

  "I see, it’s a magical inventory. That will be very useful."

  "You see? I knew I chose a good gift." The king added proudly.

  The old man stepped closer.

  "And not only that. This item is actually epic-class. Its storage capacity will be as vast as the wielder’s mana."

  Ryan accepted the gift and slipped it into one of his suit pockets.

  'It’s such a small box. It looks like an SSD.'

  After putting the item away, Ryan shook the king’s hand, and the king told him they would always be welcome in the village whenever they wished to return.

  Irina stared at him intensely.

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  The king looked at Irina.

  "I know you want to go with them, but you must fulfill your duties as a princess."

  "I know." Irina grumbled.

  'And I don’t think that’s a good idea anyway. And why are these heroines so quiet?'

  Ryan turned, then lowered his gaze to the ground.

  Helen and Mirian were there, hugging each other and sleeping.

  "Why did you insist so much on coming if you were just going to sleep!"

  Ryan bonked each of them on the head.

  The king, his daughter, and the old man couldn’t help but laugh at their calm demeanor, unfazed despite having fought a dragon and now standing there asleep.

  ...

  In the end, they said their goodbyes and headed straight for the capital. With Irina’s directions, they quickly exited the forest and reached a small dock, where they were sent off on an elven ship.

  It only took them a day to reach the capital.

  Once they disembarked, they headed straight for the Adventurers’ Guild.

  Mirian pushed open the guild’s doors.

  They all walked inside, and Ryan looked around.

  'So this is the guild. Just like I’d expect.'

  "Idiots!"

  The shout came from the guild’s reception desk.

  A woman with an unnecessarily sexy figure was glaring at them as she stormed toward them.

  'The guild leader?'

  "S-Sophia, don’t be mad, we couldn’t make it in time," Helen replied nervously.

  But before anyone could say anything else, Sophia wrapped all three of them in a clumsy, tight hug.

  "Sophia?!" Mirian didn’t know whether to struggle or stay still.

  "Oh, in time, you say? The entire guild was worried, you know? We sent a search squad and they found nothing. I thought you were dead."

  "Tsk, what an exaggeration," Helen muttered.

  Sophia pulled away and cleared her throat, straightening her posture.

  Ryan took a step back after the awkward embrace.

  "Where have you been all this time?"

  "...It’s a long story," Helen replied.

  "...I’m just glad you’re alive," Sophia murmured.

  "What did you say?"

  "Nothing!" Sophia’s expression shifted.

  She took a deep breath.

  "You have one hour to tell me that story. Sit down."

  "What! I don’t want to, that’s so annoying!" Helen grumbled.

  "Helen, enough. It’s better to get this over with quickly," Ryan added as he sat down.

  He looked at them again, and neither of them protested.

  For the next hour, Sophia made them fill out a long report. Occasionally, she asked questions that Helen and Mirian answered vaguely.

  They deliberately left out the part about reaching Rank S.

  It didn’t seem like they were trying to lie, just that they wanted to finish as quickly as possible and leave Sophia satisfied.

  "So, in summary, you’re saying you got lost inside a dungeon all this time and that’s why you didn’t make it?"

  "Yes." All three nodded.

  "I see..."

  There was a brief silence.

  "Now then... IDIOTS! Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you caused?!"

  "Tsk, I knew Sophia was going to get mad," Mirian muttered.

  "Do you have any idea what kind of problems you caused? You took on a mission you didn’t complete, and you didn’t even show up! You’re ruining the guild’s reputation!"

  "Alright, alright, calm down, Sophia. You could’ve just given the mission to other adventurers, right?"

  "Silence. You know very well there’s only one week to complete any mission. The client went to a rival guild, and we had to pay compensation."

  "Wow, that’s too bad. That must’ve been awful," Helen replied, turning her face away to avoid eye contact with Sophia.

  Sophia grabbed Helen by the arm.

  "Anyway, that compensation will be coming out of your pockets."

  "What?! We don’t have that kind of money. You’ll ruin us!" Mirian complained.

  'So they spent a whole month relaxing in that dungeon while they had an important mission? These two are seriously irresponsible...'

  Ryan slowly edged toward the exit, trying to slip out of the guild unnoticed.

  "Ryan! Don’t even think about escaping. Get back here!" Sophia shouted.

  'Damn it, why am I getting dragged into this? Well, no choice.'

  Sophia pulled out a document and forced them to sign it.

  "Alright, and how much do we have to pay?" Mirian asked.

  "Can’t you read? It’s written right there."

  Mirian leaned closer.

  "What?! Half a million crones. That’s way too much, you’ll bankrupt us!"

  "No, no, Sophia, you can’t charge us that. That’s abuse."

  '...I’m not even going to comment.'

  "No complaints. You already signed."

  "But, Sophia..." Mirian looked at her with tears in her eyes.

  "Stop whining. I’ll give you a chance with a mission. If you complete it, the guild will cover the compensation."

  "You’re serious?" Helen leaned over the counter and hugged Sophia.

  "Let go of me!"

  "What kind of mission is it?" Ryan asked.

  "Well... it’s actually just collecting materials for the production of magic paper."

  'Magic paper?'

  Helen sat on top of the counter.

  "Fine, that’ll be easy." she said proudly.

  "There’s just one more thing. Due to the shortage, you can only find it around the domain of the Demon King Rohan."

  "WHAT?!"