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“…Did I manage to come back?”

I gave a deep sigh as I stood in the familiar forest in Raum’s outskirts.

I ended up getting sent to another world together with the girl called Sora thanks to Kufar’s parting gift, and after many bitter experiences, finally managed to come back.

It had been just a few days. Not a long time, but I still missed the mischievous Cortina and gentle Finia’s faces.

I dragged my heavy feet and passed through Raum’s gate.

God Hastur seemed to have given them a heads-up, Cortina and Finia were already waiting for me there.

“Nicole, welcome back!”
“Lady Nicole!”

The two practically leaped at me for a hug.

By the way, God Hastur who worked hard to retrieve me was currently punishing the God of Destruction because she had “neglected dangerous materials.” Sora was probably also being punished by a man called Shuuya in that other world. Probably using pervy means.

“I’m back, Cortina, Finia.”
“Good grief. I was at my wit’s end when I heard you went to another world.”
“I’m shooo gwaaad!”

I soothed Finia who was bawling her eyes while hugging me, and I felt like I was really home now.

I returned to the inn while the two continued hugging me, and there I reunited with Michelle and Cloud.

The two had gotten quite famous after the defensive battle against the Devils, so it was tough for them to even walk outside.

“Ah, welcome back, Nicole!”
“Lord Hastur told us it would be fine, so we didn’t worry much.”
“Uh, I wouldn’t say it was exactly fine…”

Let’s just say I got wrapped up in too many incidents in that other world.

Me aside, even that Sora girl was quite a troublemaker. We got entangled by tentacles the moment we arrived in another world. Then she decided to lead me to the town only to end up charging straight into an Orc settlement, and when we decided to climb over a mountain we encountered bandits too.

All of those lead to very dodgy developments and I lost count of how many times I felt danger to my chastity.

But I narrowly escaped all of them, sometimes even having to transform into the Evil Dragon with Polymorph, and somehow got back to this world.

It was definitely not something that could be summed up as being fine.

“W-Well, he’s the Wind God, so maybe he didn’t think of it as much.”
“Wind God you say… I don’t really see much of his godliness anywhere.”
“Oh come on, didn’t you know he supported the World Tree with wind magic? Don’t you think that’s very god-like?”

Cloud smoothed over it while Michelle was honestly praising him, but she kinda had a point I guess.

Oh yeah, Finia returned to her room to fix her makeup. She didn’t seem to be using much makeup anyway, so I guess she was just embarrassed after crying.

Cortina looked like she was in her usual state, but she remained at my side and kept slowly drawing near, so I guess she was lonely after all.

We sat in the dining hall and talked about our circumstances… or well, nothing that grand, but we just let each other know what was going on, but the outside gazes were bothering me.

Due to Pope Ashella’s judgment, we were publicly declared to be the ones who saved the World Tree from collapse, while Michelle and Cloud performed extraordinarily in Stollar.

We were considered to be the next generation of heroes after that Six Heroes, and all the world’s attention was on us.

This situation was the same in both Raum and Stollar.

“Ugh, it feels uncomfortable.”
“We’re being watched, huh.”
“This is already your second time being a Hero, Nicole. Oh wait, you saved the Pope before, so I guess it’s your third time? You will be the subject of attention.”
“The information that you’re Reid has also spread too.”

Cortina waved her hand with a natural gesture. Finia returned at that time.

“What’s the matter?”
“Nicole… I mean, Reid’s feeling awkward now that his fame has spread.”
“Isn’t that a little too late?”
“Well, I guess it is.”

I remember being showered in gazes and feeling uncomfortable even back when we defeated the Evil Dragon.

I was famous as an assassin too back then, so I was constantly on edge thinking someone would come to take revenge any second.

And I feel the same now.

“It ain’t gonna be a laughing matter if some dude comes for me for my past life’s deeds.”
“You’re speaking like Reid now.”
“It happens sometimes.”

Your speaking habits of many years wouldn’t go away so fast.

Plus, I had lived as Reid longer still.

It was about sixteen years since I was reborn as Nicole, but I lived twenty-four years as Reid.

It was like 1.5 times longer. Also since it was my first memory, it would probably take another ten years to fix.

“Well, maybe I’ll get it fixed once I hit thirty.”
“Does that mean you still lack awareness as a girl? Maybe if we did more night training it’ll help.”
“Lady Cortina, please bring me along when that opportunity arises.”
“Of course. But I’m the one doing it first, okay?”
“You two, take your dirty topics somewhere else.”

I scolded Cortina who spoke without caring about public gazes.

Finia started to act rashly too ever since she and Cortina overcame life and death struggles together.

I was jealous and envious of the men who heard their talk and couldn’t stand upright due to their bulges.

But first off I wanted to tell them not to look at the two with such eyes.

“Anyway, what about the commission?”

We came to Raum because of the underground library sorting commission.

I had to drop out of that commission because of the incident so I was wondering how it ended.

“It went fine. We couldn’t work well that day, but the day after God Hastur headed out to save you, so we managed to return to sorting the books.”
“We couldn’t even play hooky, because they told us to quickly sort them since there might’ve been other dangerous books mixed among them.”

Michelle and Cloud seemed calmer than Finia, so they explained what happened afterward.

I guess that shows how much they trusted the Wind God. And God of Destruction too in extension, I guess.

Well, he was someone who gave them their equipment that was tied to their lives, so I can see why they’d see him as dependable.

“I see. Glad to hear it ended well. But still, we can’t calm down in Raum like this.”
“Yeah. I’m happy since I get to stay with mom, but neighbors constantly come to hear the details from me, so I can’t get a breather.”
“Same here. The children at the orphanage keep asking me to tell them how I fought with the Devils and sometimes people from the chivalric order come to scout me out…”
“Hah, so that really did happen.”
“Oh, yeah, they came to me too!”
“Yours too, Michelle? I guess we really can’t settle down here.”

Not just Michelle with her bow skill, but even Cloud was being scouted now due to his battle experiences.

They had the backing of the Six Heroes, so they weren’t being very brazen about it, but they were still showing up at every opportunity.

“I guess it won’t be great to overstay in Raum. And maybe in Stollar too, actually.”
“Should we move to another town entirely?”
“Stollar and Raum have Maxwell and Donovan to cover for you, but these kinds of people still manage to slip through their eyes. Staying at Lyell’s place, for the time being, might be a good idea.”

Cortina’s opinions were important in situations like this.

And her judgment was rarely wrong.

It was better to do as she was saying.

“I guess there’s no choice then. Michelle, Cloud, are you fine with returning to the village for the time being?”
“Yup, I am! I haven’t stayed there for a long time.”
“We came back right after the last time we went there, so I hope we can take our time this time.”
“Now that you mention it, you didn’t even get to take a stroll there, did you, Cloud? It’s a tranquil place so it’s ideal for strolls. Though Kobolds show up sometimes.”
“That’s not exactly tranquil then, is it?”

Cloud responded with a dejected face, but he didn’t seem to be against the idea. I guess it showed how constrained he was feeling in Raum now.

Thus, like that, we decided to evacuate to the northern village.