The Heroes of Grovendale

The next few days passed by in a blur.

The queen and her demon ambassadors had spent most of that time rounding up as many of Florathea’s followers as they could around the city and locking them up, and according to Entrophys, it didn’t take much work. After their main host lost her connection to Florathea, they all fell into a passive state, like standbys with no command.

Speaking of the main host, Lora hadn’t woken up since the battle, but the doctors did say her condition was stable at the very least. All we could do for now was give her plenty of time to rest.

While we waited, my friends and I pretty much went back to our everyday activities. Ashrenne resumed her blacksmithing duties, and the rest of us took on some side jobs.

Of course, those odd jobs included the side quests that I could remember from the RPG world. Unfortunately, a few of them weren’t available anymore, considering that time now became a factor, but I did manage to find new ones from this reality of mine. Honestly, though, all I did was some mundane errands and bounty hunting, many of which I teamed up with Sloane and Dahlian.

In short, peace and stability finally returned to Cindespoir City, which should be something worth celebrating, but… I couldn’t bring myself to be at peace at all. How could I, especially after learning about Florathea’s curse?

Someone other than me had been experiencing glitches as well, someone entirely belonging to this world. How and when did Florathea get such a curse? Not to mention that indescribable pain she constantly felt… Was it the same pain I felt when Lora healed me that one time? If that was what she’d been feeling for decades, then… it’d explain how she went mad and finally snapped. Not even a god could withstand that agony.

Even more concerningly, that suffering led to the War of Florathea, a past event. That meant these glitches had been existing in this world long before I’d arrived here. That meant Lora was a vessel long before the prologue started.

What could this mean? Did these glitches come from somewhere in this world? Was Lora meant to betray the player at some point in the endgame story?

Not to mention, how exactly did I get summoned in this world to begin with? That weird, glitchy black hole had to come from somewhere, right? Was it somehow connected to the hidden anomalies in this world? Was that how all my skills became glitched out of normalcy?

All these questions swarmed around my mind, yet I couldn’t come up with a single, solid explanation.

…Man, I wasn’t cut out to ponder so deeply about these global existential issues. I was only a normal game dev a week ago!

I wearily sighed and scratched my head as I walked through a royal corridor with my friends, coming up with dozens of outlandish theories that could possibly explain it.

“What’s wrong, Haruma?” asked Dahlian.

“Oh, uh, I’m still wondering what was up with Florathea’s curse,” I said, staring down at my hands. “That makes two of us dealing with it now. What if there are more people out there going through it like us, you know?”

“Ooh, yeah, that is pretty crazy to think about.” He scratched his chin. “Yeah, I haven’t gotten the slightest clue about it. Sorry.”

I shrugged. “Me neither. I’ll just hope we’ll get those answers somewhere out there.”

Ashrenne tilted her head. “You made it sound like you’re betting on meeting more of those cursed folks.”

“Haaah…” I drooped my shoulders. “I can think of at least a dozen crazy people like Florathea out there, all spreading chaos across Erudios, but I’m not sure if any of them are secretly cursed like her.”

“Damn! How big are your visions?!”

“Pretty big.”

“Are you planning on leaving Cindespoir City to continue your journey then?” asked Sloane.

“Yeah, I probably will in a few days.” I looked down at my hands. “As much as I’d like to stay for a while, I… know too much. There are other regions out there with their own problems, and only I know about them.”

The elf nodded and lowered his head, spacing away into his thoughts. “I see…”

Dahlian also looked away, deep in thought as well.

Ashrenne folded her arms. “That really is a shame then.”

The atmosphere between us four somehow soured after my answer, so I quickly added, “But I’ll definitely come back to visit again every once in a while! It’s not like I’ll be gone forever!”

That didn’t improve the mood one bit.

…Well, at least we made it to the royal hall before it got worse.

We all lifted our chins to face Queen Verisette on her throne and the four demon ambassadors, all greeting us with relaxed expressions. With calm, steady steps, we continued walking forward until we came close enough to kneel before her.

“Oh, please, there’s no need for such formality,” said the queen, raising her hand. “You may stand.”

We all slowly stood back up, and so did the queen.

“Ashrenne, Haruma, Dahlian, and Sloane… I have summoned all of you today to express my deepest gratitude for saving my kingdom. Were it not for your contributions, we would’ve faced a disaster beyond imagination.”

“So that’s what this is all about.” Ashrenne smirked and slapped my back so hard I stumbled forward. “Then you should be thanking this kid. He’s the reason we all even knew what was going on!”

“Wh-what?” I sputtered, gawking over my shoulder. “You’re giving me way too much credit here. I-I just told you stuff, that’s all. I barely did anything!”

“C’mon, don’t be like that, man!” Dahlian grinned and hooked an arm over my shoulders. “Take some credit! We all wouldn’t be alive by now if you hadn’t told us anything!”

Sloane nodded. “I agree as well,” he said.

My face gradually warmed up. I moved Dahlian’s hand away and said, “Fine, I’ll accept it if you guys also take credit too.”

“You’re still going to be like that, huh?” Dahlian teased.

“What? I’ve never been thanked this much before…”

The queen curved a small smile, a sight I hadn’t seen in a while. She waved a hand, and a knight approached her with four gilded scabbards resting on a red cushion. She carefully lifted one, slowly walked over toward me, and handed it over. “For your heroism, I shall reward you with this sword.”

I blinked at her and the reward and dropped my jaw. “S-s-seriously?”

“Yes, seriously.”

“I… y-you don’t really have to—”

“Just take it!” Ashrenne hissed, elbowing me.

“O-okay! Erm…” I reluctantly accepted the reward and bowed. “Th-thank you very much, ma’am—I mean—Your Highness.”

She chuckled. “No, I should be the one thanking you.”

She walked back, picked up another, and handed the swords over to the rest of us in the same manner, but when it was Dahlian’s turn to get his, he wore an unsatisfied frown.

“What’s wrong?” asked the queen.

He tossed a subtle glance at Wymond before looking back at the scabbard. “I don’t really use weapons,” he said, reluctantly accepting the reward. “But thanks anyway, I guess…”

She tilted her head. “Is there something else you want?”

“Yeah…” He nervously turned toward the bull demon and gripped the scabbard. “I was told you know about my past. Is it really true?”

Wymond narrowed his eyes at him and glanced at me. I raised my hands and said, “Just to be clear, I know nothing about his past and only gave him some leads.”

The bull demon quietly sighed and faced Dahlian again. “I’m afraid I am bound by a promise not to share anything that I know about you.”

The amnesiac slumped his shoulders and glowered.

“However, there is some leeway surrounding this promise. Although I cannot share your past, I can still tell you the nature of your amnesia itself.”

His eyes lit up again. “R-really?! That’s fine with me! I’ll take anything! What do you know about my amnesia?!”

Wymond reluctantly said, “Your amnesia was… inflicted by your own hands.”

My whole party and I widened our eyes and dropped our jaws.

“Eh?” Dahlian blinked at him and down at his hands. “I… I made myself forget? But why? Who am I?”

“I’m afraid you won’t find those answers here.”

“I… see…” His face softened. “Heh, alright then. Thanks for telling me that.”

Wymond nodded and folded his arms.

“That is all from us, so you may take your leave,” said the queen, bowing. “I once again thank you all for your service. May fortune smile upon your future endeavors.”

We all deeply bowed and waved farewell as we left for home, and as the doors closed behind us, we caught a glimpse of the other demon generals waving us back.