The next day, Nils approaches Ryou with a favor to ask. His hometown recently put out a hunting request, but it’s rated for D-rankers and above. Since Nils can’t take it alone, he asks Ryou to form a party with him so they can accept the mission together.
At first, Ryou isn’t interested—money isn’t exactly his motivation. But when he hears the words “goblins” and “skeletons,” he immediately changes his mind. Why? Because, in his words, this sounds like the perfect chance to “bully some weak mobs.” Nils doesn’t fully get what that means, but he’s just happy Ryou agreed.
They head over to the guild master’s office to make it official. Hugh gives them the green light but warns that two other parties have already failed this mission: one E-rank, one D-rank. And strangely enough, it wasn’t the monsters that caused the failures—it was the villagers, who outright refused to cooperate.
According to reports, the last group also ran into about thirty skeletons, which left them badly injured. Hugh shakes his head, still baffled how a full D-rank team struggled that badly against goblins and skeletons. Still, with Ryou around, he’s confident this party will be fine. Plus, Ryou still has a few days before his upcoming escort mission, so the timing works out.
With permission granted, they set out immediately. After half a day of walking, the group arrives at Nils’s hometown, Katt. To everyone’s surprise, the locals greet Nils with warm smiles. Ryou blinks in disbelief—he had honestly assumed Nils became an adventurer because he’d been banished from his village.
Nils glares and insists that’s not the case. Sure, he admits he caused his fair share of childhood chaos (probably broke more windows than he could count), but banishment? Nope. He quickly changes the subject and leads the group to the mayor’s house.
When Nils steps inside, the mayor, Bulan, lights up with joy—it’s been a whole year since Nils left, and his return is clearly a big deal.
Nils notices the rest of his party standing awkwardly by the doorway, so he quickly introduces them to Bulan. Everyone takes a seat, ready to discuss the mission. Bulan admits he’s relieved that Nils and his friends will be handling the request—after all, Nils already understands the village’s traditions, which saves him a headache.
But then Nils cuts straight to the point. “Is it true,” he asks, “that the last adventurers you called here got zero cooperation from the villagers?”
Bulan sighs and nods. He explains that skeletons began appearing at the edge of the eastern forest—first a few, but soon enough the woods were crawling with them. So he put in a formal request for adventurers to hunt them down. The first party that came did fight the skeletons, but… they made the mistake of dragging the battle somewhere they absolutely shouldn’t have.
Hearing this, Nils practically jumps out of his chair. “Wait—don’t tell me they fought deep in the eastern forest?”
Bulan admits that yes, that’s exactly what happened. The villagers were furious because blood had been spilled in that part of the forest. He also admits maybe they overreacted—since the adventurers were fighting for their lives—but the taboo still shook everyone badly.
Realizing his companions are totally lost, Nils explains: the eastern forest is tied to one of the village’s biggest secrets. Unfortunately, he can’t tell them more until he gets permission from the village elders. For now, he asks them to be patient.
While Nils meets with the elders, the others rest at his house, where they chat with his brother, Neloy. He’s happy Nils returned with such trustworthy allies. He explains that the last group of adventurers had ignored the village’s warnings and stormed straight into the forest, which is why the villagers wanted nothing to do with them. “But you guys,” he smiles, “are different.”
Soon, Nils returns with good news: the council gave their blessing to start the hunt. First, they’ll track goblins during the day, then deal with the skeletons. Even better, Nils now has permission to share the village’s secret—with one condition: everyone must promise to keep it to themselves.
They all agree, and Nils reveals the truth. The first secret is that the eastern forest is guarded by a guardian beast.
This stuns everyone. Ryou is especially amazed. In fact, a mischievous thought crosses his mind—“What if the beast turns evil? Then I’d have an excuse to fight it!” Luckily, he keeps that to himself and quickly changes the subject.
He asks what the second secret is. Nils answers: the shrine. But this one, he says, the village elder insists on explaining personally—so they’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
The next morning, the group heads into the forest, where Bulan shows them the last place goblins were spotted. Normally, a handful of goblins wouldn’t be much of a problem—but since the village kids play around here, everyone knows that goblins plus kids equals a disaster waiting to happen.
Just then, Rio senses a goblin squad heading their way and warns everyone to get ready. There are about ten of them, so Nils suggests killing all but one so the survivor can lead them to the nest. Rio agrees, and the party hides in ambush.
When the goblins come close enough, Rio casts his Icebine spell. From the goblins’ perspective, this must’ve been nightmare fuel: one second you’re strolling through the woods with your bros, and the next, Gob Jr. is frozen solid and gets his head popped like a snow cone. The lone survivor bolts, but Rio and the team chase it down, eventually finding the nest. The poor goblin frantically explains to the others that its squad turned into popsicles, only to end up frozen solid itself.
The other goblins, upon hearing this, collectively decide, “Nope!” and start running away. But Rio isn’t in a merciful mood—he freezes the lot of them, while Nils and Ammon gleefully smash them to pieces like kids at an ice festival.
When they reach the cave entrance, Nils and Ammon hear something big coming. They brace themselves… only to be horrified when a Goblin General steps out. Beating this thing alone? Impossible. Luckily, they’re not alone. Rio busts out a stronger Icebine, slamming the general to the ground, and asks Nils to finish the job. Honestly, having Rio on the team feels like playing on “Easy Mode,” but hey, they just killed a goblin general—and its core is worth a fortune.
Back in town, the group is introduced to Nasu, the village elder. She’s already heard about the goblin general takedown and leads them to meet the Guardian Beast. Rio is hyped, expecting a big battle—but his excitement deflates when he realizes the beast isn’t evil, so no boss fight today.
The beast examines the boys Nasu brought for the hunting mission—pretty standard stuff—until his gaze lands on Rio. Suddenly, his whole demeanor changes. Introducing himself as Enkusen, the guardian beast shocks both Nasu and Bulan, since he’s never revealed his name to anyone before. Enkusen admits he usually keeps his name hidden because humans butcher the pronunciation, but with Rio, it would feel disrespectful not to share.
Rio, baffled at the politeness, listens as Enkusen explains that he’s part-fay, and being near Rio makes him feel… well, oddly pleasant. Rio recalls that Sera once mentioned the Fairy King had taken a liking to him too, and wonders if he has some weird fairy-attracting gene. Rio thanks Enkusen for the compliment, but the beast insists it’s he who should be grateful—meeting Rio makes him feel like he could happily live another thousand years.
Finally, Enkusen explains their actual mission: around thirty skeletons have gathered near the shrine, including one massive one sealed inside. He’s been using his power to keep it sealed… for now.
After defeating all the skeletons outside the shrine, Enkusen prepares to release the big one so the group can finish the job. They march up to the shrine, and Ido doesn’t waste a second—he flashes his light magic to exorcise the skeletons hanging around out front. But now comes the real fun: the monster inside.
The doors creak open, and to everyone’s horror (and Rio’s slight excitement), a gigantic, arched skeleton looms before them. And no, Enkusen wasn’t exaggerating—this thing looks like it skipped leg day but went all in on “terrifying size.” Rio quickly conjures icy hammers for Ammon and Nils, then signals Enkusen to release the beast.
The skeleton bursts out like it’s late for a concert, but Rio lays down a slick sheet of ice, sending it tumbling face-first. Ammon and Nils swing away, but the skeleton soon realizes it’s outmatched and starts crawling off in a last-ditch escape attempt. Too bad for him—Rio designed the ice to be slipperier than a freshly waxed dance floor. The poor bag of bones slips again, crashes down, and Nils seizes the chance, snapping its neck clean in half.
With the threat handled, the group heads inside. Nasu is practically glowing with excitement—this is her first time actually stepping foot into the shrine. Inside, they find a statue of the Earth Mother Goddess, but something’s off: the jewel embedded in it is cracked. It was supposed to shine brilliantly, like a divine disco ball, but instead looks like it’s been through hard times.
Nasu quickly realizes what happened. Enkusen had sensed strange energy in the area earlier, and sure enough, the shrine was the source. That cracked jewel was leaking power, which explains the sudden monster spawns like some kind of “Buy One Get One Free” nightmare event. Nasu applies a proper seal to prevent it from happening again.
With their mission finally complete, Rio and the others bid farewell to the villagers and begin their journey back to Lon. On the road, Nils and Ido realize it’s almost their one-year adventurer anniversary—which means their free guild dorm stay is expiring. Time to pay rent like the rest of society. They’re already considering buying a house and invite the others to join them.
Ammon immediately says yes—he clearly enjoys living with Nils and Ido. Rio, however, plays it cool and says he needs time to think it over. After all, committing to roommates is almost as serious as committing to a battle strategy.
So, Nils and Ido ask if the others would like to move in with them once they buy a place. Ammon immediately agrees—he clearly enjoys the “Nils-and-Ido household experience.” Rio, however, takes the mature route and says he’ll think about it first. (Translation: “I’m not sure I’m ready for the horrors of shared chores and whose turn it is to wash dishes.”)
Meanwhile, back in Lon, Hugh McGrath asks Abel to fill in for him as the representative at the Whitnash Open Port Festival. Normally, Hugh would’ve thrown this job at Phelps, but the guy is already drowning in other duties. That leaves Abel as the unlucky… I mean, trusted replacement.
Over in the Empire, news spreads that the commander of the Mage Order will also be attending the Whitnash Festival. And she won’t be coming alone—her right-hand spell-slinger, the Inferno Magician, will be tagging along too. In short: the festival just got upgraded from “boring speeches” to “possible magical fireworks show.
