Yari no Yuusha no Yarinaoshi (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue: Arrival at Siltvelt 

It was just past my afternoon snack time. We’d been busy helping with treating the injured townspeople and repairing parts of the town that had been damaged. 
“We finally meet! Shield Hero! Spear Hero!” 
We were taking a break in the town square when several representatives from Siltvelt approached us. 
“We’ve come from Siltvelt to accompany you back to our country. I’m sure you’ve had a very trying journey. Come, let us finally get you to the comfort of Siltvelt.” 
“Yeah, we’d like to, but . . .” Father said as he looked around at the town and all of the damage it had suffered. 
“I assure you Siltvelt will spare no effort in assisting with the reconstruction of this town. Getting you heroes into the country as soon as possible is necessary to help ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again.” 
“I guess you’re right. Sticking around might just end up causing more trouble for everyone here,” Father replied. 
He seemed to feel uncomfortable being in the town, even though all of the townspeople were being friendly with us. It was because Father had put his life on the line to save the hostages. 
“Are you guys leaving already?” asked the boy from earlier. 
“Yeah, sorry. None of this would have happened if we hadn’t come here in the first place,” Father said. 
The boy shook his head. 
“It’s not your fault! It was . . . those bad guys, right? The Melromarc Church of the Three Heroes!” 
We’d already exposed the true identity of the culprits. I’d stabbed several of the enemies we captured with my Illusion Lance and showed them hallucinations. They all spilled the beans straight away. A few of them talked about their dreams of being successful in Shieldfreeden too. 
“Luckily there was hardly any damage to the town,” Éclair said. “And thankfully, you succeeded in saving the townspeople, Mr. Iwatani. The whole ordeal doesn’t seem to have left that bad of a taste in their mouths. The relief efforts and monetary aid have been very generous, as well. Things could have been much worse.” 
“Just as expected of the heroes! Indeed, it is the Church of the Three Heroes and the countries assisting them that are to blame for this,” said the Siltvelt representative. 
“. . .” 
Father looked like he had mixed feelings about it all. 
“We’re counting on you guys to defeat the bad people that do terrible things like this!” said the boy. 
“Yeah . . . we will,” Father replied. 
“And thanks again! I . . . I want to become a soldier so I can help you guys fight!” the boy continued. 
“D-do your best, then . . .” Father muttered. 
We decided that we would leave the town before the end of the day. When we departed, all of the townspeople gathered and waved at us. We peeked out of the carriage and waved back at them as we made our way out of the town. 
We were being escorted to Siltvelt by several dozen demi-humans and therianthropes. Surely neither the Church of the Three Heroes nor the Shieldfreeden troublemakers would be able to justify trying to attack this many people. Father was gazing off toward the town absentmindedly. 
“Was that really okay?” he asked. 
“I’m sure the people you saved are grateful,” Éclair replied. 
Her answer sounded like she might not have understood what Father meant. 
“I just think if we hadn’t stopped there . . . maybe none of this would have happened in the first place,” Father said. 
“There’s no point in worrying about what-ifs, is there?” she replied. 
“But we have Motoyasu, right?” 
“You rang?” 
“When I was falsely accused and ended up losing my way, did I still get caught up in a mess like this?” Father asked. 
“You ran into all sorts of trouble in Melromarc, but I never heard anything about people being held hostage to lure you out.” 
I’d heard that imposters claiming to be Father had caused trouble all across the country. However, they were proven to be imposters later on. 
“I see.” 
Father was absentmindedly petting Sakura’s feathers. 

“Mr. Iwatani, you really shouldn’t worry too much about it,” Éclair said. 
“Yeah . . . Hey, Motoyasu,” Father began. 
“What is it?” 
“If there ends up being a next time, I’d like you to make sure we don’t cause a mess like this again.” 
“I should be able to do that. My portal locations are retained even if the time loop resets. If there is a next time, I’ll be able to take us to Siltvelt without needing to travel this road.” 
“That works. Thanks.” 
“If anything does happen, I’ll stomp all over the fools, I say!” 
Shortly after, we joined up with the Siltvelt army and proceeded to make our way into Siltvelt without incident. 
“Ugh, rain. There’s something ominous about those huge rainclouds. I don’t like it,” Father said. 
It was thundering and pouring rain as we continued along the road toward the Siltvelt castle. 
“If this were a mystery novel, this rain would probably drive us into some old mansion,” I commented. 
“Don’t say that, Motoyasu. That’s scarier than it is funny,” Father said. 
Yuki seemed to take an interest in our exchange. 
“What is a mystery novel?” she asked. 
“It’s a certain type of story . . . I guess you could say. The stories are generally about a detective character who happens upon some kind of crime and then goes on to capture the culprit,” Father explained. 
“That sounds like what happened with those bad guys in that town earlier. In our case, Motoyasu would be the detective,” she said. 
“I guess that might be true, in a sense. But I was thinking of it a bit differently.” 
“Hm?” 
Yuki and Sakura both looked confused. 
“Mystery novels are complex, with lots of characters and the relationships between them coming into play. Sometimes the culprit ends up being one of the supposedly good people. If Motoyasu was the detective, then the Church of the Three Heroes’ members, who disguised themselves as Church of the Four Heroes’ members, would be the first people he suspected, right?” 
Of course! They were the only scumbags that would do something so hideous, I say! 
“You can’t call that a mystery. That would probably classify as an adventure novel or maybe an action novel,” Father continued. 
“So an important part of mysteries is to make you think then,” Yuki replied. 
“Yeah.” 
“That reminds me. This was before I was summoned to this world, but I visited a mysterious mansion once,” I said. 
I’d gone on a trip with some pigs. It started raining on us and we ended up staying in some stranger’s mansion for a while. 
“Oh, a story from your past? So? Was there a murder at the mansion?” Father asked. 
“No, the pig that lived in the mansion and I just solved several complicated issues is all.” 
“That sounds like a ‘gal game’ or a dating sim more than anything. You were the wrong person to ask. Right now, your character would either be the one who committed the murder at the mansion or maybe a bloodthirsty killer on the run,” Father said. 
“I’d send the culprit straight to the grave with a single blow, I say!” 
“You really would. This rain looks like it’s only going to get worse.” 
“Ha! Ha! Ha! Blowing this pathetic rain right out of the sky would be a simple task with my power, I say! Shall I do that?” 
“I really wish you wouldn’t. I saw some townspeople back there completely engrossed in sketching pictures of the instant you shot that skill off. They’re likely to come up with some kind of weird legend about how the rain stopped because of my arrival or something.” 
“Then I shall use magic, I say! It’s your hero’s welcome!” 
“Were you listening to what I just said? Please don’t! Motoyasu!” 
There was no arguing with that. Father had told me to stop, so I gave up on using magic. But no matter what misfortunes might be lying in wait for Father in the future, I was going to protect him until the end, I say! 

And then . . . finally, we arrived at the Siltvelt castle town.