Ten years had passed. My stepdaughter whom I had entrusted to the King of the Iska Kingdom became 17 after all these years, welcoming a new page of her life in the form of a wedding that Teto and I went out to see secretly.
I spoke about the days we lived with Selene in this land to Baretta who didn't know about her during the winter.
We also handled quests from the Gard Beastkin Nation in these years. At the same time, new changes were introduced in the «Empty Wilderness».
I built a cozy home in the central region of the «Empty Wilderness» with «Creation Magic» and rebuilt the management control system of all places there.
I created another 20 Service Dolls besides Baretta with «Creation Magic» and granted each of them the «Self-Repair» skill. Though it didn't outright turn them into Mechanoid species for they lack the experience to form a soul even if they were granted the skill since they had just been created, unlike Baretta who had experienced the passage of time for 2000 years.
They might be just mere service dolls at the moment but I look forward to the time when they too will gain enough experience and turn into the same race as Baretta.
A few more years passed after that and at one point I realized I had turned 40.
I had reached the threshold where I could officially be called an old lady in this world. But that being said, it didn't have much of an impact on me, Teto, and Baretta as we were still as young-looking as ever and we passed our days leisurely.
And when I was enjoying my days with Baretta and Teto, Lariel appeared in a ‘Dream Oracle’ but, surprisingly, it was just her this time.
…………
……
…
«Come on, Chise. I really want your help in solving the problem of the land under my management too!»
"Ahー, you did talk about it before."
She had spoken about this from several tens of years ago but I was busy with the yearly emergency requests of the Gard Beastkin Nation and reclamation of the «Empty Wilderness» for a while and then the days with Baretta and other service dolls had been so fun that it completely slipped my mind.
I wasn't that keen on the ‘all-you-can-eat magic stone buffet’ either since Teto was already having her fill with the magic stones we had been getting from the urgent quests that it thinned down any motivation for me to act.
«Chise. You can't have gotten the ‘laid-back’ trait as those long-lived species have, have you?»
"Ahck, it sounds quite dreadful. I didn't even realize it's been already tens of years and I feel like it's just yesterday's matter......"
And it could be done anytime when I have eternal life ahead of me. Goodness, I think it was about time to adopt a different lifestyle.
"You're right. I guess it's about time I start with your request."
«Thank you, Chise! Here's the information about wilderness in my region. I'm gonna impart it to you!»
The information Lariel passed to me by touching my head was not about the Gard Beastkin Nation, but the Lovile kingdom in the faraway east.
"Lovile kingdom is under the management of Lariel?"
«Hmm, that's right. I'm the sun goddess after all! It's natural for my region to be in the direction where the sun rises!»
I see. I nodded in understanding while tilting my head wondering if that's how they were sorted out.
When the ‘Dream Oracle’ was over, I opened my eyes and conveyed to Teto and Baretta about resuming our journey to keep my promise with goddess Lariel.
«So you're leaving, Master.»
Baretta said this as she came to see us off in the place where our old little house was instead of remaining at our main base.
"Unfortunately, I can't take you with me with how the current world has transformed into a low-mana region.
"We will bring you a souvenir~"
Baretta’s expressions were as indifferent as ever but the air around was appealing to me how much she wanted to accompany us.
But the problem was that Baretta couldn't live anywhere outside of the premises of the «Empty Wilderness», anywhere besides the world tree to be more precise.
Baretta's body was originally that of a service doll from the ancient magic civilization.
She either needed to absorb mana from the surrounding when functioning, have someone refill her mana once in a few days, or have facilities like a mana refill stand since she was tuned to work in that era's mana region.
However, there weren't such facilities like mana refill stands that exist at the current time and she only had an uptime of 4 hours before she required mana replenishment in the outside world with low mana density.
This part hadn't changed even after going through demonificaton. As such, she was now left in charge of managing her subordinate service dolls and the house in the «Empty Wilderness» during our absence.
Speaking of the service dolls, their cores were also capable of drawing out the abilities of other cores such as the combat purpose Model-A, the daily life purpose Model-B like Baretta, or the sex purpose Model-C. Although each Model had different functions, it has become possible by merging and absorbing the other broken cores we found from our ruin excavations like how Teto once absorbed the dungeon core.
The result of merging the cores was the creation of both the combat-capable parts as well as the private parts of the female body. Their bodies also become capable of physiological functions.
Baretta was stunned silly when that had happened. She was surprised that it was now possible for her to have children like humans, then looked distressed and then silently prayed due to the miracle of the now-changed world.
«I will await your return and pray that you successfully complete the task passed to you through the goddess's oracle, Master.»
"You know there's no need for that much. I have teleportation magic and I can always come back once I set up a «Transfer Gate» too."
"Yeah, we will be back going *whoosh* and return like usual!"
After that, we rode the «Flying Carpet» and departed from the «Empty Wilderness».
Our destination was Town Yir of the Beastkin Nation, the closest place to the «Empty Wilderness».
We did periodically visit the town and delivered medicinal herbs and potions even as most of the time we were cooped up in the «Empty Wilderness» to restore it.
We had begun living a semi-retired life where we were enjoying the rest of our lives after a point, but, that being said, we were high-ranking adventurers who were active in this town for more than 20 years so it was necessary to sort some things out.
"Welcome to the Adventurer Guild. What might be your business today?"
The one to greet us was an unfamiliar receptionist. She must have joined around a month ago, I thought.
"I'm Adventurer Chise who is active in this town. I have come here to say our goodbye today since I'm going to the Lovile kingdom for some reason with my partner Teto."
"Err, Chise-sama? CHISE-SAMA!? P, please show your guild card!"
“Hiiii”, the flustered receptionist let out a small shriek at the «A-Rank» word and «Flying Carpet» party name when I passed the guild card to her.
We were now being treated as stars since we had been accepting emergency requests from all over the Gard Beastkin Nation and our tales had been spreading through the Bards and their songs.
"Pl, please wait a minute!"
Saying that she stormed off to her superior.
"Haa, are we going to have this situation everywhere we go?"
"It's alright Majou-sama. It's a matter of our image!"
That doesn't make me feel any better though, I thought when Teto replied proudly.
An A-rank Adventurer’s war potential was national level. A war situation could be easily overturned by just one such individual in this world where skills and magic exist.
There were very few free A-rank Adventurers that don't belong to any nation and in a country, they could be easily counted with the fingers of both hands.
I may have received my certificate in the Iska Kingdom but I was active in this Gard Beastkin Nation for 20 or so years.
However, there was hardly any work for an A-rank Adventurer.
An incident that required A-rank Adventurers was like the emergency requests which we had been called for and they at best happened either once or twice a year or sometimes not at all.
Hence, they would either handle B-rank quests, accept subjugation quests of A-rank monsters that occasionally appeared, or challenge demon-infested regions that others would not dare to.
This or they would look after the training of junior adventurers, become a guild master, become a knight of a nation, start a business with the funds they had amassed during their time as an adventurer, or buy land and settle down in the countryside when they felt like they have passed their prime and decided to live a semi-retired life.
Teto and I continued to retain our heyday strength even after two decades while living a semi-retired life without taking over other adventurer requests in that sense.
We must be handy adventurers to have around from this nation's perspective considering we could quickly move to the places that needed urgent battle power with the «Flying Carpet».
"Chise-sama, Teto-sama! Guild master has called you!"
Soon, the new receptionist came along with another receptionist I was familiar with and we were guided to the Guild Master room.
"Chise-san, Teto-san, I heard you're leaving this country, may I ask for the reason? Is there something you don't like here?"
The Guild Master asked us so.
The previous Guild Master from the time I used to frequent the guild with Selene had retired due to his age and declining abilities as an adventurer.
The current position was taken over by a former guild staff and had been working as guild master for around 10 years.
He had looked quite worried when we decided to go to the Iska Kingdom to meet with Selene's biological father and when he heard we had returned as A-rank Adventurers, he congratulated us.
However, he also looked regretful about Selene, who had been working as a temporary staff member and a healer after hearing that she was going to live with her father.
I hadn't accepted any request proactively for one year after that and holed myself up in the «Empty Wilderness», half from the sadness of Selene no longer being beside me and the other half due to being busy investigating the wilderness and repairing Baretta.
He should be worried since we were valuable A-rank Adventurers as after that one-year hiatus, we had begun to sort out B-rank quests or quests that weren't popular from the frontier town and occasionally rushed to other places for emergency requests with the «Flying Carpet».
We had been approached to become guild masters with the achievements Teto and I had racked up which we humbly turned down and that was how he was selected as the next guild master.
"We don’t have any dislike for the Gard Beastkin Nation. Everyone here is good-natured and kind. But the reason is...... You know that the Lovile kingdom is facing the sea, right? I have this craving to eat seafood."
"Huh? Seafood?"
Both the Gard Beastkin Nation as well as Iska kingdom were inland regions. So I was going out to the Lovile kingdom to have a taste of seafood...... well that's the pretext.
"So that's the reason? Not something like clearing out an unexplored dungeon or clearing out a demon-infested region in that country?"
"No, I just want to eat seafood."
I did occasionally make some seafood with «Creation Magic» but I think the real one should be better than what I conjured from my memory.
"But the money to pursue such a hobby...... wait, you already have more than enough."
"Yeah, I have saved up quite a lot of money thanks to you."
I had received a huge sum that we couldn't even spend for sealing the Great Devil in the Iska Kingdom from the King. And then we also had another sum saved up in our guild cards that we received as rewards for delivering potions and medicinal herbs, and completing emergency requests in these several tens of years that we were active as adventurers.
In fact, who knows where they got wind of the fact that we had amassed more fortune than even those typical greedy aristocrats that merchants or aristocrats were even cooking up schemes to make us their wives or lovers so that they can get our wealth.
However, they could hardly do anything against us who had been living inside the «Empty Wilderness», that’s not even saying that the use of force was impossible against us since we were cut above rest in strength.
Well, there were occasionally some idiots who would pop up despite the futility of it all whom we would neutralize and hand over to guards.
"I thought your reason was something like escaping from the marriage proposals you have been receiving from strange people recently given your overwhelming popularity."
"I'm not going to let anyone have Majou-sama ever!"
After saying that, Teto hugged me from the side. Well not that I have any intention of giving Teto away to become someone else's wife, nor do I have any interest in becoming one.
"Oh, well, I see. I understand your reason. To be honest, I would have liked to keep you here but you have already been working hard these days."
The former guild staff and now the guild master was a considerate person, always looking after Selene who had been working here in the past.
There was something troubling him after he inherited the role of guild master from a staff member.
We accepted the request that was the source of his worry, where Teto would train adventurers in her free time which greatly increased the value of adventurers in this town. As such he felt grateful for our work.
"May I ask something? Will Chise-san and Teto-san do quests in the said country?"
"Well, if I feel like it."
The Guild Master suddenly gave a wry smile when I said it in a nonchalant tone.
"So you say Chise-san, but you have been receiving quests all these years out of your chivalrous spirit."
"You have been exposed, Majou-sama~"
"............ I'm not."
Teto laughed. I averted my gaze after stating that to the Guild Master.
Though it was true that our activities after delivering potions and medicinal herbs mainly revolved around taking requests that might be dangerous for others, collection requests, or requests whose rewards were quite subpar in contrast to the content among the request left behind whenever we came to the guild.
"It's because of your efforts to take unpopular requests that this guild's request completion is so high. I can't thank you enough for your contribution. I believe your work, no matter which guild you help out, will benefit the Adventurer Guild as a whole and not just us."
"Well, I accept your gratitude. It's about time for us to go, bye."
After that, we left the town we had been frequenting for twenty years under the watchful eyes of the Guild Master.
After leaving the town gate, I unfurled the flying carpet, rode on it, and headed for the Lovile kingdom along the highway.
