As the morning sun rose, the people of Herrington Village were about to chase after Jack's gang.

However, there was no need for that.

The moment they were about to pass through the palisade, they saw Ariel, Lu, and Jack's gang walking from afar.

While Ariel and Lu looked unharmed, Jack's gang appeared quite exhausted. Their faces and clothes were covered in blood. It seemed they had suffered quite a bit overnight, but that was not important.

As soon as he saw Jack's gang, the village chief was furious to the tips of his hair.

He had let them get away with causing trouble in the village with a laugh, and now they caused such a major incident?

He wanted to beat them up right away, but first he had to check on Ariel and Lu.

"Elf lady, sir fairy, are you alright? I heard those damned guys kidnapped you..."

"That's right."

Lu, sitting on Ariel's shoulder, replied bluntly.

"Well, it was useless though."

"I apologize. As the village chief, my incompetence led to this incident. I'm really ashamed."

"No need to apologize. My sister has decided to forgive those guys with heavenly magnanimity. For now, we'd like to return to the inn and rest. We haven't rested properly since yesterday."

"Understood, please go straight to the inn."

The village chief escorted Ariel and Lu to the inn. Meanwhile, the villagers took Jack's gang somewhere.

"Ariel! Lu!"

As they entered the inn, Kanna hurried over.

"Are you both okay?"

Kanna hadn't been able to sleep a wink, worried that something might have happened to Ariel and Lu.

"I didn't expect you to return so quickly. What happened to Jack?"

"Ask the villagers about that. For now, my sister needs to rest. Prepare cream bread and milk. And warm bath water and fruit wine... No, scratch the fruit wine."

Lu was reflecting. Yesterday, because he drank fruit wine and got drunk, Ariel ended up getting kidnapped.

Fortunately, it ended without any major incident, but from now on, he decided to stay sober and protect Ariel properly. For that, he would have to quit drinking.

"No fruit wine?"

But when Kanna asked again, Lu's resolve immediately wavered. He made a pained expression.

"That's right... To protect my sister... I can't drink..."

Then Ariel spoke up.

"You can drink." 

"!"

Lu's eyes widened.

"Really, sister? I can drink?!"

"Yes."

"But, yesterday because I failed to protect you... If that's the case, I don't deserve to stay with you..."

"It's fine. Drink."

"Sister..."

Lu looked at Ariel with teary eyes. But soon he turned to Kanna with a bright smile.

"Well, Kanna. You heard her? Since my sister has allowed it, bring lots of fruit wine! Quickly!"

*

Jack's gang, taken away by the villagers, was locked up in prison.

This time, it was a prison made by the villagers, not goblins.

The village chief first asked Jack for the full story. It was fortunate that they returned on their own instead of being captured, but he couldn't know exactly what happened.

Jack honestly recounted everything that occurred. He didn't act evasively or with a bad attitude like before. To the village chief, it seemed his demeanor had changed overnight.

Up until Jack's gang drugging Ariel to kidnap her and stealing the village's shared carriage to try to go to the city was expected. 

But what happened after that was an incredibly surprising story.

Especially the part about Ariel sweeping away the goblin horde with a single spell was hard to believe.

"I thought she was unusual when she went to find Patricia... but to that extent..."

That would certainly make her a powerful mage.

The village chief brushed his chest. They had narrowly avoided a huge disaster. If Ariel had sought revenge, Herrington Village would have vanished in an instant.

"Foolish fools."

The village chief glared at Jack's gang. The fact that the village nearly vanished because of these fools made his anger surge again.

Even though Ariel and Lu forgave them, from the village's perspective, it was unforgivable.

Because of them, the village had to buy a new shared carriage and horses. That alone was a considerable loss.

"From now on, you will be slaves of our village. You will work from the moment you open your eyes in the morning until you fall asleep at night. The term is 3 years. For 3 years, you will labor until your bodies break down. That is the punishment for you scoundrels. If you have any objections, speak now."

Jack's gang remained silent. Their expressions were not bright, but they did not seem to have any objections either. A solemn atmosphere prevailed, as if they were accepting their fate.

The village chief thought it was fortunate, after all. If they had made excuses or refused to take responsibility for their actions in this situation, he had planned to whip them to near-death and then banish them from the village.

The moment they were banished from the village, only death awaited them.

"And you must live your lives with a repentant heart towards the elf lady and sir fairy. Not only did they forgive your heinous sins, but they also saved your worthless lives. Do you understand?"

Jack's gang silently nodded their heads.

The village chief let out a deep sigh. With this, the treatment of Jack's gang was decided.

The labor he would assign them would be extremely arduous, but it would greatly benefit the village.

However, he did not know how to apologize to Ariel and Lu. If he asked about compensation, they would likely say they did not want anything.

But he could not do nothing after receiving such a great favor from them. If they disliked money, he wanted to express his gratitude in some other way.

'I should talk to Kanna...'

It was Kanna who brought Ariel and Lu to the village. She was the only one who had conversed with them, to some extent.

The village chief headed back to the inn.

*

When the village chief arrived at the inn, it was in a lively atmosphere.

The villagers had gathered in a circle in the dining area, and in the center, Lu was flitting about, boasting of Ariel's battles.

Lu exaggerated far beyond reality as he recounted Ariel defeating the troll, finding Patricia while defeating all kinds of monsters, even defeating the wyvern that tried to capture Lu, and this time, defeating the goblin king and his horde of goblins.

Fairies are natural storytellers.

Although Ariel's battles usually ended in a second, with Lu's eloquence and theatrics, he made Ariel's battles seem more grandiose and spectacular than they actually were.

The villagers exclaimed "Ooh" and "Ahh" as they listened intently to Lu's story.

"Then how old is Lady Ariel? She looks younger than Kanna from the outside."

When a young man asked with sparkling eyes, Lu frowned deeply.

"Hey, asking a woman's age is rude. Don't you know that?"

"Ah, you're right. Sorry, sorry."

In fact, Lu himself did not know Ariel's exact age. He called her 'sister' but Lu actually thought of Ariel as younger than himself.

By the way, Ariel was nowhere to be seen. As the village chief looked around, Kanna came out from the kitchen.

"Village chief, are you looking for something?"

"Ah, Kanna. Where is the elf lady?"

"Ariel went to take a bath."

"Hmm, then can you talk to me for a bit?"

"Me?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

The village chief took Kanna out of the inn. Inside, Lu and the villagers were noisily chattering, making it difficult to have a conversation.

Once outside, the village chief explained his purpose. He wanted to give Ariel and Lu some compensation but did not know what would be good.

"Hmm... At least Ariel and Lu don't seem too interested in money."

"I thought so too. I got scolded by the sir fairy yesterday for mentioning money. Talking about money must have insulted their pure hearts. But I can't do nothing after receiving such a great favor. So I want to give them something that won't burden them... Kanna, what do you think they would like?"

"Umm..."

Kanna tilted her head and fell into thought for a moment. Then she clapped her hands.

"Ah, then that would be good. Lu really likes fruit wine, and Ariel really likes cream buns. So if you give them that, they'll be really really happy." 

"Fruit wine and cream buns...?"

"Yes."

At that moment, the village chief felt like he had a revelation.

Come to think of it, when he asked Ariel what she wanted at the square, Ariel seemed to have answered cream buns. No, she definitely did.

After that, Ariel went to the inn and ate cream buns. So that's really what she wanted.

The village chief wiped his face with both hands. Ariel had already said what she wanted, but he hadn't listened properly.

"Haha, really..."

The village chief laughed in a dejected manner and patted Kanna's head. It's fortunate that he realized it now. If it was any later, he might have greatly regretted it after Ariel and Lu left the village.

"Give the two of them plenty of cream buns and fruit wine. As much as they want, give them enough. Don't take any money. I'll pay for it after they leave."

"Understood." 

"Okay, go back inside now. You're the closest to the two of them Kanna, so take good care of them."

"Yes."

Watching Kanna enter the inn, the village chief chuckled and headed home himself.

For some reason, his heart felt much lighter knowing what Ariel and Lu wanted.

*

When Kanna returned to the inn, she paced anxiously in front of the bathroom.

Earlier, Ariel had said she wanted to bathe after eating the cream buns and milk, and she still hadn't come out yet.

It had been long enough for the bathwater to get cold. No matter how thoroughly she was cleaning her body, it was taking too long.

What if something happened?

That's how worried Kanna was becoming.

Kanna thought about telling Lu, but Lu had already gotten drunk and fallen asleep on a table.

What could she protect in that state, Kanna muttered as she knocked on the bathroom door.

Knock knock.

"Ariel...?"

There was no answer. In this case, there was no choice.

This wasn't Kanna's desire, but out of worry, she had no choice but to open the door and go in.

Creak.

Kanna carefully opened the bathroom door and went inside. She saw Ariel sitting in the tub.

Ariel had her head lowered with her eyes closed. Kanna was startled and approached her.

"Ari...el?"

Just as Kanna was about to shake Ariel's shoulder, she heard soft breathing sounds.

"......"

Ariel was asleep.