It was an arduous journey, using every trick in the book and bypassing the system to return from the spirit world to reality.
Finally, after all the hardships, I emerged from the spirit world back to reality, arriving at Crossroad.
"...What, what is this...?"
I stood before the south gate of Crossroad, my mouth agape in shock.
Crossroad had become a completely different city from what I remembered.
"Kekeke!"
"Heehee vroom vroom!"
"Sob sob, today's meal was delicious!"
Men with Mohawk haircuts and leather jackets were running around, swinging clubs and shouting these bizarre cries.
Whooooosh...
Through the wide-open city gates, not a single citizen could be seen. The city looked like a ruin, lifeless and dead.
The fortress walls were pocked and scarred, adorned grotesquely with iron bars and barbed wire.
And to top it all off...
Rumble rumble...!
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh.
A huge skull-shaped artifact hung on the southern wall, with flames bursting from its eyes and mouth.
"What is this, the end of the world?"
I trembled as I looked at the blue flames of hell spewing from the skull's mouth.
"What the hell happened to the city while I was gone?!"
"Ah... Well, that's because..."
"How could such a drastic change happen just because I was away for a few days?! Huh?!"
Then Aider, standing behind me, hesitantly opened his mouth.
"Lord, you first fell into the spirit world, right?"
"Yeah... I did."
"And you returned through the spirit world too."
"That's right."
"The flow of time in the spirit world is completely different from reality. Since you passed through there..."
Aider glanced at me cautiously.
"Quite some time has passed."
"...?!"
I swallowed dryly in panic.
If a normally bustling city had transformed to such a post-apocalyptic state...
How much time had passed while I was lost in that place?
That's when it happened.
"Hey, you two! What are you doing there!"
"Strange outsiders spotted!"
The post-apocalyptic warriors with Mohawk haircuts approached us.
They licked their clubs and daggers, sticking out their tongues and giggling.
"We are the soldiers maintaining order in this city! What's happening here?!"
"You'd better tell the truth. Our boss doesn't like unnecessary bloodshed, hehe..."
"Our boss is a fearsome person without blood or tears, but he does enjoy drawing blood and tears from others!"
As they brandished their clubs and rambled threateningly, I strode towards them.
The Mohawk men backed away, startled as I approached. I glared into their eyes and growled.
"Take me to this 'boss' of yours."
"Eh? No, well, that is..."
I barked at the sweating men.
"Hurry up, you bastards. Right now!"
***
Thus, I entered the city with the Mohawk warriors.
The city was silent, without a single citizen or ant in sight. I sighed deeply, observing the desolate cityscape. What on earth had happened here...
The Mohawk warriors glanced at me and led me to the barracks.
"Acting commander!"
"We've captured these suspicious individuals!"
Entering the barracks, the Mohawk warriors shouted.
Then,
"Suspicious individuals?"
A blonde knight standing at the entrance, examining a pile of weapons, responded.
"The battle is starting in a few days, where did these suspicious characters come from..."
As he turned around, our eyes met.
The knight's blue eyes widened.
"...My lord?"
I was at a loss for words.
His armor was full of scratches, he looked thin and haggard from hardship, and he exuded an air of a battle-hardened veteran, but it was a face I knew all too well.
I called out my knight's name.
"Lucas!"
"My lord? Is it really you, my lord? My goodness...!"
Lucas, who had been holding various things, dropped them and ran towards me, immediately kneeling before me.
"You're alive, my lord!"
"Of course. It was tough, but I made it back."
It was exactly like the saying goes, 'leaving home is the start of a hard journey.'
Lucas looked up at me, smiling through his tears, and then suddenly his eyes welled up with tears.
"I thought for sure..."
And then he started to cry bitterly.
"I thought for sure you were gone forever... Waaah...!"
Waaah- Waaah- Lucas started to cry with his unique bear-like sobbing.
The Mohawk warriors who had led me here began to sweat profusely.
"Our boss... is a fearsome person with no blood or tears..."
"Our role model... the ideal warrior..."
"He's crying like a bear..."
I struggled to comfort Lucas, who was now drenched in cold sweat. Hey, hey! Your subordinates (?) are watching! Stop crying, come on, stop!
After a while, Lucas, having calmed down, explained the current situation to me, starting with how much time had passed since I went missing.
"Half a year...?!"
My mouth fell open in shock.
"It's been half a year?!"
"Yes. Exactly six months and fifteen days. I've been counting the days since the day you disappeared, my lord."
Lucas added, blowing his nose into a handkerchief. I couldn't close my mouth in surprise.
No wonder it felt oppressively hot, we were already past summer and approaching the beginning of autumn.
Lucas also explained why the city had taken on such an end-of-the-world atmosphere.
The Mohawk friends were just mercenaries hired recently.
The fortress had been damaged due to continuous battles in the half year I was gone.
The large skull hanging on the south gate was a rare artifact obtained in the last defensive battle.
And the reason why there were no people in the city was that they had been evacuated due to the imminent boss stage.
"After you disappeared, my lord, we fought three more defensive battles."
We faced the Goblin Legion at Stage 15, and after that, Stage 16, before I fell into the abyss of Oblivion's Beyond.
In my absence, Crossroad had managed to survive up to Stage 19.
It was a stroke of luck that the intervals between defensive battles were long during the half year.
"Considering that a powerful legion attacks every five stages, the next defensive battle seems to be tough... so we evacuated the citizens in advance."
"Well done, Lucas."
After receiving various other major reports, I patted Lucas on the shoulder.
"You've done well in my absence."
"I just tried to do as you taught me, my lord... but it wasn't easy."
We exchanged smiles and continued our conversation.
"I'm back~ I just checked with the blacksmith, and they said they could manage to meet the arrow quota by the day of the defense."
A helmeted female knight entered the barracks.
The female knight, strong enough to carry a box full of arrows in each arm, looked our way and then,
"Huh?"
She dropped the boxes with a thud.
"No way."
Thump!
The female knight dashed towards me in the blink of an eye, grabbed my shoulders in shock, and shook me back and forth.
"Senior?! It's really you, Senior?! You're back, right?!"
"Uh, well, that, wait a minute!"
"Where have you been all this time, really! Do you even know how worried we were?!"
Holding my arm tightly and shaking it, I asked in bewilderment.
"First off, let's clarify this. Who are you?!"
"How can you not recognize your proud junior? It's me, me!"
No, there's no female knight with your physique that I know of...
Wait a minute.
There's only one person who calls me 'senior', right?
"...Could it be, Evangeline?"
"Who else would it be but me!"
As the female knight swiftly removed her helmet, her long platinum hair, tied up at the back, cascaded down.
Her mischievous smile, with prominent canine teeth, was unchanged. There was a faint X-shaped scratch on her now thinner and sharper cheeks, and...
She had grown so much taller! No wonder I didn't recognize her!
"This is crazy, how much have you grown in just half a year?!"
It's not an exaggeration, she really seems to have grown almost 10cm.
Of course, even with a 10cm growth, she's still shorter than me, but considering she was barely 150cm, to grow this much in a blink... Her physical balance has completely changed, she's like a different person!
Though taller, Evangeline still had a childlike face and nodded with a hum.
"This reaction! This is the reaction I wanted to hear! Can I now proudly claim to have a sexy-dynamite-hot body? Ehehe!"
She's still obsessed with that dynamite hot thing, this girl...
"Even though I've grown this much, that guy still treats me like a kid, it's so unfair. But now that I've got your acknowledgment, senior, he has to accept it too!"
Lucas frowned discontentedly, receiving a scolding from Evangeline.
"What's the use of growing taller if your mind is still childish..."
"Hehe, you say that but you must be nervous, right? Afraid that I'll catch up to and surpass your height?"
"How could you ever catch up to my height?"
"I'm still growing! I've grown this much in half a year, so I'll keep growing more!"
Watching the two knights bicker, I laughed heartily.
Ah... I've missed this. I've missed seeing my subordinates bicker like this...
"Your Highness?"
At that moment, a perplexed voice came from the barracks' entrance.
Turning around, I saw a familiar boy... no, a young man with curly brown hair. I waved my hand in joy.
"Damien! Long time no see!"
Damien rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and chuckled.
"Ha, maybe I've been pushing myself too hard lately... seeing illusions..."
"No, you have the far-sight ability. How could you see illusions?"
"Even hearing hallucinations now. Ha, maybe I'm really tired..."
Muttering to himself, Damien gathered divine power in his hand, then pressed it to his forehead,
"Heal, heal..."
He stirred it around.
No, it's not your head that's broken! I'm real, I tell you!
A little later.
"I thought you had left us and gone to the Imperial Capital..."
After realizing I was real, Damien clutched my sleeve and started to choke up.
"Last time, we all disobeyed your command, Your Highness. I thought you were so angry that you left us behind..."
"...I was wrong that time. And I'm not irresponsible enough to just abandon this place like that."
Well, I unintentionally left it for half a year, so maybe I was a bit irresponsible...
I observed Damien. He had tied his now longer curly hair into a small bun at the back. And...
"...You've grown taller too, haven't you?"
"Ahaha... seems there was still room for me to grow."
He had grown too.
Until now, he definitely had the appearance of a boy, but with the increase in height and a slightly more robust build, he now looked unmistakably like a young man.
'...Half a year is indeed a long time for children.'
When together, I didn't realize how much these kids had grown, but meeting them after a long separation, I can really feel it.
They say kids grow overnight, but in half a year, they've evolved to their next form.
And finally.
"Your Highnessssss!"
Junior, the last of my main party members to hear the news, came running in a frantic rush.
"I knew it! I just knew it! That Your Highness wouldn't abandon us, or meet a tragic end outside!"
Junior looked exactly the same as half a year ago. The wide-brimmed wizard hat, the fluffy robe covering her body, and...
"Gurgle!"
...even the blood-spitting.
As soon as she arrived in front of me, Junior dramatically spat blood onto the ground.
Seeing me gaping, Junior wiped her mouth, looking awkward and stumbling over her words.
"...It's, it's a gag."
"Hey, that repertoire isn't working anymore, you know?"
Everyone else has evolved in a positive direction, so why are you back to spitting blood! Weren't you over that chronic illness?
"I thought I was over it, but some residual elements remained in my magic pathways... and they've caused trouble again."
Damien, looking pained, cast a healing spell on Junior, murmuring 'heal, heal'.
Lucas, who had come to my side, explained with a wry smile.
"Junior has been pushing herself too hard. We just couldn't afford to give our magic forces a break..."
"So, overexertion led to a relapse of the blood-spitting, I see."
Junior, somewhat recovered, flashed her characteristic fox-like smile.
"Anyway! It's really good to have you back, Your Highness."
"..."
I looked around at my surroundings. Lucas, Evangeline, Damien, all smiling around me.
"Really, it is."
Locking eyes with each of my party members, I said, newly appreciative.
"It's good to be back."
Sincerely, just like that.