"Ah… I see…" I gather all the girls around me. "No hablo español."
"What?"
"Return."
I suddenly appeared in front of a large mansion. Actually, it was still being constructed. There were large scaffoldings in front of it as construction was still ongoing. It was actually the first time I had returned to Chalm in a while. A few people who were working on the mansion came to notice me and the group behind me. Someone ran off, likely to go tell the relevant people."
"Ah? We're back in Chalm?" Lydia said.
"This is Master's home?" Terra asked, looking around with interest.
"Fufu… as expected of my Master. The way you coldly spurned the Church, it brings me great happiness," Shao chuckled. "Your skills are suiting for the man who defeated me."
"I didn't really defeat you, though?"
"You defeated my heart."
"Can you really just do that, though?" Carmine asked nervously. "If the Church wanted to speak to you, doing this may anger them."
"It's probably fine," I shrugged. "It'd be inconvenient to meet with them now anyway. We need to prepare for the dungeon, not talk to some priest. Besides, Shao is a demon lord and Carmine was kicked out of the church. Do I really want to be answering a string of uncomfortable questions?"
'What about Faeyna and Salicia?"
"They should be fine for a few hours? All they can say is that I'm not home. Faeyna worked for a noble. I'm sure she'll figure something out. Either way, we'll return there later today and you can join your sister while the rest of us set off straight to Alerith."
"I won't be joining you on the dungeon subjugation?" Carmine asked in surprise.
"Well, it's best if you two guard the mansion. Ah, you can deal with the Church if they come, since you're used to it."
Her face stiffened for a moment, but then she nodded. It was probably fine to leave it to the two sisters. At worst, Faeyna would keep them in line.
"Deek! You've returned! Oh, thank the gods, the girls are alright." A balding man came running up to us.
The Mayor had certainly lost weight these last few months. I guess reconstructing Old Chalm took a lot of work.
"Yeah, we all managed to make it through somehow." I pulled out a packet and handed it to him. "I managed to get everything settled it seems."
The Mayor took the form and read through it, and then his eyes widened and he suddenly bowed. "M-my apologies, my lord!"
"Haha… please, just Deek is fine. I haven't changed much."
"How is that possible?" The Mayor twitched. "We may not have gotten much information, but we've been hearing about your exploits. You wiped out an evil dungeon watched by a malicious guardian."
"Ah… about that…"
Terra frowned, looking away.
"You defeated a crazed lunatic who was possessed by a monstrous mechanical dragon!"
"…" Carmine looked awkward.
"… and that's not even to mention how you defeated a demon lord, a monster so foul and…"
"Okay… let's not get into it!" I shouted louder than I intended and then gave an awkward cough.
The Mayor didn't get what he said wrong, but he was good at reading the mood. He could see a melancholy feeling forming across the women in my group, especially the ones he didn't recognize. He quickly invited us to sit down in a nearby tavern. I accepted graciously.