"We finally made it back," I said.

"Yeah, we did it, Ike!" replied Flare.

After escaping from the Septem Labyrinth and walking east for thirty minutes, we finally stood before the walled adventurer town of Ford.

"Hmm, but I am feeling a bit tired," Flare muttered softly.

Having handled most of the battles on the way, she seemed to finally be feeling the strain.

"Do you want to rest? From here, I can manage on my own."

"Are you sure? I don’t want to trouble you."

"Of course," I replied, taking out a small, hand-sized case attached to my belt. It was a silver box known as a Doll Case—a resting or storage chamber for dolls.

Naturally, Flare wouldn’t fit into it as she was. So, I activated one of my puppeteer skills.

“Form Shift.”

"Whoa, that feels so strange!" Flare exclaimed as her body rapidly shrank to palm size. The skill allowed me to freely adjust the size of my dolls, although both enlarging and shrinking had their limits. The Doll Maker, who made her, was especially skilled, ensuring the ability worked seamlessly even with Flare’s sentience.

Lying down in the case, she looked incredibly comfortable.

“Sleeping in here feels amazing, like all my fatigue just disappears. Goodnight, Ike!"

"Goodnight, Flare. Thanks for helping me get here."

Watching her fall asleep with a smile, I closed the case and headed toward the Adventurer’s Guild.

It was mid-morning when I reached the guild, and it was packed with adventurers. Yet, one counter had no line—Ayla’s. She looked unusually downcast, probably why others were keeping their distance. I couldn’t help but feel concerned, so I walked over to her.

At that moment, she looked up and froze, mouth open in shock.

“Wha…Ike?! You’re…alive?!”

"...What?"

Her reaction took me off guard, but I quickly realized what had happened. Nord and the others had likely reported that I was dead, given the situation. A reasonable assumption, though it didn’t sit well with me.

I pulled out a bag from my belt and set it on the counter.

"Wait, are there rumors about my death? There's a lot I’d like to clarify, but for now, could I just get an appraisal for these: Magic Stone and the Minotaur’s Core?"

“Y-yes, of course, but…did you just say Minotaur’s Core?” Her shout drew even more attention, and the nearby adventurers started murmuring.

“Did he say Minotaur’s Core? Did he really beat a Minotaur?”

“Nah, must’ve misheard. This is that puppeteer guy, right? Supposedly deadweight for the Hero’s party.”

“Yeah, no way he cleared the fifth level.”

Ayla bowed apologetically. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to shout—”

“It’s fine. I knew what would happen when I brought these here. Can you do the appraisal?”

“Y-yes, I’ll get right to it…wait, are all of these Magic Stone high-rank?”

“Yes, from the fifth level.”

The adventurers around us grew even more restless, their voices rising.

“I heard him say fifth level! Did he really defeat a Minotaur?”

This time, someone called out to me directly. I turned to find dozens of adventurers staring.

Better to be upfront now than deal with lies later. I opened my mouth to explain—

“That’s right! I was the one who defeated the Minotaur!”

Before I could speak, a familiar blond man stepped out of the crowd—Nord, with the others trailing behind him. I narrowed my eyes, giving him a sharp look.

“...Nord. What do you think you’re doing here?”

The hero who had abandoned us now stood there, grinning arrogantly.