Now-a-days Keiko mostly uses her bench for sitting. Sometimes for standing on to bring things down from the high cupboards in her new farmhouse. At long last she’s settled permanently into retirement.

Once the Viscountess de Amara and her forces were defeated by Chieftain Gimbur's war horde, the refugees and rescued prisoners constructed another village within easy walking distance of the goblin caves. It quickly became a prosperous and thriving community.

Keiko had a beautiful new house there. As she was getting up there in age, she decided to take a boarder to live with her and help around the farm. Leeda moved right in, and the two of them have been the best of friends ever since. It was fertile land, and located near several very pleasant nature trails, which Keiko and Leeda hike together often.

The farm was also near the in-correctional institution where Mayumi was being held for her crimes against the Obsidian Empire in monstrous conditions. Princess Needa was able to arrange family counseling for all of them there. When he wasn't questing as a villain, Kev was a thoughtful and articulate therapist, and he mediated their sessions with incisive tact.

It was Keiko’s difficulty expressing herself, her feelings, and her love for Mayumi which first seeded the resentment in her daughter’s heart. Mayumi never believed that her feelings were ever valued, or that her mother loved her. It was this bitterness that started her redemption.

Keiko had said terrible things when Mayumi told her that she wished to study weapons other than just the bench. Things she now regretted deeply.

It was the difficulties at home which first sent Mayumi on a bright path. She started waking up early in the morning to hang out with good influences.

In the end, Mayumi abandoned Shinji as a child, and left to join the Argent Legion. Shinji's father was a wild elf, and ran off almost at once when he faced some responsibility, leaving the boy with no one to care for him as he grew up except for his grandmother.

After everything that had passed between them, it was difficult for any of them to trust again.

Yet, slowly, old wounds have begun to mend.

Mayumi hopes to be released soon on bad behavior, and intends to live with her mother again while she’s on parole. Neither of them is sure what the road ahead holds in store for them, but they intend to find out together.

Beeda opened a wrestling dojo in the village. Freeda went to live there with her sister, and she became the commander of a village militia, intended to keep everyone safe from any marauding heroes. Both of them are frequent dinner guests at Keiko's home, where they help Leeda eat the ex-nun's specialty dumplings.

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Shinji went to study in the dojo to learn the puroresu style martial arts with Beeda, which he felt to be his calling. Keiko was disappointed that Shinji, like his mother, chose not to follow her in strict adherence to only the bench fighting style, and their relationship was strained for a time.

Fortunately, Kev was able to bring Keiko out of her emotional shell during their family therapy sessions when he sensed her withdrawing. With help, she was able to express her inner truth at last.

The way she was raised in the Temple of the Burning Lotus, she was never permitted to express herself in any way- except through combat. She needed to prove that she was righteous, through long grueling training- through deadly battle. Through the bench.

How could it not mean everything to her?

Throughout her life, the bench was always there. To boost her to her highest highs, and give her rest at her lowest lows. Even when Shinji's grandfather was taken from her, the bench was always there beneath her to support her. That was why the weapon meant so much to her. It was the only way she had to relate to her daughter and grandson, who meant more to her than everything in the world- for them to reject the bench was to reject Keiko herself.

Together, they had a major breakthrough, and Keiko shed the first tears she’d had since Mayumi was born. All three of them, and also Kev, shared a very tender embrace.

With difficulty, Keiko accepted that there were ways to express her feelings for her family other than via the bench. She finally accepted them both. That Mayumi was her own woman, that Shinji was his own man, and they must live their own lives.

And for Shinji, he would be sharing that life with a certain goblin princess.

True to her word, Keiko arranged a date between Needa and her grandson upon their return to the goblin caves. Although he was initially hesitant to be courted by a woman he had never met, and overwhelmed by her potent scent, he eventually got used to it.

Shinji discovered that Needa was an affectionate person, with a keen intellect, and a passion for contributing to evil causes. And although the princess was not actually quite as beautiful as she saw herself to be- (few could be) she was still very pretty. They soon fell deeply in lust with one another.

He moved into the goblin caves with her, and they’ve been almost inseparable ever since. His grandmother was frequently pestering Shinji to settle down with a woman who had such a promising and stable career in villainous royalty. Needa was already a senior executive princess, and she was on a fast track for promotion to evil queen once her father was ready to step down as leader of the Volcano-Tusk clan.

Of course, it was only a matter of time until Needa and Shinji were engaged to be joined in an unholy union. But the story of that wedding could not be told without discussing the adventure for the silver stockings which proceeded immediately before it, speaking briefly regarding the imperial political machinations running concurrently with it, and wouldn't be satisfying to relate at all without providing a summary of the Briar War following directly after it.

And thus, it must remain a tale for another time.

For this tale has reached-

The end.