The temporary base finally sent their rescue team. Leading it was the sole daughter of Cyntral Corp. Ellie. After some time spent fighting the monitor lizards, the monsters just simply ran away. That behavior bothered Ellie, but the most important thing was to save the others.

"Sister, it's quiet."

"Yes... I hope everybody is fine."

They arrived at the rubbles which used to be an abandoned building. All around them were hundreds of dead giant lizard bodies.

"I see people, there."

"Where? Oh! That's them... Vinne and Dusk, they're fine."

"I told you... Yes, I told you they are fine."

---

"Dusk!- Alt!?"

As expected from the lady who used to travel along with Hero Altrius. From defeating small gangs to destroying rival families and demons. She was there, right beside the hero himself. There was no doubt she would be able to recognize him at the first look.

But he was gone as soon as she got out of the car.

"Dusk!"

"Miss Ellie? You are here?"

"Yes. Was that? The rumored?"

"Yes. But, I'm sorry, I don't know anything about the ghost..."

A self-deprecating smile was forming on Ellie's face, not Dusk. For him, unveiling the ghost's mask was not a must. But it was different for her. Although, she snapped out of the look as fast.

Ellie trotted to the salamander's dead body, searching for any clue left behind. She stopped right after she put her leg on the body to try and climb the beast, but she regained her composure.

tap

She landed back. Turning around, her princessly smile still pasted on the beauty's face.

"You have any injured? Would you mind showing them to me?"

"No, miss."

She put her hands on top of Burr's body and a faint light glowed inside him. He was looking better and better. His goblin-enhanced body and his normal one, the former slowly turned to the latter.

---

From the grievest injured to the least, she treated them with her [Healing] skill. She treated Benjie right after Burr and then moved on to the others. The only person to not receive medical attention was Del.

"Del?"

"Ellie. I thought you did not like Eric."

"No, I am not here for him, I am here for my younger brother. But, why are you here?"

"I was looking for money. I didn't know Eric was behind all this."

She knew that Del wouldn't need any healing. Just like in the old hero's party days. She gestured about the man on Del's shoulder, but Del shook his head.

If there was anything she learned from her experience with Del, she knew not to question his decisions. She also knew that someone with his abilities and experience would notice the ghost hero.

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"Was that really him, Del?"

"It was similar, but not him exactly. They moved the same."

BRUG

Del threw Du Lax at Dusk. He landed right under Dusk's looking-down face. Del then turned and left the place.

"Don't heal him, he is not going to die. See you again, Ellie."

"See you again, Del."

"WAaaah! Nooo! Please, heal me, please. Aah!"

Hitting the ground woke the fat man up at just the right time to hear Del's message. He flailed around like a big baby, a VERY big baby, with two bloody stumps instead of his two hands.

---

clink

Eric clicked the bottle to his glass for some reason.

"Thank you, dear sister. For helping the family business."

"I am not there to help you, brother, nor father. I was there as Ray and his friend's guard, I failed."

"What are you talking about? The lizard problem got solved, the hordes that would become a future problem got solved, and none of Ray's little friends died."

Eric offered a glass to his sister but was rejected. Seeing that she had no interest in the drink, he started gulping down the bottle instead.

"And your "reserved units"? I heard despite the success, you didn't manage to get any into the family's army, did you?"

"You are souring my mood, dear sister..."

"Talking about our armed employee, Del left your Ecout siblings defeated."

"Ellie..."

"Oh! Your favorite Dusk also caused problems with his past. If he was never a Du Lax, the fat heir would never ended up stealing. Out of all the things he could try to steal, to think it would be Del's necklace-"

CRASH!

"ELIZABETH!"

Ellie kept her eyes on Eric's. The popping veins on his veins went ballistic. Ellie never let go of her angelic smile. Eric might have been the son running their father's militia, but Ellie was the one who lived through the Hero Altrius's epic.

"The rumor, what do you know about it?"

"Huh...?"

"The Ghost Hero. Creating hoaxes while manipulating the people is your specialty."

"You think I made that rumor?"

"He was there! Whoever it is you asked to play that character, he was there! He knew what was going on in the forest!"

"I don't know!"

"Del said he moved just like Alt! The only people to understand his techniques are you and Del. So don't lie to me, Eric. Why are you doing this?"

"I swear I don't know anything about that."

Growing up together means picking up on each other's tales. When it comes to Eric, Ellie was the most knowledgeable. That time, she didn't see anything in Eric's eyes, he was truthful, or maybe just learned to lie better.

After staring daggers into Eric's face, Ellie left without a single word. As she exited the room, she made it a point to slam the door.

BRACK!

---

"Vinne~"

"Rain, please."

Rain jumped on Vinne who was quietly reading in the college's garden. She hugged her so much that Vinne started struggling while laughing.

"That is enough Miss Rain." Raymond joined the two followed by several more students.

"Oop! Here comes your prince in shining armor~ I see you are right on time now, Mr. Prince! But you will never save Princess Vinne! Mwa ha ha ha!"

"..."

"Oh come on! It's just a joke~ Don't get depressed every time we talk about that. You can't help it! If anything, it was my skill that got us separated!"

Three weeks later, the giant lizard incident still haunted Ray and Kren who was in a safer position than the other was. The self-blame of only helping when everything was over tormented them.

"Be more like Konoe here! He's shamelessly eating without a shred of guilt~"

"W-what?"

"You better thank me for getting you that close to the city gate!" Rain pushed Konoe, teasing him by pinching his cheeks.

"My luck is MY blessing!" He tried hard to not spill any of his sandwich filling.

"Ahahaha."

Six people could not hold their laughter in at the weird scene they were seeing. Kren joined the scuffle to pry Rain off of Konoe. But as soon as Rain left Konoe alone, she aimed for the newest addition to their group, Nina.

"Okay, let's stop talking about the bad things. Let's just praise Nina today."

From the day before, Nina had joined the University on Cyntral's recommendation. She was pressured to join with the rewards of fixing the orphanage she was living at.

"N-n-no no, please, no more praising!"

"Awww, c'mon! You were so cool back then! I'm just admiring my savior ~"

"Hiii! I'm not anyone's savior! Let me go, please!"

Even if the girl herself denied their appreciation, the others will keep thinking about it. Especially Rain and Vinne. Behind their laughs was a great feeling of gratitude to Nina.

---

"Oho! If it isn't the most talked about group in the Uni."

"Prof. Joan!"

"Ms. Principal, good day."

"Please, Vinne, just call me Professor Joan." The middle-aged lady turned to Nina. "Miss Nina, do you have any problem on your second day?"

"N-no, ma'am! The others helt- helped me."

"That is good. You can come to my office if you need anything, or any of you too."

"Thank you, professor."

Ray bowed his head slightly followed by the others

"Then how about you? Do you have any problem starting school, mister Del?"

"Nothing."