THE AFTERMATH OF THE RETIRED HERO

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*****

Rob had always thought the Interworld Alliance headquarters was just a castle built on an island.

But in reality, there was soil, rock, forests, and a town beneath it. In short, it was more accurate to say that this was a vast castle city built across an entire island.

Rob learned this some time after that inquiry concluded. For three months, he was tossed into an educational institution to learn the social norms and basic skills of the Alliance and Femgraden, where he underwent training that was basically boot camp.

(I'm never going back there.)

That was Rob's honest sentiment after those three months of "education."

But that was all in the past now. Having completed his three-month sentence—or rather, learning period—Rob had completely let his guard down, and now, yawning widely, he was riding the bus to the Alliance headquarters.

Just past 9:00 AM.

Rob got off the bus in front of the Alliance headquarters and wandered aimlessly down a street lined with fresh green trees. Lulled by the chirping of small birds coming from somewhere, he gazed at the headquarters, which was sometimes called "The White-Dressed Queen."

Five minutes later, he passed through the majestic main gate—nicknamed "The Queen's Toe"—entered the white castle, and headed further down, into the basement.

Rob descended the stairs, which grew dimmer the further down he went, with an oddly excited expression on his face. When he arrived at his destination, he snorted with laughter.

It was a room that made him suspicious that it had originally been a prison cell. Exposed rock walls, a door that looked like it had been tacked on as an afterthought. Inside, it was almost entirely a warehouse. It looked like nothing but shelves and piles of countless boxes, but as he went deeper, he found a whiteboard-like information terminal, a desk, and a chair, placed there as if to save appearances.

「This is... pfft, nice. This is nice.」

The "Interworld Alliance All-World Agency Investigation Department Document Organization Office."

This was Rob's new workplace.

It wasn't a job to integrate or analyze information gathered by investigators. It wasn't about putting it into a database, either. It was a job to organize the leftovers—the scraps of information leaked from those processes: aimless memos from investigators or wanted criminals, unfounded rumors, and even suspicious data of unknown origin. In short, it was an "auditing department" that was little more than digging through the corners of a jewelry box—only here, it was digging through trash.

To put it simply, it was a sinecure.

That was why Rob was still wearing his hooded combat suit, and no investigator uniform had been issued. All he got was an ID card identifying him as staff. Naturally, he had none of the authority an investigator had. The only things he had were the means to gather information necessary for auditing and supplementing the organized data and the right to board the Interworld Train freely.

Having no place to return to and no connections, Rob was a man with no desire to fight as a soldier, a controversial ability, and no special skills in intelligence, technology, magic, or political maneuvering nor any assets. This position was appropriate for a man like him.

Above all, it would have been boring to be completely hostile to the Alliance and banned from over a thousand member countries. In that case, he’d be happier just taking Berta up on her offer.

In reality, the Alliance had shifted its strategy following the inquiry to take the risk of bringing Rob into the fold. The upper echelons of the Alliance could no longer afford to downplay the power and will Rob had demonstrated. Just as Rob had intended, beast had shown its power to beast, they had recognized each other's strength, people had confirmed their intentions, and they had found a middle ground.

The Alliance managed to contain the difficult Hero, and Rob took that into account as much as possible. The Alliance’s intention was to increase the chains of connection known as "citizen ties" and hopefully bring him into the fold. Rob wasn't villainous enough to reject that, so he was letting himself be bound up. That was the Alliance's aim, and Rob was aware of it.

Rob's reputation within headquarters was not very good.

People said he had obtained his current cushy position solely on the name of the Hero who slew the Demon King, even though he no longer had the power to fight. Rob was aware that people were saying this, and he sometimes thought to himself that this might be a "golden parachute" of sorts.

When it came to that, all he could do was apologize profusely, saying that he was sorry it wasn't a high-paying job.

He didn't think he was doing anything wrong, though.

Besides, it wasn't as if he weren't doing his job. He cared more than anyone about the significance of leaving behind accurate records. The influence of Harlequin and Saburo Fujita, whom he met during his travels on the Interworld Train, was significant.

「Right then, let's get moving.」

With a grin, Rob decided to board the Interworld Train immediately. Skipping up the dim stairs, he headed for the General Affairs Department.

Upon arriving, he scanned the reception desk as if looking for someone, spotted his target, and approached.

「Hey, long time no see.」

「Good morning.」

It was Arcelia, back to being a clerk from an investigator. She seemed to be working diligently without complaining.

「Good to see Pasche is doing well, too.」

Pasche, having been taken in by Arcelia because Rob couldn't be trusted with her, seemed to be doted on in the General Affairs Department; she was chewing on a screw on the side, looking as if she were charming everyone around her—or perhaps that was just how it looked.

「Anyway, get me a ticket.」

Seeing Rob's teasing face, Arcelia frowned. She had been demoted back to a clerk. Naturally, she couldn't board the Interworld Train easily. For Arcelia, who admired the globetrotting investigators, Rob's position was enviable, to say the least.

「...Are you really over fifty years old? You're a bit childish.」

「I was twenty-two before I was reincarnated, and now I'm thirty. That doesn't make me fifty-two. I'm just thirty, and I've lived the first twenty-two years an extra time. Besides, I've never been treated as a fifty-year-old, so how am I supposed to know how to behave? I don't even know how a fifty-year-old is supposed to act.」

Arcelia sighed at Rob, who clearly didn't care, but she resignedly began the procedure.

「...Here is your ticket. Please be punctual and make sure you don't miss it. The paperwork is incredibly tedious.」

Rob accepted the ear-cuff-style ticket and immediately put it on.

「How do I look?」

Arcelia, increasingly grumpy at Rob's showboating, started to return to her work without even answering.

「Hmm, you know, accessories are really meant for women.」

Saying that, he leaned over the counter and clipped the ear-cuff onto Arcelia's slightly pointed ear.

「How many times do I have to tell you? That kind of speech and conduct is sexual hara—」

Noticing Rob’s satisfied smile and meaningful gaze, she couldn't finish the reprimand.

「One of the few privileges of the Document Organization Office is the ability to assign a temporary assistant when performing information compilation work. Would you mind assisting this inexperienced, ignorant office worker?」

Arcelia gave him a half-lidded stare at his shamelessly formal request, stunned, and upon realizing the implication, turned on her heel.

「...I'll go get permission from my supervisor. I'm being treated like a disease-ridden patient anyway, so I'm sure permission will be granted immediately.」

Watching her red ears as she walked away, Rob snickered, finding it amusing.

A while later, Rob took Arcelia—who had easily obtained permission—and Pasche to the Interworld Train. They passed through the direct passage in the headquarters, retracing the path he had taken three months ago when he first arrived, and finally reached it.

The Interworld Train waiting there was a color variation of the luxurious one, this time with blue as the base color.

「You should greet the conductor.」

Prompted by Arcelia, Rob headed for the lead car. There, he passed by a sweet scent. He caught a glimpse of a clump of fluffy golden thread and a languid smile in the corner of his eye.

Rob stopped and turned back instantly, but all that was there was a black-haired woman linking arms with an elderly white-haired gentleman.

「Is something the matter? ...I believe that elderly gentleman is an executive at a company that donates heavily as an Alliance sponsor.」

It was definitely Berta.

(...A decadent life might not have been so bad after all.)

Rob laughed off that innermost thought—which Arcelia would surely despise him for—greeted the official conductor of the Operations Department, showed his ticket, passed the inspection, and headed to his cabin.

It was a room that felt like a storage closet. A narrow bunk bed, a walkway barely wide enough to walk in, and a window as small as a prison cell. Rob smiled wryly at the difference from when he was protected as a Hero.

「...It seems just right for Arcelia.」

「I have doubts about your character lately, Rob-san, so I'll be sleeping on the top bunk to make sure I'm not attacked.」

Arcelia retorted coldly to Rob, who mocked her physical features without learning his lesson.

Rob deepened his bitter smile, genuinely enjoying himself, sat on the bed that creaked even with a little weight, and turned his eyes outside from that small window.

On the platform of this station, located exactly at the fusion point of five worlds, various people from those five worlds were gathering and coming and going. The trains, too, weren't just this luxurious Interworld Train; there were scheduled lines, high-speed lines, and transport lines.

However, even on a platform of an advanced world, the fundamental system was no different from a regular station; people just bought tickets and boarded trains. That was true not only for humans but also for beastkin, Rylireth, and every race imaginable.

「I guess you could say 'finally made it this far,' or rather, 'it feels like it’s finally starting'.」

Back when he ran away from the Hanover Kingdom, the only way he knew how to live was as a Hero or a soldier. Even though his ability had degraded, he couldn't see any other path. Yet here he was, having carved out a place to live.

Even if vaguely, he could see what he could do and what he should do. It was never something he couldn't see from this small train window. If he could see it, he just had to head straight for it. That was how he defeated the Demon King, so it should work out this time, too.

Rob wore a satisfied smile. And until the Interworld Train entered the boundary, he watched the bustle of the platform without ever getting bored.

*****

Wooow, it's over. Pretty good, in my honest opinion. I was expecting the sun; the Demon King Cannon might be sentient, but alas, it's over in a happy tone.

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