**Day 37 Noon Omui Lord's Residence**
It's been a week since then. Too long. Too late. Mobilizing the territorial troops and preparing rescue took far too much time.
Everyone said the town and villages would be defenseless if we moved the army.
Everyone questioned whether the lord's forces should mobilize just for ordinary adventurers.
Everyone assumed that falling to the lowest level of the worst labyrinth meant certain death already.
Everyone came with every possible objection and interference.
But it's understandable. They were only saying the reasonable thing.
They simply didn't know. None of them knew what was really happening in this town, in this territory.
Only I knew.
That's why I was going to rescue them.
If it meant sacrificing myself, I would save that boy.
That much debt of gratitude existed.
Of course, he saved me and my family too.
But beyond that—he was the benefactor of our entire lineage, of every successive lord of this frontier territory.
And just as we finally assembled the army, gathered supplies, and were about to head to the Great Labyrinth… the Adventurers' Guild party that had gone ahead for rescue returned.
The worst possibilities flashed through my mind. My body trembled. Had I failed to repay even a fraction of the debt? Had the benefactor died while I did nothing again?
But he had returned.
More than that—he had killed that Great Labyrinth.
Once again, one of our clan's long-cherished wishes had been fulfilled.
In a place no one knew about.
By a boy no one knew.
All by himself.
He ended everything.
The meeting afterward was nothing but reports. Meaningless.
No matter how many times we repeated it, it was pointless. The conclusion was already there. We just had to understand and accept it. Meetings were unnecessary.
"In any case… it's good, isn't it? If the labyrinth is dead."
I declared it and ended the meeting. My subordinates were all bewildered. If a future catastrophe had been erased, shouldn't that be cause for celebration?
That's all we could think.
We had no other choice.
Right now this town is in the midst of an unprecedented economic boom.
Vast quantities of magic stones being sold through the Adventurers' Guild.
Shops that used to be mere general stores or weapon dealers are now pulling in sales on par with major merchants.
Despite the massive monster assault, there was zero damage to the town or its people.
Far from it—huge amounts of magic stones and equipment were brought in, and the town grew rich.
Every day, merchants from across the kingdom come to buy, pouring money into the town. Yet goods remain plentiful, and development continues.
For a frontier lord, watching the most dangerous, impoverished territory suddenly generate enormous profits and develop day by day is a joy beyond dreams.
The sudden boom and peace have left everyone unable to keep up. Everything is good, yet they're so confused they don't even know if they're allowed to be happy.
I feel the same.
I just happen to know.
The reason for this unprecedented prosperity.
The reason the Great Forest has stabilized.
The truth behind repelling the great assault.
The identity of the one who killed the Great Labyrinth.
I simply know.
Because I met him.
The black-haired, black-eyed otherworlder boy who saved my life, my family's lives, my daughter's life—and his companions.
Just thirty visitors came to this town.
And they brought all of this.
As lord, I did nothing. No matter how much our clan struggled, we could never stop the tragedies of the frontier.
The most dangerous—and therefore poorest—frontier territory: Omui Domain.
People still haven't realized it's been reborn.
In a town where tragedy struck without fail, the lord's role was to end there—to sacrifice oneself to save even one citizen.
A breakwater to protect the kingdom. A disposable stone city built for that purpose. That's why, even if only for a moment, I wanted to make the people happy.
A city whose only future was extinction—suppressing the ever-expanding Great Forest, delaying the Great Labyrinth's overflow. Even so, I wanted to protect it, at least for now.
Then one day, suddenly, everything was resolved. Peace and wealth arrived.
After so much harshness, we couldn't just accept it honestly.
Magic stones and weapons keep being sold from this town. Now merchants come from abroad for these ultra-valuable, high-priced goods.
How did they acquire such quantities?
Simple.
They simply defeated monsters of that caliber.
That's why the Great Forest has quieted. No more massive outbreaks even reaching the town.
Even the Great Labyrinth was killed. All of it brought here, making the town rich.
The frontier's threats—turned into cash.
Calamity called "monsters"—converted into luxury goods.
That's all that happened.
Sudden peace and wealth.
A frontier lord could never have dreamed that the people would all look so happy.
Now the town is full of smiles, laughter never stops, everyone seems joyful. Every single day.
A happiness frontier lords aren't even allowed to dream of.
The sight our ancestors in the demon forest waited for, wished for, prayed for, dreamed of as they fell.
No one has understood it yet.
They just think: lately things are good, lots of customers, life's easier, shops have more goods, more good things than usual.
Realizing they've been saved—reborn—will take more time.
Now the kingdom's wealth is concentrating here to an almost absurd degree. Enormous capital circulates through the town, enriching every corner. And the tragedies that once stole that happiness? Gone.
From a poor, harsh town, it became rich and peaceful overnight. Without anyone noticing, the residents of the tragedy town became happy.
The person responsible never demands gratitude, never speaks unless asked.
So no one realized until it had already happened.
Only after it happened did this town finally understand: it's no longer a tragedy town.
It has become happy.
Our ancestors fought generation after generation against the disasters that plagued their people, sacrificing their lives, protecting, dreaming—even so, unable to save every falling life, unable to stop the town's slow extinction.
A dying town. A tragedy town.
One day, without realizing, it had become happy.
That's why everyone is confused and stunned.
They only knew tragedy.
This is the first miracle they've ever seen.
Good.
That's all we can think.
We have no other choice.