Naria sat at the long wooden table with her chin propped up, absentmindedly guarding the bread in the oven.

In fact, they didn't need any more bread, but she really didn't have much else to do. Tess didn't need her care...... The owner of this castle does not need it either.

River Singal had abandoned the place completely, and had left the housekeeper Patty Monson in charge of rebuilding the castle with a large sum of money, and ran to Neo himself, away from this sad place.

But Norway and Tess stayed behind and tried to help Patty.

"If they want to come back...... There has to be a place where they can call home. ”

That's what the elves say, but Naria wonders if "they" will ever return.

There are so many memories in this place, beautiful, sad...... It was a precious treasure and an unbearable weight.

Naria looked around in amazement. She wasn't alone in the kitchen, and there were two maids quietly busy with their own business, but neither seemed to be in the mood to speak.

It reminded Naria of the first time she had been here, when she had brought Isis to prepare a snack for the hostess of the place. When the work was done, a bunch of girls were grabbing the rest of the flour and playing around. It was such a boring game, but she was really happy...... Until someone interrupted them.

She looked to the side, as if she saw the black-haired boy squatting on the bench like a monkey again, her dark blue eyes widened with a smile, and she opened her mouth in a fashionable manner, and she didn't know where she learned the oily tone: "Hey." Where did this young lady come from?"......

She couldn't help but tug at the corners of her mouth. But who would remember that now? A few steps away was the door to the storeroom, where Vala Singal died.

More than half a year has passed...... There still seemed to be a faint amount of blood floating in the air.

Who would want to come back?

A rush of footsteps came from far and near, and the wind rushed in. There was a rare tension on his face.

"Naria!" she cried, "get your sword!

Before Naria could react, she turned around and ran away.

Naria jumped to her feet, surprised and inexplicable for a moment - what else is there to attack in this place?

The two girls in the kitchen also stood up, looking at each other in horror, completely overwhelmed.

"Stay here and close the door!" Narya shouted at them. With a subtle excitement that she didn't want to admit, she quickly rushed out.

She didn't grab her own sword—she hadn't wanted to touch the overly sharp magic weapon since she had stabbed Scott's sword. As she ran through the hallway, she pulled out a sword that adorned the wall and hurried out the door.

She heard Akan roar...... But it doesn't seem like there's much anger?

She rushed out the door. The sun and wind were blowing, but there was no sound of swords clashing in the crowd at the foot of the steps.

She hesitated to pause and watched as Akan turned around and waved his arms at her in high spirits, the "enemy" who had been obscured by his tall body looked up. Give her a smile that is even more cramped and uneasy than when she was a teenager.

The sun fell on his messy black hair and excessively high forehead. also fell into his dark blue eyes.

Naria blinked, feeling like she was dreaming.

"Hey...... Naria. Ed greeted softly, his gaze unconsciously falling on the sword in her hand, looking a little confused.

The dream became a reality. Naria held the sword behind her back and glared at Tess with a smirk, and the red-haired girl grinned and stuck her tongue out at her, unconcerned.

Naria turned to look at Ed, who stared blankly at her.

He has changed a lot. Dark and thin, but still in good spirits. His expression was neither as gloomy as he had been before he had left Christus, nor as innocent as before.

There was an indescribable embarrassment between them, and it wasn't because Nalya came out to meet him with a sword...... Maybe it's because we haven't seen each other for too long, or maybe it's because ...... The hasty and failed confession that night was not as inconsequential as she had hoped.

- But anyway, he returned.

Naria licked her lips, threw down her sword, wiped the flour on her hands on her long skirt, and jumped briskly down the steps, opening her arms to give Ed the hug he deserved.

"Welcome home. ”

She whispered in his ear.

Ed's unexpected return seems to breathe life into the old castle, which is constantly being repaired but decaying day by day. Everyone unconsciously had a smile on their faces, and they ran briskly as if they suddenly had a lot more to do.

The stocky housekeeper weighs almost half of her original weight and looks a lot older. She was the calmest of all of them, as if the little master of the house had nothing to fuss about when he returned from a trip with his father as he had done a few years ago.

When Nalya hurried from the kitchen to the hall that had not been used for a long time, she saw the calm and strong woman standing alone in the shadows behind the curtains, as if secretly wiping away tears.

She walked over without squinting, pretending not to see anything.

Ed's eyes were a little straight when he saw her walking over with a plate. Nalya knew she had piled up enough food in front of him to kill three Edd, but she just couldn't stop.

After all...... What else could she do?

Alan whispered about Anktan's current situation. Sergio has been recovered, and after the Grean family has taken a stand, it is clear that the war will not last long. A minor accident was when Ethan Crooffler's brother, the necromancer captured by Norway and Is's helpers, killed Joaquin Dejury and blamed Borenna, and somehow escaped from the tight guards of the Temple of Anduhe. Ethan had to go back to Balach for this, and he kept the whole thing from his mother...... And when it was discovered that the rumors were actually true, his mother Penelope closed the door and refused to see him again.

It sounds like everyone has their own troubles—Naria sighed. She only hopes that Selene can find her son as soon as possible.

They also mention Is. Ed said hesitantly stated that all he knew was that Iss had another fight with Scott and then disappeared, and that he had been looking for a long time but could not find it. Nalya thinks he knows better...... But she didn't ask anything.

From beginning to end, she just kept bringing all kinds of food, sat on the side and listened quietly, asking nothing or saying anything.

Ed stole her several times, obviously thinking it was a little strange, but he didn't ask...... She didn't know how to explain it either.

She couldn't find her place.

She once thought that ordinary life would be enough to satisfy her. Prepare three meals for the person you like, clean up the house, and have nothing to quarrel with Allen, worrying about whether Is, who doesn't like to go out all day, won't be able to marry a wife...... And then Isis suddenly became a dragon.

Her peaceful life was turned upside down.

Then she picked up her sword and walked into another world. She's been in dwarven mines, she's fought skeletons, she's drunk with savages...... She felt confident that she could become a good warrior like her father, a respected adventurer...... Until she stabbed Scott in half with a sword.

It wasn't her fault, she knew it. No one blamed her.

"It's always inevitable, and Ragan almost cut off my hand with an axe...... Don't take it too seriously. Even Scott comforted her like that.

But she always couldn't help but imagine if it was Is, Ed, or even Eren who was stabbed by her sword...... If she stabbed a little more accurately, if they didn't have the power of Scott to heal themselves in an instant, if they died......

She couldn't face that, she wasn't strong enough.

"We've been to the Dark River under Dragonwings, where people are moving...... I don't know what they're doing, the river is too complicated and we haven't quite figured it out yet......"

She heard Norway tell Ed that.

Yes, she knows this. The elves weren't just here to help Patty keep an eye on the artisans' progress, he and Tess had been tracking down the army that had somehow disappeared in nearby Anktan, and had even ventured into the mist-shrouded plains of Collins...... When the priesthood of the water god seemed to have given up on the search for the truth, they did not give up.

Norway asked her if she wanted to go along, and Tess came to pester her, but she refused.

She didn't want to use a sword anymore...... But she can't go back to her old life.

At this point, she even kindly blamed the elves for bringing it up tonight. Ed had just come back and needed a little rest.

But...... When he decided to come back, he was clearly ready to face everything he had fled.

What is her little annoyance in comparison?

"Isis once met the Skeleton Knight there. Ed frowned, "Don't go there again, it's too dangerous, Tess is already pregnant with your child, you can't ......"

The elf shook his hand and spilled the wine on the table, and his fair face instantly became hot, red as if it was about to burn.

"No, it's not like that......" he stammered as he tried to explain, and the three-hundred-year-old elf suddenly panicked like a young man who had accidentally enlarged his lover's belly, completely overwhelmed, and didn't want to take any responsibility, just trying to get rid of the relationship.

Ed stared at him blankly, not knowing what he had said wrong.

"Isn't that your child?" he blurted out.

Naria snorted and laughed, suddenly feeling a little relieved...... This guy probably hasn't changed anything in his bones.

(To be continued......)

PS: I really want to name this chapter "The Heroine's Position"...... Yes, there is a heroine in this article! I won't let the heroine play soy sauce anymore...... In another chapter or two, the whole article will enter the final volume.55 I will try to sort out this mess of myself......