"So what are we waiting for, Lynn?"

"Aside from you finishing that weird thing you're crafting, we're waiting for a signal, Mr. Arezu."

It had been an hour since the clocktower bell rang six in the evening. During that time, Arezu and Lynn had changed their hiding spot from the attic of the woodcarving store to its rooftop.

It wasn't just so they could observe what was happening around them while using the darkness of the night as cover, but also so they could spot the signal Lynn was waiting for.

While Lynn kept her eyes on the dark horizon, Arezu kept working on the weird thing, as Lynn called it, that he had been crafting.

"It's not weird, it's a weapon… at least for self-defense," Arezu said, handing the weapon to her.

"A wooden club?" Lynn asked, confused—not only about the finely crafted weapon, but also about the reason Arezu had made it. Or to be exact, a dozen of them.

"I think it's decent enough to be called a baseball bat."

The wooden stud from the woodcarving store was durable enough to be used as a weapon. Carving it into the shape of a baseball bat wasn't just for passing time; Arezu made them more precise and easy to wield for self-defense—

"Why, though?"

Listening to Arezu, two questions came to Lynn's mind.

"I told you earlier, didn't I?"

Lynn understood that Arezu crafted the wooden clubs to avoid dealing lethal damage to the rampaging locals while defending themselves. But since she had already confirmed that the locals were something similar to undead, there was no need to hold back their attacks.

With that realization, Lynn finally confirmed one of her assumptions about Arezu.

"Why are you refusing to hurt other people with your weapon, Mr. Arezu?"

It wasn't just earlier when Arezu didn't draw his halberd-axe to fight the three rampaging adventurers—it was every fight Lynn had witnessed. Against the adventurers during the challenge for the title of Dungeon Conquerors, against Rust during the orc-hunting quest, and against Alex during the goblin-slaying quest, Arezu had never aimed his blade directly at them, only at their weapons to disarm each of them.

Her question caught him off guard, making Arezu unable to hide that he was concealing something, even though he still managed to give an immediate response.

"Aren't we going to find a way to save the townsfolk, Lynn?" he said, voicing his refusal to cut down the locals, hoping they could still be saved.

"I hope we can, Mr. Arezu."

Regardless of her faint, uneasy smile—which worried Arezu—Lynn was sure he was hiding something. Still, it wasn't like she would force him to confess, but she wouldn't settle empty-handed either.

"If you answer my next question, I'm willing to let you off the hook for the first one," she said, flashing her usual mischievous grin as she leaned closer in front of Arezu.

Knowing she wouldn't stop pestering him unless he gave her a decent answer, Arezu agreed to her condition.

"Fine, ask your next question, Lynn."

"What exactly is baseball?"

Seeing Arezu stunned and speechless, Lynn couldn't help but feel delighted, brightening her depressed mood.

It was a slip of the tongue, a mistake on his part for not paying attention—or perhaps from being annoyed that the baseball bat he crafted with care was called a wooden club. He didn't need to answer her question, or he could dodge it again like he usually did. But upon seeing her mood improve—or maybe because he didn't want her dwelling on guilt or raging in anger—Arezu decided to truly answer Lynn for the first time.

Or at least, he promised.

"I'll tell you later after we solve this dungeon problem."

"Then I'll hold onto your promise, Mr. Arezu—"

—Boom!—

Interrupting their conversation was a firework exploding in the night sky, giving off a bright white flame that illuminated a quarter of the entire town.

"I guess that's the signal," Arezu said, feeling relieved as he looked at the fading firework.

It was the same trick with the mystic spell Flame Arrow that Lynn had used during the bounty-hunting quest, when Arezu fought Alex. The same trick Lynn had taught Senna to improve her mana flow and mystic spell control. And that unique white flame could only be hers.

That single firework was enough to tell Lynn and Arezu where their companions were and that they were still alive.

"I guess half of them are still alive."

"Oi… Don't jinx them like that."

Lynn, being their examiner for the escort quest, knew that Leo, Cliff, Senna, and Casey would be attending the scheduled evaluation meeting for the mage students at the Mage Guild.

She knew where the four mage students would likely be, and she and Arezu could have gone to them the moment they escaped the rampaging locals. But Lynn chose first to confirm if they were alive, trusting they would be smart enough to figure out the firework trick to signal their location.

"Let's go, Mr. Arezu, before our reward for the escort quest is reduced to half."

"Would it hurt you to be a little sensitive and reasonable, Lynn?"

Putting aside their squabble, Lynn and Arezu each took half of the baseball bats Arezu had crafted, carrying one in hand with the rest strapped to their backs.

"Light"

Lynn cast her divine blessing, conjuring a new wisp of light much brighter than the one she had used earlier, further illuminating their surroundings. It gave them enough vision to see clearly even a dozen meters away, but at the same time exposed their location to the rampaging locals still loitering around the building where they were hiding.

Like a swarm of moths, the rampaging locals started gathering around the light, crawling on the walls of the building like spiders.

—Bam!—

"I expected this, but it's still creepy to look at," Lynn said, swinging her baseball bat and hitting the first local to climb onto the roof, knocking him to the ground.

"You didn't even hesitate, did you?" Arezu muttered, feeling bad for Lynn's first victim with her baseball bat.

"What? Isn't this what it's used for?"

"No, it's not."

—Bam!—

After knocking another local off the roof, Arezu led the way toward the direction of the firework.

"Just tell me if you can't keep up, Lynn."

"Would you carry me in your arms then, Mr. Arezu?"

"Only if I need to."

Their plan was to run above the roofs, jumping from building to building until they reached the Mage Guild. After that—

—Bam!—

"—We'll figure out the rest of the plan when we get there," Lynn said after hitting another local blocking her path.

"But I have to admit, this baseball bat of yours is quite easy to wield, Mr. Arezu—Ehh?"

Surprised by Arezu suddenly lifting her into a bridal carry—and even more when he jumped toward the next roof further ahead—Lynn instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing their faces close together.

Staring at him that closely, Lynn couldn't help but blush red all over her face, even her ears.

But perhaps because the surroundings were dim—or because he was just focused on where they would land—Arezu didn't notice her bashful reaction.

"Can't you at least give me a warning before doing that again?" Lynn muttered, annoyed that Arezu wasn't flustered while she was.

"You need to focus, or we won't make it to them on time," Arezu said as he landed on the roof.

"Then how about you just keep carrying me like this, Mr. Arezu?"

"Please, enough with your jokes, Lynn."