"EHHHHHHHHH?!"

A shriek echoed through the mansion.

Frieren and the others froze for a split second, exchanged glances, then immediately grabbed their weapons and dashed out.

They burst into the master bedroom—and stopped cold.

The room was wrecked.

Broken glass scattered across the floor. A tray lay overturned. A stool was on its side.

In the middle of the chaos, a black-haired young man knelt on the floor, shirtless, panting.

Pinned beneath him was a purple-haired woman with flushed cheeks.

Chishiya flashed a victorious grin.

"Shion, you're still too green to take me down."

"Give up quietly!"

He looked up, just in time to meet Megumin's horrified stare from the doorway.

And behind her—

Frieren, Fern, and Stark stood frozen, their faces locked in complex expressions somewhere between horror, confusion, and full mental shutdown.

"Uh…"

Chishiya's throat bobbed.

"I'd just like to say this was purely self-defense. Do you believe me?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Megumin roared, storming in, fists clenched.

"Sensei! Are you still human?!"

"Are you letting that thing down there do your thinking now?!"

She grabbed Chishiya by the shoulders and shook him so hard his bones rattled.

"You actually forced someone?! Have you completely lost it?!"

I even learned a health soup recipe from Mom to help you live longer! And THIS is what I come back to?! If I'd been one day late, Shion would've been pregnant by now!

Shion, still on the floor, quickly waved her hands.

"Megumin-sama, please! It's not what you think!"

"I was just trying to help Chishiya-sama… take off his pants!"

Chishiya stared at her, utterly betrayed.

Frieren and Fern, who had been glaring at Chishiya with full-on moral condemnation, suddenly paused.

"Wait," Fern said. "Did she say 'Chishiya-sama'?"

"You mean… this guy is Megumin's Sensei?"

That couldn't be right.

He looked so… young.

How could someone who'd mastered both magic and blacksmithing be barely in his twenties?!

That kind of talent was downright terrifying.

But…

They glanced around the wrecked room again.

The mess. The suggestive position. The chaos.

Yeah, the talent was insane.

But the personality…

"Huh…" Fern muttered quietly, giving Stark a cautious side-eye.

Stark blinked. "What?"

—

Thirty minutes later

Chishiya sat on the edge of the bed, now fully dressed.

"And that's the whole story, okay? Get it now?"

"I swear, I'm not some depraved maniac."

It had taken half an hour of straight explanation.

Shion had also repeated multiple times that nothing actually happened.

That it was all a very unfortunate misunderstanding.

Only after all that did the group finally believe him.

With a heavy sigh, Chishiya glanced up at the air in front of him.

The system panel floated silently in view.

---

[Target: Frieren]

Recruitable Employee

Reward: Veteran Mage – Greatly increases magic control proficiency

[Target: Fern]

Recruitable Employee

Reward: Quickshooter – Greatly increases magic casting speed

[Target: Stark]

Recruitable Employee

Reward: Blood Bull – Greatly increases stamina and burst power

---

You've got to be kidding me…

Of course. Of course they'd be core recruitable employees.

And they just happened to walk in at the worst possible time.

Chishiya groaned internally.

The irony burned.

"I heard you three were looking for help?"

"Yeah," Fern nodded. "We'd like to ask for your assistance getting us back to our world."

Chishiya didn't respond right away.

Turns out, the [Cross-World Promotion] feature unlocked after the Labyrinth's upgrade was what pulled them here in the first place.

Now they were asking him to send them back?

Yikes…

He'd actually been thinking about recruiting them.

With Rimuru gone, the teaching spot at City Academy was wide open.

Frieren and Fern could handle magic lectures.

Stark could cover combat training.

And Frieren's knowledge of ancient spells would've been perfect for adding more content to the Library of All Worlds.

But… after today's incident…

First impressions? Not great.

Recruitment was going to be… challenging.

Still thinking it over, Chishiya noticed something in Frieren's hand.

The sunny doll.

Wait… isn't that one of the magic-silk dust-warding dolls I made?

He'd engraved a practically useless "clean air" enchantment on it. Just a novelty item.

How did she end up with one?

…Could it be she liked it?

Oh, right.

In the original story, Frieren had a thing for odd magical trinkets and strange grimoires.

A new plan formed.

Chishiya cleared his throat.

"I can help you get home. But I think there's something I should explain first."

"You're probably here because of me."

"?"

All three tilted their heads, confused.

Chishiya explained the situation.

About the Labyrinth being a cross-world hub.

About the system-generated pull that brought them here.

He made sure to clarify that he didn't summon them intentionally. It was part of the Labyrinth's upgrade effect.

"I'm telling you this so it doesn't blow up later. If we can cooperate, great. If not, no hard feelings."

"That's the deal."

"I can send you home. Or—if you'd be willing to temporarily teach until the original staff returns—I'll reward each of you with ten gold coins and a reward of your choice."

Frieren paused.

A maze? A world?

Beyond our world and Megumin's, there are others?

Even after living so long, this was the first time she'd seen anything like this.

Was she curious?

…Not really.

She'd never cared about foreign kingdoms, let alone other worlds.

She glanced at Fern and Stark.

For her, time moved slowly.

But for them, it moved fast.

Compared to exploring some abstract multiverse, what she really wanted now was to cherish the time they had left.

To enjoy the journey they were still on together.

To live without regrets.

Frieren spoke gently.

"Sorry. We can't accept the offer."

"There are still things we need to do. We can't stay here."

"Frieren-sama?" Fern blinked in surprise.

She turned down a legendary magical reward?

That's… unheard of.

In the past, she would've jumped at this chance.

And now, she was the one walking away?

She's changed…

Even Chishiya looked surprised.

He didn't expect Frieren to reject the offer so directly.

She's even turning down the grimoires?

Could it be… there's something even more important to her now?

(To be continued.)

***

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