The Vice Commander's office was the source of the piercing scream, and I ran there immediately.

Inside, I found the Martial God scratching the back of his head awkwardly, the Vice Commander with a look of bewilderment, and the Commander huddled in a corner, clutching her own body and staring at the Martial God with trembling eyes.

Even after screaming, the Commander's emotions hadn’t calmed, her shoulders subtly trembling.

Why was the Commander, who usually seemed so foolish, reacting like this all of a sudden?

From what I could see, it didn’t seem like the Martial God had done anything to harm her.

"Commander, what's wrong?" the Vice Commander asked, trying to calm her down, but she only withdrew further, attempting to conceal herself.

The Martial God gave a sheepish smile.

"Ah, well. Vice Commander, you could have told me the Commander was in this kind of state."

"She’s never reacted like this since we rescued her—not even in the presence of Outer Gods."

Despite the Martial God keeping his distance to be considerate, the Commander held her head in her hands as if in terror.

Did she regain her memory upon seeing him?

I subtly moved between the Martial God and the Vice Commander and approached the Commander.

"Commander, do you remember who this man is?"

“I… I don’t know. I don’t know him.”

I had never seen her look so despondent before.

I offered her some snacks that the Vice Commander had given me earlier, but, uncharacteristically, she glanced at them briefly before looking away.

Wow, this is serious.

For the Commander to refuse food… this really could be a serious matter.

"Hmm."

The Vice Commander, realizing the severity, patted the Martial God on the shoulder, gesturing for him to step outside.

It was unusual, after all, for the food-loving Commander to be so indifferent to snacks.

The Martial God twisted his lips in contemplation but eventually allowed himself to be led out by the Vice Commander.

As I followed them out, I glanced back at the Commander.

She looked as though she didn’t understand why she was reacting this way herself.

Could it be some deep, internal memory reawakened?

…What on earth did the Commander see in the Martial God?

Once outside, the Martial God stroked his chin, clearly still troubled by the Commander's reaction.

“Hmph, shame. Even taking her memory loss into account, I didn’t expect her to react to me like that.”

“What did you do to the Commander?”

“Eh? What could I have done? The worst was tossing an axe at her helmet for a laugh.”

“…You little—doing that while I wasn’t around…”

“Haha! It was just a joke, obviously. I know better than that, no matter what!”

…Maybe it’s because the Commander has immortality powers that he feels comfortable joking like this.

Then again, considering she’s eaten the Outer God Chef’s food and survived countless times, it’s probably possible.

“Well, no helping it now. I’ll head out and rest. With the tension gone, I feel a wave of exhaustion.”

“Go ahead. Come work when you feel like it.”

“Glad to hear that!”

The Martial God chuckled heartily and turned to leave, only to pause when he noticed a familiar voice in the distance.

"Sir Tanton?"

It had been a while since I’d heard that voice, but the timing was spot on.

Both the Vice Commander and the Martial God turned their attention toward it.

“Who’s that next to…?”

She didn’t finish her sentence.

I cautiously guessed that emotion had choked her voice, rising up to her throat.

The person staring at the Martial God in disbelief was none other than Muyeon.

“Oh, Muyeon?”

Seeing her, the Martial God spread his arms wide.

“My dear daughter! It’s been so long! Goodness, I must have been gone for ages. You’ve grown so much…”

The Martial God, however, didn’t get to finish his sentence either.

He was abruptly cut off as his daughter threw herself into his arms, and he gasped, momentarily losing his breath.

“Oof.”

“Father…! It really is you, isn’t it?”

Muyeon’s eyes were filled with tears.

The reason she became a knight was to follow in her father’s footsteps, lost in the disastrous Snowy Mountain Expedition.

…Yet she’d still felt heartache over not being able to shake off her own cowardly instincts.

And now, her reliable supporter was back before her eyes.

Muyeon didn’t say anything more.

She simply clung to the Martial God, shedding tears for a long time.

“…I’m sorry, dear. Your father’s sorry. You must have suffered a lot because of me.”

The Martial God gently stroked her head as he spoke, and Muyeon nestled deeper into his embrace as if seeking solace.

The Vice Commander, watching this, looked up at the sky, his eyes glistening with tears for a brief moment.

That man, usually so stoic, always gets oddly sentimental at times like these.

It was a touching reunion.

Though it felt oddly artificial, watching the Martial God comforting Muyeon, I thought to myself.

The next morning.

As soon as I woke, I headed to the knights' headquarters.

They had told me to rest after completing a major mission yesterday, but the Martial God’s enthusiastic remark, “Seeing my daughter again has got me all fired up!” left me with no choice but to join him.

Besides, I figured that tagging along might give me a better sense of his strength while he hunted down Outer Gods nearby.

“…I’m sorry, Sir Tanton. You didn’t have to come.”

“It’s alright. Besides, I’d hate to intrude on a rare outing between father and daughter.”

“Oh, no! I’m glad you’re here, Sir Tanton… I mean, not that I meant it like that…”

Muyeon, flustered, began waving her arms in denial of her own words.

It had been a while, but seeing her stumbling over herself like that made me smile awkwardly.

She was always timid by nature; maybe her reserved personality was surfacing again.

“Have you been well?”

“Y-yes… I have.”

She quickly regained her composure and smiled softly at my greeting.

In situations like these, it’s best to ease the mood.

“Haha! Just thinking about finally hunting Outer Gods properly again makes my heart race! Having companions along makes it all the better! Wahaha!”

The Martial God approached us with a booming laugh, having just reported our location to the Vice Commander.

“Who would’ve thought my daughter would walk the path of a knight? I couldn’t be prouder!”

Though Muyeon was fairly tall herself, she looked tiny next to the towering Martial God.

Seeing him pat her head with a satisfied smile, they were unmistakably a father and daughter.

“F-Father…! Not in front of everyone…”

“Haha, sorry. I keep forgetting. Seeing my beautiful daughter grown like this, I can’t help myself.”

The Martial God scratched his head sheepishly, then began to walk toward the Londan gate.

“Shall we? Time for some Outer God hunting!”

“What’s going on here? Why are there no Outer Gods around?”

After three laps around Londan’s city walls, the Martial God shouted in frustration.

No matter how hard we looked, we couldn’t spot even a single tail.

“Back in my day, you’d step outside and be knee-deep in Outer Gods!”

“Since the Hunter appeared… the Outer Gods near Londan have been eradicated.”

“What?! Eradicate all the Outer Gods?”

The Martial God’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Another soul out there with a burning passion for hunting Outer Gods like me?”

“Unlike you, she handles them with, well, more negative feelings.”

I’d thought she only appeared in bizarre outfits to intimidate me, but it turned out she was actively hunting as well.

Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen her since that visit to the library.

…Living with the looming fear of being ambushed by the Outer God Slayer—no, Slayer Woman. What a life.

“Oh! At least there’s one left to be seen!”

Sure enough, a few Outer Gods remained, likely having slipped past her vigilance.

The Martial God, spotting one, immediately reached for the dual axes slung across his back.

Wait a minute.

Were those… cracked? The blades were so worn that they were practically split in two.

Is that even safe? He’d be better off just using a club at this point.

Lost in thought, I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard Muyeon’s words to her father.

“Father, it’s impressive how well-maintained that axe is.”

“Of course! It’s my prized weapon.”

“Not only that, but it sparkles so brightly… You really took good care of it.”

…That sparkling axe?

Properly maintained?

“How about it, Tanton? Don’t you think so too?”

“Yes, sure.”

I answered reluctantly.

But I felt my doubts burn even brighter inside.