After exterminating every last monster.

Walfred and Bauer headed straight for Lower Manhattan Tech District Hall Shelter. They needed to deliver the news of the reclamation.

But what greeted them upon their return was a heavy, somber atmosphere. Then Rosa spotted Bauer and rushed over in a panic.

"Ch-chief! Ferd is...!"

"What? What happened?"

"...He’s in really bad shape. He lost too much blood from that attack earlier..."

The moment she finished speaking, Bauer ducked into the tent where Ferd was lying. Inside, Ferd lay drenched in sweat, his face drained of all color.

The wound near his shoulder looked quite deep.

They’d managed to administer first aid, but the bleeding still hadn’t stopped.

"At this rate..."

Rosa’s voice trembled.

Bauer bit down hard on his lip. Then, with the look of someone who’d made up his mind, he spoke.

"...Bring me the potion."

"What? A p-potion? But..."

Rosa hesitated.

Then she burst out in protest.

"We only have one! You said we’d save it for when you got hurt..."

"One of our own is about to die, and you want to argue about that?"

Bauer snapped.

"Bring it. Now!"

His shout came down like thunder.

Rosa bit her lip hard and left the tent. A short while later, she returned carrying a glass vial filled with red liquid.

A healing potion, the miraculous elixir that could mend wounds and restore stamina. Without a moment’s hesitation, Bauer poured it over Ferd’s wound.

Hissssss!

White vapor rose into the air as Ferd’s wound began closing at an incredible pace.

A little more time passed, and color returned to his face. Only then was Bauer finally able to let out a sigh of relief.

"Sorry I yelled at you earlier."

"Chief..."

"And don’t worry about the potion."

Bauer cracked a faint smile.

"We just took down an F-rank Elite Monster, so I’ve got plenty of coins saved up. We can buy another one from the shop, so don’t stress about it."

The moment Walfred heard that.

He looked up in surprise.

"You can buy potions at the shop?"

"Yeah. You didn’t know? Once you hit Level 40, you should’ve gotten a system notification about it automatically..."

"Of course I didn’t know. I’m only Level 24."

"...What?"

Bauer’s eyes went wide.

And he wasn’t the only one. Rosa, who’d been listening alongside them, also wore a look of complete shock.

"Level 24 means... you’re D-rank?"

"That’s right."

"But how did you take down a Blood Wing all by y-yourself..."

She was so stunned she was tripping over her words.

Bauer stared at Walfred with eyes full of disbelief. Meeting both their gazes, Walfred simply shrugged as if it were no big deal.

"I just went for it and it worked out."

And that really was how it happened.

That confident one-liner left both Bauer and Rosa with their mouths firmly shut. After a stretch of silence, Walfred spoke up again.

"So how much does a potion cost?"

"A thousand coins per bottle."

"...That expensive?"

A thousand coins for a single consumable.

Walfred clicked his tongue.

And then it hit him.

He finally understood why Chaz, who was no longer among the living, had been so furious when he’d had to use a potion during his fight against the Frozen Weaver.

’If it’s that expensive...’

Of course he’d have lost his mind.

Having resolved that old lingering question, Walfred gave a quiet nod. Meanwhile, Bauer was briefing the shelter’s residents on the results of the extermination.

"We’ve successfully reclaimed Lower Manhattan Tech Precinct. From now on, you’ll be able to draw water from Mirror Lake again, so please don’t worry."

"Oh, finally..."

"We can actually wash up now." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Relief washed over the crowd.

After wrapping up the briefing and situational update, Bauer headed to the gate with Walfred.

[Alert: Entering gate]

[F-rank gate: Blue Hole]

The moment they stepped inside the gate.

Along with the refreshing sound of waves, a voice called out to greet him from not far away.

"Oh, mister!"

It was Lauren. The moment she saw Walfred, she came running over as if she’d been waiting for him. Then she thrust something forward without preamble.

"Great work out there. Here you go."

"What’s this?"

"A late-night snack I made."

Warm steam rose gently from a bowl of soup.

It was a soup made with bean and bacon. Walfred had been working up quite an appetite from all the physical exertion, so he took it and drank it right away.

As the warm soup slid down his throat and into his stomach, his whole body warmed up in an instant.

"Tastes good."

"Hehe, right?"

Walfred and Lauren smiled at each other.

By the time he’d polished off about three bowls of Lauren’s soup, Bauer, who had disappeared somewhere a little while ago, walked over.

"You two should sleep here tonight."

"What? But wouldn’t it be better for the non-Awakened to sleep here instead of us..."

The gate had a limited capacity.

And generally speaking, non-Awakened people felt the cold more than hunters did. Walfred and Lauren, on the other hand, were hunters who barely felt the cold at all.

Walfred had his Cold Resistance skill, and Lauren had a heat-generating skill. But Bauer waved it off as if it were nothing.

"It’s fine. Don’t be modest."

"Still..."

"You’re our shelter’s savior. I won’t feel right unless I at least do this much."

Bauer said, looking at Walfred.

Faced with such strong insistence, Walfred reluctantly gave in with a nod. As he lay down on the warm sand, drowsiness washed over him almost immediately.

"Good night, mister."

Lauren, having bid him a polite good night, lay down not far from Walfred. She was fast asleep within the blink of an eye, breathing softly.

She hadn’t let it show, but she must have been quite tired.

Walfred let out a quiet chuckle, then closed his eyes.

Whoooosh! Whoooosh!

The refreshing sound of waves rolling in.

Combined with the rhythmic sound of Lauren’s breathing.

Walfred felt a measure of peace settle over him.

’This is nice.’

How long had it been since he’d felt this kind of calm?

A drowsy feeling crept in alongside the languid warmth. Walfred didn’t fight it and let himself drift.

Then, just as he was about to fall asleep.

"Hey."

A voice interrupted his rest.

It was Bauer.

Walfred cracked his eyes open in a lazy squint at the intruder, and Bauer pointed to a nearby rock.

"I’ve got something for you. Come over here."

Something for him? Curiosity piqued, Walfred carefully got up so as not to wake Lauren. He walked over to where Bauer was standing.

And then.

"Catch."

Bauer tossed something his way.

He snatched it out of the air on reflex, and a cold sensation met his palm.

Walfred’s eyes went wide.

"Beer?"

What Bauer had thrown was a can of beer.

And not just any beer; it was an intact can that hadn’t been exposed to the cold, with no sign of damage.

"Where did you even..."

"Found it in this gate. Probably left behind by a hunter who’d cleared the Blue Hole before everything froze over."

It was a reasonable guess.

Before the world froze, whenever a gate was successfully cleared, the hunters who’d participated would often throw a party right there inside the gate.

"I’d been saving it for a good day, and something told me today was the day."

"Then I’ll gratefully accept."

How long had it been since he’d had a beer?

Walfred grinned and popped the tab. Without a moment’s hesitation, he tipped the can back.

Glug glug glug!

"Ahhhh!"

He let out an honest gasp of satisfaction.

His first cold beer in six months. The taste he’d been missing so dearly nearly brought a tear to his eye.

Some time passed after that.

When the can was about half empty, Bauer suddenly spoke up out of nowhere.

"Walfred."

"Yeah?"

"Have you thought about staying here?"

"Pfft! What...?"

A completely unexpected question. Blindsided by the offer, Walfred sprayed the beer he’d been drinking. Then he stared at Bauer, looking utterly dumbfounded.