The hideout where Thief E’s family lived wasn’t far from the nest of the Ice Dragon King Sleyas.

  It was about an hour ride by Medusa.

  The reality of what I thought was a desert with only sand spreading beyond the horizon was completely different.

  “Even the mirage here is infested with fantasy…”


  Mirage.

  A natural phenomenon where something that didn’t actually exist appeared to exist.

  It occurred whenever lights were refracted due to the temperature difference between the surface and the atmosphere. It could cause distant objects to appear closer or cause optical illusions to float in the sky.

  A prime example of it was an oasis.

  People often tortured themselves by running to an oasis out of hope of being able to finally drink water and since it seemed near, only to find out that they couldn’t get there at all even though it looked so close that they could get to it once they reached out.

  However, its effects had risen a bit more in this fantasy-filled world.

  The normal mirage was foggy like a haze, but Fantasy’s mirage completely deceived me, who had the sharp senses of a MAX-Class Hero.

  It was no exaggeration to say that this was magic beyond the natural refraction of light. No, it might actually be magic.

  “Hero, I welcome you to the real elven palace!”


  Thief E boasted, pointing to the log house built next to the oasis.

  I replied, noting down the fact that she didn’t look like she was joking.

  “I think it’s an insult to all the palaces in the universe to describe that as a palace…”


  It wasn’t even a high-quality log cabin. It had an extremely sloppy shape, probably made by cutting down the surrounding palm trees.

  And the elves who lived in it…


  “Oh, my! Illeana, welcome home!”


  A woman jumped out and shouted. She was wearing nothing but palm leaves.

  She used a parasol woven from the same material to block the hot sun of the desert.

  ‘Hey. You should cover your body with that…’


  She was a lofty beauty reminiscent of the Queen of the Amazon, having dark green straight hair close to black.

  She had a slender neck and pretty cervical vertebrae beneath it and further down… There was indeed an elven wasteland.

  That elf was Thief E’s biological mother.

  Her occupation was the most common widow on the Fantasy Continent.

  According to stories from the previous round, Thief E’s father left to collect relics, and he never returned.

  In other words, her mother was her only family.

  My eyes met my temporary mother-in-law’s gaze. From now on, I didn’t have to pretend to be her fiancé.

  “Welcome, my son-in-law. It’s good to see you.”


  “… Yeah. So it seems.”


  I quietly adjusted my rhythm since she took the initiative first.

  “A-are you saying that you were really my fiancé?!”


  Thief E was astonished.

  She sounded like she didn’t believe the words of the righteous hero until now.

  She was disqualified since she believed the hero even after insisting that a Magic Sword was a Holy Sword, but now wasn’t the time to argue about it.

  I already knew by the mother-in-law’s expression.

  “Illeana, go wash up. Mother has to talk to my wonderful son-in-law.”


  “Ugh… Okay.”


  Thief E ran towards the oasis with her face blushing.

  There was no such thing as a screen because they never had guests here. There was only that one rattle in the basket, which kept her clothes from being blown away by the sand.

  A woman was really living here without any defenses. That showed how safe and hidden this place was.

  No, that wasn’t all.

  ? Race: Old Elf

  ? Level: 9999+

  ? Job: Assassin (Night → Ambush↑)

  ? Skill: Assassination ZZZ, Anti-Magic ZZZ, Sorcery ZZZ, Stealth ZZ, Transformation ZZ…


  ? Status: Magic Sword, Magic Beast, Relic

  This woman believed in her own power, and she had the ability to match it.

  She could even get a job right now as one of the Five Great Calamities or Guardian.

  Her just being a widow was ridiculous.

  “Son-in-law, if you’re not going to watch my daughter take a bath, would you like to join me inside? I’ll make you a cool coconut juice.”


  “… I’d love to.”


  I followed my mother-in-law, who showed her back without boundaries.

  The only place to go from here was the rundown log house in front of us. The interior revealed through the open door was as humble as the exterior.

  Snap.

  But I stopped walking just before I went in behind her. I felt a strange atmosphere that couldn’t be explained in words.

  She looked back at me and smiled.

  “It’s alright, son-in-law. I’m on your side.”


  It was a very connotative remark.

  “If this is a trap… You’d better give up the thought of dying in peace, Mother-in-law.”


  After that warning, I entered the place.

  Everything around me changed.

  *

  It was no longer a shabby log cabin.

  An interior unfolded that was so luxurious even the expression ‘palace’ introduced by Thief E sounded unappreciative.

  It was littered with sparkling gold and silver treasures and delicate artworks. It was like a trove of treasures collected from all over the Fantasy Continent.

  The size was also different. Inside the log cabin, there was room for hundreds of the same house.

  I thought of it as either a spatial shift or distortion.

  “It’s a spatial distortion, son-in-law.”


  “Can you read my thoughts freely like those teachers?”


  “Well, I do have the same position.”


  She answered without hesitation as she poured two drinks from a refrigerator with a modern design that didn’t fit into the Fantasy Continent.

  I looked around and sat down on a splendid chair made of gold and studded by jewels. After organizing my thoughts, I continued to ask questions.

  “Is it the same position as the High Priest of the Northern Continent?”


  They were similar. She was a nanny that had been living alone for a long time because her husband ran away from home.

  My mother-in-law offered the coconut juice to me and nodded.

  “That’s right. We can read your thoughts using the teacher’s authority and observe you, a student, at any time, regardless of distance. But we’re not photocopies of each other, son-in-law.”


  “I guess so.”


  That was because the High Priest of the Northern Continent, who tried to deceive me and make me a puppet husband, never told this story.

  She acted like a poor wife abandoned by Senior A.

  She also didn’t reveal her ‘real identity’ even when her body and mind were conversely under my control.

  “That was wrong. It’s not that she didn’t do it, but she couldn’t. I can speak comfortably simply because this place allows me to avoid mental interference from the system. This is the warehouse where His Majesty Elfheim, who is my everything, kept the treasures he had gathered during the golden age of the elves. It can be labeled as the most secure location on the Fantasy Continent.”


  “As expected…”


  As I guessed, she really was the wife of that unfortunate Elf King.

  I saw her on the Western Continent.

  She and her husband belonged to the fake hero party resurrected by Shakespeare, one of the Five Great Calamities.

  But at that time, she was more…


  Shriek~

  The barren desert turned into a rich mountain range.

  “Fufu! An effort is essential to be loved by the husband. Son-in-law, you also fell into this once, right? I felt sorry that I got married by deceiving him with the breast pads that I passed on to my daughter, so I worked hard to learn Transformation. He complained that it was fake, but he hung on like a baby when the lights were turned off. Aah, I really miss that time…”


  I spoke to bring her out of her immersion in her memories.

  “Why are you telling me this?”


  My original purpose was to read the memories contained in the Relics of Chaos kept in this hideout and obtain high-quality information.

  She was watching everything, which meant she would have known my intentions from the beginning. It wouldn’t have been difficult for her to pretend she didn’t know anything.

  But she didn’t.

  “Of course, I want to make a deal.”


  “A deal?”


  “The original role given to me is to be a mysterious elf who miraculously appears and saves heroes who are lost in this desert when they collapse from exhaustion and helps them get out of here safely. This space is, of course, private. Instead, I’d invite them to the shabby house you saw a while ago.”


  “You said so many useless things.”


  We never knew when Thief E would come after taking a bath. I wanted her to exclude unnecessary content.

  “Oh! Don’t worry about my daughter breaking in. This is a treasure trove. Time flies very slowly to prevent the treasure from degenerating. It hasn’t even been a second out there despite our talk already being prolonged.

  “Still, let’s get straight to the point.”


  “As I’ve seen, you’re hasty, huh?”


  “Let’s just say I’m practical.”


  She put down her drink and clutched her chest with both hands.

  “My goal is to return to His Majesty Elfheim. Since I found out that the person I thought dead was alive, my life now feels like hell.”


  “Didn’t she know he was alive?”


  “Previously… should I say the previous round? Anyway, I heard you tell Illeana that her unfortunate ancestor was still alive. Even though years have passed, my King still seems to have the same taste, which made me feel relieved and anxious at the same time. What if a fucking bitch- Oh! I’m sorry. What if someone seduced him? As you already know, this is the only weakness of His Majesty that was perfect in every way.”


  Mother-in-law was rubbing her chest while saying that.

  It occurred to me that she was the perfect wife for the wretched Elf King, who was obsessed with same-race phobia. Wasn’t that what they called a match made in heaven?

  “You said you were in the same position as the teachers, and, weirdly, you didn’t know.”


  Her words didn’t match.

  “I couldn’t explain it because you cut me off a little while ago while saying that I talked so much useless things. After defeating the first Demon King with full power, all of the hero’s companions in the Hall of Fame… were granted with the position of a permanent teacher.”


  She kept babbling even more after that.

  The First Spirit was defeated by boredom and sleepiness.

  To summarize her long explanation: civil war broke out shortly after Senior A ran away from home. And the ‘Elfheim faction,’ who was defeated in that fight, fell to a substandard role known as hero helpers, just like her.

  Thanks to her position as a teacher, she wasn’t subjected to harsh conditions, but she was imprisoned in a place where the same time and memories were endlessly repeated.

  “I’ve been wondering for a long time, but what do I have to gain in knowing the truth behind your trivial family quarrel and your identity, auntie?”


  I asked that out of curiosity.

  To be honest, I was going crazy because I didn’t want to waste my time focusing on this!

  “Oh, my! Did you change the way you called me from Mother-in-Law to auntie? Well, that’s fine by me. You’re a hero who pursued the truth, not like the other heroes. If you help me return to His Majesty Elfheim’s arms, I will serve as your shadow until that day. Now is our only chance. I don’t think there will be another day when my Assassination Skill will reach level ZZZ.”


  The Assassination ZZZ’s effect was probably the ability to turn into a shadow. Noted, noted.

  “So, what’s in it for me?”


  “… Pardon? I already told you I would become your shadow.”


  “You said that as if there’s something great with the shadows. But doesn’t that just mean something like supporting an auntie who is already taken?”


  “Eh… is that so?”


  “It is. That’s the words of a MAX-Class Hero who can see through the nature of things with the energy of the universe.”


  I wouldn’t accept petty objections and disagreements.

  “Illeana, the fruit of my love with His Majesty Elfheim…”


  “With all due respect.”


  She was just my fiancée. Our marriage hadn’t actually happened yet. And I already had a son that I saved in exchange for giving up on graduation.

  ‘Auntie, do you think of me as a male hungry for women?’


  “I’d feel sad if you treat Illeana like an ordinary woman. She has a small chest, but her heart is wide.”


  “I think I’ve heard that line somewhere before…”


  Those were the words of the unfortunate Elf King as he introduced his daughter Elf K to me.

  “There’s nothing we can do about it. There may be no husband in this universe as perfect as His Majesty Elfheim, but that’s a problem Illeana can solve. When elves are over 1000 years old, parents and children also become friends! I’ve done my best… Oh, my! Did I stray from the topic again? Back to the point, please accept me as your shadow. I will serve you with all the information and abilities I have as I did with His Majesty Elfheim.”


  It wasn’t a bad offer.

  As a shadow, she wouldn’t be able to get in my way.

  “Okay, take an oath.”


  “I swear to be your shadow as long as you help me return to His Majesty Elfheim’s arms.”


  The change came at once.

  Shriek…


  Auntie’s shadow moved on its own as if it was sliding on ice, and it attached to my shadow closely, making them look like they were arm in arm.

  “… Oh?”


  It was more than I expected.

  It seemed that the authority of the administrator came with her shadow.