The guest who came to visit was a man who I had helped a while ago. He was almost pickpocketed at a cafe where I went to play hooky when I was still a probationary civil servant.

"Ahahaha! I'm glad you still remember me. I said I was going to repay the favor, but since I came so late, I thought you might have forgotten."

Looking at his smiling face, I felt strange, as if I knew his face from somewhere else too. He looked like someone I knew. I replied with a light smile, "No, actually, I had forgotten it, since it was only a moment."

I didn’t have much worldly knowledge, but I think I've had a good family education, so I figured it would be fine as long as I wasn’t too rude.

"Ahahaha. So you did? I was a bit busy after the New Year's Festival. Well, you knew that already. There was an emergency, the saintess was sneak attacked by black magicians at the Martial Arts Competition.”

"That’s true."

It hadn’t been that hectic for me because I had just finished my probation, but the inner palace must have been bustling.

"A few months later, after the situation calmed down, I tried to find you. But things got chaotic again because of the flood of demons from the Demon's Territory."

I was taken away too, during...