I clapped my hands together, standing up after everyone had finished their meal, “Alright, thank you for the meal. We should be going.”

“Keep safe.” Stanley said, while in acknowledgement.

“May power and prosperity remain.” Rin nodded toward the two of them. Before she stood up along with me.

“Good luck.” Tracy nodded toward Rin, seeming to have relaxed considerably over the course of our meal.

“Come on, Rin…” I gestured toward the distance as an imperceptible smirk appeared on my face. “Let’s leave these two lovebirds to finish their story.”

How could I have forgotten my promise to tease Stanley and Tracy?

A gentleman’s revenge might be ten years late and in a completely different timeline, but it will never be absent.

“That- We… We’re not-” Stanley began to stammer, his face turning bright red. His embarrassed could be heard in his voice.

Rin quizzically looked back and forth between the two of them… then toward me. She was probably assessing the likelihood of my words being serious and wondering what I had noticed to call the pair of them lovebirds.

Meanwhile, Tracy gazed in my direction with an expression that seemed to ask ‘How did you reach the absurd conclusion that we were lovers?’

Only Stanley’s stammering reaction was slightly satisfying.

I didn’t plan on sticking around long enough to deal with the aftermath of my comment, though.

“Of course! Whatever you say…” I said, nodding with a smile in a faux knowing manner.

No doubt from the outside, it would seem like I was simply agreeing to shut him up and that I was completely convinced the two of them were lovers denying it for appearances.

Although I knew there was almost no chance of anything going on between them. Stanley was too much of a wimp and Tracy had her principles… however, the goal of my words had nothing to do with the reality of the situation.

They were done entirely for their reaction and Stanley didn’t disappoint.

Stanley looked wronged, like a puppy that was punished for the kitten’s mess. He turned to Tracy for help explaining.

Before they begin to explain...

“Later!” I said with a slight wave, proceeding to tap on Rin’s shoulder and walk away.

Rin momentarily paused behind, softly talking to the two of them before following. Her voice was too soft to make out her words.

When we’d walked into the forest and their campsite could barely be seen in the distance, Rin began to question me on the encounter.

“What does lovebirds mean?” Rin questioningly asked.

“Huh?” I looked over toward her with surprise.

Her head was tilted slightly to the side, and Rin had moved closer to me with a curious expression.

Meanwhile, I was confused. “You don’t know?”

Although I’d used this universe’s equivalent of lovebird and not the English version earlier, I thought I had used the word correctly. I briefly wondered if I had incorrectly pronounced the word, but Stanley and Tracy seemed to understand what I was talking about…

“I haven’t heard the term before.” Rin shook her head.

“Lovebirds are a word for lovers who display their affection in public.” I explained, whilst silently hoping I hadn’t mispronounced the term earlier.

It was Rin’s turn to be confused.

“None of that applies to them? They didn’t display any affection for each other in public and they aren’t lovers.” Rin blankly asked, looking toward me with a strange expression.

“Learn to relax, I was only joking with Stanley.” I rolled my eyes.

“Stanley didn’t seem to find it funny.” Rin pointedly stated.

I felt speechless.

I mean, technically Rin wasn’t wrong… Stanley didn’t find it funny but was embarrassed.

“Well, you’re right.” I freely admitted, shrugged away the embarrassment of being called out by Rin and stated. “Not every joke is successful or works with every audience.”

“Oh.” Rin blankly accepted the statement.

Although my goal wasn’t actually to make them laugh, but to see their reaction to my statement... So I suppose that ‘teasing’ is a more accurate description of the event than ‘joking’ as it was done for my own pleasure.

After our conversation, Rin lead the way in silence.

We made our way to the teleportation beacon and arrived shortly afterward… This would likely be the last time we’d seen each other in awhile.

The circular stone beneath our feet was cold and the sun was setting in the distance.

Neither of us spoke.

I remained unsure of what to say and Rin probably had her own considerations.

Everything I’d wanted to say Rin had long been told in advance. We had been planning this for awhile and asking her to stay would be too selfish. Rin needed to save her sister at a minimum and she needed to leave early to accomplish that feat.

The earlier that Rin left, the more plans she could implement and the more likely Rin would succeed in saving Kara.

Although I had little knowledge of the timeline of her foreseeing her death, it shouldn’t be too far in advance. Approximately half of a year earlier than normal should be more than enough for Rin to change the situation.

Rin needed to go and she needed me to stay behind.

I quickly succeeded in opening the array that blocked access to the teleportation beacon, relying on my instinct to find the weakness within the configuration.

The stairway downward opened, a pillar of light shooting into the sky.

Fortunately, I blocked the light from shinning with a prearranged array. It only flashed in the sky for a mere moment before getting blocked and diluted by a several solid barriers filled with water and finally turning into a mere ambient light.

The light quickly dispersed.

“That should be good.” I sighed.

It was too early for others to find the zone’s exit.

After Rin teleported away, I would recreate several barriers and an illusion array to hide this place. While a year was likely only the safety zone that there was no probability of problems, It’s better to just stick to the original.

The best situation was that others couldn’t find this place until approximately a year had passed and the beacon had more mana for teleportation.

“Alright… Do you want to deal with the fire wolf?” I turned my gaze toward Rin.

“I’ll deal with it.” Rin removed the bow from her back and hitched an arrow.

I shrugged, waiting outside as Rin descended the stone stairwell into the teleportation room below.

Shortly afterward, Rin returned from below with her bow on her back and a pebble sized red gem in her hands.

Rin walked over, handing over the small red gem to me. “Core of the fire wolf...”

I examined the red gem, quickly realizing it was alive and was rapidly releasing fire in an attempt to reform into the fire wolf.

Quickly creating a solid barrier around the gem to prevent it from reforming in my hands, I examined it and was quite pleased. This type of gem was likely quite useful in creating specific artifacts. If I could design it correctly and find a manner to control the fire wolf, it could essentially become a summoning artifact.

“Thanks.” I quickly looked up and nodded to her.

Rin smiled softly, lowering her head slightly.

I took her into a hug.

She seemed surprised by my sudden movement, but Rin quickly returned the hug and pressed her head into my chest.

Her body was soft and warm.

“I’ll be fine, got it?” I whispered into her ear and almost silently sighed, “You only need to worry about yourself.”

Rin merely hummed in response.

After several long seconds of hugging, I slowly removed my hands.

However… Rin’s arms remained wrapped around me in a tight hug. I didn’t protest and simply let her enjoy herself.

Rin released me from the hug, quickly kiss my cheek before backed away.

Turning around, she quietly said, “Keep yourself safe.”

…and she proceeded to go down the stairs.

I followed and watched her step onto the teleportation circle.

When Rin disappeared into a with a flash of light, a cold feeling of loneliness washed over my body. The sudden realization that I wouldn’t see her for a long time settled in. The realization hadn’t sunken in until the exact moment that she left.

While I knew and understood it theoretically, my brain hadn’t seemed to have processed the information until this moment.

The loneliness caused worry and other anxious emotions to pour out.

Quickly calming my own anxious nerves, I stared blankly at the empty underground room housing the teleportation beacon. It was cold and dark, only the light of the setting sun beaming through the stairway.

Rin will be fine.

I need only worry about myself.

Breathing out another sigh, I moved back upstairs.

This area needed to be protected. The others in Hell Difficulty cannot find it until the right time and that meant creating an illusionary array.

The other barriers and arrays were quickly removed.

I placed a new barrier over the stairwell to prevent other from accidentally falling down into it, and proceeded to craft an illusionary array to hide this place as regular grassland.

The barrier certainly isn’t strong enough to withstand the attack of anyone from Hell Difficult, but it should let them stand on it with no problem. The arrays should be able to sustain itself from the mana in the surroundings.

From an untrained perspective, this place simply looked like a regular grassland.

Even if someone walked on the illusionary grass, nobody should notice the difference unless they specific touch the grass and realize that it is stone.

Of course, the strangeness of this place would be readily apparent to anyone trained to recognize arrays or those particular sensitive to mana fluctuations… but theoretically nobody should notice.

Nobody in Hell Difficulty should have enough experience with illusionary arrays to notice the abnormalities.

Just in case, I tried to make the illusionary array as complicated as possible to disarm without a specific permission password.

…But everything should honestly be fine.

I cannot imagine anyone noticing the abnormality of this area.

The only possibility of them bypassing the illusionary array is directly damaging the barrier… but it’s extremely unlikely that somebody would happen to damage the exact place the stairwell is hidden.

Thinking that thought, I was momentarily relived…. But then quickly frowned.

This is Hell Difficulty.

My thought process is entirely wrong.

It’s entirely possible for Stanley to bypass these arrays.

His absurd luck might cause him to ‘accidentally’ damage the exact correct spot to enter the teleportation room.

However, I was rather helpless to this possibility. I’d only learned some basic illusionary arrays that would be useful in this situation.

While I’d learned other arrays in the residential zone, everything else was rather useless for this situation. I wanted to hide this place's abnormality, not kill an intruder.

The majority of arrays in the residential zone directly cause confusion or kill the intruder. Making someone lost and causing confusion is basically advertising there’s a problem with this place and I didn’t want to kill anyone intruding here.

Sighing, I realized I’d just have to accept that possibility.

Stanley shouldn’t take the array if it will cause everyone else to get trapped here. That should be considered a bad result and is unlikely to occur with his luck.