Chapter 582 Aftermath
The stunned silence lingered long after the dust had begun to settle.
No one moved.
No one even seemed willing to breathe too loudly.
"R-Rowan!!"
Alden was the first to snap out of his daze. His face had turned completely pale as he sprinted toward the collapsed building without a second thought. Chunks of timber, broken stone, and shattered roof tiles were piled everywhere, creating a mountain of debris.
He immediately dropped to his knees and began throwing pieces aside with frantic desperation.
"Rowan! Where are you?! Rowan!"
His voice cracked with panic.
Around him, several adventurers remained rooted to the ground, still trying to process what they had witnessed.
A few moments ago they had been convinced Liam was about to be burned alive.
Instead...
The exact opposite had happened.
Liam hadn’t simply won.
He had ended the duel with a single exchange.
Meanwhile, Liam barely spared the collapsed building another glance.
His calm blue eyes swept across the gathering instead.
"..."
He frowned slightly.
Where was Tatiana?
Just moments ago she had been standing near the front with the others, smiling as she watched everything unfold.
Now...
She had disappeared.
Liam’s gaze continued moving through the crowd until finally he spotted a familiar figure emerging from between several adventurers.
Tatiana.
A bright smile rested on her beautiful face as she walked toward him.
In one hand she casually held the single gold coin Rowan had wagered.
In the other...
A small leather pouch jingled softly with every step.
Liam immediately understood.
"Oh..."
"So that’s where you went."
While everyone else had been frozen in shock, she’d quietly gone to the guild counter to report the successful completion of their beast extermination mission.
Efficient.
Very efficient.
Tatiana stopped in front of him before lifting the pouch slightly.
"They confirmed the mission."
She gave the pouch a little shake.
"And paid us."
Liam smiled.
"So we’re officially richer."
She nodded proudly.
"We are."
Without another word she slipped her hand into his, naturally intertwining their fingers as though it had become the most ordinary thing in the world.
"Let’s go back."
Liam glanced once toward the ruined building before giving a small nod.
"Yeah."
The two of them turned together and began walking away from the guild square.
Not a single person dared stand in their path.
The crowd instinctively split apart, creating a wide passage.
Some stepped back out of fear.
Others out of respect.
Many simply didn’t know what to think anymore.
Yesterday...
This same young man could barely kill a fly.
Today...
He had effortlessly defeated a Rank Two adventurer after the latter had even consumed a strength-enhancing potion.
Nothing about Liam made sense anymore.
Whispers immediately followed behind the departing pair.
"...He’s terrifying."
"I’ve never seen someone walk through fire like that."
"Did anyone even see what happened inside those flames?"
"No..."
"I only saw Rowan fly out."
"And Liam’s clothes weren’t even damaged..."
"Except..."
"The loose thread."
The memory made several people twitch involuntarily.
The young man had looked more disappointed over a tiny burnt thread than the duel itself.
That image alone was enough to make many question whether Liam was even normal.
Far behind them—
"ROWAN!"
Alden finally spotted something beneath the rubble.
A leg.
"There! He’s here!"
Several nearby adventurers immediately rushed over.
Together they lifted broken beams, shattered bricks, and splintered wood one piece at a time until Rowan’s unconscious body was finally uncovered.
The moment they pulled him free...
Everyone around them fell silent again.
Rowan’s face was swollen and badly battered from the tremendous impact, making him almost unrecognizable at first glance.
There was no mistaking what had happened.
Whatever Liam had done inside that wall of flames...
It had ended the fight immediately.
Alden’s expression tightened.
"...Damn it."
He carefully checked Rowan’s breathing before finally releasing a relieved sigh.
"He’s alive."
Several others nodded.
"Quick."
"We need to get him treated."
"This isn’t something we should delay."
Four adventurers carefully lifted Rowan onto their shoulders.
His head hung limply to one side, completely unconscious.
No one mocked him.
No one laughed.
Because everyone understood.
Today it was Rowan.
Tomorrow...
It could just as easily be any one of them if they challenged the wrong person.
The lively atmosphere that usually surrounded the guild slowly disappeared.
Groups quietly dispersed in different directions, each discussing the duel in hushed voices.
Some admitted they had underestimated Liam.
Others wondered what rank he truly deserved.
A few even questioned whether he belonged in this small frontier town at all.
One thing, however, was unanimous.
No one would ever mistake him for weak again.
Soon...
The street gradually emptied.
Only scattered debris remained where dozens of people had stood minutes earlier.
A gentle breeze drifted through the broken remains of the building.
From a nearby alleyway, a woman slowly approached while holding two frightened children close to her sides.
She stopped several meters away.
Her eyes settled on what had once been her modest home.
Or rather...
What remained of it.
The front wall had completely collapsed.
The roof had caved inward.
Furniture, clothing, and everyday belongings were buried beneath broken timber and stone.
The younger child clutched her mother’s sleeve.
"...Mama..."
"Where are we going to sleep?"
The woman didn’t answer immediately.
She simply stared at the ruins.
Her expression carried sadness...
But not surprise.
This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.
Adventurers fought monsters.
Sometimes...
They fought each other.
And ordinary people were the ones left cleaning up afterward.
She slowly pulled both children into another embrace.
"It’s okay."
"We’ll figure something out."
Would she complain?
To whom?
The guild?
The town lord?
No.
Because everyone already knew the answer.
Adventurers occupied an entirely different position in society.
They ventured into deadly forests, hunted powerful beasts, protected trade routes, completed dangerous missions, and supplied towns with valuable monster materials and resources.
Without adventurers...
Many settlements simply wouldn’t survive.
Compared to ordinary civilians...
Their value was immeasurably greater.
That was simply how the world worked.
The woman lowered her gaze once more toward the remains of her house.
There was nowhere for her family to return tonight.
But even so...
She merely sighed quietly, gathered her children close, and slowly walked away from the wreckage, already wondering where they might find shelter before night fell once again.
The woman adjusted the grip around her daughters and took one final look at the remains of what had been their home.
There was nothing left to salvage today.
Some of their belongings were probably still buried beneath the collapsed roof, but she didn’t dare approach them. The structure looked unstable enough to collapse even further if someone disturbed it.
She let out a quiet sigh.
"...Come on."
She gently urged her daughters forward.
"We’ll figure something out."
The two little girls nodded obediently, although the confusion in their innocent eyes was impossible to hide.
They had gone from having a home...
To having nowhere.
Just as they began taking their first few steps—
"Stop."
The voice wasn’t loud.
It wasn’t angry.
But it carried enough authority to make the woman freeze in place.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Slowly...
Very slowly...
She turned around.
Her pupils immediately shrank.
Standing several meters away...
Was the very same young man whose duel had reduced her home to rubble.
Liam.
The woman instinctively pulled both of her daughters behind her.
The girls clung tightly to the back of her dress, peeking around her waist with frightened curiosity.
Even a few pedestrians walking along the street slowed down upon seeing the scene.
Several exchanged sympathetic looks.
"...Poor woman."
"What bad luck."
"He came back..."
One elderly man quietly shook his head.
Another woman lowered her eyes.
Nobody stepped forward.
Nobody interfered.
Everyone simply assumed they already knew how this story would end.
Adventurers rarely concerned themselves with ordinary people.
And when they did...
It was usually because they wanted something.
The mother lowered her head immediately.
"I-I’m sorry, Mister."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"I’m sorry that... my house happened to be in the way of your battle."
She bowed deeply.
Almost instinctively, she reached back and covered both of her daughters’ eyes with trembling hands.
"Don’t look."
She whispered softly to them.
The two little girls became completely quiet.
Liam blinked.
"...Huh?"
He looked from the frightened mother...
To the two children hiding behind her...
Then scratched the side of his face awkwardly.
"...No, no, no."
He couldn’t help chuckling.
"I think you’ve misunderstood."
His voice was calm.
Gentle.
Completely different from what the woman had expected.
"And..."
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"...I’m sorry for saying ’stop’ so suddenly."
"I didn’t mean to scare you."
The woman slowly raised her head.
Her expression was filled with disbelief.
She stared at Liam as though seeing him for the very first time.
This...
Wasn’t the image she had prepared herself for.
Compared to the adventurers she had encountered over the years...
This young man felt...
Different.
His face carried none of the arrogance she had grown accustomed to seeing.
His voice wasn’t commanding.
Nor threatening.
Instead...
It was strangely warm.
His handsome features softened further as he offered an apologetic smile.
Even the morning sunlight seemed to make his snow-white hair glow faintly.
Behind her...
The two little girls carefully pushed their mother’s hands away from their eyes.
Curiosity won over fear.
They secretly peeked around her.
The moment Liam noticed them...
He smiled.
A genuine smile.
The two little girls instinctively smiled back.
Children often judged people far more simply than adults.
If someone smiled warmly at them...
They smiled too.
Liam chuckled quietly.
"You two are pretty brave."
One of the girls hid behind her sister.
The other gave him an embarrassed grin before quickly hiding again.
Tatiana, who had remained quietly beside Liam the entire time, watched the interaction with a small smile.
She didn’t interrupt.
She simply observed.
The mother, meanwhile, couldn’t tear her eyes away from Liam.
Confusion completely filled her face.
Finally...
She gathered enough courage to ask.
"...You’re..."
"...not here to take advantage of me?"
Liam’s expression froze.
"...What?"
His eyebrows slowly knitted together.
"I’m sorry..."
"I thought..."
She lowered her head again.
"I thought that... since my daughters and I no longer have a home..."
"...perhaps you wished to take advantage of our situation."
For several seconds...
Liam simply stared at her.
Then...
"...Why the hell would I do that?"
His voice wasn’t angry.
It was genuinely confused.
So confused that he even wondered if he’d misunderstood her.
His passive skill had only recently begun translating this world’s language for him.
Maybe...
Maybe he’d heard her incorrectly.
The woman immediately bowed again.
"I-I’m sorry."
"I shouldn’t have assumed."
She nervously twisted her fingers together.
"I only thought..."
"...that perhaps you recognized I was now homeless..."
"...and wanted something in return."
Liam blinked twice.
Then looked toward Tatiana.
Then back at the woman.
"...No."
"No, no, no."
He waved both hands immediately.
"Why would you even think like that?"
His face was full of disbelief.
"What the hell goes on in this world?"
The words escaped almost instinctively.
He couldn’t understand it.
The woman had just lost her home because of a fight between adventurers.
Yet instead of blaming him...
She apologized.
Then...
Her first assumption was that he’d return to exploit her because she had nowhere else to go.
None of it made sense to Liam.
The mother tilted her head slightly.
She looked completely puzzled now.
"...What do you mean..."
"...what goes on in this world?"
She studied Liam carefully.
Almost as though...
She was beginning to wonder whether this strange young adventurer truly wasn’t like all the others.