I’ll Retire After Saving the World

TL: SHW

Once upon a time, long, long ago, beneath the warm California sun, there lived a young Black girl full of dreams. The girl, who lived alone with her father, happened to meet a pretty little girl one day and became friends with her....

It wasn't actually a story old enough to warrant "once upon a time". And that child wasn't a girl, either, nor were they anything that could really be called friends.

Sandra's father, a mana engineer, had to stay in Australia for a while due to a collaboration with a Guild. Since he couldn't leave his daughter, still in school, on her own, Sandra naturally followed her father to Australia. There, she came to know the son of the Guild Master her father worked for. She hadn't even realized at first that he was a boy. He was just that pretty.

Alex Hope, the spitting image of his Taiwanese mother, had a small frame and unusually pale skin even as a child. Everywhere he went, people stared and called him a beautiful child. As far as Sandra knew, he had even done some child modeling. If I were the lady herself, Yi Jun, and my son had a face like that, I'd have put him in modeling too.

Now, knowing what was inside, it was simply absurd, but back then, Alex was quite literally a doll-like child. Not just pretty enough to be called doll-like, but genuinely a doll. He would sit perfectly still, blinking his large eyes, and only smile brightly and respond when his mother spoke to him.

Yi Jun had thought the child was autistic. Since he was unresponsive to surrounding stimuli and ignored everything around him, it was only natural she'd think that. But Sandra, who happened to see Alex, noticed right away. She couldn't understand how the adults were missing it.

So Sandra sidled up to Alex and spoke to him.

'Do you like your mom that much?'

Alex slowly turned his body toward Sandra.

'You're acting like that because you want your mom's attention, aren't you? You don't care that it's hard on her?'

What Alex thought upon hearing those words, Sandra couldn't say for certain. But about a month later, when Sandra met Alex for the second time, the doll-like child sitting perfectly still was gone, replaced by a mischievous, lively seven-year-old running around laughing without a care.

There were no children Alex's age among the Guild members' kids. So naturally, Sandra ended up spending more and more time with Alex. He was a handful, sure, but since he was prettier than most girls, Sandra didn't dislike him. At that age, kids were drawn to pretty things. ...That wasn't exclusive to that age, really. Who in the world didn't like pretty things?

Looking back, that had been the trap. Like a carnivorous plant luring insects with its sweet scent.

But when a doll-like pretty child, wearing a big ribbon his mother had tied on, smiled that bright smile, who could possibly refuse? Sandra was no different.

'Sandra. You're smart, so teach me what I should do.'

She shouldn't have fallen for those words!

By the time she regretted it, it was already too late. Having waded in this deep, there was no way out.

...No. Actually, there had been a way. If she had looked Alex straight in the eye and told him she didn't want to, Alex would have listened.

But the very fact that she knew Alex would listen to her was precisely why she couldn't get out.

Sandra gave Alex grief every chance she got, calling him the culprit who'd raised her life's difficulty level, but she wasn't stupid enough to not know the reverse was equally true. From the moment she smashed through the tiny, narrow fence around seven-year-old Alex's heart, the option of walking away had essentially ceased to exist.

Alex's fence was narrow. The people inside it were few. Mom, Dad, and Sandra. Three, and that was it.

And Sandra knew just how hard Alex worked to protect the three people inside that fence.

'So let's lay it all out.'

Fourteen-year-old Alex Hope and eighteen-year-old Sandra Gamble huddled together whispering in a garage, unable to feel the warm California sun at all.

'Someone from France, you said?'

'Noah Michel. Apparently she's famous.'

'Yeah, she's famous! She's the youngest Archmage!'

Sandra, following in her father's footsteps as a mana engineer, kept a close eye on Dungeon-related information. There was no way she wouldn't know the Jewel of Nantes, the genius Archmage whose name was rising to prominence.

She just hadn't expected that name to come out of this kid's mouth.

'...She's the boss?'

'Boss, I guess you could say.... For now?'

Alex tilted his head.

'The King can't come out, right? So for the time being, she'd be the boss.'

Alex wore an expression Sandra had never seen before. A face full of anxiety and worry.

Sandra grew serious in turn.

'So you absolutely have to do what she says? What did she tell you to do?'

'I got a grace period.'

'A grace period?'

'Yeah. As long as Mom and Dad and... you are alive, we agreed not to proceed.'

Sandra had been left speechless plenty of times since getting to know Alex, but she could say with certainty that this was a first.

Sandra stared blankly at Alex's face, then looked down, then looked up at the ceiling, then rubbed the back of her neck, then barely managed to look at Alex again.

'......Why?'

Alex looked at Sandra with a face that said, Why are you even asking something so obvious?

Those neat lips, so much like Yi Jun's, drew an elegant curve. A radiant smile, like a golden nasturtium in full bloom.

'Because I like you guys, obviously! I don't want to see you suffer. I wish you could always be smiling.'

If anyone else had said the same thing, Sandra would have shaken her fist and told them to cut the crap. But Alex was different. Alex, that Alex....

Her eyes stung.

'...Are you crying?'

'I'm not crying!'

Sandra sniffled.

'Hmph. Fine. Why did she call for you? What did she tell you to do?'

'I got the grace period, but I still can't not prepare.... There's a lot to do and not enough hands, so she told me to handle things one by one. But....'

'But?'

'I think you'll hate this if I do it.'

'What the hell did she tell you to do that you're being like this?'

Alex slowly explained Noah Michel's orders, one by one. The longer he went on, the harder Sandra's expression became. Her mind went cold.

Sandra took a deep breath so she wouldn't shout at Alex. This wasn't Alex's fault. He was still barely past the crawling stage when it came to understanding humans.

Alex tugged at Sandra's sleeve the way he used to as a little child.

'Sandra, you're smart, so you can teach me what to do, right?'

'...You'll listen to what I say?'

'Yeah. How can I protect the three of you?'

'First things first.'

They needed to find someone who could stop Noah Michel, who could stop the idiotically named Ark. Alex was strong, but Alex couldn't do it.

So, someone. Someone with a strong enough sense of justice to care about stopping the villains, and powerful enough to take down Archmage Noah Michel. They needed someone like that.

...If that kind of person were just lying around on the street, they wouldn't be sitting here wringing their hands.

Sandra closed her eyes, then opened them. The garage, strewn with tools in disarray, greeted her.

'We need to start a company.'

'A company?'

'This is something you're too young to know yet, but in human society, money can generally solve most things.'

Sandra ruffled Alex's hair vigorously. Despite being perfectly capable of dodging her hand, Alex sat still and let his hair get wrecked.

'The company name... Right. Pharos. Let's go with Pharos.'

'Pharos?'

'It's Sandra and Alex. Both our names come from Alexander, and there's a city named after it. Alexandria. Apparently there was this incredibly big library there a long time ago.'

'Because you like books, Sandra?'

'...Well, that's part of it. But the important thing is that the city also had this enormous lighthouse.'

'A lighthouse?'

Alex, who had zero interest in anything like human history, merely made a show of nodding along to Sandra's words. Knowing this full well, Sandra explained with enthusiasm anyway.

'Noah Michel's Ark apparently has no need for light, so we become the light itself. That's why it's Pharos. So people won't be seduced by the Ark and can find their way.'

And to become a lighthouse of Hope for the one who wished to protect his family.

Sandra would do everything in her power to grant Alex's wish.

Just as Alex had rejected the very purpose of his existence for Sandra, for his family.

And so, Sandra Gamble could not let this opportunity slip away.

"Because if that Michel bitch catches on, she'll offer them up as sacrifices."

Sandra looked at the phone she had propped up with a makeshift stand fashioned from tools. Within the small, palm-sized screen were three Koreans.

Someone with enough of a sense of justice to despise the Ark, and strong enough to make the Ark wary!

There was one!

Starting to learn Korean the moment she first heard that Hong Seok-young was tracking the Ark had been the right call. Struggling to learn an unfamiliar language had been difficult, but it was worth it.

On top of that, the years she'd spent pleading with Alex over and over had paid off too.

She had said it until Alex got sick of hearing it and snapped at her.

'You can kill Ark people. But never! Never kill an unrelated human! Children are no exception!!'

'Ugh. But Noah told me to prepare to dispose of them in case things go sideways in Korea?'

'......Hold on.'

She hadn't expected to end up founding a foundation in a rush before she'd even established Pharos.

Smuggling the children out had been tricky, but after succeeding once, confidence followed. It was sleight of hand using monster remains, mana, and a touch of runes and magic. She had exploited the weakness of countries with high Dungeon Break casualties, like Korea, where they cremated the dead quickly. Once it was ash, the evidence was gone forever.

By now, they were probably investigating her and Museion. One look at the young Hunter who'd been leading the conversation taking Hong Seok-young's phone and sending messages made that obvious.

But that was fine.

Because this was the only hope Sandra could grasp right now.

"Shanshan."

Sandra called out to Alex, who was out of the frame.

It was the pet name Alex's mother, Yi Jun, had given her son. A special name that only Alex's family could use.

"I need to talk about you. That okay?"

─If you think it's necessary!

Beside the young Hunter, a familiar head of red hair popped up. Eyes crinkled in a grin, looking carefree in a way that belied being tied up tight.

Sandra smiled the same smile back at Alex. Even if things went wrong, Alex could escape. With Hong Seok-young there, getting out unscathed would be difficult, but.... Even if he got hurt, getting away came first.

Wounds could be treated later.

"There's a lot to explain, but there's something you need to know first."

─About Hope?

The young Hunter, whose name Sandra still hadn't heard, spoke with a stiff, hardened expression. Even through the small screen, the hostile gaze was palpable.

Well, of course.

Alex had surely said something unnecessary and only made himself look more suspicious. That much was clear without even seeing it.

Still, she couldn't let the tension show. Even though she was already wound tight! And they'd surely already noticed she was tense!

Sandra discreetly wiped her sweaty palms on her clothes.

"Have you cleared a lot of Dungeons?"

─.......

The Hunter furrowed his brow, seemingly unable to grasp the intent behind Sandra's question. Sandra continued.

"Then, have you ever encountered a Fairy inside a Dungeon?"

─A Fairy?

Hong Seok-young cut in.

Sandra swallowed hard, looking at the veteran Hunter whose face had contorted into a fierce scowl. Here was where it truly began.

"Yes. Shanshan... Alex is a Changeling, the only Fairy who was able to come outside of a Dungeon."

***

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