I Just Wanted a Peaceful Life… So Why Do Heroes Worship Me?

The peace didn't last long.

Two days after the priest and the hunter left, the sanctuary gate rattled open.

Not knocked. Not pried.

Rattled.

As if someone had kicked it and assumed it would apologize.

It did not.

Rei stood in the garden, watching a strange figure stomp through the archway in knee-high boots with mismatched buckles, a rain-soaked cloak dragging behind them, and what looked suspiciously like a broken magic compass spinning uselessly in one hand.

"I found it!" the newcomer shouted triumphantly. "I knew it existed! The Impossible Sanctuary! The 'ghost dome'! The Recluse's Nest! The Hermit Trap!"

Rei blinked.

Ellyn whispered, "Hermit trap?"

Auron leaned over the herb shelf. "I vote no."

The visitor continued talking to no one in particular. "My name is Ferren. Enchanter. Inventor. Arch-aspirant of the Sixth Spiral. Researcher of Unfindable Spaces. And I—"

Ferren tripped.

Landed in the mud.

And kept talking from the ground.

"—have questions."

Rei waited.

Ferren rolled onto his back, stared at the sky, and said, "Is it true the ambient spiritual flow here bends time?"

"No," Rei said.

"Is it true you command a tamed storm beast with a look?"

"No."

"Is it true you once silenced an archbishop with a spoon?"

Ellyn coughed to hide a laugh.

Rei stared. "...Yes."

Ferren punched the air victoriously. "Knew it!"

Zephyr padded over, sniffed the intruder once, and immediately walked away.

Lynna arrived late and frowned deeply. "What is that?"

"A problem," Rei said calmly.

"I heard that," Ferren muttered, sitting up and brushing moss off his face. "You don't understand—this place, your existence, contradicts every conventional magical theorem I've studied."

"Then study less," Rei suggested.

Ferren gasped. "A minimalist!"

"I'm going inside," Lynna said. "Before I set him on fire."

"He's harmless," Ellyn offered.

"He's annoying," Kreg added, walking by with bread. "Big difference."

Ferren followed Rei for most of the afternoon, asking questions like "How did you tame the ecosystem's emotional resonance?" and "What's your opinion on fourth-order kinetic dispersion?" and "Do you bathe Fluff in aether-rich water? Because that fur is radiant."

Fluff bit him.

Gently.

But pointedly.

By evening, Ferren had filled three notebooks, triggered two false alarms, and accidentally brewed a tea blend that made Lynna glow faintly for an hour.

Rei watched him all the while without once raising his voice.

At dinner, Ferren finally asked the question he had clearly been holding in.

"If you're so powerful," he said, eyes sharp for once, "why pretend to be ordinary?"

Everyone at the table went quiet.

Rei didn't answer right away.

He poured tea.

Then looked at Ferren.

And said, "Because peace doesn't seek applause."

Ferren blinked.

Rei continued, voice calm. "You think power is about attention. Proof. But some of us came to this place because of power. Not to use it. To escape it."

The silence deepened.

Even Ferren seemed thoughtful.

Then he ruined it.

"...That's very poetic," he said. "Can I quote you in my thesis?"

Rei stood and left the table.

Fluff followed.

Auron sighed. "He lasted longer than I expected."

Lynna took a sip of tea and muttered, "Barely."

—

Later that night, while Ferren scribbled diagrams in the dirt, Zephyr perked up.

He stared east.

Rei joined him.

No words.

Just a feeling.

The wind had shifted again.

Not dangerous.

Not yet.

But curious.

Interested.

And interest, Rei knew, was how it always began.