I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

Ji Tian led Lilith and Elena off the dragon's back first, followed closely by Ophelia and Mia.

Amy was the last to come down, standing on the grass, her gaze sweeping over the familiar yet unfamiliar faces, and she remained silent for a moment.

Dean strode into the crowd and headed straight for a tall, robust man with black and white hair and a broadsword at his waist.

"Severus!"

The S-rank adventurer named Sivers also saw Dean, grabbed his shoulder, and looked him up and down several times.

"Dean?! It really is you?! You're still alive!"

Dean caught his breath. "That was a close call. What's going on here? Why are there so many people?"

"Oh, this? We're attending your funeral. It was a grand funeral with special permission from the chairman. Half of the people here were people you helped."

"?"

Sivers released his shoulder, his gaze sweeping over Mia and Amy, confirming they were indeed alive, while the other two were most likely dead. He sighed and began to explain:

"After you were trapped in the Flower Sea Mountains, the Association went crazy. Five S-rank adventurers going missing at the same time is extremely rare in the Association's history."

"The association sent a rescue team to investigate, but when the team arrived at the Flower Sea Mountains, they found that the entire mountain range was covered by a sea of ​​lightning, each one like a forbidden spell, making it impossible to get close. The landscape around the mountains has changed, and now the people there call it the 'Lightning Sea Mountains'."

"So the association gathered all the high-end combat power it could find: four S-class adventurers, including myself, who had spare time, several archmages from the kingdom who possessed sacred relics, and the patriarch of the Northern Diocese of the church."

"We tried for three days but failed to break through the sea of ​​lightning, and we were almost struck by lightning ourselves. The High Patriarch personally led people in prayer and received a revelation from the wise men of the divine kingdom: that the sea of ​​lightning was being interfered with by some higher power, which even demigods could not interfere with."

Dean listened quietly until the other person finished speaking before replying, "So, we've been trapped for so long that the association has declared us dead?"

He was aware of the association's relevant regulations:

To ensure that high-level adventurers can complete their missions with peace of mind, if an adventurer of rank A or above goes missing for a certain period of time without any signs of life, they will be considered dead according to custom, a funeral will be held, and a pension will be issued.

Of course, the association has a strict review mechanism to prevent anyone from using this to defraud the Adventurers' Association of subsidies.

Sievers nodded and said:

"That's right, and the church's fortune tellers tried it, but they couldn't get any results. It was a complete blank, as if you no longer existed."

"Thank you for your help."

Sievers patted him on the shoulder: "It's good that you're alive."

On the other side, Mia had already received a revelation from Ophelia's divination. She walked through the crowd and saw two familiar figures standing in the center, supporting each other, their eyes red-rimmed.

Her adoptive parents.

Because she was left at the village entrance when she was little, the fact that she was not her parents' biological child was not hidden from her for long after she became sensible. She cried for a long time after she first found out.

They've aged, are thinner than I remember, and their hair has turned quite a bit whiter.

Mia stood still, met their gaze, and then quickly walked over.

"Dad, Mom."

Tears welled up in the adoptive mother's eyes instantly. She opened her arms and hugged her tightly, her voice trembling with sobs and the relief of having found her again.

"You scared me to death, you child, how could you—do you know that when we received the news, we thought we would never see you again in this lifetime…"

The adoptive father stood to the side without saying a word, and rubbed his eyes.

Mia raised her hand and gently hugged her back:

"I'm back, everything's alright."

After a while, her adoptive mother finally let go of her and carefully looked her over from head to toe to make sure she wasn't missing any limbs before she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mia, could you... please stop taking risks in the future?"

Mia's eyelashes trembled slightly.

"I know you're very capable. You and that dragon can overcome any danger together. But... every time I hear news about you, it's from other people."

They say you fought monsters in the North, tracked down wanted criminals in the South, and disappeared in the Flower Sea Mountains... Every time I hear these things, I feel like I'm still in that village, sitting on the doorstep waiting for you to come home.

I don't want to hear from you again about your disappearance. Mia, please listen to your mother, don't be an adventurer anymore, okay?

Mia remained silent, feeling her foster mother's hand trembling slightly, and sensing the gazes of the adventurers behind her fixed on her.

"But... I made a promise with Xiaohua that we'd keep going on adventures."

Her adoptive mother's lips moved, about to continue her advice, but her adoptive father gently placed his hand on her shoulder, stopping her from speaking.

"...We'll talk about that later; now is not the time."

The foster mother's eyes reddened slightly, but she finally nodded and released Mia's hand.

Mia glanced back at the little flower lying on the open ground not far away. Its golden scales shimmered with a warm light in the sunlight. Noticing her gaze, the little flower opened its half-closed vertical pupils, looked at her, and then slowly closed them again.

Mia knew she could hear her.

……

On the other side, Amy stood at the edge of the crowd after getting off the dragon's back.

Her gaze lingered on the distant horizon, as if she hadn't quite emerged from the vine-covered sky above the Flower Sea Mountains.

Until a voice pierced through the noise of the crowd and landed directly in her ears.

"Amy! Is that you?!"

The voice was so familiar that she didn't even need to look up to confirm it.

"Mason?"

The crowd parted slightly, and a fiery red figure squeezed through the gap.

Mason, dressed in a dark gray adventurer's coat over an inner court robe, his fiery red hair slightly disheveled by the wind, ran quickly toward her and stopped a few steps away.

Mason looked her up and down to make sure she wasn't missing any limbs, then breathed a sigh of relief and glared at her again.

"You scared me to death. When I heard the news of your death at the association, I didn't believe it at all, but when I got there and saw the sea of ​​lightning, I believed it."

"..."

Seeing Amy's somewhat sad expression, Mason could roughly guess why she was upset, and said to himself:

"Then, I started preparing your funeral according to the jokes we made back in college, making sure you had a grand funeral."

Upon hearing this, Amy's tense expression finally relaxed a little:

"You haven't been waiting here all this time, have you?"

"What else?"

Mason reached out and gently patted her shoulder, comforting her, "It's good that you're back. Let's go, settle in first."

Amy was about to agree when she saw the other person suddenly freeze as if they had seen something.