[Information: This is the Great Monument of the First Hero,]

Lucy pinged, her voice echoing in Maddy’s mind.

[Identification: Gilberto, the Golden Paladin. He is the founding legend of this nation, credited with pushing back the first Great Distortion and defeating the Demon Lord. He is the standard by which all current ’Heroes’ are measured.]

Maddy stared at the face of the statue. The wood was carved with incredible detail, capturing a man with a sharp, commanding jawline and eyes that seemed to stare into the very soul of the city.

"That face... It’s familiar."

She searched her memory, flashing back to the gates and the arrogant man who had tried to intimidate her.

"The Captain... He kept shouting about his lineage. He said he was the son of the hero."

[Confirmation: Genetic markers and facial structure align. Captain Erwin is indeed the direct descendant of Gilberto. It appears the prestige of this statue is the primary source of his unchecked authority.]

"The son of a legend. It explains why he thinks he can beat me. He hides behind a dead man’s achievement."

The statue of Gilberto was not merely a carving; it was the centerpiece of a magnificent fountain. Water sprouted from the base of the Hero’s pedestal, cascading in shimmering sheets that made the wooden figure look as though it were rising from the sea, alive and bathed in light.

As Maddy stood there, a man suddenly stumbled toward her. He was disheveled, his face pale and slick with sweat, his eyes darting around in a frantic, wild eyed panic. He looked like a man who had seen his own executioner.

"You! The plate... you’re the adventurer, aren’t you?"

He gasped, lunging forward to grab her arm before she instinctively stepped back.

"Please, please be the one! I posted the request. I need it back! I was washing my hands and it just... it slipped! If I go home without it, I’m finished! My wife... she’ll never forgive me!"

Maddy stared at him, her expression a mask of cold indifference.

"So, you are the one. A man so careless he let his life’s promise slip into a puddle."

She said aloud,

"I am the one who took the quest. Calm down. I’ll get your ring."

As the man continued to babble and pace near the water’s edge, a sharp, uninvited memory sliced through Maddy’s mind like a razor. It was a memory she had tried to bury deep beneath her new divinity—a memory of her husband from her past life.

She remembered his hands. They were hands that had often been curled into fists, hands that smelled of stale liquor and the bitter substances he used to drown his failures. He had been an abusive, hollow man who made her life a living hell.

Yet, she remembered the day he died. Even then, as he lay cold and broken, that diamond ring had been gripped tight around his finger. It was the only thing he had never let go of, the only promise he hadn’t discarded, even as he discarded her.

"He was a monster... A drunk and a coward... but even he had the sense to hold onto the symbol of what he owned. This man here... he’s just pathetic."

Maddy commanded the frantic client, her voice cutting through his hysterics.

"Stay back. You’re clouding the water."

She stepped toward the basin, her Thermal Awareness filtering out the heat of the crowd to find the cold, metallic signature of the gold resting among the coins at the bottom.

To the man, it was a lost treasure; to Maddy, it was a reminder that in every world, men were weak, and it was always someone else who had to reach into the mud to fix their mistakes.

The man became more pale, his eyes darting across the water and the stone basin in a state of pure panic.

"It’s gone! I’m a dead man! My wife... she’ll kick me out! Oh, why did I take it off to wash my hands in the fountain?!"

The man looked at Maddy with a mixture of desperation and hopelessness. The fountain was deep, filled with murky water and layers of coins tossed in for luck. To a normal human, the gold band was lost in the sludge and the shimmer of copper.

But Maddy didn’t need to dive. She focused her senses, filtering out the heat of the nearby citizens until she caught the faint, metallic glint reflecting through the water.

In one smooth motion, she reached deep into the cold water of the basin, her arm submerging up to the elbow. When she pulled her hand back, the gold ring sat in her palm, dripping wet.

"Is this it?"

The man gasped, falling to his knees as he snatched the ring. He began to sob with relief, kissing the metal before sliding it back onto his finger.

"Oh, bless you! Bless your soul! You found it in seconds! I thought... I thought it was hopeless. I couldn’t even see the bottom!"

He looked up at her, his expression turning somber.

"I went to the guild three times today. Dozens of adventurers walked past me. They laughed. They told me to stop wasting their time with ’peasant drama’ because they were busy preparing for monster hunts and looting the southern ruins. Nobody wants to touch a quest like this anymore. Nobody wants to help people; they only want to kill things!!!"

Maddy looked at the man’s shaking hands. She thought about the "Hero" Johnn and the way the guild receptionist had spat on her F rank papers.

"Killing a monster is easy, it takes a sword and a lack of fear. But reaching into the water to help a stranger? That takes a different kind of strength—the kind most of those ’adventurers’ lost a long time ago."

She stood up, shaking the water from her hand.

"They are so busy looking at the sky for glory that they’ve forgotten how to see the people standing right in front of them. Don’t thank me for doing what should be natural."