Rei's breath hitched.
To counter whoever—or whatever—had suddenly burst into the office, he whipped the Death Scythe out of his Misty Ring and leveled it in a defensive stance. Because he was shielding Daskar behind him, he couldn't make any reckless movements, but Rei was confident he could handle any ordinary opponent.
However, the presence of the individual who had forced the door open with enough violence to nearly shatter it was ferocious. Rei judged them to be a threat that required absolute caution. He was on the verge of launching a preemptive strike with the Death Scythe's Flying Slash skill when he realized the intruder was a familiar face.
He lowered his weapon, though he didn't store the Death Scythe back into the Misty Ring. The person before him was clearly seething with murderous intent. If anything went wrong, he had to be ready to protect Daskar. With that thought in mind, Rei called out to the man who had stormed the room.
"Elk, it’s been a long time."
Rei’s voice was somewhat stiff, yet it carried the tone one reserved for a friend. Much of that stiffness came from the shock of the intrusion, but more than that, it was because Elk had entered as if trying to kick the door off its hinges. Rei didn't know the exact value of that door, but he understood well enough that it wasn't cheap.
Having been addressed, Elk seemingly realized who was standing there. The presence radiating from his body like that of a ferocious beast began to recede.
"...Rei."
"Yeah. I just got back. What’s the matter with you? Charging into the Lord's Mansion while giving off a presence like that."
"...A-Ah. Right. Sorry. I heard a rumor that you were back, and I just... My apologies."
After apologizing twice, Elk took a deep breath to steady himself and bowed his head toward Daskar.
"Sorry about that, Daskar. I heard about Rhodos, and I just lost my head..."
"Indeed. Normally, you would undoubtedly be punished for lese-majesty. I'm only overlooking it because it’s you," Daskar replied.
Daskar was a person of considerable skill himself. That was precisely why he had remained unfazed, continuing to speak without showing any signs of fear even when faced with the ferocious presence Elk had been emitting. If anyone unacquainted with violence had been in his place, they likely would have collapsed or even lost consciousness under the pressure Elk released.
Rei scanned the room for Min, Elk’s wife and the one who usually acted as his anchor. He spotted her just as she poked her head through the doorway, having chased after her husband.
"Elk, you should be a little more—"
Min started to complain about her husband's recklessness, but she froze when she noticed Rei inside the office. She averted her eyes, scanned the surroundings, and then looked back at Rei. After a few seconds of silence, she fixed Rei with a suspicious gaze.
"Who are you?" she asked eventually. "You aren't Rei, are you?"
"Huh?" Rei let out a dumbfounded sound.
It was a natural reaction. It would have been one thing if he were wearing his hood, but since he was meeting with Daskar, he currently had it down. His characteristic girlish face was clearly exposed. Between that and his small stature—he was petite enough to be considered quite short for a man—Rei’s physical traits were obvious to anyone.
Everyone present, including Elk, stopped moving, caught off guard by Min's words.
Elk was the first to react, believing his wife's judgment without question. Since he was in the Lord's Mansion, he carried no weapons, but he glared at Rei with a sharp gaze while shifting his position to shield Min. He prepared himself to interpose his body between Daskar and Rei if the need arose.
"You... who are you really?"
"Look, I'm sorry to interrupt while you're being so serious, but I am truly the Rei you know," Rei said. "In the first place, who else do I look like?"
Elk knitted his brows slightly. They had only exchanged a few words, but Elk could see no one but Rei in front of him. Furthermore, there was his bearing. The way Rei stood while holding the Death Scythe was not the aura of an ordinary person. He was undoubtedly a warrior of equal or greater skill than Elk himself. Above all, that Death Scythe was proof of his identity.
The handle was nearly two meters long, and the blade was about a meter wide. A scythe was a difficult weapon to master even at normal sizes, and a great scythe of this magnitude would normally be impossible to even swing. As far as Elk knew, Rei was the only eccentric who used such a weapon.
To Elk, there was no mistake that the person before him was Rei. However, contrary to his own eyes, Elk trusted Min’s intuition. He trusted her judgment to the point where he felt her instincts might be more reliable than his own logic. Even so, the person before him looked exactly like Rei.
He hesitated. "...Min, to my eyes, that’s Rei and no one else. Are you really saying he’s someone else?"
The momentum Elk had when charging into the office had vanished. He was now wavering, turning his gaze toward Rei as he questioned Min.
"That's right," Min said firmly. "Certainly, as far as appearances go, he looks like Rei. That Item Box and the Death Scythe are undoubtedly the items Rei possessed. However... even so, from my perspective, I cannot believe he is Rei."
Rei was the one most surprised by Min's flat assertion. "How can you be so certain I'm not Rei? In the first place, you should know that an Item Box can't be used by anyone other than its owner, right? Since I'm using it, that should prove I'm Rei."
"Then let me ask you this," Min countered. "Why can't I sense any magic power from you? No, I can feel about as much magic power as an ordinary mage. However, the Rei I know possesses so much magic power it's a miracle it can even fit within his body. To someone with the ability to sense magic power, it's the kind of power that, once seen, can never be forgotten."
"...Ah, I see."
At Min's explanation, Rei wore an expression of understanding and looked down at the ring on his finger. To the naked eye, it appeared to be a perfectly ordinary ring. In reality, it was the Ring of the New Moon—a magic item that was a legacy of the Ancient Magic Civilization, capable of disguising the wearer's magic power.
Rei hesitated for a moment about whether to remove the magic item in front of Min, but he considered her an ally and an adventurer of Gilm. He decided that leaving her suspicious of him would only lead to trouble later, so he quietly slipped the ring off his finger.
In that instant, Min felt a tidal wave of magic power suddenly erupt from Rei’s body. She recoiled several steps, her eyes wide.
"Th-this is..."
"It seems you're convinced now," Rei said.
Judging from Min's reaction that the point had been made, he slid the Ring of the New Moon back onto his finger.
"What!?" Min gasped in astonishment once more.
The magic power she had sensed from Rei just a moment ago had been suppressed in the blink of an eye, returning to the level of an ordinary mage. It was as if she had been staring at a vast, boundless ocean, only to realize that where the sea had been, there were now only a few droplets of water.
"Do you understand now?" Rei asked.
"...It's that ring, isn't it?"
"Yeah. It’s a magic item called the Ring of the New Moon. It has the effect of concealing my magic power. I don't have the ability to sense magic power myself, but apparently, to those who do, I'm very easy to pick out. This magic item prevents that."
"Even so, a magic item capable of concealing Rei's magic power... where on earth did you get such a thing? If you don't mind, could you tell me?" Min asked, her suspicion replaced by intense curiosity.
She understood now that the magic power she had felt when he removed the ring was undoubtedly Rei's. Under Min's fascinated gaze, Rei stored the Death Scythe into the Misty Ring and returned to the sofa where he had been sitting.
"It's a magic item I received as a reward for my work in the Bestia Empire. The effect is exactly what you saw; it conceals my magic power. Thanks to this, I'm perceived as an ordinary mage, so people won't identify me by the sheer scale of my mana."
"...I know that such magic items exist, but I would never have thought one could contain Rei's magic power," Min murmured.
"It's a legacy of the Ancient Magic Civilization, so it was likely made with more advanced technology than we have now," Rei explained. "More importantly, what did you and Elk come here for, anyway?"
"Indeed," Daskar added. "I didn't think you would go so far as to storm my office. I would like to hear an explanation."
At those words, Min finally seemed to remember where she was. Or rather, she realized that trying to expose the identity of the person who looked like Rei had been a pointless exercise.
"I am sorry, Lord Daskar. I thought for sure that some faction had sent an impostor to infiltrate this place." Min bowed deeply.
Daskar let out a small sigh. "Well, don't worry about it. For Min, who can sense magic power, it's understandable that Rei's concealed mana would be confusing. That's fine. So, what did Elk originally come here for?"
"Hmm? That's, you..."
At Daskar's question, Elk looked around as if trying to recall his purpose, and finally, it clicked.
"Right! That's it. It’s about Rhodos. Why has he ended up like that!? I heard he wouldn't wake up, but still..."
Elk turned his gaze back to Rei. Upon hearing that Rei had returned to Gilm, Elk and Min had assumed Rhodos would be with him. But when they arrived at the Lord's Mansion, they had found their son unconscious. They had been told about Rhodos's condition beforehand, but hearing it from someone else and seeing it with their own eyes were two very different things.
Rhodos looked as if he were merely sleeping, with no visible wounds. In truth, he had sustained severe injuries during his battle with Rei, but those had long since been healed by the effects of magic items. To Elk and Min, his lack of physical injury made his state seem even more abnormal.
"If you're asking why, it's likely the influence of the magic item Cabajid gave to him," Rei explained. "It was as if his will had been stripped away, or he’d been brainwashed—anyway, he attacked me under that influence, and I had to repel him. After that, either the brainwashing progressed or they intended to use him as a disposable pawn from the start. Regardless, Vihera found him wandering the battlefield during the time of the decisive battle and took him into custody."
As Rei spoke, Elk looked like he was struggling to suppress his rage, and Min knitted her brows. Their anger was not directed at Rei, but at Cabajid, for doing such a thing to their son.
"...That Cabajid guy, he's dead, right?"
"Yeah. He took his own life, claiming he would atone for the civil strife with his own head."
To Rei, it seemed more accurate to say Cabajid had been seeking an end rather than simple atonement. Especially considering he had been in a situation similar to Rei’s own, he was a man who intrigued Rei greatly.
If I had known the circumstances when I met him at the castle, we might have been able to talk about a lot of things, Rei thought. Even though time had passed since that battle, he still felt a lingering sense of regret.
"I see," Elk muttered. "If possible, I wanted to deliver the finishing blow myself, but if he's dead, there's nothing I can do. So, do you know when Rhodos will wake up?"
Rei shook his head. "I have no idea. I've never seen anything like this before. I don't know if he'll wake up naturally if we wait, or if we need to find some other means."
"From what I've seen, all we can do is wait," Min murmured. Elk nodded in agreement. "It’s not like he’ll wake up just from a potion. For now, I'll start looking into other possible cures."
"If there are any tools or materials you need, let me know. I'll go out and gather them," Elk added.
As Rei listened to them, he suddenly remembered something. "I brought Rhodos all the way from the Imperial Capital to Gilm while he was bedridden. I had to pay people to look after him during the journey, so I'll need you to reimburse me for that."
"Hmm? ...Ah, right. Rhodos was bedridden, after all. Understood. How much was it?"
"About two gold coins."
"Two gold coins. I see." Min nodded, pulled a pouch from her pocket, and handed the coins to Rei.
Seeing his wife settle the debt, Elk let out a long breath. Whether it was a sigh of relief, a groan of frustration, or something else entirely, only Elk himself could say.