The cries coming from the other side of the bushes seemed to carry a disarming charm.
Even so, having drawn Death Scythe from the Misty Ring, Rei refused to let his guard down.
It was not just Rei. Elena, Marina, Vihera, Ara, and Byune were all equally vigilant.
However... within the group, only Set and Ielo stared toward the bushes without any particular tension.
As if they already knew that whatever was making those cries was not a dangerous monster.
Watching the two of them from the corner of his eye, Rei wondered to himself.
It got this close without me or Set sensing its presence at all, so it must be a monster with high stealth capabilities. That's fine, but... why isn't Set on guard? It's an unknown monster, isn't it? Normally, it would definitely be wary.
That Ielo, riding on Set's back, was equally unwary came as a surprise to Rei as well.
In terms of pure combat power, Ielo was by no means high. It possessed excellent defensive abilities — the power to turn invisible and scales that could deflect mediocre weapon strikes — but after all, it was still a child of the race known as Black Dragons... and at an age that, for a dragon, could barely be called newborn.
Demanding offensive power from such a child... or rather, an existence closer to an infant, was probably unreasonable.
"Who's there? Come out."
Rei called toward the other side of the bushes, but the foliage merely rustled. There was no sign of anything emerging.
"Gurururu, guru? Gurur."
"Kyu! Kyuu! Kyukyu!"
Set, carrying Ielo on its back, stepped forward in front of Rei, who still held Death Scythe at the ready.
"Set?"
Seeing Set's demeanor — as if it sensed no danger whatsoever — Rei turned his gaze back toward the bushes.
After a few seconds of thought, he lowered the ready stance he had been holding Death Scythe in, though still prepared to swing at a moment's notice.
"Are you sure?"
Vihera had likewise generated magic claws from her gauntlet, ready to respond instantly should anything happen. In response to her question, Rei nodded while glancing at Set and Ielo.
"Yeah. Set and Ielo aren't showing any wariness at all. It's probably not something we need to be cautious about. Right?"
"...Indeed. Ielo may not have the same combat power as Set, but its instincts are sharp."
Murmuring, Elena lowered Mirage as well.
Under normal circumstances, Ara would have followed Elena's example, but she also served as Elena's escort. Given that role, she could not lower her weapon here when there might be even the slightest danger to Elena.
Byune had not lowered her weapon either, but in her case, it was an act driven by the intent to launch a preemptive strike should the situation turn dangerous.
"It was crying something like 'Poru' or 'Pororo' — do you recognize the cry?"
Watching Set and Ielo earnestly calling out toward the bushes, Rei asked Marina, who would likely be the most knowledgeable about this forest.
In response, Marina shook her head.
"Unfortunately, I don't know. When I lived in this settlement, there were no monsters or animals with cries like that — but even then, I didn't know every single monster in the forest."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"Considering how long it's been since I left the forest, it wouldn't be strange for new monsters to have moved in during that time."
Nearly a century had passed since Marina left the settlement. In that span, a forest's ecosystem could easily shift. And if the creature in question was a monster rather than an ordinary animal, the likelihood of change was even greater.
That was why Marina had absolutely no idea what kind of monster lurked beyond the bushes. From the cries alone, though, she could at least venture that it probably was not a particularly vicious one. It was precisely because she thought so that Marina lowered the bow she had been holding ready.
"Guru, gurururu... guru."
"Kyu! Kyukyu! Kyuu!"
"Poro? Poruru? Poruu?"
This exchange continued for several minutes before Rei and the others.
Eventually, seeing the bushes shake more vigorously than before, Rei spoke.
"It looks like it's finally making its appearance. ...The fact that it isn't fleeing even with Set here means it's definitely a monster with some unusual circumstances behind it."
While it was half-expected that there was no danger, no one knew what kind of monster would emerge, and all eyes remained fixed on the bushes.
The first thing to appear was... blue.
It was a small monster — smaller than even Ielo — covered in predominantly blue fur.
Another eye-catching feature was its forehead. Something like an oval red gemstone was embedded in it.
The monster poked only its face out of the bushes to survey its surroundings. After a moment, apparently judging that there was no danger, it emerged fully.
In terms of size, it was perhaps slightly larger than an ordinary squirrel. Like its face, its entire body was covered in blue fur, and a soft, fluffy tail took up nearly half its body length.
And above all, the most distinctive feature was those tails.
They were about half its body length, but that was not all — there were multiple of them.
"What is this monster... I've never seen one before."
At Rei's murmur, everyone except Marina nodded in agreement.
Elena, who had lived on battlefields as the Princess General; Vihera, who had lived as a princess of the Bestia Empire; and Byune, who had experience diving into Dungeons alone — all three should have known more than the average person, yet none of them had ever seen the creature now exchanging gururu, kyu-kyu, and poru-poru sounds with Set and Ielo.
Naturally, Ara had never seen a blue-furred, squirrel-like monster either.
"Hmm? Wait... could it be...?"
Rei looked at the oval red gemstone on the forehead of the blue squirrel monster that was playfully nuzzling Ielo, and something suddenly came to mind.
However, it was not knowledge he had gained since coming to Elgin. It was an entity that had appeared in games, manga, and novels back in Japan.
"Carbuncle?"
"Poruru?"
At Rei's murmur, the blue squirrel monster turned its gaze toward him as if to say, Did you call me?
It reacted to my voice? Which means it understands that it's being called... so it understands human speech?
Monsters capable of understanding human speech were not numerous, but by no means nonexistent. For high-rank monsters like Set and Ielo, even if they could not speak human words, hearing and understanding them was not uncommon.
"Correct. It's quite a rare monster, so I'm impressed you figured it out."
At that voice, Rei turned to look. Marina stood there with a satisfied smile.
"Eh? So this monster really is a Carbuncle?"
"Yes. Though... it's quite different from the Carbuncle I've seen before. Especially the tail — the one I saw only had one."
Hearing Marina's words, Rei thought to himself that an experienced adventurer was indeed different, and turned his gaze back to the blue squirrel — the Carbuncle.
Its tails were indeed multiple, as Marina had said, and they differed greatly from the Carbuncles Rei had learned about through games and manga in Japan.
"It's probably a rare species like Set. Its lack of aggression might be because the World Tree was treated. Or perhaps it's simply because Carbuncles are high-rank monsters?"
"A high-rank monster?"
"Yes. It's a B-Rank monster. And as a rare species, it's naturally treated as one rank higher, making it equivalent to an A-Rank monster."
While listening to Marina's explanation, Rei reached his hand out toward the Carbuncle.
From a short distance away, the other members watched Rei with envious eyes. The Carbuncle sniffing Rei's finger looked so endearing that many of them wished they could pet it too.
"Poru? Porororo..."
The Carbuncle had been sniffing Rei's finger, but suddenly kicked off the ground and leaped onto his shoulder.
"...It's awfully friendly. Is it really a monster?"
Rei muttered in bemusement at the Carbuncle's lack of shyness, but Vihera spoke up with evident envy.
"Naturally. An animal with a gemstone embedded in its forehead wouldn't normally exist."
"Even so, it's awfully friendly, isn't it? It's a wild monster, so I'd think it wouldn't be strange if it just attacked us."
"Carbuncles are originally a docile species. As a special ability, they can use a skill that reflects magic-based attacks, but they can't use offensive skills. Despite that, they're agile, and unless someone attacks them targeting the gemstone on their forehead, they basically never initiate an attack on others."
She added "basically" because they would still attack animals for food. However, while Carbuncles were omnivorous, they primarily preferred to eat nuts. Unless they were extremely hungry, they would not attack living creatures.
While listening to Marina's explanation, Rei stroked the Carbuncle perched on his shoulder. As he did so, he petted its tail and noticed that there were nine of them.
"A nine-tailed Carbuncle, rather than a nine-tailed fox. ...You really are a rare species. Is that why you haven't been affected by this forest?"
"Pororo?"
At Rei's words, the Carbuncle tilted its head.
Hmm? So it doesn't fully understand what I'm saying? Still, that's impressive enough.
The sensation of its fur was so smooth it rivaled Set's coat — a texture that made him want to keep petting it forever.
"Porurururuu!"
But the Carbuncle apparently had no intention of staying on Rei's shoulder indefinitely. It leaped and landed on the ground.
The next destination it headed for was Elena.
Wagging its nine tails, it ran along the ground to build up speed and sprang onto Elena's shoulder.
For a moment, Ara nearly swung the Power Axe she held, but somehow managed to restrain herself. The fact that Elena smiled and welcomed the creature was probably a major factor.
"Hmm? Do you want to play with me this time? You certainly are energetic. Here."
When she stroked the Carbuncle's throat, it purred happily. Despite its squirrel-like appearance, the gesture seemed almost feline.
"Poroo! Hey, where did you go! Poroo!"
At the voice that suddenly rang out from somewhere, the Carbuncle on Elena's shoulder reacted with a twitch. Turning its gaze toward the direction of the voice, it let out a high-pitched cry.
"Pororororororororo!"
The Carbuncle's cry echoed through the surroundings.
Could "Poro" be referring to this one? Maybe it's called Poro because it goes "poro-poro"? ...How straightforward.
Rei watched the Carbuncle, apparently named Poro, but then realized a certain fact.
They were inside the labyrinth barrier.
In other words, the person calling for the Carbuncle named Poro had, by some unknown means, entered the labyrinth barrier. Rei had heard that due to the World Tree's weakening, it had become easier to wander into the barrier, and he suspected that was how the person had ended up inside.
But at the same time, since the nine-tailed Carbuncle named Poro had taken a liking to them, the person might not be such a bad sort.
Sensing someone gradually approaching through the sound of parting foliage, Rei discreetly reached for the Eye of Nebula, his hidden weapon.
This magic item, capable of generating arrowheads when infused with mana, was not a polearm like Death Scythe or the Thorn Spear that Rei excelled at. But the fact that it could be used inconspicuously was a major advantage.
"Pororo?"
Poro turned its gaze toward Rei.
It was an action born of sensing the flow of magical power, yet it took no further action — perhaps because it understood that Rei would not resort to violence.
In any case, having glanced at Rei for only a moment, Poro once again directed its cries toward the other side of the bushes.
"Porururururu!"
And as if responding to Poro's cries, a single old man emerged from within the bushes.