After emerging from the forest, the scene that greeted Rei and his group upon arriving at the settlement was an unexpected one.
Corpses illuminated by bonfire light — corpses, corpses, and more corpses. It was a sight that could fittingly be called a mountain of the dead.
The reason Rei's group didn't grieve, however, was that every single one of those corpses belonged to monsters they had fought many times in the forest: Goblins, Cobolts, and Orcs.
There were also the carcasses of several monster species Rei had never seen before, and upon seeing them, he wore a look of disappointment.
Set — born into this world through Beast Magic — and the Death Scythe gripped in Rei's hand both grew by absorbing the Magic Stones of monsters.
However, there was a restriction: either Rei or Set had to participate in combat with a monster that possessed a Magic Stone and align their mana wavelength with that monster.
Aligning mana wavelengths didn't require anything particularly special, but the act of participating in combat was mandatory.
In other words, he couldn't simply post a quest at the Guild to have Magic Stones delivered, obtain them effortlessly, and grow from them.
(A wolf with three horns growing from its head... oh, that four-armed ape over there is a first for me too. And that water... ah, a Slime. But a black Slime? That's a new one. I only managed to defeat one unknown monster on my end, but over here...)
Rei felt a twinge of envy, but realizing this wasn't the time for such thoughts, he approached the group of Dark Elves near the Protective Barrier.
Among that group were Optis and Marina, making it clear that they had been the ones commanding the defense here.
(Knowing Optis, he probably joined the fighting despite his age)
Seeing that the tip of Optis's staff was stained with blood, Rei spoke up.
"Four children, including Lugdus. Brought them back safe. Set."
"Guruuu"
At Rei's call, Set stepped forward with four children on its back.
Seeing this, Marina's expression softened with relief.
No — it wasn't just Marina. Every Dark Elf gathered there wore an expression of relief.
"Lugdus!"
"Ian!"
"Kalja!"
"Mirus!"
They must have been the families of the four children. They called out the names as they approached Rei.
Normally, they would have been frightened by a Gryphon, but perhaps because their attention was focused entirely on their own children, they approached without paying any mind to Set at all.
They embraced the three on Set's back, scolded them, and rejoiced. Yes — the three of them.
"Lugdus! What in the world happened to Lugdus!?"
A Dark Elf woman, presumably Lugdus's mother, screamed upon seeing the unconscious boy.
He was bleeding from the head and had lost consciousness — it was only natural.
Rei called out to the mother.
"It looks like he was hit on the head with a club or something by a Goblin while shielding the other three. I thought about healing him with a potion, but since he was struck on the head, I wasn't sure whether it would be alright to heal him on my own. So I left him as he is. It would be better to have someone with proper knowledge examine him before using a potion."
"...Thank you."
She had probably only had eyes for Lugdus. The mother finally noticed Rei's presence and drew in a sharp breath.
This mother, who possessed the ability to sense mana, had been present when Rei removed the Ring of the New Moon.
That was why she knew just how much mana Rei truly possessed, and she felt something close to awe.
But even so, she was not so rude as to withhold words of gratitude from the person who had saved her son.
"Don't worry about it. I did this because Marina asked me to. More importantly, you should head back into the settlement and get him treated."
At Rei's words, the mother and the father who stood nearby bowed deeply before carrying Lugdus back into the settlement.
Rei watched them go — and before he knew it, the families of Ian, Kalja, and Mirus had also come over to express their gratitude.
"Thank you so much. Thanks to you, Kalja..."
"Please let me thank you for Ian as well."
"Thank you for saving little Mirus. If anything had happened to this child, I truly don't know what I would have done..."
Rei found himself slightly at a loss as words of thanks came one after another.
He was not accustomed to being thanked by people to begin with.
He hesitated for a moment over what to say, then let out a small sigh and spoke.
"Don't worry about it. Like I said earlier, I took this on because Marina asked me to. Besides, it's not like I came away empty-handed either."
At Rei's words, everyone around wore puzzled expressions.
But Rei's words were by no means a lie.
Obtaining the Magic Stone of the Derutoroi — an owl-type monster he had encountered for the first time — was the biggest harvest of this mission.
Additionally, he had been able to use the enhanced Flying Slash multiple times, and while he used Pain Burst fewer times than that, he still had opportunities to employ it. It wasn't perfect yet, but he had reached a reasonable level of mastery.
(And above all, I was able to save the children. Well, considering Lugdus's injury, I can't say everyone came away unscathed, but the fact that they weren't eaten alive by Goblins is undeniably fortunate.)
In Rei's mind, the final tally for this incident settled squarely in the positive.
That was precisely why being praised so openly felt somewhat uncomfortable.
"Oh, the others are back too."
It probably wasn't an intentional attempt to cover for Rei's discomfort, but one of the Dark Elves suddenly called out.
When those present turned their gazes toward the forest, several Dark Elves were just emerging.
Most of them had emptied their quivers, and quite a few were injured to varying degrees.
Still, none of them had what could be called a fatal wound, and the Dark Elves near the settlement let out sighs of relief.
Rei watched as they were immediately approached with potions, drinks, and light food. Then, sensing a presence drawing near, he turned his gaze in that direction.
There stood Marina, clad as always in a party dress that exposed her chest and back prominently. She smiled as she spoke to Rei.
"Good work. Thanks to you, Rei, we were able to save those children. Thank you."
"No, I—"
Just as Rei opened his mouth, the hem of his Dragon Robe was suddenly tugged.
When he lowered his gaze, Mirus — who should have been clinging to their parents just a short while ago — was holding onto the Dragon Robe.
"Nii-cha, nii-cha."
"Ah... yeah. What is it?"
"To-cha and ka-cha said to say ore—"
Ore—? Rei tilted his head at Mirus's words, but when he looked toward Mirus's parents, they bowed deeply once again.
(Ore—... ah, "orei." Gratitude. They meant "thank you.")
Seeing this, Rei finally understood what Mirus had been trying to say. He gave a small nod as his reply to Mirus's parents.
Then, gently pressing the back of the still-tugging Mirus, he sent them toward their parents.
"Come on, for today at least, go let your mom and dad spoil you."
Rei swallowed the words "you might get scolded, though." Mirus, naturally, had no way of grasping Rei's true intent and ran toward their parents with a smile so bright it made onlookers feel happy just seeing it.
"You're quite used to handling children, aren't you?"
"...Am I?"
Rei tilted his head at Marina's unexpectedly murmured comment.
He had never thought of himself as being accustomed to handling children, let alone being good at it.
But from Marina's perspective, Rei seemed thoroughly used to dealing with children.
This was likely simply a matter of individual perception.
"Anyway... thank you for saving the children of this settlement. This matter had nothing to do with the World Tree commission, and yet you still helped them. I'm grateful."
Rei was slightly surprised by Marina's expression — not her usual alluring smile, but one of pure gratitude — and he spoke.
"Don't worry about it. It was a request from you, so something like this is no big deal."
"Oh my, Rei. Is it really alright to say that? You might have forgotten, but I am the Guild Master of Gilm, you know? If you're going to listen to everything I say, I just might end up giving you all sorts of unreasonable requests."
Marina flashed a mischievous smile that made one want to ask what had happened to the expression she wore just a moment ago. Rei, as if finally regaining his composure, smiled back.
"This time was special. If you want to make a request, prepare appropriate compensation."
"...I suppose so. When I do ask something of you, I'll prepare the best possible reward. One that is truly one of a kind in this world."
That smile, overflowing with feminine charm, captivated most of those watching Marina and Rei's exchange from the surroundings.
Seeing their husbands or lovers entranced by Marina, angry women resorted to stomping on feet and pinching bodies, producing a fair number of yelps in the process.
"Hoh. This is rather unexpected... hmm, it might not be bad at all. I'd have myself a fitting playmate as well."
Optis watched the exchange between Rei and Marina with an amused smile.
To Optis, Rei was a rather promising individual.
No — in the sense that Rei would keep him company, he could even be called the best possible choice for a granddaughter's husband.
However, he quickly recalled that Rei was human and gave a small shake of his head.
(The difference in lifespan between Dark Elves and humans is too great. Marina in particular carries a particularly strong bloodline. If the two of them were to be together, in the end it would only bring Marina sorrow...)
Since Optis did not know what kind of person Rei was, if he wished for his granddaughter's happiness, a fleeting relationship might be one thing, but marriage was something he could never approve of.
Even so, the reason he couldn't bring himself to speak strongly to Marina was because he sensed something when he looked at Rei.
His appearance was unmistakably human, but the mana dwelling within him was something that could hardly be believed to belong to a human.
That unnatural quality made it so that, even through Optis's eyes, he could not definitively call Rei an ordinary human.
(Well, with that much mana, he likely won't die in mere decades like an ordinary human. In that case, there's no need to pass judgment here and now on what kind of being Rei is. Besides...)
Optis turned his gaze toward his beloved granddaughter and saw the face of Marina as a woman.
If he said anything here, it would likely end badly — that much was obvious to Optis, who had lived a long life.
In stark contrast to Optis, there was certainly no shortage of men glaring at Rei with bitter resentment.
Rei possessed enormous mana, had temporarily restored the World Tree, had ventured into the forest to search for the missing children, and ultimately rescued four of them.
With such achievements, one could call him the savior of this settlement.
But even so, the fact that the highly attractive woman known as Marina was on such close terms with Rei was something that, as men, they simply couldn't help but feel jealous over.
Some had known Marina since before she left this settlement; others had been born after she departed.
Marina gathered the gazes of all such men, but she herself seemed completely unbothered.
She had always understood that her features were more refined than most, and from her adventurer days she had been courted more times than she could count.
There had even been those who tried to force themselves on her, but she had repelled every single one of them.
Being looked at by men was nothing new, and she felt nothing in particular about it.
Though if those gazes carried hostility or murderous intent, that would be a different story.
Marina let the gazes directed at her slide off as she spoke.
"Now then, the children are safe, so those of you with nothing to do should return to the settlement. I'll be waiting here for the people still in the forest to come back."
"Then I'll wait too."
Rei said this while stroking Set, and Marina smiled as she replied.
"Oh my, are you sure?"
"Yeah. Elena, Vihera, and the others haven't come back yet either. Same with the rest."
The surrounding Dark Elf men cast envious gazes at Rei... but knowing that staying here any longer would only make them a nuisance, they returned to the settlement.
And so Rei waited at the settlement entrance alongside Marina, Set, Optis, and the others for Elena and the rest to return.