"Ahahahahahahahaha! Cheers, cheers, kanpa~ai!"
"Yeah, a toast to the World Tree!"
"A toast to our settlement!"
With the moon risen in the night sky and stars twinkling overhead, a large crowd of Dark Elves had gathered at the training ground in their settlement to hold a banquet.
Numerous bonfires lit up the surroundings, and everywhere one looked, Dark Elves were drinking and making merry.
Everyone had held a banquet to celebrate when the World Tree temporarily recovered before, but this one was far grander in scale.
The array of dishes served was also noticeably more lavish than at the previous banquet.
...Of course, the ingredients for those lavish dishes consisted largely of the meat from the monsters that had attacked the settlement today.
Orc meat in particular — the very creature that could be called the Dark Elves' natural enemy — was a crowd favorite. The Orcs, which had relentlessly attacked Dark Elves in life, now found themselves in the curious position of being warmly welcomed in death.
Normally, the training ground was where Dark Elves conducted their combat drills, but for today alone, it had been transformed into a place of celebration.
That happiness came from dishes made with monster meat, primarily Orc, bringing a certain bliss to the tongue... a mouthwatering fortune.
"Still, to think that light sphere was the will of the World Tree... Old man, has anything like that ever happened before?"
One of the Dark Elf men asked his grandfather — who was technically younger than Optis, though from appearances there seemed to be little age difference between them — while gnawing on a skewer of Orc meat.
"Nah. I've lived in this settlement a long time, but that's a first for me."
"...Then why did it act like that?"
"Who knows... Probably thanks to that man named Rei, I'd wager..."
The Dark Elf nodded in understanding at his grandfather's words.
The full story behind the series of events that had unfolded — the cause of the World Tree turmoil, believed to stem from the Giant Cicada — was already common knowledge among everyone. That was because...
"He's the kind of guy who takes down a Giant Cicada like that, after all..."
He muttered, casting his gaze toward the Giant Cicada's corpse placed at the edge of the banquet grounds.
It had been stored in Rei's Misty Ring, but Marina had requested that it be brought out so everyone could see for themselves what kind of opponent they had faced.
Some of the Dark Elves were so stunned by its enormous size that they nearly fell over. Still, the vast majority directed gazes of reverence at Rei and Set, who had managed to defeat such a massive creature.
At this point, it was safe to say that the looks of fear directed at Rei had all but vanished.
There still seemed to be a few who harbored lingering feelings about the mana incident, but having had their settlement saved, Dark Elf pride would not permit them to maintain such an attitude.
Under normal circumstances, the corpse of the Giant Cicada — the very cause of this World Tree crisis — would not have been out of place right in the center of the banquet.
So why was it placed off to the side? Simply because of its sheer size.
If the Giant Cicada's corpse were sitting in the middle of the grounds, everyone would have had to maneuver around it whenever they moved.
With a monster of a few meters, that wouldn't have been much of an issue, but at twenty meters in total length... even bisected at the torso, that meant two pieces roughly ten meters each.
It might have been nice to look at, but for holding a banquet, it was judged to be in the way. And so it was ultimately relegated to the outskirts.
"Son-in-Law, you really saved us this time."
"No, I told you — I'm not your son-in-law."
Since Rei wasn't particularly good with alcohol, a Dark Elf had chilled some fruit water for him using Spirit Magic, and he drank that as he replied to Optis.
Optis wasn't being entirely serious either — he was half-teasing Rei.
The proof was the amused smile plastered across his face.
He was thoroughly enjoying how much Rei disliked being called Son-in-Law.
Knowing this, Rei judged that any retort would only encourage him further, so he quietly looked away from Optis and turned his attention to Set beside him, who was busy eating an Orc stuffed roast.
It was a dish made by removing the internal organs from an Orc's torso, stuffing the cavity with herbs, nuts, fruit, and vegetables, tying it shut with thread, and then slowly roasting it over time.
This time, there hadn't been enough time to spare, so Spirit Magic had been used to assist with the cooking. As a result, the flavor inevitably fell short of a painstakingly prepared dish.
But... even so, it was apparently delicious enough for Set, who was happily devouring the stuffed Orc.
"The presentation is a bit rough, but the smell is pretty tasty."
With the Orc's face and limbs still attached, even properly processed for eating, the grotesque impression was impossible to entirely shake.
(I've often heard that the more bizarre the food looks, the better it tastes... I guess this falls into that category.)
Rei sighed. Just as Optis — still looking for an opening to tease him — opened his mouth to speak...
"Elder... no, Grandfather. You certainly seem to be enjoying yourself. It appears you've been causing Rei quite a bit of trouble since earlier."
A voice called out to Optis.
Optis froze for a moment, but in the next instant he wore a smile — not the teasing grin from before, but one designed to gloss things over — and opened his mouth.
"No, no, I'm not causing trouble for Rei at all. We were just having a little chat. Right?"
Optis's gaze turned toward Rei, who had been his conversation partner.
His eyes pleaded with Rei to play along. Rei opened his mouth...
"Is that so?"
Marina caught his eye with a knowing smile.
"You were totally pestering him, yeah."
For a split second, Rei had considered covering for Optis. But the moment Marina's gaze fell on him, he immediately switched strategies and threw Optis to the wolves.
"Wha—! Rei, you're abandoning me?!"
"Even if you say that, it's a fact that I was being bothered."
"Grandfather. Let's have a little chat, shall we?"
Sensing something dangerous in those words, Optis set his wine cup on the ground, snatched up his beloved staff, and tried to make a run for it...
"Oh my, Grandfather. Where do you think you're going? You should be coming this way, shouldn't you?"
Marina closed the distance in an instant and grabbed Optis by the collar.
"Wha—?!"
The surprised voice belonged to Optis.
Even though it had been a half-joking act, he had never expected to be caught so easily.
"Marina... what happened to you?"
Optis's tone carried none of the playful demeanor from mere seconds ago.
As her grandfather, Optis understood Marina's abilities thoroughly.
Marina had always possessed exceptionally high skill as an archer and Spirit Mage, but as if in reaction to that, like the vast majority of Dark Elves, her close-combat ability was by no means impressive.
Yet the movement she had just used to close the distance was not something someone weak at close combat could have pulled off.
That was why he couldn't help but wonder what had happened and how she had gained such power.
But... meeting Optis's serious gaze, Marina simply smiled radiantly and spoke.
"Right now, what came from Rei's body is circulating inside me. I suppose that's why."
The moment Marina said those words, everyone around them stopped moving.
It was such... such an easily misunderstood way of phrasing it, so the reaction was hardly surprising.
Whether they had imagined something or simply drunk too much... Dark Elves of both genders who had been eavesdropping found their cheeks flushing red.
Naturally, the words that left Marina's mouth were also heard by Elena and Vihera, and the two rose unsteadily to their feet and began walking toward Marina.
Swaying, swaying.
That movement, reminiscent of ghosts or some such, sent a heavy thud through the hearts of the banquet-goers — who were still frozen mid-motion from Marina's statement.
The sight of the two advancing step by step with that unsettling sway instilled intense fear in the surrounding Dark Elves, precisely because both were extraordinarily beautiful women.
"Marina. Let's have a little talk, shall we?"
"That's right. We'd love an explanation for that remark just now, and the kiss from earlier."
"Oh my, is that so? Well, if you want to hear it, I'll tell you as much as you like. It's not the best place for it here, and we do need a discussion among ourselves as women, so shall we step out for a bit?"
Marina offered no resistance whatsoever and glanced over at Optis.
"With that being the case, Grandfather, I'll be stepping away for a bit — but please don't let yourself go too much for someone your age. I'll be asking the others about it later."
Flashing a radiant smile, Marina stood up and walked away.
Optis watched his granddaughter's retreating figure, then turned a somewhat exasperated gaze toward Rei nearby.
Toward Rei, who had been enjoying food with Set throughout the entire exchange among the three women without showing the slightest concern.
"You... are going to have a hard time of it."
"Mgha?"
Rei, whose mouth was stuffed with Orc meat stew, gave that response to Optis's words.
Since his mouth was full of food, it was essentially meaningless.
"Haa, well, fine... Everyone! The calamity has passed. For now, let us drink deeply, eat heartily, and celebrate that we have survived unharmed!"
Attempting to break the frozen atmosphere, Optis raised his wine cup and boomed.
Taking that as their cue, those around him raised their cups as well and began chatting amongst themselves, each trying to forget what they had just witnessed.
"The World Tree's been revived, so today at least we've gotta drink and make merry."
"Yeah... But hey, that 'calamity' Optis-sama just mentioned, could it possibly be..."
"Don't say it. Just don't say it. Don't say another word. Absolutely don't. Got it? When he said calamity, he meant the Giant Cicada that's been split in half over there. That's got to be it. Nothing else. ...You understand, right?"
Seeing their friend desperately telling them to say absolutely nothing more, the Dark Elf man nodded.
Everyone understood. The "calamity" that had slipped from Optis's mouth referred not only to the Giant Cicada but also to the dispute among the three beautiful women.
But voicing that out loud gave them the distinct premonition that a new calamity might descend upon themselves, so they kept their mouths shut.
"S-so... what was that light sphere Rei had with him? I felt a strange sense of familiarity toward it."
Perhaps wanting to steer clear of the calamity topic, a nearby Dark Elf man abruptly changed the subject.
Those around him informed him with exasperated looks that it was the will of the World Tree.
The change of topic was somewhat transparent, but there were probably many who wanted to shift the conversation away quickly. As if there were no objections, the discussion drifted in that direction.
They glanced toward Rei, who was eating alongside Set, but the light sphere in question was nowhere to be seen.
It had separated from Rei when he returned to the settlement after defeating the Giant Cicada.
That was why there were some who had never actually seen it.
...In truth, Rei had been accompanied by the light sphere even before he had rampaged around the Protective Barrier — from the moment the settlement came under monster attack and he headed toward the World Tree — so there were actually quite a few who had seen it then. But at the time, most were too preoccupied with the monster attacks to pay it any mind.
There were a fair number who thought they might have seen it, but very few remembered it clearly.
Dark Elves chimed in — I saw it, I didn't see it, I touched it, I petted it... — but several were immediately called out by their companions for showing off.
Naturally. The Dark Elf man who had claimed to have petted the light sphere drew looks of pure exasperation from all around.
They knew full well that the light sphere could not be touched.
"So is that light sphere really the will of the World Tree?"
"If you're that curious, why don't you just ask him yourself?"
"He'd actually tell us? He's the kind of guy who takes down a Giant Cicada, you know?"
"No, that's got nothing to do with it. Knowing Rei's personality, if he decided there was no reason not to share, he'd tell you right away."
"...Then you go ask him."
"Yeah, yeah! Come on, go ask!"
As the saying goes, loose lips bring trouble. The Dark Elf who had suggested asking Rei found himself on the receiving end of everyone's stares and eventually stood up.
The fact that he hadn't been particularly afraid of Rei to begin with probably factored in as well, and he made his way over.
Even so, rather than blurting out a question about the light sphere right away, he started by striking up a conversation about the food Rei was eating.
"Rei-san, is that dish tasty?"
"Hm? Yeah, it's good. So Dark Elves eat organ and bean stew too, huh."
"Ahaha. That sort of thing varies by household, I suppose. ...So, I wanted to ask — would it be alright to ask what that light sphere was?"
"That light sphere? It was... something like the will of the World Tree."
"..."
At Rei's words, spoken without the slightest attempt to conceal it, the Dark Elves who overheard were struck speechless, inwardly thinking, I knew it.