"……Nn……"
Rei woke in the morning and looked around, still groggy, his brow furrowed in puzzlement.
The room was completely unfamiliar, and so was the bedding he'd been sleeping in.
He surveyed his surroundings for a few seconds, confirmed that it was indeed a place he didn't recognize, and then stopped moving, lying perfectly still.
After a few minutes like that, his consciousness finally sharpened, and he looked around once more.
And then it hit him—he remembered where he was.
"Right. I came to Gauche and ended up staying at Augusto's mansion."
Looking around again, it was clear the room wasn't in regular use. There was a faintly dusty quality to the air.
The only people living in the mansion were Augusto and Cathy.
Günter the gatekeeper commuted from elsewhere, and there was no maid or anyone of the sort.
Given that, they could only manage to clean the areas they used on a daily basis, and places like guest rooms inevitably got pushed to the back burner.
(Still, they apparently find time to tidy up here and there, which is why I could sleep here normally.)
Muttering inwardly, he rose from the bed and got ready for the day.
The sticky feeling on his face and body was likely because the sun had already risen and the temperature had climbed past thirty degrees.
Rei normally wore the Dragon Robe, which functioned as a simplified air conditioner, but he didn't wear it to bed.
At the Wheat Inn come evening or inside the Magic Tent, there was no need to worry about the outside temperature making him too hot or too cold. But this mansion, while fairly spacious, was still an ordinary building.
Rei retrieved the Dagger of Flowing Water from his Misty Ring, dampened a cloth that had been left in the room, and wiped away his sweat.
If Augusto, who had tasted that water, could see Rei using water from the Dagger of Flowing Water—water worthy of being called Celestial Nectar—just to wipe down his body, he probably would have screamed.
……Of course, to Rei, the Dagger of Flowing Water was simply a Magic Item that produced water. Using it to wipe his face and body or wash his hands was perfectly routine.
For that matter, Rei could use the Dagger of Flowing Water at any time. In other words, it was nothing more than a Magic Item that let him produce water whenever he wanted.
If Rei could wield the water from the dagger like a whip or a longsword, that would be a different story……
At any rate, he used the Dagger of Flowing Water to wipe away the sweat he'd built up during the night, finished the rest of his preparations, and donned the Dragon Robe.
"Ahh, nice and cool."
The moment he put on the Dragon Robe, the simplified air conditioner effect kicked in.
The air conditioners back in Japan would make his joints ache if he sat directly in the cold airflow, but the Dragon Robe used a magic-based effect, so nothing of the sort happened.
……Wearing the Dragon Robe, cold air generated by magic was created within it and circulated throughout, meaning cold air was constantly hitting his body directly. If it worked the same way as an ordinary air conditioner, he might well have been troubled by joint pain.
(Maybe Takumu or someone like him thought about that sort of thing?)
He recalled the face of the person from the Zephyle Clan who, like himself, had come from Earth.
Having come from Japan, it wouldn't be strange for that person to understand the downsides of air conditioning.
It was only natural to think of using magic-based cold air as a solution.
(Why magic-based cold air doesn't make the body ache, though, I have no idea.)
Still harboring some doubts, he forced himself to accept that since it relied on magical power—the power within his own body—it wasn't unreasonable. He left the room and made his way down the hallway.
His destination was the living room where he'd eaten dinner the previous night.
This mansion had few people in it, but he fully expected someone to be there.
"Oh, good morning. Augusto has already headed out, but would you like breakfast?"
Cathy had probably already eaten as well. She looked up from some needlework to ask him.
"Ah, yeah. That'd be great."
"Okay. Just give me a moment. I only need to reheat it, so it won't take long."
Rising from the sofa, Cathy set her needlework on the table and headed for the kitchen.
(Seeing her like this, she's perfectly normal.)
Yesterday, whenever he'd seen her with Augusto, the two of them would immediately start acting lovey-dovey at the slightest opportunity, and Rei had found it exhausting. But now that Augusto wasn't around, she seemed perfectly capable of interacting normally. Rei breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
If even while alone, Cathy had gone on and on about Augusto's charm, the mental damage would have been worse than getting attacked by some random monster in the area.
"There's only simple fare, but is this alright?"
What Cathy brought back from the kitchen were four fist-sized rolls of bread and a vegetable and Gamelion meat soup.
As he'd suspected, she had reheated it. Steam was rising from the soup.
A simple, homey aroma—unlike the heavily spiced dishes from the previous night.
Even so, the inclusion of vegetables was quite extravagant for a desert city like Gauche.
The Gamelion meat would spoil quickly in Gauche too. Considering that, using it all up at breakfast was the best course of action, and as if to emphasize the point, the soup was loaded with meat.
(Maybe the reason they can't afford a maid is because they spend so much on food? Or maybe they just don't want anyone else intruding on their life together? But then, taking me in would be a contradiction, wouldn't it?)
Harboring various questions, Rei finished everything that had been set out for him.
Just like the previous night's meal, Cathy's cooking skills were remarkably high—worthy of Augusto's boasting.
He would have liked more, but since he was staying out of Augusto's goodwill, he couldn't exactly eat to his heart's content.
"What about Set's meal……?"
"It looked like Augusto took care of it."
"Do you know how much he gave him?"
"Hmm, I'm not sure. But Augusto is thoughtful, so I don't think he'd do anything half-hearted. Just the other day, he even……"
Hearing that much and judging that the conversation was about to veer into more gushing about Augusto, Rei thanked her for breakfast and promptly left the mansion.
Naturally, he headed for the stable where Set was.
He'd stopped by after dinner yesterday as well, so there was no risk of getting lost.
"Gururururu!"
Perhaps sensing Rei's approach, Set's happy cry rang out from the stable.
The fact that he still didn't come out was probably because he understood that destroying the building was off-limits.
If Rei's life were in danger, it would be a different story, but under the current circumstances, that was highly unlikely.
When Rei entered the stable, Set poked his head out from between the wooden partitions and rumbled, as if to say over here, over here.
To someone seeing Set for the first time, it might have sounded like a threatening growl, but to his partner Rei, he understood it as the voice of someone who had been eagerly waiting for him.
"Looks like you've been doing well. No one sneaked in during the night, either."
"Guruu."
At Rei's words, Set rumbled with an oddly proud air.
Smiling at Set's demeanor, Rei removed the wooden bar that kept him inside and headed out of the stable together with him.
The area beside the stable served as a fairly spacious yard——or more accurately, since no grass was growing, it would be better to call it an open clearing.
Some grass grew near the main gate and around the mansion, but this stable sat in an area that was no longer in use.
Because of that, Augusto—who was by no means financially comfortable—probably didn't bother with any upkeep.
"Well, that's exactly why we can move around freely here."
Set let out a cry as if in agreement.
What would happen if Set went sprinting at full speed across a neatly maintained lawn was self-evident.
But in an open clearing like this, there was no need to worry about such things.
"……Alright. Set, is there anyone nearby watching us? If there is, I'd assume they're from the Elema Trading Company, though."
"Gurururu."
At Rei's question, Set shook his head.
"Huh. Judging from how things went yesterday, I was sure they'd at least try to gather intel on us.……Well, if there isn't, then fine. In that case, let's get a little training in. We're doing the Sand Serpent dismantling today, so I probably won't need to move around much for that."
"Guruu?"
Set tilted his head at Rei's words.
Zarust had offered to handle the Sand Serpent dismantling.
If so, there was no need for Rei or Set to be present, was there? That was the question behind the gesture.
"I think Zarust can be trusted, but I can't trust everyone completely. The Sand Bandits made that clear enough, right?"
There was no doubt that someone had leaked the information the Sand Bandits needed to attack Augusto's group.
In the end, no one made a move during the camp, likely because they were wary of Set. But it was certain that someone within the escort party——or among the merchants traveling with Augusto's caravan——had ties to the Elema Trading Company.
"Gurururu……"
At Rei's words, Set rumbled, sounding a little down.
They had spent the encampment together, and almost everyone in Augusto's caravan had warmed up to Set.
That was why hearing that a traitor lurked among them would naturally make him sad.
"Well, they might have had some unavoidable reason for betraying them, so don't get too down about it."
"Guruu?"
Really? Set tilted his head, and Rei nodded and spoke.
"For instance, maybe they needed expensive medicine to treat a sick family member or lover.……Come to think of it……"
The Drop of the World Tree he had received as a reward for Marina's request.
He had used some of it in creating the Twilight Spear, but not all of it.
He had heard that, while it required advanced technique, Alchemy could produce a remarkably potent potion——one capable of fully restoring someone to health in an instant even if they were on the verge of death.
(Once I get back to Gilm, maybe I should ask Asimov. His health should have recovered by now.)
A potion using the Drop of the World Tree as a material. He had originally planned to have that made anyway, but Asimov had pushed himself to the absolute limit—body and soul—to create the Twilight Spear.
Asimov, renowned as a skilled Alchemist, and Pamidor, similarly renowned as a skilled Blacksmith.
Those two had poured all their strength and the full extent of their craft into the project, and the Magic Item they declared could never be surpassed was the Twilight Spear. Given that the magic-based processing—the very essence of what made a Magic Item a Magic Item—had been Asimov's domain, it was only natural that he had been exhausted to the point where it wouldn't have been surprising if he had died.
He had been bedridden for a while to recover, and that hadn't changed even when Rei departed from Gilm for Gauche.
But if Rei spent some time in Gauche and then returned to Gilm, Asimov's health should have bounced back, and a new commission to create a potion from the Drop of the World Tree seemed like a worthwhile job……or so Rei thought.
The Drop of the World Tree was an extremely rare material, but even so, Rei felt that if it was Asimov, it would be fine——perhaps because Asimov had produced the supreme Magic Item that was the Twilight Spear.
(Plus, he was really happy to get Set's materials, too.)
While petting Set, Rei recalled the time he had given Asimov some of Set's materials——his fur and feathers.
"Gururururu!"
Rei snapped back to reality at Set's rumbling, which clearly said Let's play before training!, and proceeded to run around the clearing beside the stable together with Set.
A game of tag——or rather, it would be more accurate to call it a simple game of chase.
Even such a simple game was something Set greatly enjoyed simply because he was playing with Rei, and he ran around looking visibly delighted.
How much time had passed? At least an hour, but less than two. Roughly that long.
Just as Rei was thinking about doing some light training with Death Scythe……he suddenly noticed a presence approaching their location.
"Who is it? Coming all the way out here means you've got business with us, I assume."
"Gurururu."
Set let out an unhappy cry, as if in agreement with Rei.
From past experience, he probably……no, definitely judged that his time with Rei was about to end.
The figure that appeared in the line of sight of the pair was……Zarust.
"I heard from Cathy that you were over here, and she was right."
"Zarust? What's up?"
Rei asked with a sigh of relief, knowing it wasn't someone from the Elema Trading Company, and Zarust let out a sigh before speaking.
"You didn't come to the Guild, so I wondered what you were doing.……I told you yesterday, didn't I? To get ready for the Sand Serpent dismantling."
So he said.