Normally, Set was asked to land a fair distance from Gilm, but this time was an exception.
The reason was Pump. Thanks to Hester's potions, it wasn't quite a matter of life and death, but he was still unquestionably in critical condition and needed treatment as quickly as possible.
That was why Rei had Set land unusually close to the city, despite knowing it was somewhat reckless.
If his only goal had been to save Pump, Rei could have simply used one of the potions stored in his Misty Ring. Unfortunately, he had no such intention.
Had it been someone he was at least somewhat close to, Rei would have used one. But he had only met Hester today, and as for Pump, he had barely exchanged a single word with the man.
If anything, had Hester not been carrying any potions at all, Rei might have offered one of his own, but even those weren't particularly high quality.
In any case, Set had suddenly descended right before their eyes, but the Gilm guards weren't about to panic over something like that.
They had been somewhat on alert at the sight of something approaching from the sky, but the moment they recognized it as Set, and saw that he was carrying Rei on his back along with a rope-bound bundle in his front legs, a bundle that contained Hester holding Pump, they let out a collective sigh of relief.
Since Set was carrying something unlike usual, they understood that something had happened. But knowing it wasn't an aerial monster attack was reassuring nonetheless.
"Hey, where's Captain Ranga?"
"He went to the Noble District today. You know, about that idiot who caused a scene the other day."
"...Ah, that. Tch, can't be helped. We should at least let Captain Ranga, the one who handles Rei, know about this."
"Ah, damn it. We should've gone to fetch him when Rei came back."
"Nah, that's unrealistic. It's not like Rei caused any problems."
Hearing such a conversation take place right in front of him, Rei couldn't help but want to sigh.
"Listen, you've got some nerve talking about that so openly in front of me. More importantly, there's an injured person here. Process my entry immediately."
Those words must have prompted one of the guards to recognize a familiar face bound within the bundle of rope Set was carrying. He spoke up as if on instinct.
"You're the one who reported the Goblin Leader... Come to think of it, you left with Rei, so it makes sense you'd come back together. So the injured person is there?"
Since they had been flying at an altitude of a hundred meters, Pump's body had been covered in cloth to keep him from getting even slightly cold.
Because of that, the guard probably couldn't tell how badly Pump was injured just from looking.
But even so, upon getting closer, as expected of guards, their sensitivity to the smell of blood was sharp.
"Hey, get a doctor! No, isn't there someone who can use Recovery Magic? Get treatment ready, now!"
At that shout, the other guards nearby must have judged this was no ordinary situation. They sprang into action.
Hester cut the ropes that had been binding him and Pump together so they wouldn't fall off Set, and the guards, having realized what kind of condition Pump was in, each felt anger toward whoever had done this to a person.
Those who had been waiting near the gate for their entry procedures felt some mild dissatisfaction, but none of them dared to voice any complaints under the circumstances.
"Please, save Pump!"
Hester shouted as he rushed into Gilm together with the guards.
The entry procedures would presumably be handled after Pump was stabilized and the guards who accompanied him returned.
"I'll report to the Guild, so don't worry about things here!"
Rei called out to Hester's retreating back. Hearing his voice, Hester turned to look at Rei for just a moment, bowed his head once, and ran off.
Watching him go, Rei turned his attention back to the guards who remained at the scene and produced his Guild Card.
"Like I said, process my entry. I need to inform the Guild about what happened."
"...Yeah, got it."
The guard answered briefly, then spoke again while handling the paperwork.
"So, was that the work of a Goblin Leader after all?"
"Yeah. By the time we hit them, they were already using him as a toy."
"Tch, this is exactly why Goblins are such a pain. Damn it!"
This guard wasn't particularly close friends with Pump.
But even so, living in the same city of Gilm, he must have felt a sense of camaraderie.
Finding something vaguely pleasant in the guard's attitude, Rei finished his procedures and received Set's tamed monster collar.
"Don't worry. The Goblin Leader and its pack have been completely wiped out. There might be a few survivors, but a handful of Goblins can't accomplish much on their own."
"...I suppose you're right. Still, I can't stop being pissed about it."
After exchanging those final words, Rei and Set entered Gilm.
Naturally, as they walked down the street, several people tried to talk to Set or offer him food. But seeing Rei's demeanor, they seemed to judge that now wasn't the time and let them pass in silence.
Upon arriving at the Guild, Rei separated from Set and went inside.
The moment Rei walked in, several gazes turned toward him.
Among those looking, Vihera was naturally one of them.
However, there was not a trace of worry for Rei in her eyes.
It wasn't that she was heartless; she simply didn't believe for a second that Rei could be done in by something like a Goblin Leader.
And it wasn't just Vihera sending such looks. Lenora and Kenny were the same.
No, in fact, not a single person present thought Rei could possibly lose to mere Goblins.
Receiving such looks, Rei glanced at Vihera and nodded to indicate there had been no problems, then headed straight for the counter.
"I destroyed the pack led by the Goblin Leader."
"Thank you very much. I believed you would complete the request safely, Rei-san."
Lenora let out a sigh of relief at Rei's words.
While doing so, she began processing the paperwork she had prepared in advance after Rei had left.
"Since it's required by regulation, could I see the Goblin Leader's corpse, if you don't mind?"
"Sure."
Claiming to have defeated a monster when you hadn't, in order to fraudulently collect the reward. It was a scam that had previously been carried out at another Guild.
Of course, considering the requirement for a Subjugation Proof Part, it wouldn't escalate into a major incident. Even so, it did happen occasionally that one couldn't cut off the Subjugation Proof Part in the middle of a battle.
Exploiting that fact was the scam, but naturally, something like that couldn't go on for long. Once an adventurer got a taste of it, they would repeat the same thing over and over, and inevitably the Guild would find out.
As a result, that adventurer was sold as a Criminal Slave and ultimately died regretting his actions.
Rei, unaware that such incidents had occurred in the past, looked toward his Misty Ring and spoke.
"Hester's comrade was still alive, so I rushed back to get him treated. So I have the corpse, but I haven't done any dismantling or harvesting yet. If that's still fine with you, want to verify it?"
"Yes, please."
Rei was slightly surprised by Lenora's response.
He had been certain she would show at least some reluctance.
But then he quickly accepted it. She was a Guild receptionist, after all.
In the first place, purchasing materials was part of a receptionist's job. And among those materials were internal organs, eyeballs, brains. Dismantled and harvested monster corpses were brought in on a regular basis.
Being accustomed to seeing such materials, there was no reason for her to be startled by a corpse.
"Understood. I'll bring it out, then."
Giving that brief notice, he produced the Goblin Leader's corpse from his Misty Ring.
The torso, and the severed head. Two pieces.
The corpse was clearly different in size from an ordinary Goblin, and was unmistakably that of a Goblin Leader, a High-ranking Species of Goblin.
The fact that Rei possessed an Item Box was already widely known, so those around who were observing showed no particular surprise at the act itself.
What surprised them was something else entirely.
Also, the adventurers here were those active in Gilm, so many of them had the ability to easily defeat a Goblin Leader on their own. Of course, that was assuming they only had to face the Goblin Leader alone. If they encountered a pack of nearly a hundred Goblins led by one, more than a few would meet the same fate as Hester and his companions.
Even so, it had been roughly one hour since Rei accepted the Goblin Leader subjugation request at the Guild and returned here.
The time from accepting the request to completing it being this short was nothing short of astonishing.
Under normal circumstances, simply preparing and traveling to the grove where the Goblin Leader and its pack were hiding would take several hours. On top of that, entering the grove and searching for the target would take another several hours, or potentially even several days.
Furthermore, they would need to separate the Goblin Leader from its pack, either waiting for the right moment or staging a diversion.
Even someone who wasn't as extraordinary as Rei, certain B-Rank Adventurers or A-Rank adventurers, could crush a Goblin pack head-on, but such adventurers were ultimately few in number.
Alternatively, the adventurer side could gather enough people to match the Goblin numbers, but whether that was actually feasible was another question. The rewards for fighting Goblins were already low to begin with, and their materials and Magic Stones couldn't be sold at high prices.
On top of that, with more people, the rewards per person would shrink. Under those conditions, getting a large number of people to accept the job would be impossible without some special reason.
That is, unless the Goblin pack attacked Gilm directly.
In other words, what surprised the adventurers in the Guild was the fact that it had only taken Rei about an hour from accepting the request to resolving it.
"Verified. It's a Goblin Leader. Could I cut off the right ear as the Subjugation Proof Part?"
"Yeah. Actually, I'll do that myself."
Taking out a dismantling knife from his Misty Ring, he swiftly cut off the right ear of the Goblin Leader, which was now just a severed head, and handed it to Lenora.
Compared to an ordinary Goblin's ear, it was larger, befitting its body size. However, the shape itself wasn't much different from a Goblin's ear, and judging from the ear alone, it would be difficult to determine that it belonged to a Goblin Leader.
At the very least, from Rei's perspective, the fine differences were nearly impossible to discern.
"Very well, received. So then, Rei-san. The Guild Master is waiting for you. Do you have some time right now?"
"I don't have a problem, but..."
Rei's gaze was directed toward Vihera, who was standing slightly apart.
Receiving that look, Vihera approached the counter.
Seeing Vihera approach, Lenora involuntarily took a step back.
Vihera was prominently displaying her large twin peaks, and for Lenora, who had a complex about her own chest size, she was a rival equal to if not greater than Kenny.
It's fine. My chest size is by no means small. As a human, it's perfectly average. Yes, I absolutely won't let anyone call me flat.
Telling herself this in her mind, she eventually took a small, deep breath before speaking.
"I've been told that Vihera-san is also invited to come along, so I don't think there will be any problem."
"Is that so? Then I suppose I'll take you up on that."
Showing no sign of being bothered by Lenora's attitude, Vihera stated that casually.
Kenny, too, was naturally not at all pleased internally to see her romantic rival, someone who was one or even two steps ahead of her, in such a state.
But even so, nothing would change in the current situation. Rei stored the Goblin Leader's corpse, now missing its right ear, back into his Misty Ring, and together with Vihera, headed past the counter and inside.
Watching the two of them go, Lenora gathered the paperwork related to this Nomination Request.
Since it had been an extremely urgent request, she had prepared most of the documents while Rei was out on the mission, but there were still some forms that couldn't be filled out without properly verifying the Subjugation Proof Part.
While working on those documents, Lenora was thinking that she would also need to hear from Hester, when she noticed Kenny sighing beside her.
It was the kind of sigh that a man seeing it might interpret as melancholic, but unfortunately for Lenora, who had known Kenny for a long time, she had no reason to think so kindly of it.
"What's wrong?"
"...No. Lenora, you were insufficient in Combat Power from the start and weren't even acknowledged, but since I can at least somewhat compete, I have all sorts of things to worry about."
What the term "insufficient Combat Power" meant was made perfectly clear by the sight of Kenny emphasizing her chest with both arms.
Seeing Kenny like that, Lenora felt a vein pop up on her forehead.