"Oh my, welcome back. I hear you went out to subjugate Goblins the moment you returned? Busy as always, I see. Go ahead and sit over there."
Seeing Rei enter her room, Marina said so with a smile, gesturing for him to take a seat on the sofa.
As always, she wore a party dress with a deeply exposed neckline, and the valley between her soft-looking peaks was plain to Rei's eyes.
In terms of sheer exposure, Vihera was by no means outmatched, but when it came to feminine allure, Marina likely had her beat.
Quietly averting his gaze from that brown-skinned valley, Rei nodded at Marina's words as if to brush something off.
"Yeah. There was a chance I could obtain a Magic Stone from an unknown monster."
"I figured you'd say that. Did Vihera not go along?"
Flashing a radiant smile that said she had expected exactly that answer, Marina turned her gaze toward Vihera beside him.
"Even if you say that... honestly, if it had been a Goblin General or a Goblin King, my interest might have been piqued a little. But a mere Goblin Leader?"
Vihera gave a small shrug, as if to say the fight held no appeal.
Naturally, such a motion caused her own peaks—no less impressive than Marina's—to sway heavily.
...Around this time, a certain receptionist at the guild counter sneezed, though there was presumably no causal connection.
"According to Hester, it was supposedly a very intelligent individual..."
Rei hedged his words.
Naturally. In reality, the moment Rei appeared, he had instantly taken its life with Flying Slash.
In other words, Rei had never actually witnessed the Goblin Leader's intelligence firsthand.
Though... given that he had seen them tormenting Pump by hanging him up for amusement, he could only conclude that goblins were still goblins.
"I see. At any rate, Goblins are unproblematic monsters on their own, but they become troublesome when their numbers grow. You kept that damage in check, so I need to thank you properly."
Marina cast an inviting gaze his way, but before her lips could part further, Vihera spoke up.
"Marina, did you call Rei all the way here just to say that?"
"My, you're quite impatient, aren't you? Well, fine. We can take our time with that later... How was Solrein? It's a desert region, and I figured there'd be Magic Stones from unknown monsters that you'd be interested in, so I thought you wouldn't be back for a while yet."
Marina's words implicitly conveyed that he had returned unexpectedly early.
Beneath that question, Marina harbored a small measure of anxiety.
It wasn't the fear that something had been done to Rei, but rather the fear that he might have caused some outrageous incident in Gauche and could no longer stay there.
Knowing Rei as she did, that anxiety was far from unfounded.
"Um, Rei. Is it possible—just genuinely possibly—that you didn't cause any major problems in Gauche, did you?"
"Major problems? Major problems... would that be, for example, stealing a Magic Item from the head of the most powerful trading company in Gauche, or threatening the lord?"
"...You did that?"
Both things that came out of Rei's mouth could, by any normal standard, be called critical blunders.
Marina, who usually carried herself with the composure of a mature woman, now pressed a hand to her forehead as though fighting a headache and stared at the desk.
Perhaps concerned by Marina's state, Rei hurriedly spoke up.
"For the record, the reason I took the Magic Item was because the Sand Bandits—a type of bandit—had been lent a Magic Item called a Sand Ship by that trading company head to attack other merchants. When I rescued the victims, I confiscated the Sand Ship from the Sand Bandits."
"...I see. Well, that couldn't be helped, I suppose. You're known as the Bandit Eater, after all. Attacking bandits has practically become one of your hobbies by now."
Rei was slightly surprised to hear the term Bandit Eater come from Marina's mouth, but come to think of it, Marina was the Guild Master.
It was only natural that she would know what he was called.
Moreover, Marina was a woman in love.
"It's not like attacking bandits is a hobby of mine..."
If it truly were a hobby, it would be a rather unpleasant one.
Rei thought so, but looking back on his past actions, he couldn't exactly deny it either.
"And what about threatening the lord?"
"That was to prove I don't treat nobles any differently."
"...I'm not going to ask how that situation came about."
Listening to any more would likely give her stomach pains, or so Marina felt.
Watching the two of them, Vihera could barely contain her laughter.
Vihera and Marina were romantic rivals, but that didn't mean they were on bad terms with each other.
"Knowing Rei, I'm sure you got up to all sorts of outlandish things again."
"The fact that I can't genuinely deny that is what makes it so troublesome."
Marina replied with a sigh to Vihera's amused murmur.
Rei wanted to say it was just ordinary for him, but considering the current situation, he couldn't exactly call it ordinary.
After all, if threatening a lord was considered ordinary, that would be extremely alarming.
Still, with someone of Rei's caliber, the Kingdom of Mireana would protect him no matter what Solrein might say.
A B-Rank Adventurer and Alias Holder who had made a Gryphon his Tamed Monster. And in terms of attack power alone, he possessed enough to face an entire army single-handedly.
There was no way the kingdom would dispose of such a talent, no matter what a vassal state said.
For that matter, if they tried to punish him and he fled to another country, the Kingdom of Mireana would suffer critically massive damage.
Even if they considered punishing Rei before he left—he had the means to fight an entire army alone and commanded a Gryphon whose mobility far surpassed any carriage or horse. Turning him into an enemy would only increase the damage.
Furthermore, Rei was protected by Daskar of the Neutral Faction. Forcibly punishing Rei risked making an enemy of the Neutral Faction as well.
No matter how one looked at it, the option of punishing Rei simply did not exist.
Considering that Vihera, Marina, and Elena—three women with exceptionally powerful abilities—all adored Rei, opposing him was out of the question from the start.
Naturally, Marina, being one of those three, intended to use her authority as Guild Master as well as her own personal combat abilities to support Rei if he ever became a target for subjugation.
If it came to that, I could simply invite him to our settlement... oh, that might actually be quite nice. Everyone in the settlement has a favorable impression of Rei from the World Tree incident.
Such a temptation briefly crossed her mind.
But she immediately shook her head and dismissed it.
If she did such a thing, it certainly wouldn't stay contained to just their own settlement.
Vihera might pull strings and instigate another war between the Kingdom of Mireana and the Bestia Empire.
"...So, bringing the conversation back to the Goblin Leader matter—would it be correct to assume it was a Rare Species?"
Though Rei felt puzzled by the sudden change of topic, he judged it better to go along with it and shook his head at Marina.
"No, unfortunately it wasn't a Rare Species but a High-ranking Species. It was no different from what's in the Monster Encyclopedia, and Lenora didn't say anything in particular when I showed her the corpse."
"I see. Then it was simply a coincidence that this particular Goblin Leader was intelligent."
Marina murmured languidly, her expression revealing that she was indeed feeling somewhat downcast about something.
"Why are you so gloomy? What appeared was, after all, nothing more than a Goblin Leader. I don't think there's any need to worry that much."
"...I suppose so. I truly hope it amounts to nothing more than that."
Marina's words came out as though she had something stuck between her back teeth, leaving both Rei and Vihera puzzled.
For Rei, who had actually fought it, it hadn't been a particularly noteworthy opponent.
The fact that he had unleashed a Flying Slash the moment they encountered each other and killed it instantly—meaning he couldn't experience its intelligence firsthand—was probably a significant factor.
"For now, you don't plan on leaving Gilm for a while, right, Rei?"
Rei nodded in response to Marina's question, which she posed with a small sigh as if trying to change her mood.
"As long as Rei is in Gilm, can I assume Vihera won't be moving either?"
"I wonder. I don't intend to go anywhere, but I can't promise absolutely. It's possible I might suddenly need to go somewhere."
"That can't be helped. It would help just to hear that you won't move if nothing happens. ...I'm sorry, Rei. I actually wanted to talk about a lot more, but I've ended up with something I need to investigate."
Shall we talk again properly next time? Marina asked, and Rei nodded.
Watching the two of them, Vihera looked somewhat displeased, but she opened her mouth without voicing any complaints.
"Well then, there's no point in getting in Marina's way here, so shall we get going? I have plenty of things I want to discuss with Rei too."
"...My, I'm quite envious. If possible, I'd love to join that discussion."
"Don't you have things to investigate?"
"I do, but is it strange that I'd still want to talk with Rei?"
The two exchanged words with smiles on their faces, but for some reason, Rei—watching what appeared at first glance to be a charming exchange—felt a chill run down his spine.
"Ah... well, I'll be going then. There are still people in Gilm I want to check in with."
"Oh my, there's someone else you want to see besides me and Vihera? You don't sit still, do you?"
"...Somehow, even though you and I seem to be saying similar things, it sounds like we're saying completely different things."
Rei replied to Marina, who wore a teasing smile.
But Marina, hearing this from Rei, simply smiled as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Rei just came back, and we don't even have time to talk leisurely, so a little bit is fine, isn't it?"
"That's right. I understand how Marina feels."
For some reason, Vihera agreed with Marina, making it even harder for Rei to object.
Eventually, he let out a small sigh and nodded reluctantly.
"Fine, I'll quietly be Marina's toy, so make sure you do your research seriously, alright? It's related to this incident, isn't it?"
Goblins were originally monsters that existed in very large numbers.
With that being the case, it wouldn't be strange for a somewhat intelligent monster to occasionally be born among them.
This time, it had simply happened to be a Goblin Leader—a High-ranking Species of goblin. Or so Rei thought, but something felt off somewhere.
He had no concrete evidence, yet that sense of incongruity within him was warning of danger.
That was precisely why Rei was placing his hopes in whatever Marina was going to investigate.
Understanding this, Marina offered her usual radiant smile and nodded in return.
"Well then, I might end up issuing a Nomination Request for you and Vihera once I find something out, so be prepared for that."
"Oh my, abuse of Guild Master authority?"
Vihera's words carried a reproach, but what floated on her face was a smile.
Knowing this, Marina replied in a light tone.
"It's not like I intend to do anything of the sort. It's just that Rei was the one who resolved this incident, right? In that case, it wouldn't be strange for a Nomination Request related to this matter to come in, would it?"
"I wonder... Well, I have no complaints as long as I can act alongside Rei."
"...I'm a little envious of that. Maybe I should go back to being an adventurer while I'm at it."
Marina's quietly murmured words carried an unmistakably genuine resolve.
Marina had originally been an adventurer before becoming Guild Master, and she never intended to remain Guild Master forever.
Even now, Marina still considered herself an adventurer.
Until now, she had managed without any issues.
But once the factor known as Rei was mixed in, Marina couldn't help but transform into a maiden in love.
And yet, the fact that she couldn't simply abandon her position as Guild Master for the sake of her own feelings alone was probably what made Marina who she was.