Though initially surprised by Bobbs's appearance, once Rei realized it was Bobbs who had arrived, he didn't let any further surprise show.
"Hey, it's been a while. It's been some time since we last met face-to-face, but I've been hearing about your exploits."
At Bobbs's words, delivered with a rugged grin, Rei offered a smile in return.
"I don't think it's really anything worth making that much of a fuss over."
"Come on, nobody's gonna believe that coming from you. ...Well, whatever. More importantly, we need to talk in a hurry."
What that referred to needed no consideration.
After all, the reason Rei and Vihera had come here was to share information about Unbris.
Rei understood that as well, so he nodded and spoke.
"I'll be blunt. I saw Unbris with my own eyes. However, it vanished right in front of us. And it did so by sinking into the ground."
"...Sinking into the ground, huh. Does that mean it can move underground?"
"As far as I could tell, that's what it looked like. Honestly, I think the fact that it moves like that is exactly why we couldn't find it before."
If it traveled underground, then naturally no one could see it there.
Of course, there was no guarantee that Unbris always moved underground, but just knowing it possessed that ability was enough to raise the difficulty of finding it going forward.
Then again, since they had no means of searching underground anyway, the practical effort required wouldn't really increase.
"So it really was a black mist?"
"Yeah. That much is certain. Just like the intel from the Guild said, it was a black mist. And there was no Magic Stone or anything like that... right?"
Meeting Rei's gaze, Vihera nodded.
"It was a black mist, and I'm certain of that. But it also didn't seem to possess anything resembling a will."
"...No will, you say?"
At Lenora's words, spoken as though she couldn't quite comprehend it, Vihera nodded again.
"Yes. When we spotted Unbris, Set let out a growl. But Unbris sank into the ground without showing any reaction to us whatsoever. If Unbris had something like an ego, it would have at least reacted to seeing Set, wouldn't it?"
"That's... true, isn't it. Living in Gilm, you don't really feel it, but Set-chan is an A-Rank monster... no, if you consider it a Rare Species, then it's equivalent to an S-Rank monster."
"Normally, a monster like that in the vicinity would provoke some kind of reaction... but there was none of that either, huh."
Bobbs muttered as if picking up where Lenora left off, and Rei nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. It had absolutely no interest in us... or rather, it was questionable whether it even recognized us as living creatures."
"Troublesome. If it at least recognized us as living creatures, we'd have a few more options."
The other three silently agreed with Bobbs's frustrated muttering.
If Unbris were to attack or flee — if it showed any kind of reaction — there would have been several options available, like setting traps or luring it out.
But if it simply ignored them entirely, there was no telling what might provoke a response.
For now, there were no reports of anyone being attacked by Unbris — though that was partly because Rei's group were the ones who had confirmed its existence in the first place — but there was no guarantee it truly lacked offensive capabilities.
In that case, mounting any kind of countermeasure would prove extremely difficult.
"Even if someone finds it, they can't just carelessly attack it, huh."
"Bobbs-san, Unbris was originally said to be immune to physical attacks and to possess high magical defense. With a half-hearted attack, who knows what might happen..."
"You're right. In that case, to attack it effectively, we'd need someone with a powerful attack method after all. ...Shame Elk isn't here."
The Axe of the Thunder God that Elk wielded was an extremely powerful Magic Item.
Powerful enough that one could say with certainty it would be useful in exactly this sort of situation.
"I haven't met them myself, but there are a few other Alias Holder adventurers in Gilm, right? Couldn't you get them involved too?"
"Already deployed. ...Or rather, have you really not met any Alias Holders besides Elk?"
Bobbs looked mildly surprised, but Rei had never been particularly skilled at socializing to begin with.
He might respond if someone approached him first, but he fundamentally wasn't the type to strike up a conversation without a reason.
"The Alias Holders I know of besides Elk would be... Immovable, or Heavenly Bow?"
"...Honestly, I'm more surprised that you're acquainted with those two."
Bobbs was momentarily lost for words at the names that had just left Rei's mouth, but the expression that eventually surfaced could only be described as a wry smile.
Immovable. Heavenly Bow. The ones bearing those titles were both S-Rank adventurers — of whom only three existed in the entire world.
They were not the sort of people one could meet simply by wishing to.
"Umm... well, it's Rei-san we're talking about. Yes. I think it would be best to pretend I didn't hear that just now."
Lenora averted her gaze from Rei and murmured while staring at the meeting room wall.
"Even if Immovable is out of the question, Heavenly Bow might... no, that's impossible too."
The words died on Bobbs's lips, giving way to a sigh of resignation.
He immediately dismissed the idea of Immovable — an S-Rank adventurer of the Bestia Empire, impossible to summon to Gilm — and considered the S-Rank adventurer of the Kingdom of Mireana instead.
But S-Rank adventurers were retained by the King's Faction.
Summoning one from the Royal Capital to Gilm would require Daskar to pull strings, and doing so would mean the Neutral Faction — to which Daskar belonged — would incur a massive debt to the King's Faction.
Of course, if the situation truly became hopeless, Daskar wouldn't hesitate to bow his head to the King's Faction. But for now, Gilm wasn't yet driven to that point — and that was a fact.
"Bobbs-san. Since I'm clearly looking the other way, could we please change the subject? Specifically, to how exactly we might defeat Unbris?"
"...Right. If we could use Heavenly Bow's power, Unbris would probably go down easily... but this isn't the time to rely on that."
Lenora quietly exhaled a breath of relief at Bobbs's murmur.
Being dragged into the squabbles of factions like the Neutral Faction and the King's Faction when she was nothing more than a receptionist at the Adventurer's Guild was something she wanted to avoid at all costs.
And to steer the conversation away from any talk of summoning Heavenly Bow, Lenora hurriedly spoke up.
"In any case, about defeating Unbris. According to the Guild Master's information, physical attacks are essentially meaningless. We have no choice but to use magic-based attacks, but Unbris's magical defense is extremely high. We're all on the same page so far, correct?"
Lenora laid out the baseline information and glanced at Bobbs, Rei, and Vihera.
Seeing each of the three nod in confirmation, she continued.
"Since the only recorded sighting of Unbris is from three hundred years ago, we can't place too much trust in it... but even so, it seems that without a powerful magic-based attack, damage simply won't go through. The problem is that we don't know exactly how powerful an attack needs to be."
"The records from three hundred years ago are still around, right? Can't we at least make a rough estimate from those?"
At Rei's perfectly reasonable question, Lenora shook her head.
"A certain amount of information has survived, but nothing in great detail. The Guild Master is doing everything she can right now, but I think it will be difficult to gather anything beyond what we already have."
"I see. Then it comes down to only those who can launch magic-based attacks."
"That's right. And the most promising candidate for that is you, Rei?"
"Yes. Vihera-san is correct. In practice, those capable of magic-based attacks are by no means few in number."
"To be precise, you should say there's no shortage of them in Gilm," Bobbs added, supplementing Lenora's words.
Gilm was a city that drew promising adventurers from across the Kingdom of Mireana — and sometimes even from beyond its borders.
Naturally, there were more people who could use magic here than in other towns or villages, and even those who couldn't cast spells often had skills that utilized magical power.
"...But few from whom we can expect enough attack power to handle Unbris?"
Vihera posed the question to Bobbs, though she herself used a magic-based skill — Magic Impact Palm.
Still, if asked whether Magic Impact Palm could defeat Unbris, even she had to tilt her head in doubt.
"Yeah, that's about right. ...Well, truth is, since we don't know how much magical power an attack needs to be effective, the only real option is to test it out there."
"Looks like things are about to get busy."
At Rei's murmur, everyone present nodded.
With Unbris's existence confirmed, it was only natural that starting tomorrow, they would need to arrange personnel who could use magic-based attacks in an efficient deployment.
And Rei and Vihera, with Set at their disposal, would naturally be tasked with patrolling a wide area.
(Hm? But doesn't that mean I'll just end up doing exactly what I've been doing all along?)
Rei suddenly found himself wondering if his role would remain completely unchanged.
Though his area of operation would be the same, his actual approach couldn't be — the moment he found Unbris, he'd have to take it down with a powerful magic attack or the like.
(Powerful magical power, huh. ...If that's what it takes, then it'd have to be the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.)
A skill that condensed his own magical power to the point of making it visible.
That skill, which now packed near-greatest destructive power for Rei, should undoubtedly work against Unbris.
No — if an attack using the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor didn't work, it would effectively mean Rei had no remaining options for attacking Unbris at all.
"There are several other Alias Holders, but honestly, Rei — you, who can fly through the sky on Set — have the highest probability of finding Unbris. I know it's a lot to ask, but I'm counting on you."
Bobbs bowed deeply, and Rei shook his head, telling him not to worry about it.
"Gilm is as good as home to me. If merchants stopped coming out of fear of monster packs and Gilm went into decline, I'd be the one in trouble."
For Rei, his true homeland was, of course, Japan.
But since coming to Elgin, returning to Japan was no longer an option.
(Though... considering Takumu arrived here, and the whole situation with Kabajid, there might be a possibility that a way back to Japan exists.)
The two others confirmed to have come from Japan crossed Rei's mind — Takumu of the Zephyle Clan, and Kabajid, the former First Prince of the Bestia Empire.
However, it seemed that Takumu had come to Elgin with his physical body intact, whereas Kabajid was, like Rei, a transmigrated being whose soul alone had been brought to this world.
Even considering all of this, Rei didn't truly believe he could return to Japan.
For one thing, it was obvious that showing up in Japan in his current situation would cause an uproar.
Rei's appearance had changed entirely from how he'd looked back in Japan, and more importantly, he now had Set as his partner.
Bringing a Gryphon to Japan would without a doubt cause a major incident.
That said, Rei's family home was near the mountains.
Since he hadn't lived in a city, it was entirely possible he could go unnoticed.
(Besides, my moral compass and general outlook have loosened up quite a bit so I can survive here in Elgin.)
Given that he no longer hesitated to kill, if asked whether he could live peacefully in Japan, the answer would be no.
Of course, he wouldn't go around killing innocent people over trivial reasons, but if someone tried to harm him, he wouldn't hesitate to fight back.
At the very least, he wouldn't agonize over attacking or killing someone the way protagonists in the novels and manga he used to read back in Japan would.
(Let alone what would happen if I brought Vihera, Marina... and Elena, who's not in Gilm right now, over to that world.)
Even Rei, who had seen beautiful women from all over through magazines and television, had no memory of ever seeing three or more beauties on the level of Elena and the others together in one place.
What would happen if such women — all three of them together — appeared in Japan was painfully obvious no matter how you looked at it.
Then again, Elena and Vihera aside, Marina being a Dark Elf was a matter that went beyond simply being called a beauty.
Rei thought it would be interesting if he could visit Japan someday.
...But the fact that he thought of it not as "returning" to Japan, but as "going" to Japan, suggested that somewhere along the way, Rei had already come to consider this world — Elgin — as the place where he truly belonged.