The year turned, and the new year arrived... yet nothing in particular changed. Time simply flowed onward.
Rei spent a fair amount more time with Set, but unusually, he was enjoying peaceful days without any major incidents to speak of.
In the mornings, after breakfast, he would either head out into the city, play with Set, or do combat training with Byune. At noon, he would walk around outside while eating lunch with Set. In the afternoons, he spent his time shopping or visiting the library.
Then, as evening fell, he would snack on street food on his way back to the Wheat Inn at dusk and eat dinner in the dining hall.
During dinner he was usually with Vihera and Byune, though sometimes Marina would show her face as well.
...Fortunately, most of the people currently staying at the Wheat Inn at dusk were ones who already knew about Rei and his group.
A few had tried making a move when a beauty like Marina appeared, but upon learning she was an acquaintance of Rei's, they quickly backed down.
Of course, if anyone had known Marina was the Guild Master, they would never have tried such a thing in the first place. But since she rarely appeared in public, there were certainly no small number of people who saw Marina without realizing who she was.
On that day, about a month into the new year, Marina had come to the Wheat Inn at dusk to eat dinner with Rei and the others.
"So, how's the handover to Worker coming along? Spring isn't right around the corner exactly, but it's only about two months away now."
"Oh, that's mostly no longer an issue. Worker was always a quick learner to begin with. I was worried because it took him a little while to get to Gilm, but most of the handover is already finished, so there's no problem."
The dish was a stew made with dried Orc meat—the kind of thing you could eat anywhere. Yet perhaps because of the careful preparation that went into it, the flavor was leagues apart from the ordinary. Marina spoke as she enjoyed it.
"Huh. So there's no problem, then. If things keep going smoothly, it looks like we'll be able to form the party properly by spring."
"Yes. I've been keeping my body moving too... I'd have no problem forming the party starting tomorrow, even."
At Marina's smug smile, Vihera spoke up while reaching for some bread.
"Hmm. In that case, why don't you and I have a little match tomorrow?"
For Vihera, who loved battle, a fight with Marina was something to look forward to.
Adventurers tended to rest their bodies during the winter, but Vihera was doing combat training with Byune almost every day, so she wasn't getting rusty.
"Give it a rest on that front. If you and Marina fought seriously, whether in the courtyard or the Guild's training grounds, it'd definitely end up causing all sorts of collateral damage."
Rei muttered in exasperation while eating a sandwich with egg, vegetables, and ham.
If it were Vihera alone, the combat wouldn't be that flashy.
Since Vihera specialized in close combat, the fight itself wouldn't become all that showy.
...At the very least, compared to when Rei fought at full power—starting with the Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor—it could be called extremely subdued.
But Marina was different.
Marina fought with Spirit Magic and a bow—and primarily with Spirit Magic at that. Combined with her skill, it would become a flashy battle.
As for just how skilled Marina was, there was no need to doubt it if one had ever seen her doing things like cleaning the house or shoveling snow with Spirit Magic as easily as breathing.
There was a guy before who made a dragon out of Water Spirit Magic, but... she's probably better than him.
Of course, Rei wasn't particularly knowledgeable about Spirit Magic.
It was merely an impression, but even so, Rei had absolute confidence in his intuition.
For Marina to fight Vihera, she would naturally need to go all out.
Just how much collateral damage would there be...? Rei tried to imagine it, but in the next moment discarded the thought as pointless and opened his mouth.
"Besides, Vihera, you still haven't fully grasped your current power, have you? If you carelessly went all out and caused damage to your surroundings—or worse, to yourself—then what?"
"Muu... I guess it can't be helped."
Vihera had been resurrected through the Silver Lion's heart—or more accurately, had regained consciousness—but she still didn't understand her current limits.
She wanted to know them immediately if possible, but Grimm, who had conducted the ritual, had told her not to push herself until the magic power settled into her body.
It was the magic power of a Silver Lion—an S-Rank monster. There was no way it would settle into her body so easily.
Even now, it was still not fully complete.
The combat training with Byune that had been taking place since winter was meant to train Byune, but at the same time, it was also for Vihera to gradually get used to her current condition, even if only little by little.
Because she understood that, Vihera obediently complied with Rei's words.
...Though for anyone who knew Vihera even a little, the fact that she gave up on a fight so easily would have been surprising.
In fact, several of the adventurers in the dining hall who had been listening in on Rei and the others' conversation couldn't quite hide their looks of astonishment.
Even while seeing such people exchanging glances, Rei, Vihera, and Marina continued talking without appearing to particularly mind.
They understood that they stood out in various ways.
"Still, we really do need to decide on a party name soon. It's only about two months away now, you know."
"Even if you say that..."
For Rei, who had no confidence in his naming sense, being told to decide on a party name was an extremely difficult task.
If it were just a matter of casually slapping on a random name like "Set Squad," that would be one thing.
"Well, the fact that there are only two months left means there are still two months. We just need to decide by the time we submit the party registration form to the Guild, so I won't rush you. I don't have any particular attachment to the party name myself."
"I don't have any special attachment either, same as Marina. I just want you to avoid anything really weird."
"...I'll do my best."
The fact that anything was fine was actually the most difficult thing for Rei.
I've seen things in manga and such before where someone gets asked what they want to eat, the other person says anything's fine, and then anything being fine is the most troublesome part... it's kind of like that.
Thinking that, Rei continued eating his dinner.
Fortunately, the conversation about the party name seemed to end there.
"So, how is Byune's training coming along? Vihera's been the one training her, more than Rei, right?"
When the topic turned to Byune's combat power in the flow of conversation, Byune, who had been single-mindedly drinking her soup, lifted her face from it momentarily and gave a small nod.
"Mm."
Whether it was full of confidence or not, Marina couldn't tell, but when she turned her gaze to Vihera, who was in charge of Byune, she received a nod in return.
Seeing that, Marina could understand that Byune probably had a certain degree of confidence in her own skills.
She understood that, but since it was impossible to completely trust it based solely on Byune's self-report, she asked Vihera again.
"So, how is she actually doing?"
"...Let's see. Originally Byune was a thief, so her attack power wasn't that high, but if it means focusing entirely on restraint, I think she can serve as a certain level of combat power. When facing high-rank monsters, though, we'd need to be careful about various things."
Oh, really.
At the high evaluation from Vihera, Marina looked at Byune anew.
Vihera, who loved battle, approached combat with a sincere attitude due to that very disposition.
She wouldn't evaluate Byune's power as more than it actually was just because they had a long-standing relationship.
As if continuing Vihera's words, Rei also opened his mouth.
"Besides, she has the short sword Pamidor made for her, too."
What kind of short sword it was didn't require any thought.
It was a short sword made from the materials of an S-Rank monster, the Silver Lion. It was a weapon that wouldn't be out of place even in the hands of a high-rank adventurer, such as an A-Rank adventurer.
However, the fact that he didn't explicitly state it was a short sword made from Silver Lion materials here was because this was a tavern, after all.
In front of the adventurers in the dining hall and the well-informed merchants, if such a weapon existed—and not in the hands of Rei, Marina, or Vihera, but with Byune, who was still a child—it wouldn't be strange for someone to get unsavory ideas.
Normally, Rei's existence alone would prevent anyone from attempting such a thing, but in this case, it was a short sword made from S-Rank monster materials.
It wouldn't be strange for someone to lose their senses.
"Oh, I've heard about it. Apparently it's a short sword with quite excellent performance."
Marina also understood what Rei was talking about and played along.
In fact, the short sword made from Silver Lion materials was exceptionally sharp in terms of cutting ability.
Setting aside S-Rank monsters, for A-Rank and below, it was sharp enough to make one believe that they would be unable to defend against its attacks unless there was some exceptional circumstance.
Of course, that required the user's skill, so if Byune's technique was poor, it would be meaningless.
"That's right. Thanks to that, she has the means to deal effective damage against most monsters. Plus, the transparent long needles she recently started using are also fairly convenient."
Rei also agreed with Vihera's words.
The transparent long needles released mixed in among ordinary ones were more troublesome than one might imagine.
In Rei's case, he could discern them through hearing and sight, but for an ordinary person, that would be difficult.
"I see. Then is it safe to assume we don't need to worry about Byune's combat power?"
"In broad terms, I don't think there's a problem. What about you, Rei?"
"I agree with Vihera."
Rei also nodded at Vihera's words.
Hearing that, Byune slightly softened her expression around the eyes, looking a little happy, while drinking her soup.
...But the only one who noticed that was Vihera.
"Strictly in the role of a thief—restraining enemies and that sort of thing—Byune has a fair amount of ability, I think."
With both Vihera and then Rei vouching for Byune's ability, Marina finally returned a nod.
"I see, then there's no problem. In that case, why don't we all step outside Gilm sometime soon? Forming the party can wait until spring, but we'll need to get in sync with each other, after all."
"I'm fine with it, but... are you sure you're okay, Marina? Even if the handover to Worker is mostly done, you must still be busy with various things as the Guild Master, right?"
The Guild Master's work wasn't just the handover.
There were many other diverse duties on top of that.
Asking if it would really be fine to go outside the city under those circumstances, Vihera was met with Marina nodding that it wasn't a problem.
"If it were spring, the work as Guild Master would be more plentiful, but right now it's winter. Of course, it's not like there's no work at all, but it's at a level I can manage. Worker is here, after all."
"...Worker isn't the Guild Master yet, technically, right? Is that okay? In terms of... confidentiality."
"There's no problem. Rather, it's necessary for him to get properly used to the work while I'm still here. From spring onward, I won't be the Guild Master anymore, so there will be more documents he won't be able to show me, you see."
When put that way, Rei was convinced.
Even as a former Guild Master, as long as she wasn't the current one, there would naturally be documents that couldn't be shown to her.
Considering those circumstances, it was indeed essential to thoroughly teach him how to do the work while she was still here.
"Mind you, Worker has experience running a Guild branch office at the dungeon. It's far easier than teaching the Guild Master's work to an ordinary person who knows nothing. The work they do isn't that different."
Marina's words carried strong persuasiveness.
The kind of persuasiveness that made one nod in agreement before they knew it.
"Understood. If you say so, Marina, then let's go outside Gilm and hunt some monsters. As for exactly when..."
"Whenever Marina has a good day for it should be fine. We don't have anything in particular we have to do."
Rei nodded at Vihera's words, and Byune also returned a nod. And so it was decided that they would do something only a certain subset of people—such as adventurers who needed to earn money—would do: going outside Gilm in winter.