About a month had passed since the Spiel Firm incident, and the season had fully turned to spring.
No, the season was already spring when the Spiel Firm incident occurred, but the early mornings had still been chilly back then.
Not anymore, though.
It was spring—a season where one could enjoy the springlike weather.
(If I were in Japan, I'd be going cherry blossom viewing right about now.)
In the courtyard of Marina's mansion, Rei lay using the sleeping Set as a pillow. Fighting off a mild wave of drowsiness, he glanced around with only his eyes.
There were a few trees growing in the garden, but naturally, there were no cherry blossoms among them.
In the first place, several years had passed since Rei came to Elgin, and he had never once seen a cherry blossom tree.
He had seen various trees growing here that he recognized from Japan. That was precisely why he thought there could be cherry blossoms too—or so he believed—but unfortunately, he had yet to find any.
Of course, the cherry blossoms in Japan were the result of extensive selective breeding.
Even if there were cherry blossoms in Elgin, they would likely be quite different from the ones Rei knew.
When he was in Japan, around this time of year—sensibly speaking, from late April to early May—was when the cherry blossoms would begin to bloom in the region where he had lived.
That was likely why Rei was thinking about cherry blossoms now.
For Rei, cherry blossoms were not about graduation or entrance ceremonies. The stronger impression he held was of them reaching peak bloom during the Golden Week holidays in May.
(Cherry blossom viewing, huh... Even if that's impossible, maybe I could pack a lunch and go on a picnic with the Crimson Lotus Wings members...)
Thinking such thoughts, Rei drifted from a half-asleep state into complete slumber.
"My, my. I wonder if using Set as a pillow makes sleeping that comfortable."
Marina, who had been watching Rei, murmured with a warm smile.
On a table she had brought out to the garden using Rei's Misty Ring as usual, there was black tea.
"With this sunlight, it can't be helped that Rei ended up like that."
Sipping herbal tea, Vihera murmured.
"Mm."
Reaching for a sandwich on the table, Byune gave a sound of agreement.
After the Spiel Firm incident was settled, the Crimson Lotus Wings had taken on a few requests, though none were particularly demanding.
Subjugating goblin packs that had appeared with the spring, subjugating harpy packs, a request from a dining hall to procure Fang Boar meat—things of that nature.
While they couldn't be called requests befitting a B-Rank party, after being caught up in that kind of turmoil the moment they formed a party, these were actions taken from a desire to take things a bit easy.
"Fufu, seeing that makes me want to enjoy a nap together too."
Marina directed her gaze to the sky and murmured.
There were a few clouds, and they occasionally blocked the sunlight, but even so, the spring sun brought a soft light to the ground.
If this were summer, it would be the extremely assertive sunlight of the summer sun.
It could be called a sun that belonged specifically to spring.
"Days like this, where nothing happens, aren't bad either."
In response to Marina's words, Vihera murmured while looking toward Rei.
Hearing Vihera's words, Marina cast a genuinely surprised glance at her.
Naturally. Marina also knew that Vihera favored battle—that alongside the three primary desires of appetite, sleep, and libido, she possessed what one might call a desire for combat.
Because of that, it must have been a surprise to hear such words come from Vihera's mouth.
It wasn't just Marina, either. Byune was the same.
At the words that came from Vihera's mouth, the hand that had been reaching out to grab a sandwich stopped mid-motion.
Seeing the two of them like that, Vihera wore a slightly displeased expression and opened her mouth.
"What? It's not like I don't have plenty of interest in things other than fighting, you know?"
"Looking at how you usually are, it's hard to think that."
"Mm."
At Marina's words, Byune nodded in agreement as well.
Seeing that, Vihera once again wore a displeased expression, but she likely understood that anything more she said would be ineffective. She quietly put her lips to the cup of herbal tea.
At Vihera's demeanor, Marina smiled once more.
And so, a peaceful time was flowing through Marina's mansion, but...
"Excuse me! Is Marina-sama present?!"
Such a desperate voice echoed, bringing an end to the elegant moment.
Rewinding time to a few days before an untimely voice echoed through Marina's mansion, there was a party of adventurers walking through an area far removed from the road leading to Gilm.
With five members, it was a fairly large number for a single party, but with two warriors, two archers, and one thief, it was an extremely well-balanced party.
As a D-Rank party, they were a common sight in spring—a party trying to break out of their rookie status and make a name for themselves in Gilm.
Believing that they could quickly distinguish themselves in Gilm, the party leader had gotten it into his head that instead of following the road to Gilm, they should stray slightly off the path.
Several members of the party who knew this was the frontier tried to stop their party leader, but back in the village where they had been active until now, they had seized many a stroke of luck thanks to exactly this kind of party leader's whims.
Precisely because he was aware of that, the party leader shook his head at his comrades' opinions.
"Don't be stupid. You think we're gonna rise to the top in Gilm just by doing the same thing as everyone else?"
"I know that, but reconsider, Dagza. A road is a road precisely because it's safe, right? If we stray from it, we'll naturally be attacked by monsters."
"Soknan's right. If this were a normal place, I'd agree with Dagza that we could manage by taking a few risks... but this is the frontier. The monsters that show up here are different from the ones we've been fighting."
The hot-headed warrior and a female archer tried to persuade the party leader, Dagza, to reconsider.
But Dagza showed no sign of listening to his comrades.
Everything had always gone his way up until now, so he figured it would be fine this time too.
People called that not confidence but arrogance, and those who fell into such a state were rarely able to recognize it themselves.
Moreover, the members other than the two cautious ones agreed with Dagza's opinion, and they ended up advancing along a path deviating from the road.
Of course, Dagza did understand that this was the frontier.
But even so, he had convinced himself that they could handle it.
The misfortune for this party was likely that Dagza's group were the only ones walking along this road at the time.
If there had been merchants experienced in frontier travel, or even adventurers operating in Gilm, they would have undoubtedly stopped Dagza and his party.
And it wasn't just out of kindness, either.
If Dagza's party were attacked by monsters and fled back to the road, what would happen? They would undoubtedly drag others into it.
What's more, those on the road weren't only people with combat ability.
Most were those who had hired escorts, but even they wouldn't willingly initiate combat, and there were even those who, for various reasons, hadn't hired escorts at all.
What would happen if people fleeing from monsters—bringing along excited monsters, no less—burst into such a place?
It goes without saying.
Those without combat ability would fall prey to the monsters without being able to put up much resistance, and even those with combat ability would needlessly exhaust their stamina and weapons.
If it were a Magic Item, that would be one thing, but normal weapons would chip with use, and their cutting ability would deteriorate from blood and fat.
That would naturally require maintenance, resulting in unnecessary expenses.
If adventurers who had exhausted their stamina and weapons completing requests were caught in such a situation, death could very well await them.
And naturally, the one who dragged everyone into such a disaster wouldn't get off scot-free. They could even be caught by the Guard Force or the Knight Order and punished.
Dagza and the other optimists hadn't extended their thinking that far at all.
"Look, we're going anyway! The party leader is telling you it's fine, so it'll be fine!"
At Dagza's declaration, the others nodded half out of habit.
In truth, they had succeeded by following Dagza's lead up until now, which was why they were on their way to Gilm in the first place.
Considering their past experiences, this was by no means a mistake.
And so, having left the road, Dagza's party encountered nothing more than goblins, partly because it was still daytime and they hadn't strayed too far from the road.
For Dagza's party, a group of a few goblins wasn't even an enemy—not compared to a pack of several dozen.
And so, defeating goblins as they went, Dagza's party pressed on.
"Hmph. You called it the frontier, so I wondered what kind of powerful enemies would show up, but just goblins? Wish some higher-rank monster would show up... one that'd make people respect us the moment we arrive in Gilm."
Stripping the Magic Stone and Subjugation Proof Part from a goblin, then severing the corpse's limbs and head and tossing them aside haphazardly, Dagza muttered.
Incidentally, this wasn't him destroying corpses for fun; it was a countermeasure against Undead monsters.
By doing this, the corpses were less likely to become Skeletons or Zombies, and even if they did, they would be in a limbless state.
Additionally, by breaking them down into moderately sized pieces like limbs and heads, monsters or animals might carry them off to eat as their own food.
Of course, nobody particularly fancied eating goblin meat.
In any case, pressing forward while defeating goblins, Dagza's party—having been walking off the main road—hadn't reached Gilm even as the sun began to set.
"Tch, can't be helped. Sun's going down, so once we find a decent spot, we're sleeping rough tonight! We'll reach Gilm tomorrow, so be ready for that!"
Dagza shouted, and the others, who had been walking with only brief breaks, let out sighs of relief at his words.
Less than twenty minutes after Dagza's declaration, the party found a deep forest.
"I know we're camping, but going inside the forest to make camp... I'm scared of the monsters, you know."
Seeing Dagza heading toward the trees, one member of the party murmured.
Even back where they used to operate, the forest at night was a place where monsters, wild animals, and bandits would come to attack.
What's more, the place they were in right now was the frontier.
They declared that they absolutely refused to camp in a frontier forest.
The others likely shared the same opinion. They voiced their respective concerns to Dagza.
Even as the party leader, he couldn't just ignore everyone else's opinions.
In the end, Dagza yielded to everyone's opinion and they set up camp a short distance away from the forest.
The reason they didn't stray completely from the forest, despite everything, was likely because it was a treasure trove of deadwood and food.
And so, while everyone prepared camp, they immediately went into the forest to search for food.
"Well, it's spring, so wild vegetables and fruit should be around. And given the size of this forest, there's no doubt animals are around too."
Dagza said as much, but even after ten minutes in the forest, they couldn't find a single animal.
For some reason, wild vegetables weren't growing either; the only things present were fruits on the trees.
They could hear birds calling, but those birds were only the size of what one would call small birds.
"...What's going on here?"
A man called Soknan looked around in bewilderment.
"Right. I'm guessing, but I think there was a powerful monster in this forest. And the other monsters and animals fled in fear of that monster... how's that?"
At the female archer's words, Soknan shook his head with a troubled expression.
"I understand what you're getting at, Thresha, but I've never heard of anything like that before. Besides, if there were a monster that powerful near Gilm, wouldn't adventurers from Gilm come to deal with it?"
"So maybe adventurers from Gilm already came and defeated the monster that was here?"
"...Hmm, I dunno. Gilm has Crimson now, the one with a gryphon Tamed Monster, and there are other Alias Holders and A-Rank adventurers. Thinking about it that way, it's not impossible."
Dagza, who had been listening to their conversation, perhaps finding it troublesome, scratched his head and spoke.
"Can't be helped. Let's head back for now. We got some fruit and nuts at least, so let's make do with dried meat for the rest."
When Dagza said that, Soknan and Thresha said nothing further and left the forest.
If only they had thought more deeply about this matter at the time.
Thresha would later deeply regret it.