Having completed a brief investigation of the forest, Rei returned to Gilm, went through the entry procedures, and headed to the Guild with Marina and the others who had been waiting outside.
"So, what was the forest like?" Marina asked.
"Let's see. If I had to describe it in one word: 'abnormal.' That would be the most fitting."
Clearly not expecting such an answer, Marina raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow in surprise.
Vihera shared her reaction, though her gaze was fixed on Rei with anticipation, her eyes bright with the hope for battle.
"Abnormal? In what way?"
"Let's see. If Marina, being a Dark Elf, were to visit that forest, I imagine she'd feel the same way I did. After all, I couldn't find a single animal in there. And it wasn't that they were hiding—there truly weren't any at all."
"……That's……"
As a Dark Elf, and above all, as someone who could be called a Shrine Maiden of the World Tree, if what Rei was saying was true, then that forest was something that could no longer be called a forest at all.
She simply couldn't bring herself to acknowledge it as one.
"No monsters? It's a forest, so what about Treants and the like?"
Unlike Marina, Vihera sounded disappointed, realizing that if there were no monsters, she couldn't expect a fight.
Rei shook his head at her words.
"Since the companions of that woman, Thresha, were attacked by something, there's no doubt that something is in there. ……Though whether it's an enemy that would satisfy Vihera is another matter."
They kept walking as they talked.
A few people tried to approach Set, but perhaps sensing from the group's demeanor that they were in the middle of a serious conversation, they held back and simply watched the griffon from a distance.
Upon arriving at the Guild, Set wandered off on its own without Rei needing to say a word, and the group stepped inside.
Perhaps because it was already near noon, there were hardly any adventurers in the building. Instead, a fair number of people were eating lunch in the attached tavern.
(Ah, I'm hungry. After I finish the report, what should I eat? ……Oh, udon? Nikuman and pizza, too……)
His attention drawn to the mouthwatering aroma drifting from the tavern, Rei made his way to the counter.
Normally, he would speak to a receptionist like Lenora or Kenny, but neither was at the counter today. However, the receptionist who had come to Marina's mansion to deliver the request was present, so he approached her instead.
She noticed him immediately and turned an expectant gaze his way.
Rei spoke first. "I've completed the request."
"I see. Please come this way. The Guild Master wishes to hear your report directly."
At her words, Rei nodded without further comment and stepped behind the counter.
He headed toward the back and up the stairs. Having passed through this area many times before, he felt no hesitation—though the person whose office he used to visit had been Marina, who was now walking behind him.
"Excuse me, Guild Master. Rei-san and his party have returned."
"I see. Please show them in."
Worker's voice echoed from beyond the door, and the receptionist opened it.
(Come to think of it, this is the first time I've entered this office since Worker became Guild Master.)
With that thought, Rei stepped inside, only to feel slightly disappointed. The room hadn't changed much compared to when Marina had used it.
"Please, sit down. As for your report…… ah, could you fetch Luno-san and Thresha-san for me? It would be best for them to hear Rei-san's account as well."
"Understood. Right away."
The receptionist bowed deeply and left the room.
After seeing her out, Worker, who had been organizing documents, smiled and spoke.
"For now, until those two arrive, please rest on the sofa over there. It was a sudden request, so you must be tired."
In truth, Rei had only ridden Set on a round trip between the forest and Gilm, while Marina and the others had simply waited by the Main Gate. What's more, they had been resting comfortably in Marina's courtyard until the receptionist had arrived earlier, so there was no reason for any of them to be exhausted.
Even so, with nothing else to do, Rei and his party took their seats on the sofa.
Marina was the first to speak. "Hey, Worker. You said this was urgent, but I haven't heard anything about the reward yet."
"Ah, you're right. I'm sorry, that completely slipped my mind."
At Worker's words as he looked up from his paperwork, Marina offered a small smile. If neither she nor Rei had brought it up, he probably would have put the matter of compensation on the back burner.
Having previously managed the Guild's branch office near the dungeon, Worker possessed a shrewd pragmatism when it came to rewards, belying his amiable demeanor. Of course, given his position as Guild Master, he wouldn't have refused payment altogether—but still.
"Rei-san, would something like this interest you?"
Worker placed a small wooden barrel on the desk. It was only about ten centimeters tall.
"Alcohol? Sorry, but I don't really—"
It wasn't that he couldn't drink, but Rei had never found alcohol the least bit enjoyable and was about to decline. Besides, given the barrel's small size, he could easily guess how little was inside—barely enough for a single swallow.
But Worker shook his head. "No, please rest assured. This isn't alcohol."
Having finished sorting his documents for the time being, Worker picked up the barrel and carried it over to the sofa area.
Rei opened the small barrel that had been set on the table, wondering what it could be if not alcohol—then froze mid-motion.
"H-hey. Don't tell me this is……"
Inside the barrel was something Rei recalled seeing a few times before. However, compared to what he had seen previously, the contents were far finer. The pieces he had encountered before had been ore chunks large enough to cradle in one's arms—including red ones—but what lay here consisted of only a few fingertip-sized fragments, with the rest ground down as fine as sand.
"Flame Ore?"
Rei asked, half to confirm. Worker nodded.
"Yes. I'd heard you've been collecting Flame Ore before, Rei-san. I've also had an interest in it for some time now. ……However, when it comes to large pieces of Flame Ore, the price becomes extraordinarily high. But……"
Worker's gaze shifted to the barrel in Rei's hands.
"When it's mostly in a sand-like—no, perhaps powder-like state would be more accurate—as it is in that barrel, it becomes considerably cheaper. ……Of course, even if I say 'cheaper,' given that it is Flame Ore, it still naturally commands a certain base price."
At those words, Rei looked back down into the barrel.
The reason he wanted Flame Ore was to mix it into the Fire Whirlwind he used as a trump card, enhancing its destructive power. For that purpose, small pieces would work just as well as large ones.
"How about this barrel as your reward for the request?"
"……That's quite generous," Marina remarked.
Indeed, even Flame Ore in this powdered state would still fetch a considerable sum. As a reward for what barely qualified as reconnaissance—checking whether the forest existed, gauging its size, landing on the ground, and observing its condition—it was nothing short of extravagant.
"Yes. Given that we'll likely need Rei-san to do quite a bit more work regarding this matter…… ah, please come in."
A knock sounded at the door while Worker was still speaking.
Granted permission to enter, the two who stepped into the office were Luno, an adventurer Rei knew well, and an unfamiliar female adventurer—Thresha.
"Thank you for coming. First, please have a seat."
At Worker's invitation, Luno and Thresha sat on the sofa—side by side, due to limited space—and the receptionist, judging her role complete, bowed and took her leave.
Once she was gone, Worker spoke again.
"Now then, shall we begin with introductions? I am Worker, the Guild Master of Gilm. This is Thresha-san, who reported this incident to us. And this is Luno-san, who rescued her."
He then turned his gaze toward Rei and his party.
"They are…… well, given the ratio, perhaps I should say 'the ladies'—this is the B-Rank party, Crimson Lotus Wings."
Hearing that it was a B-Rank party, Thresha's eyes went wide.
It was partly her first time seeing a high-rank party in person, but mostly, looking at the four before her—Rei in his hooded Dragon Robe, Marina in a Party Dress utterly out of place for the setting, Vihera looking like nothing so much as a Prostitutes or Dancer, and Byune, who could only be mistaken for a Child—she simply couldn't believe they were high-rank adventurers.
If Thresha had been more skilled, she might have sensed their true strength, but unfortunately, while she was called a full-fledged adventurer, her abilities were still only at that level.
Luno, on the other hand, already knew more than enough about what Rei and his party were capable of and showed no surprise whatsoever.
"Now, with introductions out of the way, let's get to the main topic. First, regarding the forest from Thresha-san's report—I sent Rei-san to conduct reconnaissance."
"Eh?"
The stunned sound that escaped Thresha's lips was likely because she had just realized the contradiction between the distance to the forest and how little time had passed since her own arrival.
Worker seemed to have expected this reaction. He spoke in a calming tone.
"Rei-san has a Gryphon as a Tamed Monster. Have you perhaps heard the alias 'Crimson'?"
At that name, understanding dawned on Thresha's face, and she stared intently at Rei's hooded figure.
As an adventurer, she naturally knew of the alias "Crimson," earned during the war against the Bestia Empire. However, she hadn't participated in the war herself, and none of her acquaintances had either.
No—to be precise, there had been one who went, but it would be more accurate to say he had lost his life in that conflict.
That was why, even though she knew of Rei the Crimson through rumor, she never imagined she would meet him like this, so suddenly.
"This person is…… Crimson……?"
"Rei. Nice to meet you."
"Eh? Ah, yes! It's an honor!"
Her voice pitched upward at the end, but considering that a D-Rank Adventurer had just met an Alias Holder, it was a perfectly natural reaction. If anything, Rei was favorably impressed that she didn't look down on him based on his appearance alone.
"Now then, let's get to the story…… Rei-san."
"Yeah."
Prompted by Worker, Rei cut straight to the conclusion.
"First, the forest is there. What's more, it's in a location where it wasn't the last time I passed through—I believe that would have been autumn of last year. And it's massive. There's no way it formed in just a few months."
Recalling the sheer scale of the forest as he had seen it from the sky astride Set, Rei continued.
"For a forest that size to appear out of nowhere…… you'd need decades. Possibly even a century."
"That much……" Worker murmured thoughtfully.
Thresha's face was a picture of shock. Because she had been attacked at night—and above all, because she had been thrown into chaos watching her companions being killed one after another before her very eyes—she had never been able to grasp the true nature of the forest that had consumed them.
Hearing now that it was a forest of that magnitude, her astonishment was only natural.
"And also……"
Rei muttered, then retrieved several items from his Misty Ring—belongings that had been left abandoned at the remnants of a campsite.
"You recognize this luggage, don't you?"
"Ah, yes. That's mine…… our luggage."
Those words must have reminded her of her fallen comrades. Thresha looked as if she might crumble under the weight of her grief, but she pulled herself back together almost immediately. She understood that now was not the time to mourn.
Even so, tears glistened faintly in the corners of her eyes.
"And so…… first, I want to confirm something. From what I was told, you made camp outside the forest. Is that correct?"
"Ah, yes. ……But when I saw it while fleeing, the trees had already……"
"Figured as much. I found this luggage a few minutes' walk into the forest from the edge."
"……Eh?"
Thresha hadn't imagined the forest had spread that far. Forgetting entirely that she had been fighting back tears mere seconds ago, she let out a dazed, hollow sound.