"Huh? Cut down more trees? Well, it's not particularly difficult for me, so I don't mind, but... why again?"
"Who knows? You're asking the wrong person. I just received the order from higher up."
At the Guild counter, Rei tilted his head at Kenny's words.
Normally, he would receive requests from Lenora, his usual receptionist, but unfortunately, Lenora seemed to be quite busy today, so Kenny was handling him instead.
While she was pleased about this, Kenny still carried out her duties as a receptionist properly.
Though, that was only natural for a Guild Staff Member.
"The trees in the Treant Forest are large, and bringing them back is a hassle, right? That's why they're asking you, Rei-kun. As an Item Box User, you don't have to worry about weight."
Kenny's words made sense.
Even so, Rei still had his doubts.
For one thing, it was true that hauling a tree of that size was difficult.
In Rei's case, he traveled with Set, so the trip took only a brief moment. But traveling across the ground by carriage would require a considerable amount of time.
And if someone went on foot, it would naturally take even longer.
Even understanding all that, Rei still found it strange.
Specifically, whether a tree like that actually held that much value.
From Rei's perspective, it wasn't much different from an ordinary tree.
Of course, considering it had grown overnight, there might well be various differences... but even so, it wasn't anything that important to him.
"Well, as long as they're paying me, I don't particularly have any complaints."
"Right? You're an adventurer, after all. ...Alright, I'll get this processed. ...By the way, did you hear? Apparently, as part of Gilm's policy, they're planning to gather more adventurers."
While filling out the request paperwork, Kenny kept up her conversation with Rei.
She needed to complete the documents, but she also wanted to chat with him.
That was what Kenny intended to do, and she had managed this sort of juggling act many times before.
Thus, she handled both without any particular difficulty.
"More than now? ...Why?"
Rei had been thinking about getting through the request quickly, but Kenny's words must have piqued his interest, because he asked the question.
If Marina, Vihera, or Lenora had been present, they would have either dragged Rei off to handle the request immediately or smacked Kenny on the head with the paperwork.
But right now, the busiest time of the morning had passed, so there were few adventurers inside the Guild. The only ones making noise from the tavern since daybreak were adventurers who had decided to take the day off.
Because of that, the reception desk wasn't busy, and the other Guild Staff Members were more or less turning a blind eye to Kenny's behavior.
...In truth, the fact that deepening relationships with high-rank adventurers was an important priority for the Guild was probably a major factor.
"Who knows? The Guild Master only vaguely hinted at it, so nothing has been clearly decided yet... but there's probably some big movement going on."
"Even so, they're gathering more adventurers? Even if something actually happened, with Gilm the way it is now, I feel like we could handle most things somehow."
Rei's murmured words were, in a sense, true—but in another sense, mistaken.
It was a fact that there were many adventurers in Gilm, and their overall quality was high.
However, what was there were, ultimately, adventurers—people who could casually relocate to another town or village if the mood struck them.
Of course, few would be foolish enough to leave Gilm, a place that was as good as it got for an adventurer.
Even so, if they were ever forced into anything, it was certain that no small number of adventurers would leave.
As the Guild Master of Gilm, there was no way Worker didn't understand that. Which meant there had to be some genuine reason behind gathering more adventurers.
"If this didn't come up suddenly, then the most likely explanation is that they'd been planning something for a while, and now it's being put into action?"
"Hmm, I wonder?"
"Don't tell me it has something to do with the Treant Forest."
"Rei-san!"
The moment the words "Treant Forest" left his mouth, someone called out to him as if they'd been waiting for exactly that timing.
Turning his gaze toward the voice, he saw the Female Adventurer he had encountered before... Thresha.
"Umm, you're Thresha, right? What is it?"
"I heard that you're heading to the Treant Forest, Rei-san. Please, take me with you."
"...Even if you say that."
When Rei headed to the Treant Forest, he traveled by riding Set.
Naturally, that meant only Rei could ride Set.
Marina, Vihera, and Byune each had their own errands today, so Rei was the only one heading to the Treant Forest... but the method of clinging to Set's legs during flight seemed like it would be difficult for Thresha.
There was also the issue that Rei had only recently met Thresha and didn't trust her all that strongly.
Grabbing onto Set while it flew through the sky naturally came with all sorts of problems if the person wasn't someone he could trust to a certain degree.
If she tried something strange mid-flight, the countermeasures available to Rei... and to Set... were limited.
That was why the option of bringing along someone like Thresha, whom he barely knew, didn't even cross Rei's mind.
"Sorry, but I work together with Set. I don't want to bring along someone I'm not close with."
"But... please, won't you work something out? I want to know the truth. Why that forest... why something like that happened in the Treant Forest, and if possible, I want to avenge my comrades..."
Thresha spoke in a voice that sounded squeezed out of her, but Rei silently shook his head.
Though he didn't say it aloud, the fact that Thresha's skills were not particularly high was also one of the major reasons he wouldn't bring her along.
So far, Rei had not been attacked in the Treant Forest.
But since there were actually people who had been attacked, like Thresha's comrades, there was no telling when an attack might occur.
At that moment, if it were Rei and Set, or Marina or Vihera and their group, that would be one thing, but if Thresha—a D-Rank Adventurer—were present, it would restrict their movement.
If he had to protect a burden, there was a real chance of falling behind.
And since the Treant Forest itself was an unknown entity, the possibility of that delay becoming fatal was quite high.
"...Sorry."
Without stating his reasons aloud, Rei turned to leave... and then suddenly stopped.
"Now that I think about it, what happened to Luno, who saved you? Luno is a skilled solo adventurer, so I think he'd be able to help you."
Luno was only known for his Magic Eye that could see magical power, but since he primarily operated solo, his combat skills were solid.
Being solo in Gilm meant either being an overconfident fool who didn't know their place, or someone who was genuinely skilled—there was no in-between.
Rei had also operated solo before forming Crimson Lotus Wings with Marina and the others, but in his case, even as a solo adventurer, he had his partner, Set.
Thinking about it that way, it was fair to say that even though he was solo by the Guild's system, he wasn't actually solo.
"Luno-san, um... after he saved me and listened to my story in the Guild Master's office, we parted ways there..."
Seeing Thresha's downcast expression, Rei could understand that she had probably hoped to continue working with him.
"I see. ...But if you're going to ask someone, you'd be better off asking Luno instead of me. Whatever else you might say about him, that guy looks out for people."
"...But I've heard that you're one of the most skilled adventurers in Gilm, Rei-san. And since you're actively accepting requests related to the Treant Forest right now..."
She concluded by saying that she wanted to cooperate with that effort as well.
Rei could somewhat understand what Thresha was trying to say, but even so, he couldn't accept it given the current situation.
"Sorry. I'm going to do things my own way."
"If it's about the reward... if it's the reward, I can prepare at least a little."
Where that reward was coming from, Rei understood immediately.
After all, it was Rei who had found the remains of Thresha's party's camp, and it was Rei who had brought back the belongings left behind there.
(Well, since the party was wiped out, Thresha has ownership of those belongings. I could have taken them myself, but for a D-Rank party, there probably wasn't anything that rare.)
So he wouldn't blame Thresha for deciding to convert those belongings into money and offer it to him as a reward.
He couldn't help but think there would have been better uses for it... but he kept that to himself.
At the same time, he was also struck by how important Thresha's lost comrades must have been to her.
"Sorry, but I don't have that much leeway right now. You should use that money to hire Luno or someone like him."
Muttering those final words as if to drive the point home, Rei left the Guild without paying any more attention to Thresha.
Thresha watched him go with a disappointed look.
But even so, she didn't appear to have given up—probably because she had gathered information on Rei beforehand and predicted that getting him to take her along would be impossible.
If possible, she would have preferred to go with Rei, but that had been nothing more than a hope.
(First, I need to find a skilled adventurer... In that sense, I was lucky that this is Gilm.)
In the area where Thresha's former party had operated, there had been hardly any skilled adventurers.
...There were a fair number of people who claimed to be skilled, though.
The fact that Thresha and her party had come to Gilm was partly for that reason.
Because of that, finding skilled adventurers—meaning those with greater skill than Thresha—in Gilm wasn't all that difficult.
Of course, there would be those who tried to deceive her among them.
Regardless, Thresha, a Bowman who used a bow as her weapon, needed a Vanguard no matter what she did.
A more skilled Bowman might be able to operate solo without a Vanguard... but unfortunately, Thresha had not reached that level.
(The Treant Forest... I can't die until I resolve what's going on with that forest. Absolutely, with my own hands...)
Baring her resolve, Thresha set out to find comrades.
"Grrrooarr!"
As before, Rei and Set had been heading toward the Treant Forest, but as the forest came into view, Set suddenly let out a sharp cry.
"Set?"
Though puzzled by his partner's behavior, Rei let Set do as it pleased.
He understood that in this situation, Set wouldn't do anything strange.
As if sensing Rei's thoughts, Set dove straight toward the ground.
However, the area Set was heading toward was quite far from the places Rei had visited several times before.
Since it was a vast forest, the areas where Rei had operated so far naturally covered only a narrow range.
...It might be inevitable, in the sense of investigating exactly how much the forest had spread.
"...That's..."
As they got closer to the ground, Rei too noticed what Set had found.
Something reflecting the sunlight, visible between the trees.
It was a scene that evoked a sense of déjà vu.
Yes, like when he had found the traces of Thresha's party's camp.
"I figured this might happen too."
What had happened inside the forest.
Understanding that, Rei muttered softly.
Coming to this forest wasn't specifically prohibited by the Guild.
But even so, it was publicly known that no monsters or animals existed within this forest.
Even if someone took on a subjugation request, there was no prey.
For gathering requests, one might think "maybe"... but since this was a forest that had suddenly appeared recently, there was no telling whether the target plants actually grew there.
If someone came to the Treant Forest and couldn't find the plants they needed for a gathering request, they would have simply wasted their effort.
If that was the case, it was definitely better to go to another forest where the plants, mushrooms, and other materials they intended to gather were already known to grow.
(Maybe naming it the Treant Forest was a mistake. There could be people who come to this forest looking for Treants. ...Were the ones at what looks like the remains of that camp those kinds of people?)
While Rei was thinking this over, Set landed on the outskirts of the forest... a short distance away from what appeared to be the remains of a camp.