Amidst the soft sunlight of spring and a gentle, warm breeze, a loud voice echoed through the Treant Forest.
"It's coming down!"
With those words, the groan of wood echoed through the surroundings before the tree finally toppled.
The woodcutters and adventurers nearby moved back to avoid being caught in the falling timber.
Since they had approached from near the road, the area where the woodcutters and adventurers worked was still free of tree cover.
Currently, a large number of woodcutters and adventurers were felling trees, starting from the outer edge of the forest.
The outer area of the forest was vast. Even with over fifty woodcutters and adventurers gathered, it didn't feel cramped at all. If anything, there was still plenty of room to spare.
"Even if we cut them, the trees'll just grow back tomorrow, right? This forest is like paradise for a woodcutter," one of them remarked.
"I know, right? Besides, there are no monsters here, let alone animals," another agreed.
"And we don't even need to dry this wood, right? That's a lifesaver."
"Ah, Graeme, didn't you have the trees you cut before taken by Goblins?"
The woodcutter called Graeme nodded bitterly.
"Yeah, that's right. The trees I went through all the trouble of cutting... I go back the next day and find the Goblins had broken off branches to make clubs, and were chopping down trees for fun... Ah, just thinking about it now pisses me off!"
Perhaps getting worked up from his own retelling, Graeme gripped the handle of his axe tightly. They were good trees, undeniably high-quality lumber that he had expected to sell for a good price, only to have it all ruined. It was only natural for him to be irritated.
"Now, now, calm down. Look, at least in this Treant Forest, no one's gonna steal the trees you've cut. Plus, an adventurer is going to transport the wood for us, right?" one woodcutter said, trying to soothe the irritated Graeme.
Another woodcutter who had been observing the surroundings nearby chimed in. "Ah, I know about that. It's Rei, right? I've seen him in Gilm plenty of times."
"Heh, I even got to pet Rei's Tamed Monster, Set!"
"I fed Set some dried meat!"
For some reason, the conversation about Rei shifted into a contest over who had given Set the most food.
Evidently judging that things were getting out of hand, one of the woodcutters shouted. "Hey, that's enough chatting! More importantly, once we take a short break, we're moving on to the next tree! We only get to work while the sun's up!"
Following his words, the chatting woodcutters headed toward the next tree—though that really just meant a tree right next to the one that had fallen.
As the sound of axes striking tree trunks echoed through the area, Thresha was in the shallow part of the Treant Forest with Luno.
"Looking at it like this, there really are no monsters or animals around. But..."
Luno fixed his gaze on the tree sprouting right in front of him.
To Luno, who possessed a Magic Eye that could see magic, he could confirm that a slight amount of mana dwelled within the trees of this Treant Forest. Even from his perspective, it was obvious these trees were not ordinary.
Furthermore, the place where Luno, Thresha, and the others stood was near the road, meaning it wasn't far from where Third Eye had disappeared.
However, even with his Magic Eye, Luno couldn't grasp what could be called the fundamental abnormality of this forest. To be precise, he could sense it, but he couldn't pinpoint where its source lay.
"Luno-san, is something wrong?" Thresha asked, her bow at the ready so she could react immediately should anything happen.
Luno shook his head. "No, there are plenty of suspicious things about this forest, but when it comes to pinpointing exactly where... I think that's going to be a bit difficult to find."
"I see... So even Luno-san can't find it..." Thresha muttered, looking disappointed.
She had hoped that Luno, with his Magic Eye, might be able to uncover the secret of this Treant Forest—and the secret of the monster that had killed her comrades.
According to the explanation given by the Guild before accepting this request, no monsters had been confirmed in the Treant Forest. When she heard that, Thresha had naturally been on the verge of shouting, "That's ridiculous!"—but before she could voice it, Luno had stopped her.
In hindsight, that had been the right call. If she had shouted something like that during the briefing, she would have definitely stood out in a bad way. Had that happened, it would have undoubtedly caused problems for future investigations.
The fact that she was able to enter the Treant Forest like this with Luno was because she had held back during that explanation. Reminding herself of that helped calm some of the indignation simmering within her.
Still, even coming into the forest like this, the complete absence of even a single monster or animal, just as the Guild had explained, was unexpected.
She had heard about Rei's investigations of the Treant Forest, but Thresha had assumed it was just a coincidence. If she could think about it calmly, she should have been able to deduce that while Rei was one thing, a Gryphon would never overlook a monster—but Thresha didn't have the composure to acknowledge that right now.
"Well, it's not guaranteed we'll find a clue right away on our first day here. Besides, coming here and seeing it for myself, it's true—there really are no monsters or animals. We were hired as guards, but we have plenty of time to investigate."
Of course, the threats Luno and the others were guarding against weren't just monsters and animals. Though rarely seen around Gilm, the possibility of Bandits appearing wasn't entirely zero either. Considering that, they couldn't exactly neglect their duties as woodcutter guards.
Well, most of the other adventurers are staying near the woodcutters. Thinking about it, there's probably not much need to worry about the guard work.
Cutting trees meant more income. He was slightly worried that the others might focus too much on that and neglect guarding the woodcutters, but this request originally had a rank restriction. Luno trusted that adventurers who held the rank required to participate—C-Rank or above—wouldn't do something that foolish.
Among the adventurers who had accepted this request, some had just arrived in Gilm, but many were also familiar faces. Because of that, he was confident that the woodcutters' safety was, for the time being, secured.
"Hm?" Luno suddenly let out a sound.
Thresha, who had been pinning her hopes on Luno's Magic Eye, reflexively looked up. Perhaps he had found some kind of clue. Carrying that thought, she opened her mouth.
"Luno-san, what is it? Did you find something—?"
"Ah, no. Sorry to get your hopes up, Thresha, but that wasn't what you were expecting. It's just Rei showing up."
Rei's mana was suppressed by the Ring of the New Moon, but it was still not invisible. And there was no way he could mistake Set's mana—a Gryphon's mana.
"I see..." Thresha muttered in disappointment, her hopes dashed.
But Luno spoke as if to encourage her. "There might be things we wouldn't notice that Rei and Set would. They're originally... yeah, they're special in all sorts of ways."
Normally, he should have described Rei as skilled here. But Rei was someone who should be described as special rather than just skilled. Naturally—he had registered as an adventurer in Gilm and risen to become a B-Rank Adventurer in just a few years, and was even an Alias Holder. Such an existence was by no means someone who should be evaluated with a word like "skilled."
That didn't mean Luno had any particular complex about Rei, though. Well, he did feel somewhat envious, but that was about it. In this regard, Luno was quite good at accepting things for what they were.
"You're right. In that case... should we ask Rei-san?"
"I think you should. But I don't think you need to rush to ask him right this moment."
"Huh?"
Luno had said it would be fine to ask Rei, but now he was saying she didn't need to. Not understanding what he was getting at, Thresha tilted her head.
Seeing her reaction, Luno continued. "Rei's characteristics... well, that's a slightly odd way to put it, but just think about his abilities for a moment. Then you'll understand what I'm trying to say."
"His abilities?"
"Yeah. He brought your comrades' belongings and gear, didn't he? It's fairly well-known that Rei is an Item Box User. And that Rei has come here, to where the woodcutters are gathered. That means..."
"Ah, the trees!"
"Looks like you get it. And the fact that he's here at this hour—not in the evening, but now, when it's only been a few hours since they started working—means he probably plans to come back here several more times today."
Had Rei been present, he would have been at least a little surprised to hear Luno and Thresha's conversation. Since Luno primarily operated solo, he didn't interact deeply with others. Because of that, the fact that he was giving even simple advice like this would have definitely caught Rei off guard.
Though, Rei is whimsical enough as it is, so even if he said something like "today was the last time," I could believe it.
Luno had known Rei for quite some time and had spoken with him on several occasions. That was why he had a decent understanding of what kind of personality Rei had—and he was sure Rei would come here multiple times today.
I'd heard from the Guild that there was no need to worry about transporting the trees, so I figured that was probably it. Well, either way, from our perspective, there's no problem if Rei helps out.
From Luno's point of view, if Rei was coming, he felt confident that they could handle things even if something happened.
"Alright, then let's start by greeting Rei. He probably doesn't know we're here as logging guards either. If we're going to ask him for anything, we need to talk that out first."
"Ah, yes. Understood. ...But still, is Rei-san really that amazing?"
Luno was surprised by the words that came out of Thresha's mouth. "No, you know about how amazing Rei is too, right? For those words to come out knowing that... honestly, what's going on?"
"Ah, no. I do understand that Rei-san is amazing. In the first place, you can't become an Alias Holder if you're not. But, it's just..."
Seeing her trail off vaguely, Luno finally understood why Thresha felt that way.
It was a thought that anyone living in Gilm, let alone someone who had worked alongside Rei, would rarely entertain. But Thresha had never seen Rei in action. The only times she had seen him were when he was with Marina and the others. If she had seen him flying through the sky riding Set, it might have been a different story—but this was probably the result of various instances of bad timing piling up.
"I see. Then let's go take a look while we greet Rei. You'll probably be surprised."
During the war with the Bestia Empire, Luno had seen Rei using his Misty Ring to transport massive amounts of supplies. In terms of using the Misty Ring, Thresha had also had Rei bring back the belongings they had left behind in the Treant Forest, but those items weren't that large in scale.
The sight of what would normally fill several horse carts—no, dozens of horse carts' worth of supply goods—going in and out of the Misty Ring one after another, just as Luno had witnessed, would definitely be astonishing to anyone.
Especially since Rei coming here this time undoubtedly meant his goal was to take the felled trees. With that in mind, it was easy to predict that Thresha would be shocked.
"Is that so?"
Thresha still didn't seem to fully understand, tilting her head lightly as she followed Luno out of the Treant Forest.
And then, at the sight that entered her vision—at the sight of trees vanishing the instant Rei touched them—she could do nothing but stand with her mouth wide open, eyes widened, utterly dumbfounded.