Since the knight who dismounted from the carriage carried a friendly air, the other adventurers, including Rei, breathed sighs of relief in his presence.
"Are the reinforcements made up of the ones who went back?"
"That's right. Normally, the Main Gate would be closed even if you arrived in Gilm at midnight, but since we'd been informed about the Treant Forest situation this time, it was handled right away. Immediately, in fact."
"...So if you're only just arriving now, that means we were fighting the Gigant Turtle for quite a long time."
"Gigant Turtle?"
At Rei's words, the knight asked the question with a puzzled look.
Seeing his reaction, Rei recalled the reason and spoke up.
"I think you already know, but I'm talking about that giant turtle monster. Calling it 'that giant turtle' forever would get inconvenient, so I just gave it a fitting name. It's not official or anything—just something for this occasion."
"Ah, I see. Well, that's fine. So, about this Gigant Turtle... what are you going to do with it?"
"Well, with its size, the corpse would definitely rot if we just left it here, so I'll store it away."
Told this, the knight nodded in understanding.
He naturally knew that Rei possessed an Item Box, so he had no objections to that.
If anything, leaving the Gigant Turtle's corpse here would cause it to rot, and in the worst case, the stench of decay could reach all the way to Gilm.
At the very least, it would certainly reach the main highway.
There was also the possibility that monsters would gather, drawn by the Gigant Turtle's meat.
Considering all that, the knight was grateful that Rei would take care of the monster's corpse.
...Of course, these were monster materials of considerable scale. The knight was interested himself, and selling them would undoubtedly cause a major stir in Gilm.
"Understood. Then can I consider this matter settled for now?"
"Yeah. However, I don't know what will happen to the Treant Forest from here on. I think we'll need to keep a close eye on it starting tomorrow."
"I'll send a few people back first to report on that."
Finishing his brief exchange with the knight, Rei turned his gaze back to the Gigant Turtle.
There, the reinforcements who had arrived by carriage were voicing their astonishment as they took in the Gigant Turtle's massive body up close.
"Hm?"
Watching the exchange, Rei suddenly found himself with a question.
"What is it?"
Vihera, who had been observing the conversation between Rei and the knight from nearby, turned her gaze toward him and asked. But Rei answered without taking his eyes off the Gigant Turtle.
"Hey, those monsters that first came out of the Treant Forest... they turned into black dust and disappeared when the Gigant Turtle emerged, right?"
"...That's what I heard."
She must have understood what Rei was getting at. Vihera, too, stared intently at the Gigant Turtle's corpse.
The monsters, including the Treants, and the Gigant Turtle.
Their appearances were vastly different, but there was no doubt that both were monsters born from the Treant Forest.
Despite that, the Gigant Turtle before their eyes showed no sign of disappearing, remaining behind as a corpse.
"What do you think?"
"...Who knows? But for now, shouldn't you store it away as soon as possible? If it's in the Item Box—the Misty Ring, right? If it's in there, it might not disappear, and the meat would stay fresh, wouldn't it?"
"I'm a bit concerned about blood draining and that sort of thing, but I guess it can't be helped. Alright, I'll leave explaining the situation to you."
Leaving the discussion with the knight in Vihera's hands, Rei set off toward the Gigant Turtle with Set.
"Huh? Ah, hey, wait, Rei!"
The knight called out to Rei's back.
That was because he wanted to talk with Rei if at all possible.
It wasn't a matter of the knight's personal tastes or anything of the sort; rather, the outfits of Vihera and Marina were simply too stimulating for him.
For a knight unaccustomed to women on a daily basis, Marina in a Party Dress with a deeply plunging neckline—let alone Vihera, clad in the flimsy garments of a Dancer or Prostitutes—was nothing but poison to his eyes.
Though, the fact that it was nearing dawn was probably a saving grace.
If it were daytime and he tried to look at Vihera's figure head-on, it could have been a fatal shock in more ways than one.
Ignoring the voice coming from behind, Rei approached the Gigant Turtle's corpse.
Naturally, Rei and Set drew attention, and those who had been examining the Gigant Turtle up close made way.
"Sorry about this."
Rei said briefly, then touched the Gigant Turtle's corpse—its leg—and in the next instant, the massive body vanished.
With a body as large as a small hill disappearing in the blink of an eye, it was only natural for people to be stunned.
Leaving the surrounding adventurers simply crying out in astonishment, Rei mounted Set and headed toward where the severed head lay.
There was a fair distance to cover, after all, which was likely why he rode on Set's back.
Several adventurers had gathered around that head as well, looking at it with curiosity, but when Set approached, they naturally made way.
Having stored both the Gigant Turtle's body and the severed head in his Misty Ring, Rei returned to the knight.
...Naturally, there were also fragments of the Gigant Turtle's flesh scattered about from the battle, but he had no inclination to gather those up.
"Everyone who participated in this battle, gather around. We'll be discussing the distribution of the reward."
Watching Marina call out to discuss the materials, just as she had told Rei earlier, Rei glanced once more at the Treant Forest.
They had defeated the Gigant Turtle, which could be called the avatar of the Treant Forest.
But considering the root puppets, that avatar was likely akin to a terminal.
Of course, while weak entities like the root puppets could be created in any number, something as powerful as this Gigant Turtle couldn't be made so easily...
Even so, this Treant Forest still has many unknown elements in various ways. Better to stay cautious.
He should probably discuss that with Worker, the Guild Master, tomorrow—no, today.
With that in mind, he turned back toward the knight.
"Um, well... you see..."
Upon returning, sure enough, the knight was stumbling over his words while facing Vihera.
"What are you doing?"
Rei sighed and spoke in exasperation, feeling as though his own serious thoughts from moments ago had been for nothing.
Seeing Rei, the knight's face brightened with relief.
Of course, this knight didn't dislike women, nor was he attracted to men.
He was simply unaccustomed to women, which was why dealing with Vihera had been so difficult for him.
Watching the knight's state, Vihera smiled and spoke.
"I've explained the general situation for now. Whether he remembers any of it, I couldn't say."
The knight, now on the receiving end of Vihera's gaze, felt the faint flush in his cheeks return after only just beginning to subside.
"Ah, right. I'll handle the rest. Vihera, why don't you go talk with Byune?"
Noticing that Byune had appeared beside Vihera at some point, Rei told her this.
"Sure. Shall we have a little chat, then?"
"Mhm!"
Byune gave Vihera her usual single-word reply, and the two moved off to the side together.
It was possible they wanted to discuss women's matters they didn't want Rei and the others to overhear... but it was equally considerate of them to step away in case their presence made it difficult for the knight to speak.
Well, I can't deny the possibility that it was more along the lines of him not being able to speak calmly with Vihera around.
Watching the knight, who seemed to have finally calmed down now that Vihera had stepped away, Rei thought this half in jest.
...Of course, half in jest also meant half in earnest.
In any case, seeing the knight regain his composure thanks to Vihera's departure, Rei asked him a question.
"So, did you hear what she said? Don't tell me you were so captivated by Vihera's appearance that you don't remember anything. You wouldn't say something that foolish, right?"
"Of course not. I managed to remember it."
So the knight claimed, but for a man unaccustomed to women, Vihera's beauty and figure must have been overwhelming in every sense.
If anything, had it been daytime, he might have been able to halfway resign himself and accept it.
"I see. Then... what should we do from here? Honestly, I never expected to fight the Treant Forest's true nature... or main body... or true form... well, whatever you call it, today of all days. It was completely unexpected."
He voiced the words 'main body' himself and felt a flicker of doubt for a moment, but decided it was better to leave it at that for now.
"Right. First, we need to report to Lord Daskar. You'll need to inform the Guild on your end too, Rei, won't you?"
At the knight's words, Rei nodded while stroking Set's body.
As Rei had said, this incident was never supposed to escalate into such a full-scale battle.
But they had been caught off guard, and that chain of events led to the current situation.
"Yeah. It was full of unexpected outcomes. But even though it was unexpected, I think it was the best possible result."
"I agree with you there. Still, to face that giant turtle monster and somehow get through without a single death..."
There were a fair number of injured, and many were receiving Treatment from the adventurers who had arrived as reinforcements.
But none had injuries that could be described as fatal. Even the most severe were no worse than broken bones in their limbs.
"I'd hesitate to call it fortunate, but the enemy only came after me and Set while we were flying in the sky. Well, I made a point of showing off my strength to make sure of that, and for them, they absolutely couldn't afford to let me escape."
At Rei's words, the knight's expression turned slightly puzzled.
To that knight, Rei spoke about the root puppets.
Of course, he didn't mention the image language or the various other things he knew—only that there had been an avatar in the form of a root puppet.
That he had burned that avatar with magic, which ignited the other party's anger and likely drove them to desperation.
"Ah... it's a forest of Treants, after all. Trees, huh. No wonder they'd have a strong aversion to fire."
If this knight had known what the felled trees from the Treant Forest were being used for—or more precisely, if he had known about Gilm's expansion—he might have wondered whether the forest had strong magical defenses.
But unfortunately, this knight was merely an ordinary knight, not someone positioned in the upper echelons of the Knight Order.
Then again, the gap between magical defenses sufficient for Gilm's expansion and the power of Rei's Flame Magic, which was specialized in that very element, meant that any moderate magical defense would be as good as nothing.
"So that's why they came after me from start to finish. Thanks to that, there were no deaths among the other adventurers. Not that I can celebrate it wholeheartedly, though."
Even with Treatment, the adventurers with broken bones wouldn't be able to move by tomorrow.
If someone could use Recovery Magic, it would be a different story, but no one present was capable of Recovery Magic.
Well, they can just go to the clinic in Gilm and get Recovery Magic cast on them.
The amount Rei would pay had not yet been finalized in detail, but it would certainly be a few Gold Coins.
Even after paying for the Treatment of broken bones, it would still be an amount with some margin to spare.
"Rei."
Deep in thought, Rei snapped back to reality at the sound of his name.
He turned his gaze toward the source and found Marina standing there.
The knight who had been talking with Rei until just now, though not as intensely as when near Vihera, had his cheeks faintly tinged with red.
Rei glanced at the knight's state, then replied to Marina without making anything of it.
"What is it?"
"For now, the discussion is settled. Everyone agreed to accept some meat and four Gold Coins each."
"I see."
The number of Gold Coins was slightly more than Rei had expected, but he wasn't hurting for money to begin with.
Considering they had risked their lives fighting the Gigant Turtle, it was within an acceptable range.