"...How did things even come to this?"
Rei sighed and turned his gaze toward the man standing before him.
The man was in his twenties, his face flushed bright red with anger. He gripped a longsword, directing a glare laced with fury at Rei.
The sole saving grace was that his glare contained anger but no actual intent to kill.
Shifting his gaze sideways, Rei took in the sight of Vihera, who wore a troubled expression, and Byune, whose face remained as blank as ever.
How Rei had ended up in this situation wasn't particularly difficult to explain.
"Understood?! If I win, you never bother Vihera again!"
The man leveled the tip of his longsword at Rei and shouted.
It all started when Rei finished his talk with Worker, exchanged a few words with Lenora and Kenny, and stepped out of the Guild.
As if they had timed it perfectly, Vihera and Byune returned to the Guild just then, having finished their patrol of Gilm.
...However, Vihera and Byune weren't the only ones on patrol duty.
The town didn't have enough guards, so adventurers had been hired to patrol the streets, working in groups of several.
The man who had been in Vihera's group was perhaps overly prone to jumping to conclusions, or maybe he simply had zero resistance to women—either way, he had completely lost his head over Vihera, a beauty one didn't easily come across.
It wasn't as if Vihera had done anything to lead him on. The man had simply fallen in love at first sight the moment he saw her.
Combined with a misplaced confidence in his own abilities, he had convinced himself that he was the man worthy of Vihera.
He had launched a fierce pursuit, but naturally, Vihera had no intention of giving him the time of day. When he saw the radiant smile Vihera gave upon spotting Rei, he essentially snapped.
"Hey... are you seriously planning to fight me?"
The man before Rei wasn't the only one who had been in Vihera's group. There were veteran adventurers who had been active in Gilm for a long time, and they naturally knew full well how powerful Rei was.
That was exactly why they tried to stop him. But the man, his capacity for reason half-destroyed by his infatuation with Vihera and his jealousy toward Rei, refused to listen.
"Vihera."
As a last resort, Rei turned to her, but her only response was a shake of her head.
Vihera had rejected his advances every single time he approached her.
But the man somehow twisted that rejection in his mind, convincing himself that Vihera was being deceived by Rei.
Deciding that he couldn't forgive Rei for approaching her, he had provoked him—leading to the current situation.
"What's wrong?! Are you scared?! Fight me fair and square! I am Melan Canning!"
At the man's shout... or rather, at Melan's introduction, Rei was mildly surprised.
The man had just announced himself as Melan Canning. He had given a surname.
In this world, having a surname was extraordinarily rare. It wasn't something a mere adventurer would normally possess.
(A noble? Or did he accomplish some great deed?)
The thought crossed his mind for a moment, but he decided it didn't matter. This was a duel, and the outcome was already decided.
"Alright, this is getting annoying. I get the gist of what you're thinking, so let's just wrap this up."
Saying that, Rei took a stance.
However, he didn't ready Death Scythe, the Twilight Spear, or the Thorn Spear. He simply raised his fists.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?"
Despite the fact that he himself had a longsword drawn, Rei held no weapon. He had merely clenched his fists loosely and raised them in front of his face.
To Melan, it could only be seen as an insult.
The onlookers couldn't help but look up at the sky at Melan's protest. They were lucky Rei wasn't taking the fight seriously. The fact that Melan failed to grasp that left them at a loss for words.
"It means I don't need a weapon to deal with you. Besides, I'm actually pretty good at fighting bare-handed, believe it or not."
His words were not a lie. Furthermore, using a weapon carried the risk of accidentally killing his opponent. Bare-handed, that concern was almost nonexistent.
The reason he said "almost" was that with Rei's physical abilities, killing someone with his bare hands was entirely possible.
"Tch!? We'll see if you're still arrogant after you lose!"
With those words, Melan closed the distance in one burst and brought his longsword down.
...The fact that he aimed the flat of the blade rather than the edge was proof that, despite challenging Rei to a duel, he had no intention of actually killing him.
(Huh. He looks like he's lost his temper, but he's surprisingly thoughtful.)
Watching the flat of the descending blade, Rei took a step back. The longsword sliced through the air in front of his eyes.
Catching sight of Melan arresting the sword's momentum before it struck the ground, Rei stepped forward. With Melan's movement momentarily stalled from his full-powered swing missing its mark, Rei thrust out his fist.
In that instant, a sound rang out that was impossible to attribute to a person striking another.
Melan was wearing Leather Armor, but the impact rendered it utterly meaningless. He felt a momentary sensation of weightlessness before his consciousness was snuffed out.
In this case, Melan was actually lucky to have lost consciousness. It spared him the experience of his body being sent flying several meters, dragging across the ground, and rolling for several more.
"H-Hey. Look at that Leather Armor. Is that... a fist mark?"
One of the spectators murmured.
Those who heard him turned their eyes toward Melan's armor. Just as the man had said, a clear imprint of a fist was pressed into the Leather Armor.
Under normal circumstances, punching Leather Armor wouldn't leave such a clean dent. It was proof of just how devastating the power behind Rei's strike was.
"You certainly did things your way," Vihera said, her voice tinged with exasperation, watching Rei approach her while everyone else stood frozen in shock, staring at the fist print.
What Rei had done was clear to her. No—it was clear to her precisely because she was Vihera.
Among Vihera's skills was Magic Impact Palm, which sent a surge of magical power directly into an opponent's body upon contact, dealing internal damage. Of course, after absorbing Unbris, her Magic Impact Palm had evolved into a brutal technique that injected magical power into the target and detonated them from the inside.
What Rei did was similar to Magic Impact Palm, yet fundamentally different. The result—dealing internal damage—was the same, but his method was simply punching through the Leather Armor and overwhelming the body with brute force.
Even with Rei holding back considerably, the power was more than enough to send Melan flying.
"Really? I held back so he wouldn't die. He won't be in any life-threatening danger. I don't think I broke any bones, either."
"You held back? That's rare for you, Rei."
"Hey, I don't always beat people half to death, you know."
Rei protested, but Vihera looked at him with unconvinced eyes.
"Given everything you've done up until now, do you honestly expect me to believe that?"
Faced with that, Rei couldn't help but reflect on his past actions.
"Well, if I think about it as you fighting for my sake, I'm quite pleased as a woman."
True to her words, Vihera smiled, looking genuinely delighted.
Nearby, Rei thought he caught Byune directing a somewhat exasperated look at Vihera. Her expression was as blank as always, but something about her aura felt different.
Perhaps noticing Byune's gaze, Vihera changed the subject.
"So, the fact that you're back means the business over there is taken care of?"
"Yeah, that's done. But I hear they're finally tearing down the wall?"
"Apparently so. I haven't been very involved with that side of things."
Since Vihera primarily worked assisting the Guards, she likely hadn't had much involvement with the construction efforts.
"I see. Is Marina out at the Treant Forest again today?"
"Yes. Her Spirit Magic has been a huge help, apparently. Word is the woodcutters' morale has gone through the roof."
"...Well, it is a male-dominated workplace."
There were exceptions, but woodcutters were generally men. At the very least, every woodcutter Rei knew of in Gilm was male.
With a bewitching beauty like Marina working alongside them, it was only natural that many would want to show off.
But more than that, Marina had Spirit Magic.
Cutting lumber in the summer heat was grueling work. They sometimes worked in the shade of the trees, but that provided only marginal relief.
But when you added a Spirit Magic user into the equation, everything changed.
Marina was particularly adept with water and Wind Spirits, both of which excelled at exactly that kind of environmental effect.
In other words, the woodcutters were able to work in a remarkably cool environment despite the summer heat.
Naturally, Marina was immensely popular among them.
"But she should be heading back soon. What do you say? Want to head to the Wheat Inn at dusk?"
"Yeah, sounds good. I have some business with Marina, but that can wait until tonight."
"Oh? Is Marina the only one you have business with?"
"No, it's not like that."
The Magic Items he had seized from Count Relduct's manor—ones he had no use for, which he wanted Marina to display at her mansion. He couldn't possibly say that here, with so many eyes watching, so he deflected with a vague answer.
Seeing Rei's demeanor, Vihera seemed to understand that there were circumstances involved. She didn't press the matter further and simply gave a small nod.
"Then I'll go report to the Guild. Can you wait a moment?"
"I don't mind, but... what about him?"
Rei glanced at Melan, who had fallen in love with Vihera, misunderstood the situation, picked a fight with Rei, and was now unconscious from a single blow.
"Right. Could someone drag him into the shade? We can't just leave him lying out in the summer sun."
At Vihera's request, several of the adventurers who had been patrolling with her nodded and hauled Melan into the shade.
(She's got a solid grasp on her companions, doesn't she?)
Melan might have been the most extreme case, but there were probably plenty of others equally captivated by Vihera.
"I'll be playing with Set, then."
"Sure, I'll be right back."
With that, Vihera led Byune and the others into the Guild.
Rei watched them go, then headed over to where Set was lying beside the Guild building.
Set had naturally witnessed the duel—though calling it a duel was generous—and had apparently recognized the overwhelming gap in strength. Without getting up, he hadn't made any move to intervene.
...Or perhaps his attention had simply been focused on the Sandwiches someone had left for him.
"Grrrl."
Spotting Rei, Set purred, leaving the Sandwiches he had been eating while lying down. Rei smiled faintly at the sight.
"You know, you could at least pretend to worry about me a little."
"Gruu?"
Did I need to worry? Set's purr seemed to ask. Rei gently stroked his head.
In winter, Set's body and fur would be warm and inviting, but right now it was summer. That was probably why the usual crowd hadn't gathered to pet him.
Though there were always those who didn't care about the heat and hugged Set regardless of the season.
Seeing the Sandwiches Set was eating, Rei felt a small pang of hunger. He pulled some Sandwiches of his own from his Misty Ring and began eating.
"Grrrrl."
Rei's Sandwiches must have looked delicious. Set purred, asking for some.
As always, Rei had a soft spot for Set. He shared his Sandwiches and settled in to wait for Vihera and Byune to come back out.