"Um, then I'll have the Orc stew, a sandwich, a summer vegetable salad, and fruit water."
"I'll have the same, please."
After a brief round of introductions, Rei and Ilse entered the diner and sat at a table freshly vacated by customers who had just finished their meals, placing their orders right away.
The waitress swiftly cleared the previous customers' dishes, wiped down the table, and in a matter of mere seconds, the surface was spotless.
Rei was slightly surprised by this, but he concluded that professional skills were impressive after all and took his seat.
...Incidentally, Set had already returned to aerial patrol.
Naturally, Set would have wanted to stay with Rei, but from Rei's assessment of Ilse's financial situation, she clearly could not afford to treat Set as well.
Well, it's a given that not everyone is like Mirene or Yohanna, after all.
Individuals with a certain level of power who nevertheless loved Set—spending money earned from requests without a second thought to dote on him. Rei recalled the faces of those two, but quickly redirected his gaze to the person in front of him.
She had followed him saying she would treat him to a meal, but it was easy to imagine that she didn't genuinely intend to treat him out of apology or gratitude for yesterday's incident.
Hoping it was business that could be settled in the time before their food arrived, Rei spoke up.
"So? You didn't really just invite me to a meal over yesterday's incident, did you?"
"You can tell, huh?"
Ilse, too, probably hadn't expected to brush it off with that excuse.
She readily agreed with Rei's words.
...Incidentally, no small number of people in the diner were directing their gazes toward Rei and Ilse, but Rei was accustomed to receiving attention and silently ignored the stares.
Ilse, too, was apparently aware that she possessed beauty enough to draw men's attention, and she brushed off those gazes by running a hand through her green hair, cut even at her shoulders.
Though it seemed to her that the nature of the stares directed her way was somewhat different.
And in fact, she wasn't wrong about that.
For those who knew what kind of existence Rei was, seeing him with an unfamiliar woman—and one beautiful enough to be called a beauty—was enough to stir up all sorts of feelings.
There was the morbid curiosity about what would happen if Marina or Vihera, who were always around Rei, saw him talking with such a beauty.
Or jealousy over why Rei alone kept getting close to beautiful women.
Though few in number, there was also jealousy directed at Ilse for appearing to be on familiar terms with Rei.
Rei usually wore the hood of his Dragon Robe, but his bare face was refined enough to be called feminine.
Among those who knew Rei's appearance, there were some who felt protective urges toward the small-statured Rei despite his well-featured face.
...Though almost no one showed it outwardly.
In the first place, Rei was a celebrity in Gilm in every sense of the word.
His exploits in battle were also widely known.
What's more, with women of absolute beauty like Marina and Vihera around Rei, there was no way anyone could carelessly approach him.
"Hm?"
Feeling a gaze different from the usual, Ilse tilted her head slightly... and apparently deciding it was probably just her imagination, she turned back toward Rei and was about to speak... but stopped herself when she saw the waitress bringing their food.
It had been only a few minutes since they placed their order before the food arrived.
Then again, what they had ordered was Orc stew, a sandwich, a summer vegetable salad, and fruit water.
The stew was naturally something that could be made in large batches ahead of time, and the same went for the salad. The sandwich was not made in-house but sourced from a contracted bakery, and fruit water was something that would naturally be prepared in advance during this season.
In short, since all the dishes were already prepared, the only time needed was for plating.
Thinking about it that way, it was only natural that the food was brought out in a few minutes.
"Um... well then, let's eat first."
Rei nodded at Ilse's words and reached for the sandwich.
As could be inferred from seeing satisfied customers leaving, it was a reasonably tasty sandwich.
That his assessment was slightly harsher might have had something to do with the bukkake udon he had eaten earlier.
That was proof of just how delicious the udon had been.
In particular, the fruit water not being properly chilled was a slight source of dissatisfaction for Rei.
A Magic Item for cooling, like a refrigerator, inevitably ended up being expensive.
Considering that the bukkake udon earlier had cost about three times the normal price despite being a single serving, one could understand just how expensive such things were.
At any rate, the dishes served were still decent in flavor, so Rei ate without particular complaint.
While eating, Rei spoke to Ilse.
"So, what was the actual business you had with me?"
"Mm... munch... Well, you see..."
After swallowing the Orc stew that had been in her mouth, Ilse directed a serious gaze at Rei.
As far as Ilse was concerned, she would have preferred to talk in a more serious setting rather than a place like this, but she judged herself lucky to have gotten the opportunity to speak with Rei at all and opened her mouth.
"Um... I heard that Rei-san doesn't particularly care even if the other party is a noble. Is that true?"
"I can't really say, since I don't know what you mean by 'doesn't care.'"
"Oh, sorry. Right. It seems that normally, people would hesitate when they have to oppose a noble for some reason, but I heard that Rei-san wouldn't hesitate to oppose a noble."
"That's right. Basically, that's true. Of course, it depends on the other party."
The talk of nobles was merely a conversation starter.
But still, the fact that Rei showed no sign of backing down even against a noble was a welcome thing for Ilse as well.
Seeing this, Rei began to wonder if Ilse had some personal feelings regarding nobles.
Of course, if the opponent she'd be hostile toward were someone like Elena or Daskar, he wouldn't intend to antagonize them so readily.
"I see... Um, if you don't mind, may I ask what criteria you use to judge friends and enemies?"
"What criteria, you say. I deal amicably with those who are amicable toward me, and I oppose those who are hostile. Something like that."
Just as she had expected... no, even more straightforward and clear-cut a method of distinguishing friend from foe than she had expected. Ilse was slightly surprised and at the same time envious.
Normally, even if the other party was hostile, if that party was a noble, one would try to be deferential and avoid antagonizing them. At the very least, that was what Ilse would do.
If she carelessly defied them and was killed... or even if it didn't go that far, if she was injured in a way that rendered her limbs unusable or impaired her daily life, she would become unable to take her revenge.
Opposing a hostile party with a hostile response was, in the end, something only someone with power as great as Rei's could do.
That was precisely why she envied Rei from the bottom of her heart for possessing such power.
"Is that... so. Honestly, I envy you, Rei-san."
That was likely the reason she ended up voicing words she normally wouldn't have needed to say.
And once spoken, Ilse found herself unable to stop her own mouth.
"I may not be able to handle everything, but you possess the strength to manage against most opponents. And yet, you can live as you please. I truly, from the bottom of my heart, envy you."
With those words, as if wishing that the sandwich in her hands were her enemy, she brought it to her mouth... and tore off a bite.
After swallowing the sandwich in her mouth, Ilse opened her mouth again.
"If I had the same power as Rei-san... then I could kill that man right now. Kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him."
Harboring deep hatred in her eyes, Ilse thought of her enemy.
The enemy of her kind parents and older brother... the enemy of her family.
She would normally never speak of such things, but the fact that she ended up talking to Rei like this, as if venting, was partly due to her envy of Rei's power, but more than that, the discovery that her enemy was here in Gilm was a major factor.
And despite knowing her enemy was here, being unable to lay a hand on him was apparently causing her more stress than even she had imagined.
"...Sounds like you've got quite a story behind all this."
Having listened to everything Ilse said, and even though the hatred-filled gaze directed at him wasn't actually aimed at him, Rei continued his meal without showing any concern before speaking.
"Ah!?"
At Rei's words, Ilse apparently realized that she had been voicing her true feelings—feelings she would normally never reveal.
She drew a sharp breath and pressed her hand over her mouth.
What's more, inside this diner, there were not only craftsmen and laborers working on the expansion construction, but also a fair number of adventurers.
Among such adventurers, there were a few who had sensed the killing intent Ilse had released and were directing their gazes toward her.
However, even those people, upon realizing that the woman speaking was talking to Rei, returned to their meals and conversations.
Their behavior was likely based on the assumption that if Rei was present, it wouldn't escalate into a major incident.
Rei, who had been thus assessed, noticed that several adventurers had directed their gazes toward him and showed a slightly displeased attitude, but it quickly faded.
Because he felt that, right now, hearing what Ilse had to say took priority above all else.
Though it wasn't as if Rei held any special—specifically, romantic—interest in Ilse.
At any rate, Ilse, now regarded by Rei, failed to notice that she had unconsciously been emitting killing intent and took a deep breath.
Sensing killing intent and the like was something one could only do after reaching a higher level of skill, but Ilse at her current level did not possess such ability.
"Um, you see. I want to ask Rei-san... what do you think about revenge?"
Originally, she had planned to ask about revenge more indirectly, just as she had when asking about nobles.
But having already blurted out the feelings she harbored inside, it was too late for that now.
The drink was fruit water, not ale or anything... and even if it had been ale, there's no way I'd get drunk from just that.
Suppressing the urge to roll around on the floor over her own blunder, Ilse waited for Rei's answer about revenge.
Rei, without any particular sign of tension or deep thought, opened his mouth.
"Well, I don't see why not?"
"...Huh?"
It was likely because Rei's words, delivered in such a light manner, were so unexpected.
Until now, she had indirectly asked various people what they thought about revenge.
But most of them had spoken dismissively, saying revenge was meaningless, that it was an act that made no one happy, that it was wrong—a negative view.
Not everyone had been like that; a small number had been favorable toward revenge... but even so, she never expected Rei to affirm the act of revenge so readily.
Because of that, Ilse stared intently at Rei once more.
...Normally, being stared at so fixedly by a beauty like Ilse would be enough to make one blush... but in Rei's case, perhaps because beings like Elena were always nearby, he didn't feel particularly flustered.
"Do you really think that?"
"Yeah. I've carried out revenge myself before, so I can't very well stop someone else from seeking it."
Of course, the revenge Rei spoke of wasn't anything as serious as having someone close to him killed.
He didn't know what kind of revenge Ilse was referring to, but Rei was nevertheless tolerant of the act of revenge itself.
Those who say revenge is fundamentally wrong—would they still say that if they were put in the same position as someone actually considering revenge? If they could endure being on the receiving end without retaliating, then saying revenge is wrong would have at least some persuasive power.
From Rei's perspective, his understanding was that the majority of those who said such things were people speaking from a place completely unrelated to the revenge in question.
It wouldn't be surprising if there were even shameless people who had caused the very situation that led to talk of revenge, yet still went around saying revenge was wrong.
Ilse, seeing Rei's demeanor, seemed to have been moved by something.
Without saying anything more, she settled the bill and left the diner.