"Well then, introductions... might not be necessary, but I'll go ahead and do them anyway. I'm Rei. I was asked to look after things here today. And this is Set."
"Gruu."
When Set let out a cry from beside Rei, the adventurers each reacted in their own way.
Some narrowed their eyes happily at the sight of Set. Others merely glanced at him, already accustomed to his presence. A few, perhaps unaccustomed as they had only just arrived in Gilm, involuntarily stepped back.
Among them all, Ajas merely shifted his eyebrows for a moment upon seeing Set, and nothing more.
(Has he seen Set before? Well, it wouldn't be strange even if he had.)
What Rei knew about Ajas came only after hearing the story from Ilse.
Given that, if Ajas had been in Gilm before Ilse arrived, he would have had plenty of opportunities to see Set.
For better or worse, Set was an extremely conspicuous presence.
While attention remained fixed on Set, an adventurer in his thirties who had been assigned as their caretaker spoke up.
"I'm Rugluno, a D-Rank adventurer. I'll be looking after everyone today, so I look forward to working with you."
A low-key man with neither an exceptionally high rank nor any hint of pretension.
Naturally, the adventurers directed their gazes toward Set, whose presence far outshone Rugluno's.
Rugluno, however, paid their demeanor no particular mind and continued.
"Listen up. Your first task will be escorting the woodcutters. The key thing to watch out for is not getting too close to them. If you do, you'll be in the way when they fell trees... and if you're careless, there's a real danger of being crushed by a falling log."
Crushed by a tree.
The moment Rugluno said those words, the gazes of the adventurers who had been watching Set snapped toward him.
For someone extraordinary like Rei, it would be a different story, but normally, being crushed by one of the trees growing in the Treant Forest meant serious injury at best. At worst, death.
Since their lives were on the line, the adventurers couldn't afford to keep gawking at the novelty of Set. It was only natural.
Rugluno continued his explanation with a faint smile at their reaction.
What kinds of monsters appeared in the Treant Forest.
The actions those monsters most commonly took.
Whether or not the monsters coordinated with one another.
He walked them through the precautions for combat in the Treant Forest, point by point.
Rei let the explanation wash over him while keeping an eye on Ajas.
At first glance, he appeared to be listening earnestly.
Of course, since it concerned his own life, there was nothing strange about paying attention...
Still, perhaps because of the preconception planted by Ilse's story, from Rei's perspective, it seemed as though Ajas was somehow forcing himself to blend in with his surroundings.
(Well, it's probably just my imagination though.)
If he kept watching only Ajas, the man might catch on.
Making that judgment, Rei shifted his gaze across the others as well.
What he noticed was that several of the newcomer group were directing vaguely mocking looks at Rugluno.
It would have been one thing if Rugluno had only been polite to Rei, but the fact that he showed the same courteous deference to the newcomers as well had an effect.
Since he acted so humbly, they figured he must be weaker than them.
That was likely what they thought.
The people here were not newcomers in the sense of being new to adventiving.
Rather, since they had come all the way to Gilm, it was a safe bet they possessed a certain level of skill.
Even among such people... or perhaps precisely because of that, when the other party acted humbly, they convinced themselves he was beneath them.
(I can't expect much from them.)
Even in Rei's eyes, Rugluno was someone of considerable ability.
At the very least, his combat prowess was clearly superior to those who dismissed him as weaker.
If they couldn't even see that, whether they would be of any use as guards... honestly, Rei had his doubts.
Of course, the real reason people had been gathered here today was ultimately to investigate Ajas and shake him up. The others who had been selected were little more than window dressing.
(A dead tree still adds to the bustle of the mountain... was it?)
While he reminisced, Rugluno's explanation came to an end, and everyone dispersed into the Treant Forest.
Those who immediately grabbed axes were probably intending to fell trees to earn a little extra money.
Not everyone did so, of course. Some moved to prioritize escort duty. But it was only natural that those making the most flashy movements drew the eye.
(Ajas... isn't moving, huh.)
Seeing Ajas move to take up a guard position, Rei started walking as well... before stopping to call out to Rugluno, who had been about to go check on the other adventurers.
"Ah, I'll just have a look around the area. Go ahead and do as you like."
"Ah, yes. Understood. I don't think there's any need to worry with you, Rei-san, but please be careful all the same."
Receiving those words, Rei headed into the Treant Forest.
"Come to think of it, it's been quite a while since I actually set foot inside the forest. It seems like the forest's vitality has declined compared to before... Is this an aftereffect of the Gigant Turtle being gone, too? ...Well, as long as it doesn't cause any harm to the trees."
As he walked and observed the condition of the forest, his target soon came into view.
The man was neither felling trees like some of the adventurers who had rushed ahead, nor was he standing guard beside the woodcutters.
All he was doing was surveying his surroundings.
"Hey. What are you up to?"
"Ah? ...Oh, it's Rei."
Perhaps startled by the sudden address, Ajas shot a sharp glance at Rei for an instant before muttering as if in relief.
"Thought I'd come see how the others are doing. So, what are you doing, Ajas? Even if you're not felling trees like the rest of them, shouldn't you at least be guarding the woodcutters?"
"Even to stand guard, this is the Treant Forest, isn't it? It's necessary to get a firm grasp on what kind of place this is first."
It was an argument Rei had no choice but to accept.
When standing guard, knowing what kind of place this was... and moreover, confirming it firsthand with your own eyes rather than just hearing about it from others, was undeniably important.
"Huh. You're quite cautious."
"Yeah. Caution is essential when making a living as an adventurer."
Ajas replied without so much as a shift in expression.
But Rei, carrying the preconception planted by Ilse's story, couldn't help but feel there was something behind those words.
Specifically, that if someone set out to murder a family of traveling merchants, they would need to be cautious enough to avoid detection.
Of course, Rei understood that his judgment was colored by preexisting bias.
Understanding that, he continued the conversation with the man before him.
"I see. It'd be nice if everyone were as cautious as you."
"...Hearing you say that means a lot."
Perhaps he was simply pleased to be praised by Rei—a high-rank adventurer and Alias Holder.
Ajas offered a smile and met Rei's gaze.
Seeing Ajas like that, Rei judged the timing was right and opened his mouth.
"It's all well and good for adventurers to be cautious, but I'd rather they not be quite so cautious when it comes to things like bandits."
"I'd heard there were no bandits or the like in the frontier of Gilm?"
"Basically, that's true. But sometimes they do turn up. Actually, some appeared not too long ago."
Strictly speaking, they hadn't been bandits at all, but Count Relduct's men. Rei left that part unsaid and continued.
"...Bandits, huh."
After a few seconds of silence, Ajas offered that response.
That silence only deepened Rei's suspicion.
But he nodded without letting it show.
"Yeah. Right now, a huge number of merchants are gathering in Gilm, right? Among them, there are guys bringing in all sorts of expensive goods so they don't miss out on this business opportunity. Bandits who target those. There's been actual damage done."
"Foolish bandits, to try something like that."
"Yeah. Eventually the matter landed in my lap, and most of those bandits were caught... wonder what's become of them by now."
Whether he sensed something in Rei's meaningful murmur, Ajas drew a sharp breath for an instant.
For Ajas, a D-Rank adventurer, the presence of something... no, of something leaking from Rei's small frame should have been enough to put him on guard.
But Rei pretended not to notice Ajas's reaction and spoke again.
"I may not look it, but I actually like Gilm quite a bit. When it comes down to it, it's the town that took me and Set in. That's exactly why I don't show any mercy to Gilm's enemies."
"That's... should I say the residents of Gilm are lucky, then?"
In response to Rei's words, Ajas offered a smile that seemed to gloss something over.
"I wonder about that. It doesn't necessarily mean they're lucky just because I'm here. Actually, there are even people who specifically target me and make their move."
"...They make a move because you're there? Is there really someone stupid enough to try something like that?"
The expression on Ajas's face as he asked that was no act. It was filled with genuine bewilderment.
And naturally so. Just how much power Rei possessed was something anyone could easily grasp if they had heard even the slightest rumor about him.
In the first place, here was someone who could single-handedly stand against an entire army—and emerge nearly unscathed—and who, by riding Set, possessed enough mobility to be called elusive while flying through the sky. The idea that anyone would willingly pick a fight with such a person was simply beyond Ajas's comprehension.
"There are, you know. Actually, it's happened plenty of times before. In this world, there are people who think they're special, that whatever they do will absolutely succeed, that they'll be forgiven... there are people who think exactly like that."
Just like you.
Though he didn't say it aloud, Rei conveyed that to Ajas through his gaze.
Receiving that look, Ajas seemed unable to tell whether he was the one being talked about or if it was someone else entirely, and his expression showed open confusion.
(Now then, whether this is an act or not... if it is, I have to admit it's impressive.)
From Rei's perspective, there were suspicious things about Ajas, but nothing was confirmed.
Rather, in undertaking the escort of the woodcutters, the man had taken it upon himself to survey the Treant Forest firsthand. Rei recognized that he possessed considerable caution and genuine skill as an adventurer.
When he considered that this same caution might be connected to what had happened with Ilse, it undeniably left him with an unsettling feeling.
"Rei? What's wrong, looking at me like that? Is something the matter?"
"Ah, no. I was just remembering the battle that took place in this Treant Forest a while back."
"I've heard about that too. Something about a giant turtle monster appearing, right?"
"That's right. ...From here, the other trees get in the way so it's a bit hard to see, but over in that direction, a fair number of trees were knocked down when that monster... the Gigant Turtle moved through."
Given the Gigant Turtle's massive bulk, the trees growing in the Treant Forest had been toppled deep into the woods, leaving a trail that looked almost like a road.
Indeed, it literally reached all the way to the center of the Treant Forest.
Several foolhardy individuals, including adventurers, had slipped past the watchful eyes of the Knight Order and the guards to head toward the center of the Treant Forest, but in the end, there was nothing left to find.
...However, since it had been a place where an existence that could be called the very will of the Treant Forest once resided, the trees growing there were thought to be of higher quality than the ones the woodcutters were currently felling.
"I see. Fascinating. ...I'd like to go see it once myself, but... that's out of the question, I suppose?"
"Yeah, unfortunately. Because there have been some people who trespassed over that way a few times, I hear security on that side has gotten stricter too."
Strictly speaking, they were keeping watch specifically around the path the Gigant Turtle had carved.
Of course, they were patrolling other areas as well, so it couldn't exactly be called airtight security.
"Security?"
Ajas reacted to that word.
"Hm? You didn't know? The Treant Forest is being guarded by guards and knights so people can't just cut down trees however they please."
"...But after that incident you were involved in was settled, there's almost no danger left in this forest anymore, right? So why would security still be necessary?"
"Now then, I wonder why."
Rei had been told and already knew that the trees of the Treant Forest were special in various ways.
But figuring there was no need to go out of his way to mention it, Rei played dumb.