"Hoh, the sheer number of Magic Items you have is impressive, Rei. There are quite a few that even my house... the Exolis Count Family could never possibly obtain."
In the park where snow was fluttering down, Rei and the others were still talking with Bluitt.
Bluitt in particular showed great interest in Rei's Magic Items.
Rei had shown him a few of his Magic Items because, despite his interest, Bluitt showed no signs of coveting them for himself.
Starting with the Misty Ring, there were extremely valuable items among the Magic Items Rei possessed.
He had been attacked by people targeting them more times than he could count on the fingers of both hands and feet.
But while Bluitt was surprised by the effects of the Magic Items, he never showed any desire to take them.
No, to be precise, he did desire them, but it would be more accurate to say he had no intention of stealing them from Rei.
Because of that attitude, Rei felt as though he had found a kindred spirit and was able to interact with him comfortably.
"Some were given to me by my master, and many I gathered myself by traveling to various places or had alchemists create for me."
"Hoh, alchemists, huh. My territory does provide aid to alchemists, but... it's no good. Skilled alchemists simply won't come. Well, I understand how they feel. It's not like my territory has any materials that would be attractive to alchemists."
In a frontier region like Gilm, it would not be surprising for alchemists to gather seeking rare materials... and even unknown materials.
Of course, among the alchemists who had gathered in recent years, many had come seeking the materials of Set, the Rare Species griffon Tamed Monster based in Gilm.
As a Rare Species of A-Rank Monster griffon, Set was considered equivalent to an S-Rank Monster, and his materials were something alchemists desired from the bottom of their hearts.
That said, it was not as if they would kill or injure Set to steal his materials; shed hair and feathers were the main items obtained.
In any case, the number of alchemists in Gilm was increasing for such reasons, but the Exolis Count Territory ruled by Bluitt's family had no materials that would excite alchemists.
Of course, common materials were available, but even so, they could not compare to a place like Gilm that could be called a treasure trove of materials.
Still, the Exolis Count Family, desperate to secure alchemists, provided a certain level of financial aid to them and had adopted policies to give alchemists preferential treatment... but even so, the number of alchemists remained small.
Given that, it was only natural for Bluitt to be envious of Gilm.
Of course, Gilm had its own share of problems.
Above all, the location of being a frontier was blessed in terms of securing rare materials, but being a frontier also caused various problems.
The Treant Forest that had suddenly appeared near Gilm, and the Gigant Turtle that emerged from it — if Gilm had been an ordinary town, it was not hard to imagine what would have happened.
"If you're looking to increase the number of alchemists, you might want to reference the Bestia Empire. That nation gives alchemists preferential treatment on a national scale."
"Yeah, I've heard about that. Or rather, we're already referencing it. For alchemists, taxes of various kinds are reduced, rent for housing and laboratories is made cheaper, and we cover part of the material costs, things like that."
"...You go that far?"
At Bluitt's words, Leodanis looked at him with an expression of surprise.
For Leodanis, who had always dreamed of becoming a knight, he had interest in Magic Swords and the like, but not much interest in other Magic Items.
Originally, he had been recruited into the Duke Kerebel's Knight Order based on his sword skills, and Leodanis was not of noble birth.
Because of that, he was greatly surprised by Bluitt's explanation that they went to such lengths to secure alchemists.
Miranda, working as a maid at the Duke Kerebel Mansion, had at least some exposure to territory management, so she more or less understood what Bluitt was trying to say.
"That's right. The Magic Items that alchemists produce become a great power, and a driving force that enriches the territory. ...Even if it doesn't go that far, merchants come seeking Magic Items, so business naturally flourishes. ...Though it's not that easy, of course."
A sigh escaped Bluitt's lips.
Just how difficult it was to gather alchemists. He was probably reflecting on that.
Watching Bluitt, Rei also recalled the faces of alchemists he knew... and understood.
(Well, a lot of alchemists do have intense personalities, after all.)
The alchemist who created the Twilight Spear, and the alchemist who created the Set Basket.
He had met several other alchemists as well, but most of them were not the type to simply listen to what others told them.
Even if told they would receive preferential treatment in various areas, some would show no particular concern for such things, prioritizing pushing forward on their own path, while others only showed interest in things that struck their fancy.
That not all alchemists had such personalities was evidenced by the fact that Bluitt's words showed he had managed to recruit some.
"Well, all I can say is do your best. Monster materials aside, I think it wouldn't be surprising if you had rare materials like ores and such."
"I've been looking into various things, but no hits so far. ...More importantly, let's stop the gloomy talk here. Don't you have any more interesting Magic Items?"
Bluitt asked this not only because he himself had a strong interest in Magic Items, but also because he thought that knowledge of such Magic Items might be useful when he inherited the territory in the future.
That was probably what he was thinking.
Rei had half expected Bluitt's thinking, but since it was not something that would be troublesome to show, he showed the Eye of Nebula equipped at his waist without hesitation and explained its capabilities.
"So it continuously generates weapons as long as you have magic power. That's enviable, but... it also requires a massive amount of magic power to use as a prerequisite. Whether someone can use it or not is a difficult judgment to make."
"I won't deny that."
Rei used the Eye of Nebula to some extent, but only to some extent.
Ideally, Byune, who normally threw Long Needles, would be the best one to use the Eye of Nebula.
However, Byune did not have enough magic power to use the Eye of Nebula.
As a result, even if Byune had the Eye of Nebula, it would be a waste of a treasure.
To show what kind of weapon it actually was, Rei activated the Eye of Nebula and generated an arrowhead.
Someone who knew nothing of the circumstances would probably not realize that using the Eye of Nebula required a large amount of magic power.
That was how effortlessly Rei had activated the Eye of Nebula.
If they hadn't heard about those circumstances beforehand, they might have wondered — Can it really be activated this easily? — and it wouldn't have been strange for them to question the matter with Byune. That was how easily Rei activated the Eye of Nebula.
He then handed the generated arrowhead to Bluitt.
Bluitt himself looked at the arrowhead with interest.
"So this is it... but this isn't that powerful a weapon, is it?"
"That's right. It's essentially a weapon for catching opponents off guard, something like that. That said, this kind of weapon can be quite powerful depending on how you use it."
Saying that, while watching the arrowhead disappear from Bluitt's hand after some time passed, Rei activated the Eye of Nebula once more and generated another arrowhead.
Then, aiming at a dead branch lying on the ground a short distance away... he threw the arrowhead.
The arrowhead, flying as if slicing through the cold winter air, struck the dead branch on the ground and shattered it.
The dead branch was about as thick as Leodanis's arm, so the visual impact was strong.
Of course, since it was a dead branch to begin with, it had become brittle unlike a living branch.
No, depending on the case, it might have even been rotted by snow or rain.
But even taking that into consideration, the impact of seeing what had just happened was strong.
"Well, it turned out like this because it was a dead branch this time, but against a normally growing tree, it has enough power to embed itself into the trunk. Of course, as I've said repeatedly, the range is short, so it's mainly for keeping an opponent at bay, or attacking someone at a slight distance, something like that."
"Hoh... could you let me try?"
At Bluitt's words, Rei generated a new arrowhead and handed it over.
He probably understood that it would disappear quickly from the previous incident. Without hesitation, Bluitt threw the arrowhead toward the ground a short distance away.
The arrowhead released from Bluitt's hand embedded itself in the dirt, but not very deeply.
If Rei had thrown it at the ground, it probably would have gone in much deeper... enough that digging it out would have been somewhat of a hassle.
Understanding that, Bluitt looked at his own hand with a disappointed expression.
"Mastering it is a bit difficult, huh."
"Yeah, I wasn't able to use it that conveniently at first either. This kind of thing comes down to practice."
Relying on his physical abilities, Rei had been able to use it to a certain extent from the start.
But being able to produce proper power like now was the result of having accumulated a fair amount of training.
"I see. That's quite a Magic Item with strong quirks. The fact that the generated arrowheads disappear immediately... you could say it's suited for assassination."
At Bluitt's words about it being suited for assassination, both Leodanis and Miranda showed expressions of surprise, but Rei nodded without any particular attempt to hide it.
"That's a fact I can't deny."
Since the arrowheads used for attack disappeared immediately, no evidence of what kind of weapon was used for the assassination would remain.
No, if the wound were examined, it would be possible to determine the shape of the weapon used, but even so, not having the actual murder weapon would make subsequent investigations difficult.
Merely possessing such a weapon meant that in a critical moment, it wouldn't be strange to come under suspicion.
Of course, if it were a weapon that could be used for assassination, there were many other options, so it wasn't as if only Rei's Eye of Nebula was suspicious.
"But if this is the only one of its kind that I have, wouldn't that mean the moment I use it, people would know I'm the culprit?"
"Now that you mention it, that's true. I pray that Magic Item doesn't get mass-produced. ...Even if it were mass-produced, it seems like it would be quite difficult to use."
"I had this specially made by an alchemist from the Bestia Empire. I think mass-producing it would be difficult."
To be precise, it was made by modifying a Magic Item that generated arrows using magic power.
(If I had known Marina would resign as Guild Master and join us, I wouldn't have had it modified.)
Rei felt a slight regret, but being told to predict that a person serving as Guild Master would step down and resume activity as an adventurer — that would have been an unreasonable expectation.
Besides, Marina did use a bow, but her primary method of attack was still Spirit Magic.
Of course, that didn't mean she was poor with a bow. In terms of pure bowmanship, she would rank among the top even among Gilm's skilled adventurers.
That meant that, for those who used bows, Marina had mastered the highest level of technique.
...Originally being a Dark Elf, she probably had an aptitude for bows, but it was undoubted that she had honed her skills over her long adventurer life.
Objectively speaking, it would not be strange to describe Marina as being beloved by the weapon known as the bow, but even more than that, she was beloved by Spirits.
And far more deeply and broadly than by bows.
As a result, Marina still used a bow, but came to use Spirit Magic more frequently.
"The Bestia Empire, huh. ...I do want to visit at least once, but... it would probably be difficult."
"For the next head of the Exolis Count Family to visit a neighboring country they've been hostile to for many years, even if they're not currently at war... I would advise against it."
Hearing Bluitt's words, Leodanis immediately stated as much.
Leodanis was not Bluitt's subordinate, but as someone who belonged to the Duke Kerebel's Knight Order and loved his country, that was all he could say.