"Then I'll leave Set in your care."
"Umu. Ielo enjoys playing with Set, so there's no need to worry about that. You go and enjoy yourself too, Rei."
Elena's words carried a note of understanding. Ideally, the man she loved going out to eat with another woman wasn't something she'd welcome. But the other party this time was Kenny. Elena had met her before and acknowledged her existence.
Of course, the thought also crossed her mind that compared to herself, Marina, and Vihera, Kenny was perhaps a somewhat difficult match for Rei. The three of them shared a long lifespan alongside him. Kenny, being a beastman, didn't differ greatly from an ordinary human in that regard.
"Set, go play with Ielo for a bit, okay?"
"Gruu!"
Following Elena, Rei spoke to Set, who purred in understanding. For Set, not being able to stay with Rei was disappointing, but getting to play with Ielo was a joy in its own right. That was why he obeyed Rei's words so readily.
...Had they pretended to leave him at the Wheat Inn at Dusk's stable, Set certainly wouldn't have resisted given his personality, but he still would have felt quite lonely.
"Kyu! Kyuu!"
"Gururu!"
Ielo, who had bounded over to Set's side, immediately let out eager cries. Set purred happily in response, and the two began racing around Marina's courtyard together.
Rei watched their game of chase, but Elena's voice brought him back to his senses.
"Rei, you can't keep Kenny waiting, can you? You should head out early."
"Hm? Ah, right. Then I'll leave Set to you."
"Umu, leave it to me."
After a brief exchange, Rei exited Marina's house and made his way through the Noble District.
Sure enough, the patrols have increased.
Soldiers employed by nobles and adventurers hired on a temporary basis walked the streets of the Noble District in plain sight. It was only natural. Gilm was currently drawing in a massive influx of job seekers, and among them were the inevitable miscreants—people who would sneak into noble mansions to steal. That was precisely why the nobles posted patrols around their estates and throughout the district to keep suspicious figures out.
Of course, hiring adventurers cost money. Recruiting trustworthy ones who could be entrusted with this kind of work—rather than the Expansion Construction—naturally demanded substantial compensation. Such arrangements likely required extensive negotiation between nobles of the same faction, or even across factions with friendly ties, to produce the current state of affairs.
The adventurers patrolling here naturally stayed vigilant for suspicious individuals and, depending on the circumstances, might even stop and question them.
"Ooh, Rei. Rare to see you alone. Where's Set?"
An adventurer on patrol called out upon spotting him. Recognizing Rei wearing a Dragon Robe without Set at his side meant the man had a certain level of skill and, above all, knew Rei personally. The adventurers trusted enough to be hired by Noble District residents were naturally those who had been in Gilm for some time—in other words, people who had known Rei for a while.
...Though anyone who came to Gilm after doing even basic information gathering would naturally know of Rei's existence.
"I've got an appointment. Heading into town."
"I see. More people lately means more suspicious folks too, so be careful. ...Wait, that's not something for a C-Rank Adventurer like me to be saying to Rei the Alias-Bearer, is it?"
The adventurer laughed sheepishly, and the others nearby joined in.
"I'll watch out for suspicious people. See you."
After that brief exchange, Rei parted ways with the patrol and left the Noble District behind.
Once outside, he was back on the familiar city streets. The increased foot traffic had made things considerably more bustling, and with the hour approaching quitting time, the crowd was swelling further as early finishers poured in.
As he walked through the busy streets...
"Excuse me, I'm waiting for someone! So I don't have time to entertain you! Got it!?"
As he neared the Small Goods Shop where they'd agreed to meet, that voice reached his ears. It was one Rei recognized immediately—and more importantly, it belonged to the very person he was supposed to meet.
"Even if you say that, there's no one else here, right? If your friend shows up, we'll all go together. How about it?"
"Listen... if you don't cut it out, I'm going to get angry."
"Oh no, scary. If a beautiful lady like you got mad at me, I'd cry."
"Gyahahaha. Don't say stuff that doesn't suit you."
Rei moved closer to the Small Goods Shop, listening to the exchange. The scene that greeted him was exactly what he'd expected: three young men were hitting on Kenny, who had changed into her private clothes.
Might as well bail her out. This dragging on won't be entertaining.
Just as Rei was about to step forward...
"Listen, I'm going on a date now. And not with worthless people like you, but with someone far more amazing. I don't want him getting the wrong idea, so hurry up and go home, okay?"
"What'd you say!?"
Kenny's half-provocative words had been careless, but even she probably hadn't expected the man to suddenly throw a punch over them. A look of surprise crossed her face for just an instant—then in the next moment, she dodged his fist with the fluid grace characteristic of felines, seized his arm, redirected the flow of force, and threw him.
A throw that harnessed the enemy's own attack, much like aikido. The man who'd thrown the punch was slammed into the ground by his own power, without even understanding what had been done to him.
"Guh!"
"Wha—!? ...You bitch!"
Seeing their companion slammed to the ground, one of the remaining two lunged at Kenny reflexively... and naturally met the same fate as the first.
"Listen, this level of self-defense is mandatory for an Adventurer's Guild receptionist. Depending on the situation, we even have to fight adventurers."
The two on the ground and the one still standing all stared at her with dumbfounded expressions.
"The Guild's... receptionist?"
"That's right. Since we deal with adventurers, we need a certain level of strength. At the very least, people like you can't do a thing about me. Got that, boy?"
Kenny delivered the line teasingly, but having just had her strength demonstrated firsthand, the men couldn't muster a single rebuttal. Their bravado had relied entirely on the assumption that they were stronger than her.
...Had this not been Gilm, they might have been able to throw their weight around to some extent.
"Well then, if you've learned your lesson, stop fooling around and work honestly. ...Ah, Rei-kun."
Noticing Rei's figure just as she finished lecturing the men, Kenny called his name with a radiant smile. There was nothing in her expression to suggest she'd been scolding anyone seconds prior—it was a look truly befitting a girl in love. That instantaneous transformation was something the men, having been so effortlessly floored, could hardly accept as real. All they could do was stare blankly at Kenny and Rei.
"Were you in the middle of something?"
"It's fine, really. Nothing actually happened. ...Come on, more importantly, let's get going. It's about that time, and you must be hungry too, Rei-kun, right?"
"Yeah, you're right. ...Then let's do that. But before that... Yeah, it's not the first time I've seen you in private clothes, but it does feel like it's been a while since I've seen you in something other than your Guild uniform."
It was neither flattery nor empty politeness—just an honest observation.
...To be precise, he'd picked up from the games, manga, and anime he consumed back in Japan that complimenting a woman's outfit when meeting up was the expected thing to do. And the fact that seeing Kenny in her private clothes was genuinely rare made it all the more striking.
At Rei's words, Kenny smiled happily—as if, truly from the bottom of her heart, she was delighted.
For her long-awaited date with Rei, Kenny had naturally paid careful attention to her outfit. After parting with him at the Guild, she'd rushed to finish her remaining work, completed the handover with the receptionist who came to replace her, gone home, and changed. Rei couldn't have known all of that, but he could still tell she was different from usual.
"Fufu, I'm glad you're pleased, Rei-kun. I bought these clothes a little while ago but never had a chance to wear them."
As she said that with a smile, the three men from earlier had already completely vanished from Kenny's field of vision. Strictly speaking, the two were still on the ground, and the third couldn't flee with his companions in that state. But for Kenny, her date with Rei was dozens—hundreds—of times more important than those three.
"Is that so. Then I'm glad it finally got its début."
A spring-like outfit in predominantly green, similar to a one-piece dress. Rei wasn't well-versed in women's clothing, so he couldn't say whether it technically qualified as a one-piece, but for Kenny—who normally wore her Guild uniform with a provocatively open neckline—it looked considerably more modest. That unexpected contrast struck him as fresh.
Yes.
Sensing a hint of surprise in Rei's gaze, Kenny kept it from showing in her words or expression, but in her heart she pumped her fist in triumph. These clothes had actually been purchased during a previous shopping trip with Lenora, but for one reason or another she'd never found the right occasion to wear them. Not because she was so devoted to work that she never went out—simply because she'd been saving them specifically for a date with Rei. That was the one and greatest reason.
"Yes, that's right. More importantly, the restaurant we're going to is tucked away in a hard-to-find spot, so even at this hour it won't be crowded. Since we're finally going out together, Rei-kun, why don't we browse a few shops along the way?"
Faced with that happy, expectant gaze, Rei couldn't refuse. If he'd had pressing business it might have been different, but he currently had nothing urgent. He nodded readily.
"Sounds good. What kind of shops are we stopping at? We should hurry a bit, though—people will be heading home from work soon. ...Though if they're tired, I doubt many will have the energy to browse."
"Hmm, let's see. For now, why don't we pop into that Small Goods Shop over there? ...I, um, caused a bit of trouble just now."
Looking a little sheepish, Kenny glanced back at the two men still sprawled on the ground and their one companion who remained standing. Having just experienced Kenny's unexpected strength firsthand, the three were rendered speechless under her gaze.
Rei shot the men a look of exasperation before following after Kenny.
If they were adventurers, that'd be one thing. But if they came here genuinely looking for work, they should've just worked honestly... So this is the kind of crowd that gathers and turns into something like last year's Red Cloth.
As he stepped into the Small Goods Shop, thinking such thoughts...
"Whoa!"
He let out a startled cry. There, in the center of the shop floor, stood a wooden carving of Set. He'd known this shop sold Set wooden dolls, but those were palm-sized figurines. What had surprised Rei was an enormous carving standing roughly a meter tall. At that scale, "wooden statue" felt far more appropriate than "wooden doll."
"...It's huge again."
"Ah, that? Fufu, looks like it surprised you."
Kenny flashed Rei a smile, as if a prank had paid off perfectly.