As Rei spoke with the guards, the sound of several carriages approaching the Treant Forest soon reached them.
That said, Set's demeanor made it immediately obvious the newcomers weren't enemies, so Rei saw no need to raise his guard.
"Who do you think came?" a guard asked.
"Common sense says knights, wouldn't you think?"
Rei replied.
When the teleportation first occurred, he had instructed the adventurers to notify Daskar. As a result, a large number of guards had come to the Treant Forest, but they were essentially a stopgap measure. Now that Daskar had received word of the incident, it was only natural for him to send knights, soldiers, and someone to handle negotiations.
Rei figured that was who had arrived—and he wasn't mistaken.
The newly arrived carriages were clearly fine ones, the sort that someone of considerable status would ride in. Mounted knights served as escorts around them.
Even Rei could tell that an important person had arrived.
"●●! ●●●? ●●●●!"
Perhaps feeling uneasy at the sight of the carriages and knights, the Green Demi-human Man who had spoken with Rei many times now approached his side and uttered words while looking toward the carriages.
The guards, hearing the Green Demi-human's language for the first time, were surprised they couldn't understand a word of it. Rei paid them no mind and used his body language to signal the Green Demi-human Man to calm down.
That said, since he had no idea what gesture would convey "calm down," it turned into a process of trial and error.
Can't they make a magic item with a translation effect? Or else I need to have these demi-humans urgently learn our language... but language isn't something you can just pick up that easily.
Back in Japan, Rei had studied English for years in middle school and high school, but that didn't mean he could speak it fluently. If asked whether he could write or read it—honestly, he was probably slightly below the average student at a rural high school.
Because of that, even when it came to learning a different language, if asked whether he could pick it up quickly, Rei would immediately shake his head.
Now that I think about it, I'm grateful to Zephyle for making it so I could understand things like language when I came to this world.
While turning this over in his mind, Rei spent some time calming the Green Demi-human Man down, and eventually the carriages and cavalry arrived.
Among the mounted knights, Rei recognized several faces. They didn't particularly change their demeanor upon seeing him, but still offered brief glances. Those looks carried a hint of fondness—and at the same time, a touch of "so you've gone and gotten yourself into something again."
Rei was about to say something to the knights, but before he could, the carriage door opened and several men and women stepped out.
Huh. I figured it would just be one person, but they dispatched several? And a mixed group of men and women at that. Lord Daskar must be paying quite a bit of attention to this matter. Well, whether they're actually women is a little hard to tell, though.
From what Rei could see, the Green Demi-humans all had well-defined features regardless of gender. However, those who appeared to be female—judging by the shape of their clothing—uniformly had small chests. Not merely flat, but small enough that "great plains" would be a more fitting description.
...Though that impression might have been colored by the fact that the women around Rei all possessed bountiful busts, making the contrast especially striking.
Then again, Rei naturally had no intention of saying any of that out loud. Even without a shared language, there was always the possibility that feminine intuition would pick up on it.
"You must be Rei. You really do have a knack for attracting trouble, don't you?"
A man who descended from the carriage—thirty-something, with a mild-mannered face—called out to him. From the look of it, Rei could tell this person was in charge of the current situation.
"I can't deny that. Between that eyeball business and this one."
When he was in Anesis, Rei had naturally gotten caught up in incidents as well, but mentioning that would probably only dig the hole deeper, so he kept his mouth shut.
"Hahaha. Still, thanks to that, we've been able to meet unknown friends like this, so I'm almost inclined to thank you. Ah, that's right—I haven't introduced myself yet. I am Gyuramer. I've been tasked with negotiating with them... but where are the Lizardmen? And the number of demi-humans seems greater than what I was told."
At Gyuramer's words, Rei realized—he hadn't yet informed Gilm about those who had teleported in afterward. In truth, there simply hadn't been time for it since the Lizardmen and the additional Green Demi-humans had arrived.
"More of them teleported in after the message was sent."
"What kind of group are the Lizardmen?"
"Given that they had matching equipment, I'd say they belong to some kind of organization. But they were attacking the Green Demi-humans, so I disarmed them, if only to put a stop to that."
"...I see," Gyuramer muttered with a troubled expression.
For someone in charge of negotiations, having the other party disarmed before he even arrived naturally warranted such a reaction. That said, since the Lizardmen had been attacking the Green Demi-humans—whom Gyuramer had initially considered the primary negotiating partners—Rei's actions in protecting them were by no means wrong. Moreover, calmer partners were always preferable for negotiations, so Gyuramer couldn't exactly blame Rei for protecting them.
Even so, his honest feeling was that he would have preferred Rei not to disarm what appeared to be an organized group—and monsters at that.
In the first place, it's not unusual for monsters to form groups to some extent, but those Lizardmen are clearly beyond the realm of common sense. Every single one of them wearing the same armor...
For example, it was well known that Goblins and Orcs, led by High-ranking Species, could form settlements of a certain scale. Rei himself had raided an Orc settlement not long after coming to Gilm. But that was only on the scale of a settlement. Their weapons were either taken from attacking adventurers or merchants, or simple clubs fashioned from broken branches.
Despite that, the disarmed Lizardmen in Gyuramer's line of sight were clearly wearing armor fitted to their bodies—and armor of the same design, no less. That was proof they possessed advanced technology, clearly superior to that of settlement-building monsters like Goblins or Orcs.
No, first things first...
The Lizardmen were a concern, but Gyuramer decided to fulfill his original purpose for coming here first, and set off toward the group of Green Demi-humans.
However, the looks the Green Demi-humans directed at Gyuramer carried unmistakable wariness. Reading that, Gyuramer stopped in his tracks and gestured to the other negotiators who had been walking with him, indicating they should go no further.
"Rei, could you tell them that we aren't dangerous? It seems we're being regarded with suspicion."
"Umm, hold on a second. How exactly am I supposed to show them that?"
Though bewildered, Rei stepped out in front of Gyuramer and the others and approached the Green Demi-humans. That they showed visible relief at his approach spoke volumes about how much trust they had placed in him.
Naturally, that was to be expected. They had teleported to an unknown place, among strangers with whom they couldn't even communicate. Despite all that, Rei had used potions to heal their companions' injuries. Not only that, he had demonstrated enough power to make short work of the Lizardmen that had attacked them. Expecting them not to rely on someone like that would have been unreasonable.
"For now, calm down. Those people have no intention of harming you. They just want to talk."
Even as he said this, Rei understood the words wouldn't get through, so he conveyed each point with gestures. Simple communication could be managed that way, but trying to relay detailed information through hand signals was inevitably a stretch.
"●●●? ●●, ●●●?"
"Ah... Gyuramer, come here for a bit."
Eventually, perhaps judging that they would get nowhere like this, Rei held up a hand as if telling the Green Demi-human Man to wait, and called Gyuramer over.
Gyuramer wondered whether it was really all right for him to approach in this situation. But since he was being summoned by Rei—the only person who could communicate with the other side, even if only through gestures—he stepped forward.
The others who had come with Gyuramer watched him with slightly worried expressions, but the man himself either had more nerve than his appearance suggested—once he made up his mind, he approached Rei and the Green Demi-humans without hesitation.
"What is it?"
"Just stay quiet for a moment."
Replying thus to Gyuramer's question, Rei somehow managed to convey through gestures that Gyuramer was safe. Then it occurred to him that, since he'd called out Gyuramer's name, it might be best to learn the Green Demi-humans' names as well. He pointed to himself.
"Rei."
Next, he pointed at Gyuramer and said "Gyuramer" as if instructing the Green Demi-human Man.
After repeating this a few times, the other party apparently caught on to what Rei was trying to convey. Pointing at Rei, he spoke.
"Rei."
The pronunciation was slightly clumsy, perhaps because it differed from the language the demi-humans used, but the fact that the Green Demi-human Man had spoken Rei's name felt like considerable progress.
Next, the Green Demi-human Man pointed at Gyuramer.
"Gyugyameru."
"...Well, yeah. I suppose 'Gyuramer' is harder to pronounce than my name."
"Ah, ahahaha. Well, for him it might just be a difficult name to pronounce."
Gyuramer laughed with a troubled expression, but there was no displeasure on his face. In fact, he was fairly accustomed to it—there had been times when people mispronounced his name when calling him.
At any rate, the demi-human man, realizing he had misspoken, once again pointed at Gyuramer.
"Gyuo... Gyu, Gyugya... Gyuramyaru... Gyura, Meru?"
After a few mispronunciations, he finally managed to say Gyuramer's name, albeit with some slight stumbling. And having said it once, he seemed to get the hang of it; he repeated the name under his breath several times. Then, apparently satisfied, he pointed to himself and opened his mouth.
"Rorolunora."
Rorolunora. A rather mysterious-sounding name, but Rei and Gyuramer understood that it must be the Green Demi-human Man's name.
"Rorolunora, huh. ...Alright, nice to meet you."
Saying that, Rei held out his hand. But Rorolunora, faced with the extended hand, looked at Rei with a puzzled expression, as if he couldn't understand why Rei had done such a thing.
"Hm? Umm... ah, I see."
In this world, the act of shaking hands existed as a matter of course. But if Rorolunora and the others were, as Rei suspected, beings from another world, then naturally there was a chance the handshake didn't exist in their world. If so, it was only natural they wouldn't understand the meaning even if Rei suddenly held out his hand.
No—rather, since Rei wasn't carrying any weapon and was empty-handed, they weren't startled. But there was even a possibility that a handshake could have been perceived as a hostile act.
"What is it?"
Unlike Rei, Gyuramer believed they had come not from another world but from somewhere else—some unexplored land via teleportation. The thought that Rorolunora didn't know what a handshake was never crossed his mind, and he cast a puzzled glance at Rei.
"No, just a guess, but I think these people don't know the custom of shaking hands."
"Huh? But still..."
Gyuramer wore a look of incomprehension. Because the handshake was a perfectly ordinary practice in this world, Rei's words—and the idea that Rorolunora didn't understand handshakes—were something he simply couldn't wrap his head around.
Then again, Rei had no doubt that even if he started going on about other worlds here, no one would believe him for a moment. That was why he opened his mouth with a "for now" approach.
"For the time being, we should work toward a mutual understanding."
At those words, Gyuramer nodded, albeit with lingering bewilderment.