"Ooh..."
The first thing Rei saw upon entering the Guild was a swarm of staff members looking incredibly busy.
The Expansion Construction in Gilm had resumed with the arrival of spring, so he could understand the rush. But the Guild was even busier than he had anticipated.
Above all, it was still midday. Early morning or evening would have been one thing, but the Guild being this swamped at this hour felt thoroughly wrong.
That was precisely why a strange sound had slipped from Rei's mouth.
"Ah, Rei-san!"
As Rei glanced around the lobby in surprise, a familiar voice reached his ears. He turned toward it and found exactly who he expected: Lenora.
Lenora usually wore a composed, professional expression, but right now her face was colored by something close to panic.
"What's going on?"
"Don't give me 'what's going on.' Information about the incident at the Treant Forest came down to us a little while ago. We're currently gathering the most skilled adventurers available to dispatch to the forest."
"...I see."
Learning that the details about Lunora and Zozo's situation had already been relayed from Gilm's upper brass, Rei felt relieved—he wouldn't have to dance around the topic or cover anything up. But then a realization struck him.
(Wait. If they only have the information from the initial report, then details about Lunora's additional companions and Zozo's group naturally haven't come through yet, right?)
He hesitated over what to do about that.
If it were only Lunora's group—a single race—talking about them wouldn't be particularly problematic. But Lizardmen like Zozo's group were another matter. These weren't just ordinary Lizardmen; they likely belonged to something akin to a nation, and the fact that they had teleported in was clearly critical information.
Furthermore, Zozo, the one leading those Lizardmen, had attacked Rei, been repelled, and as a result had submitted to him. That was every bit as important as the Lizardmen's teleportation itself.
(What should I do? No—if they're dispatching adventurers even as a precaution, I should probably tell them about that too. As for Lord Daskar, it'd be faster to have the Guild relay the information to him.)
Having made that call, Rei turned to Lenora and spoke—slowly, so as not to excite her any further.
"I need you to listen calmly. So, here's the thing. There are actually additional people who teleported in."
Dead silence.
The moment Rei said that, not only Lenora but every Guild Staff Member who had been casually watching him froze mid-motion. Several of them directed resentful glares his way—likely because they desperately wanted him to not make their work any busier than it already was.
In reality, it wasn't as if Lunora or Zozo's group had teleported in because of Rei, but...
"So, I'd like to talk to Worker about this, but..."
"Ah, I'm sorry. The Guild Master is currently at the lord's manor, so he's not here."
"Given the current situation, that can't be helped. In that case, point me to whoever I should brief. Also, I need you to call Vihera—she's currently on patrol in the city. Her request will be treated as interrupted, but right now there's no time for that."
"Um, well... I understand what you're saying, Rei-san, but considering the state the Guild is in right now..."
"Lenora! You're Rei-san's handler, so listen to what he has to say! When the Guild Master gets back, you report to him!"
"Ehh! Wait—! ...Haa. Understood."
A man who appeared to be Lenora's superior barked the order while simultaneously processing a stack of documents. Seeing that, it was obvious no one else had any breathing room either, and Lenora quietly complied.
"So, Kenny. I'm going to hear Rei-san out, so please handle my paperwork too."
"Hey, Lenora!? That's unfair! If that's the case, I should be the one to—"
"Kenny!"
Kenny had been about to protest, but when the same man who had just ordered Lenora barked sharply, she couldn't voice any further complaints. She reached for the documents on Lenora's desk with a resigned expression.
Casting a brief, exasperated glance at Kenny, Lenora turned back to Rei.
"So, this information shouldn't be overheard by others, I assume?"
"Hm? Ah, right. Probably best to keep it private."
"Then let's use one of the private rooms upstairs."
Rei had no objection. The two of them headed for the stairs leading to the second floor... with Kenny's resentful stare boring into their backs the entire way.
Upon reaching the second floor, Lenora entered a room without hesitation. It was small—absolutely perfect for a confidential conversation like this one.
"Please, sit.... So, what exactly is the information you've brought, Rei-san?"
Prompted, Rei took a seat and began to explain.
Lenora initially tried to keep the surprise from her face, but when Rei brought up the matter with the Lizardmen, it showed anyway. As a Guild receptionist, she possessed a deeper knowledge of monsters than the average adventurer, so the idea of a nation of Lizardmen was presumably something she considered impossible.
...What Rei hadn't expected, however, was that Lenora didn't seem particularly surprised about the matter with Zozo.
Perhaps noticing the puzzled look on his face, Lenora tilted her head.
"Why are you so surprised? If anyone should be surprised, it's me. For you to react that way is strange, isn't it?"
"No, I just figured you'd be more shocked by the Zozo situation. The people at the Treant Forest were pretty stunned."
"I mean, I get that, but... Set-chan was also tamed by you, wasn't he, Rei-san? If you can tame a Gryphon, it wouldn't be strange if you could tame a Lizardman as well."
"...That thought never occurred to me."
Rei muttered almost involuntarily. Since Beast Magic was a secret, he had set up the public front of being a Tamer—but he had completely forgotten that cover story himself. No, to be precise, he did remember it. But taming someone like Zozo—a being with clear and high intelligence—was entirely outside his expectations.
The real question was whether Lenora had seen Zozo with her own eyes. That discrepancy was the root of the misunderstanding between them.
...Though the fact that the information Rei had brought was far more astonishing than anything about taming was also a reason Lenora wasn't all that shocked.
"Still, this has turned into quite a troublesome situation. The biggest issue is, as expected, that those Lizardmen have formed what appears to be a nation. The one saving grace is that it's not somewhere in this vicinity. They seem to have come from a place where the language doesn't even translate, after all."
"Ah, yeah. Well, probably so."
Rei was largely convinced that Lunora and Zozo's group had come from another world, but he had no hard evidence to prove it. Once they could communicate, they might learn where the two groups had come from—but that would likely take some time yet.
Judging that it would be better to wait until both sides had properly learned the language rather than Rei saying anything now, he decided to keep the otherworldly origin a secret.
(Elena, Marina, and Vihera—the three who know my circumstances—I should probably tell them, but only after prefacing it as mere speculation.... I should also ask Grimm, just in case.)
With that in mind, Rei wrapped up the conversation. It might have been better to provide more detailed information, but given how swamped the Guild was, he couldn't afford to take up much more of Lenora's time.
"Alright, so for now, that's everything I've brought. Please pass it on to the Guild Master."
"Understood."
Lenora nodded at Rei's words, though her expression wasn't entirely relieved.
She had thought only Lunora's group had teleported in, but then Zozo's group had arrived as well—Lizardmen who had clearly been attacking Lunora's group. What's more, those Lizardmen were likely affiliated with a nation, and on top of all that, Zozo, who had led the unit, had been tamed by Rei.
The situation with Lunora's group alone had been difficult enough, but now multiple layers of trouble had been piled on top of it. Rei could certainly understand Lenora's state of mind.
But the additional Green Demi-humans and Zozo's group teleporting in wasn't Rei's fault.
...Though he couldn't completely dismiss the thought that the Eyeball he had fought in winter and Grimm might somehow be connected to all this.
"Then, that's all for now. I need to get back to the Treant Forest with Vihera right away, so I have to hurry. Though it'd be pointless without her."
"She should be back any time now, I think..." Lenora said, rising from her seat.
Rei followed suit, and the two descended the stairs.
"Rei!"
The moment they reached the ground floor, a voice called out. There was no need to think about whose voice it was—he had been expecting that very person to return, after all.
"Vihera. Perfect timing."
Naturally, Byune was at Vihera's side as well. Rei cast a complicated glance at her.
Byune possessed considerable combat power for a thief. But that was strictly as a thief, and whether she could fight Zozo on even footing was another question entirely. Even with Hakumo—a high-performance weapon forged from Silver Lion materials—a weapon alone didn't win battles.
Moreover, aside from Zozo, there was still the possibility that other Lizardmen... or beings other than Lizardmen entirely could teleport in and spark a fight. No—it was more accurate to say the chances of that were quite high.
Though the real unknown was whether anyone else would teleport in at all.
Regardless, Rei wanted to station someone truly skilled at that location, and by that standard, Byune fell short.
"The Guild staff came to call for me out of the blue, so I wondered what was going on... Did you do something again, Rei?"
Vihera remarked while watching the frenzied staff, and Rei shook his head.
"It's not that I did something. It's more like I got caught up in something."
"...Well, you're free to claim that, I suppose."
For some reason, a gaze tinged with pity was directed at him, but before he could respond, Vihera spoke.
"So, why was I called here in the end?"
"Ah... yeah. The truth is, there's a place where combat might break out, and I wanted someone skilled stationed there. The first person who came to mind was you, Vihera."
"Skilled, huh."
Whether pleased at being acknowledged as skilled by Rei, Vihera broke into a happy smile. That smile captivated the Guild staff and everyone else in the building, regardless of gender.
"And? Are you going to tell me the details?"
"Ah... before that. I'm guessing it's fine since you're here, but can I assume it's okay for you to step away from your patrol request midway?"
"Yes. It was at a good stopping point, and the Guild was the one who called me, so there's no problem.... Right?"
The male staff member suddenly singled out by Vihera's gaze nodded repeatedly in a fluster. Looking satisfied, Vihera turned only her eyes to Rei, as if to ask, Well?
"Ah, yeah. If there's no problem, then that's fine. For now, Byune, I'll need you to stay behind. Is that okay?"
"Mm..."
At Rei's words, Byune wore a disappointed expression. She understood that she possessed a certain level of ability, but when asked whether she had the same level of strength as Vihera, there was no way she could honestly nod in agreement. So despite some lingering dissatisfaction with the decision, she could only quietly comply.