"Well now..."
Having brought the newly transferred Lizardmen back with them, Rei and his companions naturally headed straight for the Lord's Manor.
Ideally, the best course of action would have been to first report the arrival of the new Lizardmen, then wait for a carriage to be sent for them.
However, when they tried loading them onto the carriages that had transported the woodcutters and adventurers to the Treant Forest, it was a bit cramped, but they still managed to fit everyone into two carriages.
Because of that, the number of carriages currently at the Treant Forest was low, and they needed to send additional ones over immediately.
"For now, I don't think these fellows will go on a rampage thanks to Zozo, but would it be alright to leave them here?" Rei asked.
"Y-yeah. Do that."
Strictly speaking, it was not alright at all. Daskar's honest feeling was that he would prefer not to increase the number of Lizardmen any further.
However, given that he had already accepted the other Lizardmen who had transferred along with Zozo, the option of refusing these new ones simply did not exist.
Well, if he pushed the issue, it wasn't as though he couldn't manage it, but then he would need to leave the Lizardmen somewhere else. And if he did that, there was a high probability that information about them would leak.
Since Daskar wanted to keep information about not just Lunora and his group but also Zozo and his group as secret as possible, leaving the Lizardmen elsewhere was not an option.
Fortunately, the Lord's Manor was quite spacious, so for the time being, there was no shortage of places to house them.
"I'll have Zozo guide them, but where should they go?"
"Wait a moment. I'd like to ask just in case, but can I assume that the newly transferred Lizardmen are on good terms with the ones who came yesterday?"
"That's... I'm not entirely sure. However, they were following Zozo, so I think it should be fine."
From what Rei had seen of Zozo and the Lizardmen in the Treant Forest, it seemed to him that the Lizardmen would not disobey Zozo's orders.
At Rei's words, Daskar showed a hint of relief.
"I see. If you say so, Rei, then I can trust that."
"Ah... well, being fully trusted is a bit dangerous, so I think it would be best to have preparations in place to respond immediately if anything happens."
"Of course. As far as I'm concerned, I don't want the Lizardmen going on a rampage inside this building either. If something truly does happen, we have preparations in place to deal with it immediately."
The Lord's Manor had many knights and soldiers stationed there. If the Lizardmen went on a rampage for some reason, there was no doubt they could handle it.
That said, such a situation was best avoided, and Daskar's honest feeling was that a large-scale battle taking place inside his own mansion was something he wanted to be spared from.
"For now, I'll make sure to firmly instruct Zozo to keep the Lizardmen from causing any trouble."
"Please do. This being the case, I really want the Lizardmen to learn the language as quickly as possible."
Whether it was to extract information from the Lizardmen or to issue orders, not being able to understand each other was extremely painful. From Daskar's position, it was only natural that he wished from the bottom of his heart for them to learn the language as quickly as possible.
"Hmm... Is there no Magic Item? Even if it can't make us fully understand each other's words, something like a Magic Item that lets us confirm each other's intentions, read minds, or directly transmit what you're thinking into the other person's head..."
"If there were, I'd already be using it."
Daskar let out the words along with a sigh. In truth, if such a Magic Item existed, he felt he would buy it even if it meant paying with Light Gold Coins. Whatever the case, without solid communication, nothing would have any meaning.
"That's true, isn't it... Ah, but just in case, how about asking the alchemists? Maybe they created a similar Magic Item but completely forgot about it."
"I see. I think the chances are slim, but it's better than doing nothing."
Just as Daskar said that, Zozo, who had been waiting a short distance away, approached Rei.
As a side note, the room the two were currently in was not the office where Daskar usually worked, but rather a room with its door left open. For Rei and Daskar, it was a room they had decided to use for the time being because it was convenient for talking.
"Rei●●, ●●●●●●●●"
"Yeah, please."
"...Rei, did Zozo just say your name?"
Daskar, having sharply caught Rei's name coming from Zozo's mouth, directed a look of surprise at Rei. But when it came to Rei's name, Zozo had already been able to say it as of yesterday, so Rei couldn't help thinking there was no need to be surprised about it now.
Rather than that, Rei wished Daskar would be surprised by the words he had taught Zozo in the Treant Forest. However, since Zozo had not yet spoken those words in front of others, expecting surprise over them would be unreasonable.
"That's right. Zozo was Tamed by me for some reason, so he can't study together with the other Lizardmen. Since we've been teaching him various things while we're together, I suppose that's the result. It might also have something to do with Zozo being smarter than other Lizardmen to begin with."
Zozo looked different from ordinary Lizardmen from the outset. If so, it wouldn't be strange for his intelligence to be higher as well.
From his behavior toward Elena and Ielo, and from the possibility of him being something beyond an ordinary Lizardman, it was no wonder Rei recalled the Dragonewt race he had seen in games, manga, and anime while in Japan.
Perhaps Zozo noticed that his name had come up in the conversation between Rei and Daskar. He directed a glance at Rei as if asking if something was wrong.
Rei shook his head to indicate it was nothing, and asked Zozo to move the Lizardmen he had brought. Though, since they could barely understand each other's words, the request was accompanied by gestures.
That said, since Zozo had learned a certain amount of language, the gestures had decreased considerably compared to before. Strictly speaking, while it was partly because he had learned words, it was also likely that through talking with Rei, Zozo had come to generally understand what Rei was saying.
One way or another, Rei and Zozo had spent a great deal of time together since their first encounter. Also, since coming to follow Rei, Zozo had constantly paid attention to Rei's words and actions. Even without understanding the words, they must have developed a certain degree of mutual communication—though that was strictly in the sense that Zozo could understand Rei's intentions to some extent, not that Rei could understand Zozo's in return.
At any rate, Zozo bowed to Rei and departed, but Rei suddenly noticed that Zozo had only bowed to him. Normally, he should have bowed to Daskar as well.
"Um, I'm sorry."
"Hm? About what?"
"That Zozo only bowed to me."
"Ah, that matter. Don't worry about it. Zozo is, after all, a monster that you Tamed, Rei."
In that sense, Zozo was treated the same as Set. And Set certainly didn't bow upon seeing Daskar. In that case, there was no problem with Zozo, who held the same status as a Tamed creature, not bowing to Daskar either.
Rei felt grateful for Daskar's words.
"Thank you very much."
"There's no need to worry about it. With this incident as well, things would have been quite troublesome if you weren't around."
"...I can't deny that."
Though he answered that way, in reality, when it came to adventurers strong enough to defeat Zozo, Gilm had them in abundance. Even without Rei, someone would have eventually defeated him. Of course, given that the adventurers present when Zozo transferred were all relatively weak, it was certain that heavy casualties would have occurred if Rei had not been there.
"At any rate. I'm counting on you regarding Zozo and his group. Lady Elena and Ielo, was it? They've become attached to them as well, haven't they?"
"Attached... or rather, revering? That's the impression I get."
From what he could see, Zozo appeared to deeply revere dragons. Despite that, it was questionable that Rei was wearing the Dragon Robe and Zozo showed no sign of caring about it.
Is it that it has to be a living dragon? Elena is alive with an inherited Ancient Dragon's Magic Stone, and Ielo goes without saying. Compared to that, my Dragon Robe is completely dead and turned into material.
Thinking of it that way, he could accept it. In the first place, the Dragon Robe Rei used had been subjected to various processing on the dragon leather that served as its material. Given that, it was rather fortunate that Zozo hadn't directed his anger at Rei for wearing equipment made from the material of a dragon he worshipped or revered.
"Revering, huh... Well, fine. In any case, it's certain that they came again today following yesterday. And not just Lunora's companions, but Zozo's as well. That being the case, there's a possibility they'll keep coming from now on."
"That's... I think that possibility is high."
With transfers occurring on consecutive days, the possibility of another one tomorrow was by no means zero. No, rather, that possibility was probably higher. If so, it was only natural to make preparations accordingly.
"It would be easier if only Lunora's companions transferred, at least."
Lunora's companions were mostly mild-mannered by nature. At the very least, that was the impression Rei had gotten from those he had interacted with. Even saying they were mild-mannered, individual differences of course existed, and there were some who looked at Rei and his group with wary eyes. Still, the fact that they were not aggressive like the Lizardmen made them undeniably easier to deal with.
"True. That said, when considering those Lizardmen as people belonging to a nation, they are undoubtedly valuable."
The green demi-humans who possessed the ability to grow plants, and the fact that Lizardmen—who normally did not possess the intelligence to build a nation—had founded one. Both of these were important matters to Daskar. That said, the ones who would yield greater short-term profit were Lunora and his group.
"Now then, let's consider this matter settled for the time being. From here on, when something happens, my subordinates will be the ones to deal with it. That won't be a problem, will it?"
"Understood."
Rei nodded readily at Daskar's words. In truth, it was easy to imagine that Daskar was extremely busy. On top of his regular work, tasks related to the expansion construction underway in Gilm were piling up, and then there were the issues of Lunora, Zozo, and their groups who had transferred into the Treant Forest. The volume of that work was clearly so immense that Rei couldn't even begin to imagine it specifically—so much so that he found himself wondering whether Daskar had any time to rest properly while handling it all.
It's not like he's only busy right now, either. Setting aside the matter of Lunora and Zozo's groups, the expansion construction is a public works project on the scale of years.
While feeling somewhat concerned for Daskar's health, Rei saw him off as he left the room.
In the end, all Rei could do at present was avoid adding more work to Daskar's burden. That said, Rei understood that he had a tendency to attract trouble. What he could do, then, was to resolve any problems as quickly as possible when they arose.
At any rate, Rei decided to go check on the Lizardmen—one of those very problems—and left the room as well. As far as Rei was concerned, when it came to what he could do right now to lighten Daskar's burden even a little, that was the only thing he could think of.
Though Rei himself was not entirely certain how much it was actually helping Daskar.