Having left the Lizardmen in the care of the Lord's Manor, Rei headed to the building where the Alchemists gathered, bringing Set and Zozo along.
The reason was, naturally enough, to deliver felled wood.
He had only just arrived in Gilm a short while ago, so he figured it was a bit early for another delivery — and the volume of timber he was dropping off wasn't all that large, either. Still, when it came to building materials, more was always better, and he had a decent amount stored in his Misty Ring. He figured he might as well deliver it while he was here.
Along the way, they passed the Yaki Udon stall from earlier. Set clearly wanted to eat, but delivering the wood took priority for now.
After giving a light greeting to the soldiers serving as gatekeepers — posted to keep suspicious characters from wandering in and out — Rei and his group entered the building.
The gatekeepers were startled by Zozo's appearance, though Rei and Set drew no such reaction. Still, since Zozo wore a Tamed Monster's collar, it didn't become an issue.
...Though a gaze bordering on exasperation was directed at Rei, who had Tamed the Lizardman Zozo in addition to Gryphon Seto.
"Rei-san!?"
A man stepping out of the building stared at Rei in open surprise. Naturally — he knew Rei had only just arrived in Gilm, and that Rei didn't exactly hate this place, but certainly found it troublesome to deal with.
"I had some business that brought me back to Gilm. Figured I'd bring along a fair amount of felled wood while I was at it, so I came to drop it off. ...I'd like to get this taken care of before the others find me, though."
At Rei's words, the man hesitated briefly before nodding quickly.
Since they were heading inside, Set would wait outside. When Rei glanced at Zozo to see what he would do, the Lizardman was naturally trailing right behind him. From Zozo's perspective, wherever Rei went, he went — that much was a given.
"Umm... right this way, please."
Though clearly thrown off by Zozo's presence, the man guided Rei into the building.
"How are things with the building materials? Still running short?"
"That's right. We're continuing expansion construction at several sites simultaneously, so we inevitably run short."
"Figures. Run construction at multiple sites at once, and naturally you need that much more material."
They talked as they walked through the building, eventually arriving at the area where the felled wood was stored.
Fortunately, no Alchemists were present. Given that some timber was still sitting there, they were probably in the middle of applying magical treatment to it.
"Then let's get this done before it gets noisy..."
Muttering to himself, Rei began pulling logs out of his Misty Ring and stacking them in the designated area.
Naturally, this drew attention...
"Rei!? You came again!?"
One of the Alchemists shouted, his face bright with delight. And once one person shouted, the others naturally heard it as well.
"What? Rei?"
"Rei came back?"
"Materials, materials, rare materials!"
One after another, Alchemists emerged, all seeking the materials Rei possessed — especially the rare materials from the giant Eyeball monster slain during the winter.
But before the surging Alchemists, a single figure stepped into their path.
"●●●, ●●● Rei ●●!"
Seeing Rei's situation, Zozo had moved to block the path between the Alchemists and him.
At Zozo's sudden intervention, the Alchemists stopped in their tracks. They understood that if they'd kept charging straight toward Rei, they would have slammed right into Zozo.
"Thanks, Zozo."
At Rei's words of gratitude, Zozo shook his head as if to say it was nothing. Then he fixed the Alchemists — who appeared to be making a move on Rei — with a steely glare.
For a moment, the Alchemists seemed to falter under Zozo's intimidating gaze. But the instant they realized the creature before them was no ordinary Lizardman — that it might well be a Rare Species or High-ranking Species — their retreating feet reversed course and stepped forward.
"Oh!? Could this monster be a High-ranking Species of Lizardman?"
"No, it must be a Rare Species. Look — its overall build is clearly different from a common Lizardman. These scales are steeped in far denser mana than normal."
"If that's the case, then with this Lizardman's scales, we could probably..."
Gone was any trace of the wariness they'd shown just seconds ago. The Alchemists launched into an animated discussion with Zozo standing right in front of them.
The one caught off guard by this reaction was Zozo himself. He had expected them to fear him, but the reality was entirely different.
Granted, judging by their initial reaction, they had been afraid — but now they'd completely forgotten he was even there, engrossed in debating what kind of Magic Items his scales might yield.
(For Zozo, they must seem like an impossible bunch to make sense of. ...Well, I can't say I blame him.)
For Rei as well, these Alchemists were undeniably difficult to deal with. The fact that he found them "difficult" rather than outright "dislikable" spoke volumes about his complicated feelings toward them.
The man serving as guide caught Rei's eye and gave him a meaningful look. Understanding the signal, Rei gave the still-bewildered Zozo a light poke in the back.
Zozo turned around. Rei glanced toward the building's entrance, and that alone was enough for Zozo to grasp what he wanted.
Even without understanding the words, reading intent had become second nature to Zozo by now.
Perhaps unsettled by the Alchemists' eerie enthusiasm, Zozo showed no inclination to linger. He followed Rei out of the building without hesitation.
The Alchemists were too absorbed in their discussion to notice either of them leaving. It was a telling display of their nature — once something caught their interest, they became utterly blind to everything else around them.
Fortunately, every last log had been unloaded from the Misty Ring and placed inside, so there was nothing left to handle after exiting the building. Not that it would have mattered even if some wood remained — he could have simply pulled it out next time he made a delivery.
"Well then, shall we head back? ...The carriage is already on its way to the Treant Forest, so we can take our time."
"●●●●, ●●?"
Unable to follow Rei's words, Zozo gave him a puzzled look.
"To-re-n-to no mo-ri."
After repeating it a few times, Zozo grasped the phrase "Treant Forest."
In this manner, Rei, Set, and Zozo made their way down the road, with Rei teaching Zozo various words along the way, until they had cleared Gilm's gates.
That said, while Set drew no particular scrutiny, Zozo was still wearing his Tamed Monster's collar. Set was famous throughout Gilm as Rei's Tamed Monster, but Zozo had only just arrived and was not yet widely recognized. The collar was a precaution — a measure to ensure that adventurers or caravan guards unfamiliar with him wouldn't attack on sight.
"Hmm... Zozo, want to ride Set too?"
They'd been walking along the main road when Rei posed the question out of the blue. Grabbing Set's legs mid-flight was out of the question, but riding on Set's back while it ran along the ground? That, Rei figured, might just work.
When Set flew, the trip from the Treant Forest to Gilm took only a matter of minutes. But Set's running speed on the ground was also impressive — faster than a carriage, and faster than a horse at full gallop.
With Set's body measuring roughly three meters in length, there was more than enough room for both Rei and Zozo on its back. Given all that, choosing to ride Set rather than walk was an obvious call.
Rei pointed at Set's back, then swung himself up. Next, he pointed at Zozo, then pointed behind himself. He repeated this sequence several times until Zozo seemed to get the message. Warily, he climbed onto Set's back.
Zozo obeyed Rei without question and held feelings close to awe toward Elena and Ielo. But he understood all too well the overwhelming gulf in power between himself and Set. Set's affable nature was immediately apparent to anyone watching him play with people other than Rei. Even so, knowing that Set was an overwhelmingly powerful creature — so far beyond him that comparison was meaningless — Zozo would have preferred to keep his distance if he had the choice.
This was likely the difference between people, who tended to warm to Set almost instantly thanks to his endearing charm, and monsters. There were monsters that quickly grew attached to Set, but individual temperament varied widely.
Yet even Zozo, when told by Rei to ride, couldn very well refuse. Moreover, it was plain to anyone watching that Set was Rei's most trusted partner. If he intended to serve Rei going forward, he would inevitably have to build a relationship with Set as well. Viewed through that lens, declining to ride wasn't an option.
"●●●"
Zozo muttered briefly and settled in behind Rei. His tail seemed slightly in the way at first, but after shifting his position a little, he found a comfortable stance and gave Rei a nod.
Though still not entirely accustomed to the sensation of Zozo riding behind him, Rei stroked Set's neck and urged him forward.
The first few strides were slow, then Set gradually built up speed. For anyone other than Rei, Set could only carry someone as light as a child in flight. But on the ground, the added weight of a large body like Zozo's — though compared to Rei, most would qualify as large — didn't slow him in the slightest.
Set's pace climbed steadily until he was outstripping a horse at full gallop. Rather than running on the road itself, he kept to a path slightly off to the side — a consideration born of the fact that at such speeds, he'd be a hazard to anyone on foot.
"Gurururururu!"
With Rei and Zozo on his back, Set let out a joyful cry as he ran. For Set, tearing across the ground with abandon was clearly a thrill. He always carried Rei through the sky, but sprinting freely along the earth offered a different brand of exhilaration altogether.
Set tore along at a pace that could only be described as a gale, and naturally, he drew every eye. Merchants, adventurers, and travelers of all sorts along the road gaped at the sight. Plenty had seen Set fly overhead, but watching him run across the ground was rare enough to turn heads.
The sight of Set strolling through the streets of Gilm with a crowd of children in tow wasn't all that unusual. But for those visiting Gilm for the first time, catching a glimpse of Set galloping happily along a path just off the main road came as quite a shock.
Even so, none of them raised a fuss. Even those seeing Set in the flesh for the first time knew of his existence. Anyone heading to Gilm would naturally gather at least some information beforehand, and that information almost certainly included details about Rei and Set, who stood out even in a city like Gilm.
...Zozo, however, riding behind Rei on Set's back, was still largely unknown. More than a few people's eyes went wide at the sight of such a figure perched on Set.
In any case, Set kept up his run — a change of pace in its own right — until he finally veered off the road and changed course toward the Treant Forest.
Set let out several more happy cries along the way, and the people stationed in the Treant Forest picked up on his approach well before he arrived. By the time Rei and his companions reached the forest, the adventurers and Knights waiting there fixed them with gazes of mild exasperation.
"Quite the flashy entrance."
At Vihera's remark, most of those within earshot nodded in agreement. To the people here, Rei charging in on Set's back — running across the ground no less — had been impossible to miss.
That said, Rei had his reasons. Unable to fly with Zozo in tow, returning to the Treant Forest by carriage would have taken far too long, and walking even longer. Riding Set was simply the faster option, and in practice, it had cut the travel time considerably.
With that rebuttal delivered, Rei reported that the newly transferred Lizardmen had been safely escorted to the Lord's Manor.