For Rei and his companions, it was fortunate that no one transferred into their world that day.
The incident with the transferred Lizardmen — the commotion they caused with the woodcutters and their adventurer escorts — was the most dangerous event of the day.
Since those Lizardmen ultimately quieted down following Zozo's lead, it meant that while things were somewhat busy for Rei, it hadn't escalated into a major disturbance.
After spending such a day, they were preparing and eating dinner in the courtyard of Marina's house as usual, but...
"Hmm, I didn't expect Zozo to love fish this much."
Zozo was happily eating a fish — a rather large one at that — grilled using Rei's Magic Item oven.
Setting aside when they first met, Zozo now had a taciturn personality, so seeing him happily eating fish like this was somewhat surprising.
It wasn't just Rei; the others likely felt the same way.
Everyone except Byune was directing interested glances at Zozo.
...Incidentally, Byune, who was giving Zozo a different look from the rest, was staring with envy at the large fish he was eating.
"●●●!"
Zozo uttered something as he put food in his mouth, but from his happy demeanor, it was clear he was saying it was delicious.
Rei wanted to believe that Zozo, in this situation, was not thinking it tasted bad.
"Are Lizardmen actually fond of fish, perhaps?"
The one Rei asked was Marina, who had lived the longest among those present and possessed deep knowledge from her experience both as an adventurer and as the Guild Master.
But Marina shook her head with a troubled expression at Rei's words.
"No, that's not necessarily the case. For one thing, some Lizardmen live in deserts where there are no fish at all."
"Ah, now that you mention it."
Rei nodded at Marina's words, as if recalling that such Lizardmen did indeed exist.
Lizardmen living in the desert would have no opportunity to eat fish.
Well, there might be fish in oases, but even then, not in great numbers.
"Then liking fish isn't a trait of Lizardmen in general, but something specific to Zozo?"
Thinking this, Rei also considered that perhaps Lizardmen from another world simply had a preference for fish.
(If this isn't specific to Zozo, but rather a taste shared by Lizardmen from the other world, I should probably let Lord Daskar know.)
Currently, a fair number of Lizardmen were at the Lord's Manor.
The green demi-humans grew plants as their meals, so they didn't consume food.
But Lizardmen, as could be seen from Zozo, required food.
If so, it would be useful to serve the Lizardmen their favorite foods, if only to reduce their stress even slightly.
"I don't know if Lizardmen in general like fish, but it's certain that Zozo does. ...In that case, going to the sea last summer was a good idea."
Currently, Rei's Misty Ring still contained a large quantity of fish.
Some were fish caught in rivers, but the majority had been caught during their trip to the sea last summer.
If they hadn't gone to the sea last year... or if most of the fish stored in the Misty Ring had already been eaten, Zozo wouldn't have been able to enjoy his favorite fish.
In that sense, Zozo should have been grateful to Rei and his companions. ...Though, toward Rei and Elena, Zozo held strong gratitude — no, rather, awe.
(Fish, huh. It's spring now and still cold, but once it gets a bit closer to summer, it might be nice to go to the sea. ...Whether Zozo can swim or not, I won't know until we actually get there.)
Watching Zozo happily eat his fish, Rei thought about wanting to visit the sea once the expansion construction settled down a bit more.
That said, given the current situation with Lunora and Zozo's groups transferring in, it was also a fact that Rei and his companions couldn't carelessly leave Gilm empty.
Lunora and the green demi-humans had friendly dispositions, so contact with them wouldn't cause much trouble.
But Zozo and the other Lizardmen were different.
From what Rei had observed, they were fundamentally warlike in nature.
Even so, it was only because Zozo — a superior being among the Lizardmen — was present that they weren't recklessly going on rampages.
Despite that, if Rei were to go to the sea, Zozo would naturally insist on coming along, and the idea of him alone staying behind in Gilm was out of the question.
If Lizardmen transferred in at a time like that, it would undoubtedly become a major incident.
That was why Rei couldn't afford to carelessly leave Gilm.
(Someone with similar strength to Zozo, or rather, similar status, who was also friendly... if it were someone who would obey orders but wasn't as scrupulously obedient as Zozo, maybe it'd be fine to leave them in Gilm. ...But that's probably asking too much.)
Lizardmen had transferred twice.
But in the second transfer, no being of clearly higher status than the ordinary Lizardmen like Zozo had appeared.
This meant either that Zozo was a relatively rare existence, or that there was some other reason entirely.
As long as they couldn't understand the language, the details of this situation remained unclear.
Even so, it was evident that beings like Zozo were few in number, so if asked whether a Lizardman like Zozo would appear in tomorrow's transfer or beyond, Rei couldn't give a confident nod.
"You really do wonder what kind of position he holds."
Muttering this while watching Zozo eating his grilled fish so appetizingly, Rei caught Zozo's attention.
As if sensing Rei's gaze, Zozo turned a questioning look toward him, as if asking what was wrong.
Even without understanding Rei's words, he could probably grasp Rei's intent somehow.
But Rei shook his head at Zozo, indicating it was nothing, and returned to his own meal.
On the table was a large quantity of sandwiches.
Enough for several dozen people, in fact.
Sandwiches, as time passed, would have their bread harden, and the toppings inside would deteriorate, diminishing the taste.
Depending on the toppings, toasting them in a Magic Item oven could make them reasonably tasty again.
Normally, even with this many sandwiches, they would absolutely not be able to finish them all.
But Rei and his group were different in many ways.
They had big eaters whose appetites belied their builds, like Rei and Byune, and with Set present, they could easily polish off this amount.
Even if they did leave some for tomorrow, Rei had his Misty Ring, so the bread wouldn't dry out.
Carrying a sandwich to his mouth, Rei spoke up.
"So, nearly everyone went to the Treant Forest today, but... what about tomorrow?"
Whether to go to the Treant Forest or not.
In response to Rei's words, asked in that context, the first to speak was Vihera.
"I'll pass."
"...That's unexpected. Knowing you, Vihera, I thought you'd want to head to the Treant Forest every single day."
At Rei's words, the others nodded in agreement.
Only Zozo continued savoring his grilled fish.
For those present, it was common knowledge that Vihera favored combat with strong opponents.
It was only natural to wonder why such a Vihera would decline going to the Treant Forest.
But in response to Rei, Vihera patted the head of Byune, who was savoring her meal beside her.
"I can leave this child alone for one day, but I can't do it every day."
"Ah, yeah. That's true."
Byune possessed skills as a thief that were disproportionate to her age, and her combat power was high.
However, she was often underestimated by others due to her appearance, and above all, it was a fact that only Vihera could understand Byune's intentions down to the finest details.
In that sense, it was undoubtedly better for Vihera and Byune to stay together.
"Besides, from what I saw today, Zozo is considerably strong among the Lizardmen, right? In that case, I can fight Zozo in the morning mock battles, so I figured it'd be better not to go to the Treant Forest and leave Byune behind."
Those words likely came from having fought Zozo in this morning's mock battle.
That said, while Zozo undoubtedly possessed considerable strength among the Lizardmen, against Vihera, the gap in ability was so vast that winning... no, even putting up a good fight would be difficult.
In that sense, the Lizardmen as opponents had likely lost their appeal to Vihera.
Of course, if a High-ranking Species or a Rare Species among the Lizardmen appeared, Vihera's interest might be piqued once more.
"Mm."
At Vihera's words, Byune muttered quietly with her usual expressionless face.
Even so, she seemed somehow pleased, likely because their time together had grown long enough to read her to some extent.
(If Byune and I spend more time together, will I eventually be able to completely understand what she's trying to say, like Vihera does?)
Rei thought this, but somehow felt that even if he grew closer to Byune, he wouldn't be able to fully understand her will the way Vihera could.
Vihera had been with Byune during her most painful times.
That had an influence, and Byune was most attached to Vihera.
"So Vihera and Byune are on Gilm patrol duty. ...What about Marina?"
"Let me think. I rested today, so maybe I'll do treatment for the wounded."
Marina, who could use Spirit Magic, could perform Recovery Magic through Water Spirit Magic.
Of course, it was inferior to dedicated Recovery Magic, but it was still capable of treating injuries to a certain extent.
"Hmm... then Elena."
"As for me, let's see. Ara, do we have anything scheduled for tomorrow?"
"Yes. Several nobles are requesting audiences. However, the matters aren't particularly urgent, so I believe there would be no issue if you chose to decline."
"Noble audiences. That's related to this incident, I take it?"
"Most likely. While the stated purpose is different, I believe they are acting knowing that Lady Elena went to the Treant Forest today."
At Ara's words, Elena nodded in understanding.
It was widely known that Elena was close to Rei.
And if they knew even a little about the information regarding this incident, it wouldn't be strange for some to try to obtain information through that connection.
Of course, if the Noble's Faction was involved in this matter as a faction, the information Elena possessed would be sufficient.
But even among nobles belonging to the Noble's Faction, when asked whether they prioritized the faction's interests or their own house's interests, the majority would naturally choose the latter.
...Though if someone prioritized their own house's interests so much that it caused major losses to the faction, that would be a different story.
Those requesting audiences with Elena likely sought information on that front as well.
"Hmm. Giving too much information is bad, but giving too little is also bad. ...It can't be helped. Rei, I won't be able to go to the Treant Forest tomorrow."
With that, Elena, Marina, and Vihera all announced they would not be going to the Treant Forest tomorrow.
Rei's honest feeling was that he wanted them to come along if possible, in case something happened.
Elena and the others were companions with the strength that he could safely leave things to if something occurred.
In fact, today he had been able to return to the Treant Forest from Gilm multiple times largely because Elena and the others were there.
Even if some unforeseen event occurred, he believed Elena and the others could handle it, and that was undoubtedly true.
"You look disappointed, but there are skilled adventurers other than us, so it's not like our combat power is completely hopeless, right?"
"Well, that's true, but..."
Rei replied thus to Marina's words, but naturally, he preferred having someone he knew well by his side.
Skilled adventurers, knights, and soldiers had indeed been gathered, but if asked whether he could trust them as much as the companions here, Rei would immediately shake his head.
There were some acquaintances among them, but even so, the level of trust simply couldn't compare to those he had partied with — well, Elena and Ara were different, but in the sense of having shared a battlefield together, they were unquestionably trustworthy.
That was precisely why he had wanted them to come along for this matter, but...
(Well, looking at what happened today, I can't push them too hard.)
Half-forcing himself to accept this, Rei convinced himself.
...Incidentally, on this day as well, Rei was unable to reach Grimm via the Paired Orbs.