It was the second day since Zozo and his group had transferred over.
That day, everyone aside from Rei had returned to their respective duties, so only Rei, Set, and Zozo headed toward the Treant Forest.
Of course, there were also skilled adventurers, knights, and soldiers on hand—but the point was that today, unusually enough, Rei had set out for the Treant Forest first thing in the morning.
Normally, he would finish a certain amount of work in the city before heading to the forest to store felled logs in his Misty Ring. Today, however, he had come along with the woodcutters so he could respond immediately if something happened.
"Gruu!"
Just as the Treant Forest came into view, Set suddenly growled.
Riding on Set's back—Zozo's presence had made taking a carriage impractical—Rei felt a sudden twist of unease at the sound.
Set's gaze was fixed on the Treant Forest.
Seeing him stare so intently in that direction, and knowing what had happened there yesterday and the day before, it was all too easy to guess what was unfolding.
"Sorry, but I'm going on ahead! There's probably trouble at the Treant Forest! Be careful!"
Rei shouted to a nearby adventurer, then urged Set to hurry.
Reading the situation from Set's reaction, Zozo, who had been walking a short distance behind, quickly leapt onto Set's back behind Rei.
Even without understanding the words, he had grasped from Rei and Set's demeanors that they were rushing toward the Treant Forest.
Rei was mildly impressed by Zozo's quick judgment.
But getting to the forest even a few seconds faster took priority now. He lightly tapped the back of Set's neck to urge him on.
Set broke into a run at once. Perhaps because the forest was already in sight, the distance closed rapidly.
As they drew closer, Rei began to understand what had put Set on alert.
The smell of blood.
Though inferior to Set's, Rei's senses were still far sharper than an ordinary person's. He could detect the metallic tang wafting from the Treant Forest.
Who's being attacked? Normally, I'd assume someone who wandered into the forest carelessly got set upon by monsters, but... given Zozo's group, that might not be it.
Even as the thought crossed his mind, Set charged on toward the forest.
They plunged beneath the canopy, and what Rei saw there made him click his tongue.
"Troublesome."
The scene before him was exactly what he had feared.
Nearly twenty green demi-humans were huddled together in one spot, ringed by Lizardmen as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The thick scent of blood in the air was, without question, coming from the demi-humans.
Having witnessed similar scenes before, Rei grasped the situation in an instant.
But one thing was different this time.
"I see."
At the end of Rei's gaze stood a figure noticeably larger than the surrounding Lizardmen—a being like Zozo, clearly no ordinary Lizardman. Most likely a Rare Species or High-ranking Species.
"Rei ●●, ●●●●●●?"
Zozo, still behind Rei, spoke up upon seeing what appeared to be one of his own kind.
It wasn't Zozo's voice that drew attention, though—rather, the green demi-humans and Lizardmen noticed Set approaching and turned to stare at Rei's group in alarm.
Whether because of the three-meter-long Set or because of Zozo, the Lizardmen openly bared their wariness toward Rei and Set, unmistakable newcomers.
"●●●●●!"
The large Lizardman—the same type as Zozo—barked something. Rei couldn't understand the words, but seeing the surrounding Lizardmen shake off their agitation, there was no mistaking it for a rallying cry.
So, from the looks of it, these Lizardmen are definitely hostile. And with one of the same rank as Zozo among them, this is going to be a headache.
Watching the new Lizardmen's demeanor, Rei hoped things wouldn't spiral into something troublesome, even as he understood that was wishful thinking.
Because the Zozo-like Lizardman was heading straight toward him.
A sequence of events that felt eerily familiar.
But Rei hesitated over whether he should strike first.
Attacking wasn't inherently unreasonable. Yet if he defeated this Lizardman, there was no guarantee it would submit the way Zozo had—and without a shared language, submission would have to be shown through attitude alone.
What should he do to prevent that outcome?
Before Rei could decide, Zozo stepped forward—positioning himself squarely between Rei and the approaching Lizardman.
"●●●? ●●●●●●!"
"●●, ●●●●!?"
Zozo, asked something, nodded without a heartbeat's hesitation and fired back a reply.
The opposing Lizardman let out a heavy breath, as if to say he couldn't fathom Zozo's thinking at all.
No, he probably genuinely can't.
Even from Rei's perspective, the opposing Lizardman was eyeing him with obvious contempt—almost like a replay of Rei's own first encounter with Zozo.
And if Rei could read that, Zozo certainly could too.
"●●●●!"
With a voice seething with anger, Zozo lunged and drove his fist into the Lizardman's face.
He hadn't drawn the longsword at his waist—likely because he recognized the one before him as a fellow of his kind.
The punch connected cleanly and sent the Lizardman flying.
...To Rei's eye, Zozo's striking form was unmistakably sharper than yesterday.
The fruit of his mock battles with Vihera, held yesterday and again this morning? In those sessions, the gulf in their strength had meant Zozo was beaten one-sidedly—but he had still taken something from the experience, and it showed in that single blow.
The strike was crisp. The Lizardman couldn't evade in time and was hurled backward.
That said, one hit wasn't enough to knock him out or break his will to fight.
"●●●●●●!"
With a roar of fury and frustration, the downed Lizardman used his tail to spring to his feet in an instant and came charging back at Zozo.
Whether in response to Zozo not drawing a weapon or out of sheer pride, he too fought bare-handed.
What followed was a pure brawl.
Even so, Zozo held the advantage throughout. The first punch had taken its toll, and beyond that, even in just a few days, the mock battles against powerhouses like Rei and Vihera had honed his skills. That small difference was enough. Sparring with beings so overwhelmingly stronger had undeniably sharpened him.
And submitting to Rei had surely become a wellspring of confidence in its own right.
After several minutes of trading blows, Zozo was the one left standing. The opposing Lizardman lay sprawled on the ground.
Zozo had taken his share of hits and was bruised up, but the result was unmistakably a decisive victory.
"Zozo, good work. I want to treat Lunora's companions, so keep the others in check."
It seemed Zozo didn't catch every word, but he read Rei's intent from his tone, nodded, and leveled a warning glare at the surrounding Lizardmen.
Even if these Lizardmen try something, the others should be here soon. And Set's here, too.
Zozo's fight had only lasted a few minutes, but in that time, the group traveling by carriage should have been able to reach the Treant Forest. Or rather, it would have been strange if they hadn't.
In truth, they had read the urgency in Rei's demeanor, dropped off the woodcutters and their adventurer escorts, and were racing toward the Treant Forest—but they hadn't arrived yet.
Regardless, with Zozo having defeated the Lizardmen's leader, no one tried to stop Rei as he approached the green demi-humans.
That Zozo followed Rei was obvious from his demeanor, and having Set at his side was an even bigger deterrent.
The green demi-humans watched Rei approach in silence. The fear had drained from their eyes—likely because Rei had spoken the name of Lunora, one of their own, just moments ago.
As he drew closer, the rusty scent that had reached the forest's edge grew thick and cloying.
None of the demi-humans had suffered fatal wounds, but many bore deep gashes and bled green blood.
So even green blood smells the same.
Revisiting the same thought he'd had before, Rei pulled a potion from his Misty Ring.
He could have waited for the knights, but right now, demonstrating that he was an ally mattered more. After all, he had brought Zozo with him—the same kind of being as the Lizardmen who had just been attacking them. It was entirely possible they saw Rei as an enemy.
Zozo's fight might have hinted otherwise, but he needed to make his stance absolutely clear.
"●●●?"
One of the green demi-humans muttered in puzzlement at the sight of the potion.
Just like Lunora's group, they had no idea what a potion was.
Making sure the others were watching, Rei took hold of a nearby demi-human's arm.
The demi-human flinched at the sudden grab, but before he could yank his arm away, Rei poured the potion over the wound—what looked like a longsword cut.
"!?"
The demi-human gasped. It would have been stranger not to recoil at having an unknown liquid splashed onto an open wound.
The other green demi-humans stirred at their companion's cry. They weren't fighters by nature, but that didn't mean they would stand by and watch a friend come to harm. They wouldn't attack Rei, but they could at least try to stop him from doing anything strange—though, given that the man before them had the very being who defeated their attackers as a subordinate, defying him should have been the furthest thing from their minds.
But before any of them could act, the demi-human under treatment noticed something wrong with his wound.
It was healing. Right before his eyes.
For someone with no knowledge of potions, the sensation was uncanny. And yet the pain was fading—the demi-human was struck speechless with astonishment.
The others noticed. The demi-humans who had been about to intervene froze mid-step. They watched the wound knit itself shut, then turned to Rei with expressions of sheer disbelief.
Taking advantage of their stunned stillness, Rei moved on to the next demi-human, pouring potion after potion over their wounds.
That the effects were so dramatic was, naturally, because these were high-quality potions.
Well, I helped the green demi-humans. Lord Daskar can reimburse me later.
Rei had good reason to think so. When he had used his own potions on Lunora's group—the first ones he'd encountered—Daskar had replaced them. And not with equivalents, either. Driven by his pride as the lord of Gilm and his genuine gratitude for Rei's handling of the situation, Daskar had provided potions of considerably higher quality than the ones Rei had spent.
By that logic, there was no need to hold back here. And so, by the time the knights and adventurers finally arrived, the green demi-humans' wounds had already been all but healed.