Perhaps because they had compared weapons and, above all, fought a mock battle, a surprisingly friendly atmosphere had settled between Rei and Gaga.
Watching from a distance, the knight and adventurers felt relieved at the sight.
Given the sheer number of Lizardmen—and the fact that Gaga, who could fight Rei on relatively even terms, might become an enemy—it was far better that things remained amicable.
"Well, at least it's good that it won't turn into a major incident."
"Yeah... you're right. Even if they told us to fight that many Lizardmen, there's no way we could win. Well, we might've managed something against ordinary ones, but..."
"They're soldiers."
At those words, many of the surrounding adventurers nodded.
If it were just a group of ordinary monsters gathered together, they figured they could handle it to some extent.
But fighting opponents who coordinated closely like soldiers was an entirely different matter.
Moreover, these were subordinates deeply devoted to an exceptionally powerful figure like Gaga.
They clearly possessed the strength befitting those called elites even among Lizardmen.
"What even is that Gaga guy in the first place? Is he really a Lizardman? He obviously doesn't look like an ordinary one."
The others around him nodded in agreement.
Gaga's massive frame, true to the words just spoken, didn't look like an ordinary Lizardman by any stretch.
Given that, no one raised any objection.
...When Gaga's name came up, the Lizardmen some distance away directed their gazes toward the adventurers. But perhaps because they could tell that the adventurer who had spoken Gaga's name was filled with awe, they showed no sign of doing anything about it despite the mention of their leader.
"Oh, hey. Look at that... no way... just how many carriages are coming..."
The adventurer who noticed the approaching carriages spoke in an increasingly dumbfounded tone as they drew closer.
Naturally. More than ten—fifteen, to be precise—carriages were rolling toward the Treant Forest in a line.
One or two would be one thing, but this many carriages moving together was not a common sight.
Those who had escorted large-scale merchant caravans might have seen something similar before.
"Whoa... you're right. But if you need to transport this many Lizardmen, you'd naturally need a lot of carriages."
The female adventurer muttered as if convinced.
Since most of the adventurers were looking that way, the Lizardmen's gazes naturally followed.
Seeing the fleet of carriages arrive, the Lizardmen were also surprised.
Rei, who had been conversing with Gaga through Zozo, noticed this as well. He judged that the adventurer he had sent to inform Gilm must have properly relayed the message, and called out to Zozo.
"Zozo, tell Gaga. We're going to ride those carriages now and head to a city called Gilm. We'll have them stay at the Lord's Manor there and learn our language and writing."
'Understood. Um... what about Gaga-brother? He might not be able to fit in a carriage...'
From the carriage he had ridden in and his brother's physique, Zozo harbored that concern.
It was possible that Gaga wouldn't be able to fit in those carriages.
"That's... I think it should be fine. The one I sent to report would have certainly mentioned that there's a giant Lizardman like Gaga."
While an ordinary Lizardman stood between 170 and 180 centimeters tall, Zozo was about two meters.
Considering that, one could easily understand just how absurd Gaga's height of roughly three meters was.
Moreover, a body that tall was covered in powerful muscle.
And yet, there was no sluggishness in his movements.
Combined with his personality, one could sincerely believe it if told he was born to fight.
That was exactly why it was easy to understand how he possessed the strength to rank among the top five in the Gran Dragonia Empire.
'I hope so...'
Zozo said, sounding slightly worried.
Perhaps curious about the exchange between Rei and Zozo, Gaga, who had been gazing at the carriages nearby, said something to Zozo.
As always, Rei couldn't understand the meaning of those words, but he could more or less guess.
It was probably about what Zozo and Rei had been discussing.
After a brief exchange, Zozo spoke to Rei.
'Um, Lord Rei. Gaga-brother says that if he truly cannot fit in a carriage, he doesn't mind walking to Gilm...'
"Isn't that... a problem?"
Even if it was a nation from another world, making someone in the position of the Third Prince of a country equal in scale to the Kingdom of Mireana walk all the way to Gilm seemed problematic to Rei.
Though, if he were to bring that up, Rei himself wasn't using any polite speech at all when talking to Gaga, even with Zozo translating.
'Gaga-brother being unable to ride vehicles was the case in the Gran Dragonia Empire as well, so that itself is not an issue... but I think it would be problematic for Gaga-brother to be walking while his subordinates are riding in carriages.'
Rei could only nod at Zozo's words.
The positions of subordinate and prince would be reversed.
"In that case, we'll just have to hope Gaga can fit in a carriage. Looks like they've arrived right on time, too."
Rei spoke, and the fleet of carriages stopped at the edge of their line of sight almost simultaneously.
The man who stepped down from the lead carriage was one of Daskar's subordinates, whom Rei had seen several times at the Lord's Manor.
It was a different person from the one who had come by carriage before, but that simply meant Daskar had multiple subordinates who could serve as coachmen.
"It's been a while, Rei-san."
The man, seemingly in his late thirties, bowed to Rei.
"A while? Didn't we meet when I went to Lord Daskar's place before?"
"Yes, well. Think of it as a seasonal greeting, perhaps."
"...Seasonal?"
"Yes."
Rei thought that wasn't how it worked, but the man said it with absolute confidence.
Since he was saying it with such conviction, Rei didn't pursue it any further.
Instead, he turned his gaze toward Gaga and spoke.
"Anyway, that giant Lizardman over there is the one leading the Lizardmen who teleported here. Do you think he can fit in a carriage?"
At Rei's words, the man looked over at Gaga.
Gaga also noticed he was being watched and directed his gaze toward the man.
Their eyes met, but the man neither looked away from Gaga nor tried to flee.
Then, he eventually nodded.
"Yes. I think he'll be fine. Well, I'd heard the stories, but... impressive indeed."
Rei was surprised but also relieved to see the man nodding with admiration.
He was taken aback that the man had so casually declared there would be no problem after seeing Gaga's body in person.
Still, it was a relief that no trouble would come of it.
So, without wasting any more time, he prompted Gaga and the other Lizardmen to board the carriages through Zozo's translation.
Perhaps because Zozo explained it thoroughly, Gaga gave orders to his subordinates without any particular complaint.
As Rei watched the Lizardmen boarding the carriages, the coachman spoke to him in a casual manner.
"Rei-san, is it just the Lizardmen we need to transport to Gilm this time? What about the Green People..."
"Oh... now that you mention it, we haven't found any. If they weren't near Gaga and his group, then if they did teleport here, they must be somewhere in the Treant Forest?"
Rei, who had completely forgotten about the Green People due to the Gaga incident, muttered that.
But naturally, there was no way the people present could have known that.
"What do you want to do, Rei? Want us to go search for a bit?"
Whether reading the situation or not, one of the adventurers asked.
Rei hesitated for a few seconds, but if the Green People were somewhere in the Treant Forest, leaving them behind was definitely not an option.
(Though, the Green People won't go hungry as long as there are plants, and now in spring, it won't be cold enough to freeze to death even at night. If it comes down to it, spending a night in the Treant Forest shouldn't be a problem for them.)
Given that, it wasn't as if they absolutely had to find them today.
That said, knowing that Daskar wanted to gather as many Green People as possible, Rei readily accepted the adventurers' offer to search.
"Understood. Then I'm counting on you. The Green People are generally quiet, so once you find them, try to communicate through gestures."
"Come on, we're not Rei. We can't communicate that easily."
The adventurers had seen how, before obtaining the Stone Tablet that Zozo carried, communication was done through gestures.
But now that they were in that position themselves, they didn't think they could pull off the same thing.
"You think so? But as long as we can't speak their language, I figure that's the only option, right?"
If Zozo with the Stone Tablet were here, they wouldn't have to worry about that, but the option of Zozo taking separate action from Rei didn't exist.
Or rather, there was also the option of Rei staying here with Zozo, but if anything happened during the transport of Gaga and his subordinate Lizardmen, someone capable of communication would be essential.
(I can't exactly tell Gaga and his group to just wait here while we search the Treant Forest.)
Daskar undoubtedly wanted special Lizardmen like Gaga brought to the manor as quickly as possible.
...Moreover, since Gaga was actually the Third Prince of the Gran Dragonia Empire, that was even more the case.
Fortunately, Gaga placed more importance on himself as a warrior than as the Third Prince, so he didn't seem particularly concerned about how he was treated.
(No, Zozo was the same way. Maybe in the Gran Dragonia Empire, even members of the Imperial Family aren't treated with that much deference?)
Rei had some thoughts on that matter, but deciding that transporting Gaga and his group to Gilm quickly took priority, he wrapped up the conversation.
"Alright then, I'll leave searching for the Green People to you guys. You've interacted with them to some extent, so I think you'll be fine, but please... I'm begging you, don't do anything rough to the Green People."
Since Daskar advocated for the protection of the Green People, if someone who found them attacked them out of curiosity, it would be bad in more ways than one.
Normally, anyone could figure out with a little thought that doing such a thing would mean they could no longer stay in Gilm—in the sense of earning Daskar's ire—but for some reason, there were many adventurers who didn't think about that at all.
Their numbers had decreased considerably now, but the fact that many people had tried to pick fights with Rei even knowing his reputation was proof of that.
They were convinced that they would be fine picking a fight with Rei, or even that Rei would follow their orders. For some reason, many had that kind of baseless confidence.
...In reality, in present-day Gilm where many people had come for the Expansion Construction, there were still those who thought that way. But fortunately, such people were being stopped by those who had been in Gilm from the start, or those who could properly gauge others' abilities even if they came from elsewhere.
Or rather, thanks to Set... or truly, in recent days, Zozo's presence as well, the number of people doing such things had decreased.
Then again, among those who tried to pick fights with Rei, there were those who held a meaningless sense of omnipotence for some reason, and those who believed they could handle him.
"We know. We don't want Lord Daskar glaring at us. You can rest easy about that."
Being chosen for this request, the adventurers here possessed a sensible side.
Relieved by that, Rei headed toward the carriages with Set and Zozo.
Gaga directed his gaze at Rei, then looked at him questioningly as if to ask what he was going to do with his greatsword before boarding.
'Lord Rei, Gaga-brother is...'
"The greatsword, right? I'll carry it, so that's not a problem."
When he said that, Zozo said something to Gaga.
Rei thought Gaga might be reluctant to entrust his weapon to someone else, but perhaps because they had hit it off earlier, Gaga nodded at Zozo's words.
'He says to leave it to Lord Rei.'
Rei nodded at those words and stored the greatsword in his Misty Ring.
Gaga had seen Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear disappear as well.
So even though he understood that Rei must have some means of doing so... still, Gaga was surprised to see his own greatsword suddenly vanish.