"Rei!"
"!?"
Rei jolted awake at the sound of his name.
Normally, he was a notoriously heavy sleeper. But in an emergency like this, he woke with a speed that made one wonder where his usual grogginess had gone.
His eyes snapped open, and he quickly scanned his surroundings. Marina was standing nearby.
Judging that the voice had belonged to her, he spoke up.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"No, nothing like that. But you should probably get up soon. I'm not sure what the woodcutters will decide to do today, but they usually arrive around this time."
"Ah... right."
Rei felt a wave of relief at Marina's words. It wasn't an emergency.
At the same time, he realized he had clearly overslept—but given everything that had happened, it made sense. He'd been jolted awake in the middle of the night by Set's cry, flown straight to the Treant Forest, discovered the Birth Tower, searched it inside and out, regrouped with Marina and the others...
So much had happened—truly so much—that he hadn't been able to get back to sleep until near dawn. Considering all that, sleeping until this hour was hardly unreasonable.
"Marina's Spirit Magic helped, but being inside a building probably made a difference too."
Rei had been sleeping on the first floor of the Birth Tower, right inside the entrance. That was why he'd slept more comfortably than he would have outdoors.
He had his Magic Tent with him, but sleeping here had been more or less a spur-of-the-moment decision.
...That said, since he'd slept directly on the floor, there were others nearby who seemed to be nursing sore bodies.
This was especially true among the knights.
They had naturally removed their armor before sleeping, but for adventurers, camping out was nothing unusual—sleeping on a mantle spread over the ground was par for the course. Knights, however, rarely had such experiences. Even when they did camp, they often brought proper bedding with them. Sleeping on a bare stone floor was clearly something they weren't accustomed to.
"That's true. But unlike a proper house, this won't hold up for long. We'll be lucky to manage today, at best."
"If only we could make do for just the nights, at least."
Since it was spring, the days were warm enough. Of course, even in spring, there were days when the cold suddenly reverted to near-winter temperatures, and sometimes it even snowed a little. But still, the daytime generally offered a reasonable degree of warmth. The real problem was the night.
The fact that there were children and eggs inside the Birth Tower made that all the more critical.
"Hmm, but in the Gran Dragonia Empire, there wasn't anyone who used Spirit Magic like me, right? In that case, they should be able to manage fine."
"Really? Then—" Rei paused mid-sentence, catching a sound from outside.
The Birth Tower was separated from the outdoors by a door, but due to the effects of the teleportation, a section of the wall—likely the part that had connected to the castle—looked as though it had been scooped out with a spoon. That opening led directly outside, allowing sounds that the door would normally block to filter in.
(If this Birth Tower is going to stay here, I'll need to do something about that hole. Just covering it with cloth won't stop animals or monsters from getting in.)
Previously, there had been no signs of animals or monsters in the Treant Forest, but now they were fairly common. If any of them got into the Birth Tower through that opening, the consequences would be dire. The hole needed to be sealed with something far sturdier than cloth.
(Maybe Treant Forest wood...? No, no. If I had wood to spare, I'd need to hand it over to the alchemists first.)
Treant Forest wood was already being used extensively as a building material in Gilm. On top of that, there was this whole Birth Tower incident. With logging in the forest set to become even more difficult, the alchemists would only crave Treant Forest wood more than before. Using it to plug a hole in the wall was something Rei couldn't justify.
...In the first place, his Misty Ring contained plenty of rocks. And as for lumber, he had ordinary wood—not the kind logged from the Treant Forest. If it was just about plugging the hole, those would do fine.
"Rei, aren't you going?"
Marina must have noticed the voices outside too. She prompted him with a look.
"Right. No point in just standing here thinking about it."
Rei nodded and stepped out of the Birth Tower—through the door, not the hole in the wall.
Outside, he found Set and Ielo happily eating sandwiches.
Near Set stood Mirenu and Yohanna.
Rei was mildly surprised to see those two—the top two Set enthusiasts in all of Gilm—but given that Set was here, their presence was almost to be expected. What was harder to explain was why they'd come all the way out here when they should have been busy with the Expansion Construction.
Mirenu was one of the most promising young adventurers in Gilm. An incredible man of the same generation named Rei had appeared and somewhat overshadowed her, but her abilities were still unquestionably top-class among the younger generation, with rumors of an imminent rank promotion circulating.
Yohanna's individual combat ability didn't quite reach Mirenu's level, but she was still formidable in her own right. More importantly, she was exceptionally skilled at commanding her party members.
...Yohanna's party consisted of the people Rei had fought alongside during the Bestia Empire civil war. Sharing the battlefield together had forged a powerful bond between them. Though not quite as prominent as Mirenu, Yohanna was also an unmistakably up-and-coming adventurer.
"Ah... I'm glad you two came, but are you sure you should be here? What about your work?"
At Rei's words, the two women—who had been completely absorbed in Set—turned to look at him as if snapping out of a daze.
"O-Oh. It's Rei. You were here?"
Mirenu's tone made it painfully obvious she was trying to brush something aside. Rei guessed she had come here without telling her party members.
Surnin, the mage known as Mirenu's External Conscience, normally served as her brake. But Surnin was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Ekril, another of her party members. In other words, Mirenu had definitely come here alone.
Yohanna was also by herself—but unlike Mirenu, she didn't have anyone to act as her brake. On the other hand, she didn't go charging off to the same degree as Mirenu did.
"Yeah, I'm here. Just woke up. So, Mirenu, you left Surnin behind?"
"A-Ahahaha... Ahahahahahahahaha! Let me off the hook this time!"
After a dry laugh, she immediately bowed her head—a sight that proved just how much she dreaded being lectured by Surnin. Even from Rei's perspective, Surnin's lectures to Mirenu were brutal, so he couldn't entirely blame her for feeling that way.
That was why, just as Rei was about to let the matter drop, he spotted a carriage approaching—and cast a gaze of pure pity toward Mirenu.
"Eh? Wait, what's with that look? You're staring at me like... livestock about to be slaughtered..."
Mirenu looked bewildered, but the sound of the carriage coming from behind must have clued her in. She slowly turned around, silently praying her prediction was wrong.
What she saw was Surnin, sitting on the driver's bench of the carriage. He wasn't driving—he sat next to the coachman—but that hardly mattered.
Surnin wore a smile that didn't reach his eyes, staring fixedly at Mirenu. "Visibly enraged" would have been an apt description. In fact, with Rei's eyesight, he could see veins bulging on the hand gripping Surnin's staff.
Having seen Surnin bring that staff down on Mirenu's head more times than he could count, all Rei could do was pray she survived.
...At the very least, he had no intention of intervening.
"Rei..."
When Mirenu cast a pleading look his way, Rei quietly looked away. He had no desire to get caught up in one of Surnin's lectures.
"W-Wait, Rei!?"
A cry of dismay escaped Mirenu's lips. She had clearly been hoping he would say something to Surnin on her behalf. Instead, she wore the expression of an abandoned puppy.
...Given that Mirenu had refined features and was genuinely beautiful, someone—anyone—could have stepped in to help her. But once the carriage stopped and Surnin stepped down from the driver's bench, no one felt inclined to try.
With that hollow smile plastered across his face, Surnin moved to stand directly behind Mirenu, staff in hand.
Mirenu knew he was there. She could feel the pressure radiating from him. But she couldn't bring herself to turn around.
"Mirenu. Look at me."
His voice was calm, but the force behind it was absolute. Even Mirenu couldn't ignore it.
Creeeak... Like a rusted puppet, Mirenu slowly turned to face Surnin behind her.
Surnin stared back at her, that smile devoid of warmth never wavering. A suffocating, almost electric tension filled the air.
"Umm... that is... is there any room for leniency...?"
"Do you think there is?"
Saying that, Surnin reached out and seized Mirenu's face. The next instant, he lifted her clean off the ground by her cheeks.
The Iron Claw.
...Of course, whether a mage like Surnin could actually grab the face of a warrior like Mirenu and hoist her up one-handed was another question entirely. As an adventurer himself, Surnin presumably had some degree of physical strength. But even so, lifting a grown woman by her face with one hand should have been beyond him.
Granted, mages like Rei existed in the world.
Regardless, Surnin's strength was clearly far beyond his normal limits right now—and the reason was undoubtedly the fact that Mirenu had come here without telling him.
"W-Wait, Surnin! Hold on, hold on, hold on! I'm a woman! Don't grab a woman's face like that!"
"Say that after you've finished your work and come to see Set during your free time. Good grief."
"But... Yohanna's here too! So why is it only me!?"
"Oh, I've already issued my instructions for today. I was busy yesterday, so I decided to take today off."
Oh-hoh-hoh-hoh-hoh! Yohanna let out a deliberately affected laugh while stroking Set. She wasn't wrong—she'd finished her work before coming, so Mirenu had no grounds to complain.
Grrrr...
Even with her face locked in Surnin's Iron Claw, Mirenu seethed at the sound of Yohanna's laughter.
But seeing Mirenu's reaction, Surnin only tightened his grip.
"Come along now. You and I need to have a very thorough talk, Mirenu... as thorough as it gets."
"Aaaaaah! W-Wait, Surnin, wait! Set-chan is... I can't let that wicked woman be alone with Set-chan!"
At some point, Mirenu had started counting Set as one person rather than one animal. Hearing that, Yohanna let out another triumphant "Oh-hoh-hoh-hoh!"
Yohanna was still wearing that smug grin when Rei suddenly smacked the back of her head.
"That's enough. Stop teasing Mirenu."
As Yohanna clutched her head, Rei's exasperated voice rang in her ears.