The deer yielded more meat than Set could carry, but with the Adventurer, the Knight, and the Lizardmen present alongside Rei — and, more importantly, with Gaga and Set among their number — nearly all of it was devoured.
As a precaution, portions of various cuts had been set aside as souvenirs for Elena, Marina, Vihera, Ara... and most importantly, Byune. But still...
(No, I never expected deer tongue to taste that good.)
Rei, picking at chilled fruit for dessert, was still marveling at how the deer tongue from the yakiniku had far exceeded his expectations. It had that distinctive tongue texture, yet also a tenderness that complemented it perfectly.
Naturally, the deer tongue had been popular with everyone, and they hadn't managed to save any for souvenirs.
(I'll just... pretend a food called deer tongue never existed, at least as far as Byune is concerned. Fortunately, Gaga still can't speak.)
If Zozo had been here, there was a chance the information might have leaked. But Zozo had been assigned to stay behind at the Birth Tower as an interpreter in case anything happened.
That was precisely why Rei was confident the deer tongue intel would never reach Byune — until...
"Deer. Tongue."
"...Huh?"
Rei turned toward the voice that had come out of nowhere and found Gaga standing there. Looking straight at Rei, Gaga opened his mouth again.
"Deer. Tongue."
Now certain those words had come from Gaga's own mouth, Rei buried his face in his hands.
He was glad Gaga had learned a word. Glad, truly — but why did it have to be that one of all things?
"Deer. Tongue."
Perhaps he liked the way it sounded, because the same phrase kept tumbling from Gaga's mouth.
"Zozo, why did you teach Gaga a word like— no, never mind."
Rei had been about to ask, but decided there was no point pursuing it in the current situation. Truthfully, he could tell that Gaga hadn't learned the word for any particular reason — he'd probably just found it easy to remember.
『Lord Rei?』
"It's nothing. Just thinking — next time we catch a deer, I'll bring the tongue back as a souvenir. Though there's no guarantee we'll run into another one like that."
Haa.
With a sigh, Rei let his gaze wander across the surroundings.
Having polished off a lunch of deer yakiniku — more lavish than anything they'd find at a restaurant in town — most of the group looked thoroughly satisfied.
(If nothing else, morale definitely went up.)
Whether he should be pleased or exasperated by that, he wasn't entirely sure. Setting the dilemma aside, he decided it was fine to simply appreciate the mood and surveyed the area once more.
The Lizardmen looked equally content. The excessive tension from earlier had evaporated entirely. For the Lizardmen, the fact that adventurers and knights were helping guard the Birth Tower alongside them was one thing, but somewhere in their hearts, they likely still harbored reservations.
Sharing a yakiniku meal together — eating from the same pot, so to speak — had apparently tipped them toward judging the humans at least somewhat trustworthy.
In reality, their trust hadn't deepened overnight. The time spent together and the visible trust that Gaga and Zozo — members of the Imperial Family — placed in the humans weighed just as heavily in the equation.
(That said, I really do need to do something about this yakiniku smell. Well, given enough time, the wind should take care of it.)
If they were inside the Treant Forest, the dense trees would stifle the breeze. But the Birth Tower had materialized right on the forest's edge — open ground with nothing to block the wind, meaning the smell should disperse before long.
"Well, it'll sort itself out."
『Pardon?』
"I'm saying the wind will scatter the smell before any monsters or animals track it down. Or they might be drawn to the spot where we drained the blood and butchered the carcass instead."
Zozo nodded in understanding. The aroma of grilling meat was a powerful appetite stimulant — luring monsters and animals was a real possibility.
『But wouldn't they normally sense Set's presence and flee?』
"That's possible, but if something's desperate enough, it might not think that far ahead and just charge at Set. Besides, some monsters simply can't read strength. Goblins, for instance."
Goblins were weak enough to be called the bottom rung of monsters, and their stupidity matched their rank. Despite being largely instinct-driven, they never seemed to register Set as a threat — they'd happily attack him head-on, only to take a counterattack, realize they stood no chance, and finally bolt. As far as monster behavior went, Rei sometimes had to wonder.
"Anyway, I'd rather the whole deer tongue topic didn't come up at Marina's house. I'd prefer Gaga pick up some other word. ...What should I even teach him, though?"
Maybe sirloin, Rei mused aloud, mentally cataloguing the souvenirs stashed in his Misty Ring. The sirloin had been tender and genuinely delicious — if Gaga started saying that instead, it would only raise expectations for the souvenirs, which suited Rei fine.
『Shall I suggest that to Brother Gaga?』
"No need. Gaga might only keep saying it for now anyway. Besides, if I try to cover it up here and Byune finds out later, it'll only be worse."
That Byune's name had come up at all said everything about where Rei's mind was.
『Understood. Shall we proceed with guarding the Birth Tower for the afternoon, then?』
"Please. We need to keep a close eye on the surroundings, too."
Even as he answered Zozo, Rei sensed that today would likely pass without a mercenary attack — less a calculated assessment than a gut feeling. Though the possibility of some monster or animal stumbling in, like the deer that had become lunch, couldn't be ruled out entirely.
(Come to think of it, those antlers were impressive... but there's no real use for them, is there? Decoration, maybe?)
If the deer had been a monster, its antlers might have counted as some kind of material. But a normal deer — abnormally large though it was — offered limited utility.
(Actually, when I was in Japan, I saw on TV that deer antlers are used in traditional medicine. I have no idea whether that stuff actually works, but maybe I should bring them to a pharmacist?)
He'd heard of traditional medicine but had never used it himself, so he couldn't say whether deer antlers genuinely had any effect. Still, a pharmacist was a specialist — it wouldn't be strange for them to find a use. And since those antlers were a solid meter long, if they turned out to have no medicinal value, displaying them at Marina's house might at least be amusing. Whether Marina herself would appreciate that was another matter entirely.
By the time he'd finished musing over the antlers, the break was over and afternoon duties began.
Naturally, not everyone had rested during the lunch break. As guards, that went without saying — while half the group was on break, the other half remained alert, watching for anything unusual.
The Adventurer who had butchered the deer and Rei, who had grilled the meat while tending to Set, had stayed on break the entire time without rotating shifts, though.
"Alright, Set. I want you to keep watch around—"
Rei started to speak, but caught the Lizardman Children staring at him with wide, expectant eyes. What they were hoping for wasn't hard to guess — he'd only to think back to his earlier conversation with Set.
He also understood that these children hadn't been the ones riding Set when he took down the deer. Lizardmen could be distinguished by faint patterns on their bodies and the way they moved — at least, the ones with easily identifiable features. While Rei couldn't claim to tell every one of them apart, for the individuals he could recognize, none had been among the children riding Set during the morning hunt.
The fact that the Lizardman Children who had never ridden Set before were watching him with those eyes told him everything he needed to know.
"You want to ride on Set's back?"
He asked with gestures, and the message got through. Eyes sparkling, the children nodded in unison. That it was exactly what they wanted was probably why they'd understood his pantomime so easily.
Looking at those eager faces, Rei hesitated. Riding on Set was fine. But was it safe to let them walk through the Treant Forest like that? With Set's abilities, they'd be secure unless something truly extraordinary happened — but with Lizardman Children on his back, the odds of them doing something reckless were far from negligible.
"Zozo, come here for a moment!"
At Rei's call, Zozo broke away from the group of Lizardmen he'd been directing alongside Gaga and came over.
『What is it?』
"These children seem to want to ride Set into the Treant Forest. Do you see any issues with letting them go?"
『Let me think... I don't believe there would be, but... please wait a moment.』
Zozo turned and addressed the children. From his demeanor, it was clear he was giving them a stern warning.
A few minutes later, he turned back to Rei.
『I've told them not to thrash around on Set's back or dismount on their own. There shouldn't be any problems.』
"Good. Then it's fine to let them go?"
『Yes.』
Seeing Zozo's nod, Rei asked Set to let the Lizardman Children ride on his back and patrol the Treant Forest. Tucked into that request — barely, truly barely — was the hope that he might catch some kind of prey again along the way. Though of course, that was purely a bonus. His honest priority was the safety of the children on Set's back, far above anything they might hunt.
Chattering excitedly, the Lizardman Children clambered onto Set's back. Not all of them fit, so they split into two groups for the time being. The children left behind watched their companions with envious eyes but didn't make a fuss — no doubt thanks to Zozo's firm talking-to.
"Sorry about that. I owe you one."
『Not at all. Knowing it pleased you is all I could ask, Lord Rei.』
With that, Zozo headed back toward Gaga. Normally, Zozo would prioritize staying at Rei's side above all else, but right now he was studying alongside Gaga, working toward holding conversations without the Stone Tablet. If he could manage that, he'd be able to serve Rei even better — and that conviction drove him.
Rei wasn't entirely without feelings about it, but as long as Zozo himself was satisfied, he had no intention of saying anything.
"Well, with that settled... looks like a quiet afternoon ahead."
"Hey, wait a second. Mercenaries might attack again, you know? What do you mean, quiet?"
The Adventurer, having caught Rei's muttering, spoke up with visible unease. Having personally experienced a mercenary assault, he couldn't afford to relax the way Rei seemed to be suggesting.
As if to settle him down, Rei replied evenly.
"You say that, but you were just eating yakiniku, weren't you? I'd call that taking it easy. Besides, with Set here, we'll know the moment anyone approaches."
The Adventurer Man opened his mouth — and closed it again. He had no rebuttal. That his guard had slipped during the yakiniku lunch was an undeniable fact.
"So there's no need to worry too much for now. Even if someone does show up, with this much combat power on hand, we'll manage just fine."
That, too, was an undeniable fact. The ones stationed here were already skilled Adventurers and Knights, reinforced further by Gaga, Zozo, Rei, and Set. With ordinary Lizardmen present as well, repelling any ordinary attack would be straightforward.
The Adventurer knew that full well. But cautious by nature, he nonetheless kept his eyes sweeping carefully across the terrain.