"Tch!"
Rei dodged the spinning kick Gaga sent his way, then immediately evaded the tail strike that followed as a follow-up attack.
Gaga seemed surprised to have his consecutive attacks evaded, but he accepted it without hesitation and moved right into his next action. For Gaga's part, he had never expected attacks of that level to actually work on Rei in the first place, which probably had a lot to do with his composure.
Rei stepped forward, seizing the opening left by Gaga's failed strike.
For someone of Gaga's stature—roughly three meters tall—having Rei close the distance was anything but ideal. Tall and long-limbed, Gaga was essentially like a fighter wielding a polearm. Because of that, dealing with a quick, small opponent like Rei slipping inside his guard was difficult.
...That said, given Gaga's massive frame, opponents choosing to get inside his reach was far from uncommon.
"●●!"
Gaga planted his feet and swung an elbow. With the distance narrowed, his fists were useless—hence the elbow, which could strike even at close range.
But Rei sidestepped the attack, and the instant his feet touched the ground, he kicked off again.
It was an unconventional—perhaps even reckless—variation of the Triangle Jump, and it caught Gaga completely off guard.
From Gaga's perspective, the moment he thought Rei had dodged his strike and escaped from inside his reach, Rei closed the distance once more. What's more, Rei's blow came from the outside of Gaga's downward elbow arc—directly from the side.
With the attack coming from a direction he never anticipated, Gaga couldn't even raise a defense. The fist connected with his flank and sent him flying.
Given the height difference between Rei and Gaga, the sight was almost comical enough to draw a laugh.
But what was happening here, mock battle or not, was a serious fight. Neither side had any room for clowning around.
Despite being sent airborne, Gaga twisted his body mid-flight with an agility that belied his enormous size. He used his tail to steady himself and landed cleanly on the ground.
"You move well for someone your size."
Gaga couldn't have understood what Rei was saying. Even so, he seemed to grasp that it was praise—his lips curled into a smile as he reset his stance and squared up again. His attitude made it clear: I can still fight.
"Fair enough. But... breakfast is coming up soon. We can't keep sparring forever, so let's call it here."
Though Gaga couldn't understand the words, he seemed to read Rei's intent from his demeanor. He took his stance to match Rei's, and the two of them kicked off the ground at nearly the same instant.
In terms of burst speed and acceleration, however, Rei was clearly superior. Despite starting almost simultaneously, they collided closer to where Gaga stood.
Even so, Gaga refused to concede the exchange. He thrust his fist forward, determined not to lose in the fight even if he was outmatched in speed. But Rei slipped past the punch, drove forward, and slammed into Gaga shoulder-first.
A tackle.
Rei was small, yet his physical abilities exceeded Gaga's. That alone generated more than enough force to send even Gaga's massive frame reeling.
"●●●!"
The tackle—launched like a diagonal forward leap—drove squarely into Gaga's abdomen.
...Had Rei mistimed his charge, the hit could have landed somewhere far lower than his abdomen—squarely in Gaga's groin. Rei, however, seemed entirely oblivious to that possibility.
Gaga flew back several meters, bounced off the ground a few times, and finally skidded to a halt. By then, Rei had already closed the distance and stood over him, ready to deliver a strike at a moment's notice.
"..."
After a few seconds of silence, Gaga raised both hands. From their previous bouts, he knew this was the signal for surrender.
Seeing that, Rei lowered his guard.
The sun was shining, but true to spring, the morning air still carried a slight chill. In Marina's courtyard, however—kept pleasant by her spirits—they could move around without the cold affecting them at all.
"It looks like they're done. In that case, I'm next—"
"Vihera, it's already breakfast time."
Vihera, having watched Rei and Gaga's mock battle come to an end, had been about to call dibs on the next round when Marina stepped into the courtyard and cut her off.
"Isn't it a bit early today?"
"Not particularly... right?"
"Indeed. There may be some slight variance, but it is not drastically different from usual."
"Mn."
Elena agreed with Marina's words, and the hungry Byune muttered something that was clearly an urging for breakfast to come quickly.
Ara alone regarded Vihera with an indescribable, subtle expression—but for Vihera, that look from Ara dealt far more damage than any prodding about breakfast ever could.
"Fine. Let's have breakfast. Though in the end, I barely got to fight this morning."
"You did fight a fair amount, didn't you?"
Rei offered that to the grumbling Vihera. In truth, she had already sparred with both Rei and Gaga that morning, so it wasn't as though she'd had no chance to fight, as she claimed. Even so, her honest feeling was probably that she would have liked even more time in the ring.
That said, once breakfast was over, the workday would begin. Hoping that some strong opponent might start a brawl or something, Vihera resigned herself to helping prepare breakfast.
"Ah, Rei-san."
Spotting Rei as he entered the Guild, Lenora called out to him.
It was still early, but the Guild was already packed with people seeking work. Rei generally disliked crowds, but given how hectic things were right now, he had no choice but to show up even at this hour.
He wove his way through the throng and reached the counter, but...
"Go ahead."
"Sir."
The man who had been queued in front of Rei readily yielded his spot.
"Though, um... could I get a handshake?"
"...Sure, why not."
The fact that Rei was the adventurer with the alias of Crimson was common knowledge in Gilm. But for someone who had only just arrived seeking work with the expansion construction, an alias-holding adventurer was not someone you encountered more than a handful of times in a lifetime. If surrendering his place in line could earn him a handshake from that very person, then yielding was simply never in question.
(Is he some kind of idol?)
Experiencing a complicated mix of feelings, Rei nonetheless shook the man's hand and accepted the spot.
"Ah, ahaha. You're popular, Rei-san."
"Honestly, I'm not sure whether to be flattered or not. Anyway, what should I do today? Actually, I heard last night that the craftsmen working on the expansion construction got anxious about dwindling building supplies and got into a brawl. If I'm guarding the Birth Tower anyway, would it be alright if I fell some of the trees around it and hauled them in?"
When he relayed what Marina had told him the night before, Lenora smiled and nodded.
...Beside her, Kenny—while tending to another adventurer—was casting envious glances at Lenora. Whether Lenora hadn't noticed or was deliberately ignoring it was unclear.
In any case, Lenora produced several documents and held them out to Rei.
"If you sign these, I'll process the tree felling and transport as a separate request."
"Is that alright?"
"Yes, there shouldn't be any problem with you, Rei-san. Besides, the more felled timber, the better. The woodcutters are officially resuming their work today as well."
"...They are? Then there's really no need for me to go out of my way—"
"No, please do it. At least for a few days. And since the woodcutters are getting back to work, we'll need the felled logs transported too."
"Is that alright? The whole reason I don't usually handle the tree felling is—"
"I understand what you're trying to say, Rei-san, but this time is an exception. Right now, we need to turn as many trees into building materials as possible."
"Even so, with the magical processing required, it's not like trees felled today can be used as building materials immediately, right?"
"Even so. You can leave that part to the alchemists."
Told in no uncertain terms, Rei had no choice but to nod in agreement. In truth, the alchemists had their share of personality issues, but in terms of technical skill, they were nothing short of first-rate.
...They were also people Rei preferred to keep at arm's length, given how they kept pestering him to show or lend them the materials from the giant eyeball he had taken down that winter.
"Understood. It wouldn't do to have the expansion construction grind to a halt over something like this. I'll put in some effort."
"Thank you. As a Guild, we'd like to dispatch as many people as we can, but..."
As Lenora spoke apologetically, Rei felt something tug at him and asked a question.
"It's fine to send out woodcutters, but what about the tower situation? You want to keep things from spreading as much as possible, right?"
He whispered the word "tower" just quietly enough that no one nearby could hear.
Lenora offered a faint smile at his consideration.
"That's true, but it seems the judgment was that it couldn't be helped. Of course, we've told the woodcutters not to talk about what they saw in the Treant Forest, but..."
She paused.
"It's probably hopeless," she added, in a tone that suggested she already knew the answer.
Rei could also predict that the gag order would have almost no effect in this particular case. Most likely, after finishing work today, they would head straight to the taverns or brothels and talk all about the Birth Tower.
In the first place, anyone well-informed already knew about the Birth Tower. Thinking back to when the mercenaries had attacked it, that much was obvious.
...The fact that someone among Daskar's subordinates or the adventurers had leaked the information was a serious headache for Rei as well.
In any case, that the current situation had become thorny was an undeniable fact.
"The information spreading—spreading even more than it already has—is just a matter of time, isn't it?"
"I suppose so. And the Lizardmen—will they be alright?"
"Yeah. Most of them are mild-mannered by nature. It probably helps that their leaders are solid."
Lizardmen like Gaga and Zozo were highly intelligent. Looking at Gaga's behavior, that might be hard to believe, but at the very least, they didn't look down on or underestimate those who weren't their own kind.
When they first met, Rei had made a show of his strength. After moving into Marina's house, Gaga had engaged in mock battles with Vihera and Elena—enough to judge that the humans of this world were not to be taken lightly.
...If only Zozo's brother Zaza had come through to this world, there was a real possibility things would have escalated into an all-out war, with the Lizardmen turning against the teleported Green People they were supposed to protect.
In that sense, Zozo being the first to teleport in was fortunate for Rei—no, for the people of Gilm. And Gaga, the Third Prince, arriving when he did was equally fortunate.
"Well then, I should head to the Treant Forest soon. Zozo and the others are probably waiting, and the woodcutters are heading out too, right?"
"Strictly speaking, they've already gone. They were quite eager—saying they wanted to fell as many trees as possible today to make up for yesterday."
"The very picture of a woodcutter."
Impressed, Rei stepped away from the counter. The adventurer who had yielded his spot was waiting behind him, so Rei gave him a light wave in gratitude.
Whether pleased by the gesture or simply starstruck, the adventurer man waved back with the same hand Rei had shaken, a grin stretching ear to ear across his face.
Rei had the nagging suspicion that the man might be too overjoyed to get any work done today. In reality, however, this adventurer would go on to work remarkably hard, earn recognition from his superiors, enter a relationship with his superior's sister, and eventually marry her—though Rei would never know any of this.
"Grrrrl!"
The moment Rei stepped out of the Guild, Set, who had been playing with a group of adventurers, spotted him instantly and purred with delight.
'Ah...'
Seeing Set's reaction, several adventurers let out audible sighs of disappointment.
But they knew full well who Set's favorite person was—something that went without saying for anyone who spent any time around him. So while they felt let down, none of them tried to say anything more about it.
"I see, they were keeping you entertained. Good for you... But we're heading to the Treant Forest soon, so let's wrap up the playing here."
"Gruu."
Set purred at Rei's words, making it clear he understood. Then he turned to the adventurers who had played with him and those who had slipped him treats, and purred a fond farewell.
Understanding the meaning behind the gesture, the adventurers saw Rei and Set off with calls of "Give it your best out there!"