"Ehh..."
Rei and Set had been heading toward the Birth Tower when they passed over the Treant Forest and spotted the woodcutters and their adventurer guards waving frantically. Thinking something might have happened, Rei descended to the ground.
What he found upon landing was five Lizardmen locked in a standoff with the adventurers.
Did they come from the Birth Tower? Rei wondered. But if that were the case, there was no reason for them to be facing off against the woodcutters and adventurers.
The Lizardmen followed Gaga and Zozo, and under their orders, they had been instructed not to attack the humans of this world on their own initiative.
That said, it wasn't as though they were told to remain defenseless no matter what. If attacked, they were permitted to fight back.
Even so, seeing Lizardmen in such a tense confrontation with the woodcutters and adventurers was strange.
...Assuming, of course, that these were the same Lizardmen living at the Birth Tower.
The woodcutters and adventurers in the standoff were equally at a loss for what to do. When Rei and Set happened to pass overhead, they had presumably called out for help.
Even so, that was actually a rather dangerous move.
In the middle of a standoff, if one side suddenly raised their voice and made flashy movements, it could easily have triggered a battle in the worst case.
The fact that it hadn't was likely because the group facing the Lizardmen numbered over twenty.
Twenty-plus against five Lizardmen.
Granted, some among them were woodcutters rather than adventurers, but there was no mistaking that the number of adventurers was still significant.
Their numerical advantage was what kept the Lizardmen from making a move.
When Rei descended, the sound that escaped him upon seeing the Lizardmen was one of bewilderment.
Fundamentally, unless a Lizardman had extremely distinctive features, Rei couldn't tell them apart.
Gaga was an exception, standing roughly three meters tall.
But looking at the Lizardmen before him now, he couldn't be certain, yet he could at least guess that these were likely newly teleported arrivals.
(Given that the lake and the Birth Tower had already teleported over, I figured there wouldn't be any new Lizardman teleportations for a while. What on earth happened to cause this?)
Teleporting something as massive as that lake and tower should have exhausted whatever power was responsible.
That was what he had assumed, which made this completely unexpected.
(Ah, but the Birth Tower aside, the lake most likely came from a different world entirely than the one where the Gran Dragonia Empire exists. So if that's the case, maybe only the Birth Tower was teleported here from their side?)
Rei mulled this over while watching the Lizardmen, but they had already shifted their attention to Set beside him, their wariness plain to see.
They understood that Set was a powerful creature—overwhelmingly stronger than themselves.
The fact that they failed to perceive Rei's own strength was partly due to their lack of ability, but the presence of Set was undoubtedly the bigger factor.
Watching the Lizardmen warily eye Set rather than him, Rei hesitated over what to do before finally speaking.
"Gaga, Zozo."
A twitch ran through the group.
The Lizardmen reacted to the names Rei had spoken. Without the Stone Tablet, they couldn't understand his words, but they could still pick out the names Gaga and Zozo.
Relieved, Rei pointed toward the Birth Tower and spoke again.
"Gaga, Zozo."
If they went that way, Gaga and Zozo would be there. That was what Rei tried to convey, though he felt slightly anxious about whether his intent had gotten across.
Fortunately, the Lizardmen exchanged looks and spoke to one another in words Rei couldn't understand. The hostile atmosphere eased somewhat, and those holding weapons lowered them.
They probably hadn't fully trusted Rei, but since familiar names had come up, they decided to at least head in the direction he indicated.
"●●●? ●●, Gaga ●●, Zozo ●●, ●●●?"
The Lizardmen asked Rei something, but all he could make out were the names Gaga and Zozo.
The words attached after their names were likely some form of title or honorific.
Even so, given that the names had come up, he could tell they were asking whether the two were over there.
"I'll guide you. Come with me."
Rei gestured to the Lizardmen, using his hands and body to convey the message.
They didn't seem to fully grasp what his gestures meant, but they apparently caught the gist, as the Lizardmen nodded.
Leading the Lizardmen, who remained wary of Set rather than him, Rei called out to the woodcutters and adventurers.
"For now, I'll take these Lizardmen with me. But the fact that they teleported in again means we can't rule out the possibility of Green People showing up too. If you find any, send word."
Rei wanted to tell them to bring any Green People they found directly to him, but while the Birth Tower's existence was known, the lake was still a secret.
Of course, since they were logging close to the lake, they couldn't keep it hidden forever. Sooner or later, they would find out on their own.
Even so, it was only natural for Rei to want to avoid being the one to reveal it.
The knight in charge of the area knew about the lake as well, so he nodded at Rei's words.
"Understood. I'll do that. When the time comes, I'll deliver the news myself."
"Thanks."
"Gruu."
For some reason, Set let out a purr after Rei's words.
Stroking Set, Rei led the Lizardmen toward the lake.
The woodcutters and adventurers who had seen them off returned to their work.
There wasn't as dire a shortage of construction lumber as there had been a short while ago.
Even so, since there was no telling when logging might be suspended again, they needed to fell as many trees as possible while they still could.
Leaving the working woodcutters and adventurers behind, Rei and Set proceeded toward the lake, guiding the Lizardmen along the edge of the Treant Forest.
The Lizardmen followed at a steady pace behind them.
Rei could hear them talking among themselves along the way, but the only words he could make out were the names Zozo and Gaga.
Their demeanor changed, however, once the Birth Tower came into view.
The lake was still hidden, but the Birth Tower stood at a considerable height, so they could likely see it clearly.
For the Lizardmen, it was probably a familiar sight.
"●●!? ●●, ●●●●!"
One of them shouted something upon seeing the Birth Tower.
The others raised loud voices as well.
(Well, I can't blame them. A facility from their own country is sitting in an unfamiliar place. Come to think of it, when these Lizardmen teleported here, how did the Birth Tower factor into all of this?)
Feeling the suspicious gazes of the Lizardmen behind him boring into his back, Rei pressed on toward the Birth Tower with Set.
When the lake came into view alongside the tower, the Lizardmen's bewilderment only grew.
Even so, they weren't as noisy as Rei had expected. Partly because they had already been sufficiently shocked by the Birth Tower, but more so because this was their first time visiting, they likely assumed the lake had simply been there from the start.
As they drew closer, several adventurers and Lizardmen could be seen around the tower, and they noticed Rei approaching.
Thanks to Set's presence, they immediately recognized him, but they must have wondered why he was walking instead of flying through the air on Set as usual. Then they noticed the five Lizardmen trailing behind Rei and Set.
Those most surprised by the sight were the Lizardmen near the tower rather than the adventurers.
Unlike the adventurers and knights who fundamentally couldn't tell Lizardmen apart, Lizardmen could naturally distinguish their own kind.
And the Lizardmen Rei had brought were not ones who had been living at the Birth Tower.
"●●●●!"
One of the Lizardmen from the tower shouted something and broke into a run toward Rei's group.
The reason the watching adventurers and Rei didn't ready for battle was that the charging Lizardmen had thrown their weapons to the ground and were running unarmed.
Rei, too, did nothing to stop the approaching Lizardmen. Instead, he glanced back at the ones behind him.
Probably... he thought, and just as he expected, they were already in motion.
The five Lizardmen who had come with Rei also tossed aside their weapons and broke into a run toward the Lizardmen rushing toward them.
"Phew."
Rei let out a breath of relief.
Since they were fellow Lizardmen, he had figured they were probably acquaintances of those who had teleported in before.
What had teleported from the forest where the Green People lived, though, was not Lizardmen but the Birth Tower itself—a structure from the Gran Dragonia Empire's castle.
Given the scale of the empire that Zozo had described, even fellow soldiers of the same nation could be complete strangers, and in the worst case, they could even be hostile units.
...Considering what had happened with Zaza, such concerns were only natural.
But watching the Lizardmen talking animatedly among themselves, it was easy to see that Rei had simply been overthinking it.
"Rei, those Lizardmen? ...Did they teleport in again?"
One of the adventurers asked, watching the Lizardmen, who seemed to be happily conversing.
He couldn't tell them apart, but the fact that they had arrived with Rei told him there was some kind of situation.
"Yeah. On the way back, I found them in a standoff with the woodcutters and adventurers. Figured I'd bring them along since it worked out."
"Huh... I wonder what's going on. In the first place, how are they even teleporting here?"
"You're asking me? How would I know? It's not like this place is causing the teleportations... wait, what if this place is the cause?"
Rei had retorted to the adventurer, but a sudden doubt crept into his mind about his own words.
The lake, the Birth Tower, the Lizardmen, and the Green People had all teleported here.
In particular, it was nearly certain that the lake had come from an entirely different world than the one where the Gran Dragonia Empire existed.
If so, the most likely explanation for why things were being teleported from that other world was the Treant Forest itself.
(No, but... the Birth Tower is adjacent to the forest, so that's still within the realm of plausibility. But the lake? Even if it teleported, isn't it a bit too far away?)
Of course, if the lake had teleported into the middle of the forest, that would have been a serious problem.
But that would imply the Treant Forest was selectively choosing and teleporting things from other worlds.
Or rather, not the forest itself, but someone or something.
(Is something like that even possible? Then again, considering how this Treant Forest came into existence, it wouldn't be all that surprising.)
Thinking of the Gigant Turtle and what could be called the boss entity of the Treant Forest, it wasn't entirely impossible to accept that anything could happen here.
But whether something like that was actually within the realm of possibility was something even Rei couldn't bring himself to fully believe.
Deciding that nothing would come of overthinking it on his own, he resolved to consult Grimm about the matter later.
That said, if the Treant Forest was intentionally teleporting beings from other worlds, he would also have to figure out how to stop it.
At the very least, Rei had absolutely no idea what to do about that.
He could try asking Elena and Marina, and Vihera too, though she probably wouldn't know as much.
Of course, even Marina, who had lived the longest as a Dark Elf, probably wouldn't come up with an answer so easily.
With these thoughts in mind, Rei stood and watched the Lizardmen celebrate their reunion.