"Yeah... Seeing it like this, it really feels like it's been a while since I last came back."
"Guruu!"
Set purred in agreement with Rei's words.
After finishing his talk with Daskar, Rei had hauled logs felled by the woodcutters, explained to the guards stationed at the Birth Tower that he would be returning to Gilm today, and searched the Treant Forest for any Green People who might be hiding there. As a result, it was already evening by the time they made it back to Marina's house.
As the setting sun dyed their surroundings red, Rei, Marina, and Set stepped into the courtyard of Marina's house, where they found Elena and Ara in the middle of combat training.
That said, neither of them was going all out in any true sense.
They were holding back moderately — or rather, it was more of a mock battle in the spirit of a casual sport.
Naturally, Elena was strong, but Ara's prowess in unarmed combat was considerable as well.
With those two sparring, the level of skill on display was quite high.
"Ara has plenty of strength, but her technique is still immature... Though with her power, she can probably handle most opponents through sheer force alone," Marina murmured as she watched the match.
Marina primarily fought using Spirit Magic and the bow, but that did not mean she was incapable of close combat.
That said, her skill level was by no means high.
Even so, it was not difficult to sense from Ara's movements that she was relying on power rather than technique.
Rei, watching beside her, nodded at Marina's words.
...Though Rei himself had never properly learned martial arts from anyone, either. His style was entirely self-taught, honed through actual combat.
The fundamentals of body movement were one thing, but the moment he wielded the great scythe Death Scythe, the only path available to him was a largely self-taught one.
Moreover, he now wielded the Twilight Spear in addition to the great scythe.
A great scythe and a spear — Twin Spear Style.
He honestly could not imagine that there was anyone out there who could teach body movements to someone wielding such weapons, and in fact, there was no one.
That said, this was not necessarily a bad thing.
No one had experience fighting against someone who dual-wielded a great scythe and a spear — or if they did, they were exceedingly few.
In other words, no one could predict what kind of attacks would come.
In battle, an element that killed on first sight was an extremely powerful weapon.
...Of course, the combat style of Rei, Bearer of the Crimson Moniker, had spread quite widely alongside his flashy exploits.
However, rumors inevitably became distorted as they circulated.
Growing larger here, shrinking smaller there.
According to a story Rei had once heard, there was a rumor that he could spit a spear from his mouth and launch it — an attack method like that.
He had wondered what on earth could have happened during the rumor's spread to result in something so absurd, but ultimately concluded that his spear-throwing must have been warped in some strange way as the rumor passed from person to person.
Since he did use a spear, he referenced those movements to some extent.
"Ara's strength is truly worthy of being called Herculean Strength."
Replying to Marina's words, Rei continued watching the mock battle.
Ara's appearance was refined enough to be called a beauty.
In fact, according to what Rei had heard from Ara herself, if she attended any sort of party, men would frequently approach her.
But Ara's essence was that of a warrior.
She possessed enough strength to crush an enemy's arm along with the bone.
That being the case, she inevitably ended up relying on physical ability rather than technique in her fighting.
Of course, compared to an ordinary opponent — say, a common soldier — Ara could be said to possess genuine combat technique.
Still, from the perspective of someone with a certain level of skill, her fighting style inevitably appeared to rely on raw power.
The silver lining was that she was not being overwhelmed by her own strength, but was at least able to wield it competently.
It was that kind of fighting style, but even so, she could not match Elena.
"It's over."
Elena deflected a punch, stepped into Ara's guard, and thrust her fist beneath her opponent's chin.
"I lost," Ara declared, looking disappointed.
For Ara's part, she probably had not expected to beat Elena in the first place.
Even so, the fact that she had managed to hold her own to some extent was fortunate.
"There's no doubt that Ara has grown stronger... Hmm? Rei, you came back today?"
Elena called out to Rei, who had been watching their mock battle.
Her words were relatively curt, but her expression showed clear delight.
"Yeah. There's been some progress with the teleportation situation. I was told it's fine to stay here today."
"Progress?"
Elena asked with evident interest.
She was happy Rei had returned, but at the same time, she played a role in gathering information whenever something happened in Gilm.
In that sense, being able to learn about the teleportations that had been troubling Gilm lately was significant.
...Of course, since Rei had various circumstances he could not disclose to others, the information he relayed was also carefully selected and filtered.
Things he could not tell others — for example, the fact that he had come from another world, along with various other secrets — those were filtered by Elena's judgment.
"Yeah... To start with, we managed to find the monster responsible for the teleportations."
"Hoh."
Rei's words were apparently unexpected for Elena.
There had been many teleportations from other worlds up to now, but who was causing them had never been identified.
If that had changed, then as Rei said, there had been progress — and significant progress at that.
"And? Who exactly is... or rather, what is causing the teleportations?"
"A monster. In the underground space at the center of the Treant Forest, there was a giant Wisp. Given its size, it's likely a Rare Species or a High-ranking Species... no, probably a Rare Species, I think. That's what was teleporting things from another world to this one."
"...A Wisp?"
Elena's questioning response carried a tone of disbelief.
Naturally so.
Wisps were relatively well-known monsters, but they did not possess the ability to teleport things from other worlds.
To be told that such a creature had in fact been teleporting things from another world, it would be stranger not to be surprised.
However, the skeptical looks from Elena and Ara were promptly denied as both Rei and Marina shook their heads in unison.
"You might find it hard to believe, but it's undeniably the truth... Though I haven't actually seen it teleport anything myself."
"You haven't seen it? Then..."
Perhaps it was something different.
Elena had been about to say as much, but she too was cut off by a single statement from Rei.
"My master found it. So it's almost certainly correct."
...Rei himself had not actually seen the Wisp teleporting anything.
Even so, while it was unclear why Rei was so certain it was the Wisp's doing, the mention of his master left Elena with no choice but to accept it.
Elena herself had met Grimm only a handful of times.
But even for someone like her, if Rei said that Grimm had told him, there was no option but to accept it.
Grimm possessed that overwhelming a presence.
"I see. Then it cannot be helped."
"Huh? Um, Lady Elena?"
Seeing Elena accept it so readily, Ara was somewhat bewildered.
The usual Elena would not have conceded so easily.
However, Elena shook her head at Ara and spoke.
"It's fine. I understand what you're trying to say, Ara, but once you hear Rei's explanation, you'll understand too."
This was likely the difference between those who knew of Grimm's abilities and those who did not — between those who had direct contact with him and those who had not.
At the very least, the explanation was sufficient for Elena.
Seeing Elena's acceptance, Ara looked as though she still wanted to say something, but judging that nothing she said would be heard in the current situation, she kept her mouth shut.
The fact that it was Rei's master was probably relevant here as well.
"So then, it's good that the one responsible for the teleportations has been identified, but what will you do from here? Judging by how you look, Rei, it doesn't seem like it ended with simply defeating it, does it?"
"Explaining that over and over is a pain, so I'll go over it with everyone at dinner when Vihera and Byune get back. Anyway, I haven't been back here in days, so I'd like to have something a bit fancy for dinner today."
Rei turned his gaze toward Marina with a look that asked, Is that alright?
Since Marina was the one who primarily cooked for the group, it was a natural question.
Receiving Rei's gaze, Marina nodded without any hesitation.
For Marina's part, since Rei had returned for the first time in days, having a slightly fancier dinner was no problem at all.
"So when will Vihera and Byune be back? They're on patrol today, right?"
The most in-demand task for Vihera and Byune was, without a doubt, patrol work.
Rei stated this definitively, and the others showed no sign of disagreeing.
That was likely because they understood that if asked what job best suited the two of them in Gilm right now, it would indeed be patrolling.
Of course, subjugation requests existed normally.
There were also requests from people seeking specific monster materials.
However, for Vihera, it was only natural that she would find patrolling the city streets more interesting than such requests, as many problems arose there — and in many of those problems, strong individuals tended to cause trouble.
Many people had been gathering in Gilm lately, and among them were those who claimed to be skilled, as well as those who did not say so but actually were.
Not everyone caused trouble, but since they were skilled adventurers, naturally many had strong personalities. With such people gathering together, it was impossible for incidents not to occur.
Of course, the fact that most of them were opponents who could not satisfy Vihera was also true.
"Knowing Vihera, I get the feeling she might start trouble herself seeking an interesting fight... That's just my imagination, right?"
"Yes. I think it's just your imagination, as Rei says."
"Umu. I also believe it to be your imagination."
"Um... then I'll also go with it being just my imagination."
Everyone who knew Vihera's personality said so — though to be precise, it was more accurate to say they were telling themselves that.
Meanwhile, Set and Ielo, who had not interjected in the group's conversation, were running around the courtyard together, perhaps happy to see each other again after several days apart.
Since they considered each other important friends, they were probably delighted to reunite after days of separation.
Watching the two of them, Rei spoke as if to shift his mood.
"Anyway, no objections to a slightly fancy dinner today, right? Then let's get started on the preparations."
"Right. But when you say fancy, what kind of food are we making?"
"Let's see... How about something using Gamelion meat?"
At Rei's words, everyone present showed a delighted expression — or so Rei thought, as even Set and Ielo, who had been playing, seemed pleased.
Naturally. Gamelion meat was simply that high-quality an ingredient.
It was a food that could only be obtained in winter, and Gamelion itself had a ferocious personality hard to believe for a rabbit monster.
Its meat could naturally only be eaten during that season.
If processed like Dried Meat, that was another matter, but compared to raw meat, the flavor inevitably deteriorated, and many preferred to eat Gamelion meat fresh.
If smoked, it would last longer and the flavor would intensify, so some chose to process it that way.
"I agree. Then shall we go with steamed? Rei, could you get the oven out? Also, I believe you stored Salamina Leaves in your Misty Ring before, right?"
Salamina Leaves were large leaves that emitted a very refreshing fragrance.
In Rei's perception, they were shaped similarly to lotus leaves, and were favored for wrapping ingredients like meat, fish, and vegetables before steaming them.
Rei nodded at Marina's words and obediently began taking out the various ingredients she requested from his Misty Ring.