"Hey, I wonder what that battle yesterday was all about."
While eating a somewhat later breakfast than usual, Rei asked the knight beside him.
Though he had asked the question, Rei's gaze was fixed on the Water Wolf playing with the Lizardman children.
It was a scene that made it hard to believe they had fought a desperate battle just the night before.
Looking at that sight, it was only natural to wonder what last night's battle had actually been about.
As for the knight Rei had called out to, he had been wracking his brain over the contents of a report to submit to his superior—Daskar.
Naturally.
He never expected to find a being in the lake capable of communicating with them, let alone one that could build a friendly relationship.
On top of that, the one who had negotiated with the Water Wolf was neither Daskar nor the knight in charge here, but Rei.
Since the Water Wolf had chosen Rei as its negotiation partner, there was no choice but to go along with it—but that was exactly why the report's contents required such careful consideration.
...Still, Daskar deeply trusted Rei.
That trust had been built through relying on him for numerous jobs in the past, all of which he had completed flawlessly.
"Since yesterday's battle happened, the Water Wolf probably figured it could trust us, right? Then it shouldn't be much of a problem, should it?"
Even while troubled over the report, the knight answered Rei.
If they could build a friendly relationship with the Water Wolf this easily, then perhaps last night's battle had been unnecessary.
Thinking so was by no means Rei overthinking things.
"Looking at how it's acting, I think we could have managed somehow even without yesterday's battle. Am I wrong?"
"Who knows. That's something you truly can't say without actually fighting it. It's equally possible that it was precisely because that battle happened that the Water Wolf acknowledged us."
Really? Rei thought at the knight's words, but for the time being, he decided to take him at his word.
He figured that saying anything more in the current situation would be beside the point.
"Rei, I'd like to go soon."
Anastasia called out to him while he was still talking with the knight.
For Anastasia, while she was certainly interested in the Water Wolf's ecology and how much intelligence it possessed, what she held an even stronger interest in was the Wisp.
After all, the one that had teleported the Lizardman children, the Water Wolf, the Birth Tower, and the lake from another world into this one was undoubtedly the Wisp that existed in the underground space at the center of the Treant Forest.
Considering that, it was only natural that as a scholar, she held the strongest interest in the Wisp itself—the root cause.
Beside Anastasia, Fana was also watching Rei while wearing her usual mask.
Stopping Anastasia's rampages was Fana's role, but she probably wanted to head to the underground space where the Wisp was just as much.
"Got it. ...For the time being, I don't think me being here is much use, so you don't mind if I go, right?"
"No, it's not that you wouldn't be useful. Rather, without you, Rei, there's no one who can properly negotiate with the Water Wolf. That's a problem."
The knight, who had been struggling with the report, told him as much.
In truth, those words weren't particularly wrong.
The Water Wolf was acting amicably toward those present, but that was solely because they were Rei's companions.
That much was obvious when considering that the Water Wolf had shown an attitude of recognizing no one but Rei as a negotiation partner.
That was exactly why, for the knight, Rei's absence was a cause for concern.
"If possible, I'd like you to come right back here once you've dropped those two off... would that be alright?"
"I have my own things I need to do... but I guess it can't be helped in this situation."
Originally, he had planned to crush the organizations still remaining in the Slum District today.
But when asked whether to prioritize crushing the organizations harboring the assassin targeting him, or dealing with the Water Wolf that likely held strong influence over the lake, Rei had no choice but to prioritize the latter.
"Sorry about this."
"Yeah. ...But considering this whole situation, it can't be helped. However, I need to transport the logs the woodcutters felled, so I'll be heading over there in the afternoon."
"That's fine. I want to advance Gilm's expansion construction even a little faster. ...Thinking about it that way, I'd actually say I'm counting on you."
Rei shook his head at those words as if to say not to worry about it.
The matter with the Water Wolf was undeniably a fascinating situation for Rei as well.
If so, he wasn't going to make unreasonable demands here.
"Rei."
Hurry up. That was the look Anastasia was directing at him.
It was the kind of gaze that, for someone with certain tastes, would send shivers down their spine in delight.
Unfortunately, Rei did not have such tastes, so without appearing particularly bothered, he called Set.
"Set, we're heading out soon, come here!"
"Gruu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a cry and approached.
...The Water Wolf that had been playing with the Lizardman children looked slightly intrigued at the sight of Set, but... whether Set noticed or not.
In any case, without turning toward the Water Wolf, he came straight to Rei's side.
"Gruu!"
Set let out a cry as if to say he was fully prepared.
Rei patted Set's head, then turned his gaze toward Anastasia and Fana.
"Alright then, let's go."
The two nodded at Rei's words.
"It's quite a hassle that there are so many Goblins."
Upon arriving at the location where the path leading to the underground space was hidden, Anastasia said with displeasure.
Fana's expression was unreadable since she wore a mask, but she nodded in agreement with Anastasia's opinion.
Naturally, Rei didn't fail to understand how they felt either.
Individually, Goblins were weak and stupid.
But precisely because they were stupid, they didn't flee even when confronted by Set and came charging in to attack.
Of course, once Set demonstrated his strength they would scatter, but showing that strength took some time, and for Rei, that was the troublesome part.
...For Anastasia and Fana, beyond that, Goblins targeted their bodies—in a sexual manner—so their strong disgust toward them was entirely natural.
And those Goblins just happened to be present in the Treant Forest in considerable numbers today of all days.
Why there were this many Goblins today of all days, Rei didn't understand.
He didn't understand, but as long as they were present, he couldn't just leave them be.
(For the time being, I need to reduce their numbers. ...The Goblins' reproduction rate is abnormal, so I want to do something about it as much as possible.)
So he thought, but while Goblins had high reproductive capacity, they were weak in return.
They would be easily killed by other monsters, or even used as prey depending on the case.
The general consensus was that Goblin meat was stinky and inedible, but among monsters, there were those that readily ate such Goblin meat.
Rei thought it would be nice if there were monsters with such peculiar tastes, then asked Set to keep watch on the surroundings and headed toward the underground space together with Anastasia and Fana.
"Anastasia, it's possible I might be late to pick you up today, but... well, in your case, that's fine, isn't it?"
Given Anastasia's personality, if Rei was late to pick her up, she would probably be pleased since it meant more time to research the Wisp.
That was why he hadn't phrased it as a question—"is that fine?"—but rather stated it as a fact.
At Rei's words, Anastasia nodded as if it were obvious.
"Yes, that's fine. If anything, you could take your time even more?"
Beside Anastasia, Fana, who had been listening, shook her head vigorously to deny Anastasia's words.
For Anastasia's assistant... or more accurately, for Fana who looked after her, an increase in the time spent caring for Anastasia was something she honestly wanted to avoid if possible.
Rei had no intention of pushing Anastasia's care solely onto Fana, so he nodded in acknowledgment of Fana's silent plea.
"Hey, what do you two mean by that?"
Anastasia, having noticed the exchange between Rei and Fana, muttered with dissatisfaction.
However, Rei and Fana, paying no mind to Anastasia's demeanor, each began their own tasks.
Fana to check the experimental equipment she had left here yesterday.
Rei to see if there were any abnormalities within the underground space... or more precisely, whether there were any changes to the Magic Items Grimm had placed in disguise.
When he left here yesterday, he had told Grimm it was fine to look at Anastasia's research data, and had received a reply of consent—though it was just a hand emerging from thin air and waving—so he had thought there might have been some progress, but as far as Rei could see, nothing seemed to have particularly changed.
The positions of a few Magic Items had shifted, but that was all.
(Even Grimm can't investigate this Wisp, can he? ...It's not strange, I suppose.)
The Wisp that existed before his eyes possessed the ability to teleport various beings and objects from other worlds into this one.
That was clearly not an ordinary ability.
Even looking through this world's history, it would be an extremely rare existence.
Given that, no matter how excellent a researcher Grimm was, there was no way he could figure it out so easily.
For now, what Rei could do was hope that either Anastasia or Grimm would advance their research on the Wisp as quickly as possible.
(There's also the possibility that I'll be able to go to another world in the future.)
Rei's goal was, after all, to return to his original world—Earth.
No, he was prepared to spend the rest of his life in this world, so rather than "return," the expression "going to take care of some business" would be more accurate.
He wanted to buy things that could only be purchased in Japan on Earth, and beyond that, gather various knowledge—particularly related to cooking—and buy books.
He also wanted to see the family and friends he had left behind in that other world.
...However, Reiji Saiki and the current Rei were vastly different in appearance.
No one would be able to understand that Rei was Reiji just by looking.
"Rei? What's wrong?"
"No, I was just thinking again about what kind of being that Wisp really is. ...What do you think?"
"You ask what I think, but... all I can say is that it's a deeply fascinating existence."
At her declaring it so firmly, Rei could only respond with an acknowledging "I see."
Since Anastasia was a reliable presence in this current matter, he judged that it was better not to say anything strange and sour her mood.
"I see. Then I'll leave the Wisp matter to you. ...Well, I'm heading back soon, so I'm counting on you with things here."
Judging that he should return to the lake as quickly as possible, Rei said so and exited the underground space.
"Gruu!"
Seeing Rei, Set, who had been keeping watch on the surroundings, approached with a happy cry.
While patting Set, Rei checked the surrounding conditions... and noticed that the corpses of over ten Goblins were scattered about, prompting him to pull a displeased expression.
(Sure enough, the Goblins are increasing. ...I should probably do a large-scale Goblin hunt at some point, but... manpower.)
He wanted to deal with the Goblins as much as possible.
But unlike before, now that the Birth Tower and the lake had been teleported here, he couldn't easily use other personnel.
Moreover, considering the Water Wolf incident, there was an even greater need to maintain secrecy.
That meant it would have to be only those who knew the circumstances, but that in turn meant their numbers were few.
"Well, the higher-ups can think about that. I just need to report that the Goblins are increasing, and that should be enough."
Having decided on his course of action, Rei mounted Set and left the area.
He then raced through the Treant Forest, but along the way, he was attacked by Goblin packs several times as expected, and each time he blew the Goblins away and continued toward the lake.
(Aren't there more Goblins than I thought? This is... honestly, too troublesome.)
Thinking thus, Rei hurled the Twilight Spear toward a group of Goblins he spotted in the distance.