In the end, unable to obtain any information resembling actual intel from Marina, Rei and his group continued talking for about twenty more minutes before their tea meeting came to an end. A woman arrived from the clinic to call Marina back, reporting that an injured patient had been brought in.
After purchasing some cookie-like baked sweets to go and exiting the café, Marina flashed a smile before heading to the clinic.
"Tonight is a celebration of you coming home, Rei. Don't forget."
"Yeah, got it. Good luck with the treatment, Marina."
With those parting words, Marina ran off toward the clinic alongside the woman who had come to fetch her.
Normally, running in a party dress would be fairly difficult, but in Marina's case, perhaps because she wore one even in the middle of battle or while taking on requests as an adventurer, she appeared to have no trouble at all running through the streets.
"Well, I thought there might be some kind of information, but the fact that Marina had nothing is a real blow. Which means the Guild probably has no information about fairies either," Rei said.
"Ara, but it's not necessarily the case that Marina knows everything in the Guild's records, is it? The possibility that fairy information exists somewhere she doesn't know about can't be entirely denied..." Vihera replied.
"Are you being serious?"
"Of course not. But as a possibility, you can't actually deny it, right? Besides, it's been a fair amount of time since Marina stepped down as Guild Master. It's possible some kind of fairy information came in during that period. ...Right?"
"Well, I suppose that's true, but... Vihera, aren't you just trying to drag me to the Guild?"
As the two of them talked, Set, who had been waiting a short distance away, approached.
Handing Set the baked sweets purchased from the café, Rei questioned Vihera's behavior.
"Is that so? Well, we've just come back to Gilm after so long, so I do think it'd be good to show your face at the Guild."
Vihera showed no particular sign of scheming anything as she said this.
In truth, she knew that Kenny was in love with Rei, and while Lenora's feelings were not romantic but rather something more like friendship or affection for a younger brother, the fact remained that she held goodwill toward Rei.
Given that, since he hadn't shown his face in a while, it was only natural for Vihera to judge that he should visit the Guild at least once.
As a woman who loved and was enamored with the same man, Vihera felt this way.
Beyond that, it was also true that Rei's return was welcome news for the many people involved in the expansion construction, and she wanted to let them know.
Vihera continued her persuasion, and Rei agreed to go to the Guild.
For his part, Rei didn't particularly dislike going to the Guild, or seeing Lenora and Kenny.
Since they were people who were favorably disposed toward him, interacting with them wasn't a bad arrangement for him either.
And so, as they headed toward the Guild, the number of adventurers increased.
Among Gilm's adventurers, anyone who didn't know of Rei, Set, and Vihera was nothing short of a hermit.
Before Rei's name had spread that far, there had been many who tried to pick fights with him based on his appearance, but fortunately, that had mostly ceased now.
Mostly, however, did not mean absolutely.
There were some who weren't well-versed in such information and tried to accost Rei for his appearance, attempting to acquire Set or Vihera, but fortunately, such individuals were stopped by other adventurers.
This was likely fortunate for both sides—Rei's group, who didn't want to be dragged into troublesome situations, and the adventurers, who were spared from injuries they wouldn't have otherwise suffered.
"There seem to be fewer people than usual today. ...Well, with this sunlight, it can't be helped," Vihera noted.
As they approached the Guild, the number of adventurers increased.
But the count was undoubtedly smaller compared to usual—that is, compared to before Rei and his group had gone to the other world.
As for the cause, Vihera looked up at the sky.
Not a single cloud; an endless expanse of blue stretching as far as the eye could see.
The sun floated with an air of ownership across that sky, pouring intense sunlight down onto the ground.
If there had been a stall selling cold fruit water, they would have wanted to stop by immediately. It was that kind of weather.
In fact, Rei's group had already purchased a somewhat unusual, milkshake-like fruit water before heading to the Lord's Manor.
"With this weather, it's only natural there'd be fewer people," Rei agreed.
Of course, the sparse crowd was related to the time of day as well as the weather.
It was currently afternoon, and there was still a fair amount of time before work ended.
In other words, most people were still on the job at this point.
If it were evening, those who had finished their respective work would gather, and it wouldn't be surprising if so many people assembled that even moving through the crowd became difficult.
"Gurr."
"Yeah, sorry, Set. Someone will probably come fuss over you, so wait there for us."
Without Rei needing to say anything, Set gave a short cry and lay down in the carriage space near the Guild.
As Rei and Vihera entered the Guild, Set enthusiasts immediately gathered around Set.
For the Set enthusiasts, it had been a while since Set was last around, so interacting with him like this was a long-overdue pleasure.
If the leading figures among the Set enthusiasts—the president and vice president of the so-called Set Fan Club, Mirene and Yohanna—had been present, who knows what would have happened.
The absence of those two was fortunate in the sense that it allowed more people to interact with Set.
"Rei-san!?"
"Eh? ...Rei-kun!?"
Seeing Rei—and Vihera—enter the Guild, Lenora cried out in surprise without thinking, and following right after, Kenny, who had been organizing documents beside her, let out a cry of joy mixed with astonishment.
Naturally, there were a fair number of people inside the Guild. At the sudden shouts, adventurers and Guild Staff Members alike turned their gazes toward Rei and Vihera with a "What was that?" expression, but upon seeing who it was, they nodded in understanding.
They were just as surprised by Rei's presence as those outside the Guild had been, but no one here was foolish enough to try hassling him.
Taking that as his cue, Rei headed with Vihera to where Lenora, his assigned receptionist, was stationed.
"Rei-san, and Vihera-san too, we haven't seen you in a while... where did you go?"
"Just some work. It was a request from Lord Daskar, so I can't go into details."
"I see. ...But I'm glad you're safe."
"Seriously. You suddenly stopped showing up at the Guild, Rei-kun, so I was worried something had happened," Kenny interjected from beside Lenora.
Normally, Lenora would have said something to Kenny in return.
But understanding just how worried Kenny had been during Rei's absence, she decided to let Kenny have her way for now.
"Looks like I caused you to worry. Sorry," Rei said.
"Th-that's fine. As long as you're safe, Rei-kun..."
Kenny, having been apologized to by Rei, had originally intended to say a bit more.
But with such a sincere apology, she couldn't voice any further complaints.
If it had been anyone other than Rei, things might have been different.
This was likely the disadvantage of being the one in love.
Lenora had been watching Kenny's demeanor with an affectionate smile, but deciding it would be better to ask about Rei's upcoming plans first, she turned to Rei.
"You mentioned it was a request from Lord Daskar, but will that be continuing going forward?"
As Rei's assigned receptionist, Lenora very much wanted to hear the circumstances.
If this were just any ordinary adventurer, it wouldn't be something she'd need to worry about.
But in Rei's case, he commanded a Tamed Monster in Set, possessed an Item Box, and personally had enough ability to earn the alias of Crimson.
In every sense, he was special—no, more accurately, he possessed extremely versatile capabilities.
That much was clear if one considered just how much of a role Rei played in the expansion construction.
In fact, Rei's reputation was quite well-known, and there were many who submitted requests specifically for him—so-called Nomination Requests.
However, with Rei himself having been absent from Gilm for a while, Lenora—no, the Guild—had been forced to decline those Nomination Requests.
If Rei was going to stay in Gilm, then they could discuss the Nomination Requests. Or so Lenora thought, and Rei nodded before she could voice it.
"Yeah. For the time being, I need to carry out a different type of request from Lord Daskar than what I've been doing so far."
"...Eh? Is that so? Um, would it be possible to entrust Lord Daskar's request to someone else...?"
"First off, that would be impossible."
"I suppose so."
The one who responded without a moment's hesitation was Vihera, who understood the situation.
For Daskar, while the matter of the other world was also sensitive, the fairy situation was something he wanted kept secret even more.
In other words, he wanted only those who fully understood the current circumstances to handle the fairy matter.
Rei had been told he could discuss it with his companions, but had been instructed to speak of it to no one else as much as possible.
That was why Vihera understood that Rei couldn't hand off the work Daskar had entrusted to him to someone else.
In truth, if it were just a matter of searching for fairies, Anastasia, who could use Spirit Magic, would also be well-suited for the task. But since she was already entrusted with the Wisp matter, they couldn't assign the fairy issue to her at the same time.
On top of that, given Anastasia's abundant curiosity, there was no telling how far she would run out of control if entrusted with the fairy situation. That was a major concern.
Considering all those circumstances, entrusting the fairy matter to Rei was indeed the best option.
"I see. If it's a request from Lord Daskar, then it can't be helped. There were a few Nomination Requests that came in, but would it be all right to decline them?" Lenora asked.
"Nomination Requests? What kind?"
"Three escort jobs."
"...Escort?"
Rei voiced the word with apparent surprise.
He had carried out escort requests before, but escort work was not something he was particularly adept at.
What Rei excelled at was combat that leveraged his fighting power. Other tasks included transporting cargo using his Misty Ring and Set's speed, as well as acquiring special materials by relying on Set's sharp senses.
That was why receiving an escort job as a Nomination Request was unexpected.
If the Nomination Request had been for subjugating a special monster, he might have been a bit more receptive.
"Yes. They are... people from a merchant company that isn't very well-known in Gilm, but seemingly holds considerable influence in their home region."
"In other words, by hiring Rei, a famous adventurer even within Gilm, as an escort, they're trying to increase their influence in Gilm. That's what it boils down to, right?" Vihera said.
"The Guild can only convey to you that such Nomination Requests were submitted; anything beyond that..." Lenora replied with the appropriate words of a Guild Staff Member.
"I think Vihera's right on the mark, though. Actually, if you could hire Rei-kun as an escort, the impact would be quite significant," Kenny chimed in.
Kenny's words also hit the nail on the head.
In Gilm, publicly announcing that one had hired Rei as an escort would undoubtedly earn that merchant company a certain level of respect.
For merchant companies that had fallen behind in the initial competition to participate in the expansion construction, that held great significance.
In reality, since a year or more had already passed since the expansion construction began, the majority of those arriving in Gilm this late were probably just latecomers.
That said, in this world, the primary method of travel was by carriage.
Without vehicles like airplanes, trains, or cars as in Japan, it naturally took a considerable amount of time to travel.
Furthermore, being a merchant company, they wouldn't simply travel straight to Gilm without doing anything along the way—they would naturally seek to conduct business en route, which made the journey to Gilm take even longer.
On top of that, news of the expansion construction reached merchant companies in distant locations even later, so it was not uncommon for them to be stopped in their tracks by winter during the journey.
In that case, one might think they should have just given up from the start given the distance, but the expansion construction in Gilm was apparently recognized as that significant a business opportunity.
"Well, they might have their various circumstances, but... for now, rejected. The work Lord Daskar entrusted to me takes priority."
Having lost interest in the escort work, Rei stated as much.