Rei took out a slab of boar meat from his Misty Ring.
Normally, boar meat held a certain amount of value... but this was Gilm.
Thanks to the magical power they possessed, there was an abundance of monsters whose meat tasted better than that of ordinary animals.
Of course, even so, as long as it was still meat, it was by no means treated poorly.
...That said, it was undoubtedly true that monster meat was more highly prized.
At any rate, the wolf pack stopped dead when they saw the slab of boar meat Rei had produced—no doubt wondering just what he was trying to accomplish.
Starving as they were, the fact that they didn't immediately pounce despite a chunk of meat suddenly appearing before them was likely because, as creatures living in the wild, they retained a bare minimum of wariness.
"Alright... for now, eat!"
With that, Rei hurled the chunk of meat toward the wolves.
...At that moment, Set's eyes tracked the meat flying through the air—perhaps because even Set wanted a piece of it.
He had eaten all of the Yaki Udon prepared for lunch, but his stomach still had plenty of room to spare.
Indeed, rather than being eight-tenths full, he was maybe three-tenths full... no, perhaps only two-tenths.
Even so, because it was Rei's action, Set merely followed the meat with his eyes and didn't actually try to go for it.
"Grrrrrrr..."
Perhaps not expecting meat to be tossed their way, the wolf pack appeared bewildered by Rei's actions.
Still, since the meat had been thrown a fair distance away rather than left beside Rei, the wolves—unable to overcome their hunger—cautiously approached it.
(If I had laced that meat with sleeping pills or paralytics... or even a lethal poison capable of killing them, I wonder what would have happened. Ah, but they're wolves, so their sense of smell must be sharp. They could probably sniff out poison in the meat.)
For Rei, it was a given that canine and wolf-type monsters possessed a keen sense of smell.
Given that, he figured that if he tried to lace the meat with some easily obtainable poison, it would undoubtedly be detected.
...Of course, among poisons, there were also odorless ones that even wolves or dogs couldn't sniff out, and they existed quite commonly.
Such poisons were naturally extremely expensive and not something an ordinary adventurer could acquire so easily.
Made from rare materials gathered in a frontier like Gilm, their high cost was a matter of course.
Still, while it wasn't quite the same as local production for local consumption, purchasing such medicine in Gilm was naturally cheaper than buying it elsewhere.
Rei, thinking he might as well prepare that kind of medicine just in case, kept watching the wolf pack's behavior.
He wasn't the only one watching them, either.
Elena, Ara, and Set were also staring intently at how the wolves would act.
And then... the wolf that had been wary of the meat Rei threw—perhaps finally judging it safe, or perhaps reaching the limit of its hunger—took a bite.
"Huh."
What impressed Rei was that even in such a situation, only the first wolf ate, and it didn't devour all of the boar meat Rei had thrown.
The wolf ate about half the meat, then passed it to another wolf nearby.
(Well, even so, there's no denying it ate half the meat by itself. But I can't really fault it for that.)
From what he could see of the wolves' behavior, the one that had eaten first appeared to be the leader.
Seeing this, he wondered fleetingly what they would have done if the meat had been poisoned as he had considered earlier.
As the leader of the pack, if it had eaten poisoned meat, it would have been the first to die... and in that case, even with the pack devastated, the survivors could still lead the rest away from here.
(That being the case, either they were so starving they had no choice, or that wolf had the keenest sense of smell in the pack. I can't really tell which, but I have a feeling it's the latter.)
Thinking such thoughts, Rei once again took out boar meat from his Misty Ring and hurled it.
The leader wolf sniffed the meat once more... and this time, rather than eating it itself, passed it directly to a packmate.
"And? What do you plan to do?"
Elena, who had been watching Rei throw several more pieces of meat, asked him.
She had watched silently as Rei fed the wolves, but she must have been wondering what he intended to accomplish by feeding them like this.
"I don't know what to tell you. I just saw them looking like they were about to starve to death and helped them on impulse. ...I know it goes against the laws of nature."
If it was the law of nature for wolves to hunt prey and fill their stomachs, then starving because they couldn't hunt was also the law of nature.
Following that logic, there was no mistaking that Rei's interference went against it.
Given that, Rei didn't expect the wolves to grow tame just because he had fed them. Still, the reason he went ahead and gave them food was likely because the Dragonias incident lingered somewhere in his mind.
"I see."
Hearing that Rei hadn't taken his current actions out of any particular plan but rather on impulse, Elena looked somewhat exasperated but understanding.
"Um, if you feed them like this, Lord Rei, won't those wolves start thinking they can get food if they stay close to us?"
"That's practically taming them. ...That said, if things go the way Ara suggests, it could turn into all sorts of trouble. But before that, even if they think they'll get food by staying near us, whether they'd actually form a friendly relationship with us is a bit questionable."
"Gruu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a cry declaring that if the wolves attacked, he would fight them!
From Set's perspective, having received food from Rei only to show no gratitude... and worse, to try to cause harm—such a thing was absolutely unforgivable.
"Thanks."
Rei was happy about Set's feelings, so he stroked his head with gratitude.
"But as long as we don't know how those wolves will act, there's no need for us to go on the offensive. ...Even if a fairy shows up here and plays some kind of prank, the timing wouldn't be strange."
Right now, Rei's attention was focused on the wolves.
...In reality, he was keeping himself ready to respond immediately if anything happened in the surroundings, but from an outsider's perspective, it would certainly look that way.
If so, it wouldn't be strange for the fairy that had escaped from Rei's hands via teleportation earlier to reappear to play another prank.
If that happened, it would be exactly what Rei wanted.
But whether the fairy understood this too, or simply hadn't paid that much attention to Rei and his group's presence yet, it did not show itself.
"Grrrrrrr..."
Eventually, perhaps having eaten the boar meat and settled the pack's hunger for the time being, the pack leader approached Rei—while growling with slight wariness.
That said, it wasn't at a distance where one could reach out and touch it, but about five meters away.
Rei silently watched the wolf.
Elena and Ara, as well as Set, quietly observed the exchange between Rei and the wolf.
Set had crouched slightly, ready to rush to Rei's side at once if the wolf tried anything.
"...Awooo..."
Looking at Rei's face, the wolf let out a cry as if speaking words of gratitude.
It seemed to clearly be a creature possessing a certain degree of intelligence.
(Do wild wolves really have this level of intelligence? No, this is the frontier, so I suppose I can't treat the animals here the same as ordinary animals from outside the frontier.)
Rei reconsidered in surprise, then opened his mouth.
"It might be tough for you to survive in this Treant Forest, but do your best."
"Awoooooooooon!"
Whether it understood Rei's words or simply howled at a coincidental moment.
Rei couldn't tell, but at any rate, the wolf let out that howl and then bolted from Rei's presence as if the greeting was finished.
Naturally, since the leader had started running, the other wolves followed behind it.
Although they had eaten the boar meat Rei gave them, it was by no means enough to fill their stomachs.
They had gone from a starving state to merely a hungry one.
It went without saying that eating the amount of meat Rei had given them didn't restore the bodies of wolves that had been reduced to skin and bones.
Given that, if they couldn't catch prey like this, they would undoubtedly be attacked by hunger again.
Rei understood that too, but even so, he couldn't do anything more for the wolf pack in this situation.
Well, he still had plenty of boar meat, and there was bear meat too. Beyond that, with a massive amount of monster meat stored in his Misty Ring, he certainly could have filled the wolves' bellies.
The reason he didn't go that far was that Rei judged there was no need.
In that case, it was fine to just let them go.
(I hope this matter with the wolves ends up being of some benefit to us later on.)
Watching the wolves' retreating figures, Rei thought as much.
Of course, he hadn't helped them out of any particular scheme.
But even so, having gone to the trouble of helping them, it was only natural to think it would be nice if it brought some kind of benefit.
"Now then, since we've finished eating our Yaki Udon, shall we resume searching for the fairy? The matter with the wolves took up a bit of time, after all."
Rei nodded at Elena's words.
Originally, they were supposed to resume the fairy search immediately after finishing the Yaki Udon.
But since the matter with the wolves had taken more time than expected, Rei could understand why Elena was urging them on.
...In truth, Elena wanted to search for the fairy at a more leisurely pace.
As far as she was concerned, she intended to stay with Rei until the fairy was found.
That said, whether Ara would permit that was an entirely different matter.
Given her position as Elena's exclusive attendant, a single day was one thing, and even several days starting tomorrow might be manageable, but spending ten, twenty days straight in the Treant Forest with Rei would be difficult.
As the Princess General, the daughter of Duke Kerebel's House, and a representative of the Noble's Faction who had come to Gilm, she couldn't neglect her duties there.
(I would like it to be found today if possible... because if so, Lady Elena could spend a few more days simply enjoying time with Lord Rei.)
Ara thought as much while surveying the surroundings.
What was important in this matter was, above all, finding the fairy.
...More precisely, making contact with the fairy and investigating why it was in the Treant Forest was the greater concern.
Accomplishing that would mean Elena could spend time relaxing with Rei.
Ara, who had been observing the surroundings in such a manner... suddenly spotted something watching them from a tree branch.
For some reason, neither Rei—whose senses were far sharper than hers—nor Set, nor Elena had noticed the fairy's figure.
Ara nominally served as Elena's exclusive attendant—meaning she also bore the role of a bodyguard—yet she was the weakest in this party.
If anything, the only one among Rei's companions that Ara could clearly say she could defeat was Byune.
...No, she could probably win if she fought Ielo, but the image of fighting Ielo simply didn't exist in Ara's mind.
At any rate, Ara herself understood this. She understood it, and yet... that was exactly why she found herself wondering how, in this situation, she alone had been able to spot the fairy.
Perhaps noticing Ara's awareness, the fairy hid among the leaves growing from the branch and waved.
Showing no sign of playing any prank at all, the carefree fairy's demeanor made Ara instinctively wave back...
"Wait, no! Lady Elena, Lord Rei! Over there! It's a fairy!"
Having waved back, Ara immediately came to her senses and shouted.
Rei and the others reacted instantly to her cry, directing their gazes toward where she indicated...
"Where?"
Such a voice slipped from Rei.
"Eh?"
At Rei's voice, Ara looked back toward where the fairy had been... but there was only the tree branch, and the fairy was nowhere to be seen.
"Huh? I'm sure..."
Ara murmured blankly.