Fortunately, perhaps because it was already evening, the alchemists had finished their work and almost all of them were gone. Only the janitorial staff remained.
From Rei's perspective, this was actually quite welcome. Those staff members wouldn't cause the kind of trouble the other alchemists did.
After all, they wouldn't come pestering him about rare materials or unusual Magic Items.
Honestly, Rei wished his deliveries could always be handled by people like them.
That said, given the current situation, he didn't exactly have the luxury of making such wishes.
"Well, that's the work done for now. What should we do?"
"Do you not need to inform Lord Daskar about the fairy situation?"
"I think we should, but... isn't he extremely busy right now? It's evening."
Daskar was already juggling numerous duties — processing documents, holding meetings with visitors, reviewing expansion construction progress, and more.
And that workload only grew heavier in the evening.
That was because all the various reports from the day arrived at Daskar's desk at once.
Between reading through those documents, addressing any problems that arose, and everything else that entailed, Rei showing up at this hour would only be a nuisance.
After all, when Rei — who had entrusted Daskar with important work — came to visit, and was furthermore accompanied by Elena, the Princess General, Daskar would have no choice but to see them.
But even then, there wasn't actually that much to report.
Just things like a fairy setting up a barrier to play pranks, or that Anastasia was working diligently in the underground space and had decided to camp at the Birth Tower rather than return to Gilm — about that level of significance.
(Ah, should I also explain that some fairies possess Tamer... or similar abilities?)
He considered it, but it wasn't the kind of thing that warranted forcing time out of Daskar's busy schedule to report.
It would be better to go first thing tomorrow morning, once the busy morning hours had settled down.
(The matter of Grimm creating a Magic Item to fix the inter-world connection, and the fact that Dragonias corpses dissected in the other world become unusable as materials by the next day... no, I'd better keep that to myself for now.)
Grimm's existence was still a secret from Daskar.
The otherworld matter was attributed to Rei's master.
Given that, carelessly bringing up the topic here could mean stepping on a landmine.
(I'd rather he just overlook it amid all the busyness... but that's probably unlikely.)
Daskar was by no means incompetent as a lord.
On the contrary — the fact that he managed Gilm this well spoke to his exceptionally high administrative ability.
Given that, Rei expected he would eventually need to tell Daskar about the otherworld.
(It's not about the master thing — I should probably tell him about Grimm too... but that's also difficult.)
Elena and the others had accepted Grimm, likely because of Rei's presence.
But even they, having accepted him, held a deep awe toward Grimm as a being.
Grimm, for his part, viewed Elena and the others as Rei's wives — essentially his grandchildren's wives.
In any case, the undead were generally incompatible with the living.
Considering those circumstances, a meeting between Daskar and Grimm would be quite difficult.
Moreover, the problem wasn't only on Daskar's side but Grimm's as well.
Toward Rei, Grimm treated him almost like a grandson, partly because of the connection through Zephyle, and he was reasonably friendly toward Elena and the others as his grandchildren's wives.
But how would he respond to anyone else?
No matter how approachable he was, Grimm was undead.
With those close to him, it was one thing. But with anyone else, it wouldn't be strange for him to attack someone simply because he didn't like them.
Of course, once Grimm learned that Daskar was someone Rei owed a debt to, the likelihood of him doing anything that extreme was low.
"Anyway, let's save the report for tomorrow. For now, let's just go home."
"Umu. If that is acceptable to you, Rei, I have no objections. What about you, Ara?"
"I have no problem with it."
For Ara, if Elena was fine with it, then there was no issue at all.
If this had been something that would cause significant harm to Elena, Ara would naturally have objected.
But from what she had heard, it seemed like there would be no problem for Elena either.
That was why she judged it fine.
Once they knew what to do, they moved quickly.
Without stopping by the lord's manor, Rei and the others headed to Marina's house in the Noble District.
Since it was evening, the city was quite congested.
Rei's group made their way through the crowds and eventually arrived at the Noble District.
Along the way, several people called out to them, some wanting to play with Set.
But even so, they reached the Noble District overwhelmingly faster than usual — undoubtedly because Elena was with them.
Those who knew the situation hesitated to call out to Elena, and even those who didn't were intimidated by her beauty and held back.
In a sense, this was extremely helpful for Rei. But he still felt a little guilty, knowing there were many people looking forward to playing with Set.
After all, it resulted in pushing even those people away.
Naturally, Rei wasn't the only one who felt that way; Set felt the same.
If anything, knowing that there were many who wanted to play with him, it was only natural for Set to have mixed feelings about the current situation.
"Will Marina be late today?"
"Hard to say. The time she finishes varies a lot depending on the number of injured patients."
In response to Elena's words, Rei thought of the clinic where Marina worked.
Being healed by a beauty like Marina, with most injuries healing immediately — it was only natural that Marina was popular.
Of course, for those who had been adventurers in Gilm for a long time, Marina was the image of a highly skilled Guild Master, so they likely had complicated feelings about her.
To those who knew Marina from her Guild Master days, she was someone they couldn't defy.
Among them was an adventurer who had become overconfident upon reaching Gilm, believing his skills were considerable. He had coincidentally encountered Marina — not knowing she was the Guild Master — and tried to hit on her. An embarrassing chapter in his history.
Incidentally, that adventurer had since risen to the upper-middle ranks in Gilm and was trusted by the Guild as a reliable adventurer.
The reason for that growth was because the Guild Master Marina had gotten dirt on him and made him take on various troublesome requests. But considering his current situation, even he had mixed feelings about it.
"Setting Marina aside, shouldn't Vihera and Byune be back by now?"
Since the two were on Gilm patrol duty, as Rei said, it was about time they would have finished work and returned.
(I should be grateful to the guards.)
Rei thought this because normally, the busiest time for city patrols was just beginning.
Workers who had been doing expansion construction, those who had been working outside Gilm — all of them were returning to the city in the evening.
Then they headed to taverns to rest and recharge for tomorrow, which naturally meant they would get drunk.
Some would become bold from the sense of liberation that came with finishing the day's work.
When such people gathered, what would happen? Fights, of course.
Minor scuffles were one thing, but if a brawl went too far, the guards and patrol members would have to intervene.
Then there was Vihera — with her dancer- or prostitute-like clothing that revealed what lay beneath, and her very curvaceous, attractive figure.
Normally, not many men would try to proposition Vihera. But if they were drunk, that was a different story.
In that regard, having Vihera around at night would only increase the number of incidents. That was why Vihera — and Byune, who couldn't communicate without Vihera — ended their work at evening.
In Byune's case, beyond the communication issue, it was also simply because she was still a child.
"Who knows. Anyway, it might be best to have dinner ready so we can relax once Vihera and the others get back."
Rei nodded in agreement with Elena's words.
Having a meal ready when returning from work was something to be very happy about.
In Marina's case, she actually had a domestic side and enjoyed doing housework, so having the man she loved and her companions praise her home cooking brought her joy.
Anyway, lingering outside too long might make the patrol adventurers suspicious.
The adventurers hired for the Noble District were trustworthy ones, and naturally few in number.
Many of them were acquaintances of Rei, Elena, and Ara. But among them, there were naturally some who had been newly hired.
To such people, Rei's group standing in front of a Noble District mansion without going inside was extremely suspicious.
To avoid any trouble, it was better to just get inside Marina's house quickly.
So deciding, Rei and the others entered Marina's property.
Once inside, there was no longer any worry about being confronted by other adventurers.
If anyone tried to enter Marina's property without permission, they would simply suffer at the hands of Marina's Spirit Magic.
Upon entering Marina's house, Ara immediately began preparing tea.
For Ara, perhaps because she had been moving around with Elena all day, she had had fewer opportunities to serve tea.
(I don't understand why she's so particular about tea, but it's delicious, so I guess it's fine.)
The tea Ara brewed was exceptionally good.
Being with Elena meant Rei could also enjoy the tea Ara prepared. In that sense, it was a significant benefit for him.
"Rei, I'll help prepare dinner too."
"...Are you serious? Well, I mean, that would be helpful."
Given Elena's status, cooking was not something that seemed to suit her.
In reality, there were many noble daughters who couldn't cook.
If they were lower-ranking nobles, the lord's wife or daughter might do housework, and there were even some high-ranking noble daughters who had cooking as a hobby.
In that sense, it wasn't that all nobles couldn't cook. But with Elena, her luxurious appearance made it seem entirely plausible that she couldn't do anything of the sort.
However, Elena was someone who had raced across battlefields as the Princess General.
She could manage simple — no, what might even be called rough — cooking.
Not only that, since she started staying at Marina's house, she had been helping Marina somewhat when preparing meals.
This wasn't because Marina had told her to do so. It was simply because Elena wanted Rei to eat her home cooking — an action born from that desire.
It was the kind of behavior you'd expect from a maiden in love.
"Rei, bring the table out to the courtyard. I'll prepare the tableware. ...Bring out the stove too."
Elena gave brisk, efficient instructions.
Rei followed them while glancing at Set and Ielo running around the courtyard.
Ielo hadn't gone with Rei and the others today, so it was probably making up for lost time by playing with Set, who had just returned.
Originally, Ielo would have gone to the Treant Forest with them.
(Ah, but Ielo and fairies probably wouldn't be a good combination.)
Ielo was still small.
Not just in body, but in mind as well.
And with its extremely strong defensive capabilities, it would be an ideal prank target for the fairies.
In that sense, Ielo really was better off staying in Gilm today.
That was what Rei thought to himself, deeply and sincerely.