"Arrived safely... and Nielson didn't wake up, huh. Well, I'm glad, but is that really okay?"
The incident with Antelme had concluded safely — though perhaps "safely" wasn't quite the right word — and Rei had arrived in front of Marina's house.
It could easily have escalated into a fight with Antelme, and traces of bloodlust and Fighting Spirit had indeed been radiating through the surroundings... yet even in that situation, Nielson, sleeping inside Rei's Dragon Robe, showed no sign of waking whatsoever.
For a fairy — elusive enough to be called a phantom — was it really fine to have so little sense of tension?
That was what Rei thought, but in truth, Nielson had fallen asleep completely stuffed and hadn't stirred at all.
Thinking back on it, he couldn't help but wonder if she could really survive as a fairy, but in a fairy's case, even if captured, they could use a fairy ring to Teleport.
Considering that, it wasn't as though he couldn't understand Nielson's attitude.
"Gururu?"
What's wrong? Aren't you going inside? Rei stroked Set, who purred the question, and stepped onto the grounds of Marina's house.
How would the spirits judge things with Nielson in tow?
Rei felt a faint tension about that, but fortunately, he was able to enter without any particular issue.
"Phew."
Relieved that Nielson hadn't been classified as an enemy by the spirits, Rei headed toward the courtyard.
Normally he would go inside the house, but heading to the courtyard was... in a way, a habit.
Of course, when it came time to sleep, he slept inside the house like normal, but when relaxing, it was in the courtyard rather than the living room.
This was largely because Marina's Spirit Magic ensured that whether it rained or strong winds blew, as long as you were within the grounds of this house, you could spend your time in complete comfort.
Even so, most people would ordinarily stay inside the building... but the reason they spent their time in the courtyard like this was, as expected, Set's presence.
At three meters in length, Set couldn't exactly go inside the house and relax.
It was precisely because they recognized Set as one of their own... and because they knew Set loved Rei, that everyone ended up spending time in the courtyard so often.
"Rei?"
As expected, Elena, who had been drinking tea Ara had brewed at the table in the courtyard, was surprised to see Rei return at this hour.
That said, for Elena, it meant getting to see Rei earlier than usual.
As a girl in love, she had every reason to be happy about it and none to mind.
"You seem to have returned quite early."
"Yeah. I brought Nielson... the fairy."
"It is impressive that you managed to bring her back in one piece. Given that it's Nielson, I thought she might have resisted."
Elena, naturally, had also heard that Rei was asked to bring a fairy to Marina's house.
But even so, the other party was a fairy.
She had likely thought it wouldn't be so easy to bring one along.
Despite that, the fact that he had brought her so effortlessly suggested that, in a way, she had underestimated Rei's abilities.
Then again, that was something Elena should be happy about too.
Elena also held something like admiration for fairies, and even after yesterday's incident, that hadn't faded.
Seeing Elena's delighted expression, Rei understood her expectations. He understood them, but... while he could set aside the matter of a fairy's charm, knowing about their pranks as well meant he couldn't simply share in Elena's joy.
(Well, still... it being Nielson is probably better than most.)
Nielson was undoubtedly a fairy who loved pranks, but being entrusted with full authority in negotiations with the Chief suggested she could handle herself in a mature manner to some extent.
At the very least, she wouldn't pull a prank here and risk souring Rei and the others' moods.
"Rei, so where is the fairy? Nielson, was it?"
"Yeah. Maybe because she ate her fill at lunch earlier, she's sleeping right now. ...Should I take her out?"
If they were outside the grounds of Marina's house, taking Nielson out of the Dragon Robe would expose her to the midsummer heat, and she would wake immediately.
But in this courtyard, made comfortable by the spirits, there should be no problem taking Nielson out of the Dragon Robe.
"I see. If she is sleeping, be careful not to wake her."
Elena replied to Rei's words, but her eyes, contrary to what she said, were filled with intense anticipation.
Behind Elena, Ara was similarly waiting for the fairy's appearance with a look of clear enjoyment.
Ara, like Elena, must have held a strong interest in fairies as well.
After glancing at Set, who was playing with Ielo in the courtyard, Rei slipped his hand into the Dragon Robe.
Then, he gently lifted Nielson out.
"Ohhh."
At the sight of the sleeping Nielson, a sound of admiration escaped Elena's lips.
For Elena, Nielson resting on Rei's palm must have looked like the very picture of a lovely fairy.
After all, Nielson was a fairy, so that impression wasn't wrong.
Since they had already met yesterday, Rei couldn't quite understand why she was this happy today as well.
"Unlike when she is awake, seeing her sleep exceeds even what I had heard in fairy tales, isn't that right?"
Ara, too, murmured as much upon seeing the sleeping Nielson.
Rei had things he wanted to say to the two of them, but... looking only at the sleeping Nielson before them, those words were by no means incorrect.
Nielson's sleeping face, to which the expression "lovely" was truly fitting.
(Maybe I shouldn't say anything. They met Nielson yesterday, so it's unlikely they'll be that shocked. I guess fairies really are just objects of admiration for women, simply by virtue of being fairies.)
It was a form of evasion, in a way, but even if he reminded them right here and now of what kind of personality Nielson actually had, judging from the two's current state, they wouldn't be able to accept it.
"Should we let her sleep on the table? She might wake up from the smell of the tea, though."
"Ah, Lord Rei. Please wait a moment."
When Rei tried to place Nielson on the table, those words slipped from Ara's mouth.
What is it? Rei wondered, but Ara went inside the house once and came right back out.
What Ara was holding was a piece of cloth.
Rather than placing Nielson directly on the table, she must have thought to let her sleep on the cloth.
For Rei, who knew Nielson's true nature, he wondered if that was really necessary, but he had no intention of going out of his way to refuse Ara's gesture.
He simply waited for the cloth to be spread on the table, then laid Nielson to rest on top of it.
Freed from Rei's hand, Nielson seemed to relax somewhat, perhaps because she had been released from the comfortable but cramped space inside the Dragon Robe.
As Rei gazed at Nielson, he noticed that Elena and Ara were also looking at her sleeping on the table, smiles on their faces.
(Will these smiles last after Nielson wakes up? Well, remembering Nielson's personality, I'd say that's probably going to be difficult.)
Thinking that, Rei picked up a fruit from the table and brought it to his mouth.
The small, berry-like fruit had a strong acidity, perhaps chosen to pair with the tea.
Of course, it had plenty of sweetness as well, delighting Rei's palate.
"Hm? What's this smell...?"
As Rei was eating the fruit, Nielson, who had been sleeping on the cloth, muttered something like that and sat up.
(She ate until she was stuffed earlier, and she still wakes up from the smell of food... is this the "separate stomach for sweets" thing?)
Thinking that, Rei brought the fruit he was holding closer to Nielson.
"A sweet and sour scent... hmph."
What was a smallish fruit to Rei was plenty large for Nielson, who was about the size of a palm.
Nielson opened her mouth wide and bit into the fruit.
She had a lovely appearance at first glance, but she ate the fruit with an enormous bite as if to say she didn't care about any of that.
Rei had been watching Nielson, but then he shifted his gaze to Elena and Ara.
There, he saw the two of them wearing awkward expressions.
For Elena and Ara, they had probably thought that since she was a fairy, she would eat the fruit more elegantly.
In reality, being a fairy didn't make that the case — something they should have fully understood from yesterday's incident at the Lord's Manor.
Nielson must have noticed Elena and Ara staring intently at her.
Whether fairies possessed a sense of embarrassment or not, she reddened her cheeks slightly and opened her mouth.
"I don't really like being watched while I eat, but... it's been a day, hasn't it?"
"Umu. I am glad to see you well, Nielson. However, I would have preferred it if you ate more gracefully, befitting a fairy."
"Listen, I don't know what kind of fantasies you have about us, Elena. But we're living creatures, you know? And as long as we're alive, we eat proper meals. ...Well, being thought of that way isn't a bad feeling, though."
Even Nielson would be troubled if they held dissatisfaction toward her simply because she wasn't the kind of fairy that Elena and Ara had imagined.
At the same time, having them think favorably of the fairy race was by no means something she didn't appreciate.
...Even if that fairy was the kind of being that would drop a monster's corpse from overhead.
"Setting Elena and Ara aside, this is where you'll be staying tonight, Nielson. ...How is it? I don't think there should be any problems."
At Rei's words, Nielson paused her conversation with Elena and Ara and surveyed her surroundings.
Flapping her wings, she rose to a certain height and gazed around with evident interest.
"Huh... nice place."
"Right? Comfortable places like this house aren't that common. Well, I suppose if you used Magic Items left and right, you might be able to create a similar environment."
"What makes Marina remarkable is that she achieves something that would normally require so many Magic Items using only her own abilities. ...That said, someone with Marina's level of talent and ability is an extremely rare existence. That's precisely why Magic Items developed as they did, in a sense."
"I've heard that necessity is the mother of invention. ...Something like that?"
"Precisely like that. However, the problem is that Magic Items are fundamentally expensive."
Fundamentally, the majority of Magic Items were handmade.
Because of that, manufacturing them inevitably drove up the price.
...Among them, there were Magic Items that took years — or in some cases, over a decade — to complete.
Among Rei's own Magic Items, the Magic Tent would be one such example.
By general standards, the Twilight Spear would also fall into that category of Magic Item, but... because he had possessed both the materials needed to create it and the base Magic Spear, it hadn't taken that long.
If one were to try creating the Twilight Spear from scratch, who knows how much time would be spent just gathering the materials.
Spending that much time to create a Magic Item was, in a way, similar to how the fairies made their Magic Items.
Not to mention, the Magic Tent and the Twilight Spear were extremely convenient or powerful Magic Items.
"Magic Items, huh... Nielson, how are things on your end? Is it really that difficult?"
Daskar hoped to purchase Magic Items made by fairies, if at all possible.
But for now, negotiations on that front were proving difficult.
Rei, having watched the negotiations between Daskar and Nielson, understood that as well, but his desire for them to sell Magic Items stemmed from the fact that Rei himself had a hobby of collecting Magic Items.
"It's probably difficult. We were never that skilled at making Magic Items in the first pl—!?"
Nielson, who had been surveying the courtyard, replied to Rei's words and then hastily clamped her hand over her mouth.
But... that very movement told the onlookers that Nielson's words just now had been the truth.
"...Nielson?"
"No, it's nothing. Yes, nothing at all."
Nielson tried to deflect Rei's words, but that very behavior only made it all the more clear through her attitude that her previous statement was true.
Nielson must have eventually realized this as well. She opened her mouth timidly.
"Um, it's only within the fairy race, you understand? We can make Magic Items perfectly fine."
It was probably unavoidable that Rei ended up casting a skeptical gaze at her upon those words.