"Seriously, where on earth is Antelme?"
Vihera grumbled in dissatisfaction as she brought a glass of fruit water to her lips.
Watching her pale throat move alluringly as she swallowed, Rei averted his gaze and spoke up.
"If I knew that, Set and I would have charged in there long ago. In the end, you guys couldn't find him today either, right?"
"That's... unfortunately, how it is."
Haa.
Looking depressed, Vihera reached for a sandwich made with dried fish—a dish served at dinner.
Though it looked completely different, the taste was somewhat reminiscent of a tuna sandwich. It was precisely because so many people had gathered in Gilm that dishes which had never existed there before were now being sold at food stalls and eateries. This sandwich had been bought from one such stall.
"At the very least, the saving grace is that Antelme didn't discover Nielson."
Marina sipped her summer vegetable soup and glanced at Nielson, who was happily eating her food.
If Antelme had found Nielson, who knows what kind of uproar it would have caused. That was undoubtedly what Marina was thinking.
Indeed, everyone present seemed to agree with Marina's words, and no one raised any objection.
Given the current situation, Nielson's presence—a potential source of chaos—should be kept from Antelme... no, from anyone who didn't know about the fairy incident, for that matter.
After all, if word spread that a fairy was in Gilm... or that one had settled in the Treant Forest, a massive number of people would come seeking fairies, not just from across the Kingdom of Mireana, but from surrounding nations as well.
Gilm was already crowded with people due to the Expansion Construction. If many more flocked in seeking news of fairies, the city would be completely overwhelmed.
Thinking that over, Rei suddenly had a thought.
(Wait. Then does that mean it would be fine to spread word about the fairies to attract people after Gilm's Expansion Construction is finished?)
Naturally, once the Expansion Construction was complete, Gilm would become larger.
Far larger than it currently was, to the point where comparison was impossible.
And once the construction was finished, the work would naturally disappear. The people who had gathered would either go looking for other jobs or return to their hometowns.
Of course, those with no home to return to—rootless drifters—would likely settle in Gilm as-is.
After all, Daskar was actively encouraging people to put down roots.
Even so, there wouldn't be that many who wanted to remain in Gilm... in the Frontier.
It was a place where one could earn money, but that simultaneously meant it was dangerous.
The Frontier city of Gilm was exactly a high-risk, high-reward kind of place.
Many would be reluctant to settle there permanently, even if they were fine staying temporarily.
If that happened, even Gilm, enlarged by the Expansion Construction, would see fewer residents.
...Though there were also jobs that would be hard to find elsewhere, like cultivating spices or researching, developing, and manufacturing Land Ships, so Rei felt people would naturally gather...
"Rei? What's wrong?"
Rei, who had been lost in thought, was brought back to himself by Marina's voice.
"No, I was just thinking that maybe Lord Daskar plans to widely publicize the existence of fairies after the Expansion Construction is finished."
"That's... it wouldn't be strange for Daskar to think of something like that."
Marina had known Daskar for a long time.
She fully understood how competent he was as a lord.
That was exactly why she could see Daskar publicly announcing the existence of fairies to draw people to the Frontier city of Gilm. It wasn't beyond him.
"Eh? What? You're going to sell us out? If so, we have our own ideas, you know?"
Nielson had been engrossed in her food, but even so, she must have been concerned when it came to her own kind. She said as much.
"I don't have any such intention, so relax. Lord Daskar wouldn't do something to earn the fairies' resentment by going out of his way like that."
"...Then what's the idea?"
"Coexistence between fairies and Gilm... something like that. Of course, this is just something I came up with on my own. I have no idea whether Lord Daskar is actually thinking along those lines. For all I know, he might intend to keep the fairies a secret forever."
"Just tell me already."
"...Let's see. People chase what runs away. In other words, if they don't run, there's no need to chase them so desperately. So, someone among the fairies could come to Gilm and teach people what fairies are actually like. Of course, there will be those who try to capture fairies, so we'd need to have security fully prepared."
Rei told them this, but in reality, fairies possessed the ability to teleport using a Fairy Ring.
Considering that, even if a fairy was captured, it would be easily possible for them to escape if they wanted to.
There was also the possibility that some fairies would find it too bothersome and simply stay captured.
"If we did something like that, fairies could come visit Gilm, and Gilm would attract people drawn by the fairies. It wouldn't be a bad thing for either side, I think... what do you say?"
At Rei's words, Nielson thought for a moment... and then brightened up.
For Nielson, Gilm was an incredibly fascinating place.
Despite that, she had to stay hidden inside the Dragon Robe simply because she was a fairy, unable to freely look around.
For Nielson, this was close to the worst possible outcome.
Given the current situation, she understood it couldn't be helped.
She understood, but still, if she could freely walk around the city and fly about as she pleased, that would be the best possible result for Nielson.
"I see. There are parts of Rei's idea I can agree with, and it's not bad. However... in that case, what about fairy pranks? If they recklessly pull pranks in the city, there could be casualties, you know?"
Fairies were inherently fond of pranks... no, it could be said that the behavior was practically carved into their instincts.
Until now, only woodcutters and adventurers in the Treant Forest had been their targets, and thanks to that, there had been no deaths.
However... even so, pranks like swapping out weapons—ones that could potentially get even an adventurer killed—had been repeatedly carried out.
What would happen if such fairies pulled pranks freely in Gilm?
That was obvious without even thinking about it.
"For that part... maybe we could have Marina handle it?"
"Ugh..."
The one who let out a groan at Rei's words was not Marina, whose name had been mentioned, but Nielson.
For Nielson, her first impression of Marina had been strong, and she apparently had a deep-seated wariness of her.
"Oh my, is something the matter?"
Marina asked with a radiant smile, and Nielson hurriedly shook her head.
"N-No, it's nothing. It's nothing at all!"
"Is that so? If you have something to say, you can say it, you know? I'll be sure to hear you out when the time comes."
Marina told her that, but Nielson pretended not to hear her words and focused on her food.
"Well, something like that... The fairies can't go against Marina's words, so thinking about it that way, this proposal isn't such a bad deal."
"I wonder about that. But in the end, that's just your speculation, right? ...Byune does seem a little happy, though."
Hearing Rei's words, Vihera spoke while patting the head of Byune, who was showing a happy... and expectant demeanor.
(Byune seems happy, but honestly... it'll take several more years before Gilm's Expansion Construction is finished. Whether Byune will still be traveling with us at that point is uncertain.)
Byune was currently traveling with Rei and the others, but she was originally the sole survivor of an important family in the Labyrinth City Exil.
Various problems had occurred during the incident that arose when Rei visited Exil, and the number of survivors had dwindled significantly.
Under those circumstances, Byune was traveling with Rei's group partly as a form of warrior's training, and partly to keep her from being caught up in the turmoil that would likely occur in Exil.
And a fair amount of time had already passed since Rei started traveling with Byune.
Byune was slow to grow and considerably smaller than average.
Even so, she was undoubtedly growing steadily, and by Rei's estimation, she would return to Exil in a few more years.
Considering that, whether Byune would stay with Rei and the others until Gilm's Expansion Construction was complete was uncertain.
"Nn!"
Seeing Byune respond happily to Vihera, Rei kept the unease he felt to himself.
Saying something like that now would only confuse and sadden Byune, and above all, Rei felt that it was Vihera's place to say it, not his.
"Anyway, let's get back to the topic. Nielson is one thing, but there's also the matter of Antelme. We still don't know where he went. I want to find him as quickly as possible and take him down. ...Does anyone have any good ideas?"
"Even if you say that... the guards and adventurers in Gilm already searched and couldn't find him, right?"
When she put it that way, Rei found it hard to argue back.
Given the current situation, there was no question that they needed to somehow find Antelme.
There was no question, but what to do about it was the problem.
"What about Set's sense of smell?"
"...It would be possible if we had something Antelme used. But I don't know if anything like that is still left at the Zolgela Count House mansion."
At Elena's words, Rei looked over at Set, who was eating alongside Ielo.
"Oh, but Set met Antelme once with you, right? Then can't he track his scent from that?"
"Don't ask for the impossible. How much time do you think has passed since we met Antelme? Even for Set, tracking by scent in the current situation is impossible."
"Is that so? ...That's a bit disappointing. Couldn't we work through Marina's side to search the Zolgela Count House mansion?"
"If we ask Daskar, it might be possible... but don't get your hopes up."
"Well, that's true."
Antelme had massacred everyone at the Zolgela Count House mansion.
Naturally, that wasn't the first time he had committed such an act.
That being the case, he would certainly have taken care not to leave evidence behind.
Alternatively, Antelme might have simply not left his personal belongings in the room that had been prepared for him.
Of course, it was hard to imagine he had taken all of his belongings with him completely.
However, the number of people who had worked at the Zolgela Count House mansion was considerable.
That being the case, it would be impossible to know which items belonged to Antelme.
"In the end, finding his hideout... is still the best approach. Whether that's possible, I don't know."
"I understand what you're saying, but it's precisely because that's difficult that we need to search for Antelme like this, right?"
Rei couldn't argue with Marina's words.
That was because it was an undeniable fact that doing so would be the most reliable approach.
That said, if they did that, it would almost certainly result in many deaths.
Antelme did not hesitate to kill people.
...No, in reality, there were many adventurers like that.
Rei himself never hesitated to kill enemies he faced in combat.
What was problematic in this case, however, was Antelme's personality.
(For now, above all else, I need to somehow find Antelme. ...If I can just find him, I can go defeat him directly. Ah, but it'll be troublesome if someone brainwashed like that child today comes after me again. No, actually, that's the hardest thing for me to deal with.)
A brainwashed opponent wasn't targeting Rei of their own will, but following Antelme's orders.
Given that, dealing with such an opponent was difficult for Rei.
Thinking along those lines, Rei continued discussing with Elena and the others how to capture Antelme.