With the most pressing matter regarding Antelme settled for the time being, Rei gave his account of the incident.
...He probably should have explained things in a different order, but the fact that he had started with Antelme showed just how significant the Zolgela Count House incident had been.
In any case, after Rei finished recounting the chain of events, Daskar let out a heavy sigh.
"Good grief... Honestly, I'm torn. Should I resent Antelme for dragging us into this mess, or thank you, Rei, for resolving it with minimal damage?"
"Minimal damage" wasn't exactly a phrase Rei found pleasant.
That was because said damage included the fate of the wolves who had come to coexist with the fairies.
"Rei? What's wrong?"
Noticing the shift in Rei's expression, Daskar asked.
But Rei simply shook his head, dismissing it as nothing.
Objectively speaking, the outcome with the wolves could indeed be called minimal damage.
If any fairies had died in this incident... or worse, if Antelme had actually gone through with burning the Treant Forest and it had caught fire, who knows how things would have ended.
It was entirely possible the fairies would have abandoned the Treant Forest altogether.
Because of that, Rei's handling of the situation was undeniably commendable on multiple fronts.
"No, it's nothing. Having something like this suddenly dumped on me in the middle of the night just left me a bit drained."
"I was caught off guard in the middle of the night myself, so I understand how you feel."
"Oh my, is that my fault?"
When Marina asked with a radiant smile, Daskar couldn't muster a reply and quietly averted his gaze.
In truth, this situation had unquestionably been brought on by Marina, so pinning the blame on her wouldn't be wrong.
However, actually saying so out loud would invite consequences he could well imagine—Marina would happily dredge up tales of Daskar's checkered past.
Knowing that full well, Daskar had no interest in volunteering to step on a landmine.
"Anyway, I'm glad the Antelme situation is resolved. The current state of high alert can't be maintained for long, after all."
There was likely an element of deflecting Marina's teasing in those words, but the genuine relief written on his face was unmistakable.
Manpower was already stretched thin by the Expansion Construction, and conducting the search for Antelme on top of that had pushed everyone to their limits.
Daskar would have preferred not to stretch things so far, but with an incident caused by an A-Rank Adventurer, he couldn't simply sit back and do nothing.
At worst, dozens—possibly even hundreds—of people could have died.
Under normal circumstances, killing that many people single-handedly would be difficult.
But an A-Rank Adventurer could accomplish something like that without breaking a sweat.
That is, provided they didn't run into fellow A-Rank Adventurers or the like in the process.
For that reason, even though it had only lasted about a day, the strain had been immense—arguably more mentally exhausting than even the peak period following the decision to undertake the Expansion Construction.
That was why Daskar had nothing but words of gratitude for the person who had brought the situation to a close.
(The problem is what to do about compensation for this. I put him through unnecessary trouble and had him fight an A-Rank Adventurer—even if he isn't an Alias Holder. Considering all that, I need to pay an appropriate reward.)
If Rei had simply fought and defeated Antelme on his own, Daskar wouldn't need to offer any reward at all.
In that case, it would have been a purely personal dispute between Rei and Antelme.
But the Zolgela Count House incident and the matter of the fairies in the Treant Forest complicated things.
Weighing those circumstances, Daskar's judgment was that it would be better to provide a reward.
...The real question was what form that reward should take.
Fighting and defeating an A-Rank Adventurer, resolving the Zolgela Count House incident, and preventing an attack on the fairies' home.
Honestly, any one of those feats alone would have warranted substantial compensation. Having all three meant a token reward wouldn't cut it.
"Rei, regarding this incident... what reward would you like?"
Ultimately, rather than deliberating on his own, he concluded that asking Rei directly would be the better approach.
However, in response to Daskar's question, Rei shook his head.
"This whole situation stemmed from my personal circumstances to begin with, and I already have an agreement with you, Lord Daskar, to receive Flame Ore. Given that, I don't need any additional reward for this."
"...Are you sure?"
"Yes."
If he had made the decision to move sooner, the wolves wouldn't have died.
Or at the very least, even if the others had been killed, the pack leader might have been saved.
Thinking about that, he couldn't possibly bring himself to accept a reward for this incident.
Daskar didn't know what was going through Rei's mind when he said that.
But if Rei was satisfied, Daskar had no intention of forcing a reward on him.
Besides, the compensation Daskar would owe Rei was undeniably a painful expense, so that suited him fine.
(Well, next time something comes up... no, maybe it would be better to frame it as Expansion Construction pay and just give a bit extra then. What exactly that reward would look like is still up in the air, but... right. Should I discuss it with Marina?)
Having reached that decision, Daskar spoke up.
"Now then, with that matter settled... ah, that's right. Rei, I'd like you to go pick up Nielson tomorrow. Can you do that? There are a number of things to discuss with her regarding this situation as well."
"I don't mind. She said she'd come to Gilm on her own if I didn't pick her up, either way."
"I'm counting on you."
If Nielson came to Gilm alone, it would unquestionably turn into a spectacle.
Daskar pressed the request on Rei once more, his cheek twitching slightly.
He clearly understood that if the fairy matter became public knowledge, it would cause an enormous uproar.
What's more, Gilm was currently swollen with people who had come seeking work for the Expansion Construction.
On top of that, the Zolgela Count House incident meant the nobles in the Noble District were surely working actively to gather whatever intelligence they could.
If the fairy situation came to light under those circumstances... the resulting turmoil would make the word "chaos" seem woefully inadequate.
To prevent such a scenario, they needed Rei to go bring Nielson back.
"Understood. I'll take care of it, then. ...In that case, I should be heading home soon."
"Yes, go ahead. ...Oh wait, I'd like Marina to stay behind. I have something to discuss with her."
"A discussion? With me? I should warn you, if this is a love confession, I won't accept it."
"It's nothing like that!"
The comment, dredging up a slice of his dark history, prompted an immediate denial from Daskar.
Marina smiled at his flustered reaction and turned to address Rei.
"With that settled, I'll be staying to talk with Daskar a while longer. Rei, would you all head home ahead of me?"
"That's fine, but... it's late, you know. Will you be all right walking home alone, Marina?"
"Oh my, are you worrying about me?"
"Obviously."
Marina was a beauty to whom descriptors like "peerless" or "unrivaled" could be attached without a hint of exaggeration.
On top of that, she was wearing a revealing Party Dress.
And with the current season being summer, there were bound to be people out there short-tempered from the heat.
...The one saving grace was that a large number of Guards and Knights were patrolling the streets at night for the Antelme search, but even that wasn't an absolute guarantee.
If someone like Marina walked through such an environment alone, it wouldn't be surprising for her to get caught up in trouble.
Those who had been in Gilm for a while would know what kind of person Marina was and wouldn't dare lay a hand on her.
However, many of the people currently in Gilm had come seeking work for the Expansion Construction. To them, the person known as Marina was—assuming they even recognized her—little more than a skilled Recovery Magic user who worked at the clinic.
"It'll be fine. Daskar will arrange a carriage for me when I head home. ...Right?"
"Fine. ...Honestly, I find it hard to believe Marina would need something like that, though."
"Did you say something?"
"Nothing. So, Marina will be sent home by carriage. There's no need to worry."
With Daskar saying as much, Rei couldn't press the issue any further.
Concluding that Daskar could handle that sort of arrangement without issue, he left the room together with Vihera.
After seeing the two off and judging that they had moved far enough away, Daskar spoke.
"I want to promote Rei to A-Rank Adventurer."
"...I see."
It was a sudden proposal, but Marina showed no sign of surprise.
Given that Rei had defeated the A-Rank Adventurer Antelme, she had likely anticipated something along these lines.
"I understand what you're thinking. But as an A-Rank Adventurer, he'd have far more contact with nobles."
That was the sole, and greatest, problem.
In terms of pure ability, Rei was more than worthy of A-Rank.
No—he possessed the kind of strength that would undoubtedly place him among the upper echelon of A-Rank Adventurers.
The reason Rei had never been promoted to A-Rank despite this was precisely because of that issue.
Rei viewed nobles with thoroughly... well, not completely, but considerably cold eyes.
Given Rei's disposition, if his rank rose and he found himself interacting with nobles, there was no telling what might happen.
...If it were only nobles, Daskar could still somehow shield him. But if it came to dealing with the Royal Family, even Daskar wouldn't be able to protect him.
And in the worst case, Rei could be charged with lèse-majesté and placed on a wanted list... and there was a very real possibility he would leave the Kingdom of Mireana entirely.
Naturally, that was the last thing Daskar wanted.
He didn't want it, but... keeping Rei at B-Rank as things stood also carried its own set of problems, of that there was no doubt.
To put it bluntly, Rei was too strong. And he had accumulated too many achievements.
For someone like that to remain a B-Rank Adventurer would be enough to invite schemers out of the woodwork.
At the very least, as far as Daskar knew, there were already dozens of individuals showing signs of such maneuvering.
...Of course, none of them had actually made direct contact with Rei yet.
But if the current situation continued, it would unquestionably become a serious problem.
Naturally, Daskar had been weighing various approaches to the matter.
The first thing that came to mind was, predictably, the issue with nobles.
"Regarding this, when requests come in from nobles, would it be possible to dispatch a substitute so that Rei doesn't have to meet them directly?"
For Daskar, having that proposal adopted would yield the best possible outcome.
After all, if Rei didn't have to meet nobles face-to-face, there would be no room for problems to arise between them.
However, Marina shook her head at Daskar's words.
"That would be a bit difficult. Among the nobility, many look down on adventurers. For someone like that, having a proxy show up in the adventurer's stead would be unforgivable. What's more... depending on the circumstances, there's also the possibility of an audience with the Royal Family."
"I'd like to avoid that as much as possible, but... if it comes to that, we'd simply have to have Rei learn proper etiquette."
"If it comes to that, Rei might refuse, you know? Part of the reason he's stayed at B-Rank all this time is precisely to avoid that sort of hassle."
"But in Rei's case, he collects Magic Stones from unknown monsters he's personally defeated, doesn't he? In that case, the title of A-Rank Adventurer should hold a certain appeal for him."
Among the various requests, some carried rank restrictions to prevent adventurers from being killed needlessly.
Rei's B-Rank was certainly high enough to qualify as a High-Rank Adventurer, but even so, subjugation requests restricted exclusively to A-Rank Adventurers did exist.
As far as Daskar was concerned, his only option for persuading Rei to accept A-Rank was to bet on that hobby of his.
The one saving grace was that Rei had never entertained the idea of collecting Magic Stones from monsters defeated by others.
Whether it was simply a matter of personal preference or something deeper, he was particular about only collecting stones from monsters he had defeated himself.
...In reality, this was because using Beast Magic required the condition that either he or Set had participated in the fight to at least some degree. But Daskar, unaware of that fact, saw it as the one and only breakthrough point.