Deciding to consider the promotion to A-Rank in a positive light for the time being, Rei left the Lord's Manor and was now heading toward the alchemists' workshop with Set.
Back at the manor, negotiations between Daskar and Nielson were likely already underway.
In the meantime, Rei needed to deliver the lumber the woodcutters had felled in the Treant Forest to the alchemists.
(Consider it positively, huh. I would've loved to say something like, "I'll weigh it favorably while deliberating carefully," but... if I'd actually said that, Lord Daskar definitely would've been furious.)
Recalling the politicians and bureaucrats from his time in Japan, Rei mused to himself.
Though, since those types had become frequent targets of public mockery lately, perhaps fewer people made such blatantly evasive statements anymore.
At any rate, Rei needed to decide quickly whether or not to take the A-Rank promotion exam.
After discussing it at length with Daskar, Rei had to admit his feelings were leaning toward taking it.
After all, Daskar had personally asked him—not whether he wanted to take the exam, but rather that he wanted him to—and on top of that, he'd promised to handle most of the troublesome matters that came with becoming an A-Rank adventurer.
Under those circumstances, unless he had some clear, compelling reason not to take the exam, Rei couldn't very well refuse.
(He said a proxy agent would handle dealings with nobles, but... the real problem is still the Royal Family.)
A proxy might be fine for dealing with nobles, but if the other party was royalty, a proxy alone probably wouldn't cut it.
Which meant Rei would ultimately need to meet them face-to-face—potentially the King of Mireana, a prince, a princess, or the like.
That said, Rei wasn't particularly nervous about meeting royalty in and of itself.
After all, among his companions was Vihera.
A princess of the Bestia Empire—a major nation with territory and national power on par with the Kingdom of Mireana.
Or rather, former princess would be more accurate.
She certainly had no intention of still being treated as a member of the Imperial Family.
Rei didn't just travel with someone like Vihera—he was living with her.
Viewed in that light, meeting royalty of comparable standing to Vihera didn't feel all that daunting.
The real concern, however, was etiquette.
(For that... could I ask Vihera to teach me? No, it wouldn't be surprising if the Bestia Empire and the Kingdom of Mireana had different etiquette and formalities. In that case, Elena?)
Elena had been accompanying Rei on his activities lately, and her family home was Duke Kerebel's House—ranking at the very top of the peerage.
Given that she was born the daughter of Duke Kerebel, it went without saying that Elena would be well-versed in proper etiquette.
If Rei needed to learn court manners for meeting royalty directly, Elena was the obvious choice.
He'd ask her about it tonight.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, he arrived at the building where the alchemists worked.
"This place is a headache in its own right. Still, I can't exactly take my time here, so I should get this done and head back to the Lord's Manor. ...I could grab something from a food stall on the way, too."
"Gururu!"
At Rei's words, Set purred happily, no doubt imagining all the delicious food it wanted from a stall.
"It's this hot, so I'd love some cold dishes or sweets, but honestly that's probably asking too much. Chilled fruit would be nice, though."
So Rei said, but if there were a stall selling chilled fruit, it would surely be sold out within moments given the crowds.
Besides, thanks to the Dragon Robe's effects—and the fact that Set was a gryphon—neither of them felt the heat even at the height of summer.
In contrast, many of the passersby in their line of sight looked as though even walking was a chore in this heat.
(Can't be helped. It's summer, after all. ...Probably still better than Japan, though.)
Or so Rei thought. But having grown up in the Tohoku countryside, right beside the mountains, he had never experienced truly oppressive heat.
Well, that wasn't entirely true—there were a few days each summer when the temperature exceeded thirty-five degrees—so he wasn't completely ignorant of summer's swelter.
Also, in Rei's case, when it got hot he always had the option of taking a dip in a river.
Unlike a pool, the flowing current meant the water rarely turned lukewarm instead of refreshing.
In fact, if he stayed submerged long enough, he'd end up shivering from the cold.
"Come to think of it, I haven't been to that river not too far from Gilm in a while."
There was a river he'd used countless times before to dismantle monsters, but Rei realized he hadn't visited it in quite some time.
"Guru?"
"Yeah. We might be able to make time to go play there sometime."
As they chatted while walking down the street, the number of passersby gradually thinned, and the alchemists' building came into view.
"Alright, let's get this over with. Set, wait around here. And whatever you do, don't show your face over there."
"Gururu"
If the alchemists realized Set had come, they'd lose their minds.
Rei was confident he could handle the situation if it came to that.
He was confident, but it would still be a hassle regardless, so he had no intention of deliberately letting it happen.
Set seemed to understand Rei's feelings, nodding obediently and padding away from him.
After seeing Set off, Rei headed toward the building, determined to finish as quickly as possible...
"Enough already, knock it off! I may have rare materials, but do you seriously think I'm going to hand them over to you lot!?"
Sure enough, the alchemists spotted Rei the moment he arrived and swarmed him, pressing for rare materials.
Honestly, Rei's Misty Ring was packed with an abundance of materials.
Materials the alchemists would gladly reach down their own throats to get their hands on.
Dragonias corpses, for instance.
The abundant red-scaled Dragonias corpses, being creatures from another world, were unquestionably unknown materials.
(Ah, I'm starting to think I could probably part with one Dragonias corpse or so. They'll be useless by tomorrow anyway.)
For a fleeting moment Rei considered it, but if he handed over even one corpse, they might come at him demanding more, figuring he still had others.
Logically, no matter how many alchemists banded together, they shouldn't stand a chance against someone being recommended for the A-Rank promotion exam... but considering the alchemists' sheer fanaticism, it wasn't as if the possibility didn't cross his mind.
If they were going to be that relentless, he might as well humor them for now, he decided... and eventually spoke up.
"Once the expansion construction in Gilm is finished, the number of people coming here will increase. When that happens, the number of people active in this area will naturally go up too, so the materials available might become far more diverse than before."
At Rei's words, several of the surrounding alchemists' eyes sparkled.
That said, it was only a few of them.
The majority figured that even if the expansion construction progressed as Rei described, materials wouldn't increase so easily.
...For one thing, Rei said "when the expansion construction is finished," but just how long would that actually take?
Even now, it was already entering its second year.
And yet, the end of the construction was still nowhere in sight.
In other words, what Rei meant by "when the expansion construction is finished" was something most people couldn't even begin to predict.
That was precisely why the majority of the alchemists surrounding Rei didn't bother harboring any expectations based on his words.
Of course, it wasn't as if they'd have zero expectations once the construction was actually finished.
For the alchemists, the more avenues available to secure even a few more materials, the better.
But since that was ultimately a distant prospect, what they needed right now was not future promises but someone who could bring them materials in the present... and that someone was Rei.
"At any rate, I'm busy. I don't have time to entertain you all."
At Rei's words, several of the alchemists watched him sharply.
If Rei said he was busy under these circumstances, perhaps that was a sign something was going on.
And in truth, they weren't entirely wrong.
Between the fairy situation, the other world situation, and everything else, there was indeed a lot going on.
But from Rei's perspective, what he honestly wanted to focus on right now wasn't the fairy business but the A-Rank promotion exam.
...Though if he'd said that out loud, the alchemists would likely have rejoiced and refused to let him go.
After all, becoming an A-Rank adventurer would unlock requests he'd never been able to take before, increasing the chances of obtaining unknown materials.
Which would make it something the alchemists would be deeply grateful for.
It wouldn't even be strange if they ended up fighting each other over the materials Rei brought back.
As far as Rei was concerned, he certainly had no desire to see anything like that happen.
(Anyway, I'd better keep the A-Rank promotion to myself as much as possible around these guys. Yeah, if word got out, I'd need to prepare for the worst.)
With that decided, Rei shoved the alchemists aside and made his escape.
Most of them, judging from Rei's demeanor that pushing any further would only provoke him, returned to their own work.
The alchemists had demanded rare materials from Rei, but even so, they clearly understood where the line was drawn.
If they pressed him any harder in this situation, there was a very real chance fists would start flying.
And if that happened, it could be a devastating blow for the alchemists.
Knowing that, the ability to read the limit was essential.
...From Rei's perspective, he wanted to tell them that if they had that kind of judgment, they shouldn't have swarmed him in the first place.
"Phew. ...Well, that duty's done at least."
Stepping out of the building, Rei muttered with a weary exhale.
He'd been through dealings with the alchemists countless times before.
But even so, when he thought about who they were, all he could do was accept it as the nature of the beast.
"Gururururu!"
Spotting Rei emerging from the building, Set trotted over, purring happily.
Rei stroked Set and spoke in a bright tone.
"Alright then, like I said earlier, let's go check out the food stalls. It'd be nice if there's plenty of good food."
"Guru!"
At Rei's words, Set purred, urging him to hurry.
For Set, wandering the food stalls with Rei was far more fun than coming here.
Above all, it bothered Set that Rei always ended up looking exhausted whenever they came.
Even so, Rei felt obligated, so he'd never been able to stop coming.
"Right, maybe I'll buy some skewers again. I left the ones for Lord Daskar back there, so we just need enough for ourselves."
Skewers were an extremely common dish in Gilm.
So much so that nearly every food stall sold them.
But precisely because there were so many, the taste varied dramatically from shop to shop.
The eye for judging meat quality, the preparation, the seasoning, how the skewer was threaded, the heat control during grilling, the ability to read the state of the cooking meat—along with numerous other intertwined factors, all of them came together to produce the finished product.
In that sense, even if two shops both called their dish skewers, the actual taste could be entirely different.
And yet, since the cooking itself wasn't particularly difficult, stalls selling skewers inevitably multiplied.
(Now that I think about it, skewers are a surprisingly deep cuisine. ...Well, I suppose that's true of anything, not just skewers.)
Rei and Set kept walking, searching for stalls selling delicious skewers... and ended up buying from several shops along the way.
Some were genuinely tasty; others were just passable.
Precisely because the preparation was simple, even a failure wouldn't produce something egregiously bad—which was probably part of the skewer's appeal.
...Though for someone seeking out unknown flavors, that might have been a different story.
And so, snacking on skewers as they strolled... before long, Rei decided, without any particular catalyst, to challenge the A-Rank adventurer exam.