"Five days from now, huh... I suppose I should bring Worker some refreshments later."
That evening, Rei and the others were eating dinner in Marina's courtyard as usual, discussing the events of the day. But as expected, the topic that drew the most attention was the fact that Rei's Rank Up Exam had been set.
Hearing the details, Marina thought of the hardships facing Worker, who had taken over as Guild Master after her, and decided she would bring him refreshments and use her Spirit Magic to at least take the edge off his fatigue.
"Is it really that demanding?"
"Of course it is. ...Well, someone like you who's always fighting on the front lines might not understand."
"When you put it that way, I can't really argue."
In truth, Rei had the kind of personality that put him on the front lines fighting at the first sign of trouble.
Because of that, he wasn't particularly knowledgeable when it came to rear support.
...Though since he used his Misty Ring to transport food, supplies, weapons, armor, and all sorts of other things, it wasn't as if he was completely useless in that regard.
"So, you're going to the Forest of Magic, aren't you? ...I'm jealous. I wonder if they'd let me go as a special exception too."
The Forest of Magic was home to many powerful monsters.
For Vihera, who loved fighting strong opponents, the fact that Rei got to go to the Forest of Magic was something she envied from the bottom of her heart.
"That's not going to happen. Well, if you used your identity as a princess of the Bestia Empire to make a formal request, Lord Daskar might approve it."
"Mmm."
At Rei's words, Vihera wore a troubled expression.
As far as she was concerned, she had long since abandoned her identity as a princess of the Bestia Empire.
Using it now, in this kind of situation—she likely felt that wasn't the right thing to do.
"No, if she revealed her identity as a princess of the Bestia Empire, then precisely because she is a princess, they wouldn't be able to let her go somewhere like the Forest of Magic, would they?"
Rei nodded in understanding at Elena's words.
Elena the Princess General, Marina the Shrine Maiden of the World Tree, and Vihera the Crazy Beast, who had been known by that same name in the Labyrinth City Exil.
Each of them held a status befitting their position, but all of them were powerhouses for whom terms like "one warrior worth a thousand" and "matchless" were truly appropriate.
That was precisely why they had lost sight of it, but normally, someone of princess status wanting to go to a place like the Forest of Magic would never be granted permission.
In a sense, living with a group like this had caused their sense of common sense to drift rather far from the norm.
"So I don't need to use my princess identity, then. ...In that case, I can't go to the Forest of Magic."
Vihera, who hadn't wanted to use her princess identity in the first place, felt relieved by Elena's words. At the same time, though, she was deeply disappointed that she couldn't go to the Forest of Magic.
"Mn."
As if to comfort the deflated Vihera, Byune picked up a piece of sweet-simmered meat from her own plate and set it onto Vihera's.
"Oh, thank you. ...This is delicious."
Eating the meat, Vihera was genuinely surprised. She probably hadn't expected it to be quite that good.
The dish came from a reputable eatery that Rei had taken a liking to—he had bought the entire pot to bring back—so of course it was delicious.
"Anyway, if we only have five days, we need to get you ready, Rei. ...Though with your Misty Ring, I don't think there's anything special you need to do."
"Marina's right. I don't really need any special preparation."
Inside Rei's Misty Ring was an incalculable amount of supplies.
Enough that even if he were thrown alone into some unknown world, he would be fine.
In fact, those supplies had proven extremely effective in the other world where the Centaurs lived.
Without the Misty Ring, he probably wouldn't have even been able to find the Dragonias stronghold.
And even after all that, there were still plenty of supplies remaining inside.
"That said... you're right. The supplies aren't infinite, so I should probably restock a little. Potions are something you can never have too many of."
Potions lost their effectiveness over time, and in the worst case, went bad.
But kept inside the Misty Ring where time didn't flow, there was no need to worry about that.
That was why he muttered those words, but...
"Ah, but you'd be better off holding off on that right now."
The one who stopped him was Marina.
"Why not?"
"Potions are in pretty short supply right now. You can guess the reason, can't you?"
"The sudden increase in adventurers? But the work for the newly arrived ones is basically inside Gilm, right? Like the Expansion Construction and such."
Of course, there were also people like the Woodcutters who worked in the Treant Forest.
Additionally, personnel had been hired to some extent to transport felled trees in Rei's absence, and among them were quite a few who had come to Gilm seeking Expansion Construction work.
But those were a small minority.
If you compared the number of people working inside Gilm versus outside, it would be overwhelmingly the former.
Given that, Rei found it puzzling why potions would be in short supply.
"Didn't I mention before that a lot of people are getting injured because of the heat?"
"You mean their attention gets scattered due to the heat... that kind of thing? I heard about that."
"Because there are so many people getting injured like that, they've decided that for minor injuries, it's better to use potions rather than going to the clinic. Fortunately, they have plenty of money, so buying potions isn't difficult for them."
"I can understand them having money, but I wish they wouldn't spend it on things like that."
Originally, since Gilm was the only frontier in the Kingdom of Mireana, a great deal of money flowed in pursuit of rare materials.
Moreover, with even more people now flocking to Gilm for the Expansion Construction, the amount of money concentrated in the city must be considerable.
Thinking about it that way, workers stocking up on potions for injuries at the construction site was by no means unreasonable.
But from Rei's perspective... no, thinking of those besides Rei who carried out subjugation requests outside Gilm, a potion shortage was a genuinely dangerous situation.
"In that case, should I just go to another city and buy up potions?"
"Sablusta and Abuelo probably don't have any potions left already. They're close, so they'd be the first places people would go to stock up."
Given that the cities closest to Gilm were Sablusta and Abuelo, that was only natural.
Rei could predict that much himself, so he nodded without any particular surprise.
"Then how about trying somewhere even farther? With Set, it wouldn't take that long."
"...But are you sure? The Promotion Exam is in five days, right? If you can't make it back by then, it'll be a problem before we even get to whether you're taking the exam or not."
Knowing that Rei and Set were slightly directionally challenged, Marina was seriously worried.
"Getting back won't be that hard. Right, Set?"
"Gruu!"
At Rei's words, Set, who had been eating seared meat, purred.
Rei and Set also knew that they were slightly... truly only slightly, but slightly directionally challenged.
However, considering the current situation, returning before the Promotion Exam started didn't seem like it would be difficult.
Of course, that was simply what Rei and Set thought. The others couldn't quite bring themselves to take his words at face value.
"Hmm... what should we do? If you're going to another city, I think it'd be better if someone went with you."
Vihera said this, glancing around at the others.
Even so, the reason she looked so pleased was probably because she strongly suspected she would be the one free to go.
As a member of the Noble's Faction, Elena couldn't just casually head out on a trip.
Marina worked at the clinic and had become indispensable to the Expansion Construction.
Given all that, the only person who could go with Rei was Vihera.
Reading Vihera's intentions from her demeanor, Marina raised a question.
"I understand what you're getting at, Vihera, but you have your own responsibilities, don't you? You need to take Nielson to the Treant Forest."
"That doesn't mean I absolutely have to take her every single day, does it? It wouldn't be a problem to do something like take Nielson somewhere else instead. ...Right?"
Pressed by Vihera, Nielson hesitated for a moment before nodding.
"That's right. If it comes to that, it can't be helped."
Nielson said it couldn't be helped, but what spread across her face was a bright look full of expectation.
For Nielson, exploring Gilm—even from inside Byune's clothes—was fun, but getting to see other villages and cities besides Gilm would be even more enjoyable.
After all, when it came to Gilm, she could explore it whenever she wanted. Going outside Gilm was another matter entirely.
Given that, there was absolutely no way Nielson could let this opportunity slip by.
If anything, in the current situation, she would insist she had to go to another city by any means necessary.
...Also, while it got quite hot during the day, traveling with Rei meant she could rest inside the Dragon Robe.
She could spend the time in total comfort, in fact.
With those thoughts in mind, Nielson threw her full support behind Vihera's suggestion, but...
"Rejected."
Rei shut it down without a second thought.
"Wha—why not! It's not like it'd be a problem for me to go with you!"
"If we bring Nielson, I think... no, I'm certain it would cause trouble."
At Rei's words, the others listening in found themselves nodding in agreement.
Having spent time with Nielson, they knew Rei's words were by no means an exaggeration.
"Hold on a moment. I haven't caused any incidents in Gilm, have I? Right? Right?"
Nielson desperately tried to make her case, and what she said wasn't wrong.
She had been looking around Gilm from inside Rei's or Byune's clothes, but she had never once played a prank while doing so.
If so, her words couldn't be dismissed outright.
But even so, Rei had no intention of bringing Nielson along.
"In the first place, Nielson is in Gilm for negotiations with Lord Daskar, right? Then going to another city with me would be a problem."
That was right—the biggest reason Nielson had come to Gilm was precisely that.
...Though in reality, she hadn't been negotiating with Daskar much lately.
To be precise, the negotiations with Daskar were largely settled in broad terms.
In other words, the current situation was essentially free time for Nielson to play as she pleased.
That was likely why she wanted to go somewhere else with Rei... but even if it was just a pretext, a reason was a reason.
Given that, Rei couldn't bring himself to bring Nielson along.
"Ehh! I want to go, I want to go, I want to go, I want to go!"
Realizing that Rei wouldn't listen no matter what she said, Nielson threw a tantrum.
A tantrum fitting of a fairy, delivered while floating in mid-air.
However, even seeing Nielson like that, Rei refused to budge.
"Rejected. No matter how hard you try, I'm not bringing you along, so give it up. If the existence of fairies becomes public knowledge, you might be able to move around a bit more freely."
"Ehh... come on, even if just I go with you, no one would ever find out. So, please?"
"Rejected. If you absolutely want to go, get permission from the Chief."
The moment he said it, Rei thought, That was a mistake.
The Chief was undoubtedly in a position of leadership, but she was still a fairy herself.
If she decided it would be more interesting, she might actually grant permission for Nielson to go along with Rei—or so he feared.
However, to Rei's great fortune, Nielson found herself unable to say anything after hearing his words.
She knew that if she told the Chief she wanted to leave Gilm for a bit in the current situation, it would absolutely not be permitted.
Rei had assumed that since the Chief was also a fairy, she might grant permission upon hearing Nielson's request. But that was an assumption born of his own imagination.
Even as the Fairy Chief... no, precisely because she was the Chief, she firmly held the reins over the fairies.
Though if it were a matter of the Chief herself going to another city instead of Nielson, that would be a different story.
In a sense, while she herself was working hard, the Chief would never let Nielson alone go off and have fun—or so she would decide.