"Then, to celebrate Rei's passing... cheers!"
"Hold on. Passing? The promotion exam is tomorrow, you know?"
Marina interjected at the word "passing" that Vihera had let slip.
The dinner being held in the courtyard of Marina's house featured slightly more lavish dishes than usual, prepared with the hope of Rei's success.
That said, while a few were homemade, the majority had been purchased.
Marina had come home when Rei returned, but after that, she had properly gone back to the clinic.
Given that she had been working until the very end, there was no way Marina could have prepared elaborate dishes.
...Even so, the efficiency with which she had whipped up several dishes was impressive, as expected.
"I have no intention of failing the promotion exam, so if you just think of it as a slightly early celebration, I don't mind."
"Rei, that's far too premature no matter how you look at it."
Elena said this with a hint of exasperation upon hearing Rei's words.
Rei was saying with full confidence that he would pass, but this was a promotion exam for A-Rank.
Moreover, because it had been moved up to take place as early as possible, the exam now required him to spend two nights and three days in the Forest of Magic and slay two A-Rank Monsters—making it more difficult than a standard promotion exam.
That said, as a result of the increased difficulty, the etiquette exam had been omitted.
Since Rei had been learning etiquette from Elena, he was confident he could at least manage the bare minimum, but still, not having to take the etiquette exam was extremely helpful. ...Though he had put on a bit of a brave front in front of Worker.
"That may be true, but I'm still confident I'll pass. Set will be with me too."
"Ah, come to think of it..."
Hearing Set's name, Vihera suddenly turned her gaze toward Rei.
Rei asked with his eyes, What? at Vihera's sudden behavior, but... the words that came from Vihera's mouth in response were unexpected even for Rei.
"If Set can go to the Forest of Magic with you since he's your Tamed Monster, then Zozo and the others near the Treant Forest are also officially registered as your Tamed Monster, right? Couldn't you bring them along?"
"That's... well, I suppose I could if I wanted to?"
As Vihera said, it was a fact that Zozo was officially treated as Rei's Tamed Monster.
In that sense, there would be no problem bringing Zozo to the Forest of Magic.
Zozo being Rei's Tamed Monster was merely a convenient arrangement, and Rei did not actually treat Zozo as one.
...However, for some reason, Zozo himself had sworn deep loyalty to Rei.
"Still, honestly speaking, it would be hard for Zozo to survive in the Forest of Magic, so bringing him along would be impossible."
Zozo could be called strong among Lizardmen.
But compared to Gaga, who could hold his own against Rei to a reasonable extent, he was clearly weaker.
Based on Rei's impression from fighting him, his strength was around High C-Rank to Low B-Rank.
In the Forest of Magic, where A-Rank Monsters existed as a matter of course, surviving would be impossible... or rather not impossible, but it would undoubtedly require considerable luck.
Also, unlike Rei and Set, who always acted together, coordinating with Zozo would be difficult.
Considering those circumstances, Rei's honest feeling was that while Zozo might have the right to go to the Forest of Magic with him, he simply lacked the strength.
With Gaga, he has the corresponding strength, so I think there's a high chance he'd survive even in the Forest of Magic. Ah, but that's if it's only for a short time—if it's two nights and three days, surviving would be tough.
Given that multiple A-Rank Monsters inhabited the Forest of Magic, even if he somehow managed to defeat one, encountering another immediately afterward was a very real possibility.
Moreover, even though they were all lumped together as A-Rank Monsters, what kind of creatures they were varied wildly.
Even Gaga might encounter a monster with such a bad matchup that he'd be completely helpless.
"Yeah, it's better not to bring Zozo after all. For what it's worth, Zozo is reasonably respected among Lizardmen, and it'd be a problem if he ended up dead."
"Having someone who looks up to you die would be a problem too," Marina said.
Rei nodded in agreement.
If anything happened that got Zozo killed, it would undoubtedly cause all sorts of complications.
Gaga in particular seemed to be quite fond of his half-brother Zozo.
"For that reason, I won't be bringing Zozo to the Forest of Magic."
At Rei's words, Nielson, who had been listening, suddenly spoke up.
"Are the Lizardmen living near the Treant Forest different from normal monster Lizardmen?"
Since she lived in the same Treant Forest—though in reality, the Lizardmen lived adjacent to it—it was probably a topic that piqued Nielson's curiosity.
Rei found it questionable that Nielson had shown no interest in the Forest of Magic.
However, if he asked her something like Do you have no interest in the Forest of Magic? and that sparked her interest, it would be a problem if she then insisted on coming to tomorrow's promotion exam.
If that was the case, while he didn't understand why she had no interest, he decided to follow the principle of letting sleeping dogs lie and avoid broaching the subject.
Well, is that expression even correct? ...Eh, whatever.
With that thought, he decided to satisfy Nielson's curiosity.
"The biggest difference is that Zozo and the others possess high intelligence. In the world they lived in before teleporting to this one, they apparently built an advanced civilization."
One glimpse of that civilization could be seen in the Birth Tower.
It was where Lizardman eggs were enshrined, and the tower had been constructed by the Lizardmen themselves.
Zozo and his people possessed a civilization capable of building such a structure.
"Hmm. Then they're quite different from the Lizardmen of this world."
"If you compared them, Zozo and the others would get angry. Well, they might not get angry since they've never seen the Lizardmen of this world... Ah, but if they've been living alongside adventurers, it wouldn't be surprising if that topic came up. I've at least told them that Lizardmen exist here, so I'm hoping they wouldn't be too upset about it."
From an adventurer's perspective, living alongside Lizardmen naturally meant exchanging conversation.
If talk of this world's Lizardmen came up in those conversations, it wouldn't be surprising.
"In that case, Zozo and the others might say they want to fight this world's Lizardmen or something like that. What would you do then?"
"What would I do, you ask... Vihera, even if you look at me with those expectant eyes, I don't think it'll turn into the kind of thing you're hoping for."
Vihera looked forward to battles with strong opponents, but even if Zozo and the others fought this world's Lizardmen, it was highly unlikely to be the kind of battle Vihera was hoping for.
Fundamentally, the Lizardmen of this world were not opponents that Vihera could enjoy fighting.
That said, among monsters, there existed beings known as Rare Species.
If such an individual existed among the Lizardmen, Vihera would likely recognize them as an enemy worth defeating.
"I wonder. That's a bit disappointing. In that case, I'm still jealous that Rei gets to go to the Forest of Magic..."
"Since it's fundamentally off-limits, it's impossible for you to go to the Forest of Magic, Vihera. Unless you get permission from Daskar."
Vihera looked up at Marina with pleading eyes, as if begging.
If it had been some ordinary man subjected to that pleading look, it wouldn't have been strange for him to grant Vihera's request unconditionally.
But... the person there was not some ordinary man, but Marina.
She immediately shook her head.
"Impossible."
"I see. How disappointing."
The fact that she had tried asking Marina meant that Vihera had probably been holding out hope more than anything.
That was likely why she backed down so readily when Marina said it was impossible.
Knowing Vihera's desire for battle, it was debatable whether Rei could take those words at face value.
"Are you ready on your end, Rei? Apparently, this promotion exam is drawing quite a lot of attention. It's become a topic among the nobles as well."
Precisely because Elena received many noble visitors, she probably understood that talk of Rei's promotion exam was spreading among them.
However, Elena's words came as a surprise to Rei.
"Among the nobles too? Why? Is it because the nobles are also participating in the betting, or something like that?"
Could it be that the bet on whether he would pass had spread even among the nobles?
That was what Rei thought, but considering Jean's explanation, it didn't seem like the betting was being conducted on such a large scale.
If so, there must be some other reason they were paying attention.
"Betting? There may be some who are participating, but what the nobles are concerned about is, after all, because it's you... and because the exam is being held in the Forest of Magic, I should say."
The main reason was, undoubtedly, that Rei was regarded as Daskar's Trusted Aide.
Rei had originally been viewed as Daskar's Trusted Aide and was known as a skilled Alias Holder, but at the end of the day, he had still been only a B-Rank Adventurer.
Such a Rei was now about to become a true A-Rank Adventurer.
Even if he was famous as Daskar's Trusted Aide, there was a significant difference between B-Rank and A-Rank.
At the very least, the impression he gave to those around him would undoubtedly change.
In that sense, the nobles—all Three Great Factions: the King's Faction, the Noble's Faction, and the Neutral Faction—were paying no small amount of attention to Rei's promotion exam.
"In fact, recently not only Noble's Faction nobles but even King's Faction nobles have started requesting audiences with me."
"That's... I don't think you need to worry about it that much."
"Rei, you should understand yourself a bit better. You have enough power to face an army single-handedly... no, considering Set's mobility, enough to take on an entire nation. The fact that such a person is Daskar's Trusted Aide is already perceived as a threat, and now that Trusted Aide might become A-Rank."
Asking them not to be on guard would be unreasonable, Elena conveyed. Rei thought, Is that how it is? but accepted it.
However, while Rei did accept a fair number of requests from Daskar, he had no intention of becoming Daskar's subordinate.
In that sense, the term "Trusted Aide" was slightly inaccurate as a description... but Daskar, judging that the rumor spreading on its own without him having planted it was beneficial, had not corrected it.
"For now, my feeling is more like, Is that how it is?... Well, I don't particularly need to press the issue, so I'll just try not to worry about it."
"It'd be nice if that were enough. But in all likelihood, you'll end up getting dragged into trouble in the future too, Rei."
Marina's words likely came from her own varied experiences.
For Rei, he naturally had no desire to get dragged into such trouble.
Still, if I do get caught up in some kind of trouble, Elena and the others here would help me unconditionally.
He, too, would unconditionally help anyone here—excluding Nielson—if they got caught up in some kind of trouble.
"As long as that trouble isn't happening right now... or more precisely, as long as I wake up tomorrow, there's no problem for now."
At present, the main concern was tomorrow's promotion exam.
If so, Rei first needed to pass that promotion exam.
"I thought you'd say that, Rei."
At Elena's words, the others who had been listening nodded in agreement.
Even Nielson nodded at Elena's words.
"Should I take this as being praised, in a way?"
"Who knows? That depends on your perspective, Rei. If you think you're being praised, then you are. If you don't think so, then maybe you're not."
Marina's enigmatic wording made Rei slightly uneasy.
Still, being able to shift gears quickly was very much like Rei.
And so, Rei enjoyed his meal on the night before the promotion exam.