That morning, Rei finished his mock battle as part of his usual early training routine, ate breakfast, and left Marina's house.
"Well then, I'll be back in three days... no, factoring in travel time, it'll take a bit longer? Either way, about that long."
Walking alongside Set, he addressed the group who had come to see him off—Elena, Marina, Vihera, Ara, Byune, Nielson, and Ielo.
There was not the slightest hint of solemnity in his tone.
He was somewhat nervous, but as far as Rei was concerned, he was heading to the Forest of Magic—in a sense, the place where his current self was born.
Of course, it had been confirmed that multiple A-Rank Monsters dwelled in the Forest of Magic.
There were even sighting reports of S-Rank Monsters.
That said, those accounts were from quite a long time ago, and whether any S-Rank Monsters still inhabited the Forest of Magic at this very moment was uncertain.
(An S-Rank Monster, huh. If one's there, taking it down would be a life-or-death gamble, but the payoff would be substantial.)
Not just the Magic Stone, but materials usable for Magic Items—and above all, the meat.
In Elgin, monster meat fundamentally grew more delicious the higher the monster's rank.
That said, this was only a general rule. There were monsters like Orcs, whose rank wasn't particularly high yet still yielded delicious meat.
"Understood. Then take care."
Sent off by Elena's words, Rei headed toward the Guild.
It was not quite early morning—around nine o'clock.
Naturally, for anyone besides Elena and Ara, it was already a time when they would normally have left for work. But because Rei's Promotion Exam was today, they had asked to push back their departure times slightly.
That said, Vihera, Byune, and Nielson were heading to the Treant Forest, and they weren't pressed for time.
Marina worked at the clinic, but it only grew busy as noon approached; the morning hours were relatively quiet.
In that sense, being a little late wouldn't have been a fatal problem.
Of course, that assumed things proceeded as usual—there was always the possibility of a sudden accident or something causing injuries.
But given that Marina handled everything without fail, Rei could easily imagine that even if such a situation arose, she would have taken measures to manage it to some extent.
"Anyway, even if it's a Promotion Exam in the Forest of Magic, being so tense I can't perform at my full ability would be the worst possible outcome. With that in mind, I'll keep it relaxed."
"Gruu."
Set purred in agreement with Rei's words.
As Rei and Set walked along, a few people called out to them lightly.
Since it was still morning, most of the people at work had just started their shifts and were likely busy. As usual, no one came asking to play with Set.
That was partly because many people knew Rei was taking his Promotion Exam today.
If someone were to forcibly take up Rei's time right before the exam and he ended up late and unable to take it... should something like that happen, that person's future would be over.
At the very least, they would certainly be resented by everyone who had bet on Rei passing, since their wagers would be ruined.
Even among those who hadn't participated in the betting, there were Gilm residents who were simply looking forward to seeing Rei—the city's famous adventurer—pass his exam.
And among all of them, the most frightening were the Set Enthusiasts.
Many of the Set Enthusiasts held complicated feelings toward Rei as Set's master—jealousy that Rei alone got to monopolize Set, gratitude that because Rei had Tamed him they were able to play with Set at all. People harbored all sorts of other emotions too, but what every single one of them shared was a deep affection for Set.
They naturally knew that Set loved Rei, so if Rei failed his exam, Set would be sad.
And Set being sad was, quite naturally, something the Set Enthusiasts could never tolerate.
To avoid becoming targets of such people, no one would dream of detaining Rei or Set.
Everyone just called out lightly, offering a word of encouragement for the exam.
Some even voiced their hopes that he pass, if only for the sake of their own bets.
Exchanging such words as he went, Rei eventually arrived at the Guild.
The busiest hours had already passed, but there were still plenty of adventurers in and around the building.
Among the workers on the Expansion Construction, those performing simple tasks were handled at a temporary Guild Branch Office closer to the worksite—yet even so, this many people had still gathered at the Guild.
(If I'd come at the crack of dawn, I probably wouldn't have been able to move at all. Talk about packed like sardines.)
Thinking this, Rei had Set move to his usual spot and entered the Guild.
Naturally, since it wasn't his usual time, some people were surprised to see Rei and Set. But Rei was accustomed to that kind of reaction and entered without paying it any particular mind.
"Rei-san, this way!"
How she had spotted Rei among the sea of adventurers was a mystery, but the instant he stepped inside, Lenora called his name.
Beside Lenora, Kenny shot a brief, resentful glance at her before returning to the adventurer she was attending.
There had been an adventurer at Lenora's counter as well, but the moment she called Rei's name, a Guild Staff Member immediately came over and took over for her.
The adventurer, who had been served by the lovely Lenora, looked displeased at suddenly being handed off to a stern-looking man—but he didn't actually voice any complaints.
He probably understood that causing a scene here would earn him the resentment of every other adventurer waiting in line.
And so, without a word of protest to the Guild Staff Member, the adventurer quietly had his request form processed.
"Rei-san, please head to the second floor. I'll call the Guild Master right away."
"The second floor? I thought Guild Staff Members were working up there right now."
"Because of your Promotion Exam, Rei-san, we rushed to clear the space. ...It was quite an effort."
Judging from Lenora's heartfelt tone, it hadn't just been talk—it had genuinely been difficult.
But there was nothing Rei could say in response to that, so he simply muttered, "I see."
He couldn't help thinking that if she was only going to say that much, there was no need for her to come all the way out from behind the counter—but he had no intention of complaining when she had gone to the trouble.
"Got it. I'll wait for Worker on the second floor, then."
After getting the room's location from Lenora, Rei climbed the stairs.
From the multiple rooms on the second floor, the voices of Guild Staff Members at work drifted out.
Among them were sounds that resembled screams—a somewhat eerie detail for Rei.
The people working up there were that cornered—it was easy enough to imagine.
(If they're that busy, maybe temporary hiring... no, even if they hired new people, they wouldn't be able to do the work. In that case, wouldn't it make sense to borrow staff from Guilds in other towns or villages?)
Rei reasoned along those lines, but in reality, such measures were already being taken. Many of the people on the second floor were temporary personnel borrowed from other Guilds.
Even after gathering all those people, there was still no end of work, with no sign of it diminishing at all. Such was the current state of Gilm.
After all, it was the only city in the Frontier—to be precise, larger than a town but not quite a full-fledged city.
Conducting Expansion Construction in a place like this meant there was no shortage of work.
Additionally, while not yet operating on a massive scale, there were various other projects that needed building—Spices cultivation by the Green People, a Land Ship manufacturing factory, and so on.
Considering all of that, when exactly would the day come when Guild Staff Members weren't busy?
(Once winter comes, things will definitely ease up.)
The Expansion Construction halted in winter—precisely, at the end of autumn—and resumed at the start of spring.
The seasons in between would presumably be a quiet period for the Guild Staff Members as well.
Even so, during winter there would still be the Gigant Turtle dissection that Rei had arranged, and adventurers who hadn't managed to save enough money to get through the winter would still need to work—so it wasn't as though the staff would be completely idle.
Still, compared to the current daily grind that could only be described as a death march, it would be close to paradise.
(Staff members are crucial to the Guild. The current situation is undeniably tough... but I can't exactly go around trying to fix the Guild when things are like this.)
If the Guild became unable to function under these circumstances, the Expansion Construction itself could grind to a halt.
With that in mind, the Guild was certainly in a difficult position right now, but they would just have to push through.
"And to think a Promotion Exam is happening at a time like this... Even as a request from Lord Daskar, Worker really went out of his way to accept it."
Muttering to himself, Rei stepped into the room Lenora had directed him to. A single man was inside, and he opened his mouth as though he had caught Rei's words.
"It's precisely because of the current situation that the Guild Master accepted your Promotion Exam. And not an ordinary one at that, but an unreasonable exam held in the Forest of Magic."
Even to Rei's eyes, the man who said this was unmistakably a skilled fighter.
A man in his late twenties to early thirties.
The fact that he was alone in the room meant he had to be the A-Rank Adventurer assigned to guide Rei to the Forest of Magic.
"You're the one?"
Rei had lived in Gilm for a considerable time, but the man before him was a face he was seeing for the first time.
Of course, Rei didn't know the face of every single adventurer in Gilm.
Gilm, located in the Frontier, was—until recently—a difficult place to reach, and even upon arriving, not everyone could thrive there.
Given that the requests available in Gilm were demanding, some adventurers fell into the Slum District. Others, feeling compelled to take on requests just because they'd come all this way, ended up getting killed by monsters.
In that sense, many of the adventurers who came to Gilm died one after another.
That was precisely why Rei couldn't possibly memorize every adventurer.
Moreover, among adventurers there were those with all sorts of peculiar personalities—people who, for example, only accepted subjugation requests for monsters that appeared at night.
As Rei wondered whether the man before him might be one such person with a peculiar personality, the man nodded and spoke.
"Yeah. I'm Zakat, the one who'll be guiding you to the Forest of Magic this time. I'm an A-Rank Adventurer, but just an ordinary one without an alias or anything."
"It's not really my place to say this as an Alias Holder myself, but there are more adventurers without aliases than with them, right? Besides, at the point you're an A-Rank Adventurer, I don't think 'ordinary' applies anymore."
Rei's words were by no means an exaggeration.
The majority of adventurers peaked at Rank C or D, what was considered mid-tier and veteran level.
Those who could overcome the wall to B-Rank were, looking at adventurers as a whole, maybe thirty percent—and even at the most generous estimate, they wouldn't reach forty percent. There was even a possibility it was as low as twenty percent.
Among those, reaching even higher to A-Rank meant they likely didn't even amount to one percent of the total. And yet it was that fraction-of-a-percent of A-Rank Adventurers who were gathered in large numbers in the Frontier city of Gilm.
In any case, calling an A-Rank Adventurer—an existence that comprised less than one percent of all adventurers—ordinary was a stretch.
"If you're going to say that, then you, Rei—a B-Rank Adventurer who's already an Alias Holder, with an S-Rank-equivalent Gryphon as your Tamed Monster, and possessing a precious Magic Item like an Item Box—are far from ordinary no matter how you look at it. Rank Fraud doesn't even begin to cover it."
Given Rei's ability, which depending on the situation was enough to take on an entire nation, he couldn't exactly argue when called a Rank Fraud.