The conversation with Zakat was, for Rei, reasonably enjoyable.
Rei had never been particularly good at dealing with people.
Cases like Antelme's were entirely beside the point, but among adventurers, there were many who tried to assert dominance from the outset—whether to showcase their own strength or simply out of habit.
Naturally, Rei didn't engage seriously with such people. If they came at him that way, he responded in kind.
In that sense, Zakat was someone who interacted with Rei in a refreshingly normal way, possessing an easygoing affability.
Among adventurers of A-Rank and above, quite a few had sharp, eccentric personalities.
In that regard, Worker's decision to assign Zakat as Rei's guide hadn't been wrong at all.
"Oh, it seems you two were getting along quite well. Should I have come a bit later?"
Worker, entering the room, said this after observing Rei and Zakat enthusiastically discussing yaki udon.
Nearly thirty minutes had already passed since Rei first entered the room.
Worker had been summoned by Lenora, but for some reason, the documents he needed to process first had all descended on him in one batch today of all days. He'd finished handling them before hurrying over, and was relieved to find that neither Rei nor Zakat looked the least bit annoyed.
"Guild Master. Well, I'd heard all sorts of things about Rei, but talking to him in person, he's genuinely interesting. His knowledge of cooking in particular is remarkable. Honestly, when I heard Rei was the one who developed udon, I wanted to thank him."
Zakat, while not quite to Rei's extent, was the type who truly enjoyed a good meal.
And for someone like that, the most surprising thing in recent years had been udon—specifically, yaki udon.
To Zakat, yaki udon was a food he'd never so much as imagined existed.
That was why, upon learning that Rei had conceived of udon—or more precisely, had reproduced a dish he'd read about in a book as a child—Zakat had felt compelled to express his gratitude.
"I see. Now that you mention it, I recall something along those lines as well. At any rate, I was fairly confident things would be fine, but it's a relief to see you two get along so well. With this, there shouldn't be any particular issues during the trip to the Forest of Magic."
Worker had originally chosen Zakat precisely because he seemed like someone who would get along with Rei—or at the very least, wouldn't cause any friction. In that sense, his prediction had been dead on.
"Yeah. If Zakat's the one guiding me, I don't see any problems either. I'm not sure how long it'll take to reach the Forest of Magic, but we'll be traveling together for a fair amount of time."
Worker nodded at Rei's words.
Zakat was an immensely dependable adventurer for Worker as well—not only in terms of raw ability, but more importantly, because he consistently exercised sound judgment.
"Then, with your compatibility confirmed, let's get right to the matter at hand."
Worker wanted to wrap up Rei's business as quickly as possible and return to his own work. He'd already handled the urgent documents, but even while standing here talking, the paperwork continued piling up.
"First, regarding the Promotion Exam: Rei, you are to spend two nights and three days in the Forest of Magic and slay at least two A-Rank Monsters. As proof, we'll need to inspect the monsters you defeat, so please bring back the corpses as intact as possible."
This was likely a condition that could only be set because Rei possessed a Misty Ring. Without one, they would almost certainly have required Subjugation Proof Parts instead.
Granted, these were A-Rank Monsters in the Forest of Magic, where entry was strictly prohibited. It wouldn't be unusual for any number of A-Rank Monsters to exist whose very presence was unknown, and with such creatures, determining which body part served as the Subjugation Proof Part would be difficult to begin with.
"Understood. By the way, the ownership of those A-Rank Monster corpses belongs to me, correct?"
Magic Stones, materials, and above all, meat. When it came to A-Rank Monsters, all of these were extremely valuable to Rei. If they tried to tell him the corpses belonged to the Guild simply because they were slain during a Promotion Exam, there was no way he would have stood for it.
But Worker nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Of course. Once the Guild has examined them, we plan to return them. Everyone is swamped at the moment, but when it comes to A-Rank Monsters, they'll be more than happy to inspect them."
Worker's words were the plain truth, no exaggeration. For the Guild, detailed information on unknown monsters—or even known ones—at the A-Rank level was something they desperately wanted.
This was especially true given that Gilm was a city in the Frontier, and Frontier monsters were known for being extraordinarily rare. Information on A-Rank Monsters obtained here in Gilm would spread throughout the entire Adventurer's Guild network, and that knowledge could save the life of an adventurer somewhere who might otherwise have died.
In that sense, the corpse of an A-Rank Monster—a High-Rank Monster that was rarely obtained—was invaluable.
"As long as I retain ownership of the corpses, I don't mind the Guild examining them. So, what about that Magic Item?"
"This. Please don't lose it."
At Rei's words, Worker produced a small gemstone from his breast pocket. It was no ordinary gemstone—it functioned as a transmitter of sorts, with a GPS-like capability that revealed the owner's location.
Placing the gemstone into a small pouch, Worker held it out to Rei.
"Please keep this gemstone on your person at all times, Rei. This Magic Item allows us to know where you are. If you leave the Forest of Magic before two nights and three days have passed since your arrival, the Promotion Exam will be disqualified—so please be careful."
"Understood. And just out of curiosity—purely curiosity—if I were to get killed by a monster in the Forest of Magic, what happens to this Magic Item? It's quite a valuable one, isn't it?"
"Indeed it is. In that case, we would dispatch a High-Rank Adventurer. Someone like Zakat."
"Me?! Look, let me make this perfectly clear—there is absolutely no way I'm setting foot in the Forest of Magic. You hear me? Given that, you need Rei to pass this Promotion Exam. Got it? Absolutely?"
Whether from the very bottom of his heart or not, Zakat's dread at the prospect of entering the Forest of Magic was unmistakable as he pressed the point home with Rei.
With how much he clearly loathes the idea, and given that he knows where the Forest of Magic is... has he been inside before? And had a terrible experience?
Rei suspected as much, but from what he could observe, there was no way to be certain. Either way, he figured it was best not to pry.
"Got it. I fully intend to pass this Promotion Exam, and I certainly don't plan on dying in the Forest of Magic. If anything, I'll slay three, four, even five A-Rank Monsters while I'm in there."
Rei's voice carried an unmistakable confidence—the certainty that he would absolutely survive.
Anyone could say such things. But with Rei, even those words carried a powerful, almost tangible weight of conviction.
Sure enough, Zakat found himself feeling reassured by them—and caught himself doing so. This was a man who knew firsthand the terror of the Forest of Magic.
As Guild Master, Worker knew Rei's capabilities even better than Zakat did. And so, if Rei said it, he could believe it.
"Then it seems we needn't worry about the Magic Item being lost in the Forest of Magic."
"Yeah. I was the one who asked, but it looks like I made you worry over nothing. At any rate, I'll keep this gemstone on me at all times. Though... again, just out of curiosity—would it be a problem to store it inside the Misty Ring?"
He asked because even with the gemstone in its pouch, there was always a chance he might drop it during the violent movements of combat. If it was as important as Worker claimed, storing it in the Misty Ring would be the safest way to ensure it was never lost.
That was the reasoning behind his question, but Worker's expression turned somewhat troubled.
"I suspect it won't work, but... let's test it. Please store it in the Misty Ring."
At Worker's instruction, Rei stored the pouch into the Misty Ring.
Once he confirmed this, Worker closed his eyes.
What's he doing? Rei wondered—but given how the conversation had gone, it wasn't hard to figure out. He was almost certainly checking on the Magic Item Rei had just stored. Where Worker kept the paired Magic Item, Rei didn't know, but the man clearly held the counterpart to the gemstone now sitting inside the Misty Ring.
After about ten seconds, Worker opened his eyes and shook his head.
"Unfortunately, when it's stored in the Misty Ring, we can't detect any response. Please keep the gemstone on your person—inside your robe, or somewhere similarly secure."
"I see."
It was disappointing, but Rei didn't look particularly bothered. After all, time essentially stopped for anything stored in the Misty Ring. If that was the case, it was only natural that the gemstone's signal wouldn't reach Worker.
The pocket watch doesn't tick while it's inside the Misty Ring either. In that sense, it stands to reason the gemstone wouldn't function either.
Rei's pocket watch automatically adjusted its time whenever he took it out of the Misty Ring to use it. By that same logic, it wouldn't be strange for the gemstone to resume functioning only after being removed from the Misty Ring.
"In that case, the gemstone situation is settled? I need to get back to work soon, so may I leave the rest to Zakat?"
"Yeah, that's fine. Still, you've got it rough."
Zakat regarded Worker with genuine concern.
For an A-Rank Adventurer, Zakat had a remarkably levelheaded disposition. Given that, he could fully appreciate just how overwhelmed Worker was with work, and had offered his words of concern accordingly.
Naturally, offering sympathetic words was the extent of it—he had no intention of doing anything beyond that.
"Indeed. But this busyness should settle down once more time passes."
In this case, "once more time passes" didn't mean a matter of days. It meant when the season turned to autumn.
When autumn arrived, the workload would unquestionably ease. Before winter set in, most people would get their projects to a manageable state, and once they'd done that, many would head back to their hometowns before the snow fell.
That said, once late autumn rolled into winter, there'd be Gamelion hunts—or more accurately, hunting parties—and the Gigant Turtle dissection, among a host of other tasks that would pile up and keep everyone busy all over again. Even so, it would certainly be less hectic than the current situation.
"Then leave Rei to me."
Worker nodded at Zakat's words, then turned his gaze to Rei one last time.
"I wish you success in your Promotion Exam to A-Rank."
With those final words, Worker departed the room.
Rei and Zakat watched him go, then turned their attention to the business at hand.
Not that there was much to discuss. What they needed to do had been decided from the start.
They simply had to head to the Forest of Magic.
"How are you planning to travel, Zakat? I'm sure you already know, but I'll be riding Set. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't mind having you ride along too, but given how things are now, that's not really an option."
"Right. It'd be one thing on the way to the Forest of Magic, but the trip back would be a problem."
Since Set would be entering the Forest of Magic alongside Rei, Zakat would naturally have to make the return trip to Gilm on his own. If he'd ridden Set there, he'd be walking all the way back.
For Zakat, trekking on foot from the Forest of Magic to Gilm wasn't especially daunting, but it wasn't something he wanted to do willingly either.
And so, Zakat explained that he'd had the Guild prepare a horse—one that was accustomed to Set's presence and could travel alongside the gryphon without any issues.