"Mm... mmm...?"
The sudden rush of awareness told Rei he had fallen asleep without realizing it.
But that was as far as his mind got. Still groggy, he figured he would sleep a little longer and Marina would eventually come wake him. He tried to drift off again... but with half—no, seventy percent—of his mind still asleep, a question surfaced.
The feel of the bedding and pillow was different from what he was used to.
Had it been anything else, he probably wouldn't have noticed the discrepancy.
But lying in bed like this, the difference in what his skin was touching was enough to catch his attention.
Once that thirty percent of his awake self registered it, the sleeping parts of his mind rapidly caught up... and before long, he opened his eyes wide to confirm where he was.
"Ah, right. I came to the hideout in the Forest of Magic. I fell asleep, huh."
He pulled a pocket watch from his Misty Ring to check the time. Fortunately, it was right around noon—maybe just before.
He hadn't checked exactly what time it was when the Black Snake had carried them here, but judging by how he felt now, he'd been asleep for about an hour.
"Well, that's only if it isn't noon the next day or something."
Even as he muttered that, Rei judged it highly unlikely.
If he had slept that soundly for that long, Set would have come looking for him with an empty stomach—or so he figured.
Since that hadn't happened, today had to be the first day.
If it were already the second day, Rei would have been drowning in regret.
"Sitting here won't accomplish anything. I should go see Set..."
The words were barely formed when his gaze caught on a painting hanging on the wall.
It depicted the twelve members of the Zephyle Clan.
When he had reincarnated into this world—or rather, when his consciousness had been placed in this body—he'd had only rough knowledge to go on.
He'd seen this painting back then and confirmed the Zephyle Clan's appearances for himself. But it had been several years since he'd left the Forest of Magic.
In that time, he'd seen a fair amount of this world called Elgin and learned its common sense.
Though, admittedly, still not enough—there were things he did that others called beyond common sense.
Even so, he had seen, heard, and learned a great deal about this world.
Among that information was a good deal about the Zephyle Clan.
It might have been a slight exaggeration, but the Zephyle Clan had unquestionably left no small mark on this world of Elgin.
With that in mind, seeing the painting of the clan members anew gave Rei something to ponder.
Should I just take this painting with me? It would undoubtedly be treated as a first-class document—or historical record.
He didn't dismiss the idea entirely, but this painting was one of the legacies the Zephyle Clan had left behind.
And there were multiple such legacies.
Rei's Misty Ring, Dragon Robe, Sleipnir boots... aside from those, the Bracelet of Herculean Strength that Set wore could also be called a legacy.
That was why he thought it might be best to leave this painting displayed in the bedroom where it was.
Or, if the painting itself were some kind of Magic Item with special effects, he might have considered taking it more seriously.
But given the current situation, there was no need for that.
It was a legacy of the Zephyle Clan, but he decided it could rest quietly in this hideout.
"Well then, I'll be counting on this place for two nights and three days starting today."
Calling out to the painting on the wall, Rei finally left the bedroom.
He made his way down the corridor and arrived at the room where he had created Set using Beast Magic.
Set's presence... is inside. What was he doing for about an hour?
Posing that question to himself, Rei looked into the room and...
"Ah... yeah. Master and servant doing the exact same thing, huh."
At the end of Rei's gaze, Set was curled up on the floor, fast asleep.
As far as he could tell, there was nothing suspicious going on—no trap or anything of the sort. Set just seemed to be sleeping normally because he was sleepy.
In other words, for the exact same reason Rei had been sleeping in the bedroom.
"...Guru?"
Whether Set heard Rei's voice or simply sensed his presence, the gryphon lifted his head from his curled-up position. Upon seeing Rei, he purred happily.
"It's a bit rich coming from me when I was asleep too, but it looks like you were sleeping pretty happily as well, Set."
"Guru!"
Set stood up with a purr, padded over to Rei's side, and happily rubbed his face against him.
Rei stroked the affectionate Set and spoke.
"I was asleep, and you were asleep. The fact that neither of us had any trouble doing so means the barrier covering this hideout is still active. As a base, you can't do better than this."
"Gururururu!"
Set let out a happy cry at Rei's words. He probably agreed with using his birthplace as a base.
Rei understood how Set felt, and as he petted the contented gryphon, he remembered he was hungry.
Recalling that it had been nearly noon when he'd checked the pocket watch...
"To commemorate arriving at this hideout, why don't we use that bull meat for a slightly fancy lunch?"
"Gurururu!"
Perhaps remembering the taste of the meat they'd eaten yesterday, Set purred happily at Rei's suggestion.
"Then where should we cook... the courtyard, or rather, outside. With the barrier up, we won't be found by monsters or anything for the time being."
If he were truly prioritizing safety, cooking inside would be the natural choice.
But this building was the Zephyle Clan's hideout.
Considering he might need to use it again someday, he'd prefer not to dirty the interior if he could help it.
Though, knowing this building, it might just clean up after itself even if I did make a mess. ...No, even so, better not to risk it. There could be unforeseen consequences.
Doing something careless here and damaging the building—causing it to lose its automatic cleaning function or any other effects—would be irreparable.
Especially the latter. He didn't know whether the building had functions beyond cleaning, but given that this was the Zephyle Clan's hideout, the place where Rei's body had been kept, and where a magic circle for using Beast Magic existed, it wouldn't be strange for there to be all sorts of mechanisms in case of emergencies.
It was entirely possible that this building itself functioned as a single Magic Item.
Thinking about it that way, it would be incredibly convenient if I could take this hideout with me. No need to bother with cleaning, either. ...But not knowing how the barrier would react to other people is a real problem.
For instance, what if the barrier was the kind that let no one through except Rei and Set?
In terms of security, it would be unbeatable... but then he wouldn't be able to invite Elena and the others inside.
Beyond that, a home where people with business couldn't enter would have a pretty significant flaw as a home.
Most importantly, if something happened to Rei in Gilm—if for some reason he had to flee—the hideout in the Forest of Magic would be the perfect fallback base.
Being in the Forest of Magic, ordinary people wouldn't be able to just wander in.
After all, it teemed with high-rank monsters, including beings like that Black Snake.
A low-rank adventurer who recklessly entered would simply become monster food.
"Gurururu?"
Set purred at the lost-in-thought Rei, as if asking, "What's wrong? What about lunch?"
For Set's part, being able to eat that bull monster's meat—beef—was something to look forward to.
Rei had found that beef delicious too, so he understood Set's anticipation more than well enough.
"Right, let's get lunch going. I'm hungry too."
The beef they'd obtained was so delicious that, rather than messing with it, simply seasoning it with salt and pepper and grilling it was the best way to eat it.
Well, naturally, someone with genuine culinary skill could take the time and effort to prepare it in various ways and make it even tastier. But for someone like Rei, who could cook but only at a modest level of skill, preparing it simply was unquestionably the best way to enjoy the meat.
Premium wagyu like A5-grade beef is best eaten with just salt and pepper... that's definitely something I saw in a cooking manga.
He'd seen that in a cooking manga back when he was in Japan.
Though the topic at the time had been about fatty cuts like ribeye.
Ribeye—supposedly derived from the word "roast"—was, as that etymology suggested, best eaten simply as a steak rather than being needlessly fussed over. At least, that was what the story had claimed.
In contrast, the beef Rei was about to eat was thigh meat—a cut normally used in stews and the like.
But perhaps because it was monster meat, it was extremely delicious even simply grilled.
When Rei was in Japan, there had been a locally consumed brand of beef, and he'd eaten the sirloin cut before. The bull monster's thigh meat was flavorful enough to rival it.
Logically speaking, that should have been impossible. But in Elgin, where magic existed, and when it came to monster meat, it wouldn't be strange for such common sense not to apply.
"So, how should we eat it? Skewers after all? Or use it as an ingredient in soup?"
Rei mentioned using it in soup, but in this case, he wasn't making soup from scratch.
Inside his Misty Ring were stored a wide variety of soups.
He meant adding beef as an ingredient to one of those.
Of course, Rei could make a simple soup himself if needed.
But if there was soup made by a real cook, it was only natural to prefer that.
What Rei took out of his Misty Ring was a vegetable-rich soup.
Since the thigh meat had a rich flavor, he didn't want to add more of the same to an already meat-based soup.
With that in mind, Rei stepped outside the hideout with Set and took out the vegetable soup.
In terms of fully drawing out the sweetness and texture of the vegetables, the soup was excellent.
But for Rei and Set, it went without saying that having meat in it would make it far more satisfying.
"Gurururu"
At the aroma of soup drifting around them, Set purred happily.
He'd been sleeping in the magic circle room until moments ago, but he must have been hungry.
Though, while Set did feel hungry, his body normally had no issue going without food every day.
"Should I grill this meat before adding it, or put it in raw and let it simmer in the soup... which do you think?"
"Guru?"
Set tilted his head at Rei's question.
For Set, it probably didn't matter either way.
In reality, grilling versus boiling would produce different textures and different amounts of meat flavor seeping into the soup.
Seeing Set's tilted head, Rei decided to grill the meat first before adding it.
If he wanted to save effort, he could just drop it in raw.
But this was premium meat.
If a little extra effort made it taste better, skipping that step wasn't an option for Rei.
If this were ordinary meat from a butcher shop, he wouldn't have bothered going to such lengths.
Though when I say extra effort, it's really just grilling it.
After getting a campfire going, he skewered the meat and planted the opposite ends of the skewers in the ground.
What mattered here was the distance from the flames.
Too close, and the surface would burn and char; too far, and it would cook too slowly, wasting the meat juices as they leaked out.
Given those considerations, he needed to position the meat at just the right spot.
"This should do."
Rei set the meat at the ideal position and waited for it to cook.
The seasoning was nothing more than a light sprinkle of salt as a base, but even so, as the meat sizzled, an appetite-stimulating aroma drifted through the air.