Even on the way to the Guild, Rei drew attention from quite a few people.
Normally, it was Set who drew the stares rather than Rei, but this time, Rei was the one attracting more attention.
It went without saying that the reason was the Promotion Exam.
It seemed far more people had participated in the bet than Rei had expected.
(When I joined the bet, I'm pretty sure they said something about not running it on such a large scale—that they couldn't, or wouldn't. So why am I being stared at by so many people?)
Rei pondered this, but since the Promotion Exam was already over, he decided not to let the stares bother him.
What was fortunate was that those people kept each other in check, so none of them actually tried calling out to him.
"Alright, Set. It might take a while today, so just wait here patiently."
"Gruu."
At Rei's words, Set purred in understanding.
Normally, the moment Rei disappeared, everyone would come to play with him.
Since he had returned to Gilm after several days away, Set probably wanted to play with other people too.
Besides playing, there were also perks like getting fed skewers, which Set always looked forward to.
Leaving Set in front of the Guild, Rei stepped inside.
As always, the Guild was packed with an unbelievable number of people for daytime.
In the attached cafeteria, a fair number of people were eating, and some were drinking alcohol, perhaps enjoying a day off.
Rei observed the scene as he entered, but... naturally, there were also many people inside the Guild who had participated in the bet, making him the center of attention.
"Hey, that's... Rei, right? No way, he doesn't have a scratch on him."
"Uninjured after going to the Forest of Magic? Normally that'd be impossible, but with Rei, it's terrifying how easily you can accept it."
In reality, he had sustained fairly significant injuries during the battle with the Crystal Dragon.
However, those wounds had already been healed with potions.
Normally, one would notice damaged equipment and conclude the person had taken a beating, but Rei wore the Dragon Robe, an extremely powerful Magic Item.
...One of the Dragon Robe's abilities was a concealment effect that prevented others from recognizing its true value.
Because of that, the Dragon Robe was perceived as an ordinary robe, and since this seemingly ordinary robe bore no noticeable damage, it appeared as though Rei had returned from the Forest of Magic completely unscathed.
Of course, among those who had lived in Gilm long enough to understand Rei's abnormality, there were some who suspected that the Dragon Robe—which at first glance looked like nothing more than a plain robe—was in fact a powerful Magic Item.
After all, Rei possessed powerful Magic Items like the Twilight Spear and Death Scythe.
Given that, it was inconceivable that his armor alone would be an ordinary robe.
"H-Hey. Who's that guy? He just looks like a kid to me. Why is someone that small getting so much attention?"
Just by being away from Gilm for a few days, there were now people among the recent arrivals who didn't know who Rei was.
If Set had been with him, they might have figured it out immediately, but unfortunately Set was currently sprawled out in front of the Guild and not inside.
For such people, it was only natural to be bewildered by not knowing Rei's identity and by the current state of the Guild.
"That's Rei. The one who holds the alias of Crimson. He went to a place called the Forest of Magic for his A-Rank Promotion Exam, and he's already back."
"Crimson, as in that Crimson!?"
Those who didn't know the situation were being filled in by people nearby—whether acquaintances, or simply the helpful type... or rather, the sort who just liked to share information.
Such exchanges naturally reached Rei's ears, but he tuned them out as he made his way to the counter.
At the counter, Lenora and Kenny were looking at Rei with tears in their eyes.
Normally, there was no leeway to stop working in the Guild at a time like this.
However, as the two receptionists who were close to Rei, they were simply overjoyed that he had returned safely from the Forest of Magic.
In fact, his return mattered more to them than whether he had passed or failed the Promotion Exam.
"Rei-san..."
"Rei-kun..."
Even after Rei reached the counter, Lenora and Kenny could only utter his name, unable to say anything more.
Rei smiled at the two of them and spoke up.
"In this kind of situation, 'I'm back'... is the right thing to say, right?"
"Hehe, that's right. I think that works."
"I'd like you to say 'I'm back' in a rather different sense, though."
Lenora and Kenny smiled happily at Rei, wiping the tears from the corners of their eyes as they said so.
"So, I'd like to see Worker for the time being."
"Wait just a moment. I'll contact him right aw—"
"There's no need for that."
Lenora was about to go call the Guild Master, Worker, but a voice cut her off.
Rei immediately knew whose voice it was, and one glance at the speaker confirmed it.
"Guild Master!?"
Lenora's surprised voice rang out across the room.
Yes, the one who had spoken to Lenora and the others was the Guild Master himself, Worker.
"Why are you here?"
"I received word that Rei had returned. It was arranged so that a communication would come through immediately. ...Now then, Rei. I apologize for asking right after you've returned, but could you tell me about what happened? Would that be acceptable?"
"I'd appreciate getting it over with quickly, too."
At Rei's words, Worker nodded without changing his expression and led Rei to the office on the second floor of the Guild.
"Please, sit. ...You're welcome to drink the tea over there."
"You even had tea prepared?"
Rei sat on the sofa, drank the tea as Worker recommended, and let out a surprised voice.
There hadn't been much time between when Rei entered the Guild and when Worker appeared.
Yet here was tea, already prepared, so it was only natural for Rei to be puzzled.
"Yes. A communication was set to come through the moment you entered Gilm."
"Ah... so that's how it was."
Understanding, Rei pulled the Magic Item he had borrowed from Worker before the Promotion Exam—which functioned like a GPS—from inside his robe and placed it on the table.
"I'll return this for now."
"Yes. ...Still, I must say I'm surprised. At first, I thought you would leave the Forest of Magic as soon as the third day began, but to think you were there until late on the third night."
Since one of the conditions of the Promotion Exam was to spend two nights and three days in the Forest of Magic, under the rules, the moment the third day began—taking it to the extreme, even if one exited the Forest of Magic the moment the date changed to the third day—there would be no problem.
Of course, doing so would mean traveling through the Forest of Magic in the middle of the night right after midnight, and depending on the circumstances, one might encounter powerful monsters. If one wanted to be even slightly safer, they would wait until morning before moving.
And yet, Rei had continued exploring the Forest of Magic even after the third day began, and as Worker said, it was only around the time the date changed that he finally made his exit.
Given his position as Guild Master, it was only natural for Worker to be curious about why Rei had done such a thing.
"It was a rare opportunity to be in the Forest of Magic, after all. Since I normally can't enter, I wanted to defeat as many unknown monsters as possible while I could. It also served to collect magic stones."
To conceal the matter of Beast Magic, Rei publicly claimed that collecting magic stones was his hobby.
It was a fairly unusual hobby, but it wasn't as though no one else shared a similar interest.
...If he were to encounter someone who genuinely had such a hobby, and it came down to showing them the magic stones stored in his Misty Ring, things would get quite troublesome.
At any rate, Worker seemed somewhat convinced by Rei's explanation and directed a look of exasperation at him.
"Collecting magic stones in the Forest of Magic... That's something no one but Rei could possibly accomplish."
"Is that so? I think there are quite a few people with enough ability to pull it off if they tried."
In reality, while there were many formidable monsters in the Forest of Magic, Rei's impression was that there were also plenty that weren't all that strong.
He felt that the adventurers in Gilm—not the ones who had come for the Expansion Construction, but those who had been active in Gilm before it—could defeat many of the monsters there.
Of course, A-Rank monsters appeared regularly in the Forest of Magic, and even in areas that weren't particularly deep, S-Rank monsters could show up.
In the sense that such high-rank monsters were simply present, it was certainly dangerous.
Also, A-Rank monsters like the Giant Wolf, being wolf-based, had a keen sense of smell.
If one were targeted by such a monster, instant death was a very real possibility.
"...Well, fine. I've known for some time that Rei's perception differs from everyone else's. So, rather than wasting time here, I'll ask directly. How did it go?"
"No problems. I definitely killed at least two A-Rank monsters. However, beyond those two, there are also some monster corpses where I can't tell whether they're B-Rank monsters or A-Rank monsters."
The A-Rank monsters he had defeated in the Forest of Magic were the Giant Wolf, the Queen Bee, the Dark World Tree, the Vampire, and the Chimera.
Among them, based on Rei's own senses, he didn't think the Queen Bee measured up to an A-Rank monster, and he also honestly felt the Chimera was borderline.
"I'll show you the corpses and magic stones later, so it would help if the Guild could verify them."
Rei recognized them as A-Rank monsters based on their strength, but that was solely his own perception.
Given that, if the Guild assessed them by criteria other than strength, it wouldn't be strange for them to also classify the Queen Bee or the Chimera as A-Rank monsters.
Moreover, in terms of sheer danger, the Queen Bee—which could produce vast numbers of offspring—was quite significant.
"Understood. Let's do that. If there are indeed multiple monsters that Rei recognizes as A-Rank, then passing the Promotion Exam is certain. Still... up to five..."
What appeared on Worker's face was an expression that could be read as either admiration or disbelief.
Worker, who was usually calm and composed—not to the same degree as Byune, but still someone who rarely changed his expression—was now visibly shifting his expression.
To have defeated that many A-Rank monsters solo—not as a party or anything of the sort, though he did have his Tamed Monster Set with him—was, by any normal reckoning, impossible.
Or perhaps, among A-Rank adventurers who were Alias Holders specializing in combat, it might have been possible.
But even so, from what Worker could see, Rei bore no noticeable damage.
Furthermore, he had heard reports that Set also showed no signs of having taken damage.
...More than the matter of reports, if Set had actually been injured, the many people in Gilm who doted on him would have been in an uproar.
Since no such thing had happened, it was certain that Set was also uninjured.
It was possible that both Rei and Set had been injured but recovered using potions.
As the Guild Master, Worker was knowledgeable about adventurers, and naturally, he also knew the incredible effects of potions.
He also knew that many high-rank adventurers... or adventurers with financial means, purchased expensive, highly effective potions.
Among those potions, there were even some potent enough that if an arm were severed, it could be reattached with a potion if applied immediately.
Naturally, such potions were extremely expensive.
"Still, two nights and three days in the Forest of Magic... Once again, it's truly remarkable that you accomplished such a thing."
"No, you're the one saying that?"
He wouldn't go so far as to say that the Guild Master Worker had come up with the entire content of the Promotion Exam, but it was certain that he had been involved in a significant portion of it.
If so, what was the person who had issued such an exam doing, saying something like that?
With that thought, Rei dropped his final bomb.
"Oh right, that was all the A-Rank monsters I defeated, but I also took down one S-Rank monster."
That, the ultimate bombshell.