Rei had been discussing the festival with Daskar, along with other topics concerning the Forest of Magic, but before he knew it, evening had already fallen.
Honestly, he couldn't say he hadn't thought something along the lines of "I can't believe we got so caught up in conversation until this hour..." — but even so, Rei didn't feel too bad about it.
That said, he couldn't keep talking with Daskar forever.
This time had been special in various ways, but Daskar currently had a considerable amount of work piled up.
Talking with Rei for this long was by no means a good thing for Daskar either.
Rei was walking through the streets with Set, but by now Daskar was probably rushing to finish the work he should have done today.
"Gururu?"
What is it? Set purred.
Rei shook his head at Set, indicating it was nothing, when...
"Rei!"
...a familiar voice suddenly reached his ears, and he turned his gaze toward it.
He didn't even need to look to know whose voice it was. And when he did, standing exactly where he expected was the person he had predicted.
"Vihera, are you done with work for today already?"
"Seriously, we haven't seen each other in a while and... that's the first thing you say?"
Looking exasperated — yet still pleased to see Rei — she offered a smile.
Bathed in the red light of the setting sun, the sight of Vihera clad in a thin, almost sheer garment like something a prostitute or dancer might wear, all tinged in crimson, had something fantastical about it.
That said, Rei had seen Vihera's beauty countless times already.
The fantastical sight of her captivated him for only a fleeting moment.
"Right. I should have started with this. ...I'm home."
"Welcome back."
As Vihera said that with a smile, Rei suddenly noticed something.
"Huh? Come to think of it, where's Byune?"
"Byune already went back to Marina's house ahead of me. I had some errands to run, so I was a little late heading back."
Errands? He wondered for a moment — but when he noticed the combative smile on Vihera's lips as she said that, he more or less understood the reason.
(Someone probably tried to start something with Vihera.)
Vihera, whose appearance truly deserved to be called a peerless beauty, was dressed like a dancer or prostitute.
She had Hand Gauntlets and Foot Guards equipped, but one could almost mistake her for a prostitute providing that kind of service.
Moreover, people came to Gilm every single day seeking work.
Among such people, it wouldn't be unusual for someone to try their luck with Vihera.
Anyone who had been in Gilm for any length of time would know that was suicidal.
But if the person in question didn't know that, and had just arrived in Gilm without any acquaintances familiar with the situation... and on top of that, there was no one around Vihera to stop such a person — then nothing but the worst outcome could be expected.
(Well, even so, it probably ended with nothing worse than some injuries.)
If the opponent were a strong fighter, that would be one thing, but if it was just some local strongman playing the big shot, it was unlikely to stimulate Vihera's desire for battle.
More likely, it ended with a single strike that knocked them unconscious, and that was that.
"Just to be sure, that errand didn't cause any problems, right?"
"Right. I think it's fine."
Rei felt a slight doubt as to how she could be so certain. But Vihera, while a battle maniac, was not entirely without common sense.
Originally a princess of the Bestia Empire, she had fled and lived as an adventurer.
Through that life, there was no doubt she had acquired at least a reasonable grasp of common sense, if not a perfect one.
Since Vihera said so, Rei decided to accept it for the time being.
It was also true that he figured if any problem arose, he'd deal with it then.
"Got it. Then let's head home. You don't have any other plans after this, do you, Vihera?"
"No. Still... thanks to that man earlier, I get to walk home with you like this, so in that sense, maybe I should be grateful to him."
With a smile, Vihera linked her arm with Rei's.
The sensation of soft, ample curves being pressed and flattened against his arm.
Despite having been active all day, there was no sweaty smell from Vihera.
Rei found that slightly odd, but then thought it was pointless to wonder about that now.
After all, Rei himself was the same — Vihera was no longer an ordinary human either.
Thinking of it that way, he found it rather natural.
"You're pressing against me."
Even while feeling the softness, Rei said as much as the surrounding stares began to concern him.
The looks directed at Rei now were less about his promotion exam and overwhelmingly more along the lines of how enviable it was to be walking arm-in-arm with a beauty like Vihera.
"I'm pressing against you. ...Or should I say, I'm crushing them?"
Vihera said so with a beaming smile.
Rei tried to say something to her, but... seeing Vihera's demeanor, he judged that saying anything here would be meaningless.
No, more than that — he could easily predict that if he did say something, it would only make things more troublesome.
And so, Rei walked down the street with Vihera and Set without voicing any complaints.
Naturally, those who saw Rei in that state sent endless jealous stares his way.
"Come to think of it, has anything unusual happened over the past few days?"
"Hmm, nothing in particular. Since you weren't here, the house felt a little lonely."
He hadn't been around, so it was lonely.
Hearing it put that way, Rei certainly didn't mind.
Though to be fair, the greater part of his attention was directed at the curves of Vihera's chest being pressed against his arm.
After all, he was walking with his arm linked with hers.
Naturally, with each step, the shape of those curves shifted, granting Rei that soft... blissful sensation — of course it did.
"What about the Treant Forest?"
"Right. Monsters are still appearing, same as always, but sometimes monsters that never showed up before turn up now."
"That can't be helped."
Originally, there had been no creatures — monsters, animals, birds — in the Treant Forest.
That was precisely why such creatures with nowhere else to go had been gathering one after another.
Because of that, none of the monsters had established proper territories yet, and depending on the situation, a monster that claimed a territory one day might be driven out — or killed — by another the next.
Given that, it was only natural that the variety of monsters would increase.
"But even if there's a lot of variety, there aren't any powerful monsters, are there?"
For Vihera, who loved to fight, it went without saying that she preferred fighting stronger monsters.
However, the monsters appearing in the Treant Forest were far from satisfactory opponents for her.
"What about your side? I won't ask about the promotion exam, but at least whether there were any powerful monsters in the Forest of Magic should be fine, right?"
Vihera turned to him with expectant eyes, and Rei figured it would be fine to tell her a little.
Fortunately, there was no one around them, and no one to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"They weren't exactly powerful, but there was an abnormally fast dragonfly monster."
"Dragonfly? Fast? Specifically?"
"Specifically... at first, even I couldn't attack it. Just barely managing to dodge its attacks was all I could do."
Rei murmured, recalling his first encounter with the dragonfly.
For Rei, it had been sudden, but even so, he hadn't been able to counterattack — all he could do was dodge.
If even Rei had struggled like that, an ordinary adventurer would undoubtedly have died without ever understanding what had happened.
That said, the dragonfly was a monster specialized in speed, and its defense was extremely weak.
If you swung your weapon around and it happened to hit the enemy... that alone could potentially kill it.
Of course, the chances of such a stroke of luck saving you were far lower than the chances of you dying from the dragonfly's attack first.
"Huh... that sounds interesting."
Even Rei had only barely managed to dodge.
Hearing that, it was only natural for Vihera to become interested in such a monster.
Vihera carried no weapon like a longsword — at most, she had Hand Gauntlets and Foot Guards, which doubled as both armor and weapons.
Confident in her attack speed as she was, it was only natural she'd want to fight that dragonfly.
(Could Vihera manage it? No, but that speed...)
Rei knew Vihera's attack speed well.
There was a saying that passion breeds skill, and Vihera was the very embodiment of it.
Rei had sparred with her countless times.
Knowing all that, he still thought it would be difficult.
That was just how fast the dragonfly was.
(Then again, if it's Vihera, I think she'd be able to adapt after seeing it a few times.)
Vihera had many strengths in combat.
For example, Magic Impact Palm, which ignored an opponent's defense and dealt direct impact to their insides.
Her high physical abilities, her sharp instincts. There were many others as well, but among them was her exceptional learning ability.
She wasn't at the point of never taking the same attack twice... but her ability to deal with it would clearly improve compared to before.
Because of that, the dragonfly's speed would surprise her at first, but after seeing it two or three times, it wouldn't be strange for her to adapt.
"For Vihera, it might be an interesting opponent."
Rei said that for the time being.
Those words were neither flattery nor anything of the sort — there was no doubt the dragonfly would be recognized as a fun opponent for Vihera.
(Next time I bring her to the Forest of Magic, maybe I'll let her fight it. The problem is, that dragonfly has a low encounter rate.)
Given that speed, one might think it wouldn't be hard to encounter one just by walking through the Forest of Magic — but based on Rei's actual experience, he couldn't imagine it was that easy to run into one.
It was entirely luck.
Or rather, there might be some way to lure it out, but unfortunately, Rei knew nothing about such methods.
"Oh, come to think of it... if we're talking about anything unusual, the Noble District patrols have calmed down quite a bit."
"The patrols? That was fast."
The incident that had occurred in the Noble District a short while ago — one that Rei had actually been involved in, though he showed no hint of it — he mentioned it casually.
For Rei, the reduced patrols in the Noble District didn't affect him much.
If Rei were some unknown adventurer that no one recognized, someone like that walking through the Noble District — especially in an area where a major incident had just occurred — would naturally be regarded with suspicion.
But in Rei's case, there was no one in Gilm who didn't know his face.
Well, among those who had come to Gilm while Rei was away, it wasn't impossible that some might know the alias Crimson without knowing Rei's face.
But adventurers working in the Noble District would not have that problem.
In other words, no matter how many guards the Noble District had, it was recognized that Rei was safe to have around, so it wasn't a problem for him.
And more people on patrol meant greater safety for the district, so Rei actually welcomed it.
...Naturally, hiring more adventurers than before for more patrols would also mean increased compensation costs.
That said, Rei and his companions lived in the Noble District.
Since it was a place where nobles sent from other territories gathered, a financial burden of that level was nothing significant.
No, if anything, being unable to handle even that level of financial burden would invite nothing but pitying stares from those around them.
Marina, for instance, lived in the Noble District and didn't hire guards or conduct patrols herself.
The fact that she wasn't looked down on for doing so was undoubtedly because Marina was a Former Guild Master and a highly skilled Spirit Mage.
Rei continued his conversation with Vihera, occasionally patting Set, as they made their way toward Marina's house.