I was back.
Looking at Marina's house, the same feeling I had when returning to Gilm... no, something even greater, something that could only be called nostalgia, stirred within me.
In reality, not much time had passed since I started staying at Marina's house.
Where I had spent more time was the Wheat Inn at Dusk, known as one of the high-end inns in Gilm.
Even now, I continued to rent a room at the Wheat Inn at Dusk, just in case something came up.
But considering I was actually living and sleeping at Marina's house, one could say I was wasting money.
However, I had enough money to live comfortably for several lifetimes even if I were reborn multiple times.
For someone like me, continuing to rent a room at a high-end inn like the Wheat Inn at Dusk was not such a difficult matter.
"Grrrrl."
Basking in nostalgia while looking at Marina's house, I snapped back to myself at Set's voice and entered the premises.
If someone other than me had entered—someone with ill intent toward the people in the house, including Marina—it would not have been strange for Marina's spirits to attack them or prevent them from entering altogether.
This house was warm in winter and cool in summer.
On top of that, the spirits handled cleaning and even security, making it an incredible house in many ways.
After entering the premises of such a house, I headed not for the building... but the courtyard.
The appetite-stimulating aroma drifting from the courtyard led me to judge that dinner was currently being served there.
I felt it was still a little early for dinner, but it was not particularly unusual.
And so, along with Vihera and Set, I headed toward the courtyard...
"Welcome back, Rei."
The moment I thought I had entered the courtyard, I was called out to as if the person had known I was entering the premises.
Well, the owner of that voice probably did know I had entered the premises.
Since her own spirits managed this mansion, sensing that much was not difficult.
Yes, the one who called out to me was Marina—the owner of this house, the Former Guild Master, and currently a member of my party.
"Yeah, I'm back. Sorry if I caused you any worry."
"Knowing you, I figured there was nothing to worry about. ...More importantly, look. Elena seems surprised too, so why don't you say something to her?"
At Marina's words, I turned my gaze toward Elena.
There, exhibiting Marina's mischievous streak—apparently having known nothing about my return—Elena stood with her eyes wide open in surprise.
Even in such a situation, Elena's beauty remained unchanged.
Though slightly different in direction from Vihera or Marina, she possessed a beauty worthy of being called peerless, frozen in surprise... and then, that frozen stillness crumbled.
"Rei!?"
Unlike Marina, who worked at the clinic, or Vihera and Byune, who moved around outside Gilm and through the city, Elena's work primarily involved meeting with people dispatched by the Noble's Faction who came to visit at Marina's house.
Even those meetings were not particularly numerous today.
The meetings had finished before I returned to Gilm, so she knew nothing about my situation.
Elena's attendant, Ara, also did not leave Elena's side because she was her attendant, and thus was not out gathering information around town.
Or perhaps Marina could have told Elena, but she apparently chose not to, seemingly intending to give Elena a little surprise.
"...Rei."
After calling my name once, Elena called my name again.
At Elena's side, Ara also wore a surprised expression, but Byune, who had been eating at the same table, merely let out her usual small "Nn" upon seeing me, then resumed eating her meal.
Seeing the three of them like that, I felt nostalgia once more and opened my mouth.
"Yeah. I'm back. I returned safely after finishing the Promotion Exam."
"I'm glad you're safe. ...Rei, will you tell me about it?"
Prompted by Elena, I nodded readily at her words and tried to take my seat... then shot Marina a slightly admonishing glance.
At my look, Marina offered a faint smile.
Seeing Marina completely unfazed, I sighed in exasperation.
Incidentally, in the corner of my vision, Set was already running around the courtyard playing with Ielo, whom he hadn't seen in a while.
"So, Rei. How was the Promotion Exam?"
The first to ask me that was Vihera.
Since she had come all the way here with me, she probably had a general idea, but she must have been curious nonetheless.
"I passed."
I hadn't mentioned in town whether I had passed the Promotion Exam or not, but I judged there was no problem talking about it here and told her so.
I had no intention of telling strangers whether I passed or failed.
But the people here were only those close to me.
Given that, I judged there was no problem talking about my success here.
"I see. As expected. Congratulations."
Vihera said it casually.
Now that I had become an A-Rank Adventurer, an extremely limited status, she could have celebrated much more grandly, but considering my strength, she must have thought it natural.
To begin with, my strength at B-Rank Adventurer was enough to be called Rank Fraud without it being strange.
The others felt the same, each offering words of congratulations but without any sense of jubilation.
Rather, they even had an attitude of it being only natural.
"But if I had known you were returning today, Rei, I would have prepared a more lavish meal to celebrate your success."
"Oh my... Elena. Are you saying my cooking isn't satisfying enough?"
Wearing a full smile... yet with eyes that were not smiling at all, Marina said that to Elena.
Among us, the only one who could cook properly was Marina.
Well, of course the others could cook to some extent, but the fact remained that Marina was the best cook.
Also, Marina used Spirit Magic when cooking, which made her considerably more efficient than someone cooking normally.
For those reasons, Marina was the one in charge of cooking in this house.
That said, Marina also worked at the clinic.
So on days like today when she finished early it was fine, but ordinarily it was not uncommon for her to buy food instead.
After cooking in the midst of such a lifestyle, being told something like this by Elena was certainly not amusing for Marina.
"N-no, that's not it. I'm not saying your cooking is bad or anything. Everything you make is delicious, Marina. Yes."
Judging from Marina's demeanor that it was dangerous, Elena said so to cover herself and brought the soup prepared on the table to her mouth.
In truth, the cooking was by no means bad... rather, anyone who ate it without knowing better would undoubtedly praise it as delicious.
Elena's expression showed as much.
Seeing Elena's reaction, Marina decided not to say anything more.
"So, what kind of monster did you defeat?"
"Let's see. I'd like you to keep this under wraps for now... I defeated a Dragon. An S-Rank Monster. A new species, at that. At least, the Guild said they had never seen one before."
"...I'm jealous..."
As expected, hearing that I defeated an S-Rank Monster was probably unexpected.
Even Elena and the others, who fully understood my strength, were surprised by those words.
Among them, the first to voice her feelings of envy, breaking everyone's silence, was naturally Vihera.
Though, that was only natural.
For Vihera, who loved combat... specifically combat against strong opponents, an S-Rank Monster was someone she absolutely wanted to fight.
I had fought many monsters up until now, but even I had only fought an S-Rank Monster once.
However, Vihera had been unconscious at the time due to the Unbris incident, and it was everyone other than Vihera who had fought the Silver Lion.
...In other words, Vihera, who desired battles against the strong more than anyone, had not been able to fight the Silver Lion, that S-Rank Monster.
This meant that she was deeply envious of Rei and the others who had fought the Silver Lion.
The reason Rei and the others had fought the Silver Lion was, in fact, to save Vihera, who had been unconscious from the Unbris incident.
Of course, Vihera was grateful for that as well.
Thanks to that, she had been able to absorb the Unbris that had tried to devour her, becoming something beyond human. Her lifespan had been extended, allowing her to stay with Rei longer than an ordinary human would.
But that was that.
As someone who loved fighting the strong, Vihera could not help but want to fight an S-Rank Monster.
Looking at me with a gaze of genuine envy, Vihera left me at a loss for words.
(Then again, even if she told me to fight the Crystal Dragon again... well, as far as materials go, it would definitely be worthwhile, and if possible I'd want another Magic Stone, but...)
The Crystal Dragon I had defeated was only one.
Even so, I had suffered fairly significant injuries.
If two Crystal Dragons had appeared, winning would probably have been impossible.
Though since I had Set, who could fly, I would not have died.
(No, the Crystal Dragon has wings too, so it should be able to fly. Depending on its flight speed, escaping might have been impossible?)
I thought that, but it was all over now.
For me, the bitter experiences from the battle with the Crystal Dragon stood out more strongly.
...Even so, for Vihera, it must have been something she desperately wanted to do.
For the time being, to lessen even slightly the physical pressure I felt from Vihera's gaze, I opened my mouth.
"Set remembers where the Forest of Magic is. Once the current commotion settles down, it might be nice for all of us to go to the Forest of Magic."
At my words, Vihera's expression changed to a full smile.
Normally, there were not many people who would be this overjoyed at the prospect of going to the Forest of Magic.
Depending on the person, some might even cause a scene, asking if I was trying to get them killed.
The Forest of Magic was that feared a place.
Having explored the Forest of Magic myself, I could honestly understand that sentiment.
It was home to many unknown monsters and housed numerous High-Rank Monsters—that was the Forest of Magic.
In terms of earning money, it was in a sense an easy place.
Precisely because it was such a place, there was no doubt that those with skill could make a fortune there.
The monsters of the Forest of Magic were aggressive, so fundamentally, once encountered, escaping would likely be impossible.
Wanting to go to the Forest of Magic not to earn money but purely out of a desire to fight strong opponents—only someone like Vihera, an eccentric, would think that way.
...Though in the sense of obtaining Magic Stones from unknown monsters, perhaps I was an eccentric too.
"Really?"
"Yeah. That said, Lord Daskar decided to take this opportunity to make the public début of the Crystal Dragon's corpse a large-scale festival. After that settles down... it'll probably take some time."
The fortunate thing was that the Expansion Construction could now be entrusted to others.
Even so, if something came up, we would be called to help immediately.
"A festival? ...Daskar certainly made a bold decision there."
Hearing my words, she must have grasped Daskar's intentions from that alone.
Marina said so with a hint of surprise.
At the same time, she looked at me with a slightly worried expression.
"Are you alright with that, Rei?"
"Yeah. Either way, my place is in Gilm. So that's not a problem. ...Besides, Lord Daskar wouldn't issue unreasonable orders or anything like that."
Daskar understood how to interact with me.
He would never do something like merely giving orders from above like a typical noble.
That was precisely why I trusted Daskar.
Thinking that, I continued talking about the Forest of Magic.