"Mm... mmm..."
Rei sat up with a groan as sunlight poured in from beyond the curtains.
He pushed himself into a sitting position on the bed and surveyed his surroundings.
Where am I right now?
He thought about it vaguely, but he couldn't even recall something as basic as where he was.
About ten minutes passed like that, and gradually his head cleared until he remembered where he currently was.
"Ah, right... I came back from the Forest of Magic."
Inside the Forest of Magic—no, even when he was anywhere outside of Gilm—he would normally be ready to act the moment he woke. But Rei probably understood instinctively that this place was safe.
Because of that, he had the luxury of staying groggy for a full ten minutes after waking up.
"The sunlight is already quite high."
Even through the curtains, he could gauge how high the sun had climbed.
He stayed at Marina's house fairly often, so he could tell the approximate time from the sun's position even from inside the room.
If he wanted to know the exact time, he could simply take his pocket watch out of his Misty Ring... but there was no need to go that far right now. Knowing the rough time was enough.
"Ten in the morning... no, maybe around eleven?"
The time that could be called morning had long since passed, but it was still too early to call it midday.
Judging it to be around that hour, he sat in a daze, still feeling the lingering remnants of sleep from having just woken up.
The stories about the Forest of Magic had been highly popular—not only with Vihera, who loved fighting strong enemies, but with everyone else too.
Even Byune, who rarely showed any change in expression, had seemed at least slightly intrigued. Thinking back on that, it was easy to see just how hooked everyone had been.
That was why Rei had ended up talking until quite late.
However, the most troublesome part for Rei had been explaining about the Zephyle Clan's hidden base and the barrier-covered space at the river's source.
It would have been one thing if only those who knew Rei's circumstances were present, but with people who didn't, he couldn't discuss those topics.
As a result, Rei had decided to deflect... and making the story consistent was the hardest part.
That said, Rei had enjoyed manga, novels, games, and various other forms of entertainment back in Japan.
With the knowledge from that time, he was able to bluff his way through to some extent.
And so, the conversation ended at dinner—or rather, at a time more appropriately called a late-night meal—and Rei went to sleep.
Considering it had been around the hour when the date was about to change, he must have slept for over ten hours.
Thanks to having slept so soundly, Rei's mind was clear, and his mental fatigue was now gone.
"Now then... the question is what to do from here."
Saying that, Rei stepped out of his room...
"Whoa!"
Upon entering the living room, he was startled to see a number of people who would normally not be at this house.
There were over ten people there.
Not that there was any hostility.
If there had been, they wouldn't have been able to enter the premises due to the Spirits.
"Ah, good morning, Lord Rei."
Ara, passing by Rei, greeted him with a bow.
Rei was about to say good morning to her as well... but before he could, Ara hurried away from the spot.
(What was that about?)
Rei felt puzzled as he watched her retreating back.
Still, having this many people gathered in the living room made it hard to relax.
In that case, should he head out to the courtyard?
Making that decision, Rei passed through the living room and headed for the courtyard.
Along the way, a few of the people in the living room seemed to notice Rei's presence, but before any of them could approach, he made it outside.
Several of those who had noticed him looked about to call out, but once he was out in the courtyard, they couldn't exactly chase after him.
They couldn't very well enter someone else's yard uninvited.
A child might get away with something like that... but unfortunately, everyone in the living room was a proper adult.
And so, leaving behind those who couldn't follow, Rei stepped out into the courtyard.
As he did, he caught a glimpse of Elena busy signing documents in the living room, but he judged it unrelated to himself for the time being.
(Still, why did she suddenly get this busy? Is it related to me coming back? Well, that's the only thing I can think of, so it's probably the reason... but for what purpose?)
Puzzling over this, Rei looked out over the courtyard.
Since it was already near midday, there was naturally no one there.
No—Set and Ielo were running around the courtyard playing, so it wasn't entirely deserted.
And on the table where he always ate, Marina had presumably left breakfast for him.
(Lucky it didn't get eaten by Set or Ielo.)
Thinking that, he promptly started eating his breakfast—though it was a bit late to call it that.
Being breakfast, it wasn't an especially lavish meal.
Bread, cheese, ham, salad, soup, fruit... a typical breakfast.
However, there was no doubt that each dish was perfectly delicious.
"Well, it was probably even better this morning."
The bread was tasty even cold, but it still couldn't compare to freshly baked.
The cheese, ham, and fruit were served as-is, so the taste was unchanged, but the salad had released moisture over time and become slightly watery.
The soup had gone cold too, and its flavor was inferior to when it was warm.
The fact that it was this delicious even cold made him wish he could have had it fresh.
Rei thought so, but given how exhausted he had been, this outcome was only natural.
Once he finished eating, Set came over as if he had been waiting.
Set likely understood what Rei was going to do next and acted accordingly.
(Yesterday, he was getting all sorts of food in front of the Guild.)
Many people had probably been worried since Set went to the Forest of Magic.
Or perhaps, like Yohanna, they were hardcore Set Enthusiasts who couldn't bear even a few days apart.
At any rate, yesterday was by no means a bad day for Set.
It was only natural for him to think he might receive food from lots of people today, just like yesterday.
Incidentally, the option of not going to the Guild didn't exist for Rei.
He had dropped off the Dark World Tree yesterday, but its dissection should be finished by now.
He didn't know what kind of skill could be learned from the Dark World Tree's magic stone, but he needed to deposit the Queen Bee's corpse—the next monster—as soon as possible.
(Or rather... what kind of skill would the Dark World Tree actually grant?)
Rei didn't have particularly fond impressions of the Dark World Tree.
After all, it had lured monsters in, planted seeds inside their bodies, and used severed heads as its own vines—an absurdly grotesque creature.
If Set used the Dark World Tree's magic stone and ended up learning a similar skill, what would happen?
Rei would prefer not to see such a sight, if possible.
(In that case, it might be better to feed it to Death Scythe instead of Set. ...Well, it might not be the vine-related aspect but the regeneration ability side of its characteristics that manifests.)
That said, a skill related to regeneration ability wasn't all that appealing to Rei.
Both Rei and Set originally followed a combat style of dodging rather than tanking enemy attacks. In terms of armor, Set's own fur and feathers were stronger than cheap equipment, and Rei had his Dragon Robe.
Even if he did take a hit, Rei's Misty Ring contained plenty of high-quality potions.
Just as he had used them during the battle with the Crystal Dragon in the Forest of Magic.
Considering that, Rei and Set rarely used recovery-type skills.
Moreover, since they were currently partied with Marina, who could use Recovery Magic, their need for such skills would decrease even further.
(In that case... let's see, even if not vines, maybe a skill that controls plants? That could have quite a lot of uses.)
As Rei was thinking along those lines, he spotted a figure who had suddenly come out to the courtyard.
Who? he wondered—but looking closer, it was Ara.
He had thought that a guest visiting Elena might have wanted to meet Rei, but if it was Ara, there shouldn't be any problem... in fact, she might be able to tell him why so many people had suddenly gathered, making it rather convenient.
"Good morning, Lord Rei."
"Ah, good morning. Still, I was startled when I came out of my room to find so many people there. ...Actually, is this sort of thing normal here?"
That would be unpleasant, he thought as he asked, but Ara of course shook her head.
"Those people came here... in a way, it does concern you, Lord Rei."
What Rei felt at Ara's words was not "Why?" but rather "As expected."
If something had happened the day after he returned, it was bound to be about him.
Given that this was Gilm, it wouldn't be surprising if things happened unrelated to Rei, and they surely were.
But even so, considering the current situation, it wasn't difficult to predict that this was about him.
"Is it about the festival?"
"Yes, there are many matters related to that as well."
Her saying "that as well" implied there were other matters besides.
"There's more?"
"You may not have much sense of it, Lord Rei, but this is Gilm, a frontier. And what even Gilm's adventurers cannot easily challenge is the Forest of Magic. Lord Rei spent two nights and three days in that Forest of Magic, and on top of that, defeated at least two A-Rank monsters. ...Well, you also defeated an S-Rank monster, an absolutely extraordinary opponent, but that matter is not yet known."
"I suppose."
Rei could accept that information about the Crystal Dragon hadn't spread.
If he considered the purpose of Daskar's festival, the fewer people who knew about the Crystal Dragon, the better.
"Or rather, it's fine that the Crystal Dragon matter isn't known, but how is it that the A-Rank monster matter is known? Those who know about the A-Rank monsters naturally know about the Crystal Dragon as well... thinking about it, that's a little puzzling."
Those who knew about the Crystal Dragon and the A-Rank monsters were precisely Worker, who saw them directly; the Guild Staff Members assigned to dissection; Daskar, whom Rei had explained things to; and the group he had talked with in this courtyard yesterday.
Among those he had spoken to, the ones most likely to leak information were the Guild Staff Members.
But those staff members had been dissecting the Dark World Tree since yesterday, and since they were people Worker had selected, Rei couldn't imagine them leaking information lightly.
That left Worker, Daskar, and the people who had been here yesterday.
He couldn't imagine any of them easily leaking information.
Ara solved Rei's puzzlement with ease.
"No one told them anything. It's their conjecture upon hearing that you returned, Lord Rei."
"Conjecture?"
"Yes. You returned from the Forest of Magic without so much as a scratch. If they had information showing that, it wouldn't be strange at all for them to conclude that you finished the promotion exam and came back successfully."
Put that way, Rei couldn't help but accept it, but he still had a question.
"Don't they think that maybe I didn't pass the promotion exam, but rather fled the Forest of Magic before getting injured... or something like that?"
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't be strange to think so.
Rei told her that, and Ara was caught off guard for a moment... then laughed as if unable to hold it in. Once the impulse subsided, she spoke.
"Lord Rei's strength is widely known. Especially the people visiting today are those entrusted with intelligence-gathering for Gilm. Considering that, none of them would even imagine that you fled from the Forest of Magic."
At Ara's words, Rei felt the weight of expectations, yet found himself oddly accepting that that was simply how it was.