"I-I'm so sorry!"
The man bowed deeply toward Rei.
The flush of intoxication, the excitement of the fight, the irritation toward the one who had picked a fight with him—none of it remained on his face. It was simply pale.
So pale, in fact, that someone who knew nothing of the situation might wonder if he were ill.
It was only natural.
As a C-Rank Adventurer, he had been fairly confident in his own abilities, but his opponent was a B-Rank Adventurer... no, if the rumors were true, it was Rei, who had just passed the A-Rank promotion exam.
Against an Alias Holder, let alone... there was no way he could win.
With that thought, he averted his gaze from Rei for just a moment and looked toward the man he had been fighting moments ago. There, the man had been slammed to the ground by a single strike of Set's front leg and pinned down, unable to move.
As Rei had requested, Set was pinning him to the ground but not applying enough force to cause serious injury—just enough to keep the man from moving.
...If anything, the reason the man felt so miserable was less from the pain of being pinned and more from the fact that he was being pressed down onto the soup and side dishes scattered across the ground.
From Rei's perspective, that much was simply the man's own fault.
"Now then, as for why you lot were brawling in a place like this... well, from what I overheard, I get the general idea."
It was already clear that the cause was something trivial like whether they had bumped into each other or not.
At Rei's words, the expressions of the bowing man and the others who appeared to be the companions of the two brawlers twisted in despair.
Looking over at them, Rei spoke.
"I don't particularly care if you want to get into fights. Adventurers tend to be a hot-blooded bunch to begin with."
Look who's talking.
For a moment, Rei felt as if someone had just said that to him, but he decided to let it slide.
Objectively speaking, it was well known that Rei himself was also a hot-blooded individual.
However, there was a difference between the men and Rei.
"So I'm not going to complain if you want to brawl, but dragging unrelated bystanders into it... and destroying a food stall, ruining the soup and everything it was selling—what's with that?"
That was the crucial difference between Rei and the men.
At those words, the brawling men and their companions wore expressions of sheer surprise.
They had expected to be reprimanded, but being called out for that particular reason was clearly unexpected.
"Anyway, since you broke and ruined things, you need to compensate for them. ...Right?"
When Rei pressed them like that, no matter what they truly felt, they could not possibly refuse.
Especially given that they were currently being subdued like this.
"Yes. I agree."
"Good. Then... that settles it."
At Rei's words, several Guards emerged from the crowd.
Their expressions were a mix of apologetic and frustrated—glad that Rei had resolved the disturbance before they arrived, but clearly bothered by the fact that they had been too slow as Guards.
"I see. We're glad you settled the uproar, but we would've preferred you subdued them a bit more quietly."
"Then you should have come sooner. There was plenty of time between when the fight started and when I stepped in, wasn't there?"
"...You're right. I'd do that if I could."
The Guard spoke with a tired expression.
In truth, tonight had far more disturbances than usual, and numerous Guards were running all over the city.
The reason was, without a doubt, the suddenly announced Festival.
Many people were excited by the impromptu Festival, which in turn sparked numerous disturbances.
In a way, it would not be wrong to call Rei the mastermind responsible for the current situation.
That said, Rei had no idea that was the reason things were so busy, and the Guard judged it better not to bother telling him.
"Anyway, we'll take it from here. You want to get home soon too, right, Rei?"
"Do I? Sorry about that, then. I'll leave them to you. ...Set."
"Gruu."
At Rei's words, Set lifted the leg that had been pinning the man down.
Now finally able to stand up, the man found his body covered in the soup and side dishes that had been scattered across the ground.
"Ugh..." Several of the onlookers murmured at the sight of him.
The man himself realized what kind of state he was in and wore a pathetic expression.
Rei and Set ignored his condition and walked away from the scene.
The men who had caused the brawl would have to compensate for the destroyed food stall, the soup scattered on the ground, the side dishes, and everything else.
They had acknowledged their obligation to do so at Rei's words, and the Guards had witnessed the exchange, so there was no escaping it.
...Moreover, given Set's involvement, if they tried to break a promise made in front of him, there was no telling what the Set Enthusiasts—Mirene, Yohanna, and the rest—might do to them.
Given that, there was no way they could go back on their word.
"Now then, as long as I don't get dragged into any more trouble, I just want to get back to Marina's house quickly."
"Grururu."
Beef, beef—beside Rei, Set purred happily.
For Set, it likely wanted to hurry back to Marina's house and eat the beef.
Even during the promotion exam, the dishes prepared with Rei's crude cooking skills had been delicious.
If so, there was no doubt that it would become even tastier once Marina, who was skilled at cooking, put her hands to it.
Rei agreed on that point, but at the same time, he also thought there might be no need to overcomplicate things.
Back in Japan, he had read in a cooking manga that for high-quality meat like Wagyu, simply seasoning it with salt and pepper and grilling it as a steak was better than doing anything elaborate to it.
Since Rei had never eaten such top-grade beef while in Japan, he had only thought of it as "I see, so that's how it is" at the time. But the meat of the bull he had defeated near the Forest of Magic was exactly like what that described.
...In reality, the beef Rei had obtained and the high-grade beef of Japan were similar in some ways but different in others.
Specifically, the bull meat Rei had defeated did not have that much fat.
In comparison, the high-grade beef Rei had seen back in Japan looked as though half or more of it might be fat.
That may not have actually been the case, but at least from what Rei had seen, that was the impression it gave.
Eating one's fill of such meat would almost certainly cause an upset stomach.
Compared to that, the beef Rei had defeated had a moderate amount of fat, but it was firmly meaty in character, with a reasonable level of marbling.
Even so, perhaps due to the influence of magic, that meat was extremely delicious.
Grr... While thinking about meat, and perhaps influenced by the appetizing aromas drifting from the surroundings, Rei's stomach suddenly made its presence known.
Telling his growling stomach—which was demanding to be fed—to be patient, Rei pressed on.
Since he was not strapped for cash, he could easily buy something at one of the stalls along the way and eat it if he wanted to.
But with Marina's cooking waiting for him, was it right to eat something here?
Rei thought about it... and Set, perhaps sensing something from Rei's demeanor, pulled at his Dragon Robe with his beak, as if to say "Let's go."
Pulled along by Set, Rei passed through an area where a stimulating aroma—something spicy, like mapo tofu—lingered in the air, and continued on his way.
As they neared the Noble District, the food stalls naturally thinned out.
(Then again, even in the Noble District... no, precisely because it's the Noble District, there are adventurers doing patrols at night, so if there were food stalls, they'd probably be appreciated.)
Rei couldn't help but think that if there were stalls in the Noble District, the adventurers on patrol, or maids and butlers who got a little hungry after dinner, or the servants doing menial work... and in some cases even nobles, might happily patronize them, making such stalls thrive.
But at the same time, there were those in the Noble District who clung to their privileged status as nobles, and to such people, having stalls—the sort of establishment commoners used—in their own living area would be intolerable.
Even so, the nobles dispatched to Gilm were not the type to unconditionally look down on others simply for being nobles... such people did exist, but even then, the truly severe cases were never numerous.
That was why Rei felt the matter would probably end with something like "even if there were stalls, it would ultimately be fine"—but given that the other party were nobles, there was no such thing as absolute certainty.
(Why don't I just set up a stall myself... someone even nobles couldn't complain about?)
The idea suddenly occurred to Rei, but he immediately dismissed it.
As an idea, he didn't think it was particularly bad, but Rei's cooking skills were by no means high.
Even for a stall, he lacked the skill to operate as a proper establishment.
At worst, Rei could serve as the owner and hire someone else to cook—that option wasn't off the table either.
Above all, Rei had far too many things he needed to do to have the leisure to run a food stall.
He had numerous tasks that were his responsibility.
The Expansion Construction, for instance, had reached the point where it could manage without Rei, so he was less busy than before—but that was only in comparison to how it had been.
Even outside the Expansion Construction, Rei naturally had many things he needed to do.
For example, checking on the lake that had teleported next to the Treant Forest.
In practice, that was something others could do as well, but the Lizardmen living near the lake—especially the leader figures like Gaga and Zozo—recognized Rei as a being above them.
...In truth, in Gaga's case, it was less "superior" and more "a wall to overcome."
Because of that, there were various differences between another adventurer going and Rei going.
Rei wasn't the only one—Vihera was also recognized as Gaga's rival, though.
"Ah, there it is."
While walking and thinking about stalls and work, Marina's house eventually came into view.
Entering the grounds as usual, he headed straight for the courtyard.
"Welcome back. You're a bit late. What happened?"
"I was negotiating various things at the Laurie Dissection Shop and lost track of time. Plus, there was a brawl on the way here, and I got involved."
"...That's unusual."
Marina, who had been preparing dinner, was surprised to hear that Rei had intervened in a brawl.
Brawls were not uncommon in Gilm, a place where hot-blooded adventurers gathered.
Furthermore, given the time of day, it was also when drunks tended to be out on the streets, making it even more likely.
That was why Rei intervening in such a fight was apparently surprising to Marina.
"Knowing you, Rei, you must have had a reason for stepping in."
Elena, who had also been preparing tableware, stated as much.
She was exactly right, so Rei did not argue back, and instead...
"More importantly, why are you preparing dinner at this hour? I know it's rich coming from me, arriving at this time, but isn't it quite late?"
...He changed the subject.
That said, it wasn't just to deflect the conversation; he genuinely felt puzzled.
The time was already past seven in the evening... no, approaching eight o'clock.
Normally, they would have already been eating dinner by now, or depending on the day, might even have finished.
Given that, it was only natural for Rei to wonder why Elena and the others were only now getting ready to eat.
"It's partly because I got back late. ...There were a lot of hot-blooded people out today, and that meant a lot of brawls too."
Hearing Marina say that, Rei concluded it was probably because of the Festival... and quietly averted his gaze.