"Welcome back. ...Hmm? What's wrong? You look tired."
Seeing Rei arrive in the courtyard, Marina called out to him with a puzzled look. But then she nodded, apparently understanding the reason on her own.
"I know you're not good with ceremonies and the like, but now that you're an A-Rank Adventurer, you'll have to attend those kinds of things. You should get used to it."
"Yeah... right. That's part of why I'm tired, but..."
In reality, between entering the Noble District and arriving at Marina's house, he had been stopped several times by patrol adventurers.
The fact that Seto wasn't with him and that he'd been wearing his Dragon Robe hood to hide his face played a part, but even so, he never expected to be called out to that many times. His own situation gave him quite a bit to think about.
Since it was a festival, there were more patrols than usual, which was probably why so many had pegged Rei as a suspicious person.
Among those on patrol, some were already acquaintances of his. If it had been one of them, they might have recognized him immediately. But since most had little to no contact with Rei, he would have had to go out of his way to remove his hood and show his face, or produce the Guild Card he'd received upon becoming an A-Rank Adventurer.
"Oh, so something else happened too? ...Well, whatever. Look, today is a celebration of your promotion, so I made the food more lavish than usual."
At that, Rei directed his gaze toward the table set up in the courtyard. Just as Marina said, the dishes on the table were clearly far more extravagant than usual.
"Whoa."
Rei let out a sound of surprise at the spread. What surprised him the most among them was the meat dish — grilled meat with an orange sauce drizzled over it. The real question was the meat itself.
What kind of meat it was... Rei knew as a matter of course.
"This is Gamelion meat, isn't it?"
Gamelion meat itself wasn't all that rare. Or rather, that was only the case for Rei, who had large quantities of Gamelion meat and un-dissected carcasses stored in his Misty Ring.
Gamelion was game hunted in autumn. And right now it was late summer — in other words, the most difficult time to obtain Gamelion meat.
Of course, if it had been preserved as salted meat or dried meat, last year's Gamelion would be perfectly edible. But the meat on the plate was clearly grilled from raw cuts.
"Yes. And it's not just ordinary Gamelion meat, either. I put a lot of special effort into it when storing it. In that sense, it's definitely tastier than the Gamelion meat sitting inside your Misty Ring."
"...Is that so? Still, the fact that last year's Gamelion meat is still around in raw form is surprising enough."
Rei said this, but while that might apply in Japan, in Elgin, Magic Items existed. In fact, his own Misty Ring was undeniably one such item.
Thinking along those lines, he was suddenly reminded of aged meat — meat managed at proper temperature and humidity, aged, then with the spoiled parts shaved off before eating. That was aged meat.
That said, what Rei knew about aged meat was limited to what he'd seen on TV and in cooking manga. Having grown up in the Tohoku countryside, there were naturally no restaurants serving such sophisticated fare — or perhaps "sophisticated" wasn't quite the right word, but either way, no such establishments existed where he'd lived.
No, that's not it. No matter how much you age meat, there's no way you could age it for nearly a year. ...Though with a Magic Item, maybe even that would be possible.
For the time being, he concluded that what lay before his eyes was not aged meat...
"Nn!"
Byune let out a sound toward Rei, as if telling him to hurry up and eat.
Rei didn't know it, but nearly thirty minutes had already passed since the food was prepared. It was only natural that Byune, who was particular about her food, would insist on eating even a little sooner.
Why the food prepared thirty minutes ago was still warm — even steaming — was thanks to Marina's Spirit Magic. Rei thought it was convenient, but having already grown accustomed to Marina's extraordinary Spirit Magic, he wasn't particularly surprised.
"Well then, now that the man of the hour is here, shall we start eating?"
At Elena's words, everyone took their seats. Seto, who had returned ahead of Rei, was waiting by the table alongside Ielo.
Marina immediately prepared cups. In consideration of Rei, who wasn't great with alcohol, what she provided was fruit water. Elena and the others, perhaps following Rei's lead, had also been given fruit water instead of alcohol.
As a matter of course, the fruit water was properly chilled by Marina's Spirit Magic, making it the perfect drink for a summer night. Rei, for his part, was wearing his Dragon Robe with its simplified air conditioner function — and besides, the grounds of this house were kept comfortable by Marina's Spirit Magic, cool in summer and warm in winter.
"Rei, please lead the toast."
"Me? ...Thanks to everyone's support, I was able to become an A-Rank Adventurer. Thank you. ...Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
As if matching Rei's words, everyone said cheers and downed the contents of their cups.
In this kind of situation, isn't someone other than me supposed to lead the toast?
Rei thought this, but given the circumstances, he had no particular complaints and kept it to himself.
"Still, that stage today was incredible. ...So that's the new species of Dragon you defeated..."
Vihera looked at Rei with envious eyes. For someone who sought battles against the strong, Rei — who had fought a new species of S-Rank Monster Dragon — must have been an object of intense envy.
The Crystal Dragon corpse, displayed so vividly on stage through Spirit Magic, had been more than enough to ignite Vihera's combat desire.
"I hear there are quite a few monsters like that in the Forest of Magic."
"...Oh."
Vihera flashed a combative smile. It was the kind of smile that, had Rei not said anything, wouldn't have been surprising if she'd bolted for the Forest of Magic right then and there.
"Vihera, just to be clear, going to the Forest of Magic is prohibited."
Elena said this as if to make absolutely sure. If she didn't, Rei felt the same way — it truly wouldn't be surprising if Vihera were swept away by her combat lust and headed there.
"I know that. ...It's not like I act without thinking, you know."
"If I could trust those words, Elena probably wouldn't have warned you, either."
Marina also understood Vihera's personality well enough. Because of that, Vihera showed a slightly displeased expression at being told, but then brought the Gamelion meat to her mouth — and the next moment, her face shifted from dissatisfaction to surprise, and then to joy. The meat was simply that delicious.
Seeing Vihera's reaction, Rei naturally grew interested in the Gamelion meat as well. He speared a piece with his fork and brought it to his mouth.
In that instant, he couldn't tell what exactly he was eating — whether this was really Gamelion meat at all. That was how delicious it was.
The flavor and texture of the meat itself weren't so different from the Gamelion he knew. However, it was as if the taste had been concentrated several times over — no, dozens of times.
"This is... delicious..."
Only that word came out. As expected of the time and effort invested, the meat possessed an overwhelming deliciousness.
The others naturally savored the meat as well, chewing slowly to appreciate its flavor. As for Byune, she had already eaten about half of her portion.
Once everyone had focused on the meat and reached a natural pause, Marina spoke up.
"Even though I prepared it myself, this is incredible meat."
"Yeah. Honestly, if I could eat this meat whenever I wanted, I'd pay whatever it took."
Coming from Rei — who already possessed enough money to live in leisure for a lifetime even if he were reborn several times over — that was no joke. In fact, what came from his mouth was not a joke at all. He was dead serious.
"Rei would actually do something like that, wouldn't he. That said, I think meat like this is best reserved for special occasions."
"Nn..."
Byune let out a displeased sound at Marina's assertion. For Byune, if she could eat such delicious meat whenever she wanted, it wouldn't be surprising if she thought that would be perfectly fine.
Seto and Ielo seemed to feel the same, each letting out cries as if to agree with Byune.
"This sauce is delicious too. With meat this flavorful, it wouldn't be strange for the sauce to be completely overpowered, and yet..."
At Ara's words, Rei and the others turned their attention to the sauce once more. Tasting it anew, they found themselves strongly agreeing with her assessment.
Marina, who had made the sauce, floated a proud smile. For her as well, this sauce was apparently a confident creation.
Then again, Marina was supposed to have been discussing various things with Worker, and yet she can make such an elaborate sauce... Well, it's not like she had to make the sauce today specifically. If it's just the sauce, she could have done it yesterday or whenever. Real consommé soup and the like supposedly requires a cook to stand by the pot for days without sleeping — or so I've read somewhere.
She probably hadn't gone to such extremes, but even so, for a sauce with this level of flavor, it wouldn't be surprising if it had taken a considerable amount of time.
"I used Spirit Magic in various ways. It was still quite a bit of work, but... it's a celebration of your promotion, so splurging once in a while is fine. Besides, for a sauce to pair with this meat, something ordinary simply wouldn't cut it."
Listening to Marina's words, they continued their meal. As a matter of course, the more lavish dishes weren't limited to the Gamelion meat. Everything from the other dishes and soup to the bread was several tiers above their usual fare.
The food they normally ate was by no means bad. If anything, it was the kind of quality that wouldn't be out of place at a restaurant. But the dishes presented today were clearly superior even to those. For Rei, who already ate delicious food on a daily basis, it was still a fact that today's meal was even more delicious than usual.
"Come to think of it, Rei. You're heading to Egginis starting tomorrow, right? But will you be okay in the morning?"
Vihera, who had been eating bread that was softer than usual, savoring the wheat flavor and butter sweetness, suddenly asked.
For Vihera, seeing the Crystal Dragon corpse had heightened her combat desire. While she regretted losing Rei — her best mock battle partner — she also accepted that it was unavoidable given the current situation.
"Will I be okay... you mean whether I can get outside safely?"
Rei understood what Vihera was getting at, which was precisely why he responded so directly.
His position today was dangerous in multiple ways. A grand ceremony had been held for him as Daskar's trusted aide. He had become an A-Rank Adventurer. He was a skilled alias holder who owned an Item Box. And he possessed the corpse of a new species of S-Rank Monster Dragon slain in the Forest of Magic. There were other factors as well, but any one of those alone would be enough for Rei to get swarmed.
Even if he left first thing in the morning, the Main Gate opened at six AM. Given that, while he wouldn't be mobbed to the same degree as during the day, he would still cross paths with plenty of adventurers and merchants.
The merchants in particular would see Rei — who possessed the Crystal Dragon corpse — as someone they absolutely needed to negotiate with. If talks succeeded and they could purchase the Crystal Dragon's materials, it would mean enormous profit.
If possible, he would have preferred to travel the way he had coming back from the Guild today — alone, with his Dragon Robe hood up to hide his face. But since he'd be leaving the city rather than moving within it, Seto, his tamed monster, needed to accompany him.
As he was puzzling over this...
"Oh, that's already taken care of. I got special permission from Daskar to fly directly from within the city. Apparently, for a short while until the uproar settles, you won't need to exit through the Main Gate. I'll hand you the paperwork later."
With that single remark from Marina, Rei's concern was effortlessly resolved.