Several nobles had already gathered in front of Marina's house.
Having heard from their hired adventurers that Seto had descended upon Marina's house, they had rushed to make contact with Rei... but naturally, others had the same idea.
As a result, several nobles encountered one another in front of Marina's house, each wondering what to do next.
Even among allies of the same faction, Crystal Dragon materials were not something anyone would readily yield.
Much less when it came to members of a different faction—it was only natural for them to feel that way even more strongly.
And so, as they exchanged pleasantries on the surface, behind the scenes they were making demands and negotiations to secure the materials for themselves, with some even issuing borderline threats... when suddenly, a carriage emerged from Marina's house.
Oh no.
Those who saw it all shared the same thought.
The carriage bore the crest of Duke Kerebel's House, which meant the one riding inside was Elena.
And in all likelihood, Rei was inside the carriage as well.
But... even knowing that, there was no way they could halt a carriage bearing the crest of Duke Kerebel's House.
The nobles dispatched to mansions in Gilm's Noble District were nobles, yes, but not individuals of a rank like the next lord. They were perhaps siblings of the current lord, or younger brothers or relatives of the next lord.
For individuals of such standing to obstruct the passage of a carriage belonging to one of the few dukes in the Kingdom of Mireana—and a duke whose house held particular power even among ducal houses—was nothing short of suicide.
There were some nobles who could not even comprehend such power dynamics, believing that as long as they were nobles, others should obey their commands. Naturally, such individuals would only cause problems with those around them, and so they would never be dispatched to a place like Gilm.
At the very least, the nobles here understood that much perfectly well.
Which was why, with Elena's carriage having emerged, they could not do anything about it and had no choice but to silently see it off.
Once the carriage was out of sight, they judged that contacting Rei could wait and returned to their respective mansions.
The fact that no one approached Marina's house was likely because, with Elena's carriage having departed, they concluded no one remained inside.
There was a possibility that the carriage was a decoy and Rei was still inside the house... but with Elena having left, even if they called out, they doubted anyone would come to the door.
Much less, if they tried to force their way onto the premises under such circumstances, there was no telling what kind of damage they might suffer from Spirit Magic.
In the end, the nobles left a few subordinates and hired adventurers behind and returned to their mansions.
"As always, this carriage is remarkably comfortable."
Rei relaxed inside Elena's carriage.
A Magic Tent also possessed a space far larger than its exterior suggested, and this carriage, much like a Magic Tent... no, being a Magic Item that Duke Kerebel had spared no expense to create for his daughter, provided an even more comfortable space.
(Traveling in a carriage like this offers a different kind of comfort from riding on Seto.)
There were several advantages to traveling on Seto. For instance, the speed of travel when Seto flew through the sky was incomparable to traveling on the ground; one could enjoy the scenery visible from above; and few opponents would dare to assault a High-Rank Monster like Seto.
By comparison, travel in this Magic Item carriage was vastly inferior to Seto in terms of speed. Granted, the horse pulling this carriage was specially trained and far faster than any ordinary horse... but comparing it to Seto, who flew through the sky, was a mistake in the first place.
At any rate, the travel speed was slow, but one could wait comfortably inside a room rather than in a cramped carriage. In its own way, it was a sufficient means of transportation for an elegant journey.
"Rei, we're about to leave the Noble District. Shouldn't you prepare to disembark?"
Rei nodded at Elena's words.
In the Noble District, Rei traveling alone would stand out, but in the city streets, Elena's carriage moving about would draw just as much attention. The horse alone possessed enough presence to easily trample any ordinary monster, not to mention the carriage bore the crest of Duke Kerebel's House.
If such a carriage traveled through the city and Rei stepped out in front of the Guild, drawing attention was a certainty.
That was why, once they left the most conspicuous Noble District, Rei was to disembark.
"Understood. Sorry about this. What will you do from here, Elena?"
"It is rare for me to step out in the open like this. I shall look around town a bit before heading home."
After exchanging those brief words, Rei got off the carriage shortly after they left the Noble District. And rather than having the carriage stop, he disembarked while it was still moving, even though it had slowed down somewhat.
If a carriage bearing the crest of Duke Kerebel's House came to a halt, it would not be strange for someone to take interest and wonder what had happened. And if someone grew curious and Rei emerged from it... it would without a doubt cause a commotion.
To avoid that, Rei quickly slipped out of the moving carriage.
He landed cleanly, killing his momentum, and began walking with a nonchalant expression... but naturally, it was not as though no one saw him get off.
In the first place, Gilm was currently packed with massive crowds due to the Expansion Construction—a number of people that seemed to exceed the city's very capacity. Because of that, there were naturally several people on the road, and some happened to see Rei jump out of the carriage.
Even so, it was a stroke of fortune within misfortune that he had pulled on his Dragon Robe hood before making the jump. Thanks to that, while people were startled by someone leaping out of a moving carriage—one bearing the crest of Duke Kerebel's House, no less—no one was able to identify that person as Rei.
Additionally, the fact that the carriage showed no sign of stopping even after Rei jumped out was likely another reason those who saw him did not raise a fuss. They probably concluded it had been intentional from the start.
Rei himself showed no signs of distress after leaping from the carriage and began walking down the road as if this were perfectly ordinary.
In the end, those who saw Rei jump from the carriage either dismissed it as a trick of the eyes or, even if they did not think it was a misperception, judged that it was better not to get involved. They moved away from Rei without saying a word.
(Well, it seems there were no problems. ...Then I should get going too.)
With his hood up, he went unrecognized by anyone as Rei and made his way down the road.
Upon reaching the main street, he naturally spotted several familiar faces. The most common were, as expected, the stall owners whom Rei frequented.
Appetizing aromas drifted from those stalls.
He was tempted to buy something from one of them, but doing so would mean coming face to face with a stall owner, and even without Seto at his side and with his hood up, there was a high probability they would recognize him as Rei.
Naturally, that meant he also could not stop by a dining hall to grab a meal.
Regretting this, Rei proceeded along the main street and eventually arrived at the Guild.
As expected, once he reached the front of the Guild, adventurers who could tell from his bearing alone that he was no ordinary person directed their gazes at him. But Gilm had no shortage of skilled adventurers. Before he could get caught up in any strange trouble, Rei stepped not into the Guild building... but onto the path leading to the warehouse.
That in itself was nothing unusual, so without drawing much attention, Rei walked down the path. Granted, a few sharp-eyed individuals fixed their gazes on his back.
Ignoring those stares, he continued walking... and arrived at his destination.
The largest warehouse owned by the Guild.
In front of the warehouse stood several adventurers.
Naturally, they had noticed a hooded figure concealing their face approaching, and each stood ready to draw their weapons at a moment's notice.
"Halt. Who are you? What business do you have here?"
Those words were laced with intense vigilance. If Rei made any suspicious move, they seemed prepared to attack without hesitation.
...In truth, inside this warehouse lay the corpse of the Crystal Dragon, an S-Rank Monster that had inhabited the Forest of Magic and a new species of Dragon. Considering that many people were desperate to obtain even a sliver of its materials or information, this vigilance was by no means excessive.
(Probably a fair amount of commotion happened while I was gone. ...I should have asked Elena or Ara about that.)
Thinking about it logically, attacking a place guarded by adventurers trusted by the Guild and of sound character—right next to the Guild, no less—was nothing short of suicide. Even so, what lay inside the warehouse was an existence that someone would commit such suicide to obtain.
Facing the adventurers who harbored fierce vigilance and watched Rei's every move so as not to miss anything, Rei raised his hand... and in that instant, the adventurers shifted their stances to attack at any moment. But ignoring them, he pulled off his hood.
"Ah..."
One of the adventurers let out a voice mixing surprise and relief upon seeing the face that appeared.
Naturally, the adventurers entrusted with guarding this warehouse were ones who had been active in Gilm for some time. As such, many of them knew Rei's face.
"Rei...?"
"Yeah. Here's my Guild Card, just in case."
Saying that, he handed the Guild Card he had retrieved from his Misty Ring to the adventurer. Granted, the fact that he possessed a Misty Ring was already enough to confirm that the person before them was Rei.
Even so, the adventurer accepted the Guild Card just to be sure. And upon checking it, what was displayed there was unmistakably Rei's name and the designation of A-Rank.
A B-Rank or lower Guild Card and an A-Rank or higher Guild Card were, naturally, vastly different. Given that, it was more than sufficient to recognize that the person before them was Rei.
...Or perhaps, if someone had disguised themselves as Rei, stolen his Misty Ring and made it usable for themselves, and also stolen his Guild Card... then that would be a different story. But going that far was overthinking by any measure.
Anyone who knew Rei understood that he would not lose so easily.
(Well, the fact that Seto isn't here is a little questionable, though.)
The adventurer felt a slight doubt about that, but come to think of it, Seto was always in front of the Guild. That he would not come all the way to where this warehouse was located was perfectly understandable.
"So, it's fine if I go through?"
"Yeah, no problem. However, I need to notify the Guild that you've arrived. Is that alright?"
"I'll leave that to you."
The Guild needed to keep a firm grasp on whether or not Rei had arrived. Rei understood that as well, so he replied without any particular concern.
After exchanging a few more words with the adventurer, Rei entered the warehouse.
"Who's there!"
As soon as he stepped inside, a shout echoed through the space. That said, Rei recognized the shouting voice, so without any particular alarm, he spoke.
"Foreman, it's me."
The one who had shouted—the Foreman—showed what seemed like a hint of relief at that voice. From the Foreman's perspective, someone had entered the warehouse at an abrupt time, not even a scheduled delivery of food or the like, so he had likely been on guard.
"Rei! Glad you came!"
The Foreman, who usually spoke in a calm manner, was clearly excited as he spoke with Rei now. As for why he was so excited, it was obvious without even thinking about it.
They were in the middle of dissecting the Crystal Dragon, an unknown monster.
"I figured you'd have accumulated a fair amount of materials by now. So... looking at it like this, I'd say about twenty percent?"
The twenty percent referred to the progress of the Crystal Dragon's dissection. Considering the number of days since the dissection had begun, Rei could not tell whether this was fast, slow, or standard progress... but even so, it was without a doubt a situation he was fully satisfied with.