"So, you're back."
Seeing Rei and Marina enter the courtyard, Elena murmured this. She showed no particular surprise at Rei returning alongside Marina, which meant she had likely expected as much.
Reading her demeanor, Rei thought as expected but didn't press the matter any further.
"So, how were the Crystal Dragon materials?"
"I recovered a fair amount. There's Crystal Dragon meat too, so let's have that for dinner today."
At Rei's words, Elena, Marina, and Ara each brightened with delight. And it wasn't just those three—Seto and Ielo, who had been playing in the courtyard, also showed visible excitement upon hearing him.
"...Is it really alright for Ielo to be happy about this?"
Seto aside, Ielo was a dragon known as a Black Dragon. Was it truly fine to feed Crystal Dragon meat to such a creature? It was only natural for Rei to wonder.
"Hm, that is... I wonder. But looking at him now, Ielo certainly seems pleased. Perhaps it isn't so strange when you think of it that way?"
"Ielo is still a child, so maybe he just doesn't fully understand the implications yet?" Marina suggested.
Elena pondered this. Given the situation, she likely agreed that feeding Ielo Crystal Dragon meat might be inadvisable.
That said, it would be rather pitiful for Ielo alone to have nothing to eat while everyone else enjoyed Crystal Dragon meat.
Thinking this over, Rei came up with an alternative: Gamelion meat.
Summer was nearing its end, which meant Gamelion season was just around the corner. Though how much Gamelion meat they'd actually be able to obtain this year remained uncertain.
With Gilm's residents busy with the Expansion Construction, participation in the Gamelion Hunt would inevitably be lower than in previous years. Rei, too, had the Crystal Dragon matter to deal with and preferred not to draw attention to himself. Given all of this, he predicted that turnout for this year's hunt would be slim.
"How about Gamelion meat? It's quite delicious in its own right. We could feed that to Ielo instead. If that doesn't work, we still have Silver Lion meat."
"Silver Lion meat... wouldn't it be better to feed him that from the start? We're eating S-Rank Crystal Dragon meat, so if Ielo can't have the same because they're both dragons, then at the very least we should give him meat from another S-Rank Monster."
Rei nodded. She had a point.
Both Gamelion and Silver Lion meat were unquestionably expensive and rare, but when it came to sheer rank, there was a significant gap between the two.
"Understood. If everyone's fine with that, let's go with it. ...Just keep in mind that even though they're both S-Rank Monster meat, they're entirely different types. They'll need to be prepared separately—and quite carefully at that."
Premium ingredients demanded the utmost care in preparation. That said, Marina, the best cook in the household, was by no means a professional chef. Her skills never exceeded the bounds of home cooking. Even so, what she made was more than delicious enough, and Rei had no complaints.
"Hmm, it's true that Crystal Dragon and Silver Lion share only their S-Rank status in common. But it would feel cruel to let Ielo settle for Gamelion while the rest of us feast. I'll do my best."
Under normal circumstances, no one would consider eating Gamelion meat a hardship. If anything, people would be envious that it was available fresh at this time of year rather than as dried or salted preserves. But with Silver Lion and Crystal Dragon meat on the table—both S-Rank Monster fare—the comparison was simply unavoidable. In any other year, the promise of fresh, unpreserved Gamelion meat at this season would have drawn any number of eager buyers.
"All right. If you say so, Marina, I'll leave it to you. ...So, when are Vihera and Byune coming back?"
Rei worried about the two absent members, but pinpointing exactly when they'd return was no simple matter. Even during his own time working in the Treant Forest, unforeseen circumstances had arisen often enough.
That said, Rei had Seto. Seto could fly from the Treant Forest to Gilm in a matter of minutes. The journey from the city gates through entry procedures and on to Marina's house in the Noble District took far longer than the flight itself. And thanks to Daskar's current arrangement allowing direct descent to Marina's house, he could travel from her doorstep to the Forest of Magic in mere minutes.
"Hmm, I wonder. If they knew you were back, they'd probably return as quickly as possible. But since they don't, they might end up staying at the Birth Tower tonight."
"Should I go fetch them?"
For Rei, reaching the Treant Forest on Seto would be quick. With his current permission to fly and land directly within the city, he could arrive at the forest in minutes if he wanted.
Marina knew this and was about to nod—then paused, a smile spreading across her face.
"It seems that won't be necessary."
Eh? For a moment, Rei didn't understand what she meant. But the meaning became clear immediately: Vihera and Byune had just appeared in the courtyard.
"Oh, Rei. You're back?"
Just like Elena and Marina, Vihera showed no surprise at seeing him. She did, however, smile warmly—it had been several days since they'd last met.
"Yeah, just got back today. Good timing, too. I wasn't sure when you'd return, so I was thinking about heading to the Treant Forest to pick you up."
"Hmm. In that case, maybe I should have stayed a little longer?"
As a girl in love, Vihera found the idea of Rei coming to fetch her rather appealing. But on reflection, she decided it was better to have returned promptly herself rather than make him go out of his way.
"In any case, tonight's dinner features some premium ingredients. Crystal Dragon meat, brought back from the Guild."
"Nn!"
The first to react was, predictably, Byune. For someone who loved eating as much as she did, those words were impossible to ignore.
"I'll start cooking soon, but... Marina, can I count on you for the main dishes? Until they're ready, I'll put out some other food."
The Crystal Dragon meat—and the Silver Lion meat for Ielo's portion—naturally demanded Marina's full focus. As for everything else, the dishes stored in Rei's Misty Ring would be more than sufficient.
"Fair enough. But with ingredients this good, it's better not to overcomplicate things. Fussing too much will only ruin the flavor of such top-quality ingredients."
"Well, here's what we're working with."
Saying so, Rei retrieved a block of Crystal Dragon meat from his Misty Ring. It had been dissected by the most skilled hands among the Guild Staff Members, and the cuts were clean and precise. An amateur—or even someone with modest confidence in their skills—couldn't have portioned the meat so neatly. Rei's own dissection abilities had improved considerably since first arriving in Elgin, but even he couldn't have managed something this refined. Cutting through bone with Death Scythe was about the best he could manage.
"Wow, so this is... incredible."
Even Marina, the oldest among those present, let out a murmur of admiration at the sight of the Crystal Dragon meat. Everyone else—save Rei, who had already seen it in the warehouse—found their eyes drawn to it as if mesmerized.
"And here's the Silver Lion meat."
Next, he produced the Silver Lion meat from his Misty Ring. Its quality rivalled that of the Crystal Dragon, and it captured the room's attention just as thoroughly.
While everyone's attention was fixed on the two types of meat, Rei clapped his hands lightly. The sharp sound echoed through the courtyard, and Elena and the others snapped out of their daze.
"Right then, Marina. It's all yours."
"Yes. First, I'll go prep the ingredients. Rei, set out the Magic Item oven. I want to sear the surface at high heat to lock in the juices, then cook it through slowly."
"Got it. Leave it to me."
Rei nodded and retrieved the oven, but a thought suddenly surfaced—a cooking manga he'd read back in Japan. According to it, the technique of searing a steak's surface to trap in the juices was already an outdated method. Of course, that was just something he'd read in a manga. Whether it held true in actual cooking, he had no idea. And since he didn't know the newer method either, following Marina's instructions was his only option.
"All right, I'm going to get ready. Give me a few minutes."
Smiling, Marina gathered the blocks of meat and carried them into the house. They were considerably heavy, but to her, that weight was evidently no obstacle—perhaps another benefit of Spirit Magic at work.
After seeing her off, Rei set about preparing the rest of the meal. He placed the Magic Item oven within easy reach, then began laying out dishes from his Misty Ring onto the table. Since everything had been stored the moment it was freshly made, some of these dishes were technically years old yet remained as hot and fresh as the day they were purchased—extraordinary by any measure.
That said, the group gathered here had been adventuring with Rei for a long time. Freshly made food emerging from the Misty Ring was something they'd experienced countless times. Besides, Rei was the only one who knew when each dish had originally been purchased, so no one thought twice about it. If he happened to mention that a particular dish had been made years ago, that might raise some eyebrows—but he had no intention of doing so. Some things were better left unknown.
"This is delicious," Vihera murmured in surprise after sampling one of the dishes from the table.
Everything stored in Rei's Misty Ring was food he'd found genuinely delicious. For Vihera, who was used to eating such fare, to still remark on how good it was served as proof of its quality.
That said, while meat dishes usually dominated the spread, today he'd opted for vegetable-based fare, starting with a salad. He also brought out seafood they'd caught during a previous private trip to the coast, grilling it on the Magic Item oven partly to keep an eye on how it was performing.
As for meat, with Crystal Dragon still to come, he deliberately held back on serving meat dishes now so everyone could enjoy the main event to the fullest. Wanting to save room for the best was only natural—and no one else at the table had any complaints about his selections.
...The sole exception was Byune, who loved eating above all else and wore a look of mild dissatisfaction.