The house the village chief had prepared was nicer than the others, but only slightly. In any proper town, there would be no shortage of homes grander than the village chief's.
Given the modest size of the house, there was naturally no stable for Seto.
"I'm terribly sorry, but would it be acceptable for your monster to stay outside? Would that be a problem?"
The village chief, Niret, looked at Seto and spoke apologetically. Rei shook his head—no problem at all.
"When the two-headed boars show themselves, we'll need to move immediately. From that perspective, having him ready to go at a moment's notice isn't a bad arrangement. Just make sure you provide food for him. Seto won't be able to fight seriously on an empty stomach."
"Grrruu."
Seto purred in agreement with Rei's words. Seeing this, the village chief nodded readily.
"Understood. Though I should warn you, it won't be anything like what you and your party are accustomed to eating as an A-Rank Adventurer. It will be quite coarse fare..."
"I won't be that demanding. My own cooking included."
Thud.
Just as Rei finished speaking, Nielson, hidden inside the Dragon Robe, punched his body. The village chief didn't seem to notice her action, but Rei opened his mouth as if prompted by her urging.
"Come to think of it, does this village have any unique ingredients or dishes you can't find anywhere else?"
"...Hm? No, I don't believe we have anything of the sort."
For a brief moment, the village chief looked puzzled as to why he would ask such a thing, but he answered quickly enough.
Nielson, still inside the Dragon Robe, must have overheard. She struck Rei's body again, her disappointment unmistakable.
She had probably expected as much, but she had still held out hope.
"I see. Don't worry about it. Trying all kinds of unusual dishes—well, delicious food is a hobby of mine. I just thought it would be nice if this village had something worth tasting."
"I see. It's a shame, but we don't have anything like that. Now then, please come inside. I'll have a room prepared for you right away. It won't be particularly fancy, I'm afraid."
Rei nodded and told Seto to suppress his presence as much as possible before entering the house.
Exactly how strong the two-headed boars were as monsters, Rei unfortunately had no way of knowing. Even so, he doubted they were on par with Seto. That was precisely why, depending on the circumstances, the boars might sense Seto's presence and avoid approaching the village altogether.
If the village's safety was his only concern, the simplest solution would be to let Seto's presence serve as a visible deterrent. But doing so would mean he could never defeat the two-headed boars in the first place. If Seto were going to stay in this village indefinitely, that might have been acceptable. But since that wasn't the case, he needed to find and defeat them properly.
Beyond that, there was also the simple fact that trekking through the forest to hunt them down would be a hassle.
After giving Seto his instructions, Rei followed the village chief inside.
The only person in the house was the village chief's wife. No one else was in sight.
No children, huh? Well, considering the chief's age, they might have already grown up and left the village.
Rei wondered who would succeed the village chief in that case, but it wasn't as if he was planning to relocate here or stay for any length of time. He had only stopped by on a whim because of the Smog Panther situation—or perhaps more accurately, because of Nielson's forceful insistence. Given that, there was no reason whatsoever to concern himself with the village chief's succession.
"Right this way, please."
Guided by the village chief's wife, Rei was shown to the guest room. As befitted a guest room, it was reasonably presentable—within the context of being a room in the village chief's house, that is.
The moment Rei entered, the village chief's wife slipped out, leaving him alone.
Once he was certain she had moved far enough away, Rei called out to Nielson inside the Dragon Robe.
"You can come out now."
"Really? Phew... It's actually cooler inside the Dragon Robe, but being able to fly freely like this is definitely better."
Nielson emerged from the Dragon Robe and fluttered around the room, clearly relishing the freedom. For a fairy like her, even if the Dragon Robe was cool, being cooped up inside it meant she couldn't move freely—which must have been stifling. Still, since the robe's simplified air conditioner kept things comfortable, she apparently found it quite convenient when it was time to sleep.
"You're a fairy. We can't have you getting discovered, so it can't be helped. More importantly, did you know anything about the two-headed boars?"
"How could I possibly know? From what I heard, it sounds like they were driven out of their territory by the Smog Panther."
"Likely. I thought the same. I need to take them out beforehand so they don't interfere when I fight the Smog Panther. Having them crash the battle wouldn't be any fun."
"...You look surprisingly happy about this."
Nielson said it with an exasperated expression, but since Rei was genuinely pleased about the two-headed boar situation, she couldn't exactly argue. He had been wondering whether he could obtain the magic stone of the Smog Panther—an unknown monster—and now another unknown monster had appeared on top of that. Expecting him not to rejoice would have been unreasonable.
What's more, according to what Rei had heard from the village chief, numerous monsters besides the Smog Panther inhabited the depths of the forest. Since those monsters had likely drifted in from the frontier, that was yet another reason for Rei to be delighted.
"Yeah. If you're asking whether I'm happy or not, I'm definitely happy. Plus, since they're boars, delicious meat is guaranteed. They're supposed to be about Seto's size, so the dissection will be a lot of work, though."
If it were just one two-headed boar, dissecting it wouldn't be that arduous. But five—at least five—and the possibility of even more couldn't be ruled out. That meant all the more effort would go into processing them.
Normally I'd ask the Guild, but right now that's a bit...
The Guild in Gilm was already swamped with the expansion construction. On top of that, they had selected their most skilled dissection staff to work on the Crystal Dragon. Hauling a large batch of two-headed boars to a place like that would be more than they could handle.
In that case, maybe a dissection shop... or perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to go to a different village or town and have the work done there.
Gilm was busy precisely because it was Gilm. Going to a Guild in a different location instead seemed like a perfectly reasonable alternative to Rei.
"You're making a suspicious face. You're not plotting something, are you?"
"Come on, I'm not thinking anything like that. What I was thinking about was—oh, hide."
Sensing someone approaching the room, Rei spoke, and Nielson darted not into the Dragon Robe but to a corner of the room. If she were an ordinary human, that wouldn't have counted as hiding at all. But Nielson was a fairy, incomparably smaller than a human. With her tucked behind or atop furniture, or pressed into the corner where ceiling met wall, expecting an ordinary person to spot her would have been unreasonable.
"Excuse me, Rei-san. Dinner is ready. Would you like to eat here in your room?"
The village chief's wife called from the other side of the door. She had asked whether he wanted to eat here because she wasn't certain a high-rank adventurer would care to dine together with common folk like themselves.
Rei hesitated over how to respond. If he ate here, Nielson would be able to eat alongside him. Though, according to what he had heard earlier, the food in this village wasn't particularly special, so it was somewhat different from the kind of cooking Nielson would be eager to try.
"I'll eat together with you. There are some things I'd like to ask about the forest, too."
"Hey—"
Hearing Rei's words, Nielson started to protest, as if to say that was unacceptable. But she was apparently aware that making a sound under these circumstances would be unwise, and she managed to clamp a hand over her mouth, stifling herself.
Fortunately, the village chief's wife outside the door either didn't hear Nielson's small voice or didn't find it suspicious, because she spoke without any hint of suspicion.
"Understood. Please come to the living room in a little while."
With that, she departed from the door.
Once the village chief's wife was sufficiently far away, Nielson launched a flying kick from near the ceiling. It was a kick only possible for a fairy who could fly—but that didn't mean Rei needed to let it connect. He dodged effortlessly with a slight tilt of his head and snatched Nielson's body out of the air with a quick hand.
"Hey—what are you doing?! Just let me go already!"
He released his grip on Nielson, who was thrashing about in his hand. It wasn't as if Rei had any serious intention of capturing her and doing something with her.
"The village chief just said it himself. This village doesn't have any special dishes or ingredients. If that's the case, there probably isn't any food here that would interest you, Nielson."
"That's... maybe true. But if that means I don't get to eat anything, I'll just be hungry."
"I'll bring something out for you, so just eat that."
At times like this, the variety of dishes stored in the Misty Ring was incredibly convenient. Though, if he had the choice, Rei wouldn't have minded eating that kind of food himself.
"Huh? Your cooking? What is it? What kind?"
At Rei's proposal, Nielson's earlier dissatisfaction vanished in an instant. Seeing her reaction, Rei considered saying something but ultimately decided against it. If he said anything here and ended up in an argument with Nielson, he'd end up wasting time for no good reason. Better to just set out an appropriate dish and let her be satisfied.
"Meat or fish—which do you want?"
"Hmm. I get chances to eat meat fairly often, so fish."
"Got it. Then eat this."
What Rei pulled from the Misty Ring was a sandwich—shredded grilled river fish seasoned with sour fruit and salt, layered with fresh vegetables between slices of bread. What made it distinctive was that the bread itself had been toasted, making it closer to a hot sandwich.
"Oh... looks delicious."
The sandwich was sized for an ordinary human. Which meant it was clearly oversized for Nielson—but Rei knew her appetite, and he judged she could polish off this much without any trouble.
"Alright, I'm heading out. Don't go wandering outside carelessly, Nielson."
Leaving those words behind, Rei exited the room and made his way to the living room.
There, the meal was already laid out, and the village chief and his wife were waiting for Rei's arrival.
"Sorry, did I keep you waiting?"
"Not at all. Not much time has passed since the food was ready, so it's no trouble whatsoever."
Urged by the village chief, Rei took a seat in the empty chair. The fare was simple—white bread, vegetable soup, sautéed meat and vegetables, and cheese—but even so, Rei could tell they were doing their utmost to be hospitable.
"It's a humble meal, but please enjoy."
At the village chief's encouragement, Rei first brought the vegetable soup to his lips.
"Yeah, it's delicious."
A visible look of relief washed over the village chief's wife. She had no doubt heard from her husband that Rei was the adventurer they had hired to defeat the two-headed boars. That was precisely why she had poured her best effort into this hospitality.
Eating his way through the meal, Rei lost no time in putting a question to the village chief.
"About the two-headed boars. The fact that they've come near the village—does that mean they're searching for food or something?"
"Hard to say. They haven't actually entered the village yet, and there have been no reports of anyone being attacked. Mind you, that's largely because whenever the two-headed boars appear, we make sure no one sets foot outside."
Exchanging these words over the meal, Rei steadily gathered what information he could.