After defeating the Orcs and storing their corpses in the Misty Ring, Rei decided to head straight back to the Fairy Dwelling.
He could have stuck around to search for other prey, but Bob had no desire to linger. He insisted on returning as quickly as possible to the Fairy Dwelling—or more precisely, to his campsite just outside it.
The air around them still reeked of Orc blood from the battle.
Given that, Bob had probably considered the possibility that animals and monsters in the Treant Forest might track the scent back to them.
From Rei's perspective, anything drawn by the smell simply meant more prey. But to Bob—skilled though he was, and ultimately just a hunter—facing that many enemies at once was something he wanted no part of.
"Phew."
Bob let out a sigh of relief as fog drifted in.
Normally, the sight of fog wouldn't bring anyone comfort, but to Bob right now, that fog represented safety.
In practice, monsters and animals seemed to regard the fog-shrouded area as dangerous; they rarely ventured inside.
There were, of course, some that confidently wandered in without a care.
Furthermore, the fog actually had the effect of severing—temporarily blocking—the connection between Bob and whoever was linked to his vision. So Bob wasn't wrong to feel relieved upon returning to the fog.
Not that he was aware of it himself.
Even so, perhaps he instinctively sensed that the fog made him safer, which was why he felt at ease whenever he entered it.
But there were others waiting for Bob within the fog as well.
"Ah, you're late. What were you doing all this time?"
"That's right. You said you were going to tell stories somewhere else today—oh, it's Nielson. What are you doing out here?"
"You're right. Rei and Seto are here too. Where exactly did you go with Bob?"
Several fairies had been waiting in the fog for Bob to appear.
They were likely the same fairies Bob had mentioned—the ones who had come to play with him the day before.
Judging by their complaints, Bob had apparently made some kind of promise, and they were indignant that he hadn't been there when they came to play.
That said, their anger seemed to vanish the moment they spotted Rei, Seto, and Nielson.
"Bob said he found some Orcs, so we went to exterminate them. Of course, I helped out too!"
Nielson boasted to her fellow fairies.
For her, having helped defeat the Orcs was apparently something worth bragging about.
What's more, the fairies had already listened to her talk at length yesterday about how she had gone to subjugate Smog Panthers.
With Nielson racking up yet another feat, most fairies would have been expected to react with surprise and admiration...
"Ehh, that's so unfair. I wanted to defeat some Orcs too!"
"Yeah, really! It's not fair that only Nielson got to go!"
Instead of being impressed, they envied the fact that Nielson alone had gotten to join the Orc hunt.
Bob was taken aback by their reaction.
(He probably imagined fairies differently from how they just responded. Well, it's not uncommon for preconceptions to be off the mark.)
For Rei, watching Nielson gave him a general idea of the typical fairy personality.
Of course, that was only a general assessment, and he couldn't completely rule out the possibility that Nielson alone was drastically different in character from the rest.
That said, from what Rei had seen of other fairies, that wasn't the case.
"If we'd gotten the Chief's permission, we could have brought you along."
"Ehh—"
At Rei's words, the fairies raised their voices in unison to protest.
Meanwhile, Nielson subtly averted her gaze.
Nielson had joined the Orc subjugation, but naturally, she hadn't obtained the Chief's permission.
When Bob told them about the Orcs and Rei announced he would go kill them, Nielson had been present and declared she was coming along.
Given that, if the Chief learned of this, there was no denying the possibility that Nielson would be scolded—or punished.
She had likely realized this only now, after the fact.
Naturally, Rei had also picked up on what Nielson was thinking from her reaction when he mentioned the Chief's permission.
Not that he intended to get too involved in the matter.
(Well, it's definitely true that Nielson's magic prevented the Orcs from escaping, so I suppose I could vouch for her a little. ...Though whether the Chief would actually listen to me is another matter entirely.)
With those thoughts in mind, Rei left Bob where he was and entered the Fairy Dwelling alongside Nielson.
"It's no good—the visual link has been cut again!"
"Again!? What in the world is going on!"
As the men traveled in their carriage, the one whose vision was linked to Bob spoke up, and a nearby companion who overheard shouted in frustration.
It was understandable. Just yesterday, the visual link with Bob had suddenly gone dead. Then, a little while ago, it reconnected—and just as they were breathing sighs of relief, it cut out again.
It seemed almost impossible, but they even started to wonder if Bob was fully aware of everything and deliberately toying with them.
"Is the vision really still connected? Couldn't some kind of Magic Item be fooling us? If that were the case, it would at least explain why the link keeps dropping so frequently."
"That's unlikely."
As the men in the carriage kicked up a fuss, it was the Leader who shut the idea down.
"The other side doesn't know we're visually linked with Bob. And if the connection keeps going in and out like this... it's probably not that any specific person is doing something. More likely, some situational factor is causing it."
"A situational factor...? Like what?"
"I can't say for certain. But we'll understand once we actually get to where Bob is. ...Though I do have a prediction."
A prediction? The eyes of everyone in the carriage locked onto the Leader.
Right now, they were completely in the dark.
And the unknown breeds fear.
To prevent that, it was better to have at least a working hypothesis about what was happening.
For the men, hearing the Leader's prediction was a way to rein in the fear of the unknown gnawing at them.
Meeting their expectant gazes, the Leader considered for a moment what he should do.
Voicing his prediction here wasn't difficult.
But even if he spoke up and the others temporarily accepted it with a nod... what would happen when they actually arrived at Bob's location and the prediction turned out to be completely wrong?
In that case, things would undoubtedly get messy.
It wouldn't be surprising if the subordinates who had heard it started doubting the Leader's judgment, or if they became terrified that they had gotten themselves entangled in something even the Leader couldn't comprehend.
(But considering the current situation, there's no doubt it's better to address this now.)
The Leader had hesitated over whether to speak, but in the end he opened his mouth to calm the others' agitation.
"There are several possibilities I can think of. But the one I consider most likely is the existence of fairies. The Fairy Dwelling is not a place that's found easily. If it were, it would be strange that more fairies hadn't been discovered by now."
Fairies—with their adorable appearance, their Fairy Magic that only they could wield, and their ability to craft Magic Items of exceptional quality despite the considerable time required—were an extremely useful race in that regard.
Yet stories of fairies being found were exceedingly rare.
So much so that it wasn't uncommon for people to believe fairies existed only in tales and were long extinct.
The chief reason fairies were so difficult to find was that the Fairy Dwelling where they lived was protected by a special power.
The Leader's prediction was that the visual link with Bob was being temporarily disrupted by that very power.
(Alternatively... it could be the influence of Rei's vast magical power, but...)
The Leader had been gathering information on Rei.
...Or rather, he didn't even need to go out of his way—rumors about Rei had spread far and wide on their own.
On top of that, it wasn't uncommon for bards to turn Rei's exploits into song.
After all, Rei's achievements were flashy in every sense of the word.
That alone drew crowds, and when set to music, many enjoyed hearing of his deeds. And when audiences enjoyed themselves, the tips and rewards the bards received rose accordingly.
In that sense, Rei was an incredibly welcome subject for bards.
That said, bards too earned their living through song.
If they sang the same material as every other bard, audiences would grow tired of them.
When that happened, bards would inject their own interpretations into Rei's actions, or even fabricate deeds entirely and pass them off as his.
As a result, Rei's exploits were sometimes vastly overestimated, and sometimes events he had nothing to do with were attributed to him entirely.
...For example, that Rei lived every day in a haze of debauchery with beautiful women, rented out entire brothels for days on end and ravished the prostitutes until none of them could move, or carried on torrid love affairs and spent steamy nights with noble daughters.
The sheer volume of rumors in that direction was likely due to the fact that he was accompanied by three women of legendary beauty—Elena, Marina, and Vihera—though he had no such intentions himself.
In any case, rumors about Rei came flooding in from everywhere without even trying.
Whether any of them were true was an entirely separate matter.
"So you're saying we'll understand all that once we reach the frontier?"
At those words from a companion, the Leader nodded.
"That's right. Ideally, the people already over there will have taken care of things before we arrive, but..."
"What are you talking about? Bob's case was assigned to us! That means we need to handle this ourselves!"
Even though the words came from the Leader, one of the men shouted, unable to accept them.
Of those riding in the carriage, nearly half seemed to agree with him.
...The other half agreed with the Leader.
The Leader could somewhat understand where the man was coming from.
It was a mission they had been directly assigned, so wanting to see it through themselves was only natural.
But to complete that mission—in other words, to kill Bob—they would first have to deal with Rei and Seto.
They were not opponents his group could handle by any stretch of the imagination.
Knowing that, the Leader had hoped that by the time they reached the frontier, Bob would already be dead and the Fairy's Heart secured.
That said, he fully understood that was an optimistic wish.
Their associates on the frontier were skilled, but they didn't possess overwhelming strength compared to the group the Leader commanded.
There were differences in individual abilities, but looking at overall capability, they were roughly equal—or perhaps his group was slightly stronger.
Given that, he couldn't imagine them managing to do anything about Rei and Seto.
Of course, if Bob wasn't always traveling with Rei and Seto, there was a possibility—however slight—that through some stroke of luck they might catch him alone and succeed in killing him.
But considering they'd been in a forest, he couldn't hold out much hope on that front.
"For now, the first thing we need to do is head to the frontier. No matter what we say here, it means nothing if we're not actually on-site to act."
Put that way, the others had no choice but to accept it.
In reality, Rei's group was somewhere in the frontier—though even that wasn't confirmed yet—and the men themselves were merely en route.
Since one of their number was linked to Bob's vision and could catch glimpses of Rei's group's situation, the trickle of half-hearted information was agonizing.
If they'd had no information at all, they could have at least steeled themselves with a clean break.
Instead, the men continued their journey, rocked by the carriage, a lingering cloud of unease hanging over them.