"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo!"
"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
The men targeting Bob were traveling toward the frontier by carriage when, without warning, a scream tore from the throat of one of their number—the man whose vision was linked with Bob's.
This was no cry of mild surprise. It was a scream that seemed to well up from the very depths of terror itself. And the man did not merely scream—tears of blood began streaming from his eyes.
"My eyes... my eyes aaaaaaaagh!"
Just how much pain he was in was anyone's guess, but the man clutched at his blood-weeping eyes and thrashed about wildly on the carriage floor.
The interior of the carriage was not particularly spacious. In truth, it had a decent amount of room, but with so many men packed inside, it inevitably felt cramped. Having one of their number suddenly start rolling around while clutching his eyes under such conditions was more than the others could bear.
"Hold him down! Don't let him thrash! Someone get potions!"
Following the Leader's orders, several men pinned the man rolling across the floor. A few others dug into their belongings and produced potions.
"Pin him down so he can't move! I'm applying the potion!"
Following the potion-bearer's instructions, the blood-weeping man's body was firmly secured. Once that was confirmed, the man poured the potion over his eyes, but...
"It's... not working?"
Despite the application, there was no sign of recovery at all. The man's voice carried sheer disbelief.
The tears of blood flowing from the man's eyes would not stop.
Could the potion be a fake? The thought crossed his mind for a moment, but he immediately dismissed it. These potions had been purchased from a trusted source. Given that, the odds of them being counterfeit were next to none.
"Leader, the potions aren't working!"
"What? ...Try a different one!"
The Leader had naturally wondered the same thing—whether the potion might have been a fake. He issued the order without hesitation, but...
"No good! None of the potions have any effect!"
Every potion they tried yielded nothing. The man's screams continued unabated. Even as they tested one potion after another, the blood-weeping man looked ready to thrash about violently inside the carriage, and it took multiple men holding him down by force to keep him immobilized.
"What the hell is going on? Damn it, at this rate..."
Losing a comrade would be painful for the Leader. But even more painful was losing the use of the one man whose vision had been linked with Bob.
Until a short while ago, the vision link with Bob had been working normally. And yet, before they knew it, that connection had been severed. To be precise, the link had been lost once before, then briefly reconnected—only to be cut off again almost immediately. In that sense, the situation had never been good, but the current predicament was worse by an order of magnitude.
What on earth could have happened for the vision-linked man to end up in this state? Unfortunately, the Leader had absolutely no idea. The only thing he understood was that under these circumstances, they could no longer use Bob's vision to determine where the people on the other end were located.
Or perhaps—by some one-in-a-million chance—if the vision-linked man could be successfully given an arrangement and the link was still active, they might be able to find Bob's location again. But considering the current situation, such wishful thinking was plainly meaningless.
"Leader, what do we do with him?"
"...Knock him out."
Under normal circumstances, killing a burdensome comrade might have been the most pragmatic option. But having worked alongside this man for a considerable time, the Leader felt some attachment to him. Killing him here might be the wisest course of action, but if possible, he wanted to bring him back alive.
It was not purely sentiment. Back at Headquarters, there were several superiors above him, and among such individuals, it would not be strange for someone to have the means to help the man. If that was the case, then knocking him out was undoubtedly the right call.
That reasoning was half directed at convincing himself, and the Leader knew it. But knowing that, he made the decision all the same.
"He's out cold, but... what do we do now, Leader? It's a certainty that we can't confirm Bob's location anymore... and even if we could..."
The man who broke off there cast a pointed glance at the unconscious figure.
He wanted to say that pursuing Bob while dragging along a man in this condition was suicide.
In truth, if Bob were the only one they were up against, it would not have been much of a problem. If not for Rei and Seto, who were traveling with him.
If it were only Bob—or perhaps Bob and a single fairy (unlike Rei, these men treated fairies no differently from monsters)—they might have struggled somewhat, but killing him would have been feasible. But Rei and Seto. The presence of the A-Rank Adventurer Crimson raised the difficulty to a fatal degree.
Even against such opponents, if they could have exploited an opening through Bob's vision, there had been a chance of victory. After all, killing Rei and Seto was not their objective. The men's sole goal was to eliminate Bob; there was no need to provoke the others. But that too had now become nearly impossible. They could not even determine where Bob was.
The assumption that Bob was in the frontier was largely based on Rei's presence and the fact that the location where Bob had been found was not far from the frontier. They had contacted their frontier associates using a summoned bird, but the possibility of that effort coming to naught could not be denied. Come to think of it, sending a bird toward the frontier carried its own risks—the bird could be preyed upon by monsters or larger birds along the way.
"We're returning to Headquarters."
In the end, the Leader had no choice but to make that call, and none of the other men raised any objection. More than that—they were simply relieved the Leader had not chosen to abandon their comrade.
When the light released by Nielson struck the black fog that had emerged from Bob's body, a scream erupted from the mouth of that black fog—the entity believed to be the defilement.
Strictly speaking, it was unclear whether the sound was actually a scream. It had not been heard with the ears; rather, it was a scream that seemed to resonate directly inside the head.
For Rei and Seto, however, having a voice echo in their minds was not entirely unfamiliar. A similar phenomenon occurred whenever they acquired or strengthened a Skill through Beast Magic—an announcement message would reverberate in their heads, so in that sense, it was something they had grown accustomed to.
Still, unlike the usual cold, mechanical announcement, this sound was a scream ripped out with every ounce of will, and the difference was jarring.
Rei had been so focused on the scream reverberating in his mind that—no, not just Rei, the fairies as well—none of them noticed that the Chief's ocarina-like flute had fallen silent.
Until moments ago, their ears had been completely in the music's thrall. In this case, the power of the scream must have been so overwhelming that it eclipsed even the Chief's music.
Without any of the onlookers realizing she had stopped playing, the Chief produced a flower-shaped jewel in her hand and channeled magical power into it.
In the next instant, the black fog pouring from Bob's body—the defilement—was drawn into the flower-shaped jewel in the Chief's hand.
A ripple of astonishment spread through the gathered fairies. Voices of surprise slipped from Rei and Seto as well, swelling into a collective murmur.
That the situation would be resolved with a flower-shaped jewel was unexpected even for those watching it unfold.
Sensing the stunned gazes from all around, the Chief looked down at the flower-shaped jewel in her hand as if to confirm its state, then breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Given the circumstances, she had not expected things to go this smoothly.
Having absorbed the defilement, the jewel now possessed a more imposing presence than it had moments before.
"Chief, what is that jewel? What did you just do?"
Nielson asked, glancing back and forth between the Chief, who stood with the flower-shaped jewel in her hand wearing an expression of relief, and Bob, who lay unconscious on the ground.
The Chief lifted her gaze from the jewel and spoke.
"I did not do anything particularly complex. I simply sealed the defilement inside the jewel."
"Hold on a minute, Chief! If you could seal the defilement in that jewel, why did you have me use my light!?"
From Nielson's perspective, she had assumed her light would destroy the defilement or perform a purification of some kind. Instead, the Chief had simply sealed it away. Given that, it was hardly unreasonable for her to wonder what on earth she had used her light for.
But to Nielson's protest, the Chief shook her head.
"No. Had the defilement not been weakened by Nielson's light, I most likely would not have been able to seal it in the jewel. Considering that, Nielson's actions carried great significance."
At the Chief's words, Nielson's indignation subsided. The Chief had stated plainly that her power had been of use, and that clearly pleased her.
...Watching the exchange, Rei had the distinct impression that the Chief had said those words out of consideration for Nielson's feelings.
Probably... even without Nielson's light, the Chief could have sealed the defilement on her own.
Just as that thought crossed Rei's mind, the Chief abruptly turned her gaze toward him. Then, with a gentle smile, she bowed her head.
What that gesture meant, Rei could not say. Whether she was expressing renewed gratitude for awakening Nielson's power, or conveying that Bob's defilement had already been dealt with, or perhaps... Before he could think any further, his eyes met the Chief's once again.
The Chief alone might have managed without Nielson's cooperation. Since she had looked his way the instant he thought the exact same thing as before, the meaning behind her gaze was clear this time.
He had no idea how she had read his thoughts, but her demeanor seemed to indicate that he should not speak of it.
Or rather—how on earth did she read my mind in the first place?
Rei found himself pondering that question anew, but the Chief did not look his way again. Wondering if that earlier moment had indeed been coincidence, he turned his attention back to Bob.
Bob lay on the ground, showing no sign of rising—completely unconscious.
"I wonder how that defilement affected Bob."
Muttering to himself, Rei set off toward where Bob lay.
The fairies, perhaps because of the Chief's presence, did not fly about freely as they normally would. At the same time, they seemed unable to leave their positions, and as a result, Bob remained where he had fallen.
"Bob, are you conscious? ...Guess not."
He called out lightly, but Bob gave no response whatsoever. It was unmistakable proof that the man was out cold.
"Chief, what should we do with Bob?"
"That is a good question. Normally, I would be reluctant to allow an unrelated person into the Fairy Dwelling, but he is someone that Rei-san and Nielson brought here... Above all, the fact that he carried a defilement concerns me. I have sealed the defilement that was present, but since I cannot predict what may follow, I would like to observe him for a while."
Though phrased indirectly, those were words granting Bob permission to remain in the Fairy Dwelling. In truth, the Chief likely wished to investigate the relationship between Bob and the defilement more thoroughly.
"I see. Then for now, I'll take him to the area near where I'm camping and let him rest there. Once he wakes up, will there be any further problems?"
"No. The defilement has been completely expelled from that man, so there are no issues."
Rei felt a wave of relief at those words. He called Seto over and hoisted Bob onto its back. He could have carried Bob himself, but having Seto do it was unquestionably more convenient.
As Rei and Seto departed, the fairies swarmed the Chief and Nielson, peppering them with questions. Leaving that commotion behind, Rei turned his thoughts to what he should do next.
His presence in the Fairy Dwelling was, if he was honest, largely a way to kill time. Obtaining the Fog Sound Magic Item was a secondary consideration, though certainly a factor.
Now that the matter with the defilement had been resolved, he would likely receive the Fog Sound before long. In that case, what should he do after that...? Rei found himself pondering the question.