"Still, Rei, you really are always busy."
Saying that, Elena placed a cup of black tea in front of Rei.
The tea settled onto the table with a soft clink—brewed by Elena's own hands.
Fundamentally, for a noble's daughter—especially one whose father held the title of Duke, second only to the Royal Family—brewing tea would be a maid's job.
However, there was no maid here right now.
Usually, Ara brewed the tea, but Ara was not a maid.
Officially, she held the position of commander of Elena's Escort Knight Order.
Granted, it was precisely because Ara was utterly devoted to Elena that she held the position of commander, but in reality, calling it merely ornamental... well, that would be a poor way to put it, yet it was that kind of situation.
In practice, those actually running the Knight Order were Ara's subordinates.
In terms of pure combat ability, though, she possessed strength worthy of the title.
Given those circumstances, Elena's only attendant was Ara, and even Ara was currently absent—she had gone to the lord's manor to report on Rei's situation to Daskar.
That was precisely why Elena had brewed the tea herself.
And she had done so not reluctantly, but with genuine delight.
Elena had learned how to brew tea from Ara and had served it to Rei several times before.
Seeing Rei drink tea she had brewed herself was surely a source of happiness for Elena.
"It's good."
"I'm glad to hear you say so."
They exchanged brief words, and Rei directed his gaze toward a certain spot.
There, Seto was running around the courtyard together with Ielo.
For Seto and Ielo, they had only parted ways a short while ago.
They had expected it would be quite some time before they could meet again, so being reunited the very same day naturally made their joy all the greater.
"Drinking tea with Elena while watching Seto and Ielo play... Looking at this scene alone, it's a remarkably peaceful sight."
"Hehe, perhaps so. But... this calm is only for now, isn't it?"
"Probably. After all, I'm carrying something like corpses that are about to transform from defilement. Whether to hand them over to Lord Daskar or dispose of them as they are—I don't know exactly how that will play out, but one thing's certain: things are going to get very busy."
Since there was nothing to argue with in Rei's words, Elena simply nodded.
Rei was originally a man beloved by the goddess of trouble.
Having fallen in love with such a man, even if it meant accepting his personality—no, something that could be called his very nature and traits—she would embrace it all.
Elena thought such things while gazing at Rei... and the moment she realized what she had just been thinking, a faint blush crept into her cheeks.
"What's wrong?"
"No, it's nothing. I was just thinking that you're right about things getting busy from here on."
To keep him from realizing what had been on her mind, Elena said that while brushing back her golden hair.
Without letting Rei notice, she took slow, deep breaths, and somehow managed to make the redness in her cheeks fade.
Perhaps sensing it herself, Elena slowly brought the tea to her lips.
It was tea she had brewed herself, and she felt inwardly pleased that it had turned out quite well.
She wouldn't do anything so careless as to let that show on her face, though.
"Still... you really do love getting caught up in trouble, Rei."
"No, it's not like I go out of my way to get involved in trouble, you know? The trouble comes to me... though this time, I suppose I got involved on my own."
Running into Bob in the forest was fine.
Camping together with Bob, who was lost, was fine, and repelling the defilement affiliates who attacked them was no problem either.
But bringing Bob to the Fairy Dwelling was undeniably Rei's doing.
To be precise, Nielson was the one who said she wanted to bring him, and Rei simply hadn't objected.
That said, what would have happened if they hadn't brought Bob to the Fairy Dwelling?
Bob was a skilled hunter, but in terms of pure combat ability, he wasn't an exceptionally outstanding presence.
If he had been attacked by defilement affiliates, he would have almost certainly been killed.
In that case, Rei would never have learned anything about defilement.
In the worst case, it wouldn't have been strange for this continent to be destroyed by defilement without anyone ever knowing about it.
Considering those circumstances, Nielson's desire to bring Bob along hadn't been a mistake.
As for the specific reason why she had felt that way, unfortunately, Rei couldn't say.
But even if she had said it was simply because it seemed interesting, the fact that Rei would have accepted that as something Nielson would say was also true.
"This is probably why I never get bored when I'm with you, Rei... Though, even when I'm with you, I'm basically always at Marina's house."
Elena showed a slightly sulky expression.
Rei was about to say something to her when, at that moment, Seto—who had been playing with Ielo—suddenly raised his head and looked toward the gate.
He had only lifted his head, but even so, Rei understood that Seto must have noticed something, and he directed his gaze in the direction Seto was looking... Elena followed suit.
(Given Seto's reaction, I don't think it's someone who was watching us return to Gilm and is now trying to break in...)
Those keeping watch surely understood what would happen if they broke into Marina's house.
Given that, Rei's assumption was that they wouldn't do something so foolish.
And sure enough, as if confirming Rei's prediction, the person who appeared was Ara.
Seeing that she had brought several others along, it was easy to guess they had come from the lord's manor together with Ara.
Easy to guess, that was... but then Rei noticed something odd.
Specifically, the fact that Ara was wearing a troubled expression.
"Hm? Ara, what about Marina? I heard she was going to stop by on the way."
"She did stop by the treatment center, but she said she would treat a few more patients, hand off her duties, and then come after that. So we came ahead on our own."
Elena felt a slight doubt at Ara's words.
Normally, wouldn't it have been fine to wait until that handover was finished?
Rei, who had been listening, naturally shared the same doubt.
However, just as he was about to voice it, his gaze suddenly met with one of the several people who had come together with Ara... and there was something familiar about that gaze.
That wasn't particularly strange.
Since they had come from the lord's manor, they were naturally Daskar's subordinates.
And while Rei didn't visit the lord's manor frequently enough to call it constant, he did go there reasonably often.
Given that, he had a fair number of opportunities to interact with Daskar's subordinates, so even if he didn't firmly remember their faces or names, it wouldn't be strange for him to have met them somewhere before.
However, Rei, whose gaze had met theirs, judged that this was different.
There was something familiar about the gaze directed at him... Thinking so and searching his memory, he immediately understood who the owner of that gaze was.
"Lord Daskar?"
"What?"
Elena had been talking with Ara, but she wouldn't miss Rei's murmur.
If it had been anyone else's murmur, she might have missed it.
And it wasn't only Elena who heard Rei's murmur—Ara did as well.
Ara was looking at Rei with a gaze of sheer astonishment.
Seeing her reaction, one could understand that the words coming from Rei's mouth were by no means a lie.
The person who had been addressed as Daskar eventually removed his wig and false beard.
That was all he did, but the face that had seemed so surprisingly unlike Daskar transformed into the face of Daskar that both Rei and Elena knew.
"I'm surprised. I actually had some confidence in my disguise... How did you know?"
Daskar asked Rei.
What floated on his expression was a question straight from the bottom of his heart.
For Daskar, having his disguise seen through must have been that unexpected.
"Well, even if you ask me how... First of all, Lord Daskar, you're supposed to be busy with work. Why are you here?"
"Because I heard there was an important matter regarding defilement. On the very same day you told me about defilement, no less? It's only natural to wonder what happened."
"Well... I suppose so."
From Daskar's perspective, he had been told there was another matter regarding defilement on the very same day he had first heard about the defilement incident from Rei and Nielson.
Moreover, he had been taught that this defilement could potentially destroy the entire continent if things went wrong.
Under such circumstances, sending a carriage to Marina's house to bring Rei back to the lord's manor would take longer than going directly to Marina's house himself to hear the story.
It wouldn't be strange for him to perceive it that way.
Rei had no choice but to accept it when put that way, but as someone who knew just how busy Daskar currently was, Daskar coming here personally even under such circumstances was still quite unexpected.
(Ah, so that's why they didn't wait for Marina at the treatment center and came here instead.)
In that sense, there was an aspect he could understand.
Whether it was because Daskar held the position of lord, or because he felt he should hear about defilement even a moment sooner, Rei couldn't know the exact reason—but either way, it made sense that Daskar had come to Marina's house like this.
"So then, how were you able to see through my disguise? I won't say it's never been seen through before, but it's certain that very few people have ever penetrated it."
"The gaze you were directing at me was intense. I thought maybe I recognized it from somewhere... and when I recalled it, it was you, Lord Daskar."
"Hmm, I see. The gaze, was it? I hadn't noticed that at all. I'll be careful next time."
Next time—was he going to disguise himself again?
Rei nearly retorted with that, but if the answer turned out to be exactly that, he wouldn't know how to respond.
Given that, he decided to hold off on pressing the point for now.
"So then, since you're here, Lord Daskar, I'd like to get right to it—the defilement..."
"No, wait. Let's actually discuss that matter after Marina returns. Since this is Marina's house, it's better to handle things properly."
"Then why did you leave Marina at the treatment center?"
Rei looked slightly exasperated.
That said, for Daskar, if he proceeded with the discussion here and offended Marina, she might expose his dark history.
Since she had known him since childhood, Marina held knowledge of various dark histories.
Things that had been serious to him as a child, but now that he was an adult made him wonder why he had ever said such things—dark histories that made him want to writhe in embarrassment.
If even a moment's delay in hearing this could cause significant damage to Gilm, Daskar would have listened to Rei's report without regard for his own dark history.
However, while the defilement matter was undeniably serious, it also wasn't something that absolutely had to be heard in such haste.
In that case, waiting for Marina to return was Daskar's judgment.
While Rei probably didn't understand all of Daskar's reasoning, he also found the prospect of explaining things to Daskar and then re-explaining them to Marina troublesome, so in that sense, he had no particular objection to Daskar's words.
"Then we'll save the talk for when Marina gets back. But is that really okay? You came here first without waiting for Marina at the treatment center because Lord Daskar was here, but if Marina finds out about that, who knows what will happen?"
"It should be fine in that regard. Marina is a lot of things, but she doesn't mix public and private matters. Though, since Marina is currently an adventurer rather than a Guild Master, calling it 'mixing public and private' might not be entirely accurate."
"Even so, I think Marina would properly consider those sorts of things."
"Lord Daskar, standing and talking forever isn't ideal either. Please, this way."
At Elena's words, Daskar took a seat at the courtyard table.