As Rei made his way through the Fairy Dwelling, several fairies called out to him along the way. But the moment he mentioned he had business with the Chief regarding the defilement, every single one of them backed off without exception.
Being feared to that extent — wasn't that a bit problematic for the one leading the Fairy Dwelling? He couldn't help but wonder. Still, she did govern the settlement, so surely it wasn't purely one-sided fear.
Just short of reaching the Chief's location, Rei spotted the two wolf pups raised in the Fairy Dwelling, Bob, and several fairies approaching from a short distance away.
"Awooooo!"
"Arf arf arf arf!"
Wolves or dogs?
Watching the wolf pups immediately fawn over Seto as they drew closer, he honestly found himself thinking just that.
Wolves and dogs were closely related creatures, so considering that, the outcome wasn't particularly far-fetched.
He didn't think it was mistaken, exactly, but the urge to point out that wolves and dogs were still different animals was certainly justified.
"Rei-san, you're back? I heard that after returning here temporarily, you'd gone to Gilm."
Rei, who had been watching Seto play with the wolf pups, nodded at Bob's words.
"Yeah, I finished what I needed to do. And as for Bob... well, I don't even need to ask what you're up to."
"Ahahaha. That's right. The fairies and the wolf pups are keeping me entertained."
The genuine happiness in his voice came from the fact that he was enjoying himself from the bottom of his heart.
Bob was inherently curious and got along well with fairies. Because of that, playing with them and the wolf pups must have been just as much a delight for him.
"So you'd say you're glad you were allowed into the Fairy Dwelling?"
"That's right. Besides... if I hadn't come here, I don't know what the defilement would have done to me."
"...Probably so."
Rei could honestly agree with that sentiment.
He had seen with his own eyes how a corpse corrupted by defilement eventually became a black dust humanoid. Thinking about it, if Bob had remained afflicted, there was no telling what would have become of him. In the worst case, he could have turned into a black dust humanoid — or perhaps something even worse.
It was precisely because he had come to the Fairy Dwelling that such a fate had been avoided. For Bob, it was truly a narrow escape from death.
"I have business with the Chief... but Seto seems to want to keep playing with the wolf pups. Mind if I leave him here?"
"Grrul?"
Seto must have heard him. He purred at Rei as if asking whether it was okay to stay behind.
Having just parted from his friend Ielo, playing with the wolf pups would help fill that loneliness — not a bad arrangement for Seto either.
The adult wolves that roamed the fog surrounding the Fairy Dwelling were afraid of Seto. That was exactly why the pups' fearlessness — the way they came over wanting to play, wanting attention — brought him genuine joy.
"Yeah, I'm going to talk with the Chief, so play around here and wait for me."
If Seto tagged along while Rei and the Chief discussed the defilement, there wouldn't be anything for him to do. He'd just end up bored. Better to leave him here than have him twiddling his paws.
At Rei's decision, Seto purred happily.
After giving Seto a single stroke, Rei turned to Bob.
"With that settled, I'm going to see the Chief. Seto's in your care."
"Leave it to me. Though honestly, it'll be more like I'm the one playing alongside him rather than watching over him."
"Probably."
With that exchange, Rei took his leave.
A few fairies tried to tag along hoping for sweets, but when he reiterated that he was going to see the Chief, they scattered without fuss.
Leaving Seto behind, he pressed on and soon arrived at his destination.
"Chief, are you here?"
He glanced around, but she was nowhere to be seen. He called out lightly, and—
"I'm sorry, could you wait a moment? Both Nielson and I are a bit tied up right now."
The voice came from out of nowhere. Unlike the announcement messages that resonated directly in his head when acquiring or enhancing a Skill through Beast Magic, this was an ordinary, physical voice.
But the Chief isn't anywhere around here. What's going on? Well, there's nothing I can do in this situation, so I suppose I have no choice but to wait as she says.
Looking around, neither the Chief nor Nielson was anywhere to be seen. If that was the case, there was nothing Rei could do but wait for them to return.
Figuring he might as well kill some time, he retrieved some dried fruit from his Misty Ring. He took a bite, and an intense sourness flooded his mouth, followed by a faint trace of sweetness.
"Sour! ...Normally, wouldn't it be the other way around?"
Intense sweetness with a hint of sourness would have been perfectly understandable for dried fruit. But the overwhelming sourness that spread through his mouth was enough to make Rei complain out loud.
Even so, that intense sourness and faint sweetness became oddly addictive, and he found himself taking bite after bite. The sourness was noticeable, but there was no denying that eating it like this, there were moments when he genuinely found it delicious.
As he was snacking on the dried fruit, a voice suddenly rang out.
"Ah, isn't that nice. While I'm stuck working, Rei's the only one getting to eat something delicious?"
It was Nielson's voice — one Rei knew well. He wondered if, like before, only her voice had drifted over from out of nowhere... but then he spotted her floating in the air a short distance away.
"You're done already?"
"More or less. More importantly, you're eating something good, Rei."
Nielson fixed him with a mix of envious and resentful looks — the latter clearly saying, How could you abandon me in the forest like that? Rei handed her the fruit. He did feel somewhat guilty about leaving her behind back there.
"I'm warning you, this dried fruit is seriously sour."
Normally, dried fruit became sweet regardless of the original fruit. There might be some whose sourness intensified when dried, but Rei had never encountered such a thing before. This one, however, had an intense sourness with only a faint sweetness at the very end — a rather unusual dried fruit.
Exactly how it ended up that way, Rei had no idea. But he didn't dislike it when eating it himself.
That, however, was strictly Rei's preference. Whether Nielson, tasting this dried fruit for the first time, would describe it the same way was another matter entirely.
"Is that so?"
Even so, Nielson brought the fruit to her mouth—
"!!"
Apparently finding it even more sour than she'd expected from Rei's warning, Nielson froze mid-air. The wings on her back stopped beating too, yet she showed no sign of falling. Rei marveled at the skill involved.
Before long, the Chief appeared as well, looking thoroughly exasperated. Naturally, her exasperated gaze was directed not at Rei... but at Nielson.
"Lord Rei, thank you for your hard work. The fact that you've returned means you've informed Gilm about the defilement-corrupted corpses, correct?"
"That's right. There was a new discovery related to that matter, so I came to report it."
"A new discovery...? What might that be?"
Hearing Rei's words, the Chief asked with a serious expression. She was the most knowledgeable person about defilement that Rei knew, but that didn't mean she knew everything about it. If anything, her understanding was only partial, and she craved any information she could get about the still largely unknown entity.
There was a powerful intensity in the Chief's eyes and voice — a determination to obtain that information by any means.
Rei, seeing her like that, spoke without holding anything back.
"First, those defilement-corrupted corpses. If left alone, they gradually turn into black dust... and ultimately become black dust humanoids."
"Black dust humanoids...? And what exactly happened with them?"
"Ordinary attacks didn't work. To be precise, I could break apart the black dust humanoid, but the scattered dust would immediately reassemble."
"...Troublesome."
"Yeah. I thought so too. In the end, I used my magic and burned it all to ashes."
The Chief twitched at Rei's words.
"Does that mean magic works even against these black dust humanoids that ordinary attacks cannot affect?"
"Hard to say. At least when I tried, it worked, so I believe my magic is effective. But whether other people's magic would produce the same result, I won't know without testing. It's not really my place to say, but... I'm a bit different from an ordinary mage."
That difference stemmed from Rei's own singularity. The body he currently inhabited had been created by the Zephyle Clan, and Rei, wielding it, had possessed overwhelming magical power in his previous life — though whether that term applied here was debatable — and the same held true in this world.
Furthermore, the Magic Catalyst he used for casting was no ordinary staff sold at a shop. It was Death Scythe, created through Beast Magic using Rei's enormous magical power. In every possible sense, grouping Rei with an ordinary mage was simply impossible.
While Rei's magic had destroyed the black dust humanoid, whether other mages could replicate the feat... honestly, Rei could only say he wouldn't know without testing it.
"I see. In that case, perhaps we should test it at some point. Honestly, the idea that defilement could be dealt with using magic was completely unexpected."
"Hold on a minute! Magic can deal with defilement... so does that mean everything I was desperately doing was pointless!?"
Nielson, who had been listening to the conversation, cried out in disbelief.
Figured she'd react that way.
Rei had expected as much from Nielson, but he found himself at a loss for what to say.
To begin with, the fact that defilement could be countered with magic was something they only discovered after actually trying it. Even setting that aside, what Rei had incinerated was strictly the black dust humanoid. It was undoubtedly connected to defilement, but that didn't mean his magic could handle every form of it. It was entirely possible that while effective against the black dust humanoid, it might do nothing against other manifestations.
"I honestly don't know. It's possible my magic might work on the defilement separated from Bob too, but it's equally possible it won't. There's still much we don't understand about defilement, and even the Chief here knows of it but doesn't have detailed knowledge."
Right? Rei directed his gaze at the Chief, and she nodded in agreement.
"That's correct. While I am aware of defilement's existence, I am not all that knowledgeable about it in detail. In that sense, Lord Rei's information is truly invaluable."
"So with that being the case, there's still a lot we don't know. What we did learn is that my magic can incinerate defilement — or more precisely, the black dust humanoid — but that's all. The defilement sealed in the flower-shaped jewel might be something my magic can't touch."
"That's..."
Nielson understood Rei's explanation. She understood it — but whether she could accept it was another matter.
From her perspective, the defilement she had painstakingly dealt with — to the point of not even being able to go to Gilm with Rei — might have been something his magic could have handled easily. At least, that was her impression. Under those circumstances, it was only natural that she couldn't simply accept it.
"Calm down. I know I'm repeating myself, but what my magic can handle is strictly the black dust humanoid. Whether it works on other forms of defilement is something I can't say without actually trying."
Told once more by Rei, Nielson finally accepted it — if not completely, then at least substantially.