Once the discussion about the defilement with the Chief concluded, Rei found himself with nothing in particular to do.
He had considered trying to gather a bit more information about the defilement, but the Chief didn't have time to spare for idle conversation.
Specifically, she had tasks to attend to, such as finishing the Fog Sound soon.
Since the Fog Sound was a Magic Item Rei had personally requested and dearly wanted, he couldn't very well get in the Chief's way while she put the finishing touches on it.
"Hey, Rei. Staying in the Fairy Dwelling like this is boring. Why don't we step outside for a bit?"
Perhaps because the defilement incident had been resolved, Nielson had been released by the Chief.
Having spent all that time dealing with the defilement alongside the Chief, Nielson probably wanted a change of pace.
Since Rei had also left Nielson behind during the incident with the defilement-corrupted corpses, he went along with her invitation.
"Sure. I don't mind. But is it alright if I pick up Seto along the way?"
"Seto? Come to think of it, he isn't here. What happened?"
Nielson had the impression that Seto was always with Rei, but looking around now, he was nowhere to be seen.
She asked about it, genuinely puzzled, and Rei glanced in the direction where Seto would be.
"He's over there. On the way here, the wolf pups, Bob, and the fairies found him. Seto wouldn't be interested in any complicated discussions even if he came along, so I left him there."
"Hmm. If you're fine with that, then I don't mind. Though if you bring Seto along, the wolf pups will probably want to come too. Before long, we'd end up with Bob and the other fairies tagging along as well. Wouldn't we be moving in a pretty large group?"
"That's..."
Rei couldn't deny the words that had come out of Nielson's mouth.
A large number of highly curious individuals were gathered together. If Rei or Nielson mentioned leaving the Fairy Dwelling, it wouldn't be strange for them to say they wanted to come along.
...No, they almost certainly would.
And if that happened, taking everyone along could easily lead to trouble.
"Besides, we were told not to let the wolf pups outside the Fairy Dwelling."
"Hah? Is that so? And who said that?"
"The Chief."
Nielson said it so casually that Rei found himself questioning the matter.
Rei hadn't known the Chief for all that long, but they had conversed enough for him to generally understand her personality. Even so, the reason she was keeping the wolf pups from going outside the Fairy Dwelling remained unclear to him.
Considering the Chief's personality, it was somewhat hard to believe she was keeping them inside simply because they were cute and she didn't want to expose them to danger.
If that's the case, then she definitely has some kind of reason for doing so. But what exactly could it be? Thinking about it, maybe raising the wolf pups in the Fairy Dwelling turns them into special monsters? Given what their parents were like, that possibility exists too.
Whether that was actually the case, unfortunately, even Rei didn't know. But the fact that the wolf pups were being kept from going outside suggested there was indeed some reason behind it.
"But going outside the Fairy Dwelling without bringing Seto isn't an option."
Seto's sharp senses were an extremely reliable asset. Rei's own senses were by no means dull—compared to an ordinary human, they were definitely sharp—but Seto's five senses were even keener than his.
With Seto scouting the surroundings, Rei could act with peace of mind. That was why leaving Seto behind was not an option for him.
"Hmm... if you say so, then I guess that's fine. Well then, shall we get going?"
Nielson nodded at Rei's words while harboring slight dissatisfaction, then headed in the direction where Seto was likely to be.
Following behind Nielson, Rei hoped just a little... truly just a little.
It would be nice if some defilement operatives showed up again. If that happened, I could knock them out right away and extract information. ...Ah, but then I'd have to head back to Gilm. And without flying, at that.
If they were dead, he could store them in the Misty Ring. But while they were alive, storing them in the Misty Ring was naturally out of the question.
In that case, he would have to either transport them in the Seto Basket or travel on the ground—and naturally, Rei had no desire to put defilement operatives in the Seto Basket. Depending on the circumstances, there was even a possibility the Seto Basket could be destroyed.
Inevitably, that meant traveling overland. And if Rei and Seto openly entered Gilm as they were now, it would without a doubt cause a commotion.
"Yeah, I'd prefer for them to show up after I've figured out a way to enter Gilm without causing problems."
"Honestly, what are the chances of that?" Nielson said with an exasperated look.
For Nielson, defilement operatives who would give her extra work were probably not an amusing prospect. She also harbored resentment toward them for attacking Bob, whom she had taken a liking to. That was why she felt dissatisfied whenever the topic of defilement operatives came up.
"But if they show up in this situation, we'd have to prevent them from committing suicide and then keep them in the Fairy Dwelling. How do you think the Chief would react to that?"
"That's..."
Nielson also knew that the Chief disliked the defilement. The people they had encountered in the Treant Forest had been reluctant enough about being brought to the Fairy Dwelling, after all.
Thinking about it that way, even if they managed to capture new defilement operatives, bringing them to the Fairy Dwelling would never be acceptable to the Chief.
If they were just ordinary bandits, I could kill them on the spot. And if they were the kind of people where a little information leaking wouldn't matter, I could leave them with the adventurers at the Birth Tower. But with defilement operatives, that's not possible.
Rei had been told by Daskar to keep the defilement matter as secret as possible. If they could understand specifically what kind of existence the defilement was, they could have talked about it without issue. However, while they knew the defilement was dangerous, exactly what kind of existence it was remained unclear.
According to the Chief's information, the worst-case scenario would result in the annihilation of the continent. But from what Rei had seen, he couldn't consider the defilement to be that formidable.
Of course, that was only when comparing it to continental annihilation. For an ordinary adventurer dealing with it, it was undeniably quite troublesome.
Rei wanted to avoid carelessly letting such information about the defilement reach the ears of adventurers if at all possible. If he left defilement operatives with the adventurers near the Birth Tower, there was a chance the information would leak from there.
"Anyway, whether we'll encounter defilement operatives or not is something we won't know until we actually try. Personally, I think it's probably unlikely."
"Really? But they came all the way to the Treant Forest so quickly, didn't they? In that case, wouldn't other operatives come here too?"
"That possibility exists, but not right now. If they were going to make a move, I think it would be much later. In the first place, I don't think there are that many defilement operatives to begin with."
"...Why not?"
"Well, why not... Do you normally think there would be that many people who want the continent to be annihilated? If they were using some great power for their own benefit, that'd be one thing. But if the continent were annihilated, just living day to day would become extremely difficult."
"Hmm... is that so? I don't quite understand how humans think."
Fairies basically had little to do with humans. Even if the human world were annihilated, there would be no real inconvenience to the fairies' way of life.
"I don't know exactly what 'annihilation of the continent' means specifically. But thinking about it normally, if the continent is annihilated, I think the Fairy Dwelling would be destroyed too."
"That would be a bit of a problem."
"And even if the Fairy Dwelling survives, if the human world is destroyed, you wouldn't be able to get sweets and things like that anymore."
"That would be very very, very very very very problematic."
"Just how problematic are we talking here?"
Rei wanted to retort and ask how many times she had repeated "very." But considering the personality of fairies, he supposed it couldn't be helped. He knew full well just how much Nielson and the other fairies loved sweet confections.
"Ah, I can see him. ...Wait, he's quiet?"
Spotting Seto in his line of sight, Rei posed the question to himself.
Since Seto, the wolf pups, the fairies, and Bob had been playing, he had assumed they would be moving around much more energetically. But the Seto Rei could see showed no signs of movement at all.
He wondered why Seto wasn't moving, but as he drew closer, the reason became clear.
The wolf pups were asleep, using Seto as a pillow where he lay on the ground. Not only that, upon approaching, he noticed that fairies were also sleeping on top of Seto's body.
For some reason, Bob alone wasn't using Seto as a pillow and was sleeping on the ground a short distance away.
Isn't that painful?
Rei wondered that looking at Bob, but from what he could tell, Bob was sleeping normally.
"What do we do?"
"Even if you ask me that..."
Rei and Nielson hesitated, surprised by the completely unexpected sight before them. Initially, they had planned to gather up Seto and the others and leave the Fairy Dwelling together.
"But Seto's awake."
Rei muttered that upon noticing Seto looking his way with a troubled expression in his round eyes. However, even with Seto awake, given that the wolf pups were using him as a pillow and the fairies were using his body as a blanket, he couldn't simply get up.
If it were an emergency where Seto absolutely had to act alongside Rei, he would wake the wolf pups and fairies without hesitation. But Rei currently had no particular need to do anything.
Maybe... truly maybe, they would encounter defilement operatives in the Treant Forest. This trip was born from such a hope. Given that, Rei had no intention of forcibly taking Seto along.
Additionally, Nielson—while not minding Bob or the fairies—intended to keep the wolf pups from going outside the Fairy Dwelling, so this situation wasn't a bad one for her either.
"Well then. Shall we go? It's been a while since we could take it easy."
"If the Chief hears that, you'll be punished again."
When Rei pointed out the real meaning behind her words about taking it easy for the first time in a while, Nielson flinched for a moment—but then immediately spoke up, insisting there was no problem.
"It's not like I'm talking about slacking off in front of the Chief, so obviously I'll be fine. More importantly, come on, let's hurry up and go."
Saying that, Nielson tugged on the Dragon Robe. Perhaps it was his imagination, but the pull seemed stronger than usual. Rei paid it no mind and gave Seto a light wave before moving on.
Seto watched Rei leave with a disappointed expression, but nevertheless closed his eyes to enjoy a nap himself, careful not to wake those sleeping on him.
"Well, we're out of the Fairy Dwelling, but... as expected, there's really nothing to do in this situation."
"True. If encountering defilement operatives is going to be difficult, why don't we look for Orcs? They might still be around."
The reason Nielson suggested they might still be around was probably because Bob had recently found some Orcs, which they had defeated.
To be precise, what Nielson was looking forward to wasn't the battle with the Orcs, but the Orc meat itself.
A fairy eating meat... I wonder about that. Well, it's not like they only eat meat, so omnivorous would probably be the more fitting term. An omnivorous fairy...
From the moment he had encountered fairies on the Seremuse Plain, any illusions Rei held about them had vanished. They had vanished, but even so, an omnivorous fairy was still something he couldn't help but question.
"Rei? What's wrong?"
Nielson asked, puzzled by the way Rei was staring at her as if thinking "omnivorous fairy." But Rei just shook his head, said it was nothing, and continued onward through the Treant Forest.