Leaving the Chief's presence, Rei headed toward his spot within the Fairy Dwelling—more accurately, the place where he always pitched his Magic Tent.
Nielson followed alongside him as if it were a matter of course.
It was still too early for dinner, but her actions were likely driven by the thought that she couldn't afford to miss mealtime under any circumstances.
From Nielson's perspective, she had no intention of letting the chance to eat the black panther meat—meat she had helped obtain by assisting in the fight—slip away.
Rei could more or less guess what Nielson was thinking as she flew beside his head, but he had no particular intention of commenting on it.
Since there was no denying that Nielson had cooperated in the battle against the black panther, he recognized that eating the meat was her rightful due.
"So, Rei. How are we going to eat that meat?"
"Even if you ask me how, the best I can do is... well, make skewers and eat it like before, or use the meat as an extra topping for the food I've got stored in my Misty Ring. Something like that, I think."
At that moment, Rei was thinking of soups.
If meat—black panther meat, no less—was added to a vegetable-based soup, it would probably taste great.
Or perhaps adding meat to a seafood-based soup would be delicious in its own way.
(Ah, but meat in a seafood soup, I wonder how that'd turn out? ...Then again, I've seen on TV that ramen uses double soups combining seafood broth with chicken bone or beef bone broth, so maybe it's fine?)
Rei thought this, but there was a world of difference between a professional chef carefully selecting ingredients, adjusting broth ratios and simmering times, and pouring countless other meticulous efforts into a double soup, versus Rei—who wasn't completely ignorant of cooking but was by no means skilled at it—casually throwing something together.
"Hmm. A soup topping. That sounds like it could be tasty. But considering the black panther meat's texture, don't you think it'd be better not to cook it too thoroughly?"
"...I see. Now that you mention it, you're right."
Given that it was lean red meat with almost no sinew, overcooking it would likely make it tougher than when they had taste-tested it.
Putting it in soup meant the heat of the broth could cook the meat through too much.
If this were a professional cook... no, even someone like Marina who excelled at cooking, they could probably account for how the heat would affect the meat and adjust accordingly.
But Rei's skills were only at the level of being able to cook a little.
If it weren't black panther meat but some other meat he had in large quantities, he could have tried it with a nothing-to-lose attitude, not caring if he messed up a bit.
"In that case... hm? Seto?"
As he walked through the Fairy Dwelling, Rei noticed Seto approaching from a distance.
"Oh, you're right. But it's just Seto?"
"Seems like it. I wonder what happened. ...Well, in a way, the timing is perfect."
The black panther was fairly large, but for big eaters like Rei and Seto, the more there was to eat, the better.
"Seto!"
"Grrrl!"
At Rei's voice, Seto broke into a run toward him.
He didn't charge straight into Rei at full speed—as expected, he slowed down somewhat before bumping into him.
If Seto had come running at full speed and crashed into him, even Rei would have struggled to absorb the impact.
In fact, even with Seto slowing down, bracing for the collision was quite difficult.
"Guh... uhh... phew. Seto, I'm glad you're happy to see me, but it'd help if you calmed down a little."
"Grrl? Grrrl..."
Judging from Rei's reaction, Seto probably realized he had gone a bit too far.
Seto purred apologetically.
Petting Seto, Rei spoke to him.
"Just be careful next time. More importantly, what happened to the wolf pups, Bob, and the fairies? When I glanced over earlier, nap time was over and they were all playing happily together."
"Grrl!"
"I see. Then there's no problem."
"Hey, wait a minute! The conversation up to now is fine. But how on earth did you understand that just now?!"
If it had been nodding, shaking his head, or communicating something simpler, Nielson could have accepted it.
But what had just happened was clearly different.
With just a short purr, how on earth had Seto explained the situation?
Nielson couldn't understand it at all.
Because she couldn't understand it, she found herself blurting out the objection.
As Nielson insisted this was unreasonable, Rei gave her a puzzled look.
"You can tell, right? Like this... well, 'nuance' might be a bit hard to grasp. Right. Intuitively."
"There's no way I could understand that."
Nielson looked unconvinced by Rei's words.
They continued walking for a bit... and when the place Rei used as his campsite came into view, Rei spoke again.
"I Tamed Monster Seto. That's probably why."
"...And that lets you understand him?"
"That sort of thing varies from person to person. Besides, I've grown up with Seto since I was little. That's exactly why it's easy for me to understand what he's trying to say."
Naturally, this part was not the truth, but his cover story.
In reality, the reason Rei could vaguely understand what Seto wanted to say and how he felt was because Rei was connected to Seto through mana... in other words, it was thanks to Beast Magic.
However, Rei naturally had no intention of telling Nielson about Beast Magic.
Considering Nielson's personality, it wouldn't be surprising if by the day after he told her about Beast Magic, the entire Fairy Dwelling was buzzing with talk about it.
Whether she would actually spread rumors that far, even Rei couldn't say for sure.
But even so, when considering the worst-case scenario, it was only natural that he wanted to avoid it if possible.
Especially knowing Nielson's personality.
As they chatted along the way, they eventually arrived at their destination.
However, Bob was already there, having returned before Rei.
"Bob? Weren't you playing with the wolf pups and the fairies?"
"That was the plan, but we decided to wrap things up. The fairies probably want to play with someone else rather than the same group the whole time."
That was likely the reason Seto had returned as well.
Although Rei could communicate with Seto, that was limited to simple things or a general sense of the nuance.
When it came to detailed content, he naturally couldn't understand anything that specific.
In that sense, having the situation explained properly like this made it much easier to grasp.
"Fairies have a lot going on too, huh. ...They're a curious race, so I suppose that's natural. Anyway, so you came back here because you were free. Given how you are, I thought you'd be exploring the Fairy Dwelling."
The fairies were a curious race, but Bob was no different.
If he weren't, he wouldn't be a hunter who chose not to settle down anywhere, instead traveling while he hunted.
For such a Bob to be inside the Fairy Dwelling and not explore it, but instead return to the campsite like this, was surprising even to Rei.
"It's not that I have any particular reason for it. Playing took quite a lot of energy, so I just wanted to rest a little."
Bob traveled on foot, and as a hunter who worked in groves, forests, and mountains, he walked and ran extensively, so he had considerable stamina.
But even for Bob, playing with the wolf pups and fairies had apparently drained more energy than he expected.
"I see. Then you came back at just the right time. Actually, when Nielson and I left the Fairy Dwelling, we found Orcs again."
"Eh? Again? ...As expected of the frontier. You can find Orcs to some extent in normal areas too, but even so, it's not like you defeat one group and immediately find another right after."
"Right. But just as I was about to hunt those Orcs, a B-Rank Monster... I'm not sure exactly, but based on its strength, it was probably around that level, appeared and killed the Orcs in the blink of an eye."
"A B-Rank Monster!?"
Bob's voice filled with surprise at the words B-Rank Monster.
For Bob, who was neither an adventurer nor anything of the sort, a B-Rank Monster was an opponent so powerful that encountering one meant death.
Bob's skills as a hunter were high, but that was strictly as a hunter.
In a head-on fight, he couldn't even defeat an Orc.
If such a Bob were to encounter a B-Rank Monster, what would happen?
Naturally, he wouldn't fight and win. If he could escape, he'd survive, and if not, he'd be killed.
For Bob, a B-Rank Monster was a symbol of such terror, and Rei was saying he had defeated one effortlessly.
It would be more unreasonable not to be surprised.
Of course, along with surprise, he was also convinced.
Rei, unlike himself a hunter, was an A-Rank Adventurer.
That was exactly why he could accept that if it were Rei, then...
"That's amazing. But... a B-Rank Monster near the Fairy Dwelling..."
For Bob, the fact that Rei had defeated a B-Rank Monster was incredible, but what was even more surprising—and frightening—was that a B-Rank Monster had appeared right near the Fairy Dwelling.
When Bob had been banned from entering the Fairy Dwelling due to the influence of the defilement, he had been hunting in the Treant Forest around the Fairy Dwelling to gather food.
There was a good chance he could have encountered a B-Rank Monster himself.
He had been hunting as usual, thinking this was a place he knew—a forest in the frontier—but reflecting on it now, he could only conclude that it had been an extremely dangerous gamble with his life on the line.
"It was truly good luck that you were with Rei-san and the others."
Rei understood the meaning behind those quietly murmured words, so he nodded in agreement.
"They say luck is part of one's ability too. ...Just be careful from now on. Though, even if you are careful, I think it'd be pretty hard to run away from a monster with high physical abilities like the black panther I defeated."
In Rei's case, he had the strength to fight and defeat the black panther.
But that was strictly Rei's case.
If Bob had encountered the black panther, the only option available to him would have been to confirm it was fighting the Orcs and immediately flee the scene.
If the black panther had been focused solely on the Orcs at that moment, there might have been a chance of escaping... or more accurately, being spared.
Since nothing could be done about the difference in ability, he could do nothing but leave his fate to luck.
"It's tough being a hunter on your own at times like this. If you were an adventurer, you'd form a party and have comrades, so you could win against opponents you couldn't handle alone. ...Don't you think it'd be better for you to become an adventurer, Bob?"
If he could become an adventurer, it wouldn't be a bad deal for Bob.
However, Bob shook his head at Rei's words.
"No, I don't have any intention of doing so for now. Adventurers do have their convenient aspects, as you say. But becoming one would bring its own share of hassles."
"I don't think you need to worry that much about it... well, no, thinking about what happened before, anything I say here probably won't mean much."
From the perspective of Rei, who was an adventurer, the merits of becoming an adventurer outweighed the demerits.
Of course, that didn't mean there were no demerits.
For example, if monsters or bandits attacked a village or town with a Guild, adventurers would be forced to serve as combat personnel.
Also, this might have been unique to Rei's case, but when he went to the Guild, he was often accosted by other adventurers because of his appearance.
The adventurer demerits that immediately came to Rei's mind were about that much, but those were only what he could think of given his current situation.
For Bob, there were probably many other demerits to becoming an adventurer.
(Especially in Bob's case, he doesn't stay in one place. He wants to go wherever his curiosity leads him. In that case, it'd be hard for him to form a party even if he became an adventurer. Though there are other merits too.)
The most obvious merit was that he could simply show his Guild Card when entering other villages or towns.
When entering a village or town, some places required money, but... if he showed his Guild Card, that fee would be waived.