"You also have the appearance of someone from the Far East, and your speech and bearing do not seem like those of a commoner from the Far East. Could it be that you are a noble?"
A day had already passed since the party split into two groups and started gathering materials.
The progress had gone very smoothly.
This day was the second day of the collection mission.
During a break, Kaguya, who had seemed absent-minded the whole time as if something was weighing on her mind, suddenly spoke to Rayleigh and asked him that direct question.
'Not like a commoner, huh.'
Rayleigh corrected that assumption inwardly.
More accurately, it was that he did not seem like a commoner of this world—or rather, of this specific era.
After all, he originated from a modern socialist country, which was vastly different from a nation operating under a rigid feudal system.
Politeness, refined speech, and those interpersonal things that constituted basic education in a modern age vaguely gave off the air of nobility in this fantasy world.
Though only vaguely.
Modern education was, after all, education based on inherent equality for everyone, completely different from strict court education that deliberately placed people above others in a hierarchy.
In court education, humility and politeness were mostly only utilized toward those of equal or higher social rank.
If she had to say it, Kaguya did not really think Rayleigh seemed exactly like a noble.
But he seemed even less like a commoner.
For her, she simply could not think of any other social class for the time being.
"I am surprised you managed to hold it in this long before asking me," Rayleigh said, a little surprised by her directness.
'Eh?' Kaguya froze.
'What did that mean?'
'Could it be that he knows about those things from my past?'
Kaguya's palm unconsciously tightened around her scabbard.
But then Rayleigh continued, "You all seem to assume I am from the Far East, but in reality, the East is not just that one nation. I come from a much more distant East."
"What?"
After hearing that, Kaguya's eyes immediately widened.
"You mean you came from the Endless Sea?"
Rayleigh was a little speechless.
Come to think of it, some people in Orario did regard the Far East as the end of the world.
There was even a popular saying that if one kept sailing forward across the Endless Sea, in the end they would fall off the edge of the world and drop into oblivion.
Yet within the Magic Empire of Altena and among the Gods, scientific words like "planet" had occasionally been mentioned.
That meant this world was probably still in a transitional period where the flat-earth theory had not yet been completely denied by the general populace.
'The Endless Sea, huh.'
Unfortunately, he was not some drifter wandering on the Endless Sea.
"I am from the East, but not the Far East. Although our physical appearances are somewhat similar, our bloodlines are actually completely different." Rayleigh explained briefly.
He could more or less guess the psychological reason the girl was so distracted.
It was probably entirely because of her past experiences.
Among the Astraea Familia, hers could genuinely be called the most tragic past of all.
Rayleigh did not want to touch that sensitive part of her history.
After all, for Kaguya, those things were already in the past.
For things that had already happened and already ended, Rayleigh had no confidence that he could make her come to terms with them with simple words.
And she herself would not want to suddenly come to terms with them either.
Even if she had once desperately wanted to run away and forget everything, in the end she had still chosen to live on while actively bearing that sin.
"So you are not from the Far East after all..." Kaguya murmured softly, then stopped speaking.
The atmosphere suddenly became a little awkward.
After the break ended, the group continued their task of searching for specific medicinal herbs along the waterways.
The older Mage girl, Ryana, approached the rushing water and reached for a rare herb growing in a crack between the wet rocks.
Just then, a melodic burst of singing suddenly drifted over the current.
Ryana's gaze immediately lost focus, and her whole person suddenly became slack and dazed.
Staring blankly at the flowing water, her body began moving entirely on its own.
It looked like she was about to throw herself directly into the deep river!
"Watch out!"
Rayleigh used Shunpo and appeared instantly at Ryana's side, wrapping a firm arm around her waist in one motion.
At the same time, he opened his free palm toward the shadowy depths of the river.
"Hadō #33: Sōkatsui!"
Boom!
A huge explosion blasted the river apart.
Even the rocky riverbed was exposed by the sheer force.
Amid the towering spray of water, a figure screamed as it tumbled violently through the air.
Ryana snapped out of her daze and saw it too.
Subconsciously, she said the monster's name.
"A Mermaid!"
A monster that lived in the deep water and used vocal charm to make Adventurers destroy themselves.
'Wait—'
'That spell!'
'It did not need an incantation, yet its raw power was actually greater than my own Magic, and it could be released instantly!'
'This man is really absurdly strong!'
Ryana looked up at the young man securely holding her in his arms.
At that moment, the boy's face was completely serious, his eyes fixed tightly on the monster, giving off a brave and highly earnest air.
'Mmphh.'
The Mage's face turned slightly red.
She quickly broke free from his embrace, then awkwardly adjusted her appearance and smoothed out the wrinkles in her robes.
Rayleigh, however, did not notice anything strange about her reaction.
Rather, Ryana moving away was just right, since it let him act freely with his sword arm.
Swish!
With a single Iai slash, he sent out a crescent wave of sword slash that cleanly struck the Mermaid struggling in midair.
The terrifying kinetic force directly blasted the creature to pieces.
Only a portion of the remaining corpse was left behind, still smoking from the Kidō blast.
'Hm?'
'A drop item?'
Rayleigh immediately noticed something among the dissipating remains that was giving off a faint, crimson gleam.
"Could this be...?"
Rayleigh picked up the drop item and then compared it with the knowledge he had learned at the Adventurers Guild.
Sure enough.
It was Mermaid Blood!
Something comparable in efficacy to the highest-grade Elixir, and at the same time one of the most uncertain, RNG-reliant materials among the items required for this specific commission.
After securing this rare material, Rayleigh could not help but think of a special kind of existence within the Dungeon.
That was the Xenos.
In other words, monsters born with sapient intelligence.
They were special, irregular beings reborn from the lingering obsessions of dead monsters.
Although they were born from the Dungeon, their "Mother," they were not loved by that Mother, and they were not protected by the Dungeon's systems.
They would even be actively attacked by other, normal monsters.
The Mermaid among the Xenos, Marie, had once voluntarily let Bell Cranel drink her blood in order to save his life, instantly healing his severe injuries.
That was an action completely impossible for an ordinary, mindless monster Mermaid to perform.
"The commission objective is complete."
"That's wonderful."
"Ryana, are you okay?" Neze asked.
"Yeah, I got charmed by accident. That was careless of me, hehe," Ryana said, laughing a little embarrassedly.
At the same time, that forced laugh was also an attempt to hide the lingering fear in her heart.
It really had been incredibly dangerous just now.
If she had fallen into the rushing water while charmed, her chance of surviving would have been almost nonexistent.
Then—
At that moment, a warm hand rested gently on her shoulder.
It was Rayleigh.
"It is okay now." Rayleigh calmly spoke.
But Ryana suddenly trembled.
When she saw that her companions were not looking this way, her nose turned sour, and a sparkle of genuine tears appeared at the corners of her eyes.
"Mm!"
"But it really was scary."
Ryana showed Rayleigh a sincere smile.
It was much more natural than before, entirely lacking that worrying trace of forcing herself to act strong.
As one of the older members of the group, Ryana always wanted to make herself seem more dependable to the juniors.
Even if she could not be as physically strong or as full of leadership as Alise or Kaguya, she at least wanted to act a little more mature.
But in reality, she was only an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl.
Thinking about it carefully—
Rayleigh realized that he was the only adult 'mentally' in this team.
In fact, considering his past life, it would not even be strange if these girls called him an old man!
Once he thought of it that way, his feelings became rather complicated.