Leaving Quest Area Timer Question(s)

[Rowena]

I finally made it to Mirogana (I'm a terrible speeder rider!). Once I picked up the main quest, I decided to do a side quest first. When I tried to leave Mirogana, I got a warning "Leaving Quest Area" and a timer started counting down. Because I wasn't sure when my last save was, I quickly retraced my steps and the timer went away. My question is this: What is this timer, and what happens if I ignore it? If I select the side quest I wanted, will that give me a new out-of-bounds area with a timer also? TIA!

[IchigoMait]

When you can't save, then you're bound by the leaving area timers, as you can't leave the quest area at that moment. Otherwise you're free to go anywhere you want.

There are also some quests that have a very small timer, where you have to complete the quest before the timer finishes, also you can't fast travel then.
There are some quests where you just can't fast travel, after picking up some stuff that starts the delivery quest.

Most of the quests are just do whenever you want them, and you can sometimes find quest related items without doing the quest, and the quest will act accordingly in terms, oh you already have it.

You can also find treasures without needing to find hints for them which start a quest for the treasure, though I encountered 1 instance where I had to find a treasure I've already found, but at least it didn't break, just had to get to the place.