Something flew through autumn sky as the sun began to set.
Nobody seemed to notice, perhaps because it blended into the sunset.
No, rather, it was flying so high up that even if someone looked up from the ground, they would think it was a bird.
If someone looked closely, they might notice that the silhouette was completely different from that of a bird, but few farmers would bother to check.
The only people who would were adventurers, soldiers, knights, or maybe hunters.
「……Well, there’s nobody like that as far as I can see.」
Rei muttered while riding on Set’s back, who was the shadow flying through the sky.
「Guru~?」
What’s wrong? Set seemed to ask as he turned his head to face Rei.
His wings were flapping slowly, widely……and powerfully.
Rei shook his head as he gently stroked Set’s head.
「No, it’s nothing. It’s just that I was asked by Theorem to got out on reconnaissance and there’s nothing unusual out here, which is a bit boring.」
For a normal human, it would be difficult to make out figures on the ground as the autumn sunset painted everything a deep red.
However, the one flying in the sky was Set, a Griffon, and Rei also possessed superhuman senses.
They scouted the ground without any issue but didn’t find anything unusual.
They continued flying around for another five minutes as they scanned the ground.
If this had been a cavalry reconnaissance, five minutes would have been nothing.
But, for Set……it was five minutes on a flying Griffon.
Considering his speed, it could be said that they had scouted more than enough of the area Theorem had requested.
「Looking at the ground, even if there is anything down there, it’s probably just Goblins or something. There’s no sign of a punitive force.」
「Gurururu~?」
What do we do then? Set seemed to ask as he turned around again. Thinking for a few seconds, Rei spoke.
「That’s right, we’ve already scouted out the requested area, so let’s go back to camp. That said, the camp should’t be ready yet……huh?」
As he spoke, Rei spied something strange on the ground, a group of humans.
A punitive force? Rei thought for a moment, but looking closely, two groups seemed to be fighting each other.
No, calling them two groups wasn’t the right term. A small group was being assaulted by a much larger force.
However, in terms of combat strength, they appeared to be evenly matched. This was because the small group had a certain level of skill and, while they couldn’t fight off a force of a thousand soldiers……they were capable enough to deal with the people attacking them.
That said, it was difficult to continue to block the relentless attacks against them when surrounded, and it was clear that they were gradually taking small injuries.
「If things continue like this, the smaller group will eventually be overwhelmed. If that happens, they’ll probably be in a lot of misery, huh.」
The smaller group comprised of only five people. All of them were women.
The attackers had about 30 people, all men.
「……Well then, what should we do?」
「Guru~?」
Aren’t you going to help? Set seemed to ask with a cry. Rei stroked Set’s neck with a difficult expression as he thought.
(Indeed, if it were the usual me, I would definitely help them. In most cases like this, the attacks would be bandits. But……)
The reason Rei hesitated was because neither the attacker nor the ones being attacked seemed to be bandits or adventurers.
Adventurers would normally wear equipment best suited for them.
But the people below were different.
The women all wore white metal armour while the men were all wearing black metal armour.
Yes, just like in armies.
「It seems like they belong to an army or knight order. Maybe a mercenary group?」
Though he said that, Rei thought it unlikely that they were from a mercenary group.
Just like adventurers, mercenary groups were small, self-contained forces. In other words, roles within the group were usually divided into scouting, healing, long ranged attacks, and a vanguard. It would be hard for a mercenary group to have even five sets of high quality white metal armour, like the women were wearing.
「Well, if it were a famous mercenary group, it might be a different story……but even so, what should we really do?」
Rei gave a sigh as he looked down from above.
Fortunately, Set was hidden by the sun’s glare as he flew in the sky, so he didn’t worry about being found out as he thought carefully.
However, even as he thought, the battle taking place below continued as the women were slowly being overwhelmed by numbers, merely prolonging their defeat.
And, because Rei could see everything with his own eyes, he could see the vulgar smiles on the faces of the men.
Seeing that, it was clear what would happen if the women lost.
「I do feel sorry for them, but if I were to help them, there’s a chance a lot of bad things will happen.」
The reason Rei didn’t take part in the previous battle against the punitive force was so that the punitive force……and by extension Shurus, wouldn’t know that he had joined the rebel army.
The battle currently taking place below wasn’t between adventurers and bandits.
Of course, it wasn’t impossible for such a battle to take place right under the rebel army’s area of control……but it was very unlikely.
「If that were the case, if we were to help them, we’d have to keep everyone quiet……」
Rei muttered to himself, but keeping them quiet didn’t necessarily mean killing everyone.
It might become necessary for the rebel army to temporarily restrain them, but that was all.
That said, if that needed to happen, it would mean keeping unwanted elements in the camp……and it was likely that people like Theorem and Tilleyle wouldn’t be the happiest about that.
(It’s unfortunate……but I guess I’ll have to abandon them. Those women, whether they’re knights, mercenaries, or adventurers, probably took up this work knowing they would suffer if they were ever defeated on the battlefield.)
Having made that decision, he was about to tell Set to go back to camp when……
「We can’t lose! Not until we meet Prince Mercurio!」
A shout was heard from one of the women on the ground.
The shout reached Rei’s ears, maybe because it seemed to come from the bottom of her soul.
It wasn’t clear what kind of coincidence had led to Rei hearing it, but he definitely heard it.
Of course, the woman hadn’t shouted out for Rei to hear. To begin with, she didn’t even know Rei and Set were here.
But regardless, her shout was heard by Rei.
And, now that he had heard that shout……that they were going to meet with Mercurio, as someone working with the rebel army, Rei had no choice but to help them.
He had wanted to help them if he could.
But he hadn’t……because the way he was working with the rebel army meant that he wanted to avoid others finding out about it as much as possible.
However, it was a different matter if the women being attacked had business with the rebel army.
Taking out the Death Scythe from the Misty Ring, Rei lightly tapped Set on the neck.
「Let’s go, Set.」
「Guru~!」
Seeing Rei with the Death Scythe in hand, it was clear what he wanted.
Set gave a short and clear cry before spreading his wings and descending.
Set’s flying could be described as a glide and he made almost no noise as he circled behind the men.
As the men were focused on the women in front of them, they didn’t notice the deadly threat approaching them from behind.
In fact, it was the women facing the men who noticed first.
Their eyes all went wide when a Griffon suddenly appeared in front of them from the sunset.
Some let out cries of shock, but the men just assumed they were cries of despair before impending defeat……
「Gururururururu~!」
The moment they heard that cry from behind, most of the men froze up.
It was Set’s skill, King’s Awe.
It was a skill that had the effect of freezing the movements of anyone who heard it, but it wasn’t at a very high level, so anyone with a certain level of strength would have no difficulty in resisting it.
But……that was only the case if they were aware of Set’s presence and had their guard up.
In front of the five women who would soon lose their ability to fight, their gazes had become clouded with animalistic lust. In that situation, it was impossible for the men to resist the sudden use of King’s Awe from their backs.
And, the moment they froze up……a being that the men could only describe as a bringer of despair charged in.
「Haaaaaaaaaah-!」
Set charged at the men at the same speed he had been gliding at.
Naturally, Rei swung his Death Scythe at the same time.
The scythe, that was comically large compared to Rei’s size, split the men’s bodies in half as heads and limbs were cut off.
Cutting through the group of men, Set then flapped his wings to slow down and land as he arrived in front of the five women.
It was just an instant……to the men, it was only a split second, but in that moment, Rei and Set had charged in from behind and rendered half of their force unable to fight.
Fortunately, only half of them had died, but if asked whether those who had lost limbs would be able to continue working as adventurers, mercenaries, soldiers, or knights, the answer was no.
In just an instant, Rei had torn apart the lives of those men.
The only silver lining was that the leader of the group had somehow managed to survive.
However, that was more just pure luck than due to any kind of skill.
If anything else had been different, he might have been the one to die with all his organs, flesh, blood, and bones strewn over the ground.
It was probably because of this that no one, including the leader, could say a word to Rei and Set before them.
「……Now then. I know I’m asking after doing all this, but who are you all?」
Rei swung his Death Scythe to wipe the blood off the blade as he asked. The first to speak seemed to be the one leading the women.
「Before that, I want to ask. That Griffon and giant scythe. You are, I believe, Crimson Rei-sama?」
Rei was a little surprised by the somewhat formal way of speech, but nodded back.
The faces of the men seeing this visibly paled.
They should have realised earlier that it was Rei standing before them, but Set’s charge had crushed their forces and their thoughts had probably been paralyzed as a result.
「That’s right. And what about you?」
At his prompting, the woman glanced towards the men before speaking.
「We are servants of Princess Frizione. We came here on business……but I never thought that Rei-sama would really be here. So that means the information was true after all. This is our luck.」
Hearing the words of from the woman, Rei realised that she had been the one who had shouted out before and could roughly guess what their business was.
(Since she mentioned Mercurio’s name, there’s no doubt that she has business with the rebel army. And the name Frizione sounded familiar. I’m sure she was Vihera’s sister……that’s who she was. I thought she had sided with the punitive force, so what’s going on? No, anyway, that’s not the main point right now……)
Rei had many doubts in his mind, but he decided that he couldn’t just leave the men alone in the meantime.
Since they had attacked those who had business with Mercurio, that mean that they were probably enemies of the rebel army.
「Should we keep them alive and capture them?」
The leader of the women hesitated for a moment before nodding in response to Rei’s question.
「If we capture one of them……the leader, we don’t need the others.」
「I understand.」
The men seemed to regain their senses after hearing Rei’s words and realising that their lives were in danger.
「W-Wait! Wait! We’re not your enemies!」
「……Then drop your weapons. I recognise anyone still carrying a weapon as an enemy.」
The moment they heard those words, all the men threw their weapons to the ground……and contrary to what the leader of the women had said, they ended up capturing the remaining survivors.