Clouds covered the skies and it was freezing cold, to the point where it wouldn’t be strange for it to snow at any moment. In this weather, Rei’s party left Gilm and was travelling by carriage towards the Forest of Monsters to hunt Gamelions.
「There are quite a few people about, aren’t there.」
One of the men from the guerrilla force muttered while looking out the window from inside the carriage.
He could see several adventurer parties from where he was.
The smaller ones consisted of about three people, while the larger ones had close to ten people forming a party.
Of course, Rei’s group included Rent and the 4 former guerrilla force members, making a total of six people themselves.
Furthermore, with Set present, there was no doubt they were on the larger side in terms of party size.
……Not just in numbers, but in combat power as well.
Rent, who was sitting in the back of the carriage, spoke to the man.
「Well, Rei figured out that the reason there were so few Gamelions this year was because of the dungeon.」
「Hey, Rent. Just so you know, we still don’t know for sure, alright?」
「Not necessarily. Word is that parties hunting Gamelions over the last few days have actually found some, and many have even managed to take them down. Considering that, it’s probably safe to assume that what Rei said at the guild was spot on.」
「Gururu~!」
Set must have been happy to hear Rei praised, even from outside the carriage. Set gave a happy cry as he walked alongside the carriage.
There was no way Johanna could stay quiet hearing Set like that, she directed a gaze that practically screamed that she wanted to pat him towards Set, outside the window.
Treating it as a regular occurrence, everyone inside the carriage directed a mildly exasperated gaze towards Johanna.
At the same time, everyone, except Johanna and Rent, could see that the gaze Rent directed at Johanna was particularly passionate.
「H-Hey! Could someone swap with me soon!?」
A small sliding door prepared for communicating with the carriage driver’s seat opened, and one of the men from the former guerrilla force called out to the inside as he shivered.
Since he was in the driver’s seat controlling the horses the horse, the man was naturally left exposed to the freezing cold.
No matter how much winter gear he wore over his armour, it was a different story knowing the rest of the group was staying warm inside the carriage.
The other two men wore expressions of reluctance at his words.
Needless to say, Rei was the highest fighting power present, and they were in the position of receiving his help.
They didn’t think Johanna would take on the role of a coachman, where she’d have to pay attention to the horse’s movements rather than gazing at Set.
Rent was the one who brought up the idea of this hunt, and he probably wouldn’t want to leave Johanna’s side.
That being the case, the one who would have to swap places with the driver would inevitably have to be one of the remaining two men.
The two men exchanged glances, but eventually, one of them let out a sigh as he stood up.
The fact that the man who remained sitting in the carriage looked relieved meant that some sort of conclusion had been reached through their exchange of glances.
「Understood. I’ll swap with you, so come back inside.」
「Sorry, that’s a big help.」
After that exchange, the man stepped outside through the door leading to the driver’s seat.
Watching him go, Rei directed a somewhat exasperated look at Rent.
(He didn’t have to choose a path of suffering like this.)
From what Rei could see, it was obvious that Johanna didn’t dislike Rent.
But that merely meant she didn’t dislike him, it definitely didn’t mean she held any romantic feelings for him.
Even if she did have feelings for him, it was likely as a friend.
Also, even if Johanna and Rent somehow ended up together, considering Johanna’s Set loving personality, it was certain he would have a hard time.
(Ah, but Johanna’s family runs a fairly large merchant company. If so, ending up with her would make it a reverse Cinderella situation? Maybe he was aiming for that……probably not.)
To say he was after Johanna for her money, the gaze Rent directed at her was far too passionate for that.
Seeing Rent like that, how many people would actually think he was after her money?
While he thought about such things, the carriage continued straight towards the plains where Gamelions appeared every year.
「There really are a lot of people.」
「Didn’t I tell you that in the carriage on the way here? Rei’s story has spread quite a bit, so there are a lot of guys coming out to hunt Gamelions even now.」
Rent replied to the mutter of the man from the former guerrilla force as they dismounted from the carriage.
In the plains where it was said Gamelions often appeared every year, several parties could be seen, even from a distance.
The others heading here besides Rei’s group had been left behind since Rei’s group was travelling by carriage.
Also, despite passing several parties on the way here, there were still already many parties searching for Gamelions in the plains.
Originally, to hunt Gamelions, it was necessary to bring a handcart or something similar.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to transport the hunted Gamelions.
In that regard, Rei’s party, receiving cooperation from Rei who could use an item box, was at a huge advantage.
「Well, for now, I’ll go look for Gamelions from the sky with Set. If I find any, I just need to come back and let you guys know, right?」
「Huh? Ah, yeah. That would be a big help.」
Rent, who had been looking for a chance to talk to Johanna, replied to Rei’s words.
Even before arriving at these plains, Rent had tried to talk to Johanna countless times, but in the end, he was hardly able to find an opportunity.
Actually, since they had managed converse a few times, perhaps he should be commended for a good effort.
(No matter how you look at it, he chose the wrong target.)
Johanna’s gaze was still directed at Set, not Rent.
Since Johanna was so completely engrossed in Set, even when Rent tried to talk to her, she often unintentionally ignored him.
「Gururu~?」
Rei patted the head of Set, who gave a cry as if asking ‘What’s wrong?’, and spoke.
「It’s nothing. Come on, we’re going to look for Gamelions, so lend me a hand.」
「Guru~!」
Rei straddled the back of Set, who gave a happy cry as if to say ‘Leave it to me!’, and ignored the envious look Johanna was directing at him as he lightly patted Set’s back.
「Alright, I’m counting on you.」
「Gurururururu~!」
Giving a loud cry at Rei’s words, Set took a few running steps, flapped his wings, and ran up into the sky.
Not just Johanna’s group……but other adventurers as well turned their gazes towards Set.
However, the emotions mixed into those gazes were not anticipation, but rather disappointment, sadness, envy, and jealousy.
Though, that could be said to be only natural.
Only Rei and Set could search for Gamelion from the sky, giving them an overwhelming advantage.
Furthermore, since they had all come here to hunt Gamelions as well, many were eagerly gathering information about where they could be.
In other words, they also knew that Rei had taken down a massive number of Gamelions in the dungeon, obtained their corpses, and deposited them with the guild.
You’ve already hunted a massive amount of Gamelions, so why are you here competing with us?
It was natural for them to think that.
「Well, it’s a test of ability in the end, so in that sense, Rent used his head to invite me along. Though I wouldn’t have agreed to help if it wasn’t for the cheese.」
Rei muttered while on Set’s back, feeling the gazes directed at him.
「Gururu~?」
「No, it’s nothing. Come on, let’s find some Gamelions.」
Patting Set, who tilted his head as if asking ‘What’s wrong?’, Rei directed his gaze downward.
Despite it already being winter, lush grass grew over the ground, as if to say the season didn’t matter, forming the plains.
Rei searched for the figures of Gamelions as he looked down at the grass rich plains.
There were already some places where several Gamelions were engaged in combat with adventurers, but he couldn’t very well interfere with Gamelions already being hunted, so he looked for ones that hadn’t come into contact with any adventurers yet.
「Looking at it like this, the reason there were so few Gamelions this year really was because of the dungeon.」
From the sky, he could spot a decent number of Gamelions.
It was definitely wasn’t a case of someone coming to look for Gamelions and not being able to find any.
「If that’s the case, I guess the Gamelion season starts now. ……Well, it’s going to snow soon, so when that happens, hunting Gamelions will become tough due to the cold and everything.」
「Guru~」
While Rei was muttering to himself, Set suddenly gave a cry.
Following Set’s line of sight, Rei noticed a single Gamelion curled up in a small grove in the plains.
Was it sleeping, hiding so it wouldn’t be found, or did it have some other intention?
He didn’t know the reason, but what mattered was that the Gamelion hadn’t been found by anyone else yet.
(However, even if it’s quite far away, sleeping while many Gamelions are fighting adventurers nearby is……either it’s extremely bold, or it’s just that confident in its own strength.)
If it was a Gamelion confident in its strength, it might actually be dangerous for Rent and the others.
Rei hesitated for a moment on whether to tell them about that Gamelion, but ultimately judged that it was up to Rent and the others to make the decision whether to hunt it or not, the role expected of Rei was just to find the Gamelions.
Though, Rent aside, the other members weren’t strangers to him.
If it became truly dangerous, Rei didn’t mind giving them a hand.
「Let’s head back then. Thanks for pointing out its location, Set.」
「Gururu~!」
As Rei patted his back along with words of gratitude, Set gave a happy cry and headed back towards the carriage.
Since they had found a Gamelion shortly after taking to the sky, they hadn’t flown particularly far.
They quickly went back to the carriage after landing on the ground.
「Ah, Rei-san. How was it? Since you came back so quickly, it means you found a Gamelion, right?」
Rei nodded at the words of one of the men from the former guerrilla force.
Seeing that, the others also raised happy voices.
……Though Johanna seemed like she couldn’t wait to pat Set.
「There’s a grove a short distance west of here, and a single Gamelion is curled up inside it. I don’t know if it’s sleeping or not, but as far as I could tell from above, it didn’t look like any other adventurers had found it.」
「Then let’s go with that one. If it’s sleeping, we can launch a surprise attack. Let’s go before other adventurers spot it!」
With the words of Johanna, who was effectively the leader of this party, their target Gamelion was decided.
Since Rei was purely here for reconnaissance this time and an outsider to the party, he had no intention of saying anything about Johanna’s decision.
It would be a different story if it was a clearly incorrect decision, but in this case, he had no particular objections.
(Actually, there is a possibility it’s just sleeping……and in that case, it’s a fact that we’d be at an advantage.)
Rei nodded, and they were about to head towards the grove without delay……when Rent’s voice stopped their movements.
「Wait a second. What are we going to do with the carriage if we all go? Sure, there are other adventurers around, and I don’t think there are any idiots who would think to steal a carriage when Rei is here, but shouldn’t we have someone keep watch just in case? There’s no guarantee monsters like Goblins won’t come either.」
At those words, everyone thought ‘Now that you mention it……’ and directed their gazes at the carriage they had come in.
The carriage the guerrilla force members received as their reward from the civil war was by no means of high quality.
Of course, it wasn’t the kind of thing that would break down right after getting in, but in terms of quality, it was only slightly above average, maybe upper mid tier.
That was true not just for the carriage, but for the horses pulling it as well.
If they were strictly trained warhorses, they would be able to effortlessly trample Goblins to death.
But the horses pulling the carriage Rei’s group rode in weren’t exactly a warhorses.
It wouldn’t be strange for them to bolt if attacked by Goblins.
……Though, it did have enough nerves to get used to Set during the journey from the Bestir Empire to Gilm.
Even so, if things went poorly, there was a possibility it would run off with the carriage.
「Right, then……Set, can I count on you?」
「Guru~!」
Set gave a cry at Rei’s words, as if to say ‘Leave it to me!’.
Seeing this, everyone present was convinced of the carriage’s safety.
If anyone dared to mess with the carriage while a Griffon was present, they could be called a hero in a certain sense.
……A hero boasting reckless bravery, that is.
At any rate, they left the carriage to Set, and the rest of the members proceeded towards the grove, guided by Rei.
They walked like that for about twenty minutes. Finally, their destination grove came into view.
「It’s over there……or at least it was.」
Looking towards the grove and hearing the sounds of combat, Rei shook his head slightly.
「Seems we were a step too late……woah!」
Without finishing his sentence, he caught something that came flying out of the grove.
The reason he didn’t swat it away or dodge was likely because that ‘something’ had the shape of a person.
「……Guess we aren’t exactly too late either.」
He muttered that as he lowered the unconscious, petite man, who appeared to be a rat Beastkin, to the ground.