The battle, fought under the moonlight that filtered intermittently through the clouds, was decided in an anticlimactic manner.

From the beginning, Rei’s combat strength was overwhelmingly superior compared to the men Keep had prepared.

Under such circumstances, it was natural that Keep’s side, which only held the numbers advantage, was defeated.

「Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!」

Having lost both his arms, Keep wailed in excruciating pain.

Blood flowed ceaselessly from both his shoulders, and at this rate, it would not be long before he died of massive blood loss.

Even if he wanted to stop the bleeding, nothing remained past the shoulders on either side, leaving Keep capable of nothing more than screaming in intense agony.

Freon had sent her fellow adventurers running to call the city guards, but none believed he would last until they arrived.

(I acted too hastily. I should have just broken his arms instead of severing them. ……Tch, if it were those knights over there, there wouldn’t have been any need to go out of my way to treat them.)

Thinking that his rash action had created unnecessary trouble for himself, Rei took out a potion from the Misty Ring.

However, that potion was by no means a high grade item.

Given his current state where the arms had only just been severed, a high grade potion might have reattached them.

However, such potions were naturally extremely rare, and Rei could see no point in using such a rare potion on Keep, who was screaming before him.

Of course, the potion in Rei’s hand right now was still a reasonably expensive item even if it was not quite that rare.

Opening the potion bottle, he poured it roughly over both of Keep’s shoulders.

After that, the blood flowing from both shoulders visibly decreased.

While it could not stop the bleeding completely, treating him to this extent ensured he would not die before the guards arrived.

「That’s quite merciful coming from you, Rei.」

Dietz, who was keeping watch over the unconscious men to prevent them from waking up, muttered in slight surprise upon seeing Rei use a potion on Keep.

He said those words because he knew that while Rei was relatively lenient toward allies, he showed no mercy to those who opposed him.

However, Sergio, who was likewise watching over the unconscious men, shook his head at Dietz.

「This man, Keep, is the ringleader of this incident. As such, handing him over to the guards alive makes a massive difference compared to handing over a corpse. Furthermore, if he dies here, Rei might end up being blamed for taking things too far.」

「Ah, well, he is a noble. Even though they were the ones attempting an ambush, if he died resisting capture, they might kick up a fuss.」

Perhaps possessing past experiences with nobility, a tinge of bitterness seeped into Dietz’s tone.

「Well, even seeing a guy who lost both arms like this, they might still complain……but if that happens, I’ll just dump it all on Daska-sama.」

Perhaps relieved by the easing of the pain and the stemming of the bleeding from his shoulders, Keep had lost consciousness at some point as Rei muttered while looking at him.

Elsewhere, men who were not knocked out but had been thoroughly beaten by Sergio and the others groaned in pain.

However, nobody present looked upon these men with sympathy.

On the contrary, most cast cold glances at them, viewing it as something they deserved.

「Set-chan, you did great today. Um……here, I don’t have warm food given the timing, but I do have this. Good work.」

Meanwhile, showing no interest in the fallen men, Johanna fed dried meat taken from a pouch at her waist to Set.

「Gurururu~!」

Giving a happy cry, Set took the dried meat into his beak.

Johanna narrowed her eyes happily as she doted on Set, stroking his head, neck, and body.

They maintained their vigil for about ten minutes, keeping watch over the conscious men to prevent escape and monitoring the unconscious ones to ensure they did not wake up. Eventually, noticing the sound of many footsteps approaching, Rei spoke with a surprised expression.

「Heh, they arrived quite quickly. Well, it isn’t that late into the night yet, and above all, it’s only natural for them to come so quickly since it’s a disturbance in the noble district.」

「Nobles certainly have it nice.」

「Dietz, I understand you have your grievances, but I’d rather not stir up unnecessary trouble here.」

After Rei said that, Dietz nodded slightly and fell silent without saying anything further.

Shortly afterwards, the city guards appeared.

「All right, take all the unconscious ones away! Oh, Rei. It really was you. I heard about this from Daska-sama, but even so, I didn’t think it would turn into such a massive disturbance.」

The one who rushed to the scene and issued orders as he lightly raised a hand to call out to Rei was a familiar face.

He was a man holding a fairly high position among the city guards.

Raising a hand in return to acknowledge the greeting, Rei tilted his head in puzzlement.

「I was sure Ranga would come, but I guess not.」

「Ah……normally that would be the case, but Captain Ranga was summoned by Daska-sama.」

「Could it be that some other trouble has cropped up?」

In response to Rei’s hesitant look, the man smiled and continued.

「Don’t worry, nothing bad happened. If anything, it’s good news for you guys. In the duel you fought today, the Baron Cisne family won half the assets of that young master’s house, right? It’s to carry that out promptly.」

「……I don’t think that’s a job for the captain of the city guards, though.」

「The Baron Cisne family has no intention of moving away from Gilm. As for the assets, rather than territory or mines, they intend to accept easily transportable goods like money, magic items, and works of art.」

Hearing those words, it was easy to imagine why Captain Ranga of the city guards had been called.

Precisely because he could imagine it, Rei looked at the man before him.

「Normally, wouldn’t adventurers or mercenaries take on escort jobs like that? Why are the city guards doing it?」

「The Earl Eliel family is apparently quite an arrogant house, as you can tell from that Keep over there. And because they’re that sort of house, they’ve naturally hoarded quite a fortune……so it was decided that guards led by Captain Ranga would be dispatched to escort it. Apparently, there was also a request from the Baron Cisne family.」

「……Well, if both sides have agreed, I have no complaints.」

They were bringing back half the Earl Eliel family’s fortune. Naturally, there was an extremely high possibility of disputes arising on the Earl Eliel family’s side. ……No, it was practically guaranteed.

Claiming that fortune would surely cause chaos within the Earl Eliel family.

That was only natural. Wagering half the family fortune was something Keep had done arbitrarily without obtaining the head of the house’s permission.

Normally, even a legitimate heir could not do such a thing, and there were plenty of ways to talk their way out of it.

However, being officially registered as the legitimate heir, Keep bore responsibility for his words.

On top of that, having been legally formalised, there was no room for evasion.

Even so……if those collecting the assets were mere adventurers, the Earl Eliel family would have had any number of ways to deal with them.

To prevent that, Mouet had turned to Daska for help.

Accepting that request provided substantial benefits for Daska as well.

Beyond remuneration, he could openly observe another noble’s territory and expect an expansion of his influence as part of the Neutral Faction.

Thus, with their mutual interests aligned, Ranga was to be dispatched to Earl Eliel’s territory.

「Leaving that matter aside, then. These guys were trying to attack Baron Cisne’s residence, right?」

Though he already knew, the man asked Rei for confirmation.

Rei nodded in response.

「Yeah. If you want the details, you’ll get them by interrogating these guys.」

「I see. If they tried to attack a noble’s residence, then regardless of the noble and knights over there, that group over there will likely be sent into slavery. What will you do? Will you take them, Rei?」

「No, I’ll pass. ……Let’s see.」

Rei turned his gaze towards Freon, but she was already expressing blatant disgust toward the men. Making it clear she wanted nothing more to do with them, she directed a sharp glare at Rei.

Next, Rei looked over at Brazos, who was carrying the Earthshaking Hammer on his shoulder.

However, suspecting that entrusting the funds carelessly to Brazos would see it all spent on alcohol, he ultimately called out to Sergio.

「Sergio, I’ll leave the negotiations regarding the slaves to you. Make sure the proceeds are split properly among everyone here.」

「Me? Well, if everyone is fine with it, I don’t mind……but is it really all right for a newcomer like me to manage it?」

Sergio asked, glancing at the members outside the former guerrilla force.

Freon was the first to speak.

「Well, shouldn’t it be fine? You’re an acquaintance of Rei, so you won’t pull anything funny.」

That was an implicit warning that if he pulled any strange tricks, Rei’s reputation would also be damaged.

「Yes, please rest assured on that front. There is no way I could tarnish Rei’s name.」

Despite the remnants of the brawl scattered around them, Sergio nodded with a smile that gave off no trace of the tension.

 

 

Around the time Keep, his knights, and the men he brought were captured, a carriage was moving through the night in Gilm.

Sitting on the coachman’s seat of the carriage, moving at an unhurried pace to feign travelling at night due to some disruption in plans, was a man so obese that he was clearly discernible even under the moonlight filtering through the clouds.

「Haa, haa, haa. ……Good grief, I never thought I would be reduced to acting as a coachman for a carriage.」

Controlling the horses with unfamiliar handling was evidently arduous for Furtos, who rarely exercised. Despite the winter night with snow fluttering down, sweat beaded across his flabby face.

Or rather, his sweat was likely not purely due to his inexperience at handling the horses.

Inside the carriage Furtos was currently driving was a vast amount of gold, silver, and other treasures.

Most of it was what he had hauled out from the residence prepared in Gilm by the Earl Eliel family.

Keep was supposed to have already attacked the Baron Cisne family, and indeed, faint commotion had been audible when Furtos slipped out of the noble district.

Because Furtos had obtained the patrol routes of the adventurers guarding the noble district through his own intelligence network, he slipped out of the noble district without being spotted by the adventurers, and the carriage was now proceeding through the city of Gilm.

「All that remains is to hide within the city for a while like this, and slip out of Gilm once the commotion dies down……」

His future life would undoubtedly be rosy.

Thinking so, Furtos gripped the reins even while panting for breath.

「Even so, this is moving slower than expected. Did I pack in too much cargo after all?」

Lacking stamina to begin with, he had made countless trips back and forth between the carriage and the residence to pack away the gold, silver, and treasures.

While he felt irritated that the horses’ pace was so sluggish, it also meant the treasures inside the carriage were that abundant, bringing him joy.

「If possible, I would have liked a little more. No, being too greedy is not goo……eh?」

Mid-sentence, just as he thought he heard a sound, he felt a light impact and before he knew it, something was protruding from his chest.

「This is……a stick? Why is such a thing……cough.」

As he was speaking, something welled up from his throat.

「Cough, hack.」

He coughed, and spitting out what surged up his throat, it was crimson……blood.

The moment he understood that, Furtos was struck by intense agony.

「Aaaaaaaaaaaah!」

The pain radiating from his chest was an intense agony that felt as though it were whittling away his very life.

「Guh, cough!」

Furthermore, the blood he coughed up increased without stopping……

「W-Why……」

Without even knowing why he was dying, Furtos tumbled straight off the coachman’s seat onto the ground.

His misfortune was tumbling down between the coachman’s seat and the horses pulling it.

A massive haul of treasure was loaded in the carriage, and under that weight, the wheels crushed Furtos’s corpse. Unable to roll over the body and slipping on Furtos’s blood, flesh, and copious fat, the carriage overturned onto the ground.

「Neigh!」

The horse pulling the carriage let out a distressed cry, but there was no one nearby to hear it.

「……Hey, what should we do? Is it fine to leave the carriage like that?」

Lowering the bow he had aimed, a man observing the carriage’s situation from afar turned to look at his partner beside him.

However, the other man spoke without showing any particular emotion.

「It doesn’t matter. We were only ordered to eliminate that pig called Furtos. The higher-ups probably judged there was no need to keep someone who brought shame to the Royalist Faction alive.」

「I see. ……There’s treasure loaded in that carriage, right? Is it fine to leave that as well?」

「Yeah. If we carelessly ransack the carriage here, it will look like the work of thieves. Apparently, this must be recognised as a purge by the Royalist Faction.」

「Hmm. Nobles certainly have a lot on their plate.」

Even with only faint moonlight, having aimed for the heart of a target moving in a night carriage and pierced the mark with a single arrow from nearly 300m away, the man exchanged words in a light tone as if what he had done was completely natural.

「More importantly, let’s leave quickly. The city guards will arrive soon. It wouldn’t be amusing to get spotted.」

「Aye, aye.」

Saying only that, the two men vanished, blending into the darkness of the night.

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