「To actually pull in the Prairie Wolves. Really, Rei has really performed beyond my expectations.」

Inside the carriage, Runo mumbled out loud. Beside him, the two knights who heard that turned to look at Rei in surprise.

「Speaking of the Prairie Wolves, they’re the most well known bandits in this area. To be able to pull them to our side……」

「For now, if they’re here, maybe it means we won’t have to be wary of other bandits.」

At the words of the knights, Rei frowned involuntarily.

「Are there bandits that would try to do anything? To an army this big?」

The Rowlocks army alone had over 5,000 troops. Considering the number of troops that had joined in Abuero, there were already more than 7,000 troops in the combined army. Rei really didn’t think there were any bandits that would try to do anything to them.

However, Runo shook his head at Rei with a bitter smile.

「Certainly, if you think of it as an army of 7,000, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to us. However, even if there are over 7,000 of us, we’re still people. We’re not always going to act as a group. Especially those on night watch, they are good prey for bandits. Ordinary soldiers are strong in groups. By themselves, they aren’t that strong. Furthermore, the surroundings are dark at night……」

「That’s how it is. Nevertheless, Daska-sama has considered that. Several adventurers are mixed in with the soldiers on night watch to improve their overall strength.」

「Adventurers, is it.」

Rei mumured to himself at the guards’ words, remembering the faces of his acquaintances who were participating in this war.

Many adventurers from Gilm had joined the Rowlocks army. For example, following the promise made with Rei, the A rank party Axe of the Thunder God would protect this country……there was also the C rank party Scorching Wind, who secretly hoped Set wouldn’t be hurt in this war, and the D rank party Eternal Power, who had joined purely for the rewards.

As an individual, Rei wasn’t that good at socialising, so he didn’t know that many people. But even then, many of them had decided to participate in this war.

「Well, anyway, bandits probably won’t be targeting us. They’re looking for our supplies. However, nearly half the supplies are stored inside Rei’s item box and the remaining half of the supplies are strictly guarded. ……Well, the army from Abuero seems to have taken some damage.」

「That seems to be the case. Because they don’t have an item box like Rei does, they’ve probably followed the ordinary arrangement.」

The knight nodded at his fellow knight’s words.

The original plan had been for Rei to carry supplies other than the Rowlocks army’s in his item box. In fact, when hiring Rei, Daska had hinted at that in one of his statements. However, after actually carrying out the logistics work, Rei’s mental fatigue was quite high and he probably wouldn’t have been able to handle even more military supplies. As a result, Rei stayed in charge of only the Rowlocks army’s supplies.

「That said, I never imagined that moving an army was that big of a hassle.」

「Hahaha~, well, that’s right. Since you travel on Set all the time, it’s rare to walk like this, right?」

One of the knights smiled at Rei’s murmuring.

It was quite well known among the adventurers of Gilm that Rei travelled around on Set. It wasn’t like anyone was stalking him, rather he moved around on Set openly in public. Even the general public who kept somewhat up to date with events knew, let alone adventurers.

And because the knight had heard about this as well, he laughed at Rei as he pointed it out.

「Even if you tell me that, it’s normal to me.」

From Rei’s perspective, after entering his current body in this world called Elgin, he had created Set with the Magic Beast Art shortly after. Because of that, it had become normal for him to move around with Set.

That was why he was able to understand why Set had felt so lonely and wanted to be spoiled last night after having to act separately from Rei for such a long time.

It had been something similar to after Rei’s rank up test previously.

「I did have to walk around while working as an adventurer. ……Well, even then, I didn’t move so slowly.」

The slowest speed he had ever travelled at so far was probably during escort request with Beautiful Raindrops. Coincidentally, his destination at that time had been Sabrusta, which they were now heading towards. The favour the Prairie Wolves owed him, which they had been talking about previously, had also happened at that time.

「……Well, speaking of it, here it is. Look.」

While Rei was recalling that, Runo, who had been looking out the window, spoke out.

Following Runo’s line of sight, Rei saw the city of Sabrusta, dyed in the colours of the setting sun.

「Ah……it’s better to join up, but what should we do?」

「Hm? What do you mean?」

One of the knights asked in response to Rei’s casual mutters.

「Well, the more people we have, the slower we’ll move. In the end, it will take us more time to reach the battlefield.」

「Is that so? According to what I heard, it seems the number of reinforcements from Sabrusta is less than 1,000. I don’t think there will be a difference in travel time.」

「……Less than 1,000? That’s very few people.」

Runo responsed at the knight’s words.

When the knight heard that, he shook his head with slight frown.

「The deputy lord of Sabrusta has many bad rumours surrounding him. In particular, he seems to have a strong obsession with money……」

「Hey, hey, hey, hey, wait a moment. What does that mean? No way, since it costs a lot to form a large army, he’s only sending the minimum number?」

At Runo’s confused words, Rei suddenly remembered the rumours he had heard during his previous escort request.

「Come to think of it, have you heard anything about Sabrusta’s deputy lord being connected to bandits?」

「It’s probably true. Otherwise, it would be unnatural for there to be so many bandits, including the Prairie Wolves, in this area.」

「Why don’t you ask Egg for confirmation?」

The knight shook his head in response to Rei’s question.

「Certainly, he’s connected to bandits. But that doesn’t mean that merchants are being completely destroyed. Even though there’s foul play, there is also a sense of balance. It’s only up to the level where the noble who left the territory to him will overlook it.」

「And as for the number of reinforcements, he can make up some good excuses for the noble……that’s about it.」

The other knight, who was looking out towards Sabrusta from the window, murmured with a frown.

The city of Sabrusta, which could be seen from the window, was getting larger and larger. The dispatched troops waiting in front of the city could also start to be seen from inside the carriage.

Seeing the number of people waiting, Rei spoke somewhat dumbfounded.

「……That’s not even 1,000 people, maybe 500?」

Of course, Rei didn’t have the special ability to count things just by looking at them like Keo, who was in charge of supplies. However, even so, he couldn’t believe that the number of people he was looking at would reach 1,000.

It was the same for the knights and Runo.

「It looks like it. However, 500 is less than 1,000. I didn’t lie.」

「Again, with all the technicalities.」

At the knight’s words, Runo grumbled.

「Still, since they are from a different faction from us, Daska-sama has no right to order them around. ……Seriously, if only they would consider the possibility of losing the war rather than a little bit of money.」

「What, he probably never thought about losing the war. And if we did, he would probably be the first to run away.」

「Rei, that’s a bit of exaggeration.」

One of the knights called out to Rei with a laugh.

Even if he didn’t draw any attention to himself, for the deputy lord to only send the minimum number of people to save on money seemed silly to Rei.

「Don’t worry about it. ……It’s strange to say this, but if this gets spread around to the other nobles, things will get interesting.」

The other knight advised Rei with a smile.

「Things will get interesting?」

「Ah. Daska-sama will definitely make great achievements in this war. In fact, he’s prepared as much military strength as he can for this. In other words, he will have a considerable amount of influence after rewards are granted post-war. At that time, if he mentioned this matter……well, what do you think would happen? To nobles who are concerned about keeping up appearances, the deputy lord who only worked for his own interests will probably lose his job. In the worst case, he will literally lose his head. I don’t know if the deputy lord is aware of that though.」

At the same time the knight told Rei about what would likely happen, the carriage started to move again.

As there were only 500 people joining, it took almost no time to decide the formation to march in, unlike back at Abuero.

「At any rate, we’ll pass Sabrusta soon. After that……what’s next? I recall the road splits into two after, right? One leading to the capital and the other to the countryside.」

Looking out the window as the carriage started to move again, Runo spoke aloud to no one in particular.

The one who answered him was not the knights, but Rei. After all, it was only a few months ago that he had delivered Aurani grass powder, a sure remedy for Magic Fever, to Baar by air. It was still fresh in his memory.

「Ahh. The countryside road is the one that leads to Baar. ……We’re heading toward Baar right?」

Rei asked the knights to confirm.

The Mireana Kingdom and the Bestir Empire. It had been customary for these two countries, considered major powers, to collide at the Selemus Plains, a vast plain where negotiations between the two countries would usually take place. Of course, there were times where both sides would try to infiltrate the other to sabotage some things, but battles generally took place on the Selemus Plains.

The knights nodded at Rei’s question, which had been asked with some expectation. ……However, the knight frowned slightly after that.

「Basically what Rei said. If the flow of the war develops the same as past ones, a battle will take place on the Selemus Plains……」

「Daska-sama thinks this war is different. A battle on the Selemus Plains may not be the same as before.」

Hearing the two knights converse, Runo asked in confusion.

「However, the strength of both the Mireana Kingdom and the Bestir Empire won’t fall below tens of thousands of soldiers right? In that case, won’t a battle have to take place at the Selemus Plains?」

「……Ah. Normally, that would be true. But……」

At Runo’s question, the knight shook his head without much confidence as he whispered.

「This is the first time I’ve hoped Daska-sama’s guesses are wrong.」

「Don’t worry. With Rei’s skills, things will be fine, we’ll win without any trouble.」

「……That would be nice.」

The knight muttered with sigh and the carriage went silent.

The silence continued for several minutes. Suddenly, Rei took out some fruits from the Misty Ring.

They looked like bite sized cherries, but their colour was a blue, reminiscent of summer skies. Their texture and taste was similar to persimmons.

They were called Keti fruits. They were a springtime seasonal fruit and were in season right now.

「Rei?」

Rather than answering Runo’s puzzled question, Rei handed over the Keti fruits to the knights and Runo.

The knights had a surprised expression at the coldness of the Keti fruits, which had been stored in the Misty Ring after being cooled. As expected of Runo, his eyebrows only moved slightly as he accepted the Keti fruit.

「Why are you already scared of the enemy even before reaching the battlefield? Right now, you should just eat your fill and forget your worries……I won’t tell you to go that far, but don’t show your feelings. If you, the knights, are worried, your worries will carry over to the soldiers and volunteer soldiers.」

「Why did you give some to me as well?」

Since he hadn’t been worried, Runo asked Rei.

However, Rei replied with a grin on his face.

「If I only gave some to those two, you would complain that you didn’t get anything, wouldn’t you?」

「Kukukuku……yes, that’s true. If you’re going to hand stuff out, you have to hand it out to everyone.」

Runo gave an unintentional smile. The knights followed suit with wry smiles……as a result, the dark atmosphere in the carriage disappeared completely.

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