It had been a few days since Elena and Rei had anhilated the bandits that had attacked them along the way. Since then, there hadn’t been any particular issues as they continued safely along the road. Eventually, they saw the city they were going to from the carriage, a huge city.

Rei’s home base of Gilm had a population of over 100,000 people. However, the size of the labyrinth city that could be seen from the carriage window was several times the size of Gilm.

「Is that……the Labyrinth city?」

「Yes. There are several labyrinth cities in the Mireana Kingdom, so to be exact, it should be called Labyrinth City Exil. Its exact population isn’t known due to the large number of people that flow through it, but it’s said to be between 200,000 to 300,000.」

「……That is a lot of people.」

「If you are only going by the number of people, you’re right.」

At Rei’s words, Elena shook her head as she looked towards Exil.

「Only the number of people? Considering that there are at least twice as many people here than Gilm, the quality of adventurers here should be quite high, right?」

「That’s not the case. It seems that if a labyrinth city is safe, only relatively weak monsters will appear in the dungeon. That’s why even people who have just become adventurers can still have a certain level of safety. It’s a good idea to have a general understanding of the quality of adventurers there. In terms of quality, they are far inferior to adventurers from the frontier. If two adventurers of the same rank fought, the adventurers from Gilm would almost always be the winner.」

「……So that’s how it is.」

Rei nodded at Elena’s words.

Rei and Elena were getting along well inside the carriage, but outside, there were no other carriages or travellers around them.

Of course, the warhorses pulling the carriage were a big factor, but the biggest reason was probably because of Set.

Although Set was just walking beside the carriages, he seemed quite depressed due to the frightened looks everyone would have when they saw him on the road.

It was hard to believe that he was the same monster that had one-sidedly demolished 30 or so bandits by himself.

Exil was a labyrinth city with a population several times that of Gilm, so naturally there were many merchants and adventurers who came and went from the city as well as those who wanted to settle there. However, those people naturally kept their distance from Set.

「Gururu~」

Set gave a lonely cry.

Noticing Set’s cry, Rei paused his conversation with Elena and opened the window to call out to Set.

「Set, the labyrinth city……Exil is close by, so do your best. With your personality, I’m sure everyone will love you without getting scared, just like the residents in Gilm.」

「Guru~」

At Rei’s words, Set regained some of his energy as he gave a cry.

Rei’s carriage continued down the road while maintaining a certain distance with the other carriages around them and finally arrived at their destination, Exil, after about 30 minutes.

At the main gate, there was a long line of people waiting to complete the process to enter the city.

「What would you like to do, ojou-sama? If you use your privileges as a nobles, we can receive priority rights.」

「Yes……that’s true.」

As she thought about what to do, Elena took a look at the surroundings outside the window.

Although a considerable number of people were waiting in line to enter the city, there were no other carriages near the carriage Rei and Elena were in.

Needless to say, it was because of Set.

Whether due to awe, fear or curiosity, many eyes were watching Set.

As for the curious gazes, there were probably due to Yellow, who had jumped out the carriage and onto Set’s back a little earlier.

Yellow had mostly been sleeping or playing around on a sofa in the carriage, but noticing that people in the surrounding carriages were scared of Set, he jumped out to comfort his friend.

After watching them for a few seconds, Elena called out to Tufal as she made her decision.

「If we stay here, the people nearby will only continue being scared. In that case, we should get inside the city as soon as possible and hang a Necklace of Subservient Monster around Set’s neck. People will be scared as long as he’s a Griffon. That can’t be helped, but at least they shouldn’t be as scared if they see the Necklace of Subservient Monster on him.」

Elena normally didn’t like to use her aristocratic privileges. No, she wouldn’t hesitate to use them if she needed it on a mission, but this time it was just a personal affair, a private outing. Because of that, she hadn’t been willing use her title as being from a Duke’s family, but given the situation, Elena decided it would be best to just enter Exil as soon as possible.

「I’m sorry about that, it’s a great help.」

Rei knew that, so he said a short thank you to Elena.

「Don’t worry about it. If I didn’t do that, the commotion would only have gotten worse.」

Tufal called out ot the guards who had been observing them, ready to take action if anything happened, and showed them their ID.

Most of the guards looked confused while one of them rushed over to their captain with a serious expression.

Within a few minutes, a man in his 40’s came over and, after a bit of discussion as the man remained cautious of Set, Tufal knocked on the door.

「Pardon me ojou-sama, Rei-sama. Barret-sama, the leader of this guard squad, would like me to show him Rei-sama’s guild card.」

「Ah, I see. Rei.」

Nodding in response to Elena, Rei opened the carriage door and walked out.

Barret, who was only the leader of a squad of guards, was in no position to go against Duke Kerebel, so he had decided to let Elena into the city regardless of anything. ……Of course, given that Elena Kerebel was the famed General Princess, he would naturally have to report it to his superior.

While talking with Tufal, he had heard that there was another person that wasn’t under Duke Kerebel inside the carriage, so as it was his job, he need to confirm who it was.

Someone who was travelling with the General Princess and was followed by a Griffon. Barret has his fair share of adventurer friends in Exil, so he already had a guess as to who it was.

……That was why, as the carriage doors opened, his eyes widened in amazement when he saw an adventurer walk out.

He was said to have a Griffon following him.

He was said to have used fire magic so potent that it had caused enormous damage as it burned the vanguard of the Bestir Empire.

He was said to wield a giant scythe that literally reaped the lives of enemies like the Grim Reaper.

He was said to have unbelievable strength.

He was said to have been given the title Crimson because of his fire magic and overwhelming combat strength.

He had heard a number of stories from the adventurers who returned from the war with the Bestir Empire.

At first, he had thought it a joke, but with so many people having seen it with their own eyes, he couldn’t help but start to believe them.

Barret had been wondering what kind of person that title would have been given to, so it was no wonder that he was taken aback when a boy in his mid-teens appeared from the carriage.

「Eh……um……uh, sorry, could you show me your guild card?」

「Sure, here it is.」

Rei handed his guild card over to Barret, who finally collected his thoughts.

Looking at Rei’s guild cards, Barret’s eyes went wide again.

「B rank!?」

His small but echoing voice startled the guards nearby.

No, their astonishment might even have been greater than Barret’s. After all, Barret had his suspicions that Rei might have been the adventurer titled Crimson, despite how he looked.

The rest of the guards had no idea as the looked at Rei with shocked expressions.

Despite the guards looking at him like that, Rei had already gotten used to it as he received his guild card from Barret, who fearfully returned it.

「Is everything okay?」

「Y-Yes. There are no issues with you entering the city.」

「……Before I forget, could I ask for a Necklace of Subservient Monster?」

「T-That’s right. Hey, grab a Necklace of Subservient Monster.」

「Yes sir!」

Barret called out to one of his subordinates, who gave Rei a Necklace of Subservient Monster.

Set, with the necklace around his neck, rubbed his face against Rei as he gave a cry.

As he watched them, Barret noticed a small dragon on Set’s back.

「……A dragon?」

「Ah, that’s ojou-sama’s familar. I’d like a Necklace of Subservient Monster for Yellow as well.」

This wasn’t the Kerebel Duchy but a labyrinth city. Because of that, a Necklace of Subservient Monster was needed for familiars as well.

At Tufal’s words, a guard got a small Necklace of Subservient Monster designed for cats and birds, which he handed over to Tufal.

Seeing that the procedures seemed to be all settled, Tufal asked Barret.

「Then, are we all fine to head inside the city?」

「There are no problems. However, since you’v used your aristocratic privileges, I’ll have to let my superior know……」

「No problem. We don’t have any dark secrets to keep. So, if you’ll excuse me, sorry for the inconvenience.」

Tufal gave a graceful bow before returning to the drivers seat.

Rei stroked Set’s head and Yellow’s back before getting back inside the carriage.

Leaving the queue, Rei and the others entered Exil.

「……It’s been quite a while since I’ve become a squad leader in the guards……but I haven’t been this surprised for a long time.」

The guard who had given Rei a Necklace of Subservient Monster smiled and agreed with Barret with a wry smile.

「Not since the case of the Mad Beast?」

「It’s definitely better since nobody died unlike that time. ……Any how, the cause of all this commotion has left. I’ll report the matter to the higher ups, so you get back to work.」

「Roger that.」

As he watched his men hurriedly return to dealing with the queue, Barret gave a sigh.

「I hope this doesn’t cause any unnecessary commotion……」

He said that to himself while realising it wouldn’t change anything.

 

 

「……This, this is definitely something I’ve seen before……」

Rei nodded as he looked out the window.

At the end of his line of sight was a barrier covering the entirety of Exil.

……However, this wasn’t a barrier to stop enemies from getting inside. Rather, it was designed to trap threats inside Exil.

That was natural. In fact, the barrier was designed to keep monsters inside Exil in the event that monsters overflowed from the dungeon due to some unforeseen circumstance……it was a kind of cage.

In the first place, Labyrinth City Exil wasn’t on the frontier like Gilm/

Of course, some monsters, like Goblins, could be found everywhere. Sometimes Orcs would appear and, because it wasn’t near the frontier, there were also a large number of bandits.

However, in the end, the biggest threat to Exil was, as a labyrinth city, the monsters inside the dungeon.

It was an underground type of dungeon, and while there were no powerful monsters in the upper layers, it was said that A rank monsters had appeared on the deeper floors in the past. If such a powerful monster came out of the dungeon, the barrier was designed to keep something that could be considered a natural disaster from leaving the city.

Although he had researched and heard about it advance while still in Gilm, it was quite shocking to Rei when he saw it for the first time.

Elena gave a small smile when she saw Rei look out the window with a stupefied expression.

Part of it was because Rei usually had his Dragon Robe hood covering his head, but the other reason was because it was rare for Rei to show such a surprised expression.

(I’m quite lucky to see Rei’s surprised expression up close.)

That was what Elena thought in her mind, but she didn’t say her thoughts out loud as she spoke.

「Did you know that Labyrinth City Exil is treated as a semi-autonomous city state?」

「Yeah. According to the information I collected in Gilm, it’s supposed to be governed by nobles……but that’s basically only in name.」

「That’s right. The Kingdom won’t admit it, but there are various circumstances surrounding labyrinth cities. It’s not just Exil. It’s more or less the same for the other labyrinth cities in the Mireana Kingdom. They’re basically all treated as semi-autonomous city states. ……That said, they still pay taxes to the Kingdom and in times of war, like against the Bestir Empire, they will send military forces in emergency situations. There are 4 families that effectively control Labyrinth City Exil……no, well, there are only 3 now.」

Elena continued explaining as the carriage went down the main street.

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