Going back a short while in time to just after Rei woke up after sensing something strange.

Similarly, Set, who was in the stables, also woke up noticing something strange.

Set got up from his assigned location.

Normally, this would have caused the other animals in the stables to react immediately and wake up as well.

However, since Daska had rented out the entire inn for the night, the only other animals in the stables aside from Set were the warhorses in Daska’s group and the horses that pulled the carriages.

Because of that, the inn had given Set and the horses their own space, a short distance from each other. The horses were also well trained and, having shared the journey from Gilm to this city, had become somewhat accustomed to Set, so they stayed asleep with very little reaction to Set’s actions.

「Gururu~?」

Set gave a cry as he looked around.

It didn’t seem like there was anything unusual going on, but that was only for now.

Giving a small cry, he left the area assigned to him in the stables.

Whether it was good timing, or bad timing, he heard footsteps approaching the stables.

「Hey, are you sure this is okay? It’s a Griffon, right? If we piss it off……」

「It will be fine. No matter what, it’s night time, right? Even Griffons have to sleep at night.」

「But, it’s still a Griffon, isn’t it? It will probably escape once it notices the stables are on fire.」

「You. Can you forgive that Griffon? It’s Crimson’s tamed monster, who killed all those people on the Selemus Plains.」

「I know that, but if we go this far, we’ll be hunted down as well.」

「……So? We won’t be able to stay in this city anymore after attacking an inn a noble is staying in. If we’re going to do it, then we should make sure we keep all their mouths shut and pretend we know nothing about it.」

「What, are you scared? It will be fine, after all, even if it’s a tamed monster, it’s nothing more than a monster. If we set its sleeping place on fire, it will still die without being able to respond. There is also its magic stone, right? If we can take it out and sell it off, we can make some money……」

「Hey, I didn’t come here to make money. I’m here to avenge my son.」

「I know. But you do realise that not everyone who’s participating in this attack is as serious as you, right?」

Hearing their conversation with his sharp ears, Set felt the people getting closer to the stables. He looked over towards the horses and warhorses still sleeping in the stables.

At first, they had been scared of him. But, after travelling for so long, they weren’t as scared anymore. They weren’t exactly close to him, but they were still travel companions.

It the stables were set on fire right now, all the other horses would definitely burn to death.

Reaching that conclusion, Set slowly walked towards the doors of the stable.

A few of the horses noticed Set’s actions, but Set didn’t care as he opened the doors with his body.

As soon as he did that, he saw the silhouettes of over ten people standing outside.

An ordinary human wouldn’t have been able to identify them in detail, but with Set’s good night vision, it was easy to see them all under the moonlight.

The figures all held magic items that could be used to start fires in addition to straw and other flammable material. Combined with their previous conversation, it was clear what they planned to do.

「GURURURURURU-!」

Set activated King’s Awe. His cry immediately froze the shadows near the stables, making them unable to move.

「Guru, Gurururu~?」

Thought it was good that he managed to stop them, Set was at a loss over what to do next.

Should he just use King’s Awe to knock them out, or should he……

As he thought about that, Set suddenly leapt to the side.

Several arrows immediately pierced the ground where Set had been a moment ago.

「Gurururu!」

He gave a menacing cry towards the direction the arrows had come from.

However, the person who had shot the arrows from the branches of a tree that grew in the inn’s garden ignored Set’s response completely.

The speed of the archer’s arrows was much faster than the arrows shot by ordinary adventurers.

However, despite that, their accuracy was very low and it wasn’t strange for the arrows to go off in strange directions.

It was as if the person had the strength to wield a bow but had never used one before.

「Guru~?」

Set had some questions regarding the difference between the power of the arrows and their accuracy, but even so, he couldn’t leave someone trying to attack him alone.

Overcoming a moment of hesitation, Set rushed over to the tree the archer was in.

He dashed forward at an every increasing pace as several arrows chased after him.

Along the way, the people he had frozen with King’s Awe were knocked aside, but Set didn’t seem to care as he pushed forward.

「Gururururururu!」

Set leapt at the tree as he got close enough and let out a cry.

As he did so, he pounced on the person targeting him from the branches.

Whoosh, the sound of something tearing through the air was heard.

「Guru!」

A shockwave from Evil Eye Impact stopped the arrow.

「Die, die, die.」

The man who had shot the arrows threw his bow at Set, not seeming to care at all, as he pulled a dagger out from his waist.

「Gurururu!」

Deflecting the bow thrown at his face with his right claw, Set slapped the man with his left.

「Dieeeee-!」

The man tried to block the attack with his dagger, but there was no way a dagger that wasn’t even a magic item could stop Set. The blade of the dagger snapped as it flew away.

His eyes blinded with hatred, the man fell from the top of the tree and rolled several meters along the ground before coming to a stop.

「Guru~……Gurururu~?」

Set tried to sense if there were any more enemies and before long, he sensed more footsteps approaching the stables.

However, it wasn’t an enemy, but a familiar person.

「Set, are you okay!」

「Gurururu~!」

Set cheered up as Rei called out from the inn’s side.

Rei had been pretty sure there wouldn’t be a problem with Set’s strength, but even so, he gave a sigh of relief upon seeing his partner.

「Phew, looks like they did come here as well. Well done.」

Rei gave a small smile as he stroked Set firmly to praise him before calling out to the knights following after him.

「I’m sorry, but the people lying around were part of the attackers, could I ask you to arrest them?」

「Sure, no problem. Still, I hadn’t expected them to really attack the stables as you said.」

「Really. Thank you for your help.」

「If you think about it, it’s true that the security at the stables would definitely be weaker than the inn we’re guarding, making it easier to attack.」

「Certainly. Considering Set’s presence, there’s more than enough reason to target the stables.」

「If it were just the carriages, it wouldn’t be too hard for the magistrate to prepare replacements, but if its our companions……」

For knights, their horses were their companions on the battlefield. They had a deep connection with each other and many knights would treat their horses with affection.

The mental shock of having their horse attacked and killed in the stables would have been considerable.

The knight absolutely didn’t want such an event to occur inside the Bestir Empire, which was still a hostile nation.

「Well, thanks to Set, we’ve managed to avoid that. ……Thanks for the help, Set.」

Saying that, one of the knights threw some dried meat he had on hand over to Set as a token of gratitude.

「Gurururu~!」

Set caught the dried meat in his beak and gave a happy cry as he ate it.

The knights and Rei all felt a sense of warmth seeing that as they entered the stables to confirm themselves that their horses were safe.

 

 

「……Hey, what do you think?」

At a location some distance from the inn. Voices muttered from a place even Rei couldn’t see.

The owner of the soft voice was Mulla, a specialist in brainwashing, as she looked into a crystal ball in her hands.

「More than we expected. Still, it’s not that surprising.」

The man who replied was Sistoi, who was also looking into the crystal ball.

The crystal ball was a magic item that gave Mulla the ability to see what the people she brainwashed were seeing.

It sounded like a very convenient magic item, but there were some quite severe restrictions on its usage.

For example, it couldn’t be used if the person she brainwashed was in a closed off location.

In other words, it couldn’t be used if the target was locked up somewhere.

However, if the door to the inn was left open, like in this situation, there was no problem in using it.

In addition, it was necessary to use a certain level of magic power to operate it, and with Mulla’s magic power, using the crystal ball once would leave her drained for several days due to the lack of magic power.

Restrictions aside, the crystal ball had also been very expensive to buy.

They had only managed to purchase it with the rewards of several of Mulla’s jobs.

It was a difficult to use magic item, but she was glad they had used it this time.

That was because……

「Was Crimson’s ability as you expected?」

「……No, it’s more than I predicted.」

Sistoi muttered after a moment of silence at Mulla’s question, which had been asked somewhat teasingly.

Mulla sensed the bitter tone in his voice as she agreed with a wry smile.

The mob had been hired by Sistoi and Mulla had fueled their hatred further.

Their brainwashing wasn’t as deep as the pawns, it was only a simple treatment that amplified their emotions, but it wasn’t uncommon for a person’s mind to affect their body.

A person with a strong will could endure blows that would knock them out, endure extreme pain, and even bite down on their opponent’s throat at the verge of death.

However, Rei had easily neutralised such people

That had surprised them, but in the end, it was still only surprise.

「As for the knights, I think we can manage them. They’re good, but they’re still within the bounds of common sense. But……」

「Yeah. In the end, it’s Crimson……」

「That’s right. As long as he’s part of the escort, it will be difficult to get to Margrave Rowlocks. And, you noticed as well, didn’t you?」

At Sistoi’s words, Mulla guess what he was getting at. She let out a small sigh as she replied.

「Axe of the Thunder God.」

「Yes. The person himself didn’t show up for this attack. The only one who appeared was his son.」

They recalled what they had seen in the crystal ball.

A warrior guarding the stairs alongside the knights.

Even though he had been inside the inn and there were knights around him, he had guarded the stairs alongside them without much difficulty.

「According to the information I collected, he’s not as skilled as his parents.」

「Well, he’s still a little better than the knights.」

「He was. But the information we have on hand is old. At his age, it’s not surprising that his skill is improving day by day. With Axe of the Thunder God and Crimson so close to him, in terms of training, he couldn’t be more fortunate.」

Seeing that Sistoi’s tone was mixed with some envy, Mulla spoke teasingly with a slight smile.

「Are you jealous?」

「Well, I won’t deny it. Besides……」

Sistoi spoke up until that point before falling silent.

Mulla looked at her companion with strange eyes, but Sistoi’s expression suddenly grew tense.

「We’re pulling out.」

「Eh?」

She was confused by Sistoi’s words for a moment, but soon realised what was happening.

「You’re joking, you mean we were found from this distance!?」

「Yeah, they’re coming already.」

Saying that, Sistoi reached out to grab Mulla without waiting for a reply.

「Hey, Sistoi!?」

「You can’t run with your legs right now.」

「I know that, but this is still a bit……」

「Shut up.」

Saying that, he left the place with Mulla in his arms, disappearing as if melting into the darkness of the night.

A few minutes later……

「Tch, did they escape?」

「Guru~」

Floating in the night sky with wings spread was Set, Rei on his back.

Guessing that the attack on the inn had been made to gauge their strength, he thought of the possibility that the culprits were watching from some location. With Set and Rei’s extraordinary senses, they had found this location.

However, their enemy didn’t seem to be ordinary and, by the time they arrived, they had already disappeared.

「……Should we chase them? No, they’re probably too far away already. Considering how fast they left……it can’t be helped huh. Set, let’s go back.」

「Gurururu~!」

Giving a cry in response to Rei, the two of them went back to the inn.

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