Around the time Daska’s group left the city of Tanaro. Inside a room at a mansion, Mulla and Sistoi were discussing the previous day’s attack.

「As expected of knights from Gilm, Mireana Kingdom’s frontier city. Each one of them has considerable strength.」

「There’s Crimson, there’s a Griffon, there’s Axe of the Thunder God……I knew that there would be people with high combat strength, but the knights are also elites. This has become troublesome.」

Hearing Mulla’s words, Sistoi gave a sigh as he bit into the sandwich in his hands.

Devouring the sandwich in irritation, Mulla gave a sigh as she reprimanded him.

「It’s a good sandwich, you should take the time to savour it.」

「I know. ……But.」

「Yeah. To be honest, they are more troublesome opponents than I expected. If this keeps going, we’ll end up earning nothing from this job.」

Mulla muttered in melancholy as she recalled the battles she had seen through the crystal ball as she brought a cup of tea to her mouth.

Even after receiving a near fatal wound, their opponent had continued to fight. Ordinary knights might have fallen into confusion from that and forgotten about the immediate fight, but the knights had only shown a moment of surprise, that was all.

They had immediately resumed their attacks, subjugating Mulla’s pawns and the intruders one after another.

Luckily, they had been mentally adjusted to fall into a coma if they were incapacitated, so no information could be extracted and passed on to others.

「Besides them, Crimson is a big issue. To be exact, it’s his tamed monster, the Griffon. I wonder how it was able to smell us out, even though we were so far away.」

If it hadn’t been for Sistoi’s intuition, they probably would have been caught last night. When she thought about it, a chill ran down Mulla’s spine.

It hadn’t been a full on attack, just a probing attack to confirm their opponents’ strength, but their probing attack had almost resulted in them being caught.

「In addition……they’ve seen what we can do once, so they’ll probably be able to deal with it immediately next time.」

「I know, I know. ……Seriously, I don’t know why we took this job on at all.」

「You were the one who took the job.」

Mulla was momentarily shaken by Sistoi’s astonished look, but she quickly averted her gaze as she muttered.

「Well, anyway, let’s report what happened. Since the attack this time was something we were told to do, they should be the ones to think of countermeasures.」

「That’s right. Next time we set something up, I’ll be there too, so it won’t end up like this……probably.」

The reason he didn’t hold much confidence in his own words was probably because he had seen Rei fight with his own eyes.

The knights and the young adventurer, Rhodes, might be difficult to handle, but he was still confident in working something out.

However, the one……or rather, the two he didn’t see any chance of beating in a direct confrontation were Rei and Set.

(Although, all things considered, there are plenty of other ways to deal with them. Especially since there’s no real reason to openly fight them head on. ……In addition to Crimson, there’s also Axe of the Thunder God. Rather than their combat power, their experience is a much more troublesome issue.)

Thinking about that and anticipating the turmoil ahead of them, he let out a sigh.

 

 

「Then, Margrave Rowlocks. I’m very sorry for the trouble I’ve caused you. Thank you for your kind attention.」

「What, don’t worry about it. I entered the city knowing that I would be targeted. Besides, the guards and knights have also worked hard. There’s no reason to punish the magistrate on top of all that.」

Hearing Daska’s carefree words, the magistrate, whose hair had already disappeared from the middle of his head, bowed his head in gratitude while trying to hide his exhausted expression.

For the magistrate, Daska was nothing more than a disaster.

To tell the truth, he never wanted to welcome him intot he city.

However, since the lord had already given him orders, he couldn’t refuse……the end result was that such a big incident had occured in the middle of the night.

The magistrate wasn’t someone physically strong to begin with and now looked 10-20 years older after a single night of exhaustion.

Even so, it could be said that the worst outcome, Daska dying, had been avoided due to a combination of the personnel they had put together and a bit of luck.

Some distance away from the magistrate, Daska, and Elk, Dwalube continued to look at Set with interest.

Unlike Milein, who really loved Set, his gaze wasn’t one of admiration. Instead, it was closer to that of a researcher observing an interesting subject.

And yet, his gaze wasn’t that of looking at an experimental subject but rather one that acknowledged Set’s fantastical existance. He had said he wasn’t cut out to be a monster researcher, but it seemed like he was just being modest about it.

At the very least, from Rei’s perspective, he seemed like he could be a researcher because he wasn’t hated by monsters.

「Gurururu~?」

What’s wrong? Set turned to Rei and seemed to ask as Dwalube offered him several pieces of dried meat.

The dried meat was spread out like cards presented to Set, who gave a cry as he sniffed each piece.

Before long, perhaps because the smell made him hungry, he picked up the leftmost piece of dried meat in his beak.

Seeing that, Dwalube memorised the meat Set had eaten so as to not forget what type of meat Griffons liked.

However, whether it was a meat that all Griffons would like or whether Set just liked that one more……more research would be needed.

And since Griffons were A rank monsters which rarely appeared in public, when his research would be completed was something only God would know.

「Gururururu~」

As Set enjoyed the dried meat with a cry, Daska seemed to finish his discussions with the magistrate. As part of the magistrate’s apology, barrels of food and ale were given to Daska.

Seeing everything stored into the carriages, Daska gave a loud shout so that everyone could hear.

「Let’s head off!」

Fully demonstrating his charisma, everyone immediately set off.

Rei stroked Set as he ate the dried meat and turned to Dwalube, who spoke up as he handed over the rest of the dried meat he had.

「For the road.」

Rei knew what he meant from those words and thanked him with a small sigh.

「I’m sorry, thanks for the dried meat.」

Getting onto Set’s back, Rei started to follow after Daska’s group.

At their backs, the magistrate and his knights saw them off until they could no longer be seen.

As almost no residents of the city were among those who saw Daska’s group off, it was clear how they were perceived within the Bestir Empire.

No, rather, it was more representative of the people’s perception Rei and Set, rather than Daska’s group as a whole.

Rei stroked Set’s neck while trying not to think about his worries in his mind.

「It was a pretty nice city, everything else aside. The food at the inn was also delicious.」

「Gurururu~!」

Set had been happy with the food served at the inn as well as he gave a cry in a happy mood.

In fact, since it had been the most prestigious inn in the city, Rei had no complaints about the overal hospitality, including the food.

Unfortunately, they had only stayed for a single night and hadn’t been able to enjoy the full comfort of the inn due the attack in the middle of the night.

「The food at the inn was definitely delicious.」

A knight on horseback spoke as he rode alongside Rei.

The other knights seemed to have heard his words as well. They all gave their own impressions on the inn’s food as they discussed with each other.

「It might be the Bestir Empire’s cuisine, but it was still delicious.」

「Well, I thought it was a bit on the bland side……」

「That’s true. The Bestir Empire doesn’t have any coastal territory, so salt is expensive.」

「Oh, I see. ……Hm? But there’s still rock salt, right?」

「Rock salt makes up their reserves, so it’s even more expensive than salt made from seawater」

「Well. I guess that’s why the Bestir Empire wants coastal territory and has fought so many wars for it.」

As they conversed while moving along, Set suddenly looked up at the sky.

Seeing that, Rei looked up as well, only to find that the previously clear blue sky was now covered by rain clouds.

「Guru~」

「Yeah. It looks like it’s going to rain. ……Well, at this temperature, we shouldn’t catch any colds.」

The knights, who had moved on from their conversation about food to the sea and sea salt, seemed to notice Rei’s exchange with Set. They all looked at the clouds, which had crept up without them noticing, with disgust.

「Wow……it’s been less than an hours since we left the city. If only it had come down a little earlier, Daska-sama might have postponed our departure……maybe.」

I guess so.

Rei agreed with the knight’s words.

If asked whether they wanted to stay in a city where they had been attacked just the night before, his answer would have been no.

Most of the intruders had been caught by Rei or the city’s knights and guards, but that wasn’t all of them. On the contrary, those with a sharp mind would have held back to wait for the right opportunity.

「Well, Daska-sama will probably find a place to take shelter if the rain gets heavier.」

Another knight muttered out loud. But, conversely, if the rain stayed light, they would have to keep moving.

Daska, Elk, the rest of Axe of the Thunder God, and Daska’s attendants had no fear of the rain from inside the carriages. But there was no cover for Rei and the knights outside.

「I’m glad it’s autumn and not winter. At least I won’t catch a cold.」

「That said, there’s still the chance of coming down with something if we do get soaked……normally speaking at least.」

「True.」

Everyone else smiled at the knight’s words.

A knight who trained their body wouldn’t catch a cold from just getting wet in the rain. They all had at least that much confidence.

In fact, whether it was knights or adventurers, they couldn’t refuse to do a mission or request just because of rain.

It wasn’t uncommon to be sent out during snow in winter either, so it was only a minor inconvenience to get wet due to rain in late summur to early autumn.

As they discussed, the first few drops of rain began to fall from the clouds.

「Ah, the rain has started to come down. I guess it’s a blessing for the farmers around here?」

「……Come to think of it, I’ve never seen it rain since entering the Bestir Empire.」

「Hey, they’re not running out of water as well, are they?」

「After travelling so far, I never got that feeling……but I wonder.」

The knights continued to talk until the door of Daska’s carriage opened up and Elk appeared.

「For now, we will continue as is. But, if the rain gets any heavier, we will have to take shelter somewhere.」

Everyone nodded at Elkl’s words as Daska’s group continued along the highway towards the Imperial Capital.

Along the way, they passed several merchants and adventurers, but even though they weren’t in their best condition, no one paid attention to them because of the rain……

「Wow, it’s getting stronger.」

A knight murmured as he reluctantly looked up at the rain clouds.

The rain, that had been light at first, had gained a great deal of momentum and while it wasn’t pounding down……it was still significantly heavier.

「Gurururu~」

Set seemed to be annoyed by the rain as well. He looked up at the sky with frustration as he gave a cry, but there was nothing he could do about.

Unlike when it had first started raining, the knights were now actively looking for places to take shelter from the rain. Unfortunately, there were no forests along the highway, so they weren’t able to find any shelter from the rain.

「Tch, this is really depressing.」

The knights’ expressions grew more irritated as the rain grew stronger over time.

However, complaining wouldn’t stop the rain and the knights gradually stopped talking.

After another hour, the rain had become a right torrent.

「I can see a village!」

The knight at the very front shouted out with joy.

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