At Mercurio’s words, the meeting came to an end and the nobles dispersed along with Rei.

However, Rei didn’t head to the area he was assigned to camp at.

Seeing Rei come out, Set went over to him and the two of them followed after a few nobles, keeping a short distance away.

「Gururu~?」

What’s the matter? Set asked with a cry as Rei reached out to pat his head.

「I have some personal business to take care of……well, this is a big group after all. It’s only natural for guys like this to have snuck in……」

The nobles he was following had acted strangely in the previous discussion.

They were the ones who neither agreed nor disagreed with Frizione’s proposal.

If that had been all, Rei would just have considered them to hold a neutral position, or simply the type to be swept along by the crowd with no sense of initiative.

But……their eyes were different.

If they had looked troubled, Rei wouldn’t have considered it strange.

But, they seemed to be looking down on the other nobles around them.

Their gazes were clearly different.

As the group of three nobles showed similar expressions, Rei’s suspicions turned to certainty.

All that led to Rei’s current actions.

Walking with Set, Rei kept some distance between them and the three nobles, following discretely.

They continued through the camp for a while before, as expected, the three nobles entered the same tent.

Five soldiers stood outside, having probably been told to not let anyone else pass through.

While it was called a tent, it was still one used by nobles and was fairly spacious inside, about 10 square meters.

「They’re all in the same tent, huh? Normally, this is where they’d start to discuss today’s events……right?」

「……Guru~?」

Rei stroked Set’s tilted head as he looked towards the tent.

The soldiers were currently staring at an adventurer who happened to walk close by, as if ordered to not let anyone get close.

They probably would have spoken if the adventurer had gotten any closer, but seeming to sense the soldiers’ intentions, the adventurer left the area without any further fuss.

The soldiers continued to stand guard in silence.

(Even if we wanted to listen to what they’re saying inside the tent, those soldiers are in the way.

To Rei’s eyes, the soldiers were quite well trained.

Rei concluded that those soldiers must have been brought along as a precaution in case something happened, out of their own guilt.

Thinking for a few seconds……Rei decided their was no point in continuing to think like this and gave Set a pat as he whispered.

「Set, sorry, but please wait here.」

「Guru~」

Set gave a cry as he nodded at Rei’s words. After seeing that, Rei took out a spear from the Misty Ring, not a broken one that he would use for throwing, but an ordinary one, and moved out from his hiding spot.

Taking a 5m run-up, he leaped into the air. Using the Shoes of Sleipnir to create footholds in the air, he kept climbing up into the sky.

One step, two steps, three steps.

After those three steps, he arrived just above the tent where the nobles were and gravity started to pull him down to the ground.

……Right on top of the soldiers near the tent.

The soldiers were on guard against people approaching the tent. Of course, they weren’t on guard against anything from above.

And so, without noticing Rei’s descent from above……one unlucky soldier was crushed by Rei’s fall, losing consciousness in an instant.

It was a blessing in disguise for them that they only lost consciousness and didn’t suffer any serious injuries, such as a broken neck.

This caused the other four soldiers to freeze up for an instant.

Despite keeping a vigilant guard, they suddenly realised that one of their comrades, their commander to be exact, although Rei didn’t know, had been knocked out, so it was no wonder.

And so, given that moment of time, it wasn’t difficult for Rei to make his next move.

「Fuuu-!」

Rather than shouting, he let out a sharp breath, a determined cry of sorts as his spear stabbed into the leather armour covered belly of another soldier, knocking him out instantly.

This happened three times.

Movements without a sign……that was what it looked like as three swift strikes took away the consciousness of three soldiers.

In a moment, there was only one soldier left.

It had only been several seconds since Rei had fallen from the sky.

After everything that had happened, the last soldier finally seemed to realise that it was Rei who was attacking them. His eyes went wide as he tried to shout something, but……

「Go to sleep.」

The soldier’s thoughts faded as Rei struck with his spear once more.

The soldier quickly collapsed to the ground.

There was a little noise as the soldiers had each fallen to the ground, but Rei had managed to take them out mostly silently in large part due to his familiarity in using long shafted weapons.

「……Well then.」

Rei still checked to see if there was any commotion from inside the test and, after making sure there was no particular noise, he quietly opened the entrance to the tent.

At that moment, he could clearly hear the topic of betraying the rebel army being brought up.

(I see. Certainly, if a betrayal were to occur suddenly during a major battle with the punitive force, it would have a greater impact on the rebel army than their actual combat power would suggest. That’s the lethality of an ambush. Certainly, in that sense, the damage would be really great, but……are these guys really capable of going that far?)

The three nobles talking about betrayal had only joined the rebel army after the previous battle. Rei had heard from Theorem that their reliability was lower than those who had been with them from the beginning, so they would be made to lead the vanguard in the next big battle.

If that was true, he didn’t think the nobles’ plan would go as smoothly as they were talking about……but, if they did betray the rebel army in the middle of the battle, it would still be a nasty situation.

Their conversation soon turned to why intelligence units had been unable to investigate the state of the rebel army.

(Gurgast’s soldiers and Vihera played a big role in that, but the biggest reason is probably the Demon Soldiers. It would be bad for them to know about it though.)

Even if the fate of the nobles had already been decided here, there was no need for Rei to go out of his way to tell them about the Demon Soldiers. If the information made it to the punitive force somehow, it wouldn’t be a simple mistake.

That was why Rei stored away his spear and took out his signature Death Scythe instead.

In terms of fighting, he was fine with a spear……no, inside a tent, it would be a much easier weapon to use compared to the Death Scythe. But, considering the psychological fear the Death Scythe could inflict, he felt it would be a more suitable weapon in this situation, even if it was a little harder to use.

「That’s…… probably because of people like me.」

Rei spoke up as he entered the tent.

Naturally, the eyes of the nobles inside widened in shock.

But, that only lasted for an instant. The next moment, one of them shouted out as authoritatively as they could, trying to hide their shock.

「What are you doing?! This is my tent. Even if you are a skilled rebel fighting, this is not a place that a mere adventurer should just wander in!」

「T-That’s right! Even if you have the trust of Her Highness Vihera, there are things you can and can’t do!」

「I won’t make a big deal out of it for now, so get out of here!」

Desite hearing their shouts, Rei didn’t seem to care at all.

The size of the Death Scythe made it a bit hard to enter, but once he was inside, it wasn’t a problem at all.

「What’s wrong? You seem pretty panicked. Is there something you really don’t want me to hear about? Something about the rebel army’s counterintelligence force?」

「W-What are you talking about?! We have most certainly never thought about such a thing!」

「I know, I know now! You’re planning to frame us for some crime, aren’t you?!」

Rei glanced over the men, who were desperately trying to gloss over what they had just been discussing.

「I’m still an adventurer with a title. Isn’t it a bit of an exaggeration to call me a ‘mere adventurer’?」

「Hmph! Even if you have a title, you’re still an adventurer from the Mireana Kingdom! Do you think we, nobles of the Bestir Empire, would give in to someone like that?」

The noble flatly dismissed Rei’s words.

Titles were something that carried weight across countries. That much was obvious if you considered the usage of Rei’s title in the fighting tournament.

However, the nobles couldn’t admit that now.

Because if they did, they would be forcing themselves into a corner.

So they had no choice but to forcefully highlight the fact that Rei was a foreign adventurer……from the Mireana Kingdom, an enemy nation so to speak, in order to give them grounds to question Rei’s words.

If Rei had really heard what they had been discussin, it would be a massive problem for them.

(Damn it, why this guy, out of all people!)

Rei’s position in the rebel army was somewhat special.

This was clear from the fact he was considered the commander of the guerrilla unit and allowed to act on his own despite the fact it was really just him and Set.

Rei wasn’t part of a unit like the other adventurers, but was still recognised by the higher ups in the rebel army has having the same military value as a full unit……or even more.

In other words, he was the trump card of the rebel army.

Furthermore, he was highly trusted by the leaders of the rebel army, though there were differences between the male and female leaders, and held a considerable amount of influence when he spoke.

And so, right now, they had to somehow trick someone like that without giving any evidence or voicing any commitments in order to get through their current situation.

(I heard that Prince Mercurio and Viscount Bugle dislike him because he is close to Princess Vihera. Could that be an opening?)

The noble thought quickly as he spoke.

「I know that you are not well liked by His Highness Mercurio. If you say something strange carelessly, no one will believe you, but for your sake, you should still act cautiously.」

Rei would quietly back down after hearing those words. Even if he could act tough against them, there was nothing he could do against the name of royalty, Mercurio.

The nobles thought they had made it through the situation, but……then they heard Rei’s mocking reply.

The nobles’ mistake at this time was that they thought Rei would show respect to royalty, even if it was from another nation.

Certainly, thinking about it normally, that would be common sense. But……Rei was far from normal.

First of all, Rei was born and raised in Japan, not Elgin. He knew of nobles and royalty, but had never met them in person before coming to this world.

The was a person in Japan who held the title of emperor, but Rei had only seen him occassionally on television and held no particular interest regarding them.

Furthermore, most of the nobles Rei had met so far, with a few exceptions, were selfish, self-centered people.

It was impossible to expect his respect towards such people.

More than anything, even Mercurio, whom the nobles had seen as their one last ray of hope, had felt something was off about them during the previous debate.

Rei knew that, which was why……

「Well, is that the end of your explanation? If you have nothing more to say, I’ll be capturing you all to take to Mercurio and Vihera. If you want to run away, that’s fine. Of course, if you think you can get away from me that is.」

He moved the Death Scythe ostentatiously to show it off.

In addition, although Rei didn’t say it, Set was also outside the tent.

Even if they were riding a war horse at full speed, it would be impossible for them to escape Set, let alone running away on their own legs.

「……Guh, don’t think you’ll get away with putting us through this.」

「That’s right, you’ll regret it later!」

「You can be proud of yourself for now. I’ll make sure your body realises what you’ve done.」

As Rei heard the nobles speak, he just shrugged his shoulders.

「What losers you all are. Well, you can explain the details to Mercurio……no, your excuses.」

Saying that, Rei took out rope from the Misty Ring to tie up the three people in front of him.

[Previous Chapter] [Table of Contents] [Next Chapter]