As the sun started to set, Rei, Widele, and the rest of the White Rose Knights started to set up camp near a forest close to the road.
That said, it was really just Rei taking out his magic tent while Widele and the White Rose Knights looked on with envy at the absurdity of an item box.
「So, what do you want to do in the end? It will be a bit cramped for me, but as long as everyone can fit inside, it’s fine with me.」
Rei looked over at the horses, tied to trees a short distance away, while asking Widele.
The horses still seemed uneasy as they tried to distance themselves from Set……or at least hide in the shades of the trees, clearly afraid of Set.
Set was usually quite friendly to horses, as long as they didn’t aggravate him, so he looked quite lonely as the horses avoided him.
If they had stayed together in a place like the stables, the horses might have gotten used to Set after time.
However, the horses had only met Set today.
What’s more, Set had pretty much been flying the entire time, aside from lunch break, so they barely had any opportunities to interact.
Considering that, it was only natural for the horses to be uncomfortable around Set.
「……Sorry, but we’ll have to rest a little further away.」
「If the horses are really scared of Set, he can go a little further away. With his senses, moving a short distance away won’t be an issue.」
The faces of Widele’s subordinates lit up at Rei’s words but, before they could say anything, Widele shook her head.
「No, unfortunately that’s not possible. Even though we look like this, the White Rose Knights value chastity. No matter how trustworthy you are, there’s no way we can spend a night together under the same roof, let alone the same tent.」
「It’s a magic tent, so it’s different from other tents……well, if you say that though, I won’t press it. What’s your plan then?」
「I’ve borrowed an ordinary tent from Theorem, so I’m planning to use that. Considering our numbers, we should be able to sleep comfortably if we take turns keeping watch.」
「Keeping watch, huh? We can handle that to a certain extent though. As I said, Set’s senses are sharp, he won’t miss it if a monster or bandit approaches your tent from a distance.」
「But……」
Widele was about to say something, but Rei spoke before she could.
「If everything goes well, we should arrive at the Imperial Capital around noon tomorrow, but well will have to travel quickly.」
The horses given to the White Rose Knights by the rebel army were good, but they weren’t the top tier warhorses Frizione had initially given them. That being the case, tomorrow would likely be the same pace of travel as today, if not more so. Widele was convinced by Rei’s reasoning.
「That is……certainly true. What we need to do now is to return to the Imperial Capital as quickly as possible for Princess Frizione rather than being stubborn. Understood then, Rei-sama. I will ask you to keep watch.」
「It won’t be me, it will be Set.」
Did you call me? Set seemed to say and tilted his head as Rei patted him.
「Widele and the others heard that you’ll be keeping watch tonight.」
「……Thank you, Set.」
「Guru~!」
Rei was a little surprised when he saw Widele bow, followed by the rest of the knights, as he took out food from the Misty Ring.
It was stew, made with plenty of vegetables and meat, simmered for a long time.
Actually, he had originally intended to serve a simpler dish, but seeing Widele and the knights bow to Set, he was quite impressed and decided to upgrade the food a little.
The smell of the stew drifted out as the light from the autumn sunset poured softly down.
The White Rose Knights cheered in excitement, as if they were just camping out instead of having to do a two day forced march.
Even though they were knights, they were still living beings. Naturally, delicious food was enough to lift their spirits and motivate them for the next day.
「Shall we have dinner then? Today’s lunch was quite rushed, just sandwiches, so let’s have a hearty dinner.」
Since this was a task given by the rebel army, Rei’s food expenses were naturally covered by Theorem.
Though it wasn’t enough to buy food for Rei and Set to be satisfied, it was still enough to last a normal person 10 days.
……Rather, maybe Theorem lamented the fact that Rei and Set’s food efficiency was so poor, for that amount to not be enough for a four day round trip.
Regardless, Rei was being generous because even if he treated Widele and the other knights, it would hardly hurt his ability to fill himself.
「This……sorry, I’ll treat you to a meal in future.」
As the smell wafted from the pot Rei had taken out from the Misty Ring, Widele immediately offered to treat Rei to a meal without hesitation.
It was because she understood that she would face an incredible amount of pressure from her subordinates if she were to refuse Rei’s offer here, regardless of her own thoughts.
Also, Widele’s own appetite was being stimulated by the smell from the pot.
「Yeah, eat as much as you want. Like I said before, tomorrow will be a tough day.」
He handed each person a bowl of stew.
It was filled with chunky vegetables and meat, not a typical soup, but more of a main dish.
Served with the soup was freshly baked bread. Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. It wasn’t the black bread eaten as a staple in the Bestir Empire, but rather white bread, tasty enough to eat on its own.
As for drinks, they didn’t have wine or fruit juice, but water. Of course, it was water from Rei’s Dagger of Flowing Water, so it was clearly different from any other water you could find.
Soup, bread, water. Normally, it would be considered a simple meal, but each one was significantly different from what you could usually find.
「Uwa, uwa, uwaa……」
「This is……quite extravagant.」
「Indeed. This isn’t the kind of food you would normally eat while camping.」
「Not even that, even fairly high ranking nobles wouldn’t be able to eat this food while camping……」
As the members of the White Rose Knights, including Widele, gave their impressions, Rei ate his bread and soup with a practiced look on his face.
It was a reaction he had seen countless times before, so he was already used to it.
Rather than focusing on that, he enjoyed his meal, considering it to be more important.
Set was eating of course, but his meal was a whole roasted Fangboar that he had spotted from the sky as evening started to set in.
As it was a Fangboar 2m in length, although it was roasted whole, the inside was still pretty rare.
The organs had been removed before Rei roasted the body using magic, so it was naturally very different from a slow roasted Fangboar.
That said, while Set preferred cooked meat, like what was on the skewers that were sold in town, he also liked raw meat.
In that sense, the roast Fangboar, which had only been roughly seasoned with salt and herbs, was more than enough to satisfy him.
He gave happy cries as he munched on the Fangboar meat.
This continued for about 20 minutes. Everyone had been concentrating on the food, but they had finally eaten enough and began to talk.
「So, we plan to arrive at the Imperial Capital before noon tomorrow, but do you know how long it will take before we are ready to leave again?」
「……I can’t say for sure. It’s up to Princess Frizione. Will she take her faction members with her or have them return to their own territories until this turmoil calms down? It will depend on the situation.」
「So does that mean that even after arriving in the Imperial Capital, we won’t be able to do anything for a while?」
Rei carried the impression that nobles took a long time to make decisions and even more time to prepare after making a decision because they need to get things in order.
Espeically since it was Frizione, the First Princess, who was traveling this time. It could potentially take not just a day or two, but a week or two. It wasn’t a surprise for him to think that way.
However, Widele shook her head at Rei’s question.
「We’re talking about Princess Frizione. She was probably already preparing to leave the Imperial Capital when we were sent out. Going through the formalities would attract attention as well. If that’s the case, Prince Shurus and Prince Kabajid would probably realise.」
「So she won’t do something like that?」
「That’s right. Princess Frizione is a kind person, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t understand the current situation. I want you to rest assured of that.」
Hearing Widele assure him that there wouldn’t be any problems, Rei turned his gaze to the other knights.
This was because he thought it might just be Widele who had unconditional trust in Frizione, but the rest of the knights just nodded and smiled back, as if to say there wasn’t a problem.
(It seems to be true at least. Well if I think about it, she is half related to Vihera and Mercurio by blood. On top of that, she was educated as a member of the royal family, so she can’t be incompetent.)
It wasn’t uncommon for siblings of capable people to grow up to be incompetent, but from what Rei had heard from Vihera, Mercurio, and Theorem, that didn’t seem to be the case.
「So, I won’t be spending as much time in the Imperial Capital as I thought.」
「Yes. ……Is there anything wrong with that?」
Widele must have found Rei’s words to be suspicious.
「There was a place I wanted to stop by for a bit. I was also thinking of replenishing my food supplies. And, if all goes well, I might be able to get some information about the current situation in the Imperial Capital.」
「That’s important.」
It wasn’t Widele who immediately replied……but one of the knights.
The food Rei had served was so delicious that she had responded almost on reflex.
「You……」
Widele let out an involuntary sigh at the sight of her subordinate effectively giving in to bribes.
Rei himself smiled at the somewhat comical exchange.
However, since Rei had already checked out of the Eternal Sky Pavilion, he couldn’t enter the inn.
The Dusk Wheat Inn ran a restaurant in addition to being an inn, but as the best inn in the Bestir Empire, the Eternal Sky Pavilion didn’t do anything like that.
It might have been a different story if Daska had yet to check out, but he had left a while ago already.
「Needless to say, Rei-sama is quite famous. I would appreciate it if you would try to not draw attention to yourself.」
Rei turned to look at the robe he was wearing as Widele spoke.
「This robe has an effect that lowers my presence. It’s impossible to see through it unless you’re someone very knowledgeable in magic.」
「It’s the Imperial Captial, so there’s a high chance that there are people like that out there.」
「Ehh, captain. We can eat such delicious food, right? Rei-sama also said it’s okay because he has a magic robe, so please let him go!」
A knight shouted out, as if to say she wouldn’t let such delicious food slip away, and Rei nodded with a small smile.
「If Widele doesn’t mind, I’d welcome it.」
「Really?!」
The knight’s face lit up at Rei’s words.
「Rei-sama, please don’t spoil them too much. If you spoil them once, they’ll ask you to spoil them endlessly.」
「No way, Captain Widele. Do you think of me like that!?」
「……You’re not going to say you forgot what happened before, are you?」
「Ugh!」
The knight seemed to realise.
Her completely different expression from earlier stunned everyone else, but also made them smile.
「Hehe~.」
Seeing one of her companions like that, one of the knights couldn’t help but smile and the others started to smile as well.
「Haah. Seriously……anyway, getting back to the point. I more or less understand where you want to go, Rei-sama. As long as you don’t stand out too much, I don’t think there will be any problems. Of course, it will depend on the situation when we get to the Imperial Capital……I hadn’t thought that Rei-sama and a few of your subordinates would have been able to handle the punitive force.」
Widele gave a sigh, not expecting the situation to turn out like this.
Although quality could surpass quantity in this world, there was still a limit.
Widele was greatly surprised that 30 people had been enough to wipe out the whole punitive force.
「As expected of someone able to take on the Immovable Noiz head on. You have……no, I should say you have even more power than I expected.」
「You won’t get anything out of me for praising me that much. That said, have this.」
Rei took a raiot from the Misty Ring.
Vihera had secretly given him some before they left the camp.
Rei had recognised it as a type of pear the moment he saw it and gratefully accepted it.
Rei liked pears, so the raiots were a welcome gift for him.
Widele was surprised by Rei’s actions, which were completely different from what he had said just a moment ago, but accepted the raiot nonetheless.
As citizens of the Bestir Empire, there was no way the White Rose Knights, including Widele, could dislike raiots.
「I’ll gratefully accept it then. Even on this short journey to the733 Imperial Capital, I’m indebted to you, Rei-sama.」
Pulling a knife out of nowhere, Widele started peeling skin off the raiot while smiling with delight.