Rei turned his gaze to the ground as he flew through the sky on Set’s back.

Frizione’s group could be seen on the ground, with many of them pointing at Set and Rei as they took off into the sky.

Looking down, the ground would have been carpeted in green if it had been summer, but it was now autumn.

The dead, withered grass and bare ground created a brown carpet, making for a rather unpleasant sight from the sky.

「Well, when it comes to scouting from the sky, it doesn’t really matter if the ground is green or brown.」

Rei didn’t know if Set could see it, but he waved lightly towards the ground before patting Set on the back.

With that, Frizione’s group started to move and Set flapped his wings, leaving them behind.

There was no greater advantage than scouting the ground from the sky.

It might be a bit harder to find people hiding in forests, but with Set’s incredible vision as a Griffon, it wasn’t that hard for him to spot armour and weapons reflecting light among the trees.

Rei’s senses were much sharper than that of an ordinary human as well, so his scouting ability was also overwhelmingly good.

That was why……he was quick to spot them.

「I thought so. So they’ve known for a long time.」

「Gurururururu~」

The two of them found something as they flew through the sky.

It was a force deployed in the direction Frizione’s group was heading towards.

There were about 500 people, which wasn’t much compared to previous punitive forces.

But even so, Frizione’s group realistically only had about 400 combat capable people, 500 if you included the supply troops, which only put them on even footing.

(What would we do? Should we just attack from above? With that number of people, I could wipe them out with magic.)

That was what Rei thought, but he then remembered that his role right now was to scout, so he quickly spoke while stroking Set’s neck.

「Set, let’s go back to Frizione and the others. We should let them know about this.」

「Gurururu~?」

Is that okay? Set seemed to ask as he gave a cry and turned to look at Rei. Rei nodded in response.

「Considering Frizione’s personality, she would probably be sad if we attacked here and wiped them all out……」

Speaking that far, Rei paused for a moment.

Yes, even Kabajid would know that Frizione didn’t like to fight.

Having been siblings for that long, there was no way he wouldn’t know.

(But……he would still place an equal number of forces in the direction Frizione is heading? Isn’t this too good to be true?)

What would he do if he were in the same situation? Thinking about it, he couldn’t help but think that the situation was too good to be true as he shook his head.

All Rei could think of was to use a much larger force to ambush Frizione and crush their morale in one fell swoop.

「Gururu~!」

At that moment, Set suddenly gave a cry.

「What’s wrong?」

「Gururururu~」

When Rei asked, Set gave a cry and looked down. ……However, he wasn’t looking at the ambush force spread out below, but towards the forest beside the road.

Rei turned to look into the forest intently.

However, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual

「Hm?」

All of a sudden, he noticed something strange about the forest.

Looking deeper inside to confirm, he realised what was strange.

It looked like there was something moving inside the forest. And it wasn’t just one or two things, but a lot more.

Rei immediately realised what was going on.

「Is that……a second group of troops lying in wait to ambush!?」

As Rei muttered to himself, Set gave a cry in agreement.

Looking into the forest again, sure enough, he could now see the soldiers hiding there.

He hadn’t seen them at first, but now that he knew they were there, he could clearly identify them.

「Still, it’s some good thinking. It’s true that’s it hard to spot them if they do it like that.」

Rei muttered in admiration.

When Set and Rei scouted the ground from the sky, the thing that would easily catch their eyes was the reflection of light.

Specifically, the reflection of light off metal weapons and armour.

But, the troops hiding in the forest next to the road didn’t have any such reflections.

The reason for this could be easily understood by looking into the forest.

The soldiers inside weren’t equipped with metal armour to begin with, but leather armour.

The surface of the leather armour had also been dyed in dull colours to blend in with the forest or soiled with dirt and covered in tree branches.

It was a scene worthy of being called camouflage.

「No matter how you look at this, this is to guard against spotting them from the sky. If we were on the ground, they would just need to hide in the shadows of the trees and bushes.」

「Gururu~?」

What are we going to do then? Attack? Set asked with a cry, but after hesitating for a few seconds, Rei shook his head.

His current role was that of an escort.

To fulfill that roll, it would be best to eliminate all enemies lying in wait here.

However, considering Frizione’s personality, he didn’t think she would condone a preemptive attack.

She would try to negotiate first, and if that didn’t work, she would then have no choice but to resort to force.

That was the kind of person she was.

(Luckily, she isn’t the kind of person to forbid the use of force to the very end and tie down her own allies.)

Muttering to himself, he signaled Set to return to Frizione’s location.

At an army’s speed, it would have taken about two hours on foot, but considering Set’s flying speed, it only took a moment. ……That was an exaggeration, but at the very least it felt that way to Rei.

He quickly spotted the First Princess’ faction in his field of vision……

「Huh?」

Rei was confused as he saw that the First Princess’ faction was moving faster than expected.

Looking on, he soon realised why they had sped up.

At the very back of their group……no even further back.

A certain distance away was a group of about 20 people.

Yes, they seemed to be chasing the First Princess’ faction.

「No, but what can they do with only 20 people?」

In the first place, the combat force accompanying Frizione consisted of soldiers, adventurers, mercenaries, and a selection of the best fighters from her faction.

Even among the volunteer soldiers, they were considered more skilled, so there was no way a group of 20 people should have been able to do anything against them.

(Are they actually reinforcements from those who are friendly towards Frizione?)

Although he was a little confused, he wouldn’t get an answer without asking directly, so he signaled Set to land.

Set spread his wings and glided down, landing a short distance away from the carriage Frizione was riding in.

The White Rose Knights, who surrounded the carriage, looked tense for a moment at Set’s appearance, but seeing it was Set, they quickly relaxed.

Angela……or perhaps Frizione, who liked Set, might have been the reason behind that. Rei approached Frizione’s carriage while still riding on Set.

「Rei-sama, we’ve been waiting for you. Please report immediately.」

「Yeah, no problem.」

Rei responded briefly to Widele, who rode over on horseback to guide him.

No matter how friendly Rei and Set were towards Frizione, they still couldn’t just let Rei pass through on his own, considering everyone else present.

Also, those in the White Rose Knights who disliked Rei might do something untoward.

In the end, no matter how many people treated Rei with friendly intentions, there were still those who just didn’t like him.

This was especially true for those of noble descent, but it was Rei’s fault in this case for not speaking to Frizione with proper respect.

All that said, it was true that the number of people who now accepted Rei had increased greatly after seeing Set with their own eyes.

……As a side note, the bear corpse that Set had brought with him seemed to have disappeared entirely.

「By the way, where is that bear corpse?」

「We’re carrying it properly of course. It was a bit of a struggle, but we fortunately were able to fit it nicely in with the supplies.」

「Guru~!」

Set’s eyes lit up and he gave a cry at the mention of the bear corpse, as if to say “That’s my meat!”.

Rei had a warm and fuzzy feeling inside as he saw Set like that and continued.

「While we’re still moving?」

「Yes. Commander Angela said that we should get away from the Imperial Capital as quickly as possible.」

Rei was impressed by her words.

Did Angela know about the 20 or so people on foot following behind them? Or did she just consider it to be the best decision to make at this point in time?

Rei didn’t know, but Angela’s decision was still appropriate.

「It is because of the guys following behind you?」

「Yes. I’ll provide the details in front of Princess Frizione.」

As they spoke, they arrived at the carriage Frizione was riding in, which was leading the way.

The White Rose Knights guarding the carriage immediately made way for Widele when they saw her.

When royalty led an army, it was common for them to be placed at the center of the army.

That was not only to deal with enemies appearing from the front or back, but to make it easier to give orders to the front and rear.

Despite that, Frizione’s carriage was at the forefront, due to her deep trust in her own knights and the thought that any pursuing forces would be attacking their rear first.

In fact, there were currently about 20 people chasing after them.

Frizione’s carriage was also powerful magic item strong enough defensively to withstand an attack from close to 100 soldiers.

However……her decision was also an underestimation of Kabajid, Shurus, and Shurus’ adjutant, Amare.

「Your Highness Frizione, I have brought Rei-sama with me.」

「Welcome back Rei. Set as well. ……So, how was the scouting? There are some strange people chasing us from behind.」

「Yeah, I could see it from above as well.」

Rei and Frizione exchanged words as Rei rode Set alongside the carriage.

Of course, Frizione wasn’t in the drivers seat, but inside the carriage.

A window in the carriage was opened to allow Frizione to show her face. Rei spoke with an expression that seemed to ask if she wanted him to take them all out.

However, Frizione responded by shaking her head.

Rei had expected that, so he spoke without any sign of disappointment.

「So what do we want to do? Are we going to let them follow us all the way? ……To where the ambush is waiting?」

At Rei’s words, the eyes of the nearby White Rose Knights widened.

The same went for Widele, who along with Rei and Angela, was riding next to Frizione’s carriage.

But……

「……I see, they’re lying in wait for us. How many of them are there?」

Frizione, who was probably the weakest among them, asked Rei without showing any signs of being shaken.

She looked imposing, as if she had already predicted the situation.

Rei was surprised for a moment, but Frizione smiled as she continued to speak.

「Shurus aside, I never thought we could completely fool Kabajid’s eyes. Besides, I had the feeling this would happen when Widele returned to the castle and told me that you had encountered Kabajid outside the castle. Widele, I’m sorry as you only just brought Rei here, but could you please call Marquis Lognos?」

「Yes!」

Widele quickly turned around as she headed for the army behind the carriage.

Rei had heard the name of Marquis Lognos before.

It was a name he had heard from Angela when he had been staying inside the cabin and they had met briefly before leaving the castle.

(He was a very influential person among the First Princess’ faction. His beard was the most memorable though.)

As he recalled Marquis Lognos’ magnificent, Dwarf-like beard, he soon saw Widele return along with Marquis Lognos.

It was a face that he’d only seen a short time ago, but as expected, or perhaps unsurprisingly, he was still impressed with his Dwarf-like beard.

The face of Brazos, a Dwarf he knew that was part of the C rank party Crushing Warriors.

「Your Highness Frizione, I heard you called for me?」

He nodded at Rei, who was riding on Set, and then bowed towards Frizione as he spoke in a dignified manner.

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