The moon, floating in the night sky, had its light hidden from the ground by clouds.
Under the long autumn night, Rei and Set were eating near their magic tent.
「Guru~, Gururururu~」
In front of the very happy Set was a variety of bear meat dishes.
There were stews, stir-fries, boiled dishes, and dishes where the meat had been grilled with high heat, leaving the inside almost raw.
Bears at this time of the year needed to get plenty of food and nutrition before hibernation, so they were fatty and delicious. You could even say that bears were in season.
Since Set had killed a bear at this time of the year, with the help of Frizione’s army, which was very good at cooking, it had been transformed into a number of luxurious dishes.
The cook had also left satisfied with their own share of the seasonal bear meat.
Bear meat was hard to cook due to their gamey odour, but with the cook’s skill, the dishes that had been prepared for Rei and Set were very delicious.
Bear meat before hibernation had an especially strong smell, so the fact that the cook was able to hide the smell entirely was testament to their skill.
……All that said, removing the smell was mostly for Rei’s sake as Set enjoyed the smell for its wild flavour.
「Mm, it’s delicious. Not at all worse than the bear stew I had before.」
Rei recalled the bear stew made with miso that he had eaten once before, made by a person who enjoyed hunting back in Japan, as he ate some bread along with the stew.
The dense black bread’s slightly sour taste went perfectly with the bear stew.
「Maybe it would be good to let you hunt some deer in the mountains next time.」
「Guru~!」
As Set ate the stewed right bear paw, which was said to be particularly delicious among bear meat, he gave a cry, as if to say ‘Leave it to me!’.
While there was a lot more bear meat to eat, Rei had heard from a neighbouring hunter back in Japan that Venison was much better than bear meat in terms of flavour.
「……Now that I think of it, Set, did you eat any magic stones?」
「Gururururu~?」
Set tilted his head at Rei’s words.
Rei spoke again as he reached for a grilled bear meat skewer.
「You see, we separated while I was taking the rank up exam, right? You ate some magic stones and learned some skills back then, didn’t you?」
Set must have recalled that time they were separated as he suddenly went over to Rei and rubbed his body against him.
Although Set was big, and even though he was an A rank monster, it had been less than two years since he was born.
At such a young age, he naturally still wanted to be pampered by Rei.
「Guru~, Gurururu~, Guru~」
A Set rubbed his face against Rei while giving quiet cries, Rei couldn’t help but smile as he put down his meat skewer to stroke Set’s head.
「Now, now, calm down. Oh, I see. You ate some magic stones last time and got new skills, but nothing like that happened this time.」
「Guru……」
Set gave a cry in response, feeling down.
Seeing Set like that, Rei quickly stroked his head to tell him not to worry about it.
「Don’t worry, I’m not saying you have to get any new skills or something like that. I was just wondering if you had.」
Set gave a cry in response.
The forest where Set had been hiding this time was a place where the active adventurers were mostly beginners.
Naturally, the only monsters present were those at an appropriate level for them, such as Goblins.
Rare or high ranking Goblins would be another matter, but Set had only found ordinary Goblins.
Their flesh tasted bad and the only available material was their skin, which didn’t sell for much, so the Goblins that attacked Set without realising the difference in strength simply had their heads and bodies crushed by Set, leaving their flesh and blood splattered all over the place.
……And, of course, any adventurers who happened to stop by the scene of the Goblin massacre afterwards made some quick cash by stripping away the magic stones and proofs of subjugation that remained along with any remaining usable skin……but that was just the way of things.
「Gurururu~」
Set’s eyes were drawn to the bear fur as he let out a cry.
Of course, aside from meat, other parts of the bear were worth a fair bit, such as the fur, so in that sense it was a lot more worthwhile to kill bears than Goblins.
That said, Set saw it as more of a gift for Rei than a way to show off.
Having been to many towns, including Gilm, Set knew that bear fur was quite expensive.
Rei seemed to understand Set’s thoughts as well. He stroked Set’s head and body several times.
Set’s eyes narrowed in pleasure as he felt Rei stroke him.
If someone hadn’t known that a big battle had taken place here less than half a day ago, it would have been a rather endearing sight.
……No, some people still came over to Set despite knowing that.
「Um, excuse me, Rei-sama. I’ve brought some food for Set-chan, is that okay?」
With those words, a female knight under Widele’s Third Unit appeared from the darkness.
She had known Rei and Set since they had rescued her from the attack by Sobble’s men, so she was one of the first people in Frizione’s army to have met Set.
That said, many people in the rebel army, who also loved Set, would claim to have known Set for much longer. Milein in particular, an acclaimed Set lover in Gilm, would probably said 『You’re all idiots!』 in a deep voice that didn’t suit her in an attempt to intimidate everyone else.
「Gururururu~?」
Are you giving me something? Something to eat? Set gave a cry as he looked back at the knight with round eyes.
His behaviour was so innocent that it was hard to believe he was an A rank monster than had wrecked havoc in the forest during the day.
「Um, Rei-sama?」
「Oh, it’s nothing. Set seems to be looking forward to it.」
「Um……here, Set-chan. I bought it from a traveling merchant who passed by here today.」
With those words, she presented some dried fish.
However, it wasn’t dried sea fish, but dried river fish.
The Bestir Empire had no sea access after all, so just that fact alone made fish a rare commodity.
「Gurururu-!」
Set must have understood the knight’s concern. He gave a cry before approaching her happily.
「Ah, wait a moment. This dried fish tastes better grilled. Rei-sama, may I borrow your campfire for a bit?」
「Use it as you need.」
The knight gave a bow at Rei’s words and immediately put a skewer through the dried fish.
Rather than grilling it at high heat, she kept it a certain distance away from the flames to grill it slowly.
「Rei-sama, you saved me today.」
As she watched the dried fish cook, the knight suddenly spoke up.
「I saved you?」
「Yes. If we had been attacked by the soldiers hiding in the forest while fighting the main force waiting for us, we may not have lost, but we would have suffered heavy casualties. If that had happened, they would naturally have been casualties among the White Rose Knights as well.」
「You don’t need to worry about that so much. I was just doing the job I was given, that is to protect the army.」
「No, but some of us still dislike you, Rei-sama. But I know that you still saved us.」
「That can’t be helped. It’s because of my attitude. And, I hate to say it, but it’s not like I can do anything about if if they hate me, right? If they don’t harm me, then it’s just their personal problem. Well, I’m not happy about being hated either, so I do hope we can be on friendly terms one day.」
The knight was silent at Rei’s words.
That was certainly true, but as a member of the White Rose Knights, she wanted her fellow knights to get along well with Rei and Set.
After those words, silence followed for a few minutes before the smell of grilled dried fish began to waft into the air.
The knight must have felt uncomfortable in the silence. Taking this opportunity, she went over to the campfire to check on the fish.
The fish itself wasn’t particularly big, so it was cooked to perfection in that short time.
「Here, Set-chan. Try it.」
「Guru~?」
Is it okay? Set seemed to ask as he looked at Rei.
Rei nodded and Set stretched out his beak for the fish with a happy cry.
(A Griffon has the lower body of a lion……which is a cat, so……is that why he likes fish?)
Rei thought of that as he watched Set happily eating the fish.
As expected of Set, his comfort wasn’t affected by the silence at all.
Seeing the happy Set, the awkward atmosphere from a moment ago disappeared.
Set probably didn’t even realise Rei’s thoughts as he gave happy cries and tore the fish apart piece by piece.
「I’m sorry, Your Highness Kabajid……I was not strong enough.」
Bratta kneeled before Kabajid as he bowed his head.
After their defeat in the battle against Frizione’s army and their subsequent retreat, the remaining force returned to the Imperial Capital.
Shurus’ knights when back to report to Shurus while Kabajid’s soldiers went back to Kabajid to report their defeat.
For Bratta, this was his second defeat.
In the previous battle, they had been ambushed at night and a fire tornado had been used against them, making it a hopeless fight. But this time, he had fought head on and lost.
And he had even prepared an ambush, with cavalry attacking from behind and soldiers hidden in the forest.
Even Bratta knew that this complete defeat, which left him with no excuses, had made Kabajid’s direct subordinates and nobles in the faction to look at him with harsher eyes.
Bratta had been waiting for Kabajid to dismiss him on the spot……or maybe even order his execution, but Kabajid’s response was unexpected for everyone.
「It doesn’t matter. It’s true that it would have been best if we had managed to hold Frizione there, but we’ve achieved our minimum objective of buying time. Thanks to that, we’ve been able to make a new move. I don’t intend to punish you as we still need you to continue to work hard and perform well.」
Hearing that, one of the nobles spoke up.
「Your Highness Kabajid, I still think it’s necessary to reward those who did well and punish those who didn’t.」
「But, considering Crimson was there, isn’t it a bit unreasonable to blame him for losing? Or would you have been able to defeat Crimson?」
「That is……I don’t think he could have won.」
「Right? As I said, Bratta fufilled the minimum goal of buying time. According to the information I have received, Frizione’s army are taking the time to deal with the aftermath of the battle, so they’ll be spending the night there. That’s enough time bought. And in terms of time, we’ve made a few other moves.」
Kabajid spoke with a small smile and the noble didn’t say any more and just gave a bow.
Seeing that, Kabajid called out to Bratta again.
「Now then, on a different note, how was the Fire Eater? Is it any good?」
「It seems that it did manage to neutralise Crimson’s fire magic. However, there are various problems as it only works when coming in direct contact with fire magic. It would be a different story if it were water or earth magic, but fire……」
「Hmm, that’s as expected. But I gave Rhodes a magic item for healing, right? If he uses that, he should be able to manage, right?」
「……As for the healing effect, that is true. But, since it takes away his will, the fact that he can’t make his own decisions in battle is a major worry.」
Kabajid paused as he heard Bratta’s explanation, closing his eyes as he thought about something.
After 10 seconds, Kabajid opened his eyes as he sighed in disappointment.
「It’s difficult to suppress Crimson completely with Fire Eaters……I didn’t want to, but I guess we have no other choice but to take other measures. In that case, we’ll have to think about how to use the time we’ve gained this time……what do you all think?」
Kabajid’s eyes were directed towards the noble who had spoken earlier about punishing Bratta.
「As long as Pelfiel is in charge, I don’t think there will be any problems. ……If Sobble were there, it would have been a certainty. Pelfiel is capable, but she’s too strict with herself and others, so her subordinates don’t seem to like her very much.」
「Hahaha. That’s Pelfiel strength as well. It all depends on how we use her……also, they should be working on rescuing Sobble. If all goes well, we might be able to get him back soon.」
As for Sobble’s rescue, that was something Count Schwindel brought up when he joined the First Prince’s faction.
Count Schwindel’s group had gone crazy and died in today’s battle, but the order to rescue Sobble should still have been valid.
In fact, the order had already been put into action and Sobble had even been rescued from the rebel camp……but Kabajid was unaware that in the end, everything had been ruined by Crimson, right next to the battlefield that was currently the subject of discussion.