「Iskeld-sama……it’s Iskeld-sama!」
「W-Why is the Knight Commander of Duke Quent’s territory in a place like this!?」
「How should I know? Maybe he came to strike down that monster!」
「Wait, didn’t he say something about a request?」
「Yeah. He definitely said that. I heard it.」
「Then that monster……the Griffon really isn’t an enemy?」
「Probably. And even if it were an enemy, don’t you feel like Iskeld-sama could handle it anyway?」
「Can’t deny that. He’s practically the strongest person in the Royalist Faction.」
「If anything, considering there are multiple people capable of going toe-to-toe with Iskeld-sama, the Royalist Faction is really formidable.」
Iskeld inwardly breathed a sigh of relief as the surrounding voices reaching his ears.
While he did not particularly enjoy being the subject of rumours, the fact that the residents had recovered from their panic was a stroke of good fortune.
To some, his massive frame standing well over 2m might resemble a giant.
Not only was he tall, but his body was packed with dense muscle, and his features made him look fearless.
Though only around his mid-thirties, his presence made it easy to believe he had survived well over a hundred battlefields.
With the man serving as Knight Commander of the Quent Ducal Knights appearing at the gate, it was no wonder everyone was astonished.
Rei, who was approaching the gate alongside Set, could easily sense his imposing presence.
(Heh. ……He’s strong. Seems like he has the strength of an A rank.)
Rei’s ability to maintain his composure even when facing an opponent comparable to an A rank was because he had experienced fighting someone beyond that……the S rank Noiz.
Although Rei strongly felt he had been spared, it was still a fact that he had crossed blades with Noiz.
That was why he could speak to a figure like Iskeld without being disturbed in the slightest.
「I’m Rei. I’ve arrived on a request……」
「Indeed. I have heard about it. That is precisely why I came to meet you, to ensure no disturbances would occur. Follow me.」
Iskeld glanced at Rei and spoke without showing any agitation, even with Set right before his eyes.
Both understood the other was strong, yet managed exchanged words with their usual composure.
「……What about the procedures to enter?」
「I will take care of them on my end. Ah, show me your guild card just in case.」
「Understood.」
After Rei retrieved his guild card from the Misty Ring and handed it to Iskeld, the procedures were completed smoothly.
Fastening the Necklace of Subservient Monster, handed back alongside the guild card, onto Set, the two people and one animal stepped into Gracial.
「My apologies. I did not expect everyone to pay this much attention.」
「Don’t worry about it. Glances like these always come with being around Set.」
「Gururu~?」
Hearing his name called, Set turned his gaze toward Rei and Iskeld as if asking what was wrong.
With Set looking straight at him with round, gentle eyes, it was impossible to harbour hostility toward him even knowing he was a Griffon.
Understanding his charm just by looking at him, Iskeld gave a small smile as he spoke.
「Hearing of Crimson and his Griffon, I wondered what kind of monster would arrive…… I never expected such an adorable creature to appear.」
「Set is basically friendly. Hostile opponents are a different story, but in that regard, maybe he takes after me.」
「……If you understand that much, you could have exercised a little more restraint. While this matter was indeed caused by the tyranny of a Royalist Faction noble……reluctant as I am to admit it, that is the case. Even so, aren’t you also partly to blame for letting it escalate this far?」
「Well, who knows? Though if I hadn’t stepped in, the ill repute of a Royalist noble would have definitely spread through Gilm. Apparently he had already caused plenty of trouble even before clashing with me.」
They conversed as they walked along, passing through the gate and finally entering within Gracial.
「Heh. ……It’s quite developed.」
「Naturally. It is the main city under Duke Quent, after all.」
Even as he answered, Iskeld wore a proud smile, clearly pleased to hear his home praised.
In terms of sheer scale, the city of Gracial clearly surpassed Gilm.
Above all else, population size was completely different.
While Gilm prospered more than enough as the sole city on the frontier, the city before Rei seemed to hold several times more people.
(It might just come down to the difference between a Margrave and a Duke, or the difference between the frontier and a peaceful region, but this is honestly amazing.)
Admiring the sights of Gracial, Rei suddenly recalled the letter he had received from Marka before leaving Gilm.
「Come to think of it, Marka entrusted me with a letter to hand to the gate guards, but with someone like you showing up, it wasn’t necessary. Uh……Iskeld, was it?」
「……Ah, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I am Iskeld. I serve as the Knight Commander of the Quent Ducal Knights.」
「I’m Rei. A B rank adventurer from Gilm.」
As Rei introduced himself in turn, Iskeld gave a wry smile.
He usually looked like a fearless veteran, but his wry smile made him look remarkably young.
「I know. If anything, if anyone in the Mireana Kingdom didn’t know your name right now, you could practically call them a liar.」
Rei was momentarily surprised by the casual tone, devoid of the stiffness from seconds ago, but he responded without mentioning it.
「……Considering that, Keep, from your Royalist Faction, didn’t seem to know.」
Having hit a sore spot, Iskeld slightly furrowed his brows as he replied.
「That fellow is an exception in many ways. Sending such an insolent fool to Gilm to cause trouble was the lowest of low plots. ……If the conspiracy was meant to inflict damage on the Royalist Faction instead, I would almost consider whoever planned it to be capable.」
Iskeld spoke with deep feelings, and as they walked along the street, many people started to notice him. Those who appeared to be soldiers straightened their backs to salute, adventurers wore expressions of surprise, and residents gazed at him in admiration.
As he acknowledged them with a nod, raised a hand lightly, or returned a smile, Iskeld continued conversing with Rei.
……Though it was not just Iskeld who stood out. The presence of Rei and Set was a major factor as well.
Unlike Gilm, the city of Gracial was a place Rei and Set had never visited before.
Naturally, almost everyone was seeing a Griffon for the very first time, and normally it would not have been strange for chaos to break out.
The reason an uproar was avoided was mostly because Iskeld was with them.
「If there really was someone like that, they’d be troublesome in all sorts of ways. ……Though we managed to avoid that this time.」
「Yeah. Though if such a person existed, I would advise Duke Quent to take them into service.」
Exchanging words with Rei while greeting those who called out to him was proof of how accustomed Iskeld was to this sort of thing.
For the residents of Gracial, seeing Rei and Set alongside the Knight Commander they took pride in was more than enough to draw everyone’s attention.
「Hey, the one with the Griffon……」
「No doubt about it, that’s Crimson.」
Well-informed adventurers and merchants quickly guessed his identity……
「A man? A woman? What do you think?」
「Wearing a hood makes it hard to tell, but with that slender build, wouldn’t a woman make more sense?」
「……A woman commanding a Griffon? Sounds like an absolute villainess.」
「Really? She gives me the impression of a mysterious woman.」
「A woman!? A pretty girl!? A beauty!?」
「Ugh, your true colours are showing. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to get anywhere near someone like that.」
「Wait, weren’t the rumours saying Crimson was a man?」
While stirring up all kinds of noise as they walked along, Rei, Iskeld, and Set continued forward until Rei’s gaze suddenly halted at a certain food stall.
Before him was a stall serving a dish he had never seen in this world, but was still somewhat familiar to him.
The dish used udon.
However, it was not the soup-broth udon commonly served in Gilm.
Served with something resembling minced meat sauce ladled over boiled udon, this dish did not exist in Gilm……or if it did, Rei had never seen it.
(Is it something like zhajiangmian or dan dan noodles?)
Of course, it likely wasn’t the miso meat sauce Rei knew. The seasonings were completely different in the first place.
Yet it looked similar to them……and in that instant, a thought crossed Rei’s mind.
(No. It’s not zhajiangmian nor dan dan noodles. I’m pretty sure, on TV……right, a dish from Morioka called jajamen. It’s close to that. ……Though I only saw it on TV and never actually ate it.)
That was one of the dishes renowned alongside wanko soba and reimen as the Three Great Noodles of Morioka.
Still, Rei’s knowledge came purely from television, and he did not know what the authentic dish was actually like.
This made his desire to try the food at the stall even stronger.
He glanced over at Iskeld, but the man was walking down the main street without paying it any particular mind.
「Guru~……」
Walking beside Rei, Set was likely curious about the food as well.
Set was quite fond of udon, frequently eating it at stalls back in Gilm.
Particularly in winter with snow fluttering down, eating warm udon was one of the greatest pleasures imaginable.
Set appealed to him with round eyes as if pleading, Aren’t we going to eat? Hey, aren’t we eating? I want to eat. Rei, who had already wanted to try the dish himself, had no way to resist……
「Iskeld, do you have a moment?」
「Hm? What is it?」
「I’d like to take a short detour.」
Rei’s gaze as he spoke was directed at the stall.
Iskeld was slightly surprised by Rei’s words, but smiled as though recalling something as he spoke.
「Right. That dish was created by Marka-sama after visiting Gilm last year. Asking you for your impressions might not be a bad idea, since you come from Gilm.」
「Rather than created, isn’t that just the udon that’s becoming Gilm’s specialty?」
「Apparently so. Though from what I hear, it is quite different from what you have in Gilm.」
「Can’t deny that.」
For Gilm’s sake, Rei felt he ought to defend it, but his curiosity to taste the food won out.
The numerous other stalls sending out tempting aromas only strengthened his desire.
(Then again, it’s not like copyright exists in this world……and with good, adapting recipes into completely different dishes was hardly uncommon back in Japan either.)
Convincing himself……or rather, forcing himself to accept it, he followed Iskeld toward the stall.
The most astonished person at that moment was surely the stall keeper.
After all, Iskeld, a renowned figure in Gracial, was heading right toward his stall.
And what was more, with Rei and a Griffon in tow.
「Three bowls, boss.」
「Y-Yes, right away!」
Still, being a merchant, he quickly recovered his senses and began cooking.
Not that the cooking was difficult at all.
All it meant was boiling the udon, draining the hot water, and topping it with the seasoning that looked like miso meat sauce.
(I want chopsticks……)
Rei thought to himself as he ate the udon with a fork.
For ordinary udon served in soup, eating with a fork posed no real issue, but for a dish like this where a meat sauce had to be mixed together with the noodles, a fork was much harder to mix with than chopsticks.
Granted, in Set’s case, chopsticks were irrelevant as he simply plunged his beak into the dish to eat.
「Gurururu~」
Set gave a happy cry while eating the udon, though his beak ended up smeared with the meat sauce.
(I’ll have to wipe that off once he finishes.)
Thinking that he would need to take out a cloth from the Misty Ring, Rei carried the forkful of thoroughly mixed udon to his mouth.
It felt almost like eating pasta with a meat sauce, yet the flavour of the udon was remarkably different.
What appeared to be miso meat sauce seemed to have been made by simmering down a sauce, resembling a rich demi-glace.
Mixed with the residual water left on the noodles after draining, it stuck nicely to the udon.
Combining the rich sauce with the savoury umami of meat, a deep flavour distinct from zhajiangmian or soupless dandan noodles spread across his mouth.
Cut relatively thick, the udon held its own against the robust seasoning without being overpowered.
The delicious taste made him feel as if he could eat it forever, and mouthful after mouthful vanished into his mouth.
(Though……eating the exact same flavour continuously might get tiring, so having some condiments or garnishes would probably be better.)
While thinking along those lines as he slurped down the noodles, Rei finished his bowl of udon.
「……That was delicious.」