Seto beat its wings steadily, slicing through the air at a breathtaking speed.
Astride the creature's back, Rei tucked the two Sword Bee magic stones he had just acquired into his Misty Ring while unfurling his map once more.
The City of Abuelo, which they had passed only moments ago, sat behind them. According to the map, following the highway past Abuelo would lead them to the City of Sablusta. Beyond that, the road forked: the left path led toward the Royal Capital, while the right path passed through a village called Kenis before finally reaching his destination, the City of Baar.
"You really are something, Seto. We're moving many times faster than we ever could on the ground."
"Guruuu."
Ordinarily, the distance between the City of Gilm and Abuelo was not a journey that could be completed in a few hours. Yet Seto's wings made a mockery of such daunting stretches of land.
The Gryphon cooed proudly in response to Rei’s praise, its throat vibrating with a satisfied trill. For Seto, nothing was more rewarding than knowing its flight brought joy to Rei.
Rei smiled and stroked the creature’s neck, his thoughts drifting toward the city ahead.
Magic Fever was a disease that shouldn't naturally break out in a place like Baar. If the impossible was happening, it suggested an unnatural interference or some grave incident.
"I hope the Bestia Empire isn't pulling the strings behind this as well..."
Even as the thought crossed his mind, Rei judged the possibility to be slim.
The Bestia Empire’s alchemy was certainly more advanced than that of the Kingdom of Mireana, but if they intended to use a disease as a biological weapon, they would likely have chosen something far more lethal or highly contagious.
"Well, the priority right now is reaching the City of Baar as quickly as possible. Here, Seto."
As Rei stored the map back in the Misty Ring, he pulled out several strips of dried meat and fed them to the Gryphon.
Even while facing backward to feed his partner, the creature’s flight path remained perfectly steady. Impressed by the Gryphon's natural grace, Rei pulled out a freshly grilled skewer for himself and took a bite.
"If it were spring or summer, the plains below would look like a lush green carpet, but in this season..."
Because they were flying at a high altitude and at considerable speed, the skewer was cooling rapidly. Rei finished it off quickly and scanned the horizon.
As he had noted, winter was fast approaching. Below them, the world was a brown wasteland of withered grass, marked only by the singular, straight line of the maintained highway.
The headwind was strong and the temperature was biting at this height, but the Dragon Robe kept Rei perfectly comfortable. Seto, protected by its own thick coat of fur, flapped its wings without the slightest sign of distress.
Rei tossed the empty wooden skewer toward the earth and remained vigilant, keeping a sharp eye out for another monster ambush like the Sword Bees.
"That's the City of Sablusta," Rei muttered against the backdrop of a magnificent sunset.
A fairly large city loomed ahead in their flight path. A quick cross-reference with the map confirmed it was indeed Sablusta.
"Seto, let’s steer clear of the city. I don't want them mistaking us for a monster raid. Fly around the perimeter."
"Guruu!"
Seto chirped in acknowledgment and banked, carving a wide arc through the upper atmosphere to bypass the settlement.
Even with their evasive maneuver, they weren't entirely invisible. Travelers, adventurers, and merchants on the highway below pointed up at the pair, shouting in a mixture of awe and alarm as the Gryphon streaked across the twilight sky.
Fortunately, Sablusta didn't seem to possess any immediate means of attacking a flying target. Had they flown lower or closer to the walls, they might have been targeted by mages or archers. However, Rei was confident in his navigation; unlike his stop at Abuelo, he saw no reason to descend and simply continued onward.
An hour later, Rei found himself feeling slightly uneasy due to how smoothly the journey was progressing.
Being late in the year, the sun vanished quickly. The orange glow that had bathed Sablusta was long gone, replaced by a deep, lightless indigo. Thick clouds had rolled in to obscure the moon, leaving the world in darkness. No matter how keen Rei’s night vision was, it had its limits. He was now forced to rely entirely on Seto’s superior instincts.
"Seto, let me know when we reach the fork in the road. We'll camp near there for the night."
"Guruu?"
Seto tilted its head and looked back mid-flight, as if asking if they truly needed to stop, but Rei gave its neck a reassuring pat.
"Yeah. You might be fine, but I won't be. If we try to navigate the night sky like this, I’ll probably end up heading in the wrong direction and get us lost before we ever see the City of Baar."
A single night might mean the difference between life and death for someone suffering from Magic Fever in Baar. However, Rei judged that wasting even more time by getting lost was a greater risk. It was better to wait for dawn.
(Besides, the map says we're out of the frontier now. We shouldn't have to worry too much about monster attacks during the night.)
Total safety was a myth, but the monster encounter rate was night and day compared to the regions surrounding the City of Gilm.
(And more importantly...)
Rei glanced at his partner.
With Seto by his side, he could survive a night even in the heart of the frontier. In this relatively civilized region, they would be perfectly safe unless something truly extraordinary occurred.
They continued through the dim moonlight for another thirty minutes before Seto noticeably began to decelerate.
"Guruuu."
The Gryphon called out and looked toward the ground. Rei followed its gaze.
As they descended, a fork in the highway came into view. It was exactly the spot Rei had designated for their camp.
"Seto's wings really do make short work of these distances. We should arrive in Baar tomorrow without a hitch."
"Gurulululululuuu."
Seto cooed happily as Rei scratched its throat in praise.
Rei watched his partner with a smile before turning his attention to their surroundings. He didn't have the Gryphon's supernatural night vision to see the ground clearly while flying at high speed, but on solid ground, his senses were more than sharp enough to navigate the darkness.
He spotted a small, wooded thicket off to the side of the highway.
"That spot looks good. It's a bit late, Seto, but let's have some dinner. You must be starving after flying all day."
"Guruuu."
Seto nuzzled Rei’s side, its throat rumbling with joy.
Rei stroked the creature’s head, and the one man and one beast made their way toward the trees.
"Everything looks fine. Plenty of dry wood lying around, and it isn't damp. Perfect for a campfire."
Rei gathered a pile of fallen branches and ignited them with a spark of flame magic. He then pulled several slabs of Emerald Wolf meat from the Misty Ring, skewered them on metal rods he had bought at a general store, and set them to roast beside the blaze.
Though called skewers, the cuts of meat were enormous—so large that even Rei couldn't finish a single piece in one bite.
He seasoned the meat with salt from his storage and finished some pieces with the secret sauce Dishot had given him as a reward for the udon.
Enduring the mouth-watering aroma, he pulled freshly baked bread and a pot of soup from the Misty Ring. Once the meat was cooked, he plated it, giving eighty percent to Seto. He took the remaining twenty percent for himself, along with the soup and bread, finishing a meal that would have easily fed three grown men.
For dessert, he produced several pieces of Kaki-modoki. He gave ten to Seto and kept three for himself, biting into the fruit skin and all.
(...They aren't coming out.)
He had felt presences in the woods since the moment they started eating. Given how they had positioned themselves to surround the camp, it wasn't hard to guess their intentions. Yet, despite the blatant openings Rei had shown while dining, the watchers hadn't made a move.
"..."
Rei looked over at Seto, who was contentedly munching on its Kaki-modoki.
There was only one reason why bandits would hesitate to jump a traveler who looked like a frail child: the presence of a Rank A monster like Seto.
(Still, I won't sleep well with bandits lurking in the shadows. I'll have to flush them out.)
Rei picked up a few stones from the ground and, with a flick of his wrist, hurled them toward the trees with the force of a bullet.
"Gyah!"
"–!?"
"Ow!"
"Gah!"
The small stones whistled through the air. His aim had been general, but several stones found their marks, eliciting a chorus of pained cries from the darkness.
Realizing their cover was blown, nearly ten men and women emerged from the brush, rustling through the branches. Most were fierce-looking, middle-aged men, though there were a few younger faces in the mix. Half of them were clutching their faces or limbs. One man was bleeding profusely from a gash on his forehead where a stone had grazed him.
"Tch. So you saw right through us, you little brat."
A middle-aged man in his fifties, his face crisscrossed with old scars, stepped forward and spat on the ground.
His companions glared at Rei, their irritation at the preemptive strike simmering into murderous intent. The only reason they didn't charge immediately was the silent, intimidating presence of Seto, who stared them down with predatory indifference.
"Brat or not, I don't have any money or cargo for the likes of you. If you leave now, I'll let you go. What's it going to be?"
Rei spoke as if he were discussing the weather, his gaze locked on the scarred leader.
Rei was well-acquainted with Pamidoor, a blacksmith whose face was far more terrifying than anyone standing before him now. Compared to that level of intensity, this man’s attempt at intimidation was pathetic.
"You don't even flinch at these numbers. Who the hell are you?"
The man gripped a massive battle axe, his knuckles white.
Rei remained relaxed, his voice devoid of tension. By now, the leader had realized that Rei was far more dangerous than his youthful appearance suggested. A bandit leader had to be a good judge of character to survive; picking the wrong target was a death sentence.
"I'm just a Rank D adventurer."
The leader reflexively shook his head at the claim.
"Don't give me that. We run this whole region. If there was a noteworthy adventurer in Sablusta who rode a Gryphon, I would have heard about it instantly. I’ll ask you one more time. Who are you, kid?"
the leader's aura grew heavier, radiating a pressure that would have caused a normal Rank D adventurer to draw their weapon or flee in terror.
"I told you," Rei interrupted, his voice sharp enough to cut through the man’s intimidation. "I'm a Rank D adventurer."
(Though calling myself 'just' an adventurer might be a bit of a lie.)
Rei narrowed his eyes as the leader prepared to argue. "But you're misunderstanding one thing. I'm an adventurer, yes, but I'm not from Sablusta. I'm from the City of Gilm."
"...What!?" the leader barked, his eyes widening.
Unlike Sablusta, which saw relatively little monster activity, the frontier around the City of Gilm was a literal hellscape. The leader knew that any adventurer who survived there was on an entirely different level.
The bandits surrounding their leader shared his shock, their aggressive stances wavering.
"Why is a Gilm adventurer all the way out here?"
"I don't see any reason to tell you that. I've told you who I am. If you still want to attack, then prepare yourselves. I'm on a tight schedule, so if we’re doing this, I’ll be finishing it quickly."
Rei’s gaze turned cold, and the murderous intent he released made the leader’s blood run cold. His instincts screamed that this boy was not exaggerating.
"Tch. Forget it! We're pulling back!"
"Boss, but—!"
"Shut up! If we fight this kid, we're all dead. I'm not looking to commit suicide tonight. If any of you are that eager to die, go ahead and stay!"
"…Understood."
With that, the bandits vanished into the night as silently as they had appeared.
Rei gave a small nod of approval at the discipline they showed in their retreat. He settled in against Seto’s warm flank, closing his eyes to rest for the long journey ahead.
This was the first meeting between Rei and Egg, the leader of the wide-area bandit gang 'Prairie Wolves' that claimed the region around the City of Sablusta.
The two of them would meet again, though that was a story for the future.