"It’s Gilm! I see the City of Gilm!"
The shout rippled through the ranks of the Larkus Territorial Army as they marched down the highway.
It had been nearly two weeks since they had parted ways with the unit led by Daskar, which was bound for the Royal Capital. As they marched toward Gilm, the various units belonging to nobles whose territories lay along the path had branched off one by one. After leaving the City of Abuelo—where the last of those units had turned away—they had spent one final night on the road. Now that Gilm was finally in sight, the eruption of cheers from the Larkus Territorial Army was only natural.
Though it had only been a month since they had marched out of the city for the war, the sight of home filled everyone with a visible sense of nostalgia and relief.
Inside the carriage carrying Rei, the mood was just as bright.
"We’re finally back. Looking at it now, I really do feel at ease," Luno murmured, staring wistfully out the window at the approaching city. A small, relieved smile played across his lips.
"Yeah. Coming back like this makes it sink in for the first time—this city really is our home," one of the knights agreed, nodding with an expression of deep relief. The other knight grunted in silent agreement.
Rei, however, didn't share their profound sense of homesickness. It hadn't even been a year since he had first arrived in the City of Gilm, so he found it difficult to feel such a strong sentimental bond.
Even so, he knew it would be tactless to point that out. He simply turned his attention back to the book he was reading, which provided descriptions of various monsters.
While he was glad to be back, he knew that a mountain of trouble awaited him within the city walls. With that weighing on his mind, he couldn't share in the unbridled joy of his companions.
One of the knights noticed Rei’s subdued reaction. His relieved smile shifted into a wry one as he addressed the young man.
"Rei, aren't you going to show a little more excitement?"
"It’s not that I’m not happy. But when I think about the chores waiting for me once we’re back, I can't help but feel a bit grim."
"Ah, you mean returning the supply materials in your Item Box?" Luno cut in, turning toward Rei with a mischievous grin.
That was exactly it. Inside Rei’s Misty Ring was a staggering amount of military supplies deemed necessary for the campaign: weapons like bows, arrows, swords, and spears; provisions like alcohol and food; tents, canopies, and a vast array of recovery items.
Fearing a prolonged conflict, Daskar had prepared several months' worth of supplies. However, the actual battle had been decided in a single day. Consequently, the consumption rate had been negligible, leaving the vast majority of the materials sitting inside the Misty Ring, never having been touched.
During the march to the Seremuse Plain, the supplies had been distributed among various carriages just in case. But now that the war was over—and despite their overwhelming victory—there were still wounded men to transport. To free up space in the carriages for the injured, nearly all the excess supplies had been unceremoniously dumped into Rei’s magical storage.
Since the supplies didn't belong to him, he had to return every single item to the army upon reaching Gilm. The sheer logistics of it made Rei look like he was contemplating a particularly unpleasant chore.
"Leaving the weapons aside, maybe you should keep the rations and other preserved foods in your Item Box for a while," one of the knights suggested. "Especially the freshly prepared meals. You still have a huge amount of those, don't you?"
Rei sighed as he checked the mental inventory of his ring. "I do."
The high morale of the Larkus Territorial Army had been sustained by several factors, including their pride as the frontier’s most elite force, but the luxury of eating freshly cooked meals on the march had been a major contributor.
The envious stares from other units had likely helped their morale as well, though they had shared some of the food to prevent that envy from turning into genuine resentment.
Regardless, Rei now had months' worth of hot meals stored in his Misty Ring. If he were to take them all out at once, they would immediately begin to spoil.
"We’ll have to wait for Lord Daskar to return from the Royal Capital to decide what to do with the prepared food. Or perhaps I should just ask the knight left in charge?" the knight mused. "For now, just return the medicine, weapons, tents, and regular rations. It’ll be easier for you to empty it in several trips rather than all at once, right?"
Rei nodded. "I’d appreciate that."
As they spoke, the carriage gradually slowed to a stop.
Through the window, Rei saw the City of Gilm's Main Gate. A massive crowd of citizens had gathered around the entrance, their voices rising in a deafening wall of cheers.
"We don't need to be in the Royal Capital to be celebrated," the knight remarked, sounding slightly bashful.
"Well, I’m sure the population in the capital is on a different level, but this is plenty for us," Luno added.
As the two men spoke, a knock sounded on the carriage door.
Judging that there was no longer any danger of assassins, Rei opened the door to reveal a familiar face.
"Rei-san, Luno-san, and the two of you as well. You’ve returned much sooner than expected."
Despite his rugged, intimidating features, Ranga, the Captain of the City of Gilm's Guard Force, greeted them with his usual easygoing smile.
"It’s been a while, Ranga. Any trouble in the city while we were away?" the knight asked. Though Ranga held a position of authority as the Captain of the Guard Force, they were old acquaintances and spoke without formality.
"A few minor things, as you’d expect with so many adventurers gone, but nothing fatal, fortunately. More importantly, seeing you all return safely must mean...?"
The knight nodded firmly. "Yeah. We drove the Bestia Imperial Army off the Seremuse Plain. A certain adventurer and his gryphon did most of the heavy lifting."
"...I see. So the rumors were true after all." Ranga turned his gaze toward Rei, nodding as if a puzzle had just clicked into place.
The mention of a tamed gryphon made it perfectly clear who the knight was talking about. Rei was curious about these "rumors," but Ranga snapped back to his professional duties before Rei could ask.
"At any rate, I need to process your entry. Please show me your identification, such as your Guild Cards. I hate to be so bureaucratic at a time like this, but rules are rules."
"We understand. Just let the men through as soon as they’re processed. It looks like quite the festive uproar in there, doesn't it?"
"Indeed. They’ve been celebrating since the moment you were spotted on the horizon. Some were worried you’d been defeated, but as soon as they saw how everyone looked, the mood shifted. Everyone realized you must have won an overwhelming victory to be back this soon. And besides..."
Ranga let out a meaningful chuckle. Even as they spoke, the guards were efficiently moving through the lines, checking the Guild Cards and identification of the adventurers, soldiers, and knights.
Thanks to the guards' hard work, the processing took less than thirty minutes. Finally, it was time to enter the city proper.
"That concludes the paperwork. Everyone, welcome back home," Ranga said, flashing a smile as he handed Rei his Tamed Monster's Necklace.
The men in the carriage thanked him, and Rei fastened the necklace onto Set, who had poked its head through the door. Once Set was secured, the carriage finally rolled through the gates and into the heart of Gilm.
The moment they cleared the gatehouse, a thunderous roar struck them.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Rei’s eyes widened. Looking out the window, he saw a literal sea of people. It was a dense, cheering throng that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see.
While Rei was stunned, Luno and the knights seemed to have expected this. They leaned toward the windows with broad, satisfied smiles.
"This is... incredible," Rei muttered, finally finding his voice.
It looked as if every single inhabitant of the city had turned out to greet them. It was, of course, an exaggeration—it was impossible for all 100,000 residents to fit in one area, especially since several thousand of those people were currently marching in the army itself. Yet the sheer volume of the cheers and the density of the crowd made it easy to believe. Excited cheers and shouts of joy filled the air from every direction.
"We got a big welcome at the Orc settlement, but this is on another level entirely," Rei noted.
"Of course it is. Orcs are just monsters. This was a war with a neighboring country—an invasion," Luno explained, waving enthusiastically. "People are overjoyed to be safe. Plus, thanks to you, the casualties among the guys from Gilm were incredibly low. Come on, Rei, wave to them!"
Prompted by Luno, Rei gave a small sigh and began to wave. He wasn't particularly fond of being the center of attention for thousands of strangers, so his smile was a bit stiff compared to the genuine grins of the others.
"Hey, look at that carriage! There’s a gryphon next to it! Does that mean he’s the one inside?"
"Yeah, the one they’re talking about from the war... what was his name again? Red? No, Crimson!"
"I heard he’s only in his mid-teens. A real genius, huh?"
"Set-chan! Thank you for bringing my papa back safely!"
"Set! Here, eat this! You did a great job!"
A cacophony of voices washed over the carriage. Most of the individual comments were lost on Luno and the knights, but Rei’s inhuman five senses picked them out with ease.
He immediately zeroed in on a few pieces of information he couldn't ignore.
"Hey... I get that word of our victory got out, but how has the alias 'Crimson' already spread through the city?" Rei asked.
Luno and the knights looked surprised for a second before nodding in realization.
"Merchant information networks are no joke," Luno said. "While we were still cleaning up at the Seremuse Plain, some noble units and merchants headed back early. They probably leaked the news. I didn't think it would reach all the way to the frontier this fast, though."
"Luno’s right," the knight added. "Merchants have a nose for profit, which makes them sensitive to information. As an adventurer, you should know that better than us, Rei."
Rei thought back to a merchant he had guarded in the past—one who had somehow found out about the Flame Ore Rei had brought to Gilm almost before Rei had even reached the city.
"I guess that makes sense."
"Besides, everyone in this city knows Set," Luno said, looking out the window. "Set’s a local favorite. They’re just happy it did well in the war."
Set was currently snapping up pieces of dried meat thrown by the crowd with practiced ease. Every time it caught a snack in its beak, a wave of high-pitched cheers erupted from the spectators.
"Set really has become a celebrity," Rei remarked. "Everyone was so terrified when I first brought it here."
"Well, it is a gryphon," the knight said with a laugh. "Even with a Tamed Monster's Necklace, you can't expect people to be comfortable right away. Honestly, the fact that Set integrated into the city in less than a year is the real surprise."
"True," Luno agreed. "I heard even the guards on patrol were shaking in their boots at first."
The knight gave Rei an exasperated look. "To be fair, the idea of someone having a gryphon as a tamed monster is ridiculous. Normally, no one would even dream of trying to tame a high-rank monster like that."
Brushing off the knights' teasing, Rei and the rest of the Larkus Territorial Army eventually reached the Adventurer's Guild. After a brief formal address from the knight representative, the units were finally disbanded.
The formal ceremony would have to wait for Daskar’s return, but that didn't stop the city from turning the victory report into a day-long festival.
At the direction of the knight left in charge during the Margrave's absence, much of the food and alcohol served at the spontaneous celebration came directly from the vast stores held within Rei’s Misty Ring.