"My, what's wrong? For all that confidence, is this really the best you can do?"
Vihera's voice echoed across the grassland.
This was a spot roughly thirty minutes from Sablusta along the highway toward Abuelo.
Judging that a fight on the highway would get in other travelers' way, the group had moved slightly off the road to a grassy plain where Vihera and Magita were facing off. The result, however, was exactly as Rei and Byune had expected.
"Going up against Vihera, it was only natural it'd end up like that."
"Yeah... Though he did last longer than expected, didn't he?"
The two merchants spoke as they calmed their horse, which had been frightened into submission by Set's presence.
At the end of the party's line of sight, Vihera stood gazing down at Magita, who lay collapsed on the grassland.
Being fellow martial artists, Magita had groundlessly assumed he would win.
While they shared a love of combat, the quantity and quality of experience Vihera and Magita had each accumulated differed greatly.
At least at this point in time, there was no way Magita could match Vihera. Every punch and kick he threw was dodged, deflected, or parried by her.
The pattern of Magita attacking one-sidedly while Vihera continued evading went on for several minutes... until Vihera, having fully grasped Magita's abilities, drove her fist into his torso with ease, drawing the clearest possible line between victor and vanquished.
"Guh, d-damn it... To think I'd lose to a woman like this..."
"Do you think something like gender lets you properly gauge an opponent's strength? Strong is strong, regardless of whether they're a man or a woman. And that's exactly what's reflected in the result right before you, isn't it?"
The spring wind billowed Vihera's thin garments, but Magita had no composure left to enjoy the sight.
...Instead, the two merchants were captivated by that almost fantastical scene.
"Nn."
Byune, who had been watching the fight from a distance alongside Rei, began walking through the grassland toward Vihera.
Though she was barely winded, Vihera—rejuvenated by Byune's presence—smiled and patted their head.
"Good work."
"Gurururu!"
Rei and Set also approached Vihera.
He must have taken them from the Misty Ring—Rei held cups of fruit water in his hands.
"...You haven't forgotten that you pushed this onto me, have you?"
Even as she said that, Vihera apparently couldn't resist the temptation of the fruit water Rei offered. She accepted the cup and brought it to her lips.
The sight of her white throat bobbing as she swallowed was alluring enough that the two merchants involuntarily flushed red and averted their gazes.
"You say that, but when it comes to evaluating martial arts technique, it's easier for someone who actually uses martial arts to understand. ...So, what did you really think?"
"...I'm going to make you pay for this properly later. Well, I'd say his talent isn't bad. But his technique is still quite immature. He's been able to win on talent alone, so he's been relying on it entirely."
"I already knew, but he does have talent, huh."
"Yes. As you'd expect from a wolf beastman, his physical abilities aren't low by any means. You can tell that just by looking."
"Not muscle for producing destructive single blows, but muscle built for explosive power, huh."
When one heard "warrior" or "martial artist," the general image that came to mind was the kind of imposing, mass-heavy muscle that would make opponents shrink back.
Magita's muscles, however, were optimized for explosive power, giving him a lean, wiry build.
"If he has talent... hmm. Magita, like I said before, I have no intention of taking disciples."
"!?"
Magita, who had been steadying his ragged breathing, gasped at Rei's words.
But he couldn't argue back.
He had lost to Rei and asked to become his disciple, only to be refused—and then lost to Vihera, whom he believed to be Rei's woman.
Until now, Magita had been swaggering around Sablusta as the local tough guy, but after suffering two consecutive defeats following last night, he couldn't help but realize how vast the world truly was.
...Magita's misfortune was that both Rei and Vihera were opponents who likely ranked among the upper echelon of strength in this world.
And his fortune was that, even if he wasn't consciously aware of it, he had been able to spar with powerhouses like Rei and Vihera.
"That said, I won't train you, but I can at least point you toward a guidepost to help you get stronger."
"...A guidepost?"
"Yeah. Well, it's not that complicated. Just leave Sablusta and come to Gilm. If you work as an adventurer there, your technique will go up whether you like it or not. Besides, there's also the option of posting requests to other adventurers to spar with you as a way to make yourself stronger."
"Huh!?"
What came out of Rei's mouth must have been completely unexpected for Magita.
He had been working as an adventurer, but it had never occurred to him to issue a combat request to a fellow adventurer.
...Instead, he had always provoked other adventurers into fighting him in a manner that amounted to little more than picking brawls.
But that had also been the reason Magita's technique hadn't grown as much as he might have expected.
When Magita picked fights, it was usually in places like dining halls and bars, just as he had done with Rei.
Or sometimes he would pick quarrels with people in town, half-looking for a fight.
Because those were the conditions under which the fights took place, the adventurers on the receiving end couldn't exactly go all out either.
Magita himself hadn't realized this, and so he had convinced himself that he was the strongest.
"Besides, if you're in Gilm, I might... maybe let you join my training sometimes. If the timing works out, that is."
"I'm going! I'm going, Master!"
"I told you I'm not your master. Well, whatever. So we're good with you coming to Gilm, right?"
"Yeah, of course! I was planning to head to Gilm with you from the start, so nothing's changed."
It wasn't the outcome Magita had hoped for, but he was still happy that he'd be able to travel to Gilm with Rei.
After the way he'd gone down from Vihera's single blow, he had thought he'd never be taken as a disciple.
...Of course, as Rei himself had said, Rei had no intention of taking Magita as a disciple.
He figured that once he brought Magita to Gilm, their relationship would be over.
Naturally, having said it out loud, he thought he wouldn't mind sparring with Magita if the opportunity arose.
"Right now, we're in the position of guards. If you want to come with us to Gilm, go get their permission first."
Rei's gaze was directed toward the two merchants who employed Vihera and Byune.
Seeing Magita immediately head toward the merchants, Rei and Vihera exchanged glances.
"You're surprisingly good at looking after people, aren't you?"
"Am I? ...Maybe the fact that I've been working as an instructor at the Officer Academy recently has something to do with it. Well, either way, if he was seeking strength in Sablusta, he would've ended up in Gilm eventually."
As they watched Magita talking with the merchants, Vihera spoke up.
"But are you sure? You might end up dragging him into the Holy Light Religion Incident, you know."
"...If you want to put it that way, you two were also heading to Gilm as merchant guards, weren't you? If they attack, people get dragged in regardless—and if they don't, then they don't."
Since they had already finished exchanging information about the Holy Light Religion at the inn last night, there was no need to go into detail.
The fact that they had been attacked by Holy Light Religion assassins was the same as Rei's situation, but the problem was that Byune had been included in that.
(Well, from the Holy Light Religion's perspective, Byune was also involved in last year's incident, so it wouldn't be strange if they're counted among their great enemies.)
As he was thinking that he'd have to stay on guard in various ways for a while, it seemed the matter was settled. Magita came walking toward Rei and the others with a happy grin on his face.
"Master! I got permission! Well, I'm serving as a guard in exchange, but that's no problem."
"I see. Then... let's see, if any monsters show up before we reach Abuelo, we'll leave them to you."
"Leave it to me! No matter what monsters come out, I'll take them down with my own power!"
Hearing that confident voice, Rei casually glanced over at Vihera.
Despite having just been so overwhelmingly defeated by Vihera, the resilience of Magita's unyielding spirit was impressive.
(Though, thinking back to when we first met at the bar, I can't exactly let my guard down completely.)
Watching Magita make gestures as though punching an enemy in midair, Rei felt a flicker of unease.
"Haah!"
Along with a sharp shout, Magita's right fist connected with the head of a Goblin that had been about to swing its club down, sending it flying.
Since Goblins were small-bodied to begin with, Magita's fist naturally came down at an angle when striking their face.
As a result, the Goblin's head was struck and then slammed hard into the ground. It bounced a few times, its body scraping across the earth before finally coming to a stop.
Now that the last of the attacking Goblins had fallen, there were no enemies left.
...Despite that, Magita didn't drop his dissatisfied expression.
"Magita, what about the Subjugation Proof Parts?"
"I'll take them for now."
Pulling a knife from the pouch at his waist, he swiftly extracted the right ear as a Subjugation Proof Part, and the Magic Stone from the chest.
It was clear from watching that he was well-practiced in this procedure, having done it countless times.
(He's fast.)
When it came to just cutting off the right ear, Rei could do it reasonably quickly too.
But Magic Stones were a different story.
It was true that they were located near the heart, but the exact position varied by individual.
That naturally meant it took time to extract the Magic Stone from each one, yet Magita was pulling them out with almost no time at all.
When it came to material harvesting, his skill was undoubtedly superior to Rei's.
"...Master? What's wrong?"
"Nothing. More importantly, gather up the Goblin corpses. If we leave them here, there's no guarantee they won't attract other monsters."
"Do I really have to do that?"
"You do. If this were a forest far from the highway, it wouldn't be a problem, but this is near the road, right? If the next people passing through are adventurers, that's one thing, but what if they're merchants or travelers?"
"That's the weaklings' fault, isn't it?"
Faced with Magita's expression of genuine incomprehension, Rei hesitated over how to explain it.
Never particularly suited to teaching anyone anything to begin with, Rei thought for a moment before speaking.
"Say we leave the Goblin corpses here, and as a result, monsters are drawn in, and someone dies. If that happens, the people connected to whoever died might end up resenting the adventurer who caused it. Thinking about it that way, there's a good chance we'd end up losing out, right?"
"All you'd have to do is beat up whoever comes picking a fight."
"...Good grief. Look, just gather the corpses for now. No point wasting time here. I'll explain the details on the way to Abuelo."
Rei wondered why he had to be the one dealing with this, and couldn't help but think that bringing Magita out of Sablusta might have been a mistake—he'd have to keep an eye on him at least until they reached Gilm.
Though Magita harbored some dissatisfaction with Rei's words, he still couldn't bring himself to abandon the hope of becoming Rei's disciple, and he had the sense to judge that ruining Rei's mood here would be unwise. He quietly began gathering the Goblin corpses.
Fortunately, since the Goblins had been beaten one-sidedly, the corpses weren't spread very far apart.
And since Magita's fighting style relied on martial arts rather than weapons like longswords, there was naturally almost no damage to the Goblin corpses.
Thanks to that, gathering the bodies wasn't much trouble, and afterward Rei's magic reduced them to charcoal. Leaving the remains behind, they continued along the highway.
After that, they arrived in Abuelo without any monster attacks and stayed one night. An adventurer who knew Magita was there and nearly caused some trouble, but since they couldn't drag the two merchants they were guarding into it, Rei somehow managed to avoid the incident... and the next day, to prevent any further unnecessary disturbances, they departed from Abuelo early.
On the way to Gilm, Goblins appeared a few times, but every one of them ended up as training partners for Magita, their corpses left behind...
"It's finally coming into view."
Just as one of the merchants on the driver's seat murmured, the figure of Gilm appeared before the party's eyes.
For Rei, it had been two months since his last visit—and for Vihera and Byune, it was their very first time seeing Gilm.