Riding astride Set as it flew through the sky, Rei spotted several lights on the ground ahead.
The moment he was certain it was Gauche, he let out an involuntary sigh of relief.
This was likely because the last time he had departed from Gauche, he had gotten lost despite the destination being so close.
Rei had his own reasons, though.
If there had been a proper highway, he never would have gotten lost in the first place.
But he had been traveling over open desert, with nothing to serve as a landmark.
Under such conditions, moving at high speed through the sky—at a pace that ground-running horses couldn't even compare to—it was only natural that the experience would be entirely different.
...Those traveling on the ground would probably want to call it a luxury complaint.
"Gururu."
"Yeah, land us in front of Gauche."
Regardless, he needed to get on the ground now and report what they had found about the assassins' headquarters village.
He would have preferred to land directly at Augusto's mansion on the outskirts of Gauche, but there was no way he could pull that off.
If he tried, either the Barrier over Gauche would damage him, or he would destroy the Barrier itself... either way, it certainly wouldn't end well.
(Besides, if someone who came from Gilm did something like that, the criticism might fall on Marina.)
Since he had come to Gauche on Marina's suggestion, any blunder here wouldn't just affect Rei—it could also bring trouble to Marina, who had sent him there.
Of course, if he were an ordinary adventurer, that would be a different story. But for better or worse, Rei's alias and—above all—the fact that he had Gryphon Seto as his Tamed Monster made him conspicuous.
Once that was the case, there would naturally be people who, if Rei made a mistake, would tie it back to Marina, the Guild Master of the Gilm Guild to which Rei belonged.
This was especially true for Marina. She was a Dark Elf, a former A-Rank adventurer, and above all, famous as a woman possessing an excessive sensuality that stimulated men's instincts.
Given all that, it was a fact that Marina had quite a few enemies.
Normally, even if an adventurer made a mistake, it had nothing to do with the Guild Master of their Guild... but there were exceptions to everything.
"Hmm, thanks to Narcus, I guess?"
When Set landed in front of Gauche's main gate, there was an immediate reaction from within the city.
Sounds of arguing came from inside, and after a few minutes, the main gate slowly opened.
Naturally, it wasn't thrown wide open as it would be during the day—it was only open just enough for Set to barely squeeze through.
Through the narrow gap, Rei and Set entered Gauche.
On the other side of the main gate, the faces of the guards—taut with tension—were illuminated by the campfires.
The fact that they didn't point their weapons at Rei and Set was probably because Narcus had thoroughly briefed them before the group left Gauche.
He had told them they might return before morning, so when they saw Rei and Set come back, they had opened the gate right away.
...Originally, since Narcus—who had said he would return—wasn't with them and it was only Rei and Set, the guards had hesitated over whether to open the gate... but if they didn't open it, they would be defying the orders of Narcus, Daridora's guard leader.
If it got out that they had done such a thing out of fear of the desert's nighttime monsters, it could mean making an enemy of the Elema Trading Company.
That was why they had opened the gate.
The guards looked somewhat frightened, but apparently deciding they still needed to hear the situation, a middle-aged man who seemed to be in charge stepped forward.
"Um, what about Narcus? I heard he'd be coming back too."
"Yeah, Narcus and Zarust are both still outside. I came back to deliver a message... because I have Set with me."
"Guru?"
When Rei said this while lightly patting Set's back, Set tilted its head as if asking, "What is it?"
From Rei's perspective, it was a gesture that could only be described as adorable... but unfortunately, to the guards right now, it didn't look adorable at all.
Though that was hardly unreasonable.
They weren't particularly close to Set to begin with, and they understood full well that they themselves were not particularly strong.
And now, even as a group, they were face to face with the A-Rank monster Set in a situation with nothing but campfires, moonlight, and starlight for illumination... and unlike when Rei's group had left Gauche, the reputedly skilled Narcus and Zarust weren't here either.
"I-I see. Then, may I ask what you plan to do from here?"
The guard asked with a visibly tense demeanor, but Rei spoke without particularly minding it.
"Yeah. I'm going to Augusto's mansion now. ...I'm not sure what happens after that, but I might end up going outside again, so be prepared for that."
Hearing that they might go outside again, the guards' expressions subtly turned reluctant.
The desert at night naturally harbored powerful monsters, and they might be expected to deal with such creatures.
No matter how they looked at it, it wasn't something any of them wanted to volunteer for.
But since these were orders delivered through the lord, they couldn't defy them, and they reluctantly nodded at Rei's words.
At the very least, the shift would change over to the next group in a few hours, so they inwardly hoped that if Rei was going to leave the city, he would wait until after that.
"Well, I should get going then."
"Yes, please be careful."
It was an exchange devoid of any sincerity—in fact, the words were laden with the unspoken desire to not bring any more trouble their way—but Rei was aware he was causing them inconvenience, so without saying anything more, he accepted the Tamed Monster's collar and mounted Set's back.
"Alright, Set. Take us to Augusto's mansion."
"Guru!"
Giving a short cry in response to Rei's words, Set kicked off the ground and began to run.
Set was better at traveling by flying through the sky, but as an A-Rank monster, it was by no means poor at running.
It could run at speeds that ordinary horses couldn't even compare to, and its stamina was clearly superior as well.
(Ah, but since this is Gauche, maybe the standard is camels instead of horses? ...I hear camels are actually surprisingly fast, though.)
Gazing at the scenery streaming past, illuminated by moonlight and starlight from atop Set's back, Rei thought about such things.
Even as he was thinking, Set continued to run.
What was fortunate was that it was night, and Set was heading toward Augusto's mansion... in other words, the outskirts of Gauche.
It wasn't quite midnight yet—that would be an exaggeration—but it was a time when more and more people would be asleep.
...Though even at such an hour, places like bars and brothels still had plenty of people, and many were working even harder now that it was their prime earning time.
If Set ran through such places, the residents of this city who weren't yet accustomed to Set's existence would be startled, and some would be frightened.
In that sense, the fact that Augusto's mansion was on the edge of Gauche was lucky for everyone.
Continuing to run along the streets without drawing much attention, a familiar mansion eventually came into view.
Not only at the main gate, but campfires had been lit at intervals surrounding the mansion—as expected, a countermeasure against assassins.
"Who's there!?"
Perhaps noticing Rei approaching on Set, several adventurers stationed in front of the main gate and—most notably—Günter, the mansion's regular gatekeeper, shouted with tension in their voices.
The shout carried the unspoken fear that assassins had arrived, but once the moonlight and campfires made it clear who the figure was, several of them let out sighs of relief.
Those who sighed in relief were Günter, those who knew Rei as one of Daridora's guards, and those who had seen Rei at the Guild.
Those still tense were among the adventurers Daridora had hired as temporary guards to protect Augusto's sprawling mansion, for whom this was their first encounter with Rei.
Still, since Günter and the others had lowered their guard, even those who didn't recognize Rei lowered their weapons.
...Though it might be more accurate to say they had given up on resisting in the face of Set.
Seeing that everyone had lowered their weapons, Rei dismounted from Set's back.
"Sorry, I startled you."
"You'd better believe it. Pulling a stunt like heading straight here at that speed in the middle of the night—you could've been attacked without a second thought, you know?"
As Günter told him this with a sigh, Rei bowed his head once more.
"My bad. But I was in a hurry to let Augusto and Daridora know something. That's why I was rushing."
"...Come to think of it, what happened to Zarust and the others? You went to raid the assassins' hideout, right?"
"Yeah. And a lot happened..."
Seeing Rei's expression as he said that, Günter's face turned somber.
"I see... so Zarust has passed too... he was a good man."
"No, he's alive though."
"He's alive?!"
The expressions of grief that Günter and everyone else who knew Zarust and Narcus had been wearing transformed instantly, and they all erupted at Rei in unison.
Startled by their reaction, Rei was somewhat bewildered as to why he was being yelled at.
"Why am I the one getting shouted at?"
"Because you did something misleading. ...So why are you alone? Where are Zarust and Narcus?"
Günter's words carried an unspoken threat that he wouldn't forgive any more weird remarks, but Rei explained without appearing to mind it at all.
"I can't go into details, but the base... no, the hideout was farther away than I expected. So since I have Set, I came back first."
"...Farther away? Even so, it's within Gauche, right?"
"Huh? Didn't a guard come by?"
When Rei asked, remembering that Narcus had asked for a message to be relayed to Augusto's mansion, Günter nodded.
"Hmm? A guard? He came, but he wouldn't go out of his way to tell us the contents of the message. ...Well, what you just said gave me the general idea."
"I see. Then, can I go in? There's something I want to report to Augusto and Daridora first."
"Yeah, no problem for you. Set too, right?"
Rei nodded as if it were obvious in response to Günter's question, and passed through the main gate together with Set.
Several of the adventurers seeing Set for the first time had completely frozen at the sight of the pair.
...Originally, Gauche's adventurers were not exactly known for their fighting prowess.
Because of that, seeing Set up close inevitably left some people unable to move.
If they had seen it at least once before, the shock would have been somewhat lessened... in that sense, the adventurers who had frozen up could be called unlucky.
"Alright, Set. Wait in the stable. I should mention this upfront—there are quite a few adventurers hired by Daridora and Augusto, so don't attack anyone you don't recognize, okay?"
"Guru!"
Leaving Set, who rumbled from its throat as if to say "Leave it to me!", Rei entered Augusto's mansion.
The fact that he didn't need to escort Set all the way to the stable—that it would head there on its own—was probably something that owners of horses—or in Gauche's case, camels—and Tamed Monsters would deeply envy.
In fact, several adventurers were casting envious looks at Rei.
"Rei... you're back."
"Yeah. I can go inside, right?"
"Yeah."
One of the adventurers in front of the mansion was a man who had been hired as one of Daridora's guards—the same man who had gone to the research facility with Rei.
That was why, without needing to hear the details from Rei, he let him through into the mansion.
This man appeared to be the leader of the adventurers securing the front of the mansion, and since he gave the word, the other adventurers didn't object.
Entering the mansion, Rei headed straight for the reception room.
The guards stationed in front of the door made it obvious that important people were inside.
(Isn't this basically like telling a skilled assassin exactly where their target is?)
Harboring that fleeting doubt, Rei briefly exchanged words with the guard adventurer and entered the reception room.
Just as Rei had expected, inside the reception room were Augusto, Cathy, Daridora, and the guards Daridora had personally hired.
Everyone present turned their attention to Rei as he entered the reception room... and under that collective gaze, Rei opened his mouth.
"I found the village."