"Set-chan! Set-chan! Set-chaan!"
Rei and his companions had barely descended to the ground when a single woman broke into a sprint toward them.
...No, to be precise, not toward Rei — toward Set.
Seeing Mirene dash toward Set as enthusiastically as ever, Rei smiled and spoke up.
"Are you searching for the Unbris too?"
"Yes. Since I, as a mage, am part of the group, it was decided that perhaps I might be able to find it."
Surnin, the mage of the C-Rank party Scorching Wind, gave a small bow to Rei and Vihera before explaining.
"But we still haven't found it in the end. And I have pretty good eyes, you know," Ekril muttered, sounding dissatisfied.
As befitting an archer, Ekril's eyesight was excellent. It couldn't rival Set's, but she possessed more than sufficient visual acuity.
Even so, she hadn't been able to spot the Unbris.
Was there no point in her being here? It was only natural that such thoughts would cross her mind.
"Ekril, calm down. The target is a black mist-like entity. And that's only what it was three hundred years ago — there's no guarantee it's taken the same form this time."
Rei nodded in agreement with Surnin's encouraging words.
"That's right. Even Set, whose five senses are far sharper than a human's, has trouble finding it. When you think about it that way, there's no way it'd be found so easily."
If anything, if Ekril managed to find it faster than Set, that alone would prove her abilities were exceptional.
"Which means you don't have any leads on the Unbris either."
Vihera made the remark after glancing at Mirene, who was busy fawning over Set. Surnin bowed apologetically.
His apologetic demeanor was partly because he couldn't offer any information about the Unbris, but more than anything, it was likely a reaction to his own party leader's behavior.
Normally, a party leader would take the initiative in such information exchanges. But right now, Mirene's attention was entirely absorbed in doting on Set.
Of course, if this were a truly urgent situation, Mirene wouldn't behave like this. The fact that Surnin was aware he was better suited for information exchange also played a role.
But even so... the reason Mirene was fawning over Set like this was simply because Set was there.
Rei vaguely remembered something he had seen or heard back in Japan — when someone was asked why they climb mountains, they answered, "Because the mountain is there."
Drawing an analogy to that, this was probably a case of doting on Set because Set was there.
Naturally, the only reason she did such a thing was because Set was there.
If they had encountered an ordinary party instead of Rei's group, Mirene would have properly handled the information exchange. It was precisely because this wasn't an emergency, because they had some leeway, and because the ones they ran into were Rei's group that Mirene felt comfortable taking such an attitude.
Watching her, Rei felt no inclination to scold her.
Mirene's love for Set had begun back when Rei hadn't been in Gilm for very long, during the subjugation of an Orc settlement. Considering they'd known each other for several years since then, it was only natural that Rei had grown accustomed to her behavior.
Besides, thanks to Mirene, Set had been accepted in Gilm more quickly. That was a fact. Even without Mirene's fawning, Set would have eventually been accepted regardless — but it was undeniable that the process would have taken longer.
And since Mirene treated doting on Set as a hobby, she frequently fed him. ...In this case, "feeding" might be the more accurate term, but what Mirene gave Set was often proper cooked dishes from stalls around town, or even fairly expensive dried meat. Calling that "bait" would be impossible by any stretch.
Of course, Rei's Misty Ring contained a large quantity of monster meat, along with various other foods he had found tasty during his travels. Set never went hungry, and Rei had accumulated a small fortune from his adventurer activities — though a significant portion of that came from attacking Bandits.
So there was no concern about Set's food expenses, but even so, Rei couldn't help thinking that Mirene feeding Set saved them at least a little money.
"...It's good to see Mirene as energetic as ever today. Putting the Unbris aside, have you encountered any monster packs?"
"Yes. ...The fact that you're asking suggests you have?"
Rei nodded at Surnin's probing question. Though Surnin understood Rei's abilities well enough that he didn't think a modest monster pack would give Rei any trouble.
In fact, the Goblin and Cobolt pack Rei had found had been annihilated by an utterly unsportsmanlike barrage of magic from the sky.
"Just as you'd imagine. Well, I only attacked one-sidedly from the air, so there might be a few survivors... but even if there are, scattered individuals can't function as a combat force."
What made Goblins and Cobolts troublesome was the fact that they moved in packs. If only a handful were traveling together — especially after having terror carved into their hearts by Rei's attack — they were no longer a threat. If anything, they would probably never dare attack humans again, instead living quietly in the depths of some forest or copse.
Rei vaguely found himself thinking along those lines.
"I see. But packs really are troublesome. ...If the Unbris can't move, it's most likely in the direction the packs are heading toward."
The weariness in Surnin's sigh wasn't physical. Surnin was a mage who wasn't great at physical exertion, but he was still an active adventurer — he wouldn't tire from simply walking around. Though he had been worrying lately about his stamina declining with age.
"That's right. If it's staying in one place, we could search in the direction the packs are coming from. But if it's moving around, that's a different story."
The packs confirmed so far were Goblins, Cobolts, Orcs, Lizardmen, and Werewolves. There might be others, but those were all that had been identified.
Moreover, the packs had appeared across such a wide area that it was hard to believe they all originated from a single location. Rather than the Unbris turning monsters into Leader Species that then formed packs and each headed off to wherever they pleased, it was more natural to think that the locations where they became Leader Species and formed packs were different from the start.
"Yes. The fact that even people who can sense magic can't detect it, and that you have to confirm it visually with your own eyes, makes this extremely difficult."
"Tell me about it. I've been staring into the distance this whole time, so my eyes are exhausted..."
As if to echo Surnin's words, complaints spilled from Ekril's mouth as well.
"Hey, Set-chan is doing his best, so we need to do our best too! Ekril, you'd better work harder."
"Mirene... I think that's a bit of a stretch."
Rei muttered with mild exasperation at Mirene, who was issuing orders while petting Set. Ekril and Set — a human and a gryphon — had vastly different baseline abilities. Equating the two was fundamentally flawed.
But watching Mirene, Rei suddenly had an idea.
"All right. Tell you what — if you can find the Unbris, Mirene, I'll give you the right to spend an entire day with Set. How about it?"
For Rei, it was a spur-of-the-moment remark, spoken on the whim that it might get Mirene, who loved Set, fired up.
But the words that left his mouth stimulated Mirene's motivation far beyond anything he had anticipated.
"Really!? You mean it? You're not going to say you were joking later, right? If you pull something like that, I will absolutely never forgive you."
What blazed in Mirene's eyes was nothing so mild as motivation. It would be more accurate to call it a fierce, almost terrifying resolve — a gaze so intense it wouldn't have been surprising to see flames burning within her pupils. It pierced through Rei with such force that even he, who had overcome countless crises, involuntarily took a step backward.
That alone should convey just how intense that stare was.
Rei cast a sidelong glance at those around him, his expression screaming, Did I go too far? Surnin, Ekril, and Vihera all silently nodded in unison, confirming what he'd gotten himself into.
For Mirene, a day with Set was a reward far rarer than Gold Coins or Silver Coins — even Platinum Coins. Offered such a prize, her motivation would naturally be pushed to its absolute maximum.
"Gururu?"
Seeing Mirene's excitement, Set purred as if to ask, What's wrong?
Mirene flashed him a radiant smile.
"Wait for me, Set-chan. I'll find the Unbris right away, and then we can spend time together! ...Surnin, Ekril, let's go!"
After giving Set one final stroke, Mirene turned and hurried off. Surnin and Ekril chased after her. As they left, Surnin bowed to Rei and Vihera before following in Mirene's wake.
"Considering that level of motivation, she might actually find the Unbris."
Mirene was, after all, someone who could spot and identify Set at an altitude of a hundred meters. It wasn't hard to imagine she might genuinely locate the Unbris.
"True. Given how she looked, she just might find it for real."
Rei couldn't help but nod in agreement with Vihera's earnest words. In fact, knowing Mirene's personality, it wouldn't surprise him at all.
"...Anyway, shall we get going? I don't mind letting Mirene spend a day with Set, but that doesn't mean we can just stop searching."
Even if Rei entrusted Set to Mirene, she would never do anything to harm him — he trusted her that much. But he had absolutely no intention of losing to her in the search for the Unbris.
Since Rei had Set to begin with, their advantage was on an entirely different level. If Mirene found the Unbris first, Rei would have lost from an overwhelmingly favorable position. It wasn't that losing would cause any particular problem, but it would still be deeply unsatisfying.
Seeing Rei's expression, Vihera smiled faintly and nodded. She, who loved combat, was naturally competitive — and naturally had no intention of losing to Mirene either.
"Right. Let's go. We have to find the Unbris before they do, no matter what."
"Gurururururu!"
Set's cry rang out across the field as if in agreement. He didn't dislike Mirene — no, considering how she doted on him and always brought food, it was fair to say he liked her — but like Rei, he simply refused to lose.
Knowing Set, the moment he shows himself, Mirene will probably concede defeat.
That wasn't a guess — it was close to conviction. And Rei wasn't the only one who felt that way; Vihera did too.
When he glanced her way, she smiled as if she already knew exactly what he was thinking.
"The last resort would be Set, wouldn't it. ...Though he doesn't seem to mind spending a day with Mirene all that much."
"Guruu? Gururururu!"
What's wrong? Let's go already! Set's cries seemed to say. Turning his back to Rei, he urged him to hurry up and mount.
"All right, let's go. We don't know where the Unbris is, but if we don't find it somehow, the pack situation won't get resolved."
Set let out a cry at those words, and Rei swung himself onto his back. After a few running steps, Set beat his wings and launched skyward. He banked in a wide arc through the air, then angled back down toward the ground.
Timing her jump perfectly, Vihera leapt and caught hold of Set's front leg.
Together, the two of them and their gryphon set out — determined to find the Unbris before Mirene, before Scorching Wind, before anyone else.