On the afternoon of the same day he received the request from Daskar, Rei stood before Gilm's main gate with Set.
Normally, traveling far from home required all manner of preparations. Transportation, preserved food, drinking water, escorts — naturally, these could be replenished along the way, but travel was nothing if not unpredictable. Given that much, it was only natural to prepare for whatever might arise.
However, when it came to Rei, the story was entirely different.
For transportation, there was Set — far faster than any horse galloping across the ground, and since it flew through the sky, there was no risk of being attacked by bandits or the like. Food was stockpiled in massive quantities inside the Misty Ring, and drinking water was solved by the Dagger of Flowing Water, a magic item. As for escorts, the mere fact that Rei and Set were present made the force arguably excessive.
Under such circumstances, there was nothing in particular that Rei needed to prepare. If he had to name one thing, it would be that before leaving Gilm, he had bought dishes indiscriminately from street stalls and crammed them all into the Misty Ring.
"Now then, alright? Make absolutely sure you don't get lost, okay?"
Marina spoke as if instructing a child on their first errand, but in Rei's case, while not quite extreme, he did have a somewhat poor sense of direction. That was precisely why Marina was carefully warning him not to wander off in some strange direction.
Incidentally, Marina and Vihera had initially intended to accompany Rei. But that became impossible because both had various duties to attend to in Gilm.
Marina's Spirit Magic, in particular, held an overwhelming gap in power even from the perspective of fellow Spirit Magic users. In the single domain of Spirit Magic that Marina wielded, its versatility and all-purpose utility were immeasurable.
Vihera was achieving high results as a security maintenance officer. If anything, Rei couldn't help but think that Vihera's appearance itself was what was disrupting public order, but all things considered, it seemed that for adventurers, craftsmen, and people who had come seeking work, someone attention-grabbing was needed for various reasons. Naturally, such individuals would lay hands on Vihera and get beaten down — a spectacle that was becoming something of a Gilm trademark.
Byune had been excluded from the traveling party from the start due to communication issues. Rei had grown able to manage basic communication with her, but that was exactly it — it was only basic. Unlike Vihera, he couldn't understand the finer details of what Byune was trying to say. Given that, the option of bringing Byune along had never existed in Rei's mind to begin with. If he did bring her, it would undoubtedly cause confusion. If anything, the possibility that their inability to communicate could lead to various disastrous situations was very real.
"I know. You take care of things on Gilm's side too. ...Well, I probably don't even need to say that."
"Hehe, it'd be nice if there's someone worth fighting."
Vihera's reason for staying behind in Gilm was work, yes, but there was another factor — there was no guarantee that the Noble's Faction's interference had ended with this.
Of course, Gilm currently had more adventurers gathered than usual. With that much combat power available, they wouldn't launch a straightforward attack like the one on Bistol. But that also meant when they next made their move, they might employ entirely unforeseen methods.
Furthermore, it was all but certain that among the adventurers currently in Gilm, there were some in the Noble's Faction's pocket. No, rather, it was wiser to assume that operatives planted by those who found Gilm's expansion troublesome — not limited to the Noble's Faction — were lurking about.
The reason Vihera was chosen as direct combat power was largely because such opponents would likely be strong, and Vihera would be able to enjoy a satisfying fight. That was probably the bigger factor.
"Well then, I'm heading out."
Saying so, Rei straddled Set's back, and—
"Set-chaaan!"
As if timing it perfectly, that voice suddenly rang out.
Rei turned his gaze toward the familiar voice and saw — as expected — Mirene.
Mirene was waving and running straight toward Rei — or more precisely, toward Set — but Rei signaled Set to depart without waiting for her.
If he hadn't been in a hurry, he wouldn't have minded letting Mirene and Set play for a bit. But right now, he needed to depart even a moment sooner, before the Noble's Faction made any major moves. Wasting time here would increase the likelihood of the Noble's Faction mobilizing.
Of course, wasting a few minutes here probably wouldn't make much difference, but when the other party was Mirene, that was a different story. The affection Mirene harbored for Set was nothing short of intense. If he let Mirene have her way here, time would be consumed in units of hours — at worst, an entire day. Wasting that much time was something even Rei wanted to avoid.
"Hey, Rei! It's me, Mirene! Wait just a sec!"
Ignoring the voice coming from behind — or rather, below — Rei soared into the sky with Set.
Set tilted its head as if asking Rei if this was alright, but Rei nodded to indicate there was no problem. Set wouldn't have minded playing with Mirene a little, but since Rei said so, it simply flapped its wings and departed from Gilm.
"Here, eat this first. It's not exactly a long journey, but our first stop is the territory of a Neutral Faction noble."
Rei could have headed straight for the territory of the noble who had dispatched private soldiers, but to understand the situation there — particularly what buildings stood where and what kind of security was in place — he would need intelligence. And conveniently enough, right next to the noble's territory Rei was heading to was the territory of a Neutral Faction noble. Given that, it was only natural that Rei, having received this request from Daskar, could obtain intelligence from that noble.
Daskar's decision to entrust Rei with this matter was likely made with those circumstances in mind.
(Well, the noble who's this mission's target — Count Relduct, was it? — apparently obtained the information about Gilm's expansion through operatives he had sneaked into that Neutral Faction noble's territory. So I suppose it's mutual, in a way.)
As he flew through the sky, casting his gaze downward, Rei could see the Treant Forest at a short distance away. The woodcutters seemed to have been working hard felling trees, but even so, given the sheer enormity of the Treant Forest, the vast majority of it remained untouched.
Despite being such an enormous forest, the trail left by the Gigant Turtle's movement was visible even from the air.
(Or rather, it's precisely because I'm looking from the air that I can see it at all.)
A single line drawn through the forest. Calling it a line was perhaps slightly too generous given its width, but either way, it was undeniably a highly conspicuous feature.
"When will they ever finish cutting down all the trees in this Treant Forest?"
"Gruu?"
Perhaps catching Rei's muttered words, Set turned its head backward while flapping its wings, as if asking what was wrong.
As Set stared at him intently with its round eyes, Rei shook his head to indicate it was nothing and stroked the back of the neck right in front of him. At Rei's action, Set purred contentedly.
Seeing Set's endearing behavior — utterly at odds with what one would expect of an S-Rank equivalent monster — Rei understood why Mirene held such intense affection for Set.
(Well, I'd understood that already, though.)
And so Set continued flying, passing over the towns of Abuelo and Sablusta in the blink of an eye.
A speed orders of magnitude beyond traveling on the ground. This speed was undoubtedly one of the major reasons Daskar had entrusted Rei with this request. The intent was likely to finish retaliating against the mastermind behind the scheme — the one who had orchestrated the attacks on merchant caravans to steal resources for Gilm's expansion — before word of the outcome could reach them.
However, Rei was not optimistic on that front. He understood better than anyone, from personal experience, that magic items capable of long-distance communication, such as Paired Orbs, existed. The very reason Rei could converse frequently with Elena was thanks to such a magic item, so that much was a given.
However, the Paired Orb was an exceedingly rare item — so rare that it was hard to imagine Count Relduct, who likely hadn't been told of its existence unless he held a fairly high position even within the Noble's Faction, actually possessed one. Considering how much effort Rei himself had gone through to obtain one, there was probably no need to worry on that account.
(Well, if he's a noble, there's the possibility he bought one with money... but would he have that kind of financial power? Highly unlikely. Still, there are means of communication other than Paired Orbs.)
For instance, by employing tamers or practitioners of Summoning Magic to have birds carry letters, they could learn of this incident's outcome far faster than through ordinary correspondence. Summoning Magic aside, tamers were extremely scarce and not easily hired — whether that was fortunate, or rather unfortunate for Rei and his companions, was a matter of perspective.
In any case, many adventurers were currently gathering in Gilm. Additionally, in order to swiftly issue instructions to other villages and towns, Daskar had been preferentially hiring such individuals. Among those hired, there were naturally those who took on requests from others as well. Such people didn't pry into who the client was. Well, if the request was overtly suspicious they would probably decline, but there weren't many people quite that careless.
"Gurururu."
As Rei surveyed the surrounding landscape in thought, Set suddenly let out a low cry from its throat. Rei turned his gaze toward Set with a questioning look, then followed Set's line of sight... and a look of surprise crossed his face.
The reason was simple — there, in the direction Set was looking, were several Orcs.
Orcs themselves were not particularly rare monsters. As with the settlement previously ruled by the Orc King that Rei had helped topple, when a high-ranking species or rare species led them, they could cause serious trouble. But without such leaders, Orcs typically traveled in small groups of a few — at most around ten. Of course, there were various exceptions; some groups operated in the dozens without any high-ranking or rare species, and conversely, some Orcs operated alone.
In any case, the mere presence of Orcs wasn't anything that would particularly surprise Rei.
However... if those Orcs were carrying an unconscious human, that changed things entirely.
What's more, the person being carried had long hair. With the caveat of "probably," the one being carried by the Orcs was not a man, but a woman.
And a woman captured by monsters such as Orcs or Goblins had a tragic fate awaiting her. One could say that her dignity as a human — no, as a woman — would be trampled underfoot.
"Having seen this much, I can't just... leave things as they are, can I?"
Rei was no philanthropist by any means. If someone called the world of adventurers a dog-eat-dog world, he could accept that. But even so, when he was in a position to help, he couldn't bring himself to abandon a woman.
"...I suppose there's no helping it. Set!"
With that single phrase, Set seemed to understand what Rei was trying to say. It flapped its wings and began descending toward the ground.
The fact that it didn't let out its usual high-pitched cry at this moment was likely because Set, too, was concerned for the woman being carried by the Orcs. Had Set cried out here, there was no telling what action the Orcs might have taken upon noticing its presence. If they simply abandoned the woman and fled, that would allow Rei to achieve his objective with ease — the best possible outcome.
But throwing an unconscious woman to the ground was undeniably dangerous in any number of ways. Given the possibility that the impact of the fall could, at worst, break her neck and kill her, there was no way Rei could permit such a thing.
(Besides, Orc meat is pretty valuable.)
Orcs were D-Rank monsters — by no means high-rank monsters — but their meat was quite delicious. As a general rule, the higher a monster's rank, the better its meat tasted. But there were exceptions to everything, and Orcs were one of those exceptions.
Long ago — back when Rei had first appeared in Gilm — he had participated in the assault on an Orc settlement led by an Orc King. He had obtained a massive quantity of meat on that occasion, but Rei ate amounts befitting someone called a glutton, and Set ate even more than Rei did. Given that, it was only natural that the Orc meat stored in the Misty Ring was running low... and if he could replenish it, there was no reason to hesitate.