"Haa, haa, haa."
Ajas, longsword in hand, looked around with ragged breathing.
The Goblins that had entered the Treant Forest were all dead, collapsed on the ground.
"H-hey. What's wrong, Ajas? They were just Goblins, right? Why are you going all out like that?"
One of the adventurers who had taken the woodcutter escort request alongside Ajas called out to him with concern.
But when Ajas turned to the man who had spoken, his eyes were half bloodshot as he glared.
"!? H-hey, Ajas?"
Catching his breath for a moment, the man called out to Ajas again.
Even so, the hand gripping his weapon—a mace—tightened, perhaps because he sensed an instinctive threat in Ajas's demeanor.
Sensing the man's reaction, Ajas collected himself and looked at his fellow worker.
However, his calm appearance was merely a front.
Could the man before him also be an ally of Rei and Ilse? That suspicion crept into his mind.
After all, the very reason he had been assigned to woodcutter security in the Treant Forest was a strong request from the Guild.
The original reward was good, and there was the prospect of additional pay from felling trees.
Turning down such a request from the Guild would have been far too conspicuous.
(But looking at how things went today... the very act of bringing me this request was probably a trap. Which means it's safe to assume the Guild has been investigating me.)
Even in his agitation, Ajas was certain of that much.
In reality, when Kenny had negotiated to have Ajas assigned to this side, he had undoubtedly been under deep suspicion—but at that point, it had not yet been truly confirmed that Ajas was Ilse's enemy.
The evidence consisted of the tattoo and Ajas's facial features from Ilse's memory.
With just the tattoo, one could argue it was merely a similar design, and there was no guarantee she still clearly remembered her enemy's face from five years ago.
...Of course, with both pieces of evidence together, Rei had considered it all but confirmed...
In any case, it was during their exchange just now that Ajas's identity as Ilse's enemy had been truly confirmed.
Having realized that, there was no way Ajas wouldn't suspect the adventurers who had accepted this request around the same time he had.
"Ah, sorry. The Goblins were more troublesome than expected because of this forest. Got me a little worked up."
"Hey, are you sure you're okay? That's unusual—for you to struggle against Goblins."
At Ajas's demeanor, the man quietly relaxed his grip on the mace.
There had been several attacks on the Treant Forest before now.
But the attackers were mostly Goblins, and they had never been much of a problem.
The man had seen Ajas fight many times, which was exactly why seeing him struggle against Goblins struck him as strange.
"Yeah, I'm feeling a little under the weather. Sorry, but the way I am now, I might end up dragging everyone else down. If you can manage without me, mind if I head back for today?"
"Huh? Hey, are you really feeling that bad? ...Well, it's not that busy here, so I guess it's fine. But shouldn't you at least tell Rugluno?"
"Yeah, I'll do that. Thank god I was working out here."
Ajas genuinely felt fortunate to be doing woodcutter escort work.
If he had been working at the construction site building the new wall, there was no way he could have just left in the middle of the job.
In Gilm, which was undergoing expansion construction, the busiest place was naturally the construction site.
At a place like that, someone asking to go home because they felt a little unwell wouldn't normally be granted permission so easily.
...Though if being sick would slow down other work, that would be a different story.
In any case, after telling the man, Ajas walked through the Treant Forest searching for Rugluno.
Given the recent Goblin attack, finding him wasn't difficult.
However... the moment Ajas spotted Rugluno, he stopped in his tracks.
Because Rei and Ilse were at Rugluno's side.
Were they telling Rugluno something about him?
Once that thought crossed his mind, he had no composure left to speak with Rugluno.
(I should just disappear without saying anything.)
An ordinary adventurer wouldn't be able to do such a thing.
But Ajas already understood that his true identity was known to Rei.
Given that, he would no longer be able to work as an adventurer.
And not just in Gilm.
Through the communication network linking Guild to Guild, Ajas's name would likely become widely known.
There was even a possibility that sketches of his face would circulate.
Given all that, he judged there was no need to bother informing Rugluno, and he immediately left the area.
He couldn't use a carriage, but walking—or running—back to Gilm was not an impossible distance.
(Should I head straight for Abuelo? ...No, that won't work. Our base is in Gilm, so I need to return there to prepare to disappear. Besides, I can't just leave those two behind.)
There was also the matter of the women they had secured—he couldn't just leave them behind.
They were currently being held in a cell borrowed from the organization, and retrieving them couldn't be forgotten.
Ajas considered leaving it to his companions, but there was also the possibility that Rei, Ilse, or whoever was backing them might search his room at the inn.
He had taken care to hide anything that could serve as evidence, of course.
But there was a chance some kind of clue remained, and thinking about that, it was better to take the women with him when he fled.
(No, taking the women along would stand out, even with the slum organization's cooperation. In that case, maybe I should act as the decoy. Regardless, I need to get back to the inn as soon as possible to discuss all this.)
Muttering inwardly, Ajas glanced upward several times—at the sun pouring down intense summer sunlight, the blue sky, and the cumulonimbus clouds.
He was already sweating from his exchange with Rei and the others, the battle with the Goblins, and above all from running. So while part of him found the clear sky irritating, the larger reason was Set.
A gryphon capable of flight could pursue him from the sky.
That fear—though he would never admit it—was what drove him.
...And that fear was justified.
In fact, even now, Set was tracking Ajas from the sky.
However, its purpose was not to attack, as Ajas suspected. It was purely tracking.
If Ajas fled somewhere in this situation, that place was likely his base of operations.
Of course, there was also the possibility he wouldn't head to his base at all and would simply vanish.
In that case, Set was prepared to capture him directly—but the fact that Ajas hadn't been caught yet meant he still had some luck left.
Incidentally, the reason Ajas couldn't spot Set despite being tracked from above was simply a matter of altitude.
If Set had been flying at about ten meters, Ajas would have had no difficulty spotting it.
But Set was flying at its usual altitude of one hundred meters.
Even if adventurers had higher physical abilities than ordinary people, spotting Set at one hundred meters was impossible.
Well, depending on the person, some might have managed it, but at the very least, it was impossible for Ajas.
Unaware he was being tailed, Ajas ran relentlessly until he eventually arrived at Gilm.
By the time the Main Gate came into view, he had slowed his pace and adopted an expression suggesting he was unwell.
Since he was returning on the pretext of feeling sick, he figured that was the best approach.
Of course, having left without a word to Rugluno, his unauthorized return would eventually be discovered.
But for now, Ajas figured that if he could just get through the present, there would be no problem.
After completing the entry procedures into Gilm, he headed not to the Guild, but to the inn that served as his base.
Naturally, Set observed Ajas's movements from the sky the entire time.
After confirming that Ajas had entered the inn, Set continued flying overhead, monitoring to ensure Ajas didn't slip away.
Of course, if Ajas escaped through the inn's basement or moved through covered areas invisible from the sky, Set wouldn't be able to track him.
In any case, Set continued its surveillance of the inn from the air, staying alert to its surroundings.
"Haa..."
Finally back at the inn and able to feel a moment's relief, Ajas exhaled and collapsed onto the bed.
He knew he didn't have the luxury of staying like this forever, but the thought that Rei might attack at any moment had worn his nerves considerably on the way back.
"I'd rather not have come back here if I could help it."
He muttered that because if this inn were searched, some piece of evidence he'd forgotten about might surface.
But considering he had no time to spare, returning to this inn was honestly his only option.
"Anyway, I need to do something as quickly as possible... but either way, there's not much I can do right now."
It would be one thing if Ajas had come to Gilm alone, but he had come together with Lebejev and Haston.
On the surface, they were supposed to be unacquainted, but in reality, they were tasked with working together to collect women.
Given that, he couldn't just flee on his own without telling them anything.
Moreover, he had known Lebejev and Haston for over five years.
Thinking that far... Ajas recalled the woman he had encountered for the first time in five years.
(That time... I was on my way to meet up with Lebejev and Haston, right? I needed some money along the way... ah, that's right. Yeah, I remember now.)
Thinking that, and having recalled Ilse's face, his fatigue had eased considerably, so he sat up from the bed.
"Anyway, whatever I need to prepare, I can't go out shopping myself. Which means I'll need someone to buy things for me."
The inn had an errand boy—a child who knew nothing about him.
Using a child like that, buying the food and supplies they'd need after leaving Gilm wouldn't be difficult.
"Food for three... no, just the bare minimum here, and buy the rest in Abuelo or Sablusta. Though I'd rather not stop anywhere if I can help it."
The original plan had been to finish dealings with the slum's underworld organization as quickly as possible, then abduct the remaining women they needed from Abuelo, Sablusta, or other villages, towns, or cities along the way.
But in his current situation, he couldn't afford such a leisurely approach.
At the very least, if they abducted women in towns close to Gilm like Abuelo or Sablusta, it wouldn't be strange for Rei to show up while they were doing it.
"A gryphon is just cheating. And I hear it's a Rare Species, too."
No matter how Ajas and his group traveled on the ground, it wouldn't be difficult for a flying gryphon to find them.
Even if they risked going off the main roads, with a gryphon pursuing them, they would be found immediately.
Whatever they did, that movement speed worked to Ajas's decisive disadvantage.
Ajas couldn't hide his frustration at that fact.
Of course, he wasn't so arrogant as to think he could beat Rei if only the gryphon weren't there.
He was, after all, only a D-Rank Adventurer.
With Lebejev and Haston, they might be able to beat a C-Rank... or perhaps even a B-Rank Adventurer, but Rei was no ordinary B-Rank Adventurer—he was an Alias Holder.
Since fighting meant their defeat was certain from the start, the only thing Ajas could do was figure out how to avoid fighting altogether.
Ajas, alone in his room, agonized over finding a way to do just that.