"I want you to go to the country of Reblurina."
Hearing this from Daskar, Rei felt a sense of inevitability more than anything.
The Ajas incident—the organization pulling the strings behind the scenes, or more accurately, the one giving the orders—used the country of Reblurina as its base of operations.
To be precise, the capital of Reblurina: Rossi.
A small country that was nothing more than a vassal state of the Kingdom of Mireana had gone out of its way to cause trouble in the suzerain nation's territory. And not just anywhere, but in Gilm, governed by Daskar, a central figure of the Neutral Faction, one of the Three Great Factions.
If Daskar did nothing about this, Gilm would be looked down upon.
And being looked down upon would invite even more malicious individuals.
Given that was the case, a proper reckoning had to be settled.
Not as the Kingdom of Mireana, but as Daskar of the Neutral Faction.
Since the others had already heard talk that this would likely happen, it was no surprise that Daskar was bringing it up now.
No, considering the Ajas incident, it was fair to say the topic came up later than expected.
"I understand that, but..."
The first to speak in response to Daskar's request was Rei.
Among the members present other than Elena and Ara, the party leader of the B-Rank party, the Crimson Lotus Wings, was nominally Rei.
Given that, the one who should speak up here was not Marina, nor Vihera, and certainly not Byune. It was Rei's role.
"Traveling to Reblurina by carriage would take a considerable amount of time. I've heard it would take over a month. If that's the case, given we obviously can't spend that much time, I'd think I'd be the one going..."
If they were only asking Rei, who could travel by riding Set, to go to Reblurina, then why were the other members called in? Let alone Elena, who, while close to them, had nothing to do with the Crimson Lotus Wings?
Rei's words carried that question, but naturally, Daskar had anticipated it.
"I trust your abilities as much as anyone possibly could."
The words that came from Daskar's mouth were, just as they sounded, filled with trust.
Naturally. He had seen with his own eyes just how powerful Rei was during the war with the Bestia Empire.
Moreover, given Daskar's position as the lord of Gilm, it was not difficult for him to learn about Rei's activities.
Seeing it with his own eyes, hearing the information coming up from below—from such things, he naturally understood just how great Rei's abilities were.
Perhaps... no, without a doubt, he would rank among the top of those in Gilm who were well-informed about Rei's true strength.
Even so, Daskar foresaw that having only Rei head to Reblurina would make things unmanageable in various ways.
This was especially true for an organization plotting crimes like this one. There would naturally be nobles backing them or nobles connected to them.
If Rei went on a rampage against such people, it could become a political liability for the Kingdom of Mireana down the line.
Of course, if he secured clear evidence and witnesses beforehand, that wouldn't be an issue. But in Daskar's eyes, while Rei was someone he could trust absolutely on the single point of combat, he didn't seem suited for investigating things discreetly.
In that sense, there was a desire to have others accompany Rei.
"But we don't know what we'll find over there. Given that, it's better to have more hands besides Rei, isn't it?"
"Well, it's true that having Marina and the others would help a lot."
Marina was a powerful Spirit Magic user who would be useful in various situations.
Vihera was extremely reliable in terms of combat strength.
Byune possessed the specialized skills of a bandit.
Those three would undoubtedly be helpful if they acted together.
That was certain. Rei could declare that with confidence, but...
"So, are we going by carriage?"
It came back to that in the end.
If it were a short distance, they could just cling to Set's legs and travel.
But clinging to Set's legs for hours or days on end would present various problems.
It was a journey through the sky, overwhelmingly safer than traveling on the ground, but it still wasn't absolutely safe.
There were bird monsters, Harpies, Wyverns, and various other monsters.
If Rei were the only one riding Set, dealing with such monsters wouldn't be difficult.
But in a situation where everyone was clinging to Set's legs, even Set might suffer a misstep.
To travel safely and avoid that, going by Elena's carriage would be the best option.
(Is that why Elena was called?)
If they were borrowing a carriage from Elena, Rei could understand why she had been summoned to this meeting.
That was what Rei thought, but Daskar shook his head.
"No, having you all gone will cause various problems for the expansion work. I want you back as quickly as possible."
"Isn't that... asking too much?"
"True. Riding Set to get there is difficult. But traveling by carriage takes too much time as well. So how exactly are we supposed to travel?"
Marina chimed in after Rei's words.
Since it was indeed true that there were many impracticalities in Daskar's statement, everyone present fixed their gazes on him.
Daskar bore the full weight of those stares, but without showing any sign of surprise, he spoke.
"I'm aware of that issue, and I've already considered countermeasures. I had a subordinate alchemist create a small Magic Item. Using that, you should be able to travel without any issues."
"Magic Item?"
The first to react to those words was, naturally, Rei, who had a hobby of collecting Magic Items.
"Yes. The problem this time is that clinging to Set's legs for long periods of travel is an issue, correct?"
"Yes," Rei answered honestly.
Seeing this, Daskar smiled and spoke again.
"I'm asking this just to confirm, but basically, only Rei can ride on Set's back. However, with its legs, Set can easily lift even a giant bear. This is also correct, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"There's no restriction... for example, it can carry one bear, but not if that number becomes two, three, four, five... nothing like that, right?"
"Umm... I don't think there's a problem weight-wise, but Set only has four legs, so five people might be a bit impossible."
"Ah, true. But that's not what I want to know. As long as you can tell me there's no restriction, that's enough for me. The Magic Item I ordered to be made is, simply put, a basket."
"A basket?"
"Yes. A basket designed for Set to carry. It has enough space inside for about four to five people to sit. Well, you won't be able to lie down, though."
What Rei imagined from those words was a shopping basket.
His understanding was that the people traveling together would get inside that basket...
"Wouldn't that cause various problems? If Set is just flying, the chances of being spotted aren't that high, but if it's flying while carrying such a large basket, it would definitely be easier to find. Of course, it depends on the size of the basket, though."
"True. But don't worry. I told you it's a Magic Item, didn't I? It's not just an ordinary basket."
"...What kind of Magic Item is it specifically, I wonder?"
As if cutting in between Rei and Daskar's exchange, Marina interjected.
She had originally intended to leave it entirely to Rei, but unfortunately, Rei had a tendency to lose himself whenever Magic Items came up. To prevent that, Marina had cut into the conversation.
"Unfortunately, since I had it made during such a busy time, it's not anything that impressive. You know the monster called the Murder Chameleon, correct?"
"Yes, that..."
Hearing the name, Marina grimaced, recalling a monster about three meters in length—roughly the same size as Set.
It was a monster that looked like a chameleon simply scaled up, but it bore the name "Murder" because it actively attacked humans.
Its preference was quite literal—it had a taste for the flavor of humans. A C-Rank monster.
Additionally, while not quite as sophisticated as Optical Camouflage—it was several levels below that, perhaps even further inferior—it possessed the ability to change its body color to blend into its surroundings.
The reason such a troublesome monster still only ranked at C was simply because it wasn't all that strong in a direct fight.
It had fangs capable of tearing off flesh and crushing bone, and the strike of its long, extending tongue carried considerable power.
But that was all it had.
The tongue's strike, while a threat to ordinary people, could be easily dodged by an adventurer of a certain skill level as long as they could see it coming.
Given that the Murder Chameleon's movements themselves were sluggish, it was rare for it to close the distance enough to bite someone or get within range to attack with its tail.
However, even with such weaknesses, the fact that it was still a C-Rank monster was likely due to its ability to change its body color being its greatest asset.
At any rate, when told it was a basket made from a Murder Chameleon's materials, both Marina and the others listening around them could understand from Daskar's explanation so far what kind of Magic Item it was.
"However, because it was made in a hurry, I can't exactly say it's perfectly complete. It can't be activated by the user's magic power; it requires magic stones to function. If I had more time, it would be a different story, I suppose."
Daskar muttered regretfully, but when Marina directed her gaze at him, he spoke again.
"Of course, the magic stones needed to use that Magic Item during this mission will be provided by us. It burns through them quite quickly, but fortunately, we've gathered a significant amount of monster magic stones right now."
"Ah, from the nightly defense battles..."
Daskar nodded in response to Rei's murmur.
The reason Rei realized this was simple.
Rei was the one hauling the corpses of the monsters slain almost every night to the Guild.
From the time the expansion work began until now, just how many monster corpses had he hauled?
The amount of materials and magic stones obtained from them had become enormous.
(Even though we keep killing them every night, there's no sign of them running out at all. Honestly, I wonder why there are so many monsters.)
It was as if they were endlessly spawning like in the games Rei used to play back in Japan—monsters came to Gilm every single night.
As if sharing information that Gilm was undergoing expansion and had no walls, the monsters kept coming.
The most common monsters were Goblins, but there were naturally many others as well.
There were even times when B-Rank monsters appeared.
Fortunately, there were several B-Rank and C-Rank adventurers present at the time, and by cooperating, they managed not to slay the monster but to repel it. Whether because of the heavy damage it sustained then, that particular monster never came again.
At any rate, for that reason, Gilm currently had no shortage of magic stones.
Additionally, it was not uncommon for materials from monsters slain by the many adventurers traveling to Gilm to be brought in along the way.
"Understood. To be honest, it's a somewhat lackluster Magic Item, but it seems like it'll be useful this time."
"Its magic stone consumption is also quite high. With something like a Goblin's magic stone, the effect wears off in about thirty minutes. It's only usable because you have an Item Box."
"Ah... I see."
If it only ran for about thirty minutes on a Goblin's magic stone, how many would be needed to travel all the way from the Kingdom of Mireana to Reblurina?
Rei didn't know exactly how large the basket was, but even so, carrying a lot of extra luggage would be difficult.
Carrying that many magic stones was something that would normally be hard to manage.
But if it was Rei, who possessed a Misty Ring, he could hold as many magic stones as needed and use that basket without any issues at all.
Daskar nodded in satisfaction at the group's understanding, and then handed a letter to Elena.
"Lord Daskar, what is this?"
"It's a letter from Duke Kerebel for Lady Elena."
In response to Elena's questioning look, Daskar gave his answer.