Having finished their consultation with Unchuu, Rei and his party passed back through the tavern and stepped outside.
They had spent a fair amount of time in discussion, and it was already past mid-afternoon.
Naturally, the patrons who had been eating in the tavern were gone, leaving the establishment in its brief lull before the busy evening hours.
As soon as Rei and his party emerged, however, someone immediately bounded toward them.
Rei had already noticed the presence, but knowing exactly whose it was, he accepted the approach without bracing himself.
"Guruuruuruu!"
The owner of that presence—Set—saw Rei step out of the tavern and bounded straight toward him.
Since Set had been lying down not far from the tavern to begin with, it took no time at all to reach Rei.
...Mind you, the people who had been watching Set from a distance were rather startled when a three-meter-long creature suddenly stood up.
"Ahaha. Hey, don't rub your face against me so much."
Rei didn't mind being fawned on by his precious partner.
He stroked Set as it rubbed its face and body against him, laughing happily.
There was no trace on Rei's face of the man who, just moments ago, had been thinking about how to assault the underground facility in Mejougo.
Rei played with Set, looking genuinely delighted, but Elena addressed him.
"So, Rei. What do you plan to do from here? Will you go scout Mejou... no, the other side?"
"Yeah... let's see. What should we do?"
While attending to Set, who was still rubbing against him, Rei pondered.
If possible, he wanted to fly over Mejougo once from the air before the surprise attack with the Set Basket, to scout the entrance to the underground facility in advance.
But Jaya had access to a considerable supply of Magic Items, or could even craft them themselves. Even without a barrier, the possibility that they were monitoring the airspace through some other means couldn't be denied.
In particular, when Rei showed Unchuu the Magic Item he had received from Sharia, he noticed Unchuu's expression turn quite severe.
Though, to be fair, the information obtained wasn't much different from what Sharia had told him.
To begin with, those who had that Slave Collar placed on them had their will sealed.
No, in reality it probably wasn't that dramatic, but twisting the will of someone who didn't want to work as a prostitute and making them want to do it of their own accord—Rei could only see that as a violation of their will.
In other words, once fitted with that Slave Collar, they wouldn't even think of escaping.
With the exception of irregular cases like Sharia, where some unforeseen event nullified the collar's effect.
"If there's nothing in particular we need to do, isn't it fine to go? Even for reconnaissance, if you fly at a higher altitude than usual, I don't think you'd be identifiable from the ground," Vihera suggested.
"Vihera's right. And if we use the Set Basket, even if someone on the ground looks up, I think it would be hard to make out," Marina added.
"Ah... I see."
At Marina's words, Rei recalled the Set Basket's capabilities once more.
Since it had the ability to change color to match its surroundings, someone looking up from the ground would have a harder time spotting it than if Set were simply flying normally.
"It'll take time for Unchuu to make contact too, so acting now in preparation for when the time comes isn't a bad idea, is it?" Elena offered.
With even Elena saying so, Rei couldn't refuse.
No, if he really wanted to, he could have refused, but Rei did want to get a solid look at Mejougo himself.
When they actually took action and some unforeseen situation arose, knowing what kind of place Mejougo was versus not knowing would make a significant difference.
Rei had walked around and confirmed the terrain when he visited Mejougo yesterday, but there was no way he could grasp the full geography from just a few hours of walking.
"Understood. Then let's do that. Fortunately, Set is right here, so there's no need to go back to the inn."
"Guruu?"
Perhaps understanding that Rei had called its name, Set looked at Rei as if asking what was wrong and purred.
"I need you to fly us a short distance. Is that okay?"
"Guruu!"
Set gave a cry, as if to say "Of course."
At Set's cry, several people who had been watching from a distance hastily scurried away.
How many of them are in Jaya's pocket, I wonder. No, even if not Jaya, they could be subordinates of some bigwig in Reblurina.
That Rei and his party had entered Rossi must have been reported to the upper echelons of Reblurina as a matter of course.
What's more, many among those upper echelons were connected to Jaya.
To such individuals, the existence of a high-rank Alias Holder adventurer was nothing but a nuisance.
But precisely because they were a nuisance... and precisely because they understood that no matter how they struggled they stood no chance of winning, they couldn't afford not to monitor Rei's movements.
No, precisely because they had no chance of winning, they needed all the more to keep tabs on Rei's party.
If they did something careless and ended up antagonizing Rei and his party, it would mean nothing less than their own ruin.
...If this were an ordinary adventurer, even in a small country, they could have handled it with aristocratic power.
In fact, that was how they had dealt with adventurers operating in Reblurina up until now.
But Rei was a different matter.
He was known by name as a high-rank Alias Holder adventurer, and the rumor that he showed no mercy to any who opposed him, even nobles, was widely circulated.
Under normal circumstances, most nobles would dismiss talk of showing no mercy even to aristocrats as mere rumor, but in Rei's case, there was the actual fact that he had raised his hand against nobles on numerous occasions.
What's more, as that information spread, it became increasingly embellished... among the rumors were even claims that Rei bore a grudge against nobles and took pleasure in torturing them.
There was no way they could leave such an existence unchecked.
And... making matters even more troublesome for the nobles, Elena Kerebel, the Princess General and symbol of the Noble's Faction, was traveling with Rei, making it impossible for them to act recklessly.
For all their aristocratic pretensions, Reblurina was ultimately nothing more than a vassal state of the Kingdom of Mireana.
And among the countless vassal states, it was a small country whose national power and military strength would be faster counted from the bottom.
If nobles of such a minor nation were to harm Elena, the Princess General who symbolized the Noble's Faction—one of the Three Great Factions of the Kingdom of Mireana—their heads would literally fly. That much was certain.
Additionally, though the number of people who knew this was still limited, one of Rei's party members, Marina, was also a rather well-known figure within the Adventurer's Guild.
And while no one in Reblurina knew it yet, there was also Vihera, a former princess of the Bestia Empire.
In her case, it was probably better that they didn't know.
Well, if they make a move, it'd actually be helpful for us... but is Unchuu going to be okay? I suppose the fact that he let us through so openly means he's probably already got some countermeasures in place.
Thinking along those lines, Rei parted ways with Elena and the others and headed for the main gate of Rossi.
To scout Mejougo from the air, he first needed to exit Rossi.
There was nothing particularly noteworthy about leaving the city.
If Rei had been alone, he might have been accosted.
But seeing Set beside him, there was likely no one foolhardy enough to try.
If this were a place where stronger adventurers gathered, the possibility of someone overestimating their own abilities and starting something couldn't be entirely denied.
After slipping out of Rossi without incident, Rei mounted Set and moved away from the immediate area.
Using the Set Basket to camouflage themselves was one thing, but doing so right there at the gate would have been exceedingly unnatural.
I should've brought someone along. Well, since you can't look down from inside the Set Basket, they'd probably just be bored anyway.
Mildly regretting coming with just himself and Set, Rei asked Set to veer off the main road toward Mejougo and land in a nearby grove.
If this were the frontier city of Gilm, he would have needed to be wary of monsters, but fortunately, while this was the countryside, it was not the frontier.
Thanks to that, he didn't need to be on guard against monsters and could retrieve the Set Basket from his Misty Ring.
Of course, in places outside the frontier where there were no monsters, there were bandits instead... but the area near this road connecting Mejougo and Rossi was under the control of Jaya, the largest underworld organization in Reblurina.
To commit banditry in such a place, one would have to be either utterly foolhardy, completely ignorant of the world, or confident in their ability to fight Jaya.
"...That's what I thought, anyway."
Hearing a scream reach his ears, Rei let out a sigh.
Of course, that scream didn't necessarily belong to someone being attacked by bandits.
There were, albeit few, monsters in this land as well, and even if it wasn't a monster, the possibility of someone being attacked by a wild beast was quite real.
But... Rei understood that the scream belonged to someone being attacked by bandits.
Because after the scream, he heard vulgar laughter.
"Guruu?"
Beside the Set Basket, Set purred as if asking what they should do.
If Rei were an ordinary adventurer in Reblurina, fleeing would be the only option.
Adventurers in Reblurina were generally low-leveled, and there weren't many who could single-handedly take on several bandits.
What's more, since they had come to scout Mejougo, causing an unnecessary disturbance would be tantamount to suicide.
But... the one here was Rei.
To Rei, a B-Rank Adventurer and Alias Holder, one or two bandits... no, even ten or twenty would make no particular difference.
"Let's go."
Stowing the Set Basket, which he had just taken out, back into the Misty Ring, Rei spoke only those brief words.
If these were people he absolutely had to abandon, Rei would have left them behind.
But since the situation wasn't that urgent, it was only natural to want to help those he could.
...Of course, beyond that, he also expected that anyone who would cause a disturbance in Jaya's own backyard might be carrying useful information, and above all, hunting bandits was practically a hobby for Rei.
A hobby that also served a practical purpose—reducing the number of people attacked by bandits while simultaneously lining Rei's pockets.
There was no way Rei, with such a hobby, would let prey slip by.
"Guruu!"
At Rei's words, Set gave a short cry and bounded through the grove.
Running through places with trees, like groves and forests, was quite demanding for the uninitiated.
One had to plan their route while running, maintain balance to avoid tripping on fallen leaves, branches, stones, and fruit on the ground, and avoid stepping on exposed roots.
There were many other things to watch for, but Rei and Set ran on as if none of that mattered in the slightest.
After running for perhaps a minute... he spotted a young man running toward him.
And behind the man, five men wielding longswords and daggers were in pursuit.
At a glance, Rei understood the relationship between them.
No, anyone who saw this scene would have understood, not just Rei.
It wasn't impossible for bandits to feign an attack on someone to infiltrate their target's inner circle... but that would never be done in a grove like this.
"Over here! Run this way! I'm on your side!"
The man, whose face had shown despair upon seeing Rei, found a ray of hope in those words.
If Set had been visible, the man wouldn't have so easily believed Rei, but Set was nowhere to be seen.
It had split off from Rei during the run and was surely flanking the bandits from behind by now.
"!? Watch out, you need to run too!"
The man who had felt momentarily saved by Rei's voice shouted this when he realized Rei was small-framed and alone.
But Rei paid no particular attention to the man's voice... he ran right past him and launched himself at the bandits who had been in pursuit.