A hush fell over the surroundings.
The only sounds were the whispering wind and the distant cries of beasts and birds from within the forest.
With that silence came a rising sense of tension.
The ones feeling tense, however, were strictly those on the Reblurina side. Rei showed no signs of tension at all.
Ryutas, asked by Rei what to do with the people before them, didn't seem particularly tense either.
"I suppose so..."
Ryutas, asked what he should do with the group in front of him, found himself at a loss for words.
If this had been his position up until yesterday—no, up until a few hours ago—as someone belonging to Jaya, he would have likely thought it perfectly fine to kill them as pawns of an enemy who had turned hostile.
But things were different now.
Having concluded that there was no future in staying with the organization called Jaya, he was already no longer a member of Jaya.
Strictly speaking, he hadn't actually told his father—who led Jaya—that he was leaving, so it was possible Jaya still considered Ryutas one of their own.
(Killing them here is without a doubt the quickest and easiest approach. But that would ultimately benefit Jaya. In that case, wouldn't it be better to release them and let them clash with Jaya? ...However, the problem then becomes Rei.)
The fact that Ryutas was acting alongside Rei had already been clearly witnessed by the group before his eyes.
In other words, if he let them go as they were, it was certain that this matter would be reported to their superiors.
Rajaras and his Flunkies might try to hide it for the sake of their own pride, but the soldiers were here as part of their job, so they would need to report to their superiors.
Even if the soldiers tried to hide the circumstances, the severing of Rajaras's and his Flunkies' right arms would be impossible to explain.
(In other words, the question is whether to release them despite the risk... But well, both Jaya and Reblurina are undoubtedly finished at this rate, so maybe I'm worrying too much.)
Ryutas's prediction was by no means off the mark.
They had laid hands on their suzerain, the Kingdom of Mireana, and that fact had been exposed. On top of that, the relationship between Reblurina and Jaya was already out in the open.
No matter how optimistically one looked at it, it was impossible to think that Reblurina and Jaya could continue as they were—maintaining their current prosperity.
If that was the case, wasn't there no particular need to do anything about the people before him? No, rather, as a favor to hold over Reblurina, letting them quietly return home would likely be more profitable in the end.
That was how Ryutas reasoned.
Of course, hundreds of soldiers had been nearly annihilated. There were some soldiers who were still alive, but even so, they were more or less wounded, and among them were those who had suffered mental trauma, like the ones knocked unconscious right in front of Ryutas moments ago.
It was hard to imagine they would express any gratitude toward Ryutas and his group, who had inflicted such damage on them.
"Well, I suppose so. Why not just leave them be?"
"Eh?"
At Ryutas's half-dismissive words, identical voices slipped from the mouths of everyone present except Rei.
They had never imagined they would be let off so easily.
If those present had been people who knew the circumstances to some extent, Ryutas would have tried to extract information from them.
But the ones actually here knew nothing. They were likely dispatched here as expendable pawns.
(Well, they might end up fighting the giants, so I can't imagine they'd send anyone competent. No, with that few in number, there's no way they could beat nearly a thousand giants. ...Was this unit's dispatch premised on total annihilation from the start? If so, could it be that...)
What suddenly occurred to Ryutas was this: by having Rajaras's unit annihilated here, they would make Jaya an open and official enemy.
And then, against the diplomats from the Kingdom of Mireana who had come regarding the Jaya matter, perhaps they intended to create a common enemy?
If there was a common enemy, even if there were many things they wanted to say, they might be able to get along with each other. Or even if they couldn't get along, if they showed a cooperative stance in the fight against Jaya, there was a possibility they could somehow manage this incident.
Even if someone had thought this way, it wouldn't have been strange.
(I see. If that's the case, it makes sense why they hurriedly deployed combat power here. If they failed, so be it... no, rather, they were expected to fail.)
Ryutas, having somewhat grasped the truth behind this situation, eventually opened his mouth slowly.
"Go. I have no intention of doing anything to you. Hurry back and explain what happened here."
The first to feel doubt at the words coming from Ryutas's mouth were not Rajaras's Flunkies, but the escort soldiers.
Why were they being released so easily? That was the question that arose in their minds.
If they killed everyone here, it was certain that news of this incident would reach the military—the country—that much later.
So why were they being released so easily here?
It wouldn't have been strange to have such doubts.
(Something is off.)
So they thought, but they couldn't figure out what was off.
However, even if they felt something was wrong, staying here would definitely mean death, or even if not that far, it was certain they would suffer terribly.
Given that, whatever the reason might be, quickly leaving this place was undoubtedly the best course of action.
"Understood. We'll be taking our leave now."
The one who told Ryutas this was a soldier.
But naturally, if a soldier said such a thing here, opposition would arise.
"A mere soldier—what do you think you're deciding on your own!"
"Do you understand what you're saying?!"
"A commoner presuming to decide what we should do? You do understand what will happen later, don't you?"
It was only natural that such complaints came from Rajaras's Flunkies.
Even as Flunkies, they were undoubtedly of noble bloodline.
They voiced their dissatisfaction at having to follow the instructions of a mere soldier.
As if they had easily forgotten the fear of Rei they felt until just seconds ago, Ryutas couldn't help but show an expression of dismay at that attitude.
Rei was also dismayed, but unlike Ryutas, he didn't show it so openly on his face.
Even Ryutas, who was accustomed to putting on expressions in his usual dealings, showed his dismay. But this was not Rei's first time seeing nobles like these, nor were they anything rare.
He had seen with his own eyes, countless times before, nobles who were as good as the word "selfish" given form.
However, being used to seeing them didn't mean he could become tolerant of them.
While looking at Rajaras's Flunkies hurling abuse at the soldiers, Rei swung his Death Scythe in a showy display.
A sharp strike, as if it could slice through the very air.
Rajaras's Flunkies, naturally, must have heard the sound.
They turned to look in the direction the sound came from—toward Rei—in a flustered manner.
Understanding that attention was focused on him, Rei offered a small smile.
What meaning the Flunkies found in that smile, even Rei couldn't say.
But those who saw that smile felt a chill run down their spines.
"L-let's go! We must hurry and report this situation!"
Rather than calling it a retreat or fleeing, they framed it as withdrawing from this place to report the current situation.
At the words of the Flunky who said so, the others agreed.
They were terrified of Rei, who so easily swung his blade against nobles who should ordinarily be respected.
...However, Rei hadn't just swung his blade mercilessly against the nobles of a small country like Reblurina, but also against the nobles of its suzerain, the Kingdom of Mireana.
For such a Rei, the option of holding back against the people before him simply did not exist.
Once one person decided to return to report—or more accurately, once they decided to flee, the rest was quick.
Ordering the soldiers to bring Rajaras and his Flunkies, who had lost their right arms, they hurriedly left the area.
They began running toward the carriages located a short distance away.
Fortunately, the Coachman had not fled even after witnessing the entire disturbance. Rajaras, his Flunkies, and the escorts boarded several carriages and immediately departed from the scene.
Normally, they would have despised the escort soldiers as commoners and loathed even breathing the same air as them, but... at this moment, having the escorts nearby took priority over that.
"...Well, if they don't need them, I'll take them."
Naturally, since they had hurried to flee from this place, the tents set up here were left behind as they were.
Those nearly-new tents, considering their quality, were fairly high-quality items even in Rei's eyes.
In fact, since Rajaras had been entrusted with command of the unit for this incident and had gone out of his way to prepare them for the sake of appearances, it was only natural they were of decent quality.
However, Rei had been working as an adventurer in the frontier of Gilm and had accompanied important figures countless times.
He had seen many rare items before, and surprisingly enough, he possessed a fairly discerning eye when it came to such things.
That was surely why he deemed the tents to be reasonably good.
Pulling out the parts stuck in the ground, he stowed them away one by one into his Misty Ring.
Since they were like-new tents, he worked carefully so as not to get them dirty.
Ryutas watched Rei's actions with an exasperated look.
"Do you have time for that?"
"There's no need to rush that much right now, is there? There's nothing to worry about regarding the giants. By now, they might have already finished them all off."
"...Are you really not worried? They went on a rampage, didn't they? Nearly a thousand giants?"
"Yeah."
At Rei stating this so casually, Ryutas, without letting it show on his face, was astonished to the core.
Of course, he knew that Rei and his party possessed strength that was hard to believe.
Even so, he couldn't imagine they could somehow handle nearly a thousand giants.
If it were a matter of buying time, Ryutas could have accepted it.
But what Rei was saying was not something like that. He had explicitly stated they would defeat them.
Not only that, but they weren't still fighting—they had already defeated them.
(I expected it. But... it's power beyond even those expectations.)
Of course, this incident was not accomplished solely by the power of the party Rei led—the Crimson Lotus Wings.
In addition to Rei's group, there was the combat power of Elena, who held the alias of Princess General.
But even so... from Ryutas's perspective, it was certain that Rei and his party's combat power was worthy of being called overwhelmingly, peerlessly powerful.
(Choosing to side with Rei was the right decision.)
An organization—one connected to the upper echelons of a nation—versus an individual.
Thinking normally, anyone would side with the former.
But Ryutas had dared to make an unconventional choice, siding with Rei.
At first glance, it was a choice that could easily be called reckless, but from Ryutas's perspective, it was now as clear as could be that it had been the right answer.
Rei, receiving such a gaze, called out to Ryutas while watching Byune approach him.
"So, what do you think we should do next? You had a reason for letting them go, didn't you?"
"Of course."
Ryutas immediately nodded at Rei's words, offered a smile, and opened his mouth.
"The soldiers came to this cave, probably to be made to lose."
"...To be made to lose? Well, including that noble who seemed to be the commander, there wasn't anyone who looked competent. If I had to point out something, the soldiers did seem to have a certain level of strength."
"Right? Why do you think people of that caliber were dispatched to annihilate those at an important base of an organization like Jaya, which has ties to a nation? No matter how mad the upper echelons of Reblurina are, sending guys like that..."
"Normally, they wouldn't."
As if taking over the words, Rei said so.
Ryutas nodded to that, and after prefacing that it was merely his own speculation, he explained his conjecture.
It was something Rei could fully accept as well, and he found himself nodding involuntarily.
In fact, Rei had also been wondering about that very thing.
Dispatching opponents of that caliber as commanders.
But if the goal was to lose from the start, Rei could understand that too.
"I see. ...Then let's head back to the cave for now. The giants should be about taken care of by now too."
Saying so, Rei returned toward the cave together with Ryutas, Byune, and Ielo.