Unlike when they had invaded the giant's nest, Rei and his party were heading upward. Along the way, they encountered several individuals who appeared to be researchers, but those people too were in sheer chaos, with the vast majority attempting to escape toward the cave Rei's group had come from.
The reason he said "the vast majority" was because, for whatever reason, there were also some among them who, like looters at a fire, were rummaging through cargo inside the giant's nest.
They likely thought they wanted to obtain something before heading to the cave. But in any case, with no time to spare for such people, Rei and his party focused solely on getting outside the giant's nest.
Granted, there were a few who, having completely lost their minds, tried to abduct beautiful women like Elena and the others as spoils on the way out. But it was easy for anyone to imagine what fate befell such people.
Ryutas's guards found themselves involuntarily casting looks of pity at those individuals.
At the very least, they probably felt something as men toward opponents who could no longer embrace a woman.
In any case, after pushing through such hardships — though calling them that would be inaccurate — Rei and his party exited the giant's nest and emerged into Mejougo.
"Grrrrrl!"
Set, who had sensed Rei approaching through his magic and scent, raised his upper body from a lying position and let out a happy cry.
"Set, sorry for being late. Still, I figured the battle would be much more intense... but it seems it wasn't quite like that."
Scattered all around were the corpses of dozens — or perhaps more.
Some were probably unable to move due to injuries or had simply lost consciousness.
Among all that, the only one currently capable of moving was Set.
Raising his upper body and then standing up fully, Set ran toward Rei.
He then rubbed his face against Rei and purred happily.
"Grrrrrl, grrrl."
"Hahaha. Sorry to keep you waiting. Come on, settle down."
The sight of Set nuzzling and rubbing his head against Rei might, at first glance, appear to be a heartwarming scene.
Indeed, Elena, Marina, Vihera, and Byune watched the pair and showed no particular surprise, treating it as a familiar sight.
However, the same could not be said for Ryutas and his guards.
Countless corpses lay scattered about the surroundings.
Seeing that the buildings had also suffered significant damage on top of that, it was easy to imagine how fierce a battle had taken place here.
And yet, despite such a battle having occurred, Set showed no signs of injury anywhere.
That essentially meant he had overwhelmed this many opponents all by himself.
"Young master, the number of corpses is too few."
"...Yes, I noticed that as well."
Only a few dozen, or perhaps just over a hundred corpses lay scattered about — but conversely, that was all there was.
The Jaya soldiers stationed in the entertainment district of Mejougo numbered in the hundreds. No, if you included those who could be called mere cannon fodder, over a thousand.
Yet the corpses lying here numbered only about a hundred.
Of course, some may have been wounded and retreated to receive treatment.
Even so, they should have sent far more combat power here under normal circumstances.
(Set, was it? Did he judge that fighting that gryphon would only result in casualties? From the look of things here, it seems Set was guarding the entrance to the giant's nest and had no intention of going on the offensive himself.)
If Set had intended to fight seriously, Mejougo would have suffered far greater damage by now.
Also, though Ryutas did not know this, Set possessed several attack methods impossible for an ordinary gryphon, including Fire Breath.
"Aaaaaaah!"
As those questions crossed his mind, a scream suddenly rang out.
The scream that reached them was a woman's, and in the current state of Mejougo, a woman's scream could only come from a limited set of circumstances.
Of course, since Rei and his party did not know the Slave Collars had been destroyed, they merely assumed it was a soldier taking advantage of the chaos to assault a prostitute.
"Byune!"
"Mm!"
Rei called out to Byune first because he knew she had sufficient combat power — greater than Jaya soldiers — and could move swiftly even in an urban environment like Mejougo.
As if understanding Rei's intent, Byune quickly left the area and dashed toward the source of the scream.
"Rei, what about us?"
"...Given the combat power here, I think Byune alone should be sufficient. Still, we should probably hear what's going on."
The number of Jaya soldiers Set had slain was fewer than expected, and the battle here was already over.
If so, the question was why things had turned out this way.
To confirm that, information would naturally be needed.
(I was originally planning to leave Mejougo already, you know.)
They needed to rendezvous with the envoy from the Kingdom of Mireana and share the information they'd obtained with Daskar and the envoy's members. But for now, he judged that gathering more information took priority.
"Grrrl?"
Set, who had been being petted by Rei, tilted his head slightly and purred as if asking what was wrong.
"I'm thinking of going to check on the situation in Mejougo. You've been here the whole time, Set — did you notice anything?"
Though he asked, Rei could understand Set's emotions but could not precisely exchange words with him.
Stroking the purring Set, he concluded that he did indeed need to see things with his own eyes.
"Well then, I'm going to go check on things over there for a bit... though I suppose there's no need to ask."
At Rei's words, Elena and the others responded immediately.
Ryutas too, though in truth he was not very enthusiastic, judged that he needed to gather information about Mejougo, and insisted on going with Rei.
And if Ryutas was going, it was only natural that his guards would accompany him.
Byune, having run off from Rei's group, held Hakumo in hand and headed toward the source of the scream.
Due to the combat that had taken place today, her supply of Long Needles was already running low.
But even without the Long Needles she excelled at using, Byune judged that she could handle Jaya soldiers on her own.
That was the same assessment Rei had made, and it was proof that she had a calm understanding of her own abilities.
Moreover, with Hakumo — a weapon forged from Silver Lion materials — and combat power honed by Vihera, Byune's fighting ability was remarkably high even among thieves.
So high, in fact, that she ranked among the top even compared to Gilm's adventurer thieves.
Considering that, there was no thought at all that Jaya soldiers would give her any trouble.
"Nooo! Stop it, let me go!"
"Shut up! Until just recently, you were clinging to me and moaning about how good it felt!"
"That wasn't my will! The Slave Collar's... ahhh!"
Whether the man had done something else mid-sentence, the woman's scream rang out again.
Hearing that scream, Byune rounded a corner and saw a man tearing apart a woman's clothing by the roadside.
The woman appeared to be a prostitute, wearing clothes designed to entice men.
But now those clothes were ripped, exposing her chest to the man's gaze.
The woman tried to hide her chest from him, but to the man, her resistance only served as further stimulation.
Breathing heavily, he forcibly grabbed the woman's arms that were concealing her chest and pulled them away...
"Mm."
The moment that sound was heard, strength suddenly left him.
The man could not comprehend at all what had just happened.
Even so, seeing the blood splatter that had sprayed onto the face of the woman he had been about to violate, and onto the body he had held as a prostitute countless times, he reflexively brought his hand to his neck.
His hand was dyed red by the blood gushing from his own neck, and in the next moment, his consciousness sank into darkness.
"Kyaa— kaaaaaaaaaaah!"
A scream even shriller than before erupted from the prostitute's mouth.
The man who had been about to violate her had suddenly collapsed, spraying blood from his neck.
That naturally resulted in the woman's body being stained even redder with blood.
There was, after all, a difference between the terror of being violated as a woman and the terror of having a corpse — that of someone she knew, no less, one spurting blood from its neck — collapse on top of her.
"Mm."
But Byune, who had carried out the act, showed no particular concern as she shook the blood from the blade of Hakumo that had just slit the man's throat, flinging it off.
"Kyaah! ...Kyaa... ah?"
The woman, who had continued screaming, eventually realized that the figure before her was not a vicious male murderer, but rather a girl who could aptly be described as adorable, and though only slightly, she calmed down.
"U-umm... did you perhaps... save me, little miss?"
In a timid manner, the woman asked Byune.
Of course, even without asking, seeing the Hakumo in Byune's hand would have made it obvious.
Even so, the small figure before her — one that would be more accurate to call a child than a girl — had effortlessly dispatched a man that she, an adult, could do nothing about. That was apparently something the woman found hard to believe.
It was beyond the realm of common sense.
Of course, if one were to say that, then her own situation up to now — having been taken from her homeland and forced into prostitution — was hardly common sense either.
"Mm."
Byune answered the woman's words with her usual short reply.
The woman seemed to have a slight question about Byune's response, but quickly came back to herself and spoke.
"More importantly, we can't stay here like this. Hey, do you know? Apparently, the Resistance people are evacuating people from this city right now. I was trying to go there when—"
The woman cut off mid-sentence and glared at the man, now a corpse in a pool of blood.
The person who had used her countless times while she was forced to work as a prostitute.
He had been her first, but there was someone else she would have preferred to give herself to.
That was precisely why she directed a gaze full of hatred at the corpse before her.
"—this man found me."
In response, Byune muttered briefly as always.
"Mm."
The woman could not precisely tell what that murmur was meant to convey.
But even so, she could at least guess that Byune was probably agreeing with her words.
That helped the woman settle down.
"So, what's a little miss like you doing in a place like this? From the look of you, you don't seem to be... one of my colleagues."
Within Mejougo, there were also brothels catering to those with predilections that could only be excited by children.
For a brief moment, the woman wondered if Byune might be a prostitute working at one of those establishments, but every piece of equipment she wore was of solid quality.
So solid, in fact, that it was impossible to believe she had stolen it from a Jaya soldier in all this chaos.
For starters, what Byune was equipped with was armor that fit her body perfectly — in other words, armor made for a child.
In this Mejougo, where the only combat forces were Jaya soldiers, the existence of children's armor was fundamentally impossible.
As a possibility, one could imagine she came from a shop catering to such tastes. But the equipment provided at such establishments, while appearing convincing at a glance, was not actually usable as weapons or armor.
Naturally so. If someone were injured by those during play, what would happen? Even with a Slave Collar in place, considering the possibility of something going wrong, leaving such hazards as they were was not a viable option.
"Mm."
Not one of her colleagues, then — a member of Jaya?
But it was the girl before her eyes who had saved her when she was being assaulted by a Jaya soldier.
If so, it was still unclear who she actually was.
Even when asked, for some reason, the only response that came back was a single "Mm."
"Umm... could you tell me your name, little miss?"
"Byune, that's who she is."
"...Huh?"
The woman, who had been speaking to the girl — to Byune — heard a voice call out from an unexpected direction and turned her gaze toward it.
When she did, she reflexively covered her exposed chest with her hands. An instinct as a woman, perhaps.
She had understood from the instant she heard it that the voice directed at her belonged to a woman.
Even so, the reflexive movement was likely also a result of having been forced to work as a prostitute all this time, whether she wanted to or not.
In any case, when she turned around, standing there was a beauty the likes of which she had never seen before — even in this Mejougo, where women worthy of being called beauties and lovely girls gathered.