While the carriages falling from the sky was a completely unexpected turn of events, the Resistance—unlike the Jaya soldiers they fell on—had been able to watch it happen from the sidelines.
They were certainly surprised, but the Resistance suffered no casualties. Only the Jaya soldiers did.
Seeing that, it was obvious the attack had been carried out to aid them, and there was no way Sura, who led the Resistance, would let such a perfect opportunity slip by.
"Sharia, charge straight in and prolong their confusion as much as possible!"
"Got it!"
Sharia, a Wolf Beastman, led several Beastman subordinates in a charge toward the confused Jaya soldiers.
Dog, wolf, cat, bear, leopard, fox, tanuki—various Beastmen were among them, but these too were people who had been forced into prostitution by the Slave Collars.
On top of that, being former adventurers, they had a respectable amount of skill.
Among those forced into prostitution, quite a few had been former adventurers.
Of course, having worked as prostitutes, they naturally hadn't kept up with any training as adventurers, and their bodies had grown dull. They couldn't fight as well as they once did.
Still, being more accustomed to combat than ordinary people, the former adventurers were a highly welcome addition to the combat strength the Resistance so desperately needed.
For the record, the weapons the former adventurers used were mostly ones seized from Jaya soldiers.
Or ones that had been prepared at the establishments where they worked as prostitutes.
"Rougue, circle around from the right flank! They're in chaos, so it should be difficult for them to mount an organized counterattack!"
"Understood!"
Taking advantage of the confusion caused by Sharia's Beastman unit, Sura called out to a fellow Resistance member who led the former adventurers and mercenaries.
"Hey, what am I supposed to do?!"
The one who shouted was a woman standing a short distance from Sura.
Her speech was rough—rough enough to be mistaken for a man's.
For a woman raised in the slums, doing anything that would invite the contempt of others was absolutely out of the question.
That was precisely why she had adopted such rough speech. But whether it was a good or bad thing that, while working as a prostitute, she had been a highly popular one with a pure, innocent atmosphere was another matter entirely.
"Nanna, wait a little longer. Once they're in full chaos, I'll send your unit in. More importantly, are your weapons ready? ...Gistole, stop looking around with those wandering eyes!"
Answering Nanna's question, Sura simultaneously scolded Gistole, a fellow Resistance member, for ogling the bodies of the women he was supposed to be guarding.
Since they had only just been freed from their lives as prostitutes that day, those who hadn't been lucky enough to obtain clothes were still dressed in their prostitute attire.
Going outside wasn't all that common within Mejougo in the first place. Naturally, that didn't apply to soliciting customers.
Also, the clothes they had been wearing when first brought here had, as a matter of course, been disposed of.
For that reason, the prostitutes with no other clothes to wear were still dressed in outfits designed to stimulate men's desires.
Had they known such a situation would arise, Sura would have prepared a large supply of clothing. But this entire incident had been a completely unexpected turn of events.
As a result, most of the prostitutes remained in their current attire.
Amidst all this, being assigned as a guard for women dressed like that—a man, and a woman-loving one at that—asking him not to look would have been an unreasonable demand.
"Ah, sorry about that. It's just, as a man, I can't help but be drawn to beautiful flowers."
"...Enough with the foolishness. Do your job properly. Zulnis, you're on the left wing! Don't do anything stupid!"
"Understood."
Answering curtly, the man named Zulnis led his subordinates toward the left wing.
"Honestly, if only everyone were as serious as Zulnis, I'd feel a lot more at ease."
The Resistance's combat strength had been severely depleted by Jaya's previous giant attack.
That was precisely why even someone like Gistole, who previously wouldn't have been counted as formal combat strength, now had to be included in their fighting force.
Something falling from the sky was, without a doubt, the best possible opportunity they could have asked for.
As for who had done it, anyone who saw that something had been dropped from the gryphon's back would know the answer.
There was, after all, only one person they knew of who could ride a gryphon.
If only Rei had given some kind of signal, we could have made even more effective use of this situation.
The Set Basket's camouflage ability, naturally, only worked on the Set Basket itself.
Viewed not from directly below but from a distance, even if the Set Basket couldn't be seen, Set carrying it could be.
That was how Sura had been able to figure out who was responsible.
She couldn't see clearly what had fallen, but it was an undeniable fact that it had dealt significant damage to the Jaya soldiers.
Sura was grateful to have been given such a golden opportunity. But naturally, she couldn't help thinking it would have been better to have some kind of signal beforehand.
Then again, that was moot at this point.
With the situation already underway, all Sura could do was somehow get everyone out of here.
Getting this many prostitutes out of Mejougo and then figuring out what to do next—honestly, she still had no idea.
In terms of available shelter, staying in Mejougo with its solid buildings, including the brothels, was undoubtedly the best choice.
However, remaining in Mejougo meant never knowing when Jaya might attack again, and there was also the slim possibility that giants could show up at worst.
If so, Sura's judgment was that it would be better to get away from Mejougo at least once.
She had almost no clear destinations in mind for where to go after leaving Mejougo, though.
The best option would probably be to flee Reblurina entirely and seek refuge in a neighboring country.
But considering that Mejougo was located right near the capital of Reblurina, Rossi, that too would be difficult.
Reblurina was a small nation, but even so, walking all the way out of the country was impractical.
There were issues of food and water as well, but more than anything, escorting all the prostitutes out of the country with the Resistance's current personnel was simply impossible.
Unlike a frontier like Gilm, the number of monsters wasn't that large.
However, "not that many" didn't mean "none at all," and highly reproductive monsters like goblins or orcs were likely to be present.
Especially with the majority of this group being women—and dressed in prostitute attire at that—it would be more than enough to attract goblins and orcs.
Something had to be done.
She understood that, but for now, escaping this place that could only be called a death trap took priority.
For the record, among those whose Slave Collars had been removed, there were a few who chose to remain in Mejougo.
Though they had been controlled, there were women who genuinely considered prostitution to be their calling.
Sura didn't force anyone like that.
Sura was a woman too, but she understood that prostitution was a necessary profession.
The fact that fewer women were assaulted because prostitutes existed was an undeniable truth.
Though, admittedly, there was a certain percentage of criminals who couldn't afford to visit brothels and turned to assault instead.
Regardless, if someone judged that prostitution suited them and chose to stay in Mejougo, Sura had nothing more to say.
If it was their own decision, then whatever treatment they received in Mejougo from here on out would be their own responsibility.
"Let's go! Right now, we just need to break through here and win our freedom! Jaya's fighting strength has been greatly reduced by the battle in Mejougo. The ones here are nothing but small fry! Everyone, we can win this fight! We will escape this prison alive!"
At Sura's shout, the Resistance members and prostitutes raised their own battle cries.
While the Resistance and Jaya's forces clashed, Rei and his group—who had dropped carriages from the sky to inflict heavy casualties on Jaya—were already far from Mejougo.
They could have cooperated a bit more with the Resistance, but they also felt they had already provided considerable support.
In reality, the Jaya soldiers' fighting strength wasn't particularly elite, and their numbers had been greatly reduced by Set.
In contrast, the Resistance's morale appeared quite high.
Even as things were, the Resistance side would ultimately prevail—or so was Rei's prediction.
Of course, if they clashed head-on, the Resistance would suffer casualties too.
To prevent that, helping them out would have been the better move. He didn't entirely dismiss the thought, but ultimately he decided it was only right for people to settle their own affairs themselves.
"Set, once we've moved a little further away, land. I want to report this matter to Lord Daskar."
"Gruu!"
Set was carrying the Set Basket with more people aboard than the last time, yet he showed no signs of fatigue as he cried out.
Set was fundamentally gentle by nature, and had there been no other circumstances, he might have helped the Resistance after witnessing the scene earlier.
But right now, he was with Rei.
In that case, prioritizing staying with Rei over anything else was only natural.
At Rei's words, Set flapped his wings and flew away from Mejougo.
At Set's flying speed, the sounds of battle that had been audible from Mejougo quickly faded away.
Thus, having moved away from Mejougo, Set landed in a forest—not far from the one where Rei had first encountered Ryutas—setting down the Set Basket he carried before touching down himself.
"Phew. We managed somehow, at least for now."
Vihera murmured as she surveyed the surroundings after stepping out of the Set Basket.
The sun was still up, but it would soon turn to evening.
Even within the forest, the sunlight filtering down seemed somewhat weaker.
Also, being in a forest, it was somewhat cooler compared to the city streets.
Ryutas and his guards, in particular, were fully benefiting from what could only be called the forest's blessing.
"Right. ...Well then, about what comes next—first thing is reporting to Lord Daskar, isn't it? We should let him know about Ryutas's situation beforehand too."
Even if they were to have Ryutas join the envoy, it was an undeniable fact that it would be better to run it by Daskar first.
On the off chance that the person leading the envoy was a noble befitting the term in the worst possible sense, things would certainly become troublesome.
Then again, this was an envoy dispatched personally by Daskar, a central figure of the Neutral Faction.
Unless there was an intention to provoke Reblurina into lashing out, there was no reason to think they would send such a person under the current circumstances.
Of course, nothing was ever absolute.
Perhaps by some mistake, or if their attitude toward Reblurina shifted, it wasn't entirely impossible for such a person to be sent.
Even in that case, with Daskar's permission, there would be no problem.
"Margrave Daskar Larcus, huh? I've heard various things about him. He's supposed to be quite an impressive figure."
"Yeah, that's without a doubt."
There was a somewhat teasing undertone to Ryutas's words, but whether Rei noticed it or not, he agreed without hesitation.
Ryutas stared intently at Rei, apparently finding this unexpected.
Given Rei's reputation and, more than anything, considering the nobles he had clashed with in the forest, Ryutas never expected Rei to give such high praise to a noble.
"And yet, you seem to be quite considerate toward Margrave Larcus?"
"That's also true. ...It's not like I unconditionally hate everyone just because they're a noble. What I hate are nobles who act nobly in the worst sense. For that matter, if we're going down that line of reasoning, Elena is a noble too."
"More precisely, only my father holds the noble title. My position is that of a duke's daughter."
At Elena's words, Ryutas nodded as if to say, That's right, now that you mention it.