"Understood. I'll accept that offer. But please, make sure it's only for those who want to go."
In the end, Sura—the woman leading the Resistance—simply couldn't bring herself to refuse Rei's proposal.
Well, if it had only been the Resistance, she might have found a way to manage. But right now, hundreds—perhaps even over a thousand—women freed from their Slave Collars were moving alongside them.
Given those numbers, even if they defeated the Jaya soldiers and escaped this place alive, they would have nowhere to go. No village or town would take in this many people. The nearest city, Rossi, was sizable enough as the capital of Reblurina, but releasing the women there would only put them right back into Jaya's hands.
Even setting that aside, the women who had been kidnapped were ordinary people—beautiful, certainly, but ordinary nonetheless. If they wandered into Rossi, they'd be drained to the bone without question.
"Yeah, it helps that you're willing to be flexible. Also, if anyone's hometown happens to be on the way to Gilm, apparently they're welcome to travel that far with the group."
I'll probably be the one providing the food, Rei mused.
The provisions stored in his Misty Ring were more than enough to get everyone present all the way to Gilm.
(Though I doubt they'll expect everyone to stick with us the entire way.)
In Gilm's ongoing expansion efforts, Rei alone was doing the work of dozens, hundreds, perhaps even more. And when it came to transport work using his Misty Ring, his presence or absence meant a night-and-day difference in efficiency. A workforce of nearly a thousand people was certainly something Daskar would want. But if asked to choose between Rei, who could start working immediately, and a thousand-strong labor force whose arrival time in Gilm was uncertain, Daskar would naturally pick Rei.
(A thousand people... I doubt all of them will come, but even so, more than half probably will. That's still five hundred. How the hell am I going to get that many people to Gilm? If my Misty Ring could hold living things, it might've been manageable.)
But since living creatures couldn't be stored, there was nothing to be done about it.
"Alright, it's settled then. I'll handle the Jaya soldiers here, if that's fine with you."
"Yes, please. But I'd appreciate it if you made sure our forces don't take any casualties."
Sura stressed that point because the most famous rumor about Rei was how he had burned an entire army during the war with the Bestia Empire. If he did the same here, it would be one thing for the Jaya soldiers to get caught in the flames, but she couldn't bear the thought of Resistance fighters being burned to death alongside them.
Rei assured her it wouldn't be a problem as he drew Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear from his Misty Ring.
"It'd be simple if I could. But my companions have already joined that melee. Given that, I'll just have to take them down one by one."
Rei offered a smile, but Sura and the rest of the Resistance were utterly captivated by the two weapons that had just materialized in his hands. For people living in a small nation like Reblurina, an Item Box was something they had only ever heard about in stories. Seeing one with their own eyes was a first.
Two weapons had appeared in Rei's hands, and both radiated an overwhelming presence. Moreover, Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear were both long-handled weapons—large enough that it wouldn't be strange to assume they were too big for Rei to wield.
Among the onlookers, only Sura and a handful of others refrained from showing overt surprise. It wasn't that they weren't caught off guard; they were simply making an effort not to let it show.
"Alright then, I'm off. Don't forget to relay to the units on the battlefield that they shouldn't attack us. If they do, we'll hit back. ...Set!"
"Grrrrr!"
At Rei's call, Set let out a resounding cry. Naturally, it carried to the Resistance fighters nearby... as well as to those on the battlefield.
Those on the battlefield, already caught up in the heat of combat, scanned frantically for the source of the cry in their excitement. Under normal circumstances, some might have considered fleeing, but they were drunk on battle now and had no room for such thoughts.
Of course, not everyone was in that state. Those who still retained a shred of composure caught sight of Set, realized they were completely outmatched, and tried to run. But those were precisely the most troublesome of the Jaya soldiers, and Elena, Vihera, Byune, and the others already rampaging across the battlefield would take them down whenever possible.
"Alright, let's go."
At Rei's word, Set sprang into motion instantly, charging toward the battlefield.
Its speed was, naturally, slower than when it flew through the sky. Even so, it was overwhelmingly faster than any human running, and the battlefield closed the gap in the blink of an eye.
Even as it neared the fighting, Set didn't slow down in the slightest. It plunged straight into the fray with its full momentum, and needless to say, no one in their right mind tried to stand before a creature over three meters long charging at them. They scrambled to clear a path.
Even those intoxicated by the blood-and-violence atmosphere of the battlefield sobered up the instant they got a proper look at Set barreling toward them.
The sheer presence of Set—and the sight of Rei on its back, wielding Death Scythe and the Twilight Spear—delivered that powerful a shock to everyone around.
Rei charged right into the thick of it, mercilessly swinging Death Scythe's blade and thrusting the Twilight Spear at anyone he could clearly identify as a Jaya soldier.
In the current chaos, though, making that distinction was far from easy. The Resistance was composed mostly of people with combat training, but that didn't mean there were no men among them. Likewise, while the majority of Jaya soldiers were men, that didn't mean there were no women in their ranks.
(If only Jaya would at least unify their equipment, it'd be so much easier to tell them apart.)
In a proper national army, standardized equipment was the norm. But no matter how large Jaya's operation was, they were ultimately just a criminal organization. Expecting uniformity from them was pointless.
What's more, the women who had joined the Resistance were mostly wielding gear seized from Jaya soldiers back in Mejougo, making the distinction even harder.
"Well, even so... some things are obvious enough!"
With those words, he bisected a man's torso with a single sweep of Death Scythe. He had marked the man as an enemy because he'd watched him approach a woman whose weapon had just been knocked away, a vulgar smirk plastered across his face.
Granted, there was a chance the woman herself was a Jaya soldier. But even setting that aside, no one watching a man approach a woman he'd just disarmed with that kind of leering smile would ever mistake him for Resistance.
"Are you unharmed?"
"Y-yes! I'm fine!"
The woman replied, her voice tight with tension. It was only natural. A Gryphon had appeared out of nowhere right before her eyes, and astride its back sat someone holding a scythe and a spear.
"Just to be sure—which side are you on? Jaya or the Resistance?"
The woman, whose features were undeniably those of a beauty, answered nervously.
"The Resistance!"
Rei only hesitated for a fraction of a second. The woman before him was unmistakably beautiful, which meant she was exactly the type Jaya would have dragged off to force into prostitution. It made perfect sense.
"Perfect timing. Unfortunately, I can't tell who's on which side in this chaos. Would you be willing to work with me?"
"Eh? Um, well, that..."
The woman hadn't expected to hear anything like that, and she froze for a beat. But then she glanced at the longsword she'd been carrying until moments ago—its blade snapped in half, utterly useless—and gave a quick nod. If she stayed on this battlefield as she was, she was dead. If staying near Rei meant survival, that was the obvious choice.
"Understood. I can't identify everyone, but I can tell most of them apart."
"Good. ...Then get on."
"Huh?"
Yet another unexpected remark. But looking at Rei, who was casually patting Set's back behind him, the instruction was perfectly clear.
A dumbfounded sound slipped from her lips. A Gryphon. An actual Gryphon. Being told to climb onto the back of an A-Rank monster wasn't something she could just accept with a casual "sure."
In truth, she was lucky she didn't know that Set was actually a Rare Species capable of wielding a variety of skills, making him the equivalent of an S-Rank monster. Had she known, she would have undoubtedly—no, unquestionably—been struck with a far deeper terror.
"Just get on. You point out the Jaya soldiers for me, and I'll take them out. Deal?"
"Y-yes, understood!"
In any case, staying alongside Rei was her best chance of surviving this battlefield. With that judgment made, the woman quickly swung her leg over Set's back.
The realization that she was touching a real Gryphon washed over her, and she let out a quiet breath of wonder.
"So this is... a Gryphon."
"You can admire it later. Right now, I need you to point out the Jaya soldiers. Oh, and I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Rei. This is Set."
"I-I'm Airen."
The woman who called herself Airen answered, still reeling from the fact that she was sitting on a Gryphon's back.
"Airen, huh. Alright, for starters—any Jaya soldiers nearby?"
"Yes, right over there."
The moment Rei asked, she pointed toward a skirmish taking place a short distance away. Three figures were ganging up on a single opponent. Airen was pointing at the three.
"Got it. Set."
"Gruu!"
At Rei's word, Set gave a short cry and bolted from the spot.
By now, fighting had already ceased in the immediate vicinity of Rei, Set, and Airen. When Rei had first charged in to save her, there had still been combatants nearby, but the Jaya soldiers who overheard their exchange had apparently decided it was too dangerous to stick around and had already fled the area. Thanks to that, their conversation hadn't been interrupted—though Rei figured letting those soldiers escape was a loss. He quickly put the thought aside. For now, eliminating Jaya soldiers as fast as possible was the priority.
Set closed the distance in a heartbeat, and the three-on-one battle loomed large. But the Jaya soldiers, completely oblivious to the death bearing down on them, were too busy reveling in their numerical advantage, focused entirely on tormenting their quarry.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong? Guard properly, or your pretty little body's going to get hurt."
"Come on, knock it off. We're supposed to take turns with her after this battle's over."
"Hey, wait. I was the one who found her! That means I go first, right!?"
"Tch, you jerks... like I'd let any of you touch me!"
The woman desperately tried to fend off the men leering at her, but in terms of combat skill, she was hopelessly outmatched. Even so, she frantically swung her spear, trying to keep them at bay.
"Orah!"
In the next instant, a club sent her spear flying from her hands.
"Ah!"
A scream tore from her throat at the loss of her weapon. The men licked their lips at the sight of her, but...
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
"Hah?"
The moment their vision lurched sideways, consciousness was swallowed by darkness.
Whether those men ever understood that the last thing they saw was their own lower half, split clean in two at the waist, was something no one would ever know.