As the setting sun dyed the highway red, Rei and his group departed Mejougo, making their way toward Rossi.
Of course, while they were heading in that direction, they had no plans to actually enter the city.
With nearly a thousand people trying to pass through Rossi, the paperwork alone would undoubtedly cause a major disturbance.
In the first place, the majority of this group had been forcibly brought to this land by Jaya. Naturally, few of them possessed any form of identification like a Guild Card.
Though even if they did have something like a Guild Card, entering Rossi still wouldn't have been an option.
Rossi was the capital of Reblurina, and Reblurina's upper echelons had been connected to Jaya.
The reason that was now in the past tense was precisely because of today's events. If Reblurina's upper echelons learned about Rei's group, they might try to exploit them somehow... or, knowing their secrets had been exposed, it wouldn't be strange for them to attempt to silence everyone.
Naturally, Rei had no intention of letting that happen. If they tried, he was fully prepared to fight back.
But if they simply avoided Rossi from the start, the chances of any of that coming to pass were practically nil. Given that, the option of deliberately stopping by Rossi in their current situation was out of the question.
"Hey, I'm tired! Let me rest!"
As they walked, voices of complaint began drifting through the air.
Despite barely an hour having passed since they left Mejougo, those kinds of cries were already echoing through the group.
But Rei didn't stop walking, even as the complaints reached his ears.
He understood that whining despite having barely walked at all was the product of a lifetime spent being coddled and spoiled.
Of course, if someone genuinely couldn't move due to injury or illness, Rei would have given the matter some thought.
But when he glanced over at Sura, she shook her head—giving him the conviction that there was no need to stop.
"Hey, knock it off. You've barely walked at all. So why are you already talking about resting? Do you understand what kind of situation we're in?"
A man from the Resistance nearby called out to the woman making a fuss.
But another woman close by fired back a reply.
"What? We were living peacefully until the people of Reblurina dragged us here by force. So it's only natural that you people of Reblurina should work for our sake."
"Listen... then let me ask you this. If some big shot in your home country made a mistake, would you take responsibility for it?"
The Resistance man muttered in exasperation, but the woman scowled as if the question made no sense to her.
"Hah? What are you talking about? Obviously not."
"...Then that's your answer."
At the Resistance man's words, yet another woman nearby voiced her dissatisfaction.
"What do you mean 'that's your answer'? Besides, you saved us, so take responsibility for us until the very end."
"...Hey, Sura. What do we do with them? Taking them along like this is impossible."
Hearing that voice call out, Sura turned her gaze to Rei as if asking, What do we do?
The one actually leading this group was Rei.
They relied on Rei for things like food and water, and it was Rei who had arranged for Gilm to accept them.
Given that, it was only natural to prioritize Rei's opinion when making decisions.
"You don't need to worry about them. From here, it's not a difficult walk back to Mejougo. Throw them out."
But those were the words that left Rei's mouth.
Sura wasn't the only one surprised—undoubtedly the women who had been voicing their complaints were caught off guard as well.
They never expected to be suddenly thrown out.
"W-wait, why did it suddenly come to that! We're victims!"
Ignoring the woman speaking in a panic, Rei called out to the man who had been arguing with her.
"Remove anyone near that woman. We don't need them."
"Wait, hold on, wait a minute! Why does it suddenly come to this!"
"Eh? Hey, are you serious?"
The Resistance man showed visible confusion, but Rei nodded... and only then turned his gaze to the woman and spoke.
"Since you seem to be misunderstanding something, I'll make this clear. I didn't ask this group to come to Gilm. I'm bringing you along precisely because I'm willing to take you in if you have nowhere else to go and no way to earn a living."
Since these words were spoken while walking, no one stopped in their tracks. In truth, Rei's voice didn't carry that far, so only those near the front of the column where he walked could actually hear him.
"If you're already whining at this level, walking all the way to Gilm is out of the question. Even if you stay with us, you'll just cause trouble for everyone with your selfish behavior. So go back to Mejougo and live there. At the very least, if you stay in Mejougo, you won't have to worry about housing."
Of course, if they remained in Mejougo and were found by Jaya, there was no telling what kind of treatment they would receive. The same held true if they were found by Reblurina's army.
Leaving that unsaid, Rei continued speaking to the women who were now directing fawning gazes at him.
"Having you continue to act spoiled from here on out isn't appealing to us either. So you don't need to come with us. Got it? Then hurry back."
"W-wait! It was a joke, a joke! I wasn't being serious!"
Perhaps understanding from Rei's demeanor that he was dead serious, the woman who had first complained about being tired spoke up in a panic.
Looking at the woman who had spoken and those around her, Rei wavered on what to do.
Honestly, he felt that bringing them along would only lead to trouble.
While Rei was present, it would probably be fine.
But once he was gone, he was certain they would start acting selfishly again.
Of course, this group had no leeway to indulge such selfishness. Even if the women tried to use their bodies to win over the men, over ninety percent of the group was female, meaning there were very few targets for that kind of manipulation to begin with.
...However, precisely because of that scarcity, there were undoubtedly some who figured that if they could successfully ingratiate themselves with a man, they could live comfortably.
Still, among the women who had been forced into prostitution, more of them felt disgust at the idea of using their bodies to worm their way into men's favor.
(If possible, it would be better to cull them here... but if I suddenly throw my weight around like that now, the others might become intimidated down the line. If that happens, things will be fine while I'm around, but it could lead to all sorts of trouble when I'm not.)
After a moment of thought, Rei turned his gaze to Sura.
"I'll leave this judgment to you. Since you'll be the one leading this group when I'm not here, handle it however you see fit."
In the end, he decided to defer to Sura.
Part of it was a reluctance to deal with the troublesome women himself, but more importantly, considering what would happen in his absence, he felt it was better to leave the decision to her.
Of course, when it came to managing a group, Sura—who had run the Resistance—was also far more experienced than Rei.
"Eh? Wait, me? Um... let's see."
Sura, suddenly put on the spot, looked at the women in surprise.
Since the women understood that Sura's judgment could mean being cast aside right here, they couldn't afford to say anything careless.
Sura turned her gaze to the women who had voiced complaints and those who had agreed with them.
In terms of age, they were either around the same... or Sura might even be younger.
Even so, in this place, Sura was clearly the one holding the power.
Understanding that full well, the women kept their mouths shut.
Eventually, Sura spoke, her tone taking on the weight of a reprimand.
"I'll let it slide this time. But if you act selfishly from here on out, you'll have to leave. Of course, if you don't like that, you're free to part ways on your own at any village or town we pass along the way. Is that clear?"
At Sura's words—delivered like an ultimatum—the women nodded silently.
In truth, even Sura felt that an ultimatum over something this minor might be too harsh.
But if she compromised here, more people would cause similar disturbances going forward, and she would have to make concessions each and every time.
That was the thought behind delivering those words as an ultimatum.
"Is this fine?"
"Probably. Those who aren't happy will just leave on their own during the journey anyway."
Currently, the group numbered nearly a thousand people, but Rei predicted that by the time they reached Gilm, the number would drop to around seven hundred.
Those who had hometowns would naturally part ways with Rei and the others along the route.
It also wouldn't be surprising if some found a village or town they stopped at along the way appealing and decided to settle there.
Some would dislike Rei and Sura, who led the group, and choose to leave on their own.
Others might fall ill or suffer injuries... and above all, the possibility of being attacked by bandits was by no means low.
As for monsters and wild animals, there was no concern about being attacked as long as Set was around.
But to bandits, this group was nothing short of a perfect target.
If they were traveling with a large escort, that would be one thing, but protecting this many people with only a handful of fighters was simply unreasonable.
(If possible, we should leave Reblurina and hire adventurer escorts at some village or town. Though, if it's just a village, the number of adventurers would be small, and the quality probably wouldn't be that high, either...)
While keeping an eye on Sura, Rei thought about what lay ahead.
Where was the envoy that had departed from Gilm before Rei's group now?
If he knew that much, he could probably estimate where they might join up... but figuring that out was difficult.
With Daskar back in Gilm, he could communicate using the Paired Orbs, but that was a special exception.
In the end, Rei and his group would just have to find the envoy and make contact themselves.
(If I could pinpoint exactly how far they've come, I could narrow down their location to some extent...)
An envoy didn't need to take roads that avoided detection by Reblurina. They could travel the highway openly.
Of course, there were types of envoys that were better off keeping a low profile depending on the circumstances, but for this particular one, that wasn't the case at all.
They could visit Reblurina fair and square.
Given that, if they followed the highway, Rei and his group should naturally cross paths with the envoy. ...Provided the envoy didn't make some strange detour, that is.
Since Daskar had specifically dispatched them, Rei couldn't imagine them doing anything of the sort.
"Gruu..."
Rei had been mulling over how to rendezvous when Set, walking beside him, let out a purr.
Following Set's gaze, Rei saw that it was fixed on a red grove—illuminated by the setting sun and looking as though it were ablaze.
From the sound of the cry, though, Rei understood that Set hadn't purred because he was admiring the grove bathed in sunset.
"Enemies?"
Seeing Rei and Set's behavior, Vihera—who had been walking nearby—apparently reached that conclusion and asked Rei.
"Yeah. The question is which faction they belong to."
"The likely candidates are Jaya pursuers, or Reblurina's army."
"There's also a chance it's bandits with no connection to either, surprisingly enough."
Rei said that, but he himself didn't believe it was the case.
Strictly speaking, since Rei had previously been attacked by bandits not under Jaya's influence, the possibility wasn't zero.
However, that incident itself had been an irregularity, and irregularities were precisely that—rare.
"So? What do we do? Annihilate them? Burn them to ashes?"
"Come on... why do you always steer the conversation in such a dangerous direction?"
Even as he said that, Rei couldn't help thinking that annihilating them might be the most efficient approach.
The Flame Magic Rei specialized in carried the risk of spreading wildfires, so using magic wasn't an option.
"Really? But the less information the other side gets about us, the better, right?"
"I won't deny that. ...Right. Then let's approach that grove, and if they still haven't moved, I'll leave the annihilation to you. But confirm which faction they belong to first. There's a chance they're just hiding because we startled them."
Looking at it objectively, it was a group of nearly a thousand people, composed almost entirely of women.
And at the head of that group was Gryphon Seto.
If they knew nothing about them, it wouldn't be strange at all to judge the group as dangerous and take refuge in a nearby grove.