"Yes, before I was brought to Jaya, I worked as a coachman for a merchant."
"In that case, you're hired."
At Sura's words, the woman's expression brightened with joy.
Working as a coachman meant driving a carriage—in other words, getting to sit on the driver's seat.
Compared to walking, there was no doubt the fatigue would be considerably less.
Envious glances were directed at the woman from all around.
It was only natural. The exhaustion from walking through the night had not yet fully faded.
Yesterday afternoon, the Slave Collars had suddenly come off. They had cooperated with the Resistance to escape Mejougo, fought the Jaya soldiers who tried to stop them, and kept walking until around the time the date changed.
In terms of pure fatigue, it had not been completely eliminated yet.
More than a few could barely walk due to muscle soreness.
Riding in a carriage was limited to those who were injured or physically weak and slow on their feet.
That no one was sick was likely because the men who had forcibly abducted the women knew there was no point bringing anyone who could not work as a prostitute.
Under such circumstances, being able to ride in a carriage as a coachman was undeniably enviable.
"Excuse me, I have experience driving carriages at home. Though not for very long stretches."
"I see. You're hired for now. But today, I want you to work alongside someone with experience. If there are no problems, I'll leave it to you starting tomorrow."
While these exchanges were taking place, a short distance away, horses were being hitched to the carriages.
This too required care—if an amateur did it carelessly, a horse could come loose mid-journey and cause major trouble for the carriages behind.
That was precisely why someone with experience needed to provide proper guidance.
"Hey, over there! The horse doesn't like that, does it? Make sure to hitch it so the horse can pull the carriage with as little strain as possible! And you over there! Stop playing with the horse!"
As with the coachmen, those who knew how to properly hitch horses were not plentiful.
But with nearly a thousand people gathered here, a few experienced hands were naturally present.
"You're on that carriage over there. You too, on a carriage. You don't walk particularly slowly, so keep walking properly!"
Meanwhile, a short distance away, several Resistance members were deciding who would ride in the carriages.
"Hey, why can't I ride in a carriage! It's just one person, what's the harm?"
"Rejected. Absolutely rejected. As I've said many times, only those who have trouble walking can ride in the carriages. And let me be clear—if you try deliberately making yourself look slower, you'll be kicked out of this group. Keep that in mind."
The woman wore a displeased expression but voiced no further complaints.
She understood that being expelled from this group meant managing everything—food, water, all necessities—on her own.
Directing a resentful glare at the Resistance woman, she quietly backed down without another word of protest.
"If women like that start getting strange ideas, it could become troublesome. Keep an eye on things, alright?"
"Would it not be better to tell that to Sura rather than to me?"
At Elena's words, Vihera, standing nearby, nodded.
Incidentally, Marina, who would normally be with Rei and the others, was currently absent—she was preparing water using Spirit Magic.
"Sura probably understands those circumstances. Though I imagine the reason they're staying quiet is because we're here."
As a deterrent, few forces were more formidable than Rei and his party.
Everyone present had witnessed with their own eyes the overwhelming victory—truly a breeze—against the Jaya soldiers in yesterday's battle, and against the cavalry who had pursued them after the carriages were stolen from Rossi.
To try anything hostile against Rei and his party in a place with such combat power would be nothing short of suicidal.
If so, it was not unreasonable for some to think they should act in ways that would make life easier for themselves after Rei and his group departed.
The fact that Rei would be leaving this group in the near future was already widely known, so such a calculation was by no means unfounded.
"That part... I think the Resistance can manage. Starting with Sharia, there are quite a few skilled fighters among those cooperating with them."
Even from Elena's perspective, Sharia possessed considerable strength.
Enough that Elena would want her as a subordinate.
"But if someone tries something behind our backs, that could get tricky, don't you think?"
At Vihera's words, Rei and Elena found themselves nodding in agreement.
There were those watching this group—no, this entire gathering.
To be precise, since Rei and his party were currently in a grassland slightly off the main road, anyone traveling along the highway could see them plainly.
And with nearly a thousand people gathered there, the majority of them women, they naturally drew stares.
A few people had gathered the courage to approach and ask what this group was, but when the Resistance members acting as guards directed wary looks their way, they could not easily come closer.
There were some who had called out from genuine kindness, but as expected, the majority had ulterior motives. Given that this many women dressed in prostitute attire were gathered together, that was perhaps unavoidable.
At any rate, since today was the first morning this group had spent together, what with the carriage situation and all, preparations had taken time. But they still managed to depart sometime past nine.
(Considering we woke up around seven, I'd call that a passing grade.)
Rei knew that women's preparations took time, but even so, the fact that this many people were ready to depart in about two hours was a satisfactory result.
Of course, that was also because although most had brought some belongings, they were essentially traveling with little more than the clothes on their backs.
Going forward, as they passed through villages and towns and gathered necessary supplies, departure times would likely grow proportionally longer.
However, Rei had no intention of waiting if preparations took too long.
If preparations truly required that much time, they simply needed to wake earlier than everyone else and get ready.
Even if someone asked him to wait because they were not ready yet, Rei would depart without paying it any mind.
With those thoughts in mind, Rei and his party set out from the grassland.
"It's hot... hey, why does it have to be this hot today of all days?"
"I'm itchy. It's fine that monsters don't come around, but if they could do something about the mosquitoes and other bugs too, that'd be great."
"I'm tired. I want a break."
About two hours after departing.
After walking for that long, people naturally began voicing their fatigue.
True to summer, the sun asserted itself fiercely, and the pouring sunlight was hot enough to feel as though it was searing the skin.
The one saving grace, if any, was that the clothes the women wore were prostitute attire—revealing, with little fabric.
Of course, the fact that such clothing made it impossible to prevent sunburn was a double-edged sword.
(Glad I had Marina work hard to prepare plenty of water in advance.)
Seeing the walkers drink from canteens, then pass the emptied ones to others, Rei felt relieved that having Marina put in the effort had paid off.
At the same time, though, there were not enough canteens to go around. He made a mental note to buy as many as possible at the next village or town.
"Aaah, but I want to drink that water from yesterday again."
"Don't say that. If you bring it up, it just makes me want it more."
Perhaps remembering the taste of the water produced by the Dagger of Flowing Water Rei had distributed, voices wishing for another drink reached his ears.
He could also hear a woman complaining that hearing about it only made her thirstier, but Rei had no intention of using the Dagger of Flowing Water here and now.
He did not plan to serve that water at lunch, either. He intended to treat everyone to it at dinner.
If they looked forward to the water from the Dagger of Flowing Water every evening, that anticipation would become something to boost their morale and willpower.
Of course, that would only be possible while Rei and his party were traveling with this group.
"We should probably prepare barrels of water on the carriages."
"You're right. Set doesn't need to pull all the carriages, so if we space them out and distribute them, even people without canteens won't have trouble getting water."
A water carriage—the term might not be quite right, but that was the image in Rei's mind.
He had several barrels stored in his Misty Ring, so setting them up would not take much time.
Marina, walking nearby, apparently agreed with his suggestion, as she showed no sign of displeasure.
Thus they continued walking until noon. Though there were several instances where passersby were startled by Rei's group of nearly a thousand, they were able to proceed without any other particular issues.
For lunch, Rei prepared Orc meat.
He still had a large stock, so there was no immediate problem, but he nonetheless found himself wanting to replenish the supply before long.
"Wish some Orcs would conveniently come attack us."
"Gruu?"
Rei muttered this during the post-lunch break.
The barrels had already been placed on the carriages, and cups for drinking from them had been prepared.
The water inside the barrels had been provided by Marina's Spirit Magic.
With the afternoon still ahead, the sunlight would only grow stronger.
Should I prepare salt as well? he wondered, but set the thought aside to deal with later.
As Rei leaned back against Set's body—which served as a perfectly adequate sofa—and muttered those words, Set purred.
For Orcs, this group—composed mostly of women—was undeniably ideal prey.
(If Set stopped using Intimidation on the surroundings, would it be possible to lure Orcs in?)
But the real problem was whether they could reliably ensure the women's safety.
Exposing them to danger just to hunt Orcs, or worse, being led to an Orc den—such a thing would be no laughing matter.
(In that case, rather than using the women as bait, it'd be better to actively hunt. With Set's sense of smell, finding Orcs wouldn't be difficult. Though that's only if there are any around to begin with.)
In the frontier city of Gilm, finding Orcs would not be difficult if one set out to look.
But this was not the frontier, and there was no reason to expect the desired monster would appear so easily.
That did not mean Orcs did not exist here at all, so it was not impossible that some were inhabiting the surrounding area.
"Does it have to be Orcs? Wouldn't bear or boar work just as well?"
"If we're only thinking about quantity, sure."
Bear and boar meat were by no means bad.
If anything, as meat went, they ranked quite well in taste.
But Orc meat was even more delicious than that.
Since they were eating anyway, wanting to eat delicious meat was natural for an adventurer—no, natural for any living person.
Of course, if there was absolutely no other food available, that would be another matter entirely.
At Rei's explanation, Vihera wore an expression mixing understanding with exasperation.
She knew Rei was particular about his food, but she was probably thinking he didn't need to be so fussy even at a time like this.
(Besides, meat from non-monsters generally needs to be aged to some extent before it tastes really good. Well, it's not that it tastes bad, but bringing out the flavor takes time.)
Should I hang the butchered meat from the carriages? he wondered. But given that it was summer, it would spoil if not managed carefully, and above all, the stench would be terrible.
In a way, that might actually be useful for luring other prey, but...
Reaching that point in his thoughts, Rei shook his head.
"What is it? That was sudden."
"No, I was just thinking that from here on, we should take down any monsters or animals we encounter that could serve as food. Butchering will take time, but it's better to have it than not, right?"
"You're right. Especially considering the time after we're gone, we should probably make dried meat."
"Good point."
Rei had simply thought that gathering meat would be enough, so the idea of making dried meat had not occurred to him.
Because of that, he found himself genuinely impressed by Vihera's suggestion.