The morning after summoning the Sand Ship, Rei stood beside his Magic Tent.
He had pitched the tent near the vessel.
In the end, they had decided to let Set occupy the captain’s room, so Rei and the others slept inside the Magic Tent as usual.
That said, even though they had all slept in the same tent, it wasn’t as if Rei had shared a bed with Elena and the rest. The Magic Tent’s interior expanded into a spacious room, and they had simply slept within the same large space.
Marina had half-teased and half-seriously suggested they sleep together, but Rei had brushed the invitation aside and rested alone.
His honest opinion was that since he carried the Misty Ring, he should have brought Elena’s carriage, which offered similar functionality. Without horses to pull it, the carriage would have been useless for travel, but as a substitute for a Magic Tent it would have worked perfectly.
As for the horses themselves, living creatures could not be stored inside the Misty Ring, so he had been unable to bring any. Still, they now had the horses taken from Reblurina’s cavalry unit.
(Though some of those horses are already starting to show signs of poor condition. Marina’s Spirit Magic can handle the water supply, but they’ll need proper feed rather than just whatever grass grows nearby. And even the grass won’t last forever; the grassland won’t stretch on indefinitely.)
Rei gazed across the surrounding plains, pondering the days ahead.
Fortunately, they did not have that many horses—only about thirty in total. Under normal circumstances, transporting enough feed for thirty horses would have been an enormous burden, but with the Misty Ring, Rei had no such worries. He could buy every scrap of feed available without issue.
“Good morning, Rei-san.”
Lost in thought about the horses, Rei heard a voice and turned. The speaker was a man from the Resistance.
The man was clearly older than Rei, yet his eyes shone with open respect. Since becoming an Alias Holder, Rei had grown used to receiving such looks—though he had often been underestimated because of his youthful appearance—and they no longer bothered him.
“You’re up early,” Rei said.
It was still quite early in the morning. Breakfast had been scheduled for seven o’clock, leaving nearly an hour before then. It was only natural for Rei to wonder why a Resistance member had already emerged from the Sand Ship at this hour.
While Rei was generally weak in the mornings, that only applied when he was staying at an inn. During an active request like this, he could manage early rises without too much difficulty. Of course, that did not mean he never overslept.
Today, at least, he had woken normally.
…Though he could not entirely deny that hearing his name whispered in someone’s sleep the night before might have played a part.
“Ahaha. I never imagined I would get to sleep inside such a magnificent ship,” the man laughed.
Reblurina did possess ships, but they belonged either to the state or to merchants closely tied to the government. The vessels someone from the Resistance might have boarded were little more than small boats that became crowded with just a handful of passengers. Never had they had the chance to set foot on anything as large as the Sand Ship.
As they spoke, more people began emerging from the vessel. Morning preparations and breakfast soon filled the air with activity.
News of the Sand Ship had naturally spread, and once Rei’s group returned to the highway, several people who appeared to be merchants tried to approach them. Time was extremely precious to the group, however, so only those merchants traveling in the same direction managed to glean any information.
Some merchants who should have been heading the opposite way even turned back, hoping to learn even a little more about the mysterious ship.
“What exactly is that ship?” one asked.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not permitted to disclose information about it,” a quieter woman from the group replied.
“Come now, surely a little hint wouldn’t hurt. You all clearly have some complicated circumstances. If you’d allow me, I’d be happy to offer whatever assistance I can.”
The merchant driving the carriage addressed this remark to a rather reserved-looking woman. Since he possessed a carriage, he was likely a more successful trader than a simple peddler, yet the amount of goods one carriage could carry was still little more than a drop in the bucket for a group of nearly a thousand.
Understanding this, the woman answered apologetically while walking beside the carriage.
“I’m afraid I can’t answer that. Would you mind directing your question to Rei-san at the front of the group?”
“Rei-san, you say…”
Hearing the name, the merchant turned his gaze toward the head of the column. It was not difficult to identify the person walking while gently stroking a Gryphon.
Merchants had to be sharp when it came to information. There was simply no way he would not have heard of Rei, Bearer of the Crimson Moniker. And as a merchant, it was only natural to want to form a connection with such a prominent figure. The problem was that many other merchants already surrounded the group, all hoping to do the same.
They wanted information on the Sand Ship, a closer relationship with Rei, and especially an introduction to Elena, the Princess General who traveled at his side. Becoming friendly with Rei and the members of the Crimson Lotus Wings would surely open the door to major business opportunities.
More than ten merchants—roughly ten separate trading groups, some containing multiple merchants—now hovered around the column. Many of them knew one another, and all were watching each other warily. If any one of them tried to speak with Rei alone, they would earn the resentment of the rest. While profit was important, earning the lasting grudge of fellow merchants could hinder future business. For that reason, none of them wanted to rock the boat.
(Still, I can’t just sit on my hands. There should be a village up ahead… Emisma, if I remember correctly. I’d like to strike some kind of deal before we reach it.)
The merchant watched Rei walking alongside Set and pondered his options. If the profit was certain and substantial enough, he would not mind outmaneuvering the others. The rest of the merchants also knew about the upcoming village. With a group this large, a single village could not fully supply them, but any opportunity that existed would shrink once they arrived. He wanted to gather information and, if possible, sell some goods before that happened.
His eyes met those of an acquaintance a short distance away. After a brief, silent exchange, both men gave a small nod. Acting alone would be dangerous, but two of them might manage it.
Normally they would have avoided such a risky move, but instinct told them this was a golden opportunity. With two people, they just might pull it off. The other merchant seemed to feel the same. They nodded once more, then drove their carriages toward the front of the group.
Snort. Snrrrrr…
Snrr.
Just as they were about to reach the head of the column, the two horses pulling the carriages suddenly began to act strangely. They clearly did not want to go any farther. The merchants exchanged confused glances; both pairs of horses were behaving the same way, refusing to advance.
“What should we do?”
“What do you mean, what should we do? We went to the trouble of cutting ahead of the others. If we walk away with nothing after all that, our reputations will be ruined.”
“I know that, but the horses…”
“I’ll watch your carriage. You go talk to them.”
“Krogar… are you sure?”
“Yeah. In exchange, if they need anything, don’t keep the deal to yourself. Cut me in too.”
“…Understood.”
After that brief exchange, the man called Schumla left his carriage with Krogar and began walking forward.
“Looks like the mood here is telling me to leave this to you and move on ahead.”
The sudden voice made Schumla stop in his tracks. When he and Krogar turned, they saw a single man standing there. There was no need to guess who it was—they had been trying to meet him.
“Rei-san…?”
“Yeah. You looked like you had business with us. But with the horses acting like that, I figured they wouldn’t be able to come any closer, so I came over instead.”
Ordinary horses were naturally terrified of Set. Even if they grew used to him after traveling together for many days, Schumla and Krogar’s horses were encountering the Gryphon for the first time today. There was no way they would remain calm.
Noticing the carriages attempting to approach, Rei had come to them before the horses could panic. The two merchants could not hide their surprise at his consideration. Normally, showing such open emotion would be a sign of inexperience, but in this case both men felt it was unavoidable.
After all, an Alias Holder had gone out of his way to approach them.
From a short distance away, the other merchants watched with a mixture of envy and resentment. Had they been in Schumla and Krogar’s position, they would have done the same.
For Rei, the encounter was perfectly timed. Continuing onward with a crowd of merchants trailing behind would only draw unwanted attention. A group of nearly a thousand people—most of them women still dressed in prostitute attire—was already conspicuous enough. Having merchants clustered around them would only make the group stand out even more.
Rei wanted to disperse at least some of the merchants while also purchasing whatever supplies they were lacking.
“I see. Thank you for coming over. By the way… what exactly was that large structure we saw earlier?”
“Structure? Oh, that was the Sand Ship. It’s a Magic Item. Surely you’ve at least heard the name before?”
Schumla and Krogar nodded, expressions showing they had indeed heard rumors.
“So that was the Sand Ship…”
“That’s right. Now then, what are you two selling? Depending on the goods, I might be willing to buy everything you have.”
“…Everything?” Schumla muttered, momentarily stunned.
Krogar wore a similar expression of disbelief.
“Yeah. I’m especially interested in cloth and clothing. I’ll take as much as you have. Waterskins, preserved food—whatever you’ve got, I’ll buy it all.”
“We have cloth, but not much in the way of finished clothing. We do have a decent amount of preserved food. What about you, Krogar?”
“I’ve got cloth too, but no clothes. I can offer leather waterskins if those will do.”
Rei smiled, clearly pleased. What he needed most right now was cloth; the waterskins and food were simply welcome extras.
“Understood. Sell me all the cloth and sewing tools you have. I’ll take the preserved food and waterskins as well. There are other things I’d like to buy, so I’d appreciate it if you could gather the other merchants.”
“No, that would actually help us. If we were the only ones to profit, it would cause problems with the others.”
Schumla smiled in relief. They had managed to get ahead of the competition, but by sharing the opportunity rather than monopolizing it, they had greatly reduced the risk of earning the other merchants’ lasting resentment.