The village called Emisma did not have a large population, and its size was exactly what one would expect of a village.
In front of that village of roughly a hundred people, nearly a thousand were now gathered.
The village chief of Emisma looked at the group before his village and wondered how he ought to respond.
Born in an ordinary village in Reblurina, he had lived there all his life. It had been about twenty years since he became village chief.
He was nearing fifty, but he had never anticipated a situation like the one unfolding before him.
Even so, while he was wary in the face of nearly a thousand people, his wariness was not genuine—likely because the majority of those thousand were women, and dressed like prostitutes at that.
"So, um... what business do you folks have with this village? I can tell you're not bandits or anything like that, at least."
The village chief directed the question at Rei, though he still harbored doubts about whether this was truly the right person to ask.
At first glance, Rei did not look at all like someone who would lead such a group, so that was only natural.
Even so, seeing that he was accompanied by a Gryphon and that the others treated him as their superior, the chief concluded that he was indeed the right person to negotiate with.
From the village chief's perspective, Rei's appearance was far from what one would expect of a powerful figure, given the surrounding circumstances.
Considering that, it was immediately clear that the latter assumption was correct.
Furthermore, even if that assumption was wrong, since Rei was the one stepping forward to speak on behalf of the group, it was only natural that he would be the village chief's negotiating partner.
"Business. I want to buy clothes. As you can see, the people here aren't dressed for walking around outside. If you don't have clothes, cloth and sewing tools will do. I'll have those who can sew make some."
They had already been able to purchase cloth, sewing tools, and similar items from the merchants who had been traveling with them until recently.
Even now, the women riding in the carriages were using the purchased cloth to make clothes.
Of course, producing garments like a professional craftsman would sell was impossible, but many could at least manage to sew basic clothing.
Though Rei himself certainly could not do any such thing.
Incidentally, within the Crimson Lotus Wings, the ones skilled at such tasks were Marina and Byune.
Vihera's upbringing being what it was, and given her personality, she was not adept at such things. Though she was not a member of the Crimson Lotus Wings, Elena was much the same.
"Cloth? I don't mind, but... what kind of group are you folks? You're walking around so boldly, so you aren't criminals, right?"
"That's right."
Rei answered the village chief's words plainly.
In reality, since he had stormed the castle in Rossi to steal carriages and seized horses from the Cavalry Unit that pursued them, strictly speaking—or even without looking too closely—they would likely be treated as criminals.
However, the castle in Rossi was currently in complete chaos and had no forces to spare for a subjugation.
Moreover, even if they did, considering their relationship with the Kingdom of Mireana, some thought that it might be better to treat this as a favor, which could make future negotiations somewhat more advantageous.
In any case, no pursuit soldiers had been dispatched from the castle, no wanted posters had been circulated, and they had not been made wanted criminals.
Given what the upper echelons of Reblurina had done, registering them as wanted criminals with the Guild was simply not an option.
"I see. Then, how much will you pay for them?"
The village chief hadn't completely believed Rei's claim that they weren't criminals. But he figured that if they were, they wouldn't be marching so openly with this many people, and so he became willing to do business.
The fact that he wanted to believe, as wishful thinking, that they were not criminals was likely a significant factor.
Though it was a village along the highway, Reblurina itself was not a very large country to begin with.
Naturally, the village's size was modest as well, and the coin dropped by travelers was not much.
Thanks to the relatively warm climate, crop failures were rare, but as a village chief, it was only natural to want to be cautious just in case.
"Marina, can I leave the negotiations to you? There are probably a lot of other things we need besides cloth. You'd be better at this than me."
"Right. Understood. Then I'll take over the negotiations."
Saying so, Marina stepped forward in front of the village chief.
At this, the village chief's expression briefly turned displeased.
Marina was unmistakably a Dark Elf, and she carried herself with a maturity befitting the word "adult."
In other words, there was a very high probability that she had lived longer than the human village chief.
If so, it was a safe assumption that she also had abundant experience negotiating with people.
The reason Rei had left the negotiations to Marina was largely because, as a man, he wouldn't know the various small items the women would need.
"Ah, and also—could you sell us fodder and the like?"
"Huh? Well, we have plenty of fodder and that sort of thing, so I don't mind."
For the village chief, fodder was exactly as he described—a commodity they had in abundance.
If they wanted to make it, they could produce as much as they pleased, and if it came down to it, they could buy it quite cheaply from other nearby villages.
Because of that, he was somewhat surprised to hear that they wanted to buy it.
In more developed towns and cities, fodder would likely be bought and sold normally, but around here, that sort of thing probably didn't happen very often.
Judging from the village chief's demeanor, Rei concluded that purchasing fodder was possible and let out a breath of relief.
"Then I'll leave that to you as well. Sell us as much food as you can spare without causing trouble. I'm prepared to pay well, so don't worry."
From a leather pouch he retrieved from his Misty Ring, he pulled out several Gold Coins.
The village chief's movements stopped for an instant. So did the other villagers'.
It was only natural. Rei hadn't selected the Gold Coins from within the leather pouch; he had pulled them out casually.
In other words, the entire leather pouch was filled with Gold Coins.
On top of that, Rei's hand holding the coins showed no sign of trembling.
It was undoubtedly the behavior of someone accustomed to handling Gold Coins.
If the village chief were to hold that leather pouch, his hands would surely shake.
Of course, given his position as village chief, it wasn't as though he had never touched a Gold Coin before.
Even so, he had never handled that many Gold Coins so casually.
There was money to be made.
Looking at Rei and the group he led, the village chief became convinced of this.
"Understood. I'll have as many of the things you need prepared as possible. It seems you're not the type to turn to banditry out of stinginess, at any rate."
If they merely had a lot of money, the village chief would not have made such a decision so readily.
However, the group Rei led was mostly women—women dressed in clothing like prostitutes, who couldn't even conceal weapons.
It was precisely because they were such people that the village chief was able to trust them.
If anything, I need to be careful that the young men in the village don't try anything funny. What would happen if they angered a group of this size goes without saying.
Even as he thought this, the village chief was also a man.
Recalling his own youth, he could immediately remember just how interested he had been in women.
For the young men currently living in the village, women like these were nothing short of a hazard to the eyes.
No, even those who were not so young and were married—men who liked women were not uncommon.
If such a person lost his senses and laid hands on the women, causing a disturbance, what would happen?
As far as the village chief was concerned, Rei aside, he had no desire to make an enemy of the Gryphon at Rei's side.
Furthermore, though few in number, there were some men serving as guards.
Those men, having fought as the Resistance, and above all, having survived the battle in Mejougo, possessed a certain degree of confidence in their own strength.
If they had overcome the battle against Jaya in Mejougo with only the strength of the Resistance, that confidence would have been absolute rather than a matter of degree.
But absolute confidence also led to overestimating oneself.
Looking at it that way, since the Resistance members did not overestimate their abilities and spark unnecessary trouble, they could even be considered grateful to Rei. Yet the emotions the Resistance men directed toward Rei included awe, worship, and in some cases, even disgust.
This was vastly different from what Rei had imagined.
"Well then, shall we begin the negotiations? And... there's a river nearby, isn't there? A reasonably large one."
Just as they were about to begin negotiations, Marina said this, causing the village chief to tilt his head.
"Well, there's certainly a river a short distance from here, but what about it?"
"No, I just needed to confirm that. Now then, you all must be bored just waiting here, aren't you? Why don't you go to the river and take a bath?"
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The moment Marina told them to go bathe, cheers erupted from the women's mouths.
No, even if someone called it a roar rather than a cheer, it would have been entirely believable.
And of course, that was only natural.
Since being forcefully awakened by the turmoil in Mejougo, they had had no leisure to cleanse themselves.
They had done what they could by wetting cloth with rationed water to wipe their bodies, but given that it was summer and they had been walking all day under the blazing sun, they naturally sweated, and all sorts of grime, starting with dust, clung to their bodies.
Even in such a situation, they had not complained because they understood that they were in the midst of an escape. Though there were some who had complained and asked Rei to do something about it, given the size of the group, wiping their bodies with wet cloth was the best they could manage.
For those women, being told they could bathe in the river was entertainment beyond compare.
And upon hearing Marina's words, several of the village men smiled gleefully.
Looking at their faces, it required no imagination to guess what they were picturing.
The village chief looked at those village men and faintly furrowed his brow.
As things stood, what the village men might do was painfully obvious.
Then, as if reading the village chief's thoughts, Marina smiled and opened her mouth.
"Village chief, I should say this just in case... there's no one in this village who would do something as vulgar as peeping, right? I'll have guards posted, but if there is such a person, we'll take appropriate measures. You understand?"
"Th-That's..."
At this point, he should have simply declared that no one in the village would do such a thing.
But in truth, judging from the demeanor of several of the men, he couldn't possibly claim that no one would peep.
At the same time, saying "they probably will, but please settle it peacefully" would only make it look like his village's residents were worth no more than that.
Either way, the options available to the village chief were few.
Thus, the village chief found himself negotiating with Marina from a disadvantageous position from the very start.
Marina had no intention of haggling the people of this village down to rock-bottom prices, so in reality, things probably wouldn't get too bad.
"Then, I have negotiations to attend to with the village chief. Vihera, Sura, can you two keep watch at the river? If anyone tries anything insolent, make sure to teach them a lesson. Thoroughly, in all sorts of ways."
Marina flashed a lustrous smile that was hardly appropriate for daytime.
At Marina's beauty, the village chief found himself captivated despite his age.
No, it wasn't just the village chief who was captivated. The other men present were the same, and even some of the women found themselves entranced.
Leaving the captivated village chief and men behind, Vihera took the others and departed.
Since Marina had been facing the village chief and his men, the Resistance members and the women hadn't seen her expression and thus were spared from being captivated—which was probably fortunate.
In the end, the only ones who remained were Rei and the men of the Resistance.
Byune went to bathe too, huh. Well, Byune is a girl, after all.
Thinking this, Rei waited to store the fodder and other goods purchased in the village into his Misty Ring.