"Rei-san, thank you. Man, when Albad gets back, I owe him a drink for sending such a great customer my way."
The Village Chief flashed Rei a broad smile.
For the Village Chief, the trade with Rei hadn't exactly made him a fortune, but it had brought in unexpected profit.
Rei, after all, had been in a hurry to finish the transaction quickly rather than haggle, and had paid considerably more than necessary.
The Village Chief's delight likely stemmed from exactly that.
That said, the number of carriages Rei had been able to purchase fell short of expectations, and he hadn't bought any horses at all.
A village like this naturally wouldn't have that many spare carriages, and the same went for horses.
Given that, it couldn't be helped — but even so, being able to buy a large quantity of cloth, which had been running quite low, was a tremendous help to Rei.
He had also purchased summer-season vegetables, fruit, and meat.
"It must've been Albad's good luck, I suppose."
"He was chasing the boar that got away when he ran into you, right? ...Honestly, I want to say the boar did us a good turn."
Despite holding the position of Village Chief, the young man laughed from the bottom of his heart.
His father, the previous Village Chief, had died suddenly of illness, and the son had taken over on short notice. Being able to conduct such a profitable trade for the village so soon afterward must have helped him save face.
In the end, Rei completed the trade without any real trouble and stepped outside the village.
There, utterly unbothered by the intense summer sunlight, Set was taking a leisurely nap.
It was only natural for this small village, but the Village Chief had been unwilling to let Set — a High-Rank Monster gryphon — enter.
Of course, he didn't want to provoke Rei and lose the trade, let alone have Set go on a rampage, so he had phrased it in quite diplomatic language.
Rei, from past experience, understood that Set wouldn't be readily accepted on a first meeting, so he didn't complain and simply told Set to wait outside the village.
If the village had been larger, Set might have voiced some mild dissatisfaction. But this was a truly small village.
Perhaps because of that, Set could feel Rei's presence close by even from outside the village, and so, looking only slightly disappointed, it had obeyed without fuss.
Rei approached Set and stroked its fur, which the direct summer sun had made less warm than outright hot.
"Gruu?"
Set looked up as if to ask, What is it?
It had been enjoying its nap, but it hadn't fallen completely asleep — it had been resting in a way that would let it wake instantly if anything happened.
"Thanks. I'm done with business. Let's head back to everyone."
"Gruu."
Set purred at Rei's words and stood up.
That was all — just that — but the Village Chief found himself captivated by Set's overwhelming presence.
Feeling something close to awe, he watched as Rei mounted Set's back, and eventually saw the gryphon off as it took a few running steps and launched into the sky, beating its wings.
Having savored the sight of a gryphon soaring through the air — a spectacle one would normally never get to see — the Village Chief headed off to work in the fields until lunchtime, feeling a bit more motivated than usual.
"Gruu!"
From takeoff to rejoining Elena and the others, it took less than a few minutes at Set's speed.
Rei had stayed in the village for nearly an hour, but even so, with close to a thousand people traveling on foot, they couldn't have covered that much distance.
Let alone...
"Whoa, I thought there was a chance of Goblins, but Orcs?"
Even from the sky, Rei could see several Orc corpses loaded onto a cargo wagon — one without a canopy, not a box carriage — and he was mildly surprised.
The reason this group hadn't been attacked by monsters was because of Set's presence.
In other words, if Set were absent, it wouldn't be strange for them to be attacked.
Considering that Orcs attacked during the brief time I was gone, they were probably already aware of this group all along. With this many people, it'd be impossible not to notice them. But they didn't attack because Set was there. However...
Once they confirmed Set was gone, the Orcs had felt no reason to be afraid.
In reality, there were many people in the group stronger than Orcs, starting with Elena. The Orcs' failure to realize that was what had led to their current situation — dead and secured as meat.
I can't say I don't understand why the Orcs wanted to attack this group.
For Orcs, a group made up mostly of women would have been worth attacking even knowing it posed significant danger — more than just a little.
In the end, they hadn't been able to overcome that danger, but still.
"Set, take us down."
"Gruu!"
At Rei's word, Set gave a short purr, spread its wings, and glided toward the ground.
Whether they noticed Set descending, the group walking below began to react.
At first they seemed to think it was an enemy attack, and panic spread.
But they quickly recognized the descending silhouette as Set. From the women who had grown enamored with Set during the journey, shrieks of delight rang out.
Shrieks so loud that anyone who didn't know better would have been forgiven for thinking it was an enemy attack.
Set, too, seemed pleased to be so welcomed, and purred in good spirits.
After landing, it began walking toward the front of the group — where Elena and the others were.
"Kyu!"
The first to greet Set was Ielo.
It had been napping, sunbathing on top of a wagon as it traveled, when it suddenly realized that its best friend Set was nowhere to be found.
Because of that, it had probably felt a little lonely.
Normally, no one would even think of sunbathing under the direct summer sun.
At best — no, even without any miscalculation — the heat would likely cause heatstroke.
The fact that Ielo could do such a thing nonchalantly was surely because it was a Child of the Black Dragon.
Even so, perhaps because it was still a child, Ielo had been sad about its friend Set being absent.
While Set enjoyed deeply entrenched popularity within the group, Ielo was no less popular.
Where Set had a fluffy, affectionate charm, Ielo's popularity came from its small, adorable cuteness.
And right now, Ielo wore a thoroughly satisfied expression atop Set's head.
"Grururu."
Set purred too, apparently happy to play with Ielo again.
Leaving the two happy creatures be, Rei approached Elena and the others walking at the front of the group.
"You took a bit longer than expected. I was sure you'd be back sooner."
"Was I? Compared to when we stopped at another village before, I think this was quite a bit faster."
Rei's words were by no means a lie.
In fact, he had stayed in the village for about an hour — considerably shorter than before.
Though that was natural enough, given there had been almost no bathing or price negotiations.
"Setting aside horses, how did the carriages turn out?"
At Marina's question as she walked beside Elena, Rei gave a small nod.
"Yeah, no problems there. It was only spare carriages, but I managed to buy three. Mind you, they're not canopied or box carriages — just plain cargo wagons for hauling goods."
"I see. I would have liked more, and considering the rain, carriages with roofs would have been better... but I can't complain."
"Right. Those kinds of carriages are naturally useful to them too. We're not Bandits; I have no desire to take anything by force."
At Rei's words, the others nodded in agreement — naturally.
Taking from Bandits was one thing, but Rei could never condone stealing from innocent people the way Bandits would.
As it happened, the goods that had been stolen by Bandits before ultimately finding their way to Rei's group was a different situation entirely.
As they talked, Rei suddenly noticed something.
"Where did Albad and the others go?"
It was a very belated realization, but Albad — the reason Rei had gone to the village in the first place — and the other hunters were nowhere to be seen.
He had assumed they would travel with the group until he returned.
"Oh, them? They said they wanted to butcher the Orcs as quickly as possible and bring them back to the village, so they already left."
"Did the Orcs attack while Albad and the others were still here? There were corpses loaded on a wagon."
"Yes. A little while after you left. I understand why the Orcs saw this group as easy prey."
A cold smile surfaced on Marina's lips.
Marina, who often wore a glamorous smile, clearly had complicated feelings when it came to Orcs.
She didn't hold back against the Orcs we encountered when visiting Marina's settlement either.
Dark Elves and Orcs. Both viewed others as prey, but the meaning of "prey" was vastly different.
For Orcs, as vessels to bear their children. For Dark Elves, as food to be eaten.
It hadn't been that long ago, really, but to Rei it felt like a very distant memory.
"Rei? What's wrong?"
"Hm? Oh, no. Nothing. Anyway, the Orcs will spoil if we just leave them out here, so I should store them in my Misty Ring, right?"
Marina looked somewhat puzzled, but Rei left the spot.
"I wonder what that was about."
"Who knows?"
Marina asked Vihera, but of course Vihera didn't know the reason for Rei's sudden departure to store the Orcs either.
Still, since there was nothing particularly strange about it, neither had any intention of making an issue of it.
"Well, Rei probably has his reasons."
With that, the matter was settled, and the conversation moved on to other topics.
What kind of disposition Orcs had as monsters was, naturally, widely known.
Given that they were — alongside Goblins — the worst possible existence for women, it wouldn't be strange for some to feel uncomfortable having their corpses nearby, even dead ones.
As a result, the wagon carrying the Orc corpses was positioned near the very rear of the group.
"Ah, Rei. What is it?"
The one who called out to Rei as he approached was Sharia.
When Rei had met her in Mejougo, she had already been freed from her Slave Collar for some unknown reason, and had been hiding precisely because she never wanted to be captured again — a Beastman woman.
Come to think of it, I still don't know why Sharia's Slave Collar came off.
Given everything about the Black Crystal and the Giants, a Slave Collar shouldn't have come off so easily.
And yet, by the time Rei encountered Sharia, she was already free of it.
"What is it?"
"Nothing. I was just thinking — it's impressive you managed to escape from the Slave Collar."
Hearing that, Sharia wore an expression that was hard to describe.
She already knew what kind of effects the Slave Collar had.
Given that, it was only natural for her expression to turn complicated.
"Really. I don't understand it myself, but I'm grateful to you, Rei."
Being able to join up with the Resistance was also thanks to Rei's help.
The food he had shared with her in particular had been huge.
If Rei hadn't given her food when they first met, she would have — no, she definitely would have resorted to forceful means to steal food, and that would have inevitably exposed her existence to Jaya.
And if captured, given what Jaya had been doing, there was a high chance she would have been used as experimental material.
In the sense that she had been freed from the Black Crystal's curse, Sharia was an extremely rare existence — there was no mistaking that.
Even in the best case, Sharia could have predicted she would have been treated as a prostitute once again.
In that sense, Rei was without a doubt her benefactor.
She felt a debt of gratitude toward him as deep as Sura's — of that there was no question.
"Someday... someday, I really will repay this debt."
Sharia's cheeks were flushed red — from the embarrassment of voicing her honest gratitude.