Several days had passed since Rei and his companions returned to Gilm. While the nights and mornings were naturally cool, the air during the day had also begun to show signs of autumn mixing into the summer. Once again, Rei and his party were up in the great sky.
Rei rode on Set's back, and Set carried the Set Basket. Naturally, inside the Set Basket were Elena, Marina, Vihera, Byune, and Ielo — four people and one creature.
There were also several female adventurers present.
Their destination was, naturally, Sura's group.
With their work in Gilm having reached a settling point, they had decided to show their faces and replenish supplies at the same time.
Though since the Zorgeh Merchant Guild, to which Gimekara belonged, was handling the supply runs themselves, they shouldn't have been in any real need.
They might have been short on luxury goods, but for a group that could reasonably be called refugees, that was nothing short of extravagance.
Those riding alongside Elena and the others were adventurers who would be joining Sura's group as guards.
Since they would be guarding a group composed almost entirely of women, they couldn't bring along men who were starved for female company.
After careful consideration, the ones selected were female adventurers.
Of course, it wasn't as though all the women were from a single party. Some were solo, while others had been pulled from their respective parties to form an all-female group.
"Hmm... I wonder how long until we spot them?"
"Guru?"
Set turned its gaze toward Rei as if asking what was wrong, responding to his mutter.
Seeing Set's reaction, Rei shook his head to indicate it was nothing.
What could be seen on the ground below was the summer grassland.
However, given that the season was gradually transitioning into autumn, it wouldn't have been strange for the grass on the plains to have already begun withering.
After continuing to fly for several hours, a familiar river came into view.
Yes — it was the river they had stopped at on their way back to Gilm before.
The place where Set had struck the river rocks with its forepaws, using the impact to catch fish.
"It's about lunchtime, so let's rest there. Set, you'd want to eat fish too, right?"
"Gururururu!"
At Rei's words, Set let out a happy cry, perhaps remembering the taste of the fish it had eaten not long ago.
For Set, the river fish from that spot must have been that delicious.
Given permission by Rei to land, Set flapped its wings and descended toward the ground.
Before long, it set down the Set Basket near the river, and Set itself landed safely.
However, since Rei had decided on their lunch break on his own, he ended up getting lightly scolded by Elena and the others.
"Um... are you sure it's really okay for us to eat this food too?"
A female adventurer raised her voice in surprise, looking at the dishes before her.
She had been convinced they would need to prepare their own meals and had brought along preserved foods, starting with dried meat. But when asked whether she would rather eat the preserved food she had brought or the freshly prepared dishes Rei had taken out from his Misty Ring, the answer was naturally the latter.
Proper dishes that a cook had poured time and effort into making were sitting right in front of her, freshly made.
Anyone who wouldn't want to eat that would either have some special reason or be someone whose favorite food was preserved food over regular cooking.
That was why the female adventurer had asked Rei, who had offered the dishes to them as well.
"Yeah. I don't know how long it'll take to meet up with them, but we'll handle meals during that time."
"Um... is it really okay for you to go that far for us?"
"Oh, are you perhaps an adventurer who recently came to Gilm?"
The one who stepped in between Rei and the female adventurer was Marina.
As befitting a former Guild Master, Marina naturally remembered the faces of many adventurers.
Of course, not all of them — but since female adventurers were inevitably fewer in number compared to their male counterparts, it was only natural that they would be easier for Marina to remember.
However, a fair amount of time had passed since Marina went from Guild Master to adventurer.
During that period, many adventurers had come to Gilm, and the Expansion Construction had only increased that number further.
Remembering every adventurer who had arrived in Gilm during that time was, by any reasonable measure, impossible.
"Ah, yes. I arrived a little while ago."
"I see. Don't worry. I don't know what kind of requests you've taken before, but at least in Gilm... no, the lord, Daskar, would never be so cheap as to make adventurers fend for their own meals."
Not knowing who Marina was, the female adventurer was startled to hear her casually drop the lord's name.
When several of the women who did know about Marina explained the situation, she finally seemed reassured. She happily reached for the dishes Rei had produced.
"Once you finish lunch, take a short break and then we head out. Anyone with business to attend to, take care of it by then. All kinds of business. Also, if you catch fish in the river, tonight's dinner will be a bit more lavish. ...Set, you know what to do, right?"
"Gurururururu!"
Understanding what Rei was telling it, Set let out a happy cry.
No — it wasn't just Set who was in good spirits.
Some of the female adventurers had lived in the countryside before coming to Gilm, so they knew how to catch fish.
They enjoyed the task with something of a recreational spirit, and taught those who had grown up in Gilm or come from other cities and lacked such experience how to do it.
Depending on one's hometown, the methods could differ significantly. Even among those who already knew how to catch fish, they exchanged words about whose method was better or how the other's technique was worth referencing.
Eating freshly made dishes while exchanging opinions near the cool river, the discussion naturally grew heated.
"Well done."
Vihera, who had been watching the scene, flashed a meaningful smile at Rei.
"About what?"
"...Just a moment ago they were being reserved with each other, but now they're speaking their minds without any hesitation. Well, I suppose it's only possible because there aren't any shy girls among them."
"I don't quite follow what you're saying. It's a coincidence, that's all."
"Hmm. ...Well, if you say so, then that's fine."
Vihera said nothing more and returned to eating her meal.
Watching her, Rei let out a small sigh.
He had deflected out of mild embarrassment, not expecting his intent to be seen through so easily.
To cover that embarrassment, he looked around while eating bread — and his eyes caught sight of Ielo by the river.
"Ielo?"
"Fufu, leave it be. Ielo is in the middle of battle with its destined rival."
Elena, overhearing Rei's mutter, spoke with a voice tinged with amusement.
While it had become considerably cooler compared to a while ago, it was still undeniably summer.
What's more, the sky today was nearly cloudless, with the sun shining fiercely as if refusing to let summer end just yet.
Under the pouring sunlight, Elena's golden hair shimmered.
Squinting at that hair, Rei turned his gaze back toward Ielo.
After observing for a dozen or so seconds, he finally understood what Ielo was doing.
There, Ielo was engaged in combat with what could truly be called its destined rival — a crab.
Naturally, there was no way the crab's attacks could scratch Ielo's hard scales, so it took the form of Ielo attacking one-sidedly.
Even so, the crab focused entirely on evasion while launching counterattacks at Ielo, resulting in an evenly matched battle.
"Kyu! Kyukyu! Kyuu!"
Perhaps unwilling to be looked down upon by a mere crab as a Child of the Black Dragon, Ielo repeatedly tried to strike the crab with its forepaws.
However, its anger was dulling its movements, and the crab was making good use of the surrounding rocks, so none of the attacks landed.
"...Um, Rei-san. What exactly is that child doing?"
A female adventurer seeing this sight for the first time asked Rei, but all he could offer in response was a wry smile.
"It's a battle between Ielo and its destined rival. Just watch quietly."
"O-Okay..."
Told that by Rei, the female adventurer couldn't very well say anything more.
However, judging that it wasn't a serious situation, she decided to keep watching over Ielo.
This woman apparently found Ielo more endearing than Set.
A short distance away, Set had already begun striking the rocks with its forepaws, catching fish.
For Set, the sight of fish fainting and floating up with each of its strikes was apparently great fun. It was in exceedingly high spirits.
"At this rate, we won't be short on fish. ...Well, river fish, that is."
Compared to river fish, which tended to have a milder flavor, one still found themselves craving the rich taste of saltwater fish.
However, there was naturally no sea near Gilm, and if they wanted saltwater fish, they would have to go buy some at a port town like Emosion.
(No, if I'm thinking about catching them myself, I don't necessarily need to go to a port town — I just need to get to the sea. ...Rather, if I consider fishing rights and that sort of thing, it's definitely better to fish where no one is around.)
In Elgin, the concept of fishing rights did not exist.
They didn't exist, but... if Rei and Set, who were not fishermen, went and caught fish at a port town or village where many fishermen worked, the locals naturally wouldn't feel good about it.
What's more, the quantity of fish Rei intended to catch wasn't just one more dish for dinner. He was talking about hundreds, possibly even more.
Fishermen, who tended to be rough-natured to begin with, would certainly not take kindly to seeing that done right before their eyes. It would inevitably lead to trouble.
Rei would brush off trouble that came his way, but he had no intention of voluntarily inviting it upon himself.
That was why he had decided to fish in an unmanned location.
Generally, places without people tended to have more fish, but also more aquatic monsters targeting them. But for Rei and Set, there was absolutely no need to worry about that.
If anything, they would defeat such monsters and turn them into food instead.
(Yeah, thinking about it that way, going to the sea might be nice. ...I'd like to go while it's still summer, if possible, but... honestly, I wonder.)
There was no doubt he wanted to go to the sea, but there was the Expansion Construction in Gilm and the matter with Sura's group as well.
There was no way he could just casually go to the sea.
But even so, his desire for fish remained unchanged.
(Right. It wouldn't be for a long period, so if it's just a few days... I can just think of it as a slightly late summer vacation.)
From this experience, he fully understood that a few days' absence wouldn't cause problems for the Expansion Construction.
If so, they should be fine without them for a little while — or so he thought. And once the idea took hold, his mind kept drifting in that direction.
In reality, there was no such thing as a summer vacation in Elgin.
When winter came and snow fell, many people rested, so that could be considered a long vacation.
But even then, considering that some people did piecework at home rather than resting, it wasn't quite so carefree.
For adventurers in Gilm, if they saved up enough money before winter, living leisurely through the season wasn't just a dream.
On the other hand, those who failed to save enough would end up going out into the snow to fight monsters.
"Rei, let's catch some fish too."
Just as Rei's thoughts were drifting toward a few days of summer vacation — or perhaps autumn vacation — Vihera, having finished eating her meal, invited him along.
It seemed watching Set catch fish had made her a little envious.
Beside Vihera, Byune was diligently picking up small stones from the ground.
What she intended to do with them was immediately clear to Rei, who knew Byune's combat methods.
Sure enough, Byune swiftly threw one of the stones she held, aiming at a fish swimming in the river.
Of course, with Byune's skill level, it wasn't a perfect hit rate. The probability of striking a fish was about fifty percent.
Even so, she threw many stones, so Byune was able to kill or stun a considerable number of fish.
The only drawback was that dead or stunned fish naturally couldn't swim, so they ended up drifting downstream.
A female adventurer noticed this and ran downstream after them, but she couldn't secure all of them.
In any case, for a short while, Rei and his companions thoroughly enjoyed their summer river play, and they also managed to secure a considerable amount of river fish.