"Gururururu!"
Spotting Golts ahead, Set rumbled his throat to alert Rei on his back.
Hearing Set's cry, Rei also looked down... and after a moment, finally realized it was Golts.
It was already night. The sky held only the moon and stars, both hidden behind clouds.
Since Golts was the most prosperous town in the area, a fair number of lights still glimmered even at night.
Set spotted those lights first... and a short while later, Rei spotted them too.
"Ah... It ended up being night after all. If we hadn't been searching for bandits, I think we could've made it back a bit sooner."
"Guruu..."
As if understanding Rei's words, Set rumbled his throat in a comforting manner.
If they had searched for bandits and actually found them, things might have worked out somehow.
But unfortunately... Rei and his party had not been able to find any.
That was only natural. If they had known for certain where bandits were hiding, Rei and Set's abilities would have tracked them down in no time.
But they had no idea where those bandits might be along the route from Saumis to Golts—a distance that would take even Set several hours to cover.
And without the time to search thoroughly, finding bandits on short notice was naturally difficult.
Arriving at this hour meant that even getting into Golts was questionable... or so Rei predicted.
Of course, he had a Magic Tent inside his Misty Ring, so sleeping outdoors wouldn't have been a problem at all.
Even so, he had wanted to deliver the special potion he had gone out of his way to bring from Saumis before the day was over.
"Alright then, I'm counting on you."
"Gururururu!"
Flapping his wings, Set descended toward the approaching town.
Since it was already night, no one was walking along the highway.
Even without anything like streetlights, Set's vision could make out the road clearly by the moonlight filtering through gaps in the clouds.
Both Set and Rei possessed night vision, so they touched down on the highway near Golts without any trouble.
Naturally, an approach like that alerted the guards on watch. Even to Rei's eyes, they were clearly on high alert.
Approaching any closer without warning would only cause problems.
Thinking that, Rei waved his arm broadly so the guards could see him and called out.
"It's me, Rei! I went out for a bit, but I'm back! Let me into the town if you can! Even if that's impossible, I need to deliver a potion I was asked to bring by the Magic Item shop!"
Perhaps they had heard him. The movements of the guards standing atop the wall seemed to settle, if only slightly.
Relieved by that, Rei approached Golts's Main Gate.
A small door beside the Main Gate, meant for the guards, opened... but no one came out.
Rei found that odd, but then a voice called out hesitantly through the gap.
"Is it really Rei?"
"Who else would I look like? And look—Set's here too."
"Guruu!"
At Rei's words, Set rumbled his throat.
...Under normal circumstances, a gryphon rumbling in the dead of night would be nothing short of terrifying.
But to the residents of Golts, Set was their benefactor—the one who had conquered the dungeon nearby—despite being a monster.
Furthermore, Set had been roaming around Golts enough that, while the townspeople wouldn't go so far as to fawn over him like people in Gilm did, they certainly wouldn't scream at the sight of him.
After confirming Rei and Set's figures through the gaps between the large shields stacked behind the door—shields big enough to conceal a person entirely—the guards finally breathed easy.
"It's Rei and Set."
"Yeah. Ah, thank goodness. Actually, I thought it might be bandits or monsters."
"Me too."
As the guards exchanged those words, one of them stepped out.
"Normally, even if you came at this hour, we couldn't let you into the town... but today's an exception. Come on in."
"That's a lifesaver. But are you sure? I was prepared to sleep outdoors."
Hearing that, the guard struggled to find the right words and wore a conflicted expression.
"Look, you're the benefactor who conquered the dungeon near Golts... a dungeon packed with monsters so powerful it was hard to believe it had just appeared. How could we let someone like you sleep outside the town walls?"
If they actually did something like that, who knew what the townspeople would do to them. The guard's words carried that implication, and to Rei, they sounded deadly serious—no joke at all.
Not that Rei particularly wanted to sleep outside if he had a choice.
A bed at an inn was far preferable, so he stepped through the guard door.
...Incidentally, Set couldn't fit through at his normal size, but by using Size Change to shrink down, he managed to squeeze through, sparing them the need to open the Main Gate.
The guards were understandably startled when Set suddenly shrank, but once the fact that he was a Rare Species took center stage, no one pressed the matter.
Rather than being unable to question it, it was more accurate to say they simply accepted it when told he was a Rare Species.
After all, the very reason they were called Rare Species was precisely because they could do things ordinary monsters couldn't—so it was by no means incorrect.
Of course, more knowledgeable beings might not have been so easily satisfied with the label "Rare Species" upon seeing Set shrink himself.
At any rate, Rei and Set completed the entry procedure without any real issues.
"So, what's your plan now, Rei?"
In response to the guard's question, Rei scratched Set—still wearing his Tamed Monster necklace—behind the head and stated what needed to be done.
"For now, the Magic Item shop. I went through the trouble of bringing this all the way here, so I'd like to deliver the potion."
"I see, understood. Do you need a guide?"
"No, I remember where the shop is, so I'm fine. Besides, I can't imagine there's any fool in Golts who'd try picking a fight with me."
Rei's conquest of the dungeon was, naturally, common knowledge in Golts.
Not to mention the fact that they had dismantled monsters like Garangiga and Kelpie slain in that dungeon right near the Main Gate.
The Boss Monster Garangiga in particular, even without its head, was something the residents of Golts... no, even the adventurers of Golts, had never seen before.
Only someone with a death wish would think about picking a fight with a person powerful enough to defeat such a creature.
Sure, if it were just Rei alone, he might be underestimated because of his Dragon Robe and build—but right now, he was with Set.
As long as he was accompanied by a gryphon, no one would fail to recognize Rei for who he was.
The guard seemed to understand that too, because he didn't try to hold him back any further.
Parting ways with the guards, Rei headed toward the Magic Item shop with Set.
"Gurururuu"
Set rumbled his throat at the appetite-stimulating aroma drifting from a food stall.
Rei was just as hungry as Set.
"The food in Saumis wasn't bad, exactly, but it wasn't anything special either. Well, they did buy it for us on short notice, so I suppose that's to be expected."
"Guruu..."
Set rumbled his throat as if disappointed.
With more time, they probably could have enjoyed all sorts of delicious food.
But this time around, there simply hadn't been any.
Not being able to savor Saumis's cuisine was, honestly, quite regrettable.
(I wouldn't mind going again if the opportunity came up... but honestly, I probably won't have much reason to visit Saumis anymore.)
Saumis was a fairly large town, but ultimately, that was all it was.
There were several other towns of similar size, so there was little need to go out of the way to visit Saumis specifically.
As for the special potion that had been the reason for this trip, the only reason it couldn't be made locally was that the Alchemists in Golts lacked the necessary skill. Plenty of people in other towns could easily have the skill to produce it.
Gilm, in particular, which served as Rei's base, attracted many Alchemists seeking unknown materials precisely because it sat on the frontier.
If that was the case, then there was undoubtedly an Alchemist there who could make the potion that had caused all this trouble.
"Well, that doesn't matter right now. More importantly, I need to get to the Magic Item shop."
Even as he said that, he bought some bread from a nearby stall and split it with Set.
The bread contained nuts similar to walnuts. While it wasn't fresh from the oven, the rich flavor and crunch of the nuts more than complemented the bread's taste.
Which was exactly why Rei naturally wished he could have eaten it piping hot.
"Alright, I can see it."
After stowing a few pieces of bread in his stomach—while Set had eaten about twice as much—and just as their hunger began to subside, their destination came into view.
The other shops, at this hour, were naturally closed.
But... fortunately, they could tell that the Magic Item shop they were heading for was still open.
Lights were still on inside.
Seeing that, Rei breathed a sigh of relief.
Coming all the way back was fine and well, but he had been worried about what to do if the shop had already closed.
In that case, he would have had to come back early tomorrow morning... before leaving Golts.
Of course, that level of effort was nothing, but if asked whether it was a hassle, it was undeniably a hassle.
With that in mind, wanting to hand over the potion while he could was only natural.
Moreover, the sister of the man who needed that potion was still suffering from her illness right now.
To be perfectly honest, if he had been in a rush for some other reason, he wouldn't have had the time to spare for a stranger.
But having already learned the circumstances, knowing someone was suffering when he could do something about it... ignoring that would undoubtedly leave a bitter aftertaste.
Given all that, Rei simply couldn't choose to walk away.
Of course, if the person suffering had come at him with high-handed demands, it would have been in Rei's nature to ignore them entirely.
"At any rate, I brought it all this way. No point wasting time here."
Muttering briefly, Rei told Set to finish the rest of the bread and stepped through the door into the Magic Item shop.
The instant the sound of the door reached his ears, the man inside whipped around with visible urgency.
Who that person was required no speculation.
It wasn't the shop clerk... but the Adventurer Man, who had been waiting desperately for the special potion to cure his sister's illness.
"O... oooh... oooooooooooooo!"
First catching sight of Rei, he murmured as if he couldn't believe his eyes. Then he checked whether the person standing before him was real. Finally convinced, the man let out a loud cry.
The shop clerk shot the man an exasperated look... and, for some reason, Vihera, who was also inside the shop, beamed with pure joy and waved at Rei.
"Vihera? Why are you here?"
Leaving the Adventurer Man to his shouting, Rei turned to Vihera.
A considerable amount of time had passed since Rei and Vihera had visited this shop together.
Given that, he never expected her to still be here.
But in response to his question, Vihera smiled and said:
"Why, today is my and Rei's date, isn't it? So naturally, we're heading back to the inn together."
Which meant that even after Rei had set off for Saumis, Vihera had stayed at this shop the whole time.
"Well, I only got back to the shop a little while ago myself."
At Vihera's words, Rei let out an "Ah..." and hesitated over what to say.
Should he thank her for waiting? Or should he warn her about being a nuisance to the shop?
Uncertain what to do... in the end, Rei smiled as if to gloss over the moment and spoke.
"I'm back."
"Welcome back."