"...So? You're telling me you came back without getting any information out of her, Rei?"
That evening, in the middle of dinner in Marina's courtyard as usual, Vihera shot Rei a look of exasperation.
Thanks to Marina's Spirit Magic, dining outside was perfectly comfortable despite the winter season... but being on the receiving end of Vihera's exasperated gaze made it decidedly less so for Rei.
"Hey, you try dealing with someone who faints just from looking at my face. Once, I could understand. But when it happens two, three times in a row, you can't blame them for deciding they won't get any information as long as I'm around."
It was true. The woman who had been lying unconscious in the medical room had passed out the instant she saw Rei walk in.
If it had only happened once, they could have dismissed it as a coincidence. But when it happened twice, then three times in succession, writing it off as chance was no longer an option.
Ultimately, the guard who had been keeping Rei company told him to call it a day for now. Seeing the woman faint every time she laid eyes on him, Rei couldn't exactly argue. He had simply headed home.
On top of that, since they had needed to wait for the woman to wake up, he had barely made any progress capturing red-clothed individuals that day either.
"Lord Rei, I should ask just to be sure... You are still departing for Duke Kerebel's Territory tomorrow with Lady Elena and myself, correct? You aren't thinking of staying behind a little longer for this red cloth business...?"
Ara asked, sounding faintly worried.
Having seen firsthand how deeply invested Rei was in the red-clothed individuals' situation, she couldn't help but wonder if he might... The thought had clearly crossed her mind.
Elena, too, was trying not to betray her concern, but was watching Rei from the corner of her eye.
Utterly oblivious to the looks being directed his way, Rei nodded without a trace of hesitation or deliberation.
"Yeah, no problem there. The red cloth thing is bugging me, but Elena's appointment came first."
At his words, Elena quietly let out a breath of relief, careful not to let it show on her face.
Returning to Duke Kerebel's Territory together with Rei was an event she had been greatly looking forward to.
If things went well this time, the men proposing marriage to her wouldn't disappear entirely... but their numbers would surely plummet.
Naturally, some sort of commotion was bound to happen at first.
Those who had participated in the war against the Bestia Empire understood perfectly well that noble authority meant absolutely nothing to Rei. But for those who hadn't, Rei's reputation was nothing more than hearsay.
Since they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, even those who knew of his exploits would pointlessly assume that they would be fine. Worse still, precisely because they had heard Rei's reputation, it was almost certain that someone would try to suppress him as a way to make a name for themselves within the Noble's Faction, or to impress Elena.
(Though admittedly, anyone who tries such a thing will end up regretting their own shortsightedness.)
Elena reflected on this as she savored a seafood soup generously loaded with fish.
"I see, I'm glad to hear it. ...Though I know it's not really my place to ask, but what are you going to do about those red-clothed people? While you're away from Gilm, they might just run wild and do as they please."
"If they're causing trouble specifically to get my attention, wouldn't they figure that there's no point if I'm not here?"
"Would they, though?"
Marina, who had been sipping wine, chimed in.
Rei, Ara, and the others all turned their gazes toward her. Marina set her wine glass back on the table before continuing.
"If Rei isn't around, wouldn't they go out of their way to cause an even bigger stir to draw him back?"
"If that happens... Vihera, can I count on you?"
"Of course, leave it to me. I've got plenty of acquaintances among the guards, so I'll get that kind of intel faster than most. Who knows, maybe the whole red cloth situation will be sorted out before Rei even gets back."
Since Vihera generally took on a lot of patrol requests, she naturally interacted with the guards frequently.
...Though it was also true that her appearance and attire attracted unwanted attention fairly often, which was another way she had grown close to the guards.
Given all that, Vihera's claim that she would resolve the red-clothed situation while Rei was away was no empty boast.
She had the strength to pull it off, and with information coming directly from the guards, it was well within the realm of possibility.
Hearing Vihera's confident words, Rei's expression turned slightly frustrated.
He had wanted to handle the red cloth matter himself. It was almost certain that they had come after him, after all.
But with his promise to Elena, he couldn't afford to do that.
As Rei sat there wearing that look on his face, their final night of dining together this year quietly slipped away.
The next morning. Winter had already set in, so even when the six o'clock bell rang, the sky outside was still dark.
And precisely because it was winter, the number of people departing Gilm was small. Fewer than ten people were going through departure procedures besides Rei, Elena, and Ara, who had met up there.
Naturally, the number of guards on duty had also dwindled compared to not so long ago, so the processing took slightly longer relative to the small crowd.
"Rei, how far do you plan to travel today?"
"How far? I dunno. I suppose we'll just go as far as we can."
Rei answered Elena's question while watching Set and Ielo playfully tumbling about.
Elena naturally stood out in a place like this without a carriage, but with so few people around, it didn't cause much of a stir.
"Lord Rei, we did prepare some provisions on our end, but..."
Ara said, though she wasn't carrying any particular luggage.
Well, she did have her Power Axe strapped to her back, but that was it.
Seeing Ara like that, Rei figured the food was probably stowed away inside Elena's Magic Pouch.
"In that case, maybe we'll have some of that today. Though it being winter, it's not like it'll spoil right away anyway."
Unlike the Item Box, time still passed for things stored in a Magic Pouch.
That was why food could go bad within a single day in the summer, but with winter here, there was no need to worry about that.
"Mm. Marina made it for us, so that is perfectly fine with me."
"Ah, so it's Marina's cooking."
Elena and Ara had been staying at Marina's house until today.
That was surely why Marina had made lunches for the two of them.
While they chatted, the departure procedures progressed, and before long, Rei and his party completed theirs.
The guards were mildly surprised that Rei and Elena were leaving town, but Rei had departed Gilm countless times before.
They were caught off guard by Elena and Ara accompanying him, but figured such things happened, and the procedures finished smoothly without any issues.
Once outside Gilm's gates, Rei retrieved the Set Basket from his Misty Ring and set off.
Several hours after Rei departed Gilm... a heavy silence hung over a certain room.
"So, what's the situation with Cherish?"
At Calles's question, one of the men spoke up.
"She's being held at the guard station, so the Red Cloth Group won't be able to get to her."
"Right. There are plenty of them, but they're far too weak. So, can I go?"
The Small Man asked Calles, a sharp short sword in hand.
But Calles considered the man's words for a moment, then shook his head.
"No. If we weren't in Gilm, that would have been acceptable. But this is Gilm. The guards here are highly trained, so I would advise against it."
"Ehhhh! Hold on, are you saying you think I'd actually lose to some guards!?"
"I'm not saying that at all. However, our objective to begin with is simply to investigate Crimson's character. If we carelessly cause casualties among the guards, it will make things difficult for us going forward."
Hearing that, the Small Man couldn't argue back.
Seeing that the Small Man was satisfied, Calles turned to another man.
"So, what is Crimson doing now?"
"Ah... apparently he left Gilm early this morning. The Princess General and her attendant were with him too."
Even upon hearing this, Calles merely nodded without any particular reaction.
"I see. Given his behavior up to now, he has probably gone out to hunt monsters. We have intel suggesting he collects Magic Stones as a hobby, after all."
The reason Calles assumed Rei would return soon was that there was no information indicating he was traveling with a large load.
The other key factor was that Elena, the symbol of the Noble's Faction, hadn't used a carriage.
Naturally, Calles, who was investigating Rei, also knew about the Set Basket.
But he never imagined that Elena, the Daughter of Duke Kerebel, would be returning to Duke Kerebel's Territory without so much as a carriage.
If that had been the talk of the town, Calles might have caught on to the meaning behind Elena and the others' actions. Unfortunately for him, her return home hadn't become a rumor.
Elena had explained the circumstances to Daskar and other nobles she was acquainted with, but that information hadn't reached Calles.
That was why Calles concluded that Rei and his party had simply gone out to hunt monsters or something similar.
Calles's misfortune was that Rei and his party were far too unconventional, having taken such an action in the first place.
Under normal circumstances, someone in the position of a duke's daughter would travel in a lavish carriage.
Operating on such common-sense reasoning, Calles missed the true nature of Rei and Elena's movements... Ultimately, whether it was that night, the next day, the day after that, or any day beyond, Rei and Elena would not return to Gilm. It would only be then that he would finally realize something was amiss—but that was a story for a little further ahead.
Never imagining such a thing, Calles fully expected Rei to return before the day was over.
Well, he did know that Rei had a Magic Tent, so he couldn't entirely rule out the possibility that they might spend the night out, even in winter.
"So, what do we do now? Even if we're investigating Crimson, if Rei himself isn't here..."
One of the men pointed out, but Calles silently shook his head.
"Even when investigating Crimson, it's not as though we need the man himself present. In fact, being able to gather objective opinions is invaluable."
"Which means we'll have the people we've been quietly conducting interviews with step up their activity?"
"Yes. In exchange, we'll have the red-clothed individuals dial things back... though would that be difficult?"
"Probably is. For one thing, it's not like we're directly controlling those guys. We just gave them a little push in a certain direction, that's all. You should know that better than anyone, Calles, considering you're the one who came up with this whole scheme."
At those words, Calles offered a wry smile.
Honestly, there was no question that the red cloth plan had been his idea, but even he hadn't expected it to work this well.
People who couldn't commit crimes on their own found that they could when they banded together and acted as a group.
When such people gathered, it actually led to more extreme crimes being committed.
He had anticipated that this would likely be the outcome, and a similar approach he had used before had produced similar results.
But even for Calles, this time had exceeded his expectations.
"You're right. I suppose there were simply more hot-blooded individuals than anticipated."
"If this were Gilm as it usually is, things might have gone exactly as you planned. But it all comes down to the Expansion Construction bringing in too many undesirables."
"Without the Expansion Construction, handing out the red cloth as a symbol of membership would never have worked this well. This was only possible because of the way things are right now."
No one raised any objections after Calles put it like that.
Of course, just because no one voiced complaints didn't mean they had any intention of dealing with the red-clothed individuals themselves. Leaving that to the guards was, if anything, Calles and his group's honest sentiment on the matter.
Besides, if the Red Cloth Group kept the guards busy, it would make it easier to either rescue Cherish from the guard station... or silence her, if it came to the worst.
Calles made that calculation, and quietly issued instructions for the arrangements to gather intelligence on Rei.