"No, truly magnificent. Seeing someone possess that kind of strength, it's perfectly understandable that they'd be an Alias Holder."
A figure who appeared to be a noble called out to Rei with those words.
Rei made it look as though he were earnestly listening to the noble's conversation, but in reality, the words went in one ear and out the other.
A short distance away, several noble children were petting Set, and Rei's attention was actually focused there instead.
After the mock battles had concluded, Elena and Liberte had called him over, and so Rei found himself forced to attend this gathering of nobles.
Since there wasn't any particular food being served, Rei's honest feeling was that he would have preferred to avoid this kind of event altogether... but when Liberte, who was currently providing for him, asked him to come, Rei couldn't exactly refuse.
Though the fact that there was no one like Gaiska—who harbored open hostility toward Rei—was also a major reason he had come.
As far as Rei was concerned, Gaiska was nothing but a small fry. Even so, he had no desire to relax in a place where someone held ill will toward him.
Gaiska, for his part, also found it intolerable as a member of Marquis Seisole's House to see the Rei he hated being fawned over.
The attitudes of those two had combined in just the right way to produce this situation.
That Rei fellow... well, I suppose he doesn't care for these kinds of gatherings, so it can't be helped that he ended up like that.
While making conversation with the nobles, Elena watched Rei casually deflect their words and wondered to herself whether arranging this occasion had been a mistake, all while keeping a close eye on whether the noble children were doing anything strange to Set.
If these had been ordinary children, Elena wouldn't have been nearly so concerned.
She had seen Set playing with children in Gilm—adults had been there in large numbers too—but those children were commoners, not nobles.
What was acceptable and what wasn't. Thanks to learning such boundaries through everyday life, hardly anyone did anything Set would dislike.
Even in those rare cases when someone did, a single warning was usually enough to put a stop to it.
But the ones playing with Set now were noble children.
It wasn't as though every single one of them had been raised to be utterly spoiled, so perhaps there was no need to worry so much—and yet, there was always the chance that something could happen.
That was why she had come here in the first place...
...Sigh.
Seeing a child about the same age as Byune about to yank Set's tail with all their might, Elena moved.
She caught the hand of the child reaching for the tail...
"What are you doing!"
"Even for a child, there are things you may do and things you may not. You wouldn't like it if someone yanked your hair as hard as they could, would you? If so, then naturally Set doesn't want to be treated that way either. ...Understand?"
The child tried to argue back, but in the face of the sheer intensity Elena radiated, not a single word came out.
Normally, anyone serving in their household obeyed everything they said.
Given that, they had assumed everything here would also go their way... but before Elena, the child was rendered speechless.
And naturally so. Elena had raced across countless battlefields and was a warrior who bore the alias of Princess General.
Before such an Elena, a mere child couldn't possibly do anything.
...Though perhaps because she felt it would be unbecoming to act that way toward a child, she wasn't radiating the same intensity she had directed at Gaiska before.
"...Yeah."
All the child could do under Elena's gaze was silently nod.
"If you understand, that's enough. The rest of you as well—don't do anything to Set that you yourselves would dislike having done to you. Set is gentle and won't get angry over little things, but understand that there are things that are permissible and things that are not."
She issued the same warning not just to the child who had tried to pull Set's tail, but to all the others as well.
The one who bore the full force of Elena's presence was only the child who had reached for the tail. But among the children who had witnessed that intensity up close, the option of defying Elena simply didn't exist.
Because they were children, their instincts had told them plainly that Elena was not someone they could stand against.
Among the maids watching the scene unfold from a short distance away, many had the role of looking after children.
To them, it seemed as though Elena had, in the blink of an eye, disciplined children who were usually hopelessly spoiled and unruly.
Such discipline was possible only because it was Elena... Elena, the Daughter of Duke Kerebel, who bore the alias of Princess General.
If the maids had tried to do what Elena did, they would have been immediately reprimanded by their superiors.
...Though since silencing the children was only possible thanks to Elena's commanding presence, it was unrealistic to expect ordinary maids to accomplish such a feat.
Elena, impressive as always. She silenced that cheeky-looking child in one go. At this rate, I don't need to worry about Set having an unpleasant experience.
Rei was watching Elena's performance with equal interest.
In fact, when the noble child had tried to pull Set's tail, he had even considered stepping forward himself.
"Lord Rei? Is something the matter?"
"No, it seems there was a minor commotion over there, that's all."
A different noble from before, noticing something in Rei's expression, asked the question.
Rei replied that it was nothing, enduring the wait... and after roughly thirty more minutes had passed, he excused himself from the gathering.
"Gruu?"
As they walked toward the waiting room, Set suddenly tilted its head as if asking, Are you okay?
Unlike Rei, who had been dealing with nobles, Set had only been entertaining children, so it wasn't particularly tired.
There had been some rambunctious children too, but thanks to Elena's initial warning, none of them did anything Set would dislike.
...Though it must be said that among the nobles talking with Rei, more than a few had been casting gazes filled with desire toward Set.
They likely believed they were hiding those looks from Rei, but Rei was not so naive as to let such covetous stares slip by unnoticed.
Naturally, Set was also aware of what kind of looks were being directed at it.
Even so, that noble in question ultimately took no particular action, and so neither Rei nor Set made any move either.
As they continued toward the waiting room... Rei noticed two familiar figures standing in front of the door.
"Miranda and Leodanis?"
"Gruu."
At Rei's words, Set purred in agreement.
Rei couldn't help but wonder why those two were here, but after a moment's thought, he could roughly guess.
He had asked Miranda to place bets on his behalf during the mock battles, and the amount wagered was a Platinum Coin.
Naturally, that would become far too large a sum for a single maid to carry around alone... and so she must have asked Leodanis to serve as her guard.
In reality, Leodanis had invited Miranda on a date, and as a result the two of them were here together... but Rei, unaware of Leodanis's romantic interest in Miranda, simply arrived at that conclusion for the time being.
And since that conclusion wasn't entirely wrong, it wasn't as though it would lead to any critical misunderstanding.
"Ah, Rei-san."
"Rei, where were you? It took you quite a while to come back after the mock battles ended."
Seeing Rei and Set approaching, the two must have noticed them as well. They walked toward Rei's group while calling out.
"No, I got called over to the noble seating area for a bit. ...Honestly, I would have preferred to decline, but that wasn't really an option, you know?"
"That's... well."
As a member of the Duke Kerebel's Knight Order, Leodanis could understand what Rei meant. ...Though he himself would absolutely never want to be in such a position.
As for Miranda, serving as a maid in Duke Kerebel's House, she understood the meaning behind Rei's words even more deeply than Leodanis.
"I understand the situation. Um... there wasn't any particular trouble, was there?"
"Yeah, no problems. I just talked with them and that was it. ...Well, the nobles probably won't try any strange business with me anymore, so in that sense, the mock battle was worth doing to show them what I'm capable of."
"Ah, ahahaha... Um, right. Uh, what are you supposed to say in this kind of situation, anyway?"
Miranda, wearing a somewhat stiff smile, asked Leodanis, but the person she asked was equally at a loss and ended up scratching his head to gloss over it.
"A-anyway. I brought the winnings, so please take them. I almost never carry around this kind of money, so honestly, it was scary."
Saying that, Miranda handed Rei the winnings from the bets.
Rei tried to hand Miranda the share they had agreed upon in advance from the winnings, but...
"No, I really can't just take this much money for nothing... After all, I barely did anything."
She tried to return the money Rei was offering.
"Even so. We had a deal from the start, right? And you say you didn't do anything, but without you, I wouldn't have even been able to place the bets in the first place. In other words, this money was earned because you acted for me."
"Well..."
Put that way, Miranda couldn't argue back.
In reality, all she had done was place the bets, so anyone else could have done it if Rei had asked them.
Georgima, who had learned about ramen from Rei, or his disciples, for instance, would probably have gladly obliged.
But Rei had deliberately chosen to ask Miranda, and Miranda had accepted—so it wasn't unreasonable for her to receive a proper reward.
Persuaded by Rei's words, Miranda thought for a moment... and then nodded.
"I understand. If you're going to say that much, I'll gratefully accept my share as you suggest."
Rei handed Miranda the share they had agreed upon in advance.
"Alright, that settles the matter of the split. ...Now then, Set and I are going to check out the stalls. What about you two?"
"Ah... I was thinking of going with Miranda for a bit..."
At Leodanis's halting words, Rei felt a twinge of curiosity.
Even so, since they had no intention of accompanying him and Set, he decided there was nothing to be done about it and patted Set's head.
"Gruu?"
"Set and I will go find some tasty-looking stalls on our own."
"Ah..."
At Rei's words, Miranda let out a small sound, looking disappointed.
Given how fond she was of Set, the idea of browsing the stalls together must have been hard to give up.
But having already made plans with Leodanis, she couldn't very well go along with Rei and Set.
Unfortunately... looking genuinely disappointed, Miranda gave up on the idea of walking the stalls with Set.
"Then Set and I will be on our way."
"Yes. But please be careful. Rei-san, you made such a showing today, so without a doubt, anyone who spots you will come over to talk."
"Yeah... I figured."
As long as he wore the Dragon Robe, Rei wouldn't be recognized as Rei.
But that applied only to Rei himself.
The moment someone was seen leading Set, who measured over three meters in length, they would immediately know that person was Rei.
With Set present, even if the Dragon Robe prevented them from recognizing Rei, the disguise was meaningless.
"Well, if it's just people coming up to talk, that's not really a problem, but..."
"No, I imagine some strange sorts will come around too. If someone could pick a fight with Rei and win, that would mean a lot to them."
"...They'll come? I'm pretty sure I showed my strength thoroughly enough."
"Even so, there are plenty of people who think they'd be different. And there might be some who think they could get lucky and win. Thinking about it that way, the chances of someone trying to hassle you are pretty high, aren't they?"
"Ugh... I'd really rather not deal with that kind of fool."
"Oh, then would you like... these? I bought some food as instructed, just in case."
Saying that, Miranda handed over a basket containing several dishes... but the food, having been purchased before the mock battles began, was already stone-cold given the season.
Of course, if they heated it over a fire, it would probably be perfectly edible.
"I'll take the food, but for now I'll just check out the stalls normally. If anyone does try to hassle me, I'll just have to give them an unfortunate experience."
Saying that, Rei stored the received food into his Misty Ring.