Rei and Set emerged from the guard station and strolled through town, casually buying food from stalls along the way.
They had no particular destination in mind. It was simply window shopping—or rather, a leisurely walk for the sake of sampling food.
Rei had hoped to pick up some information about anyone connected to the Red Cloth or the Cobolt incidents, but unfortunately, no one attacked them, nor did anyone flee at the sight of them.
If anything, Set's presence drew crowds, making the streets noticeably more crowded.
Earlier, when Rei and Set had been heading to the guard station, people had been too wary of Rei's demeanor to approach Set. But now, with ample opportunity to dote on the griffon, they happily fed him sandwiches, skewers, and dried meat.
Some of those sandwiches were varieties Rei had never tried himself, and he felt a twinge of envy toward Set—though he naturally kept that from showing on his face.
In any case, they popped into stalls, eateries, and ingredient shops, purchasing delicious-looking or unusual dishes and food items as they wandered.
"Rei!"
At the sudden, loud call, Rei tore his gaze from Set—who was still being petted by several people—and turned toward the voice.
The man standing there was a face Rei knew well.
He had an exceptionally fierce countenance. To anyone who didn't know better, he could easily be mistaken for the boss of a bandit syndicate or the leader of an underground organization.
In reality, however, he was no underworld figure at all. He was one of Gilm's most skilled blacksmiths.
"Pamidor, it's been a while. Still, it's pretty rare to see you in a place like this."
"Is it? I don't exactly live at my shop, you know. ...Haven't seen you around lately, though. Did you go somewhere? I heard you've been dissecting the Gigant Turtle for the past few days."
"Oh, so you knew about that. You should've joined in. If you had, I could've shared a little of the Gigant Turtle meat with you."
Rei's words likely struck a chord with the family-devoted Pamidor.
He cast a slightly envious glance Rei's way.
Of course, an envious look from the intimidating Pamidor looked, to any bystander, like nothing so much as a threat.
Still, the residents in this area knew Pamidor well enough, so it didn't cause any particular commotion.
A few people who didn't know him personally thought Rei might be getting extorted, but before they could make a scene, those familiar with the situation calmed them down and assured them everything was fine.
"Honestly, I would've liked to. But some urgent work came in, and I just finished it. Can't exactly abandon my livelihood to go help you out, can I?"
"Ah... so you had work come in. For a blacksmith, work comes in regardless of the season, huh."
Adventurers, as a rule, didn't work during winter.
Of course, this year there were several jobs like Cobolt subjugation and the Gigant Turtle dissection, and many adventurers had taken on that work.
Even so, there were still plenty who spent the winter resting their bones—but that was because they were adventurers.
Unlike adventurers, a blacksmith—and especially a highly skilled one like Pamidor—had work coming in endlessly.
If he weren't picky, he could live even better than he already did.
Pamidor had originally been a very famous blacksmith in the Royal Capital.
As for why he had come all the way to a frontier like Gilm, it was because he wanted to use his blacksmithing skills to protect as many people as possible.
In practice, the weapons Pamidor forged boasted the highest performance in Gilm—a city that already had no shortage of skilled blacksmiths, thanks to the constant influx of accomplished adventurers.
Directly or indirectly, the number of lives saved by those weapons was beyond counting.
Given all that, Rei could certainly understand Pamidor being busy with work.
"Grrrrrl."
"Hahaha, it's been a while for you too, Set. You been doing well? ...Well, looking at you, I can tell you're full of energy."
Facing Pamidor, whom he hadn't seen in a while, Set purred happily.
Pamidor was one of Set's favorite people.
Normally, many people were frightened by Pamidor's face. But to Gryphon Seto, it wasn't scary in the least.
That was probably one of the reasons Set took to Pamidor so openly.
"Well, a lot of things... really a lot of things happened, but he's definitely doing fine. That's for sure."
Rei muttered as he watched Pamidor stroke Set.
The weight in his voice made it clear to anyone listening that a great deal had indeed happened.
Pamidor, hearing Rei's tone, decided it would be best not to press the matter further.
Sensing the slightly heavy atmosphere, Rei spoke up as if to brush past it.
"Come to think of it, there've been incidents of Cobolts infiltrating Gilm lately. Is your family okay? Kumito's still young, right?"
"Young, maybe, but he's already helping me with my work. It's not that dangerous."
Helping with Pamidor's work? Rei wondered for a moment, but then he recalled hearing about it from Pamidor before, and even seeing it himself.
"But just because he helps you out doesn't mean he won't play in town with other kids, right?"
Even though Kumito had started helping Pamidor, it was still only the most basic tasks—just a step or two beyond what he'd been doing before.
Naturally, he wasn't with Pamidor around the clock. He still played with the other children.
Though when Rei had first seen Kumito, the boy was being bullied by kids who aspired to become adventurers.
"Well, of course. But I've given Kumito a weapon for self-defense, so even if a Cobolt attacks, I think he can manage. Besides, I hear the Cobolts are being held back at the expansion construction site?"
"That's... not untrue. I built an earth wall too, to make it harder for Cobolts to get into Gilm."
Even as he said that, Rei couldn't help wondering whether it was really okay for Kumito to be carrying a self-defense weapon.
Of course, knowing Kumito's personality, Rei was confident the boy wouldn't do anything foolish with it. He was confident—but there was always the chance of the unexpected. More than that, what worried Rei was whether Kumito—carrying a weapon forged by Pamidor—might attract the wrong sort of attention.
As a blacksmith renowned for his skill, weapons forged by Pamidor naturally commanded high prices.
Under those circumstances, what would happen if a child was seen carrying one?
If it only led to him being harassed by aspiring adventurer kids, like when Rei had first encountered Kumito, that would be the better outcome.
But the possibility couldn't be dismissed that worse sorts—people who wanted to turn a Pamidor weapon into cash—might target Kumito.
No matter that he carried a self-defense weapon, Kumito was still a child. And not even one training in combat to become an adventurer—just an ordinary kid.
"Carrying a Pamidor weapon... doesn't that put Kumito in danger in a different sense?"
"Hm? Oh, no need to worry about that. At a glance, it's been made so no one can tell it's a weapon I forged."
Seeing Pamidor reveal a hint of confidence, Rei still couldn't help wondering if it was truly all right.
The question was whether someone willing to attack a child like Kumito would even care about such distinctions.
Kumito was Pamidor's child, and that child was carrying a self-defense weapon. That alone made it entirely plausible that someone would assume the weapon was forged by Pamidor without bothering to verify.
"Are you sure it's really okay?"
Rei asked again, but Pamidor merely nodded with absolute confidence.
Considering Pamidor's personality, he's not the type to be a doting parent. Which means he genuinely has some kind of plan? But still... this is Kumito we're talking about.
Rei's mental image of Kumito was still heavily shaped by his first impression—by their very first encounter.
Because of that, even being told that Kumito carrying a Pamidor-forged weapon wouldn't be a problem even if someone came after it, Rei simply couldn't bring himself to believe it.
But Pamidor, reading Rei's expression, likely surmised what he was thinking.
Speaking as though there was nothing to worry about, he said, "I get what you're thinking, Rei, but Kumito isn't the same kid he used to be. He's been working hard to get stronger."
"...Is that so?"
"Yeah. Though becoming someone like you is probably a bit much to ask."
"Someone like me?"
Rei wondered what he meant by that. But to Kumito, Rei was the person who had saved him when he was being bullied.
On top of that, if Kumito heard rumors of Rei's heroic deeds, there was no way he wouldn't look up to him. Granted, many of those tales were rather far-fetched.
"Right. That said, as a parent, I don't want Kumito to end up like you."
"Quite the thing to say to the man himself."
Even so, Rei couldn't say he didn't understand Pamidor's feelings.
It had only been a few years since Rei came to Gilm—no, since he arrived in this world called Elgin. Less than ten years, in fact.
Given the sheer number of incidents Rei had been caught up in during that time, there was no way Pamidor would want his beloved son to end up in the same circumstances.
The fact that Rei had survived all those incidents unscathed was partly due to his own extraordinary abilities, true, but having good companions had also been a major factor.
Set, Elena, Marina, Vihera, Ara, Byune.
Setting Byune aside, every one of the others possessed combat power on par with an Alias Holder—or in some cases, even greater.
And beyond them, there were also quite a few people Rei wasn't currently traveling with but had spent time with on various occasions.
It was thanks to the cooperation of such people that Rei was still alive today.
"Anyway. Lately Kumito's been going to a dojo to train between work. And it surprised me, but apparently he's got quite a knack for it."
"You think so? Considering he's Pamidor's kid, I don't think it's strange for him to have good aptitude."
Partly due to the muscles built through blacksmithing, Pamidor had a physique that could aptly be described as brawny.
Rei also recalled hearing from Pamidor himself that he was strong in a fight.
If so, it wasn't all that strange for his son Kumito to have talent when it came to fighting.
What's more, if Kumito admired Rei and was earnestly attending a dojo, it wouldn't be surprising for that talent to bloom.
"Hearing that from you makes me a little happy, somehow."
For the doting parent in Pamidor, having Kumito praised was clearly a source of joy.
After that, Rei chatted about Kumito for a short while before abruptly shifting the topic.
"Come to think of it, do you remember the Red Cloth causing trouble from autumn into winter?"
"Huh? What's this all of a sudden? ...Of course I remember. Some of them came to my shop and rioted, so I beat them down."
"Ah... yeah. That's very Pamidor, I have to say."
Thinking that, Rei felt a pang of pity for the Red Cloth members who had committed the reckless act of rioting in Pamidor's shop.
Did they really have to do something that foolish?
"Anyway. Apparently the Red Cloth is on the move again. Have you heard anything?"
Strictly speaking, it wasn't the Red Cloth themselves but those pulling their strings. Rei decided there was no need to mention that distinction to Pamidor as he asked the question.
But Pamidor simply shook his head with a troubled expression.