Seeing the town come into view in the distance, Rei called back to the children riding on Seto's back.
"Is that town really where you all live?"
"Yeah, it is. But... we sneaked out through a gap in the outer wall..."
"Figured as much."
Rei nodded at the words of Camila, the boy who served as the leader of the group—the one who had been carrying a rusty shortsword.
In a small village where everyone knew each other, there was no need for identification checks when coming and going. But in a proper town or city, identification was required to enter and exit, and sometimes a small fee as well.
Of course, in a village where everyone recognized each other, a child trying to leave would naturally be stopped anyway.
At any rate, looking at Camila and the others, it was hard to imagine they had any identification.
So what should I do about this?
Rei glanced at the five children perched on Seto's back.
Given that Seto was over three meters long, fitting five children on his back wasn't difficult.
That said, the only person Seto could carry while flying was basically Rei alone.
One or two children might be manageable, but five was pushing it.
It would have been possible if they hung from Seto's legs or rode in the Seto Basket, but for now they were walking on the ground.
"In that case, should I just go to where you all slipped out and enter from there? ...Though I imagine that won't be easy."
Near the town's Main Gate, the guards were already scurrying about in visible agitation.
Naturally. Leaving Rei aside, a High-Rank Monster gryphon was bearing down on the town.
The reason it hadn't erupted into a full-scale panic was probably because Rei was walking alongside Seto, and even from a distance, the guards could see the five children riding on his back.
"Ugh... Sister's gonna scold me..."
"I-It'll be okay. I mean, we brought back wolves! If we hand those over, maybe..."
Another child chimed in response to Camila, but even he seemed to doubt his own words, his voice trailing off into a mumble.
"Well, you did sneak out without permission. The orphanage is definitely worried sick about you. Just take your scolding like you deserve."
During the walk here, Rei had already gathered a fair amount of information from Camila and the others.
According to them, they lived in an orphanage in the town—one that was by no means wealthy.
Not because the person running it was living lavishly; the orphanage was simply poor.
It was only natural. In this world, death was far more commonplace than in Japan.
Even a minor illness or injury could be fatal under the right circumstances.
Recovery Magic or a potion could handle most things, but magic users were already scarce to begin with, making those who could cast Recovery Magic even rarer.
Potions were the same—anything with real potency carried a price tag to match.
As a result, plenty of people died from untreated injuries and illnesses.
And when parents died, their children were left with nowhere to go.
Others simply abandoned children they could no longer feed.
Orphanages existed to take in such children, but naturally they had limits and couldn't accept everyone.
In that sense, Camila and the others were at least fortunate to have a roof over their heads.
At the very least, they could sleep somewhere safe from attack.
But running an orphanage still cost money.
They scraped by on donations from former orphans who had struck out on their own, contributions from wealthy townsfolk, and support funds from the lord—but it was a hand-to-mouth existence at best.
What's more, though Rei didn't know this, a merchant who had been making regular donations to the orphanage had died recently. His successor had decided the donations were pointless and cut them off entirely.
The already-struggling orphanage was now in dire straits, unable to even provide adequate meals.
Unable to stand by and watch, Camila had rounded up a few of the others and headed for the grove.
A grove that would take two hours to reach even at an adult's pace.
His intentions—wanting to feed the younger children—were noble, but the act itself was tantamount to suicide.
In fact, if Rei hadn't intervened, Camila and the others wouldn't have been eating wolves. They would have been eaten by them.
Now then, I wonder what kind of reception awaits. ...Well, I've got an A-Rank Guild Card, and whatever else you might say, my name is well-known in the Kingdom of Mireana. I doubt things will go sideways.
With that casual thought, Rei pressed on... and before long, arrived at the town's edge.
The guards stationed at the Main Gate didn't flee, even though they were clearly terrified of Seto.
Rei found that admirable.
The guards in Gilm would have done the same as a matter of course, but other places had their share of corrupt guards—the kind who would hassle travelers and confiscate their belongings over fabricated infractions.
Naturally, if that sort of guard saw a creature like Seto coming and realized they stood no chance, bolting wouldn't have been surprising.
But these guards, despite their evident fear, held their ground.
For a few seconds, Rei and the guards faced each other in silence...
"Camila!"
A woman's voice suddenly rang out across the area.
As she screamed the name, a woman came bursting out from behind the guards.
For a split second, Rei almost braced for a fight—but she was crying out the names of Camila and every other child with raw, desperate worry. She hadn't even noticed Seto; her eyes were fixed entirely on the children. It wasn't hard to guess who she was.
A woman desperately searching for Camila and the others in this situation.
She was thin—almost gaunt. It wasn't hard to imagine why: she was probably giving the children whatever food she could and keeping only the bare minimum for herself.
"Sister!"
Camila and the other children scrambled off Seto's back and sprinted toward the woman.
" honestly, where did you all go... I was so... so..."
Finding the children she'd been frantically searching for, she was overcome.
She couldn't even finish her sentence before the tears came.
And seeing her like that, Camila and the others began to cry as well.
They had put on brave faces in front of Rei, but the reality was that they had traveled to a place two hours from town—even for an adult—and been attacked by a pack of wolves.
Without luck, and without Camila and the others' mental fortitude, they would have been wolf food by now.
"Ah... um, so you're the one who saved these kids, right?"
Seeing the children's reunion, the guard had apparently let his tension ease.
One of them called out to Rei.
Even while addressing Rei, his eyes kept darting toward Seto.
Rei understood that well enough, but decided that putting them at ease took priority. He nodded.
"Yeah. There's a spot past the grove a ways from here where a whole field of flowers is blooming. I was eating there when Camila and the others came running in, chased by wolves. I couldn't just leave them to it, so I lent a hand and brought them back. ...Ah, here."
He pulled his Guild Card from his Misty Ring and handed it to the guard.
The guard didn't seem to notice where it had come from. He simply took the card...
"Eh!?"
A stunned exclamation escaped the guard's mouth.
Most of the bystanders had been warming to the touching reunion between the orphanage woman and the children.
Then this guard shattered the mood with a cry of sheer astonishment, and several people shot him looks that clearly said read the room.
The guard, however, didn't notice a single one of those looks. His eyes bounced between Rei and the Guild Card, then snapped to Seto...
"Aaaaaaaah! Crimson!"
He had finally put it together.
He spoke the alias aloud, staring at Rei.
Naturally, every eye in the vicinity turned toward Rei.
"Yeah, Crimson is my alias."
"You're an A-Rank Adventurer...? The rumors I heard said B-Rank."
"Passed yesterday."
Saying that much, something suddenly occurred to Rei.
Come to think of it, I forgot to collect my gambling winnings.
Though, the betting payouts were only available after his promotion had been officially announced.
Between the announcement of his Promotion Exam results and the whole business with the Crystal Dragon corpse, Rei hadn't been able to walk freely through Gilm.
Well, technically he probably could have if he'd really tried, but if he had, countless people would have swarmed him trying to make his acquaintance—and inevitably begging him to sell them Crystal Dragon materials.
In that sense, collecting his winnings could wait until the uproar died down.
If the Bookmaker had skipped town with the money, Rei would take a loss... but he hadn't bet that much, so it didn't really matter.
Besides, absconding would mean the Bookmaker had to leave Gilm entirely.
Gilm was dangerous, true—but precisely because it was dangerous, it was also full of opportunities for profit.
The amount owed to Rei versus the various profits to be had by staying in Gilm.
Weighing the two, no sane person would run.
"So that's how it is. You're one of the first people to see this Guild Card."
"...Huh? What about when you left Gilm? You'd need to go through procedures, right?"
"Special exception. I was allowed to leave Gilm without any procedures."
The sheer nonchalance of Rei's words stunned even the guards who hadn't been part of the conversation.
No way, their expressions said.
In truth, the freedom to come and go from the town as the result of Marina's negotiations with Daskar was an extraordinary special exception.
That said, Rei had more than earned it through his deeds, and he had brought enormous benefits to Gilm.
Even with the Expansion Construction currently underway—now that other Adventurers were handling the work—it was an undeniable fact that in the early stages, the project had effectively been kept running thanks to Rei.
In that sense, Rei receiving special treatment wasn't strange at all.
"That's... well, it's not really our place to say anything about Rei. So then... what do we do here?"
"Excuse me!"
The guard was at a loss for how to handle a suddenly-arrived, alias-holding A-Rank Adventurer.
A voice called out to him.
It belonged to the woman who had been embracing Camila and the other children.
While Rei was talking with the guard, Camila and the others must have filled her in on what had happened.
She addressed the guard with a steady, unwavering gaze.
"This man saved these children. If at all possible, I'd like to have him visit us so we can offer our proper thanks..."
"No, well, an Adventurer—and an A-Rank one at that—there's no problem with entering the town. It's just... that gryphon..."
Rei didn't need to hear the rest.
They were saying it would be difficult to let Seto in because the townspeople would be frightened.
"No way! Seto's fine! He carried us here!"
Camila was the first to object.
And not just Camila—the other children voiced their displeasure with the guards as well.
From the grove to here, they had all ridden on Seto's back.
To them, Seto had been frightening at first because of his enormous size, but they had learned that he was actually gentle and affectionate.
That was why they couldn't accept the guards declaring that Seto might be dangerous and barring him from the town.
"Um... from what these children say, I believe it would be fine... is it truly not possible?"
"Ugh..."
The orphanage woman pressed the guard who had spoken against Seto's entry.
She was seeing a gryphon up close for the first time herself, and she was afraid.
But this creature had saved the children.
She couldn't bring herself to accept turning away someone who had done that, simply because he looked frightening.
Pinned by the gaze of the woman—whose face was more cute than beautiful—the guard eventually turned red and conceded that if Rei took responsibility, Seto would be allowed into the town as well.