Anne was no longer surprised by the sudden appearance of a bag of flour.
She had already seen the wolf meat and pelts come out of nowhere, after all.
But flour was an entirely different matter.
"Um, this... can I really have it? There's quite a lot here, you know?"
Anne asked timidly, as though she could scarcely believe the flour sitting right before her eyes was truly hers to take.
And it wasn't just Anne. The other staff members in the room were also looking at Rei, wondering if it was really okay to accept it.
Rei nodded to them. "Yeah, no problem. But as you can see, it's old wheat. The taste won't be as good as fresh."
"That's not a problem at all!" Anne shot back immediately.
It was only natural. They were struggling to keep the children fed—and in the worst case, winter could bring starvation. A little age on the wheat meant nothing compared to that.
Determined not to let this opportunity slip away, Anne pressed the point with fierce enthusiasm.
"O-oh." Rei had expected the wheat would be welcomed given the orphanage's situation, but the sheer intensity of their joy caught him off guard. He nodded all the same.
Since time didn't flow inside the Misty Ring, storing the wheat inside wouldn't cause it to spoil. It hadn't been any particular burden to carry, but seeing people this happy to receive it made him feel it was well worth giving away.
"Well, anyway. Consider this wheat, along with the wolf situation, as payment for information on Egginis. Could you tell me a bit more about the city?"
At Rei's words, Anne and the others quickly collected themselves and began sharing what they knew.
Among everything they told him, the most useful tidbits were about the inns in Egginis. Given that Seto was over three meters long, a cramped stable would be quite uncomfortable for him. Worse, the close quarters would put other horses right next to him, and they would likely panic at his presence.
Beyond that, a high-end inn would naturally use Magic Items and similar amenities to provide a comfortable stay. The Golems sold in Egginis were extremely expensive, which meant the city's visitors were people who could afford them—wealthy merchants, nobles, and in some cases, even royalty from Vassal States. A city like that was sure to have proper high-end inns.
Of course, high-end inns charged proportionate rates, and some wouldn't even let you stay without an introduction from someone.
Can I manage with an A-Rank Adventurer's Guild Card? ...Well, if that doesn't work, I can just use another high-end inn. Not a problem.
Satisfied with that reasoning, Rei moved on to gathering information about restaurants with good food. In this context, "good food" meant places that were cheap and delicious. The orphanage staff naturally couldn't afford to eat at the kind of high-end establishments nobles frequented, so they eagerly traded tips among themselves about affordable but tasty spots.
Rei made a mental note of the restaurants mentioned by the women's information network.
What was unfortunate, however, was the lack of information about which shops' Golems were recommended. But given that those Golems were so expensive even nobles and great merchants might not be able to afford them, it was hardly surprising that the staff knew nothing about them.
"Ah, but speaking of Golems... I did hear a rumor that since about last year, Golems with capabilities far beyond anything before have appeared in Egginis. Apparently they use extremely rare and expensive materials, so their numbers are very low."
"High-performance Golems, huh. That's interesting. Setting aside whether I'd actually buy one."
Rei had originally headed to Egginis intending to purchase a Golem if he found one that seemed useful. If he was going to buy one anyway, he'd naturally prefer a high-performance model—and if the rumor Anne heard was true, one with overwhelmingly superior performance compared to other Golems.
But if they're that rare, it's not guaranteed I can buy one even if I wanted to.
With performance that high, there would undoubtedly be many people vying for them. Rei was well aware that he was wealthy, but the world had no shortage of people even richer than him. Whether he could win a bidding war against them was honestly doubtful.
No, if I use Forest of Magic monster materials... or worst case, Crystal Dragon materials and ask them to make a Golem, would that work?
Whether the Golems' performance came from some new technology or from rare materials, Rei couldn't say. But since they were crafting Golems, the makers surely wouldn't be uninterested in Forest of Magic monster materials—or materials from an S-Rank Monster like the Crystal Dragon. Even if not Crystal Dragon materials, A-Rank Monster materials from the Forest of Magic would surely serve as a strong bargaining chip.
"Tell me about the shop selling those Golems."
Even if they didn't know the details about the Golems themselves, since it was a specific shop selling them, they apparently knew of it—the rumor had originated there, after all. Hearing the information about the shop, Rei nodded in satisfaction.
"Also, there are a few adventurers from this orphanage working in Egginis. I'll write you a letter later, so if you show it to them, they should be able to help you out with various things."
"That'd be a big help."
Rei meant that sincerely. Having someone who knew Egginis well would give him access to firsthand information, whether for buying Golems and Magic Items or simply exploring the city. He'd already learned a fair amount from Anne and the others, but this town was still located far from Egginis. No matter what he did, the more fresh information he had, the better.
"No, I should be thanking you. Not just the wolf meat and pelts, but the flour as well... truly, thank you so much."
From Rei's perspective, the things he'd handed over were items he never would have used himself, so being thanked this profusely felt a bit excessive. But that was his own sensibility. In this world, even old wheat was eaten as a matter of course, and there were many who couldn't obtain even that.
"Honestly, being thanked this much makes me a little embarrassed. ...Well, it is what it is. I've gotten what I need, so I'll be heading out soon."
"Eh? Um, if you'd like, won't you stay at the orphanage tonight? There are no more carriages running."
Anne looked completely caught off guard. She knew Rei was heading to Egginis, but she clearly hadn't imagined he traveled by flying through the sky on Seto. When she had seen them earlier, the children were riding on Seto's back while he walked. Given that, she probably assumed Rei traveled the same way one would ride a horse—astride Seto on the ground.
In fact, even running on the ground, Seto was faster than any horse. In that sense, simply riding Seto to Egginis was perfectly viable. And if Rei needed to camp, he had his Magic Tent, and Seto would stand guard while he slept. Rei could camp without any issues even out in the frontier of Gilm. Near a place like this, which was neither frontier nor wilderness, he could sleep just as soundly as he would in an inn bed.
...Of course, it was still outdoor camping, so he could never be entirely certain what might happen. He couldn't sleep with total peace of mind.
"I don't need a carriage. You already know I'm an A-Rank Adventurer, right? I can handle anything I might run into around here."
"Eh? ...Ah, um... right."
Judging solely by Rei's appearance, he didn't look like a fighter at all. Someone skilled at reading an opponent's abilities might discern his strength, but Anne was an orphanage staff member. Fighting wasn't her profession, so there was no way she could see through to his true capability. That was likely why she thought camping out would be dangerous for him.
"That's right. Well then, um... you'll write that letter, right? Until it's done, I'll be outside playing with the children and Seto."
With that, Rei left the room.
Anne tried to call after him, but realizing he had no intention of staying at the orphanage, she looked disappointed. She was genuinely grateful to him for everything that had happened, and she had wanted to repay that gratitude, at least in part, by offering him a place to stay. But judging by his demeanor, he had no plans to linger and would likely leave as soon as possible.
"Anne, if you don't write that letter quickly..."
"Right."
At her colleague's prompting, Anne immediately set about preparing to write. She was truly grateful to Rei from the bottom of her heart—for rescuing the children, for the food, for everything. It was unfortunate that the only way to repay that gratitude was to write a letter to the orphanage alumni working as adventurers in Egginis.
Just as she steeled herself to put pen to paper...
"I forgot to ask something."
Rei poked his head back through the door.
"Yes? What is it?"
Anne was more than willing to share whatever she knew if it meant repaying even a fraction of her debt. As long as it was something she knew, she intended to tell him.
"I heard a rumor that there are quite a lot of bandits around Egginis. Is that true?"
"I've never run into them myself, but I have heard such talk."
Anne had features that many would agree were quite pretty. Had she encountered bandits, she would almost certainly have been abducted and forced to satisfy their desires. In that sense, it was fortunate she never had.
Regardless, the question Rei had asked as a precaution confirmed what he'd already heard from the bandit he'd interrogated.
"I see. Then do you know that the bandits around Egginis have been disappearing one after another recently?"
"Eh? Is that so? No, that's the first I've heard of it."
"Ah, but I think Joey the peddler mentioned something like that before..." The woman beside Anne murmured, as if the memory had just surfaced.
Whether those words jogged her memory, Anne spoke up as well. "Now that you mention it, I did hear something like that before. I'm sorry."
"No, you don't need to apologize. As long as you're living in this town, it's not really information you'd need to worry about."
Peddlers kept abreast of such things because it was literally a matter of life and death for them. But for people who rarely left this town, it clearly wasn't essential knowledge.
Well, there's the possibility that like the bandits I took down, others might judge the area around Egginis too dangerous and target this town instead... No, this town isn't that far from Egginis. Wouldn't bandits actually avoid it?
According to what Rei had extracted from his captive, most of the bandits around Egginis had been wiped out suddenly, without a single survivor. Under those circumstances, whether they would shift their focus to this town, which wasn't even that far from Egginis, was highly questionable.
If Rei were in their position, he would put far more distance between himself and Egginis rather than settle on a town this close. Just like the bandits he'd defeated had done. In that sense, he reconsidered, perhaps this place was actually safe.
Well, I can look into the bandit situation after I get to Egginis. She said there are orphanage alumni working as adventurers there, so getting information shouldn't be hard.
What he'd asked Anne was merely a precaution on the off chance she might know something he didn't. He'd managed to glean at least a little about the bandits, and that was good enough. Offering his thanks, he headed out toward the yard.