As the sun began to set, Rei and Lindy returned to Egginis.
After the bandits at the large boulder, they hadn't been able to find any others. Lindy seemed like she wanted to keep searching, but with night falling, they couldn't stay outside the city indefinitely. A bit of persuasion from Rei was enough to convince her to head back.
"Rei, thank you for today."
"Don't worry about it. I made a decent profit, and you earned enough to send money and daily supplies to the orphanage. It wasn't a bad deal for either of us."
For Lindy, this whole endeavor had been about finding leads on the vanished Golias. But in the end, no such clues had surfaced. In that sense, the day's haul was effectively nil.
"You're right. If I get the paperwork done today, the money and goods should reach the orphanage before long. Sorry, but could you come with me? There's no way I can carry all that luggage on my own."
Rei nodded without complaint.
The various daily supplies from the first bandit hideout they'd raided hadn't been used by the bandits themselves—they were goods stolen from merchants, left there virtually untouched. Rei had judged them perfectly usable at the orphanage.
Not that he had any use for daily supplies himself. Selling them would bring in money, but he wasn't particularly strapped for cash, and haggling felt like more trouble than it was worth. In the end, he'd decided to hand everything over to Lindy as-is.
Naturally, there was no way Lindy could carry all the daily goods a merchant would transport by carriage with her bare hands. So for now, they remained stored in his Misty Ring.
I'd never thought about it before, but when adventurers take down bandits and find daily supplies and that sort of thing, what do they do with them? I can store everything in my Misty Ring, but most people don't have one. Even a simplified Item Box costs a fair amount, so owners are few and far between.
What did people do with goods that weren't inherently valuable? Rei pondered the question, but guessed they probably just took what they could use and left the rest behind.
Lost in thought, he followed Lindy through the city streets.
Naturally, Seto trotted at his side as always, drawing the usual slew of stares.
That said, a fair number of onlookers cast gazes at Seto that seemed more accustomed than alarmed. Part of that was because Rei walked around with Seto so frequently, but the fact that Egginis was a hub of the golem industry likely played an equally large role. Golems came in all sizes, some larger than houses. Anyone who had seen a giant golem lumbering through the city streets would probably find it that much easier to adjust to Seto.
Before long, they arrived at a particular firm.
The Limros Firm.
Lindy stepped into the building with a sign bearing that name.
Rei started to follow her inside, but before he could, Lindy called back to him from the doorway.
"I'll handle the talking. Wait out here for a bit, Rei. The people at this firm are a little... eccentric."
Rei stopped where he stood. He could guess she said it because she figured he might not get along with whoever she was about to meet.
In truth, Rei had no idea how large the Limros Firm actually was. But he was the type to resort to force even against nobles without a second thought. Even if the other party was a firm—no, a operation large enough to be called a great firm—if they picked a fight, he'd take it head-on.
He'd done exactly that before. Back in Gilm, he'd clashed with the Azoth Firm, which held sway over many of the city's weapon shops and blacksmiths. Through the Azoth Firm's machinations, most weapon shops had been barred from selling to him. Rei had taken that fight straight to them, raiding the chairman's estate.
As it turned out, the chairman had ties to the Bestia Empire, and the conflict ended with the Azoth Firm's total surrender. Since then, Rei hadn't had any further run-ins with them, and they now maintained a friendly relationship. The former chairman's half-brother had taken over, and he clearly understood that opposing Rei brought nothing but disadvantages.
"Grrrl?"
Seto rumbled a question, as if asking what was on his mind. Rei shook his head to signal it was nothing, then pulled some dried fruit from his Misty Ring.
Fresh fruit was delicious in its own right, but the sun-drying process concentrated the sweetness into something far more intense. Depending on the variety, it could even border on too sweet. That intensity was precisely why even big eaters like Rei and Seto could savor a small amount and feel satisfied.
"Sweet. Actually, isn't this a little too sweet?"
Naturally, there was no way to know how dried fruit tasted until you actually tried it. A skilled cook might be able to judge by sight or touch alone, but Rei didn't have that level of expertise. If he'd prepared it himself, he could have sampled the fruit before drying to gauge its sweetness—but these were purchased goods. The only option was to try a small piece, and even that only told you so much.
And precisely because they were purchased, quality varied considerably from batch to batch. Some were sweet, others less so. In that sense, the one Rei had picked was more or less a winner—so much so that he had to drink some fruit water to reset his palate.
"Grru."
Seto, meanwhile, seemed satisfied with his portion, looking content.
"Must be nice."
"Grru? Grrrrrl."
Whether pleased that Rei envied him, Seto purred happily.
Their exchange was cut short when Lindy emerged from the building.
"Rei, come with me for a sec. I need you to bring out the cargo."
"Got it. Seto, wait here a bit."
He followed Lindy around to the back of the building, where nearly twenty carriages were lined up—a clear testament to the Limros Firm's considerable scale.
Carriages were consumables. With constant use, they needed repairs. Factor in attacks by bandits or monsters that could result in theft or destruction, and those repair costs added up fast. And carriages required horses. Between the purchase price and upkeep of the animals needed to pull that many carriages, the financial burden was substantial.
"Rei, can you bring them out here? The Limros Firm people will handle the transport by carriage after that."
"Sure. This good?"
As daily goods materialized out of thin air from an empty spot, Lindy let out a gasp of surprise—even though she already knew about Rei's Misty Ring. It was a sight that defied ordinary comprehension, so the reaction was only natural.
"So, we're set for now? By the way, what's the plan for tomorrow? More bandit hunting?"
"No. It's not a request, but my party has some business to take care of, so I'll pass."
"I see. Then I'll work on other things instead of the bandit situation. Oh, and if anything comes up, come find me at the Star River Inn."
"Will do. Still, to think you can stay at a place like that. An alias-holding A-Rank Adventurer really is something else."
"I won't deny it. But receiving rewards that high naturally means the difficulty and danger match the pay."
Rei said that, though in reality, his profits came from requests he'd taken before becoming an A-Rank Adventurer, or from days like today—bandit hunting and the like. He'd only just attained A-Rank, so he hadn't actually taken any of the jobs that came with that tier yet. What he did have, however, were plenty of assignments that only someone of his skill could accept, regardless of rank. Those requests were dangerous, but that danger came with substantial monetary rewards—or rare Magic Items that were otherwise nearly impossible to obtain.
"Keep at it in Egginis and your rank will climb, Lindy. Once it does, you might even be able to treat the whole orphanage to a stay at the Star River Inn."
"Me? That'd be nice, but I wonder when I'd ever be able to pull off something like that."
Rei's words sounded like nothing more than flattery to Lindy. Given her current situation, the question of whether she could ever reach a higher rank was one she could only answer with a tilt of her head. She certainly couldn't imagine becoming a high-rank adventurer—B-Rank, let alone A-Rank—and inviting everyone from the orphanage to stay at a luxury inn.
Golias might be able to pull off something like that, though.
To Lindy, Golias wasn't just someone she harbored feelings for. He was also, quite simply, a more skilled adventurer than she was. Because of that, she believed he might one day become a high-rank adventurer himself.
"Whether you can or not is up to you. Whatever you do, you need to keep training. Don't just take requests—put work into that side of things too."
Rei trained regularly himself, and among adventurers, there were those who joined dojos to sharpen their skills or apprenticed under seasoned fighters. Close to home, Byune received combat training from Vihera.
Though the relationship between Vihera and Byune is less master-and-disciple and more guardian-and-ward.
With those thoughts in mind, Rei parted ways with Lindy on the spot and headed back to the inn with Seto, who had been waiting out front.
"Come to think of it, I never asked you, Seto. Are the stables at the Star River Inn up to par?"
"Grru? ...Grrrrrl."
Seto rumbled affirmatively. As the finest inn in Egginis, its stables were suitably spacious, and unlike previous inns, there was enough distance from the horses that they weren't cowering in terror.
Seto wanted to play with them, of course, but the horses were thoroughly overwhelmed by his presence. Acting friendly with a gryphon was simply out of the question. Still, after enough time together, they would gradually acclimate—apparently concluding that, fearsome as he was, Seto wasn't the type to attack unprovoked.
"I see. Well, even so, it's got to feel cramped compared to Marina's place. Bear with it."
The stables were undeniably spacious and comfortable, but for Seto, accustomed to roaming freely in the courtyard of Marina's estate, feeling cooped up was only natural. Rei expected him to endure it, but contrary to those expectations, Seto simply purred contentedly.
Why, though? Rei puzzled over it briefly, but decided that as long as Seto was happy, that was good enough. They returned to the inn.
"Rei, I've been waiting for you."
Standing in front of the inn were Maruka and Nicky.
"Maruka? And Nicky too. What's going on?"
"That is my line. You left this morning and didn't return until evening. Knowing you, Rei, I was confident there was nothing to worry about—but wondering whether something might have happened is only natural."
"My lady, bothering Rei's brother about—ow!"
Before he could finish, Maruka's kick connected with Nicky's leg. Maruka was, fundamentally, an accomplished mage, but as the daughter of a duke's house, she had naturally trained in proper self-defense. Her kick carried more than enough force to make Nicky cry out in pain.