A few days passed after Rei’s conversation with Marina at the guild. At long last, the people he had been waiting for returned to Gilm.
Rei woke up a little late and went about his usual routine, finished breakfast, and then started to think about what to do for the day when someone arrived from the lord’s residence in a carriage to bring him over, Set was still sleeping in the stables. Going straight to Daska’s office, he saw Elk, Min, and Rhodes. That is to say, the members of Axe of the Thunder God.
「Hey, Rei. ……I’ve heard about everything.」
Normally, Elk would have started talking cheerfully at their reunion, but it seemed like he had heard about Theorem already. His expression was quite dark as he called spoke to Rei in a low tone.
Sitting next to Elk, Min didn’t show any particular expression on her face, but Rhodes must have recalled the time he was kidnapped and had a bitter expression on his face.
From their expressions, each of them had their own thoughts on the matter, but Rei first bowed at Daska before speaking.
「I know you all have a lot to say, but if this goes well, we won’t have to worry about wars for a while. I hope you’ll bear with it and work together.」
That said, when Rei said no wars, that only applied to a war between the Mireana Kingdom and the Bestir Empire.
If things went badly, a civil war might end up breaking out within the Bestir Empire……Elk turned to look at Rei and seemed to say that with his eyes.
Normally, Elk behaved a lot like a mischievous boy, but right now, his expression seemed to be one of suppressing anger.
(I guess it’s not unreasonable for Elk, he cares a lot about his family……but he’ll have to put up with it.)
Thinking internally, Rei looked over towards Min to ask her to hold back the angry Elk.
『……』
They looked at each other in silence. Eventually, Min gave a small sigh and swung down the cane in her hand onto Elk’s head.
It only made a small thud, probably because Min understood Elk’s feelings.
「Calm down, Elk. In the end, I was fine and so was Rhodes. We may have our own feelings about it, but there’s no need to bring them out in this situation.」
「Min! But!」
「Your frustration or the hope that the country will not have to go to war for a while? Which will you chose? As a A rank adventurer, you shouldn’t need to think that much about it, do you?」
At his wife’s rational words, Elk could only stay silent.
He understood. Which was more important? Daska’s request or his own feelings.
However, even so……he could stop the anger welling up from within himself.
Rei spoke up at that point to cut in.
「As you have probably heard from Daska-sama, we will be meeting up with Theorem and the others once before heading to the Bestir Empire. If you have that much on your mind, why don’t you vent it all out then?」
「……Rei, your thoughts are quite bold. If Elk decided to fight seriously, even if he’s called Flash, I don’t know he’ll get away」
Rei shrugged his shoulders as Min replied while holding her hand against her face.
「It’s true that things might end up being qutie dangerous, but isn’t it also dangerous to let Elk’s anger build up like this? In that case, I thought it would be better to let it out in moderation.」
「I do wonder what you mean when you say in moderation though……」
「Mother, I hate to agree with what Rei said, but if father actually went to the Bestir Empire in his current state, there will definitely be issues.」
Rhodes, who hadn’t said a word since Rei arrived, spoke up in agreement. Min let out a small sigh before continuing.
「That’s certainly one way, huh? But, if two people titled people fought, I feel like the village where we’re meeting up might end up disappearing.」
「Since the village is located near the Selemus Plains, couldn’t they just fight on the Selemus Plains rather than near the village? No one will say anything even if there’s some damage to the area.」
「Okay, it’s settled then. I have a lot on my mind, but I’ll fight Flash. Win or lose, I’ll call it square. ……Though, I have no intention of losing at all.」
At Min’s words, Elk decided that there was no point in continuing to be angry as he regained his composure.
In addition, he probably didn’t want to lose out on the opportunity to fight Theorem head on.
「……Now then, can we get to the main topic?」
Daska, who had been silently listening to the four of them up until now, gave a sigh as he spoke.
Although Daska had his own concerns regarding Elk’s bad mood, he hadn’t thought that they would ignore him entirely as they conversed.
「I-I’m sorry.」
The first to apologise was Rhodes.
Following him, Min, Elk, and Rei also bowed their heads towards Daska.
「Right. I think you’ve figured it out from your conversation, but I’ve already told Elk and the others the general details. Also, the rest of preparations on my side will be complete in a few days. What about you Elk? You’ve only just returned to Gilm……」
「Oh, that’s right. We’ll be taking it easy today and tomorrow, but we’ll be ready to leave the day after that……so, three days from today?」
Looking to his wife for confirmation, Min nodded.
「That’s about right. If possible, I’d like to have another day or so spare just in case, but I don’t know if……」
Daska shook his head in response to Min.
「We don’t have much time to get from here to Goto to meet with the others and then to the Bestir Empire before the fighting tournament starts. ……To be honest, I was going to have someone go in my place until I heard about all this from Rei. There’s still a number of things I need to do on my side.」
「Is that so? Then why don’t we skip the rest days, prepare everything we need today, and leave tomorrow?」
「I won’t be able to make that. My hope is to have you guys rest today, prepare tomorrow, and leave the day after. Considering the handover of work to my subordinates, that is the earliest I can manage.」
Min nodded after thinking about it for a few seconds as she tapped her fingers on the desk in a rhythmic manner.
「Understood, we’ll match our schedule with Daska-sama.」
「I see, that would be great. ……So in that case, Rei.」
Daska, Elk, Min, and Rhodes all turned to look at Rei at the same time.
「I was going to head to Goto ahead of you all, but considering Set’s speed……I guess it’s fine for us to leave together?」
「No, I want to give the Bestir Empire as big of a shock as possible. If you leave with us as my escort, there’s a possibility that information will be passed to the Bestir Empire.」
「……Didn’t you catch all the spies they sent over?」
Daska shook his head with a wry smile at Rei’s question as he recalled the battle that had taken place behind the scenes last year.
「It might have been the case at the beginning of the year. But, a lot of time has passed since then and, above all, you’ve become very well known since the Spring War. Considering that, I’m sure quite a number of people, not just from the Bestir Empire, have come here, even more than last year. ……Although with Egg, the number will be somewhat reduced.」
Rei couldn’t help but agree.
Rei had gone over to support Ranga’s subjugation squad, but he hadn’t run into Egg, who was currently in charge of handling the darker side of the Margrave Rowlocks territory.
「Even so, to keep an eye on me. In that sense, they couldn’t have had a lot to do for a while.」
Rei gave a slight smile.
Not long after the war had ended, he had only returned to Gilm briefly before heading for the the Port City Emoshion. After that, he had come back to Gilm and passed his rank up test before quickly heading off to the Labyrinth City Exil.
For those wanting to collect information on Rei and Set, they must have been dragged around quite a bit.
With regards to that, the guild master, Marina, probably did a good job in sending Rei to Emoshion.
「Well, even if Rei isn’t around, there are ways to gather information. Even talking to the residents is an important way to gather information.」
「That’s right. Elk is correct. There is no doubt that information on Rei has been passed around in various ways.」
「……Is that okay? Rumors are circulating that Rei is Daska-sama’s sword.」
Rhodes asked Daska somewhat hesitantly.
From Rhode’s perspective, Rei was a really extraordinary person.
When they had first met, Rei was only a low ranking adventurer. He had been surprised to learn that he had tamed a Griffon, but soon after, Rei had killed the Orc King during the raid on the Orc Settlement.
And, as it had something to do with current events, Rhodes also knew that Rei had fought his father, who was an A rank adventurer, and won when he had been taken hostage.
He had heard the story from his father, but he hadn’t believed it and asked again and again, much to his embarrassment.
Since then, Rei had quickly increased in rank and was now a B rank adventurer, even higher than his own C rank.
At this point, even Rhodes couldn’t help but recognise Rei.
……That said, as someone who had a mother complex, known by himself and others, there was no way he would be honest with Rei about it, who had garnered some interest from his mother.
「There’s some good things and some bad things that have come as a result of the rumors. But, these stories will inevitably spread out. Even if I told everyone not to leak any information about you to the outside world, it would be impossible. Including Set, there’s too much to talk about.」
『Of course.』
The Axe of the Thunder God trio all answered in unison, agreeing with Daska’s word.
(All things considered, it’s not unreasonable with rumors to spread if I bring a Griffon around with me.)
So Rei thought to himself.
「I’m glad you understand. Well then, let’s talk about what we’re actually doing.」
「What we’re actually doing? Haven’t you already explained everything?」
Rei, who had seen Elk in a bad mood when he entered the room, naturally thought that everything been explained.
However, Daska gave a wry smile as he shook his head.
「I’ve only given them a rough overview. We haven’t discussed who’s doing what.」
「I see. So what’s the plan?」
「To put it simply, when I enter the Bestir Empire, to be precise, after we leave Goto and head to the Bestir Empire through the Selemus Plains, Rei and Elk will escort me. The Second Princess and Flash will act separately from us.」
「That’s right.」
The plan was to rescue the Third Prince, Theorem’s master and Vihera’s younger brother. That being the case, it would be foolishness to act together with them, since they were playing the part of a conspicuous decoy. Having made that decision, Rei nodded at Daska’s words and so did Elk, nodding without saying a word.
「So, when I reach the capital of the Bestir Empire, I will request that Rei be allowed to participate in the tournament.」
「Regarding that, could you ask for me to start at the qualifiers instead of as a seed?」
「……Why? The qualification is a battle royale, so it could be quite troublesome.」
Even if some people thought that it would be impossible to fight Crimson alone, it was different with a lot of people. ……Some might even target him in revenge for the soldiers who died in the war. He might not even make it through the qualifiers due to other factors.
The fact that there would be so many more people meant that there would be so many more uncertainties.
However, Rei shook his head slightly at Daska’s words as he replied.
「What I need to do is to stand out and draw the attention of the upper echelons of the Bestir Empire. In that case, the best method would be to participate in the battle royale preliminaries to become the topic of conversation.」
「I see.」
Daska thought about Rei’s words for a few seconds before eventually nodding.
「If you’re fine with that Rei, then let’s go with that. Then, next……」
That was how everything else was discussed.
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