An early, sunny morning. When the 6am bell rang in Gilm, Rei was already at the main gate.
Aside from Rei and Set, Lenora, Kenny, and Milein were with them at the gate. The members of Axe of the Thunder God, Elk, Min, and Rhodes, were also with them along with Sulunin, who was here to keep Milein in line.
Lenora, Kenny, and Milein seemed somewhat tired, probably because they had been partying late into the night at the Dusk Wheat.
Milein had requested they held a party……or specifically, a send-off party, under the moonlight near the stables.
Milein had said her goodbyes to Set as Lenora talked to Rei with concern while Kenny tried to invite Rei to make some summer memories.
……But, she was shutdown by Lenora each time.
In any case, the party went very late and they all ended up staying the night at the Dusk Wheat.
The Dusk Wheat was considered quite a high class inn in Gilm, but Lenora and Kenny received relatively high salaries as popular receptionists at the guild and Milein had just made some unexpected earnings from the recent Goblin subjugation.
Because of that, spending a night at the Dusk Wheat wasn’t too big of an issue for them.
That said, Kenny was somewhat bothered that she was seeing Rei off in the same clothes she had worn the day before.
「Set-chan, take care of yourself. Please don’t upset your stomach. Here, this is a sandwich made by the inn proprietress, so eat it if you’re hungry.」
「Gurururu~」
Hearing Milein’s words, Set immediately stretched his beak out into the basket she was carrying and picked up a sandwich.
Milein smiled and patted Set’s head as she saw that, although internally she thought……haven’t you just eaten breakfast?
「Rei-kun, I don’t know what kind of business you’re heading out for, but please don’t do anything dangerous.」
At Kenny’s words, Rei replied while giving a small nod.
「I’ll be careful, but it’s a bit unreasonable to ask that of an adventurer.」
「That is that and this is this.」
「Ah……Kenny, don’t be so unreasonable.」
Elk cut into the exchange between Rei and Kenny.
They were words that had come out unintentionally because Elk knew what the actual situation was, but Kenny’s cat ears twitched when she heard him.
But, thinking that there would be more trouble if Kenny spoke up here, Lenora quickly replied to Elk.
「Come to think of it, why is Axe of the Thunder God here? No, I know you and Rei-san are on good terms, but……this close?」
「Huh? Oh……that’s right. Well, you can think of it as something like that.」
Elk’s response left many doubts in Lenora’s mind.
However, she decided that there must be some reason for the A rank party to be present, so she didn’t push further.
「Rather than that, you’d better stop worrying about me and go say bye to Rei. If you don’t, Kenny will get up to no good.」
「……I feel like you’re trying to distract me, but I certainly can’t leave Kenny like this.」
Letting out a small sigh, she bowed her head at Elk before going over to Rei.
「Hey, hey, don’t bother Rei-san so much.」
「Ahh, hey, Lenora. You’re interrupting me after I went to all the effort……」
「Did you say something?」
「Did I say something? Oh yes, I didn’t say anything at all.」
Kenny responded on reflex at Lenora’s lowered voice.
She felt like she had been losing out to Lenora recently, but quickly shook her head.
(It’s only when Rei-kun is involved that she gets strangely pressuring, isn’t it? Whether it’s yesterday or today……I wonder if this is the power of an older sister.)
「Are you thinking of something strange?」
「No way!」
Lenora’s sixth sense seemed quite sharp as Kenny hurriedly denied her words.
Lenora glanced at Kenny before turning to Rei.
「Rei-san, I don’t know what kind of business you have, but I’m sure it won’t be smooth. Please don’t get hurt and come back to Gilm safely.」
「Yeah, of course. Gilm is like a home for me to return to. Besides, while things are always going to be dangerous and I can’t talk too much about it, I have a powerful ally with me this time, so don’t worry about it too much.」
Lenora nodded as Rei replied with a small smile on his face. Kenny, who shrewdly took a spot next to Lenora, nodded back at Rei with a similar smile.
Just looking at Rei’s appearance, it didn’t seem like Rei had changed at all since he first came to Gilm last spring.
No, rather, it didn’t seem like he had grown at all.
However, what Rei had done since coming to Glim wasn’t something ordinary adventurers could do.
Thinking like that, she was able to send Rei off with peace of mind.
「Well, I can’t stay here forever, so I guess we’ll get going. Set.」
「Gururu~!」
Set, who had been playing with Milein, let out a cry before walking over to Rei.
Storing the basket Milein handed him into the Misty Ring, Rei was about to head to the guards at the main gate when Min came over to him and handed over an envelope.
「Rei, this is from Daska-sama. It contains a map to Goto. He said he’s sorry that he couldn’t come to see you off, he didn’t want you to stand out too much……but, he did say that we’ll see you again at Goto.」
「I do know the way there as I stopped by during the Spring War……but thanks anyway. I’ll wait for you there when I arrive. And, if you can, try and do something about Elk’s anger towards Theorem.」
「Yes, I will try.」
Seeing them exchange a slight smile with each other, Kenny spoke up.
「Wait, Rei-kun. Did you like older women!? That’s fine, but I still think it’s a bit strange to go after a married woman……」
「Kenny……you know.」
「What, it doesn’t matter to you Lenora because of your physical development, but I……」
「Hey, what did you just say? It doesn’t matter to me because……」
「Hmph, I don’t know what you’re talking about……」
Giving a wry smile as he heard their argument, Rei placed the envelope under his Dragon Robe as he spoke to everyone else who had come to see him off.
「Okay, I’ll be heading off then.」
Hearing Rei’s voice, Kenny decided that this wasn’t the time to argue with Lenora as she stopped and waved her hand.
「Rei-kun, take care!」
Giving a small nod, Rei and Set went over to the main gate to sort out the procedures for leaving the city.
It was still summer, but not mid summer anymore. As it was heading towards autumn, or maybe because it was still early in the morning, the sunlight wasn’t as fierce as it had been before.
In the sky above, Rei read the letter from Daska, that Min had passed him, while riding on Set’s back.
The envelope was firmly sealed with wax and it was clear that no one had opened it since it left Daska’s hands.
「Well, Daska-sama personally took care of it and asked Min to directly pass it to me, so I don’t think I need to worry about it too much.」
As for the contents of the letter, Daska had written the route he was planning to take as well as their estimated date and time of arrival.
Along with the letter was a map to Goto.
Of course, it wasn’t an accurate map, like the one he had received from Marina previously. It only contained the route to Goto and the scale was also rough.
However, since Rei had stopped by the place before on the way to the Selemus Plains during the Spring War, the map was sufficient to get him there. Even if he did get lost, with Set’s speed of flying, it wasn’t that much of a problem to find his way to Goto.
「For now……let’s see how far we can get. If possible I’d like to rest in a city, but since I have a magic tent, it shouldn’t be that big of an issue to set up camp.」
「Guru~!」
Set gave a happy cry.
Of course, Set loved street stalls and similar places where he could eat delicious food. But, at the same time, staying at an inn meant he had to split up with Rei.
Even if he needed to keep watch while camping out at night, he could still be right next to the magic tent where Rei was.
「Sorry for leaving all this to you.」
As Rei stroked Set’s neck with a sense of gratitude, Set gave a loud cry before flapping his wings faster and faster.
The ground below them was like a green carpet and the highway a line drawn through it.
Looking up, there were only faint clouds covering the sun in the bright blue sky.
「Haa, good weather.」
Even hidden by clouds, the summer sun could be quite harsh. As time passed, it gradually grew warmer. Although autumn was approaching, it could still get quite hot.
That said, Rei was wearing the Dragon Robe, which could regulate his temperature, and Set didn’t for this level of heat.
If anyone looked at them from the ground, they would have looked like an arrow piercing through the sky.
They continued to fly through the sky while ignoring the adventurers, merchants, travelers, and monsters moving along the ground.
About two hours after leaving Gilm, Rei started to feel thirsty as he took out a cold fruit from the Misty Ring.
It was like a red grape, but the size of his fist.
Biting through the skin of the fruit, it had a sharp, sour taste with a hint of sweetness and was filled with juice.
「……Delicious.」
「Guru~」
Hearing Rei’s words, Set turned his head around and gave a cry, asking for some as well.
Set was flying at a considerable speed as he turned his head around, but as expected of a Griffon, he didn’t lose his balance.
「Okay, wait a moment.」
Quickly finishing the fruit, Rei took two more out from the Misty Ring.
He held one out to Set, who gave a gleeful cry as he grabbed in in his beak.
「Gurururu~」
「It’s delicious, isn’t it. ……This fruit is a winner. I should have stocked up more of it.」
Since it was a fruit he had only bought to try, there wasn’t that much left in the Misty Ring.
……Even so, there were still another 20, mostly because Rei was quite greedy when it came to food.
If they continued to eat them at their current pace though, the supply wouldn’t last more than a few days.
After eating the fruit, in place of snacks, they continued flying for a bit longer. When Rei saw the sun directly above their heads, he took out his pocket watch from the Misty Ring to check the time.
It was just past 12:30pm. Deciding that it was about time for lunch, Rei prompted Set to land.
They landed near a river, a short distance from the highway.
Although Rei called it a river, it was closer to a creek, about 1m wide.
That said, the reflected sunlight in the water as it flowed along was enough to soften the summer heat.
Neither Rei nor Set were that bothered by the heat, but the sight of the water made it a desirable place to cool off.
As a water source, it was probably a watering hole for monsters, but there was no way that any of them would show up knowing Set was there, making the presence known.
Of course, it would be different for low ranking monsters like Goblins, who didn’t have the intelligence to gauge the difference in strength.
「Now then, for lunch……let’s finish what we have. Luckily, we have a lot of sandwiches from Gilm. We can have some cold vegetable soup with it.」
「Gururu~!」
Set gave a joyful cry at the food that Rei took out from the Misty Ring.
The food itself was very basic, but whether it was sandwiches or soup, neither was something an adventurer would normally be able to eat while outside of a city.
The sandwiches were made with freshly baked bread and the soup was cool enough to be enjoyed in summer.
And, above all, there was plenty of both.
An amount which could easily feed more than 20 people was finished by the two of them……as the peaceful afternoon passed, it was hard to imagine the shockwaves they would be bringing to the Bestir Empire.
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