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Chapter 267

Selemus Plains. It was a buffer zone between the Mireana Kingdom and the Bestir Empire. It was a vast plain with forests, small woods and even small lakes. At the same time, it was the site of countless wars that had been waged between the Mireana Kingdom and the Bestir Empire.

Originally, due to the location of the plains, it would have been a safe area for either side to settle in. In fact, previously, the Mireana Kingdom, Bestir Empire and other small countries nearby had tried to settle here. But each time, a dispute would break out over who’s territory the Selemus Plains belonged to, resulting in skirmishes that occasionally developed into war. For this reason, basically all countries had given up on settling in the Selemus Plains and the fertile region became a buffer zone.

In addition, because the land had absorbed the blood, flesh and fear of death from thousands and tens of thousands of lives in battle, it became a natural habitat for undead. At night, it was a wandering ground for undead such as Skeletons, Zombies, Wraiths and Living Armours.

Of course, the Mireana Kingdom and Bestir Empire, who wanted to make the Selemus Plains their own, also sent Holy magic mages to purify the Selemus Plains. However, the number of grudges that had accumulated in this land where not at a level where they could be handled easily any more. In the end, the Selemus Plains were only cleansed near the border to prevent undead from entering their countries.

And now, countless tents where set up on the Mireana Kingdom’s side of the Selemus Plains. All for the upcoming war, instilling grudges back into the Selemus Plains.

「……Well, there’s a lot of people here. Did they all come to fight in this war?」

Rei said that as he and Set overlooked the camp of the Mireana Kingdom from a small hill near the Selemus Plains.

「Guru~」

Set gave a cry as if to say the same thing.

In his eyes, tents and tents stretched out as far as he could see. Knights were training to ready themselves as soon as possible. People were preparing dinner already, even though the sun was still high up and it hadn’t reached early evening yet. There were also scenes of soldiers maintaining their weapons.

Rei’s eyes couldn’t only roughly guess how many people there were, but it looked to be close to 100,000 people.

「Even then, this is not as much as our forces could have been.」

While stroking Set’s head, Rei remembered what he had heard from the knights that had been guarding him.

Daska, who was a central figure among the Neutrals faction had instructed those in his faction to bring as big a force as they could, and in fact, the Neutral nobles had done that. However, despite the fact that Duke Kerebel, a central figure in the Nobles faction, had also ordered those in the Nobles faction to bring their maximum strength, because of the high cost of doing so, some had only sent half or even a third of their military strength. And, despite being the largest faction, the force that the Royalists dispatched was only 1.5 times greater than the Nobles faction. Furthermore, even though those nobles belonged to the Royalist faction, most of them were ones that had taken opposing viewpoints or were considered problematic by their superiors.

Rei had been stunned at the time, but eventually understood why. He was told that it was inevitable many of the nobles didn’t hold the same sense of crisis as Daska, who had been directly affected.

What was surprising, however, was that the Royalist nobles that had been dispatch had prepared as large a force as they could. This wouldn’t have happened if the King had decided to fight this war as usual, but Rei guess that the nobles that were sent here were probably those who’s views conflicted with the mainstream Royalists.

(The bigger the faction, greater the number of sub-factions within it. It seems that the people who have been sent here are those who have lost out in internal faction disputes. ……?)

While stroking Set and looking at the Mireana Kingdom’s army, he noticed some people coming up the hill. A group of 5 people were heading straight for Rei and Set.

(Are they knights?)

All 5 of them were wearing chest plates and a family crest was engraved on each of their armour pieces. That alone made it clear that they were a group of nobles.

(Well, I hope they ignore me.)

If it was someone form the Neutrals faction, there wouldn’t be any issues. After all, Rei was hired by and reported directly back to Daska, who was also part of the Neutrals faction. However, it was clear that if it were someone from the Nobles or Royalists, there would be trouble.

However, Rei also judged that it would be a problem to just go back to the Rowlocks area with Set and ignore them if they were actually looking for him for something. Finally, Rei decided to wait for the five people to come over to him as he stroke Set.

Within a few minutes, the five nobles, or knights, were sprawled on the ground at the hilltop. Then after a few more minutes, they came over to Rei, who was relaxing in front of Set.

「May I have a minute?」

Rei looked over, somewhat surprised, at the unexpected question of the noble who called out.

The man wore a green chest plate, probably made from some special metal. He was in his early twenties and had a mild look on his face. Overall, his body had a good build. In addition, Rei felt the uniquely strange sensation of a magic item from the sheath at his waist.

Most of all, Rei was surprised at his lack of fear of Set. No, he may have held some fear, but just didn’t voice it. The other four clearly showed their fear in their eyes.

Rei was quite interested in the man and gave a small nod as he stood up from Set.

「Guru?」

When Set gave a small cry towards Rei, despite being a short distance from them, the four knights who had called out to Rei took a step back at the small sound.

No, that was the expected reaction. Rather it was the man that didn’t react to Set’s voice from nearby that was more abnormal.

「No problem. What do you want from me?」

「Hey, you! How dare you speak to Siminar-sama like that……」

「Ah, it’s fine, it’s fine.」

The the knights around the man called Siminar heard Rei’s words, they immediately started to shout at Rei, but surprisingly, it was Siminar that stopped them.

「But, Siminar-sama, that adventurer was talking to you so insolently……」

「I’m saying it’s fine, so it’s fine, understand?」

「……If Siminar-sama says so……hey, you. No matter how good an adventurer you are, it’s never a good idea to speak insolently to nobles. Siminar-sama has generously forgiven you, but you can’t complain if you get killed on the spot.」

The man who was stopped by Siminar had a discontented expression as he called out to Rei.

(Heh……they’re not too bad.)

At first, Rei thought that he was a typical noble, but after hearing the knight’s warning, Rei was a bit more impressed.

Rei nodded in response before giving a bow.

「I’m used to the nobility style of talking. It would be different if you were my employer, but you’re not right now, right?」

At Rei’s words, Siminar held a blank expression for a moment.

「Ku-hahahahaha. Yes, that is true. We’re just strangers to each other right now. That’s right. Let me introduce myself again. I’m Siminar Gupsos. The next head of the Count Gupsus family.」

「I’m Rei. I’m a C rank adventurer from Gilm. This is Set.」

「Guru~」

While stroking Set’s head, Rei introduced himself.

After receiving Rei’s self introduction, Siminar nodded with a smile.

Although he was someone with a gentle face, Siminar still had a dignified expression. But, when he smiled, he looked a lot more childish. That was Rei’s impression of him. If you considered that Rei had a generally prejudiced view against nobles, it could be considered a good impression.

「Ah, I know. I came here looking for you in the first place.」

「……Me?」

「Yes. I just wanted to talk with you for a while. Do you mind?」

Rei had a slightly puzzled expression as he looked at Siminar, who despite being a noble from a high ranking noble family, treated him in a friendly manner without worry about the difference in status.

If a noble tried to start a fight with him, he could do whatever he wanted, but Rei’s lack of experience showed when he was treated amicably.

Seeing, Rei’s confused expression, Siminar nodded as if understanding something and called out to the four people with him.

「I’m sorry, but please move a little further away. It seems Rei is of the shy kind.」

「Siminar-sama!?」

「Please reconsider, it’s an adventurer you’re not familiar with……and we can’t just leave you somewhere with a high ranking monster like a Griffon.」

The two knights spoke quickly to change Siminar’s thoughts as the other two knights hurriedly nodded, but Siminar was stubborn.

「If the Griffon there really wanted to do anything to me, it wouldn’t change much even I had four guards.」

「But!」

「Too much talk. I said stand down.」

His stronger tone gave people a feeling that he was familiar with ordering people around.

Even from Rei’s point of view, Siminar held a suitable amount of dignity to be the successor of a noble family.

『……』

Eventually, the four knights followed his orders, albeit reluctantly. The left Rei and Siminar alone on the pretext of scouting around the hill.

「To be honest, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.」

「……For me? Why?」

「You’re famous among the adventurers, aren’t you? Before this war began, you would have only been famous around Gilm, but there are a lot of adventurers D rank and high gathered here. In the midst of all this, you’ve come from Gilm, a city which is said to have the best elites among adventurers. You’ve brought a Griffon, an item box and can also stand your ground in combat……you understand? It’s natural that rumors would spread.」

「Even if you talk about my combat skill, the war has yet to actually start……」

As Rei said that, he remembered something Runo had told him previously.

The fact that stories of him beating up people who tried to mess with him had spread rapidly.

「……Well, I understand the general situation. So, why are you so interested in me?」

「Well, I’ll ask straightforwardly then. It seems you’re not so good at talking in a roundabout way. ……Rei, why don’t you come under me?」

「Under you?」

「Ah. ……That’s right, I forgot to tell you. My family, the Count Gupsos family, is part of the Royalists. No, to be exact, I should say that we are an alienated member of the Royalists.」

「You are alienated?」

「My father had a fallling out with the King’s close aide. Currently, the Count Gupsos family is the black sheep among the Royalist faction.」

It was his own family, but he held no sadness at all……seeing what seemed to be a happy smile, Rei was somewhat puzzled inside.

Rei knew how important family standing was to nobles in Elgin. But yet, the man in front of him seemed to be openly downplaying his house.

「So, how about it? If you come to me, I think can provide you suitable treatment.」

「I’m sorry, but for the short term, I don’t plan to leave Gilm. I’ll have to turn down your offer.」

「……Heh. If you don’t mind, may I know why?」

「Because being in Gilm is convenient for me in various ways.」

It wasn’t possible for Rei to say he was collecting uncollected magic stones for the Magic Beast Art, so he tried to dodge the question.

「I don’t know how convenient it is, but still, wouldn’t it be better to be in the Count Gupsos territory near the Mireana capital than to be on the frontier?」

「Let’s see. I guess I should say that it’s better because it is the frontier.」

「Kuku, you’re a really interesting person. I never thought you would decline an invitation from a noble so bluntly. ……But well, there’s no helping it if you refuse. I don’t want to force our relationship to worsen. And……it seems that there are more invitations to come aside from me.」

Siminar glimpsed something for a moment as he saw a single person climb up the hill before smiling.

「Oh, I see. Is it because you have an invitation from the Princess General? In that case, I guess it is natural that you would refuse the invitation of a sordid man like me.」

When Rei heard the words ‘Princess General’, he almost reflexively turned to look at the person coming towards him.

At the end of his line of sight was the figure of a female knight carrying a battle axe. On her shoulder, he could see a small figure. At that point, Rei could guess who was climbing up the hill and had a small smile on his mouth without even realising it.

「Well, I guess I’ll just leave my greetings today. If you’re looking for work or want help, just tell me. I’m always welcome to lend a favour to a strong person.」

At that point, Siminar called his four guards back before going down the hill.

On the way, he seemed to talk briefly to the female knight with the battle axe, but soon returned to his own position without any altercations.