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Chapter 303

「Hmm, it’s going to take another half a month, isn’t it……this is just boring.」

Rei muttered to himself inside a carriage.

When Runo heard his mutter, he turned to look at Rei.

「You say that it will be boring, but can’t you just get on Set and fly back to Gilm first?」

「Well. If I were the only one heading back, I could probably do that. But as long as I’m hired to carry the supplies, I can’t just do whatever I want.」

「That’s true. Not only will order start to disappear, we would also starve to death.」

The knights who was riding in the same carriage replied at Rei’s words.

He was a different knight to the ones who had escorted Rei on the way to the Selemous Plains, but he was still comfortable with Rei as he saw him as a fellow member of the Rowlocks army.

Living in the city of Gilm, where elite adventurers gathered, the knight felt at ease with Rei and wasn’t afraid despite of Rei’s new title. It was because the knight had such a personality that Daska had chosen him to be Rei’s escort.

Yes, right now, Rei and the Rowlocks army had already left the Selemous Plains as they started their journey back to Gilm.

Currently, he was still travelling with Daska, but about half the knights, including Daska, would head to the Royal Capital to attend a ceremony celebrating their victory in the war while the other knights and adventurers went straight back to Gilm.

「Anyway, a ceremony is it?」

「What, are you feeling envious? I thought you weren’t interested in those kinds of things.」

The knight looked at Runo as if he had just seen something unusual.

「Definitely, I’m not interested in troublesome ceremonies, but there will be a lot of luxurious food served at parties as well as dressed up noble girls.」

「……Food? That’s true.」

It was Rei, rather than Runo, who replied to those words. However, Rei’s emphasis was more on the food rather than the dressed up noble girls.

「Sure, if you attended a nobles party, you’d definitely be able to rare dishes. But……you would have to have a lot of merits to attend right? Either that, or you’d have to be a noble like Daska-sama. In that case, you would have been able to enjoy good food and drink if you had attended the party.」

「……So, you want me to get dragged into disputes between nobles? That’s no joke. In that case, even if I don’t get to eat good food, it would be much better to be in Gilm where I can spend my time freely.」

(Especially if I consider Renodis’ parents, I will definitely get dragged into troubles.)

At his own thoughts, the face of a haughty noble passed through his mind.

In the end, the matter of how to deal with Renodis was left entirely in Daska’s hands. Of course, Dask was one of the negotiators with the Aristocratic faction……or rather, the one of the lead negotiators with the Aristocratic faction, so he was more than happy to take care of it.

Thinking of how Egg and Egg’s old friend Verda has been used, Rei felt that it had been Daska’s plan from the beginning.

「Those are just disputes between nobles, isn’t it? I didn’t achieve too much this time, so it doesn’t really matter for me. If I attended the ceremony, I would have just relaxed and enjoyed the food and drink.」

「……If you didn’t achieve much, you wouldn’t get invited to the ceremony in the first place.」

Rei retorted at Runo’s words, but the knight smiled a little when he heard that.

「That’s not true right? Runo is charge of escorting you. And since Rei has attracted a lot of attention, naturally your escorts would also recieve some focus.」

「Ugh, so you think I’ll also get dragged into it? I’m sorry then. As Rei said, let’s go back to Gilm right away.」

Rei turned to look at Runo, who immediately went back on his earlier words.

Regardless, the atmosphere inside the carriage wasn’t as tense as before the war had began, probably because they had won the war.

If they had been defeated in the battle at Selemous Plains, it was certain that the Bestir Empire’s army would have collapsed on the Mireana Kingdom by now.

「Anyway, this war was easier than I expected. The actual battle was over within a day, and even in that fight, the neutrals just plunged into the enemy when Rei threw them into confusion with his magic. After that, we just threw out magic to support the Royalists while the ambush unit attacked the enemy’s main camp.」

「It’s not uncommon for battles to continue for several days normally, it might even go on for weeks or months in the worst case. ……In fact, we barely used any of the supplies in Rei’s Misty Ring, did we?」

The knight looked at Rei after replying to Runo.

「Ah. Most of the food that had been brought has been finished. However, that was only because of the massive celebration that happened with the victory feasts.」

Rei recalled the victory feasts that were held.

Originally, they had brought along a large number of cooked dishes as food. Those freshly cooked dishes that had been stored into the Misty Ring were served in large amounts in the feasts. Thanks to that, Rei ended up being more exhausted than when he had been fighting.

Like that, the Rowlocks army continued their way down the road.

A few days after they left the Selemous Plains, the number of people in the march started to gradually decrease.

This was because many of the nobles that were accompanying them split off to return to their own territories.

Of course, the Aristocratic faction would also be attending the ceremony scheduled to take place in the Royal Capital, so they were travelling alongside the Rowlocks army, which belonged to the Neutral faction. However, even they couldn’t bring their entire army to the Royal Capital. If they did that, there was a possibility that others would accuse them of trying to start a revolt.

「……Are you serious? We’ve finally repelled the Bestir Empire’s army, so why are they causing so much trouble?」

Rei asked hearing what was happening from the knight, who had brought it up to kill time inside the carriage.

「It’s because we have just driven away the imminent threat of the Bestir Empire. Moreover, the damage our armies took as a whole was minor. ……The problem is that it was the Royalists that suffered most of the minor damage that our armies as a whole received. The Neutrals have made quite a name for themselves thanks to you. That’s not surprising considering you earned the title of Crimson.」

「Well, that’s undeniable.」

Rei nodded after remembering the prisoners of war they had captured from the Bestir Empire.

「Even though the Royalists were able to defeat the enemy’s chief commander, you, and by extension Daska-sama who hired you, arguably were the ones who earned the most merit in this war. In other words, it has pushed the Neutral faction to prominence. Do you think that the Royalist faction, the largest faction, would be pleased with that? They will want to try and reduce the influence that the Neutral faction by making it as hard as possible for them. With that in mind, it’s best to not go to the Royal Capital.」

Rei, who didn’t know much about noble etiquette, had no idea about sort of fault they could find about him. As a result, he had no particular objections to what the knight said.

「If it were just the Royalist nobles who participated in the war, they would know about the dangers of offending you……unfortunately, the Royalists who participated in this war can’t be considered part of the mainstream Royalist faction. Even if they’ve heard about you, they won’t actually realise the danger of angering you. As for the Aristocratic faction, I think they know about how dangerous you are in great detail. 」

The knight gave a bitter smile.

Rumours that Rei had taken action against a noble named Renodis, who had tried to kill him, had become widespread among the nobles who were part of the Mireana Kingdom army.

However, although Daska had been spreading the story as such in order to push his own agenda, most of the nobles had seen Rei’s ability with their own eyes.

Rei had shown such skill that even the proud Aristocratic nobles were convinced. However, that only applied to the nobles who had participated in the war. For those who hadn’t seen Rei with their own eyes and had only heard about him from others, that information might cause them to make a different judgement. Because of that, there was a risk that someone might give the order to try to capture Rei if he went to the Royal Capital.

With that in mind, Daska’s decision to not bring Rei to the Royal Capital couldn’t have been more correct.

「……If you were to use that fire tornado in the Royal Capital, they would suffer even more damage than what the Bestir Empire’s army received. In addition, Rei also has Set.」

Runo muttered after hearing the knight’s words.

Even the strongest soldiers, like Dragon Knights, were easily dispatched by Rei and Set, who were able to fly. With that in mind, it was clear that even if a capture order was issued in the Royal Capital, they would take unnecessary damage as long as Set was around.

「Anyway, Rei and the rest of us will be able to return to Gilm safely. The problem is what come after……」

「……Problems? Is there still something after?」

He wasn’t going to the Royal Capital where he would definitely get dragged into disputes. So why would there still be problems? Rei asked, but Runo just shrugged his shoulders as he replied.

「You don’t know? Gilm sent out many adventurers to join the war. Of course, the city still had a certain level of defence, but it was just the bare minimum. From my experience in previous wars, it’s safe to guess that many requests that were sent to the guild have been delayed. Of course, urgent requests and subjugation requests where monsters are likely to cause a lot of damage are given higher priority, but conversely, any requests other than those would be pushed back. There should be quite a lot of requests on the request board. ……You should be prepared. After you return to the guild in Gilm, you are likely to recieve priority requests from the guild for a while. Usually, I’ll just pick a request and take it to the counter……but my feeling is that you’ll be busy until you complete a fair number of requests.」

「……Ugh……」

Hearing Runo’s words, Rei gave an involuntary groan.

Rei, whose goal was to collect the magic stones of different monsters, welcomed subjugation requests. However, he wasn’t as fond of other requests. Of course, it didn’t mean that he wouldn’t take them on, like the time he received an escort request, but it was also true that he didn’t like them. That said, he did have the thought that he might be able to fight monsters if served as a guard in an escort request.

(In that case, I should choose a request that allows me to fight more monster. ……I hope I’ll be able to do something in the three months before heading for the Labyrinth City.)

「Well, it can’t be helped. If we don’t work hard, it will be dangerous for Gilm in various ways.」

「That’s right. After all, there are even times when the knights will be requested to help.」

「Is that okay? For knights to work like adventurers?」

「Of course it’s not great, but it doesn’t make sense to let the economy and security of Gilm to lapse just because of the rules, right? For that reason, it’s tolerated to a certain extent……it’s really only for times when adventurers really can’t get around to finish requests.」

After saying that, there was the sound of a knock on the carriage door.

「Who is it?」

Runo judged that it wasn’t an enemy seeing as Set, who was walking beside the carriage, wasn’t on alert. However, he still asked just in case.

「I am a knight. Daska-sama is calling for Rei.」

Opening the door and poking his head out to check, it was definitely a knight. Whether it was Runo or Rei, it was a knight they were familiar with.

Naturally, the knight inside the carriage recognised the face of his fellow knight and greeted him with a smile.

「Daska-sama? Why does he need Rei again?」

「We’re near the point where the road splits towards the Royal Capital. Before we reach that, he would like to talk with Rei, since he was the one who earned the most merit in this war. I think there are also various things to take note of.」

「Ah, are we already near that point? I got it. I’ll bring Rei to Daska-sama’s carriage right away.」

Saying that, the knight got out of the carriage with Rei to meet with Daska.

However, Runo, who was acting as Rei’s escort, didn’t follow as he stayed inside the carriage.

「Hey, aren’t you coming?」

「You are basically safe here and I don’t feel so comfortable having to meet with nobles. I don’t like feeling so suffocated.」

「Daska-sama isn’t someone who cares about that.」

Even though the knight said that, just shrugged his shoulders and apologised as he saw Rei off.

A few hours later, the army split into two with Rei’s group heading back to Gilm while Daska’s group went towards the Royal Capital.

As for the magic item that Daska had promised Rei, he would receive it after Daska returned to Gilm. Until then, he would only receive the basic reward from the guild.