Legend

「What to say, you really are busy aren’t you.」

「No, not really. I had wanted to take a bit more time off.」

「Gururu~」

Rei shrugged his shoulders as he replied to the guard at the front gate, who called out to him with some surprise.

Next to Rei, Set also gave a cry in agreement.

After leaving the lord’s residence, he met back up with Set, who was playing in the garden as usual. Going back to the Dusk Wheat, Rei told the proprietress, Lana, that he would be away from Gilm for a few days before heading out to the main gate.

As for why he went back to tell Lana that he would be out even though he had already paid for several days worth of lodging, it was purely to leave a message behind for the people who wanted to come to see Set.

Although Rei stayed at the Dusk Wheat as his regular lodging, most of his belongings were stored in the Misty Ring.

For an ordinary adventurer, when leaving an inn, they would have to deal with the hassle of carrying their belongings out and disposing other items, but……as far as Rei was concerned, he had no need to worry about that and was able to leave whenever he wanted.

In this case, however, he would only be away for a few days, so it wasn’t that big of an issue.

「Well, if Rei and Set are going on a trip to exterminate bandits, then I have no complaints, in fact, I’m quite happy about it.」

A serious expression appeared on the guard’s face as he spoke to Rei.

As a guard……and more than anything else, as a resident of Gilm, he probably understood the seriousness of continued attacks on merchants.

Of course, since merchants would hire adventurers as escorts, not all merchants would be attacked.

Many attacks were repelled, but as the season changed to late summer, the number of merchants heading to Gilm also increased greatly.

Among them, there were many merchants who underestimated the frontier and, for such people, many would not pay for an escort.

As a result, more and more merchants were attacked by bandits.

Furthermore, the bandits in question had the cunning to kill everyone they attacked to hide their tracks as much as possible.

「Give me regards to Captain Ranga.」

「Sure.」

After completing all the procedures, Rei was sent off by the guards as he passed through the gate.

「Ah, it’s Set. You’re still cute as always.」

As Rei walked with Set to a place a bit away from the highway, an adventurer who was just completing the procedures to enter the city called out to them.

(Set is pretty well know at this point, I think the rule that we have to move away from the gate before flying should be removed.)

Thinking like that, after making sure that they were far away enough from the main gate and highway, Rei got onto Set’s back.

「Well then, let’s go, Set.」

「Gururururu~!」

Giving a sharp cry at Rei’s words, Set took a few steps before flapping his wings and running into the air.

「……Guru~?」

As they flew through the sky towards Abuelo, Set gave a suspicious cry.

Hearing his cry, Rei looked down and found a surprising scene on the ground……or, in some senses, an expected sight.

3 carriages were being chased by a group of horsemen.

It was a common scene in this world, but the most surprising thing was the number of horsemen.

A quick count from the air showed that there were nearly 30 horsemen.

It was a number that already exceeded bandit groups. It was closer to a small army from some country or a group of mercenaries.

「No, I see. A mercenary group?」

His own words made Rei come to a unfortunate conclusion.

It wasn’t uncommon for a mercenary group who could find no work to switch to becoming bandits.

However, with many powerful monsters and adventurers on the frontier, even if they became bandits, most of them would be annihilated immediately.

「But, what if it’s a mercenary group with the strength to hold their won? In that case, it would be hard for the city guards or the small number of knights dispatched to Abuelo to deal with them. ……That said, that’s just my own speculation.」

「Guru~?」

What do we do? Set asked while turning his head back. After thinking for a moment, he told Set to head for the carriages.

Hearing Rei’s request, Set descended towards the carriage that was frantically running away from the group of horsemen that were chasing after them.

The first to notice Set wasn’t the three carriages desperately escaping, but the horsemen chasing them.

Considering the distance, it was only natural.

Then, as soon as the horsemen realised that there was a Griffon coming towards them, the one leading the group immediately gave a signal.

In an instant, the horsemen turned away from Rei and Set and stopped chasing the carriage.

(They’re well coordinated. With that, the chances of them being bandits are low. ……No, they might just be well disciplined bandits.)

Thinking like that, Rei called out to the carriage driver who was still frantically driving their carriage.

「Hey, the bandits are gone.」

「Eh? ……AHH!」

The carriage driver let out a startled cry at the voice that suddenly called out from beside him.

It wasn’t an unreasonable response. The driver had been chased by bandits and all of a sudden a voice suddenly called out from next to them.

Moreover, Set was running along the ground instead of flying in order to speak with the carriage driver at the same eye level.

In that situation, it was only normal for the carriage driver to assume that the bandits had caught up to them.

Rei immediately noticed the tense expression of the carriage driver as well as a merchant in his 40s trembling inside the carriage as he readied a bow and gave a sigh.

「Don’t worry……although you might not believe it, I’m not a bandit. I’m an adventurer from Gilm.」

Rei said that and stroked Set’s neck as he rode alongside the carriage.

「Haven’t you heard about it? There’s an adventurer in Gilm with a tamed Griffon.」

「……Ah.」

Those words seemed to have triggered the merchant’s memory and he made a sound as he lowered his bow.

As the carriage slowed down, the carriages behind it also slowed down.

「Pardon me!」

The merchant bowed his head towards Rei.

It was the merchant who had been pointing his bow at Rei earlier.

「No, don’t worry about it. It couldn’t be helped that you mistook me for a bandit in that situation. ……Even so, there aren’t a lot of people with you.」

With three carriages moving together, Rei had thought the would be at least 15 people. But, in total, only five merchants stepped out.

It didn’t seem like a merchant caravan with three carriages.

「……Yeah, that is……」

Another merchants spoke up with some difficulty.

「We didn’t’ expect bandits to have that many horses. If it had just been a few horsemen, we probably could have handled it……」

「You didn’t prepare an escort?」

「……Yes.」

There had to be various reasons for the merchants, but in the current situation where the area was infested with large bandit groups, the merchants were sitting ducks moving around with that many carriages and without a proper escort. What’s more, not only were they sitting ducks, it seemed like they were sitting ducks complete with pots, knives, chopping boards, and cutlery to cook a meal.

(However, there were a lot of bandits. They were strangely well disciplined, I don’t think the merchants would have been able to manage with just two or three escorts.)

As Rei was thinking like that, one of the merchants spoke up after some internal struggle.

「So, um……if possible, would you be able to escort us to Abuelo? Of course, we will pay you properly.」

「Hey, we don’t have enough money……」

「But if we skimp on an escort and lose everything as result, there’s no point!」

「……Damn it.」

While looking at the merchants arguing with each other, Rei also thought about what he should do.

He understood from their conversation that there were some special circumstances, however, he also had to join up with Ranga and the others in Abuelo as soon as possible.

Thinking that far, he suddenly came up with an idea.

(In the first place, the main trouble is taking out the bandits. In that case, it’s not a bad idea to reduce the fighting strength of the bandits before meeting up with Ranga. In the best case, it might even be possible to round them all up.)

Rei called out to the merchants

「If you agree to my conditions, I can escort you for free……what do you think?」

At the word ‘free’, the merchants all stopped arguing and turned to look at Rei.

The merchant who had the bow asked Rei nervously.

「Your condition……what is it? I’m sorry, but there’s not much we can pay you.」

「It’s not like I’m asking you for something else instead of money. Actually, I’m heading to Abuelo, but the reason is to deal with the bandits that attacked your carriages earlier. Anyway, I would like to reduce the strength of the bandits to make things easier later.」

「But, they won’t attack if you’re here, right?」

At one of the merchant’s words, Rei nodded as he looked at Set.

Set was currently lying down on the grass by the side of the road, eyes close, as he kept watch of the surroundings.

For those who didn’t know as much……for example, the merchants in front of Rei, they probably just thought that Set was just basking in the sun.

Even though it was over 30C.

「Yeah. To be exact, rather than me……if Set is present, the bandits won’t show up. So, I’ll hide in one of the carriages and wait for the bandits to come.」

「……Wait a second. You want to use us as decoys to lure in the bandits?」

「Yes.」

Rei readily agreed with the merchant’s question.

In response, veins started to appear on the merchant’s head and Rei continued before the merchant could start shouting.

「Don’t you think it’s better to have me as an escort, even if I’m using you as bait, rather than not having an escort at all? If the bandits come out, I promise to take care of all of them of course.」

「Keh, t-that’s……」

The merchant who had been about to shout choked up.

It was true. Since it was impossible for them to pay and hire Rei, they would have to give up on an escort, the only way for Rei to escort them was to let him use them as bait.

The former option would put their lives in danger, but the latter meant enduring the humiliation of being used as bait to attract bandits.

「I think merchants make choices that benefit them, don’t they?」

Everyone fell silent at Rei’s words……after a bit of time, the timid merchant who had pointed his bow at Rei spoke up.

「Understood, we accept your conditions.」

「Hey!」

Another merchant shouted out involuntarily, but the timid merchant shook his head before speaking.

「What he said is correct. We can’t afford to pay him a reward, but we need his power to protect ourselves from bandits. That’s the power of the adventurer called Crimson.」

「That is……」

Information was the lifeblood of a merchant.

In Gilm, information about Rei, or more precisely, Set, was widespread. As a result, merchants would naturally hear about them.

Since there were no adventurers other than Rei who had a Griffon as a tamed monster, it was easy to identify who he was.

「Besides, depending on how you look at it, it means we can round up all the bandits coming after us, so I don’t think it’s such a bad idea. As long as he’s around, even if those guys from earlier attack us again, at that point, they will definitely be wiped out. ……Isn’t that right?」

「That’s my intention.」

Rei did intend to use the merchant caravan as bait, but he also had no intention of harming them.

「……Can we really trust you?」

Rei shrugged his shoulders at the merchant’s words as he replied.

「If you don’t believe me, I don’t mind. I don’t have to be so concerned about you guys. There are plenty of other merchants and trading companies that travel back and forth between Gilm and Abuelo.」

「That is……」

Glancing at the merchant, who was at a loss for words, Rei turned back to the timid merchant, who seemed to be the leader of the caravan, and asked him to confirm their decision.

「So, do you accept my proposal?」

「Yes, we’ll be in your care.」

Contrary to his timid personality, the merchant made his decision immediately as he bowed his head.

Although somewhat surprised at his response, Rei was impressed by the merchant’s attitude.