「So, in the end, everything will be decided in four days. This war seems long, but it was actually quite short.」
「Guru~?」
It was night time, in front of Rei’s magic tent. Rei muttered to Set, who he was leaning against while warming himself up by the campfire.
It was already deep into autumn and the mornings and nights were now cold rather than cool.
It was certain that winter would arrive soon, which was why both Mercurio’s army and the punitive force were in a hurry to settle the war.
Rei could understand that much.
「Anyhow, the battle in four days will decide this civil war. When that happens, it could become troublesome for use to stay here, so once the battle is decided, we will take our reward and quickly return to Gilm. Set, you miss Gilm, right? Milein as well.」
「Gurururu~」
It definitely wasn’t Rei’s imagination that Set seemed a little troubled at Milein’s name.
She always doted on Set……and Rei aside, she was the one with the strongest affection for Set in this world.
Even Set didn’t dislike her, as she would feed him all sorts of food.
But……there was always a strange light in her eyes when she looked at Set, making him feel a little uncomfortable around her.
「You haven’t seen Lenora or Kenny in ages as well, so you want to see them too, don’t you?」
「Guru~!」
Rei gave a cry without hesitation.
While they weren’t as enthusiastic as Milein, the duo were both people who doted on him more than enough.
And, what made Set happier than anything was the fact that he could tell those two genuinely cared about Rei.
Of course, Set liked people who doted on him, but it was also important that they cared for Rei, who he loved.
……If Milein were to ever find out about that, there was a good chance she would start to openly express feelings towards Rei rather than Set.
There was a saying in Japan, where Rei once lived, that if you want to shoot the general, shoot his horse first. But, in Milein’s case, it was more like shooting the general to get the horse.
「Besides……winter is the season for Gamelions to appear.」
「Guru~!」
Set replied a lot faster than when Rei had been talking about Lenora and Kenny.
Rei couldn’t help but smile at his partner’s reaction, but he also felt that it couldn’t be helped.
Gamelions looked like a giant, ferocious rabbit, but its meat was delicious and it was a winter specialty of Gilm.
「……Gilm?」
Rei suddenly thought of something.
Perhaps there were Gamelions in the Bestir Empire as well.
It was true that Gamelions lived near Gilm. But that didn’t mean they only lived near Gilm.
It wouldn’t be strange to find them in the Bestir Empire as well.
(If that’s the case, if we travel correctly, we might be able to get more Gamelion meat……right? I’ll kill some Gamelions in the Bestir Empire, store them in the Misty Ring, and then hurry back to Gilm to kill more Gamelions. I think I can do that.)
Thinking that far, he spoke to Set, who he was leaning against.
「Hey, Set. Would you like to eat more Gamelion?」
「Gururururu~!」
Set gave a cry of agreement.
Some soldiers were passing by where Rei had set up his magic tent heard Set’s cry.
They were on night patrol, so it was only natural.
Of course, the soldiers had fond feelings for Set as well.
Still, it was somewhat surprising to hear Set give a cry while they were on night patrol.
Fortunately, Rei had set up his tent on the edge of the camp, so the other tents around him were mostly used to store supplies.
……As a side note, the reason why Rei had set up his tent here wasn’t just because there were fewer people.
With so many people now in Mercurio’s army, it was only natural that some nasty people would sneak in.
The other reason he had set up his tent here was to deal with anyone who tried to steal supplies.
Set had already caught several such people, so there were no longer any daredevils willing to sneak in here.
Even so, soldiers continued to patrol the area as there would be various effects on their reputation were they to leave it entirely to Set.
「Calm down a bit. Well, I guess it’s fine. Once this is all over, let’s go and check if there are any places here where Gamelions appear. ……No, we don’t even have to go to the guild or anything to ask, there are a lot of adventurers here, so we can just ask them.」
「Guru~?」
Really? Set gave a happy cry as Rei smiled and threw some firewood in the the campfire.
The sound of crackling could be heard leaving a somewhat unique atmosphere.
「……Autumn, huh?」
As Rei muttered to himself, various autumn foods that he had eaten in Japan came to his mind.
Because he had lived near the mountains, there were chestnuts, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, and pears.
Sweetfish was another favourite of Rei’s
Sweetfish were usually in season in summer, but in autumn, sweetfish carrying eggs would head from the rivers out to sea.
Those sweetfish were called autumn sweetfish and could be considered a seasonal dish that could only be eaten in the countryside.
「Other than that, pacific saury? Fatty pacific saury grilled with salt and eaten with grated daikon radish and soy sauce……」
「Guru~, Gururururu~!」
Just listening to Rei’s description seem to make Set hungry.
I want to eat it too! Set seemed to say with a cry.
However, pacific saury was a fish from Earth and it wasn’t known whether it existed in Elgin or not.
(Even if it did exist, there are monsters in the sea, so it’s highly likely that they would be eaten by them. Fishing is difficult as well, unlike on Earth.)
Naturally, there were no modern conveniences such as fish finders in this world.
When it came to fishing, it was all about the experience and intuition of the fisherman.
「Ah……no good. Thinking about pacific saury makes me really want to eat it. Fatty saury with refreshing grated daikon. If I can eat it with rice, I would eat as much as I could.」
As a side note, Rei wasn’t the type to eat the innards as well.
His father, who liked to drink as well, did though.
「Gururu~, Gurururu~!」
Hearing Rei’s story, Set’s appetite was further stimulated. I want to eat, I want to eat! He seemed to say with more cries.
「Even so, it’s not certain that saury exist in this world……well, since there are raiots, which look just like pears, I can’t completely deny the possibility that they do exist. ……Maybe I’ll find out if I got to Emoshion?」
The image of the port town he had visited before flashed through his mind as he muttered.
「Gururururu~」
Maybe he would be able to eat saury there. Set gave a cry in high spirits with those expectations in his mind.
Such cries echoed through the camp at night, but since Rei was on the outskirts, no particular issues resulted from it, aside from some guards on patrol, who shook their heads at each other.
In the downtown equivalent of Mercurio’s army camp, where the brothels and bars were collected, victory parties were being held as people were lively and noisy.
Rei had thought about going there with Set to party a bit……or more accurately, to enjoy the food. But he knew that they stood out in various ways.
If he were to show up where a party was being held, he would definitely get into trouble.
Especially since it was now late at night, everyone was sure to be drunk.
Rei stood up, enviously watching the cheers coming from the edge of the camp where he was.
「Well, whether we east saury or Gamelion, it’s meaningless if we don’t win the battle in four days. Now, Set, I’m going to sleep soon to prepare for tomorrow. We’ll have to skin the Wyverns tomorrow, so it will take some time.」
「Guru~!」
Set gave a short reply in response to Rei’s words and lay down on the spot.
As always, he was on guard against anyone approaching Rei.
「Sorry, Set. You’ve always helped me out. Ah, if you’re hungry, have some of this.」
With those words, Rei placed some sandwiches next to Set before going inside his magic tent.
The next day, three days before the final battle.
Rei had his guerrilla unit help with skinning the Wyverns outside the camp.
He had killed 5 Dragon Knights……so there were 5 Wyverns.
The amount of materials that could be obtained from that many Wyverns was quite large.
That said, it would still be impossible to make leather armour for the entire guerrilla force from them.
Who would get a piece would be decided later, based on ability.
Rei wanted to train them well, but with the final battle in three days, he couldn’t train them recklessly.
As a result, rather than training under Rei, the guerrilla force fought mock battles among themselves.
The prize for them in this case was Wyvern leather armour.
「Captain Rei, I do have to say that it takes a fair amount of time to make Wyvern hide into usable leather.」
「Isn’t there a magic item for that?」
The blacksmith from Mercurio’s army frowned slightly at Rei’s words.
Normally, it would take more than a week to tan hide to turn it into leather that could be used to make armour.
However, that was for ordinary animals or low ranking monsters. It wasn’t uncommon for it to take several weeks for higher ranking monsters like Wyverns.
Naturally, they wouldn’t be able to be made in time for the battle if they waited that long, so Rei resorted to the magic item that the blacksmiths had.
The magic item greatly reduced the time it took to turn hides into leather.
It was a rare magic item for blacksmiths, but……
「It’s true that the time can be shortened with Dream Drops, but the quality will deteriorate as well.」
Yes, the quality would deteriorate.
That was the only and greatest drawback of the magic item, Dream Drops.
Still, Rei chose to use it because it was the only way to make it in time for the final battle.
「The only consolation is that the weapons made from Wyvern fangs and claws can be used without dropping in quality.」
「Even if you say that, you can only use them for arrowheads or spear tips. If we used magic to process the Wyvern bones and blood to make weapons, it would be possible to turn them into magic weapons such as magic swords……but even so, it would be impossible to do that in the three remaining days.」
「I suppose so. But, you can make them after this battle. If it’s the guerrilla unit, they’ll definitely be going through hell. I think a reward of that magnitude would be fine for them.」
「Sure, leave it to me.」
Nodding at the blacksmith’s words, Rei called out to the people who were dismantling the Wyvern.
「Tonight’s dinner is Wyvern meat! To make it taste good, make sure you cut up the meat properly! If you butcher it roughly, the flavour of the meat will deteriorate!」
『Understood!』
While the guerrilla unit replied in unison, one person came over to Rei.
「Captain Rei, is it okay to be so generous?」
It was Pernyx, the vice captain of the guerrilla force, and the one who actually led them.
Rei nodded as he and Set watched the Wyverns be dismantled.
「The next battle will definitely be a big one. This is the perfect opportunity to regain our strength for that and to receive a reward if they survive.」
「I know I shouldn’t say this, but it’s a waste. A rare monster like a Wyvern would be worth a lot if we took it to the right place.」
「I’m not really short on money.」
Rei said those words without any particular hesitation and Pernyx and the blacksmith couldn’t help but agree.
Rei was a high ranking adventurer at B rank and he had a Griffon following him, whose strength was comparable to that or even surpassing a B rank adventurer.
For someone with that level of skill, it wasn’t hard to earn money.
If he killed just a few higher ranking monsters, or just went into a dungeon, the rewards he could obtain would be undoubtedly incredible.
「Well then, I’ll leave the leather armour to you.」
「……Yes. It’s rare for us to be able to use Wyvern materials after all. I’ll do everything I can.」
Rei nodded back at the blacksmith’s words……and so the day passed with a feast of Wyvern meat after dismantling the Wyverns.
There were three days until the final battle. Everyone waited for the time to arrive with two emotions, anxiety and anticipation.