『Well then, we’re heading for the Imperial Capital. ……No, we’re returning home! Both armies may have their own thoughts on the subject, but I expect everyone to not cause any trouble. Remember, you are now marching under Prince Mercurio’s banner. No causing trouble, and definitely no fighting among each other. Don’t disappoint His Highness.』

Theorem’s voice echoed over the Brissa Plain.

Amplified by a mage’s wind magic, his words reached every soldier in both Mercurio’s army and the punitive force.

With that, both forces departed the Brissa Plains, the place of the largest and final battle of this civil war.

Moving ahead of both armies was Rei, the one who had made the biggest name for himself and proven his strength during the civil war.

As always, he was riding on Set’s back, advancing towards the Imperial Capital with an aura that could only be described as majestic.

The main reason Rei was at the front wasn’t just due to his high capability as a scout to detect bandits or monsters first. Rather, it was largely because he and Set had earned massive renown on the battlefield.

Rei and Set were already well known in the Bestir Empire due to the Spring War.

But after coming second in the fighting tournament and earning the most achievements in the following civil war, it was clear to everyone that he had been the most important person in the war.

With someone like that leading the march, anyone thinking of starting trouble in the back had to think twice out of respect or fear of Rei.

Ideally, for morale, Mercurio, the leader of the army, should have been at the front. But considering the potential danger, that wasn’t really an option.

It might have been different if he were in a heavily fortified carriage like Frizione, but while the First Princess could get away with riding inside one, Prince Mercurio needed to show his bravery now that the civil war was over, so he avoided riding in a carriage like that.

Of course, if there was any real danger, he would have rode inside a fortified carriage regardless, but with Theorem, Vihera, and Digma, for some reason, surrounding him, his safety was all but guaranteed.

「……Well, from what I can see, there isn’t a single enemy around.」

「But, Captain Rei, we still shouldn’t let our guard down.」

The one speaking to Rei was Pernyx, the vice captain and actual commander of the guerrilla unit.

As Rei was leading the march, the guerrilla unit was naturally behind him.

Those who had been isolated in the medical clinic due to the Wyvern leather armour incident had since returned to the unit.

Because of that, one of the reason Rei had accepted the role of leading the march to the Imperial Capital was to restore the guerrilla unit’s reputation.

As a unit under his command, he couldn’t stand them being called traitors just because they fell for Kabajid’s trap.

That said, it was well known within Mercurio’s army that the guerrilla unit was under Rei’s direct command.

Especially since their training was so intense it looked like overkill to outsiders, the sight of the guerrilla unit training had become something of a local spectacle.

Because of that, hardly anyone would call the guerrilla unit traitors to their faces. Even if they did speak of it, it was mostly whispered behind backs so it wouldn’t reach Rei’s ears.

But, the fact such words still reached Rei occasionally was proof that there were plenty of people jealous of the guerrilla unit’s existence.

To be fair, those people had a point.

They argued that despite receiving such preferential treatment, the unit hadn’t achieved results to match.

After the initial confusion settled, the guerrilla unit had managed to defeat soldiers from the punitive force, taking down commanders, knights, and even a few nobles.

Still, the initial infighting had been a huge shock to the members of Mercurio’s army.

「Besides, we’ve defeated and absorbed the punitive force into our own army. Do you really think anyone would mess with us in this situation? At the very least, I don’t think it’s something random bandits from around here would try.」

「Even so. There’s also the possibility of monsters appearing. Especially now, with winter just around the corner. Many monsters come out this time of year trying to store up food for the cold, so we need to be careful.」

「……You do know I am an adventurer, right? Though, that’s fair enough, I’m not that familiar with monsters in the Bestir Empire.」

As Rei replied to Pernyx, who was following behind him, the vice captain continued in a serious tone.

「It’s not so bad around here, but we have to pay particular attention to bear monsters.」

「……Do they hibernate in winter as well?」

「Yes. With regards to that, they aren’t too different form ordinary bears. Of course, depending on the exact species, there are some bear monsters that don’t go into hibernation.」

「Is that so, that’s interesting.」

Rei had a strong impression of bear monsters.

The first monster he had encountered in Elgin was a Water Bear after all, a bear monster that covered itself in water.

(I managed to defeat it back then, but I butchered the materials so badly that it ended up being close to worthless.)

Rei looked up at the sky with a someone distant look in his eyes.

The sky was now dotted with clouds.

It had only been a few days ago when the weather had been perfect with clear autumn skies, but it was now quite gloomy, as if reflecting the inner feelings of the nobles who had sided with the punitive force.

「Captain Rei? What’s wrong?」

A member of the guerrilla unit called out to Rei with some confusion.

Brought back to reality by that voice, Rei shook his head to say it was nothing.

「No, I just remembered when I was thrown into a forest with Set by my master. I suddenly had to fight a monster called a Water Bear.」

「Woah, really!? A Water Bear is a C rank monster, isn’t it!? Fighting something like that before even becoming an adventurer……wait, actually, with Captain Rei and Set-chan, I suddenly feel like it wouldn’t be such a big problem.」

A female former adventurer spoke with surprise before seeming to reach and understanding at her own words.

She wasn’t wrong, for an ordinary person who hadn’t even become an adventurer to fight a C rank monster was basically suicide.

But, with Rei and Set, the monster was the one more deserving of pity.

In reality, that was the case as well. As it was Rei’s first fight after coming to Elgin, he had to learn on the fly, but the fight itself ended in a flawless victory for them.

「Gurururu~!」

Set gave a cry at Rei’s words, as if saying ‘I’m amazing aren’t I!’.

Seeing Set’s reaction brought a warm feeling to the hearts of the members of the guerrilla unit.

「Yeah, the actual fight didn’t take that long. However, it was my first time stripping materials, so I struggled with that. I ended up damaging the Water Bear’s fur quite a bit, so it sold for a very low price.」

「Ah……I see. Yeah, if your first time stripping was on something big like a Water Bear, that would happen. But Captain Rei, you’d never stripped materials before that?」

「Yeah. My master who raised me since I was born did everything for me. And, even he didn’t do it directly, he would use magic to handle it somehow.」

Rei shrugged as he recited his well worn excuse.

「Thanks to that, I can strip materials decently now, but I’m still not exactly good at it. ……Compared to other B rank adventurers, I’m still a lot clumsier.」

「Heh, an unexpected weakness.」

「In this case, wouldn’t you call it a flaw rather than a weakness?」

A male guerrilla unit member chimed in after hearing the female member’s words.

「Well, in my case, I used to be a mercenary, so I hardly ever stripped materials from monsters. In that sense, I’m in a similar situation to Captain Rei.」

「Hey, cut it out. Don’t go around saying that you’re the same as Captain Rei. If you’re serious, then go charge into a monster infest mountain on your own to cool your head.」

「That harsh!?」

The man seemed dumbfounded by the sudden rebuke……

「Well, you do have a point……」

Another female member in the unit spoke up, causing the man to look at her hopefully……

「If you want to be on Captain Rei’s level, you should go and ambush Immovable Noiz like Captain Rei did.」

「Hey, wait, hold on just a minute! Is there no one but enemies here!?」

The man cried out in despair, but all he got back were cold stares.

(Pathetic……saying he’s the same as Captain Rei.)

Pernyx kept a straight face while pitying the man who had made the careless remark.

The guerrilla unit led the way back towards the Imperial Capital in high spirits.

Further back behind them, there were moments when the atmosphere between the soldiers of Mercurio’s army and the punitive force felt tense, but Rei and the others didn’t have any response in particular, simply maintaining their vigilance of the surroundings.

They judged that even if things got a bit tense, it wouldn’t actually escalate into a major incident.

Also, if a real disturbance did occur, it wouldn’t be Rei and his unit suppressing it, but the soldiers stationed there.

Since two armies that were enemies just a few days ago were moving together, some friction was inevitable.

In fact, there had been some trouble even while they were disposing of the bodies.

Though, people like Gurgast had been keeping watch to suppress any such trouble.

「Ahh……I wish a monster would show up.」

Someone from the guerrilla unit muttered, as their voice echoed out.

Rather than having to deal with the tense atmosphere behind them, they hoped that a monster would show up, forcing everyone to fight together and bridging the gap between them.

It didn’t have to be a monster, bandits would do as well, but ordinary bandits wouldn’t attack an army of tens of thousands.

Even if they did, they’d probably sneak into the camp at night to steal money or supplies.

That is, if they could slip past the soldiers on night watch.

(No, they’d definitely be spotted if they went near where Set is, but maybe not in other places?)

With an army of tens of thousands, not everyone was diligent after all.

There was a good chance that there were people colluding with bandits, or that bandits had slipped someone inside. And more than anything, with the civil war over, it was a fact that many had let their guard down.

「Thinking about it, it could actually be quite dangerous.」

「Eh? What is dangerous, Captain Rei?」

Someone who overheard Rei’s murmurs asked him, but Rei shook his head to say it was nothing.

「More importantly……」

Rei looked up into the sky.

Clouds still dotted the sky, but it didn’t seem like there would be rain any time soon.

「It’s almost noon, can someone go and ask when we will stop for a break?」

Seeing that the position of the sun had risen considerably, Rei called out to someone nearby.

Checking the time on the pocket watch he took out from the Misty Ring in order to double check, he confirmed that it was just about 30 minutes to noon.

「Woah, Captain Rei. You have a watch!? It looks pretty expensive too.」

「I got it from defeating a bandit gang a while ago.」

A guerrilla unit member exclaimed in surprise after seeing Rei’s pocket watch.

However, that was to be expected.

Watches were rare magic items, not something that could be simply bought with money.

When Rei had first arrived in Gilm, he had visited various shops that sold magic items, but he had never seen one for sale.

You needed money to get a pocket watch, but above all, you needed connections.

Otherwise, you needed luck, just like how Rei had gotten his pocket watch from a mercenary group who had disguised themselves as bandits.

(Thinking about it, maybe asking for another watch as part of the reward for this request would be good. Well, just asking for a watch feels like too little, so maybe I’ll ask for other things as well.)

One of the magic items Ray had his eye on was the one Kabajid had used to kill himself.

A dagger that inflicted deadly poison and even hindered healing magic.

Regarding weapons, Rei basically only used the Death Scythe, throwing spears for ranged attacks.

But it wasn’t like he couldn’t use daggers, and if a scratch could easily become a fatal wound, it was definitely something he wanted to get his hands on.

(But that……is probably difficult. No, more likely impossible.)

It was the magic item that took the life of the First Prince. Naturally, it would be examined strictly and stored away, and the creator would be investigated in great detail.

Thinking about that, he couldn’t exactly ask for it as a reward for participating in the civil war.

(So then… what other magic items can I get? I’m feeling excited, but also kind of worried……it’s a weird feeling.)

Worried might not be the right word, but Ray was slightly concerned about how to react if he was handed something that did not fit his contributions to the war.

Though he knew Theorem and Vihera wouldn’t do something that stupid.

(Mercurio wouldn’t pull something like that because of Vihera… right?)

As he thought about that in his mind, he noticed the man who he had sent out to ask about lunch, so for now, he focused his mind on preparing for the midday meal.

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