Black clouds covered the sky over the Selemus Plains.
They were clearly rain clouds and it wouldn’t be strange if it started raining at any time.
The temperature had also dropped, with the wind sapping the energy of the carriage drivers.
Even in such weather, Rei, who was leading the carriages, turned to look at the Death Scythe in his right hand.
It had acquired a new skill last night, Flying Slash level 4.
Several more Skeletons had appeared the previous night while he was still on night watch, so he had taken the opportunity to try it out and it was clear that Flying Slash had definitely powered up.
The slash that was released was both larger and more powerful than before.
It easily cut through the Skeletons’ ribs, destroying the magic stone within.
……As a result, he had also failed to collect their magic stones.
(But why Flying Slash from a Living Armour? Dietz told me this morning that the Living Armour had used a battleaxe. Considering that, it would have made more sense to level up Power Slash.)
As Rei thought to himself, a smile still formed on his lips.
It was a matter of course. Flying Slash was one of his most versatile skills after all.
It was extremely convenient for Rei to be able to attack from long distances using the Death Scythe.
In terms of long range attacks, he did have other options, including magic, arrowheads created by Nebula’s Eye, and throwing spears.
Throwing spears in particular were favoured by Rei when attacking from range.
However, throwing spears required Rei to take one out from the Misty Ring, aim, adjust, and then throw while magic needed an incantation.
In that respect, Nebula’s Eye, which could create arrowheads from magic power, was a very useful magic item. The fact it could stay hidden under the Dragon Robe gave it a surprise factor as well.
The downside was that it didn’t really have much range.
Taking all that into account, the Flying Slash skill, which could simply be used by aiming and swinging the Death Scythe, was very useful.
Although he still wasn’t sure why he had leveled up the skill from the magic stone of a Living Armour, Rei still smiled in satisfaction.
As a side note, while Set took the magic stone, the battleaxe that the Living Armour had used was collected by Dietz.
Even though keeping watch at night was a necessity, Rei knew that they wouldn’t take it seriously if there wasn’t any reward. As a result, he had made the decision that the materials, magic stones, or monster parts from any monsters, which could all be sold for money, would belong to the person who defeated the monsters.
Of course, Rei wasn’t exactly the official leader of the group.
But, since the group was mostly made up of former guerrilla unit members, no one dared to disagree with Rei.
There were a couple of people who were dissatisfied with this arrangement, but not to the point that they would say anything to Rei and Set.
As a result, Set, who had been the one to defeat the Living Armour, received its magic stone while Dietz got everything else.
That said, because Set used Power Crush on the Living Armour, destroying it completely, the only thing that Dietz could retrieve was the battleaxe it had used.
As a battleaxe used by a Living Armour, it was by no means an ordinary weapon.
In fact, thanks to the Living Armour, it had become something close to a magic weapon.
……One could even call it a slightly cursed weapon.
Still, it would likely fetch a decent amount of money if sold. Dietz nodded in satisfaction as he asked Rei to store it into the Misty Ring for him.
「Rei, don’t you think we should hurry up a bit? If we keep going at this rate, the rain will fall while we’re still on the Selemus Plains.」
Vihera called out to Rei from on her horse, riding alongside Set.
At her voice, Rei looked up and saw that the rain clouds had become even darker than before. He nodded at Vihera before turning around to speak.
「We’ll be speeding up, any issues!?」
No one objected.
That was a matter of course. If it started raining while they were still on the Selemus Plains, their visibility would drop significantly.
That meant a higher chance of failing to see Undead attacking them in the rain.
The ground wasn’t even properly paved here, meaning that there were holes and large rocks scattered all around.
They all agreed that traveling through the area in the rain would be a bad idea, so they followed Rei’s advice to speed up, even if it was a bit reckless.
This continued for another hour or so. Fortunately, despite the rain clouds, no rain fell and they soon saw the end of the Selemus Plains.
Their speed had only been possible due to the light weight in the carriages and the lack of unnecessary luggage.
Even when Undead did appear, Rei and Set were able to dispatch them easily as they led way. As for Undead approaching from other directions, they were all dealt with by Vihera and the former guerrilla unit members.
(Rei-san defeated the S rank Immovable Noiz and Vihera-sama defeated the A rank Water Dragon Digma. With those two escorting us, they could probably hand an entire country’s army, let alone a few Undead.)
The thought crossed Sergio’s mind as he kept a watchful eye over the carriages.
He was friendly, polite, and skilled enough to work as a solo adventurer.
……That said, he had only become a solo adventurer due his former party disbanding for various reasons.
All that considered, Sergio, who was quite the anomaly himself, found Rei to be even more surprising.
One of the reasons for heading to the Mireana Kingdom was that he didn’t want to fight against Rei, but a bigger reason was that he was intrigued by Rei himself.
「Sergio, Zombies over there! Should we attack with our bows?」
Sergio quickly shook his head at Dietz’s words as he gave his orders
「The Zombies can’t keep up with our speed, ignore them.」
「Got it!」
Giving orders while still deep in thought, they continued straight across the Selemus Plains.
「We’re out!」
Rei’s voice reached everyone.
As they looked around, they noticed that the atmosphere around them had definitely changed.
「Huraaaaaaaaaay!」
Someone let out a joyful shout.
As if in response, others started to do the same.
「We did it! We’re out! We’re in the Mireana Kingdom now!」
「Woooooo-!」
「Yeeeeeees-!」
The former guerrilla unit members weren’t the only ones shouting out. It was the same for those who had been tensely watching their surroundings from inside the carriages.
No, for those who weren’t used to dealing with such difficult situations, their joy was probably even greater.
Rei, who was still leading the carriages, looked around to make sure there were no abnormalities.
Undead generally didn’t leave the Selemus Plains, but that wasn’t a guarantee.
Even after entering the borders of the Mireana Kingdom, there was still a chance that they would run into Undead that had left the Selemus Plains for whatever reason.
「The nearest village is called Goto. We’ll be spending the night there.」
They had already discussed the plan beforehand, but Rei said it again to confirm with everyone.
His words seemed to bring everyone back to their senses as they nodded with serious expressions.
「Goto isn’t a particularly big village either. There’s no lodging there, so we’ll either have to sleep in the carriages or pay someone to let us stay in their houses. ……It will probably be just as cramped, if not more so……」
「It can’t be helped. We should just be lucky that we don’t have to keep watch all night at this time of the year.」
Rei nodded at Sergio’s words.
「Well then, let’s get going.」
With those words, the group continued on their way to Goto.
(The Mireana Kingdom……we’re back.）
Rei gave the order to keep going as he hid his feelings in his heart.
The guards standing out in the cold at Goto’s gates could only imagine the warm food they would be able to eat after night fell as they kept watch against any monsters and bandits that might try to enter the village.
While they were wearing warm clothing to protect themselves from the cold, it still couldn’t fully keep out the chill that would freeze their body to the core.
As they stamped their feet to try and warm themselves a little……
「H-Hey! Look!」
One of the two guards called out as he saw something in his vision.
As the other guard turned to look as well, his eyes widened so much that he couldn’t even speak.
That was only natural. A group of nearly twenty carriages was heading towards their village.
Even a small merchant caravan would only have a few carriages at most, so nearly twenty carriages was the equivalent of an army passing through during a war.
「W-What are they? Bandits?」
「You can’t be thinking that bandits would have that many carriages……no, wait. Hey, look. At the front of the carriages!」
Turning to look again at his partner’s words, he saw a figure riding on the back of a Griffon.
The figure was small and their face was hidden by a hood.
However, the guards immediately knew who it was after seeing them riding on a Griffon.
They had stayed in Goto village a while ago after all, traveling to the Bestir Empire with Margrave Rowlocks.
Margrave Rowlocks had returned some time ago but the Griffon was nowhere to be seen. The guards remembered how the villagers, the children in particular, had been extremely disappointed that night.
「Rei……he’s returned?」
「Yeah. Since they’re riding a Griffon, it’s definitely Rei. But, what would have led to him leading a group of so many carriages like that?」
The villages knew that Rei had a Griffon familiar, but he wasn’t the type of person to lead a large group of subordinates.
However, from what they could tell, Rei was definitely leading the carriages behind him.
Furthermore, next to Rei was another familiar figure.
Despite the coming arrival of cold winter weather, Vihera was still clad in her thin clothes that would make others feel cold just looking at her.
Her position next to Rei made it look like she was his second in command.
In reality, they weren’t a mercenary group or even a merchant caravan, just a group of people moving house……but that was impossible for the guards to tell in this situation.
「What do we do?」
「No, not what do we do……what can we even do?」
As they pondered the question, Rei’s group steadily approached.
One of them should have gone to call for the village chief, but due to their confusion by the unexpected sight, they were still there by the time Rei’s group arrived at the village gate.
「It’s been a while. ……Do you still remember me?」
Rei called out to them in a friendly voice as he took off his hood. The guards seemed to come to their senses as they replied.
「Yes, I remember. It’s hard to forget someone who has a tamed Griffon following them. But, you went to the Bestir Empire with Margrave Rowlocks, didn’t you? So how did you end up coming back with a group like this?」
「Well, a lot has happened since. Those people behind me want to move to the Mireana Kingdom.」
「……You couldn’t have been involved in the Bestir Empire civil war, right?」
Although it was a rural village, Goto was also the village closest to the Bestir Empire, just across the Selemus Plains.
Naturally, those traveling between the two countries would often stop by Goto to rest.
As a result, word of the civil war had quickly spread here through such people.
「Who knows. Let’s just say it was quite the profitable trip.」
The guard gave a wry smile at Rei’s response.
「I get the general idea from your reply. ……Now then, you’re going to enter the village, right? If so, please show us your id.」
At the guard’s request, Rei took out his guild card from the Misty Ring and handed it over to the guard.
At the same time, the others behind Rei also showed their identification documents to the guards, completing the procedures to enter the village without any issues.
Set also received a Necklace of Subservient Monster……and like so, Rei and the others entered the village of Goto.