「Well then, village chief, I’ll be happy to stay in the village for the night.」
Goto’s village chief nodded at Rei’s words.
He even had a smile on his face as he nodded, probably because of the monetary compensation they had received for housing so many people in their village.
Housing nearly 30 strangers was an uncomfortable thought for most of Goto’s villagers.
This was in addition to the fact that basically all those people were from the Bestir Empire, so it wasn’t surprising that the villagers would be a little fearful, considering their village was basically on the front line of any war between the Mireana Kingdom and Bestir Empire.
Still, they agreed to house everyone for the night not just because of the extra winter income they would receive, but also because of Rei and Set.
Rei and Set had previously stayed in the village for some time and the villagers naturally remembered him.
The two of them had been well received and accepted by the villagers as well.
Seeing that the group was led by Rei and Set, they believed that problems were unlikely to occur.
That wasn’t to say that many residents didn’t still have concerns though.
That was why Rei had made a promise before the village chief and residents of Goto that if anyone in his group behaved in a manner that was problematic, he would punish them himself.
The villagers, who knew Rei’s strength, were relieved by his words. At the same time, Rei’s words made the newcomers in his group more cautious, knowing that they would face punishment if they did anything bad.
The former guerrilla unit members all admired Rei, so Rei didn’t really need to worry about them too much.
Rei’s real concern were the others who had joined along with the former guerrilla unit members……that said, their journey up until this point had made them realise that Rei was more than he appeared to be, not to mention that many of them had seen Rei fight in the tournament.
Above all, no one really dared to have any strange thoughts with Set around.
In the end, everything was sorted out without any major issues, even though everyone was rather subdued……and somewhat timid.
「Rei-san, Vihera-san, and Set as well. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?」
Rei and Vihera turned to face the familiar voice.
It was a man with a rugged build and face, but a gentle voice.
Standing next to him was a boy about 5 years old.
「Ruchard, Apika. It has been a while indeed. How have you two been?」
「Gurururu~?」
「It really has been a while, hasn’t it?」
The three of them replied in their own ways.
Ruchard and Apika had a close relationship with Rei during his stay in Goto.
Rei had stayed in Ruchard’s house and Apika had become quite attached to Rei and Set.
They were the two people closest to him in Goto.
「Yes. Thanks to you, nothing major has happened since then. A few nobles from other countries did pass through here, but luckily Margrave Rowlocks kept a close eye on them.」
「From other countries?」
Rei was a little puzzled while Vihera nodded in understanding.
「They must have been people passing through the Mireana Kingdom to return to their own countries from the Bestir Empire.」
「……Well, we are next to the Bestir Empire after all, so I guess it’s only natural.」
「Not really though? Most people wouldn’t try to enter the Bestir Empire from a country they have bad relations with, like the Mireana Kingdom. In fact, when we were heading to Bestir Empire, we didn’t see anyone else going this way, right?」
「Then why?」
Rei tilted his head in greater confusion.
His gesture was so charming that it was hard to believe he was the one who had earned the title of Crimson.
Like a boy on the verge of becoming a young man.
……Of course, internally, Rei had always considered himself to be a young man.
(Maybe……I just have a thing for younger guys? Of course, being strong is a given.)
Vihera briefly considered those thoughts in her mind as she looked at Rei before quickly regaining her composure and continuing to speak.
「There’s really only one reason, isn’t there? No matter how well known you might be or the fact that you have a title, it’s unprecedented for a B rank adventurer to fight on nearly equal terms with an S rank adventurer. If those who had come to the Bestir Empire representing their countries wanted to gather even the slightest bit more information on you, the quickest and most accurate method would be to come to the Mireana Kingdom.」
「I guess you’re right. Margrave Rowlocks’ escort said basically the same thing to us. But they also said those people were unlikely to find out much.」
「Well, I basically only work from Gilm after all.」
Rei nodded after reaching an understanding.
Gilm was a frontier town where powerful monsters roamed about both day and night.
As Rei’s sole base of operations, it was hard to find specific information about Rei as a result, even within the Mireana Kingdom.
The only exceptions were what here had done in Baar, which had become well known due to the outbreak of Magic Fever there, and his achievements in the war with the Bestir Empire that had taken place on the Selemus Plains. Rei had also done a few things around the Port City Emoshion as well as the Labyrinth City Exil.
To the average person, Rei might be considered someone who had gone to many towns and villages, but for an adventurer, whose usual work would often bring them from town to town and village to village, there really wasn’t much that could be found out about what Rei had done.
More so because it had only been two years since Rei had first registered as an adventurer in Gilm.
In such a situation, nobles from other countries were unlikely to have been able to find much out about Rei, so their efforts in coming to the Mireana Kingdom were mostly in vain.
They might have been able to find out more if they had actually gone to Gilm, but as most were just taking a detour on their way back home, very few had the time to go all the way out to the frontier where Gilm was.
「Well, all that aside, leave the decision on who stays where for the night to me. I’ll bring everyone through the village.」
「Thank you.」
Rei replied as he watched Apika play around with Set.
「Here, have this, I can’t give you too much though.」
Rei and his group split up to the various homes they would be staying at for the night, leaving Rei and Vihera at Ruchard’s place.
Ruchard offered them some preserved fruit.
To Rei, it was basically what he would call dried fruit.
It went without saying that it was a rather valuable commodity in a rural village like this.
「Is this okay?」
「Yes, it’s to celebrate the safe return of Rei and Vihera……and……」
He turned to look out the door.
Set and Apika were currently playing outside.
Playing outside in a season like this was something only children could do.
(I guess the saying that kids are ‘children of the wind’ is an accurate expression even in this world.)
Thinking like that, the thought occurred to Rei that perhaps he himself was also a ‘child of the wind’. He quickly shook his head to get rid of the thought.
While he might look 15, he definitely wasn’t that young.
「Rei-san?」
「No, it’s nothing. Anyway, let me try some then.」
Rei reached for the dried fruit on the wooden plate.
It seemed that the fruit had become a little denser from being dried as it had a firm texture in his mouth.
As he bit into it, it was as firm and chewy as it had felt in his hand. At the same time a rich sweetness spread through his mouth.
「……Delicious.」
It was a simple taste, but one that Rei found delightful.
「Yes, it really is delicious.」
Vihera smiled like Rei as she savoured the dried fruit.
Of course, the reason reason why Vihera was at Ruchard’s house as well was because she would be staying the night here.
Rei had accepted it because he knew that Ruchard would be present as well.
There were already hardly any other vacancies at all the other houses and considering Vihera’s appearance, it would be careless of Rei to let her stay at any other house.
「Still, I’m really surprised though. I can’t believe you brought such a group back with you, Rei.」
Ruchard spoke again as he ate some of the dried fruit himself. While he sounded surprised, he expression was smiling and didn’t seem to display any of the surprise in his tone.
「Well, a lot of things happened.」
「Fufu~, that’s right. A lot of things happened, in many ways.」
Vihera replied to Rei’s words in a teasing tone as she agreed.
Ruchard watched the two of them with a smile.
Feeling somewhat uncomfortable, Rei took out some ingredients form the Misty Ring.
Among them was the bear that Set had hunted close to the Imperial Capital……but Rei didn’t worry about it too much as he handed everything over to Ruchard.
「I’d like to have a dinner party with all the villagers tonight. What do you think? Oh, I can provide all the ingredients. There won’t be much alcohol though……」
Rei’s Misty Ring naturally held a large amount of supplies that would need for a journey like this.
In addition to those supplies, there were also a lot of ingredients that Rei had bought for his own use, not to mention meat from monsters he had killed.
As for alcohol, the reason there wasn’t much was because Rei didn’t particularly like it himself.
That said, he still had some because he expected he would need it on occasions like this, and maybe for cooking particular dishes.
Aside from what he had in his own reserves, some of the people in the group had also brought alcohol among their luggage that they had left with Rei.
「Are you really sure? Well, we’d be more than happy of course.」
「Yes. We’re causing quite the trouble for the village after all. If you consider that, this is no big deal.」
「I understand. I’ll go and speak to the village chief. It’s true that even if it just one night, it would be better to be on good terms with everyone when sleeping under the same roof.」
「Thank you.」
Rei’s words made Ruchard smile as he left.
「A dinner party. Well, considering we’ve made it out of the Selemus Plains and entered the Mireana Kingdom, this is a good time to do it.」
「Yeah, that’s one of the reasons. Another reason is that even if they are traveling with me, they’ll probably be looked down at quite a bit when they first arrive at Gilm. This is also meant to be encouragement to them to not give in.」
Some didn’t want to fight Rei, some admired him, others wanted to be close to Set, and so on.
Everyone had their own reasons for deciding to leave with Rei, but the fact remained that they were all from the Bestir Empire.
Leaving the adventurers aside, Rei guessed that Daska, lord of Gilm and a leading figure in the Neutral faction, would be unlikely to trust them so easily.
「Cheers everyone!」
『Cheers!』
Although it was a late autumn night, everyone was having a good time around the bonfire.
People from Goto village as well as Rei’s group clinked cups together as they all toasted each other.
In the end, it had been decided that Rei would be in charge of the food while Goto would handle the alcohol.
Of course, this wasn’t a strict restriction.
Rei provided some drinks and Goto helped out with the ingredients as well.
Like this, everyone was able to enjoy a feast without worrying about what everyone else was thinking.
Of course, this wasn’t to say that no one had any reservations, but at the very least, no one showed it.
From the perspective of the villagers, they couldn’t really fight against Rei and Set, and conversely, the people in Rei’s group didn’t want to embarrass him by causing trouble either.
……Of course, the majority of them were just enjoying the feast to its fullest without a care in the world.
「Gurururu~」
Set gave happy cries from next to Rei as he stretched his beak out to the plate of stir fried bear meat.
Set had wanted to eat bear meat on the day they left the Imperial Capital, but his wish hadn’t come true.
Of course, the food he was given was delicious enough and he had been satisfied with what he had to eat. But, his desire for bear meat still lingered in the end.
That was why Set was so happy when Rei had taken out the bear meat from the Misty Ring as part of the dinner.
「Eh? Set was the one to catch the bear!? Wow, amazing. That’s Set for you!」
Apika stroked Set happily after hearing about Set’s bear hunting adventure from Rei.
Set gave a happy cry from being stroked as he ate the bear meat.
「Come on, don’t get in the way of Set enjoying his food.」
Apika’s mother scolded him.
Rei had already been formally introduced to Apika’s parents and they had chatted a little with each other.
But, to Apika, all that mattered was that he was happy to be with Set.
「Guru~?」
Would you like some to? Set seemed to ask as he looked up at Apika from his plate of stir fried bear meat.
「Yes!」
Apika happily reached for some of the stir fried bear meat on the plate.
「……Holding a dinner party was the right decision.」
There had been a bit of tension when Rei’s group had first arrived in Goto.
But now, looking around, it seemed like everyone was enjoying the party and getting to know each other.
That alone made providing the food worthwhile.
As he thought of that, Rei reached for some skewers grilling over the bonfire nearby.