Chapter 28
Gata~, goto~, gata~, goto~. While making such noises, the 8 wagons left the city of Gilm.

Adventurers who were participating in the Orc subjugation were inside each wagon, aside from the coachman, the figure of at least one adventurer dispatched by the guild was with them in case of an attack by monsters or bandits.

Meanwhile, only the coachman was outside the wagon that Rei was riding in.

「Being able to rely on the searching ability of a Griffon was a good miscalculation. Though I heard that you had tamed a monster, I’d never thought it would be a Griffon. When he asked Gran about the story, he doubted his sanity when he heard it.」
「Gahahaha~. It seems to be so. When I also got to the front gate to meet, I thought the same when I saw Rei using the Griffon as a pillow a bit further away.」
「It’s unexpected that the horses that are pulled the wagons are calm. When Set appeared, the horses at the inn’s stables were in a restless state.」

If the horses pulling the wagons were afraid of Set, then it wouldn’t be possible for them move, Set would have had to move away from the wagons and travel by himself. And because Rei wouldn’t be able to be with him, travelers and merchants who saw Set would submit a subjugation request to the guild, after the Orc subjugation would be a Griffon subjugation……though that flow of thought wasn’t really a possibility.

「I heard from Gran that the monster you tamed was a Griffon. I had to prepare war horses in a hurry. ……Well, it was worth it.」

Hobbes looked out the window of the wagon while smiling wryly. Set was walking quietly next to the wagon.

Even if Set was near, the horses pulling the wagon were not frightened at all compared to the horses in the stable of the Dusk Wheat, they pulled the wagon indifferently.

War horse. They were produced by crossbreeding pedigrees of horses that had high performance, they were also trained to not be frightened or confused in combat. Their bodies were about 1.5 times larger than a normal horse, it had the fighting power to stomp to death monsters the level of Goblins. Naturally, their price was several times the cost compared to the normal horses travelers and merchants use. For the 8 wagons, there were a total of 16 of these expensive war horses. From that alone, you could tell how serious the Adventurers Guild was about the Orc subjugation.

「But, it seems the people riding the other wagons don’t trust Set so much.」

Though Rei said that they could leave the watch during the journey to Set for the time being, the other adventurer parties didn’t like it. He didn’t push further after Hobbes said that they could handle their own security.

「It can’t be helped. After all, hasn’t only been a few days since you registered with the guild?　Not all the other parties have the same track record as Elk, it’s something they can’t bear.」
「While the guards of the other wagons are vigilant, I think the biggest reason is the Griffon and not other enemies attacking.」

Rhodes connected Hobbes’ words. Elk also nodded.

「Well, to those guys, it’s nothing but a nightmare to be attacked by a Griffon. It can’t be helped. Though Min and I aren’t worried since we get along with Set……Rhodes, it’s a bit dangerous for you at the moment.」

Grinning, Elk made fun at Rhodes while smiling.

However, Min, who was sitting across from Rhodes, thrust out her cane and buried it into Elk’s belly.

「Guh!　M-Min……you can’t just thrust with the cane in this narrow wagon, though it might not pierce……if it wasn’t me, others would be injured.」
「Shut up, idiotic husband. It’s because you’re purposely threatening Rhodes.」
「Mum……」

To Min’s words, Rhodes had a happy voice.

(I guess the mother complex is going to show much heavier symptoms from this.)

While looking at the situation, Rei took the meat skewers, which were still hot, from the Misty Ring and carried it to his mouth.

The texture was close to chicken, but it was actually the meat of the Poison Frog. Previously, it was a Poison Frog that Rei had encountered during the Goblin subjugation quest. Once the poison is extracted from the meat, the meat can be steamed, he discovered it being cooked with a special sauce and sold in a store on his way to collect the goods in the guild, he bought a few out of curiosity and stored them in the Misty Ring. Inside the Misty Ring, the flow of time is stopped, because of that, the skewers were still steaming hot even though they had been bought a few hours ago.

「Uoh~, something smells good……Rei, what are you eating?」

Maybe he had recovered from the pain of the blow from the cane, Elk, who smelled the sauce, stared enviously.

His eyes were already sparkling to the extent you wouldn’t think he was a middle aged man, the atmosphere of wanting to eat spread into the surroundings.

And Rei, who no longer endure the looks, couldn’t help it and took out a Poison Frog skewer out of the Misty Ring before giving to Elk.

「Oh, sorry about this……wait, it’s still burning hot. How come?」
「It’s a function of the Misty Ring. The flow of time stops inside. If you store things, hot things will stay hot and cold things will stay cold when you take them back out.」
「Heh~……as expected, it’s worthy of being called a rare item in the world.」

Min nodded, impressed at Rei’s explanation. And Rhodes, who saw that, naturally entered a bad mood.

「Hmph. Even if the quality of the magic item is good, if the person’s ability is low, there’s no point in coming to the Orc subjugation.」

Like that, the Orc subjugation force advanced in the wagons with seeds of unease left around.

One of the wagons. A three person adventurer group were riding in the wagon, one was keeping watch at the driver’s area……cautious mainly of Set than the surroundings.

「Hey, what are we going to do. I participated in this dangerous request for a chance to steal the item box. I didn’t here about a tamed Griffon!」
「Wait Al. Don’t get so flustered, it’s unbecoming.」
「Sunyi, do you really understand the situation?　It’s a Griffon, a Griffon!　It’s an A rank monster, the shinigami of the skies!　It’s not something we as a D rank party can fight!」
「Be quiet Al and Sunyi. Even if you say that the Griffon is tamed, it doesn’t mean that it follows that rookie 24/7. Especially while fighting and camping……」

The argument between the male and female adventurers in their twenties was stopped by a women in her thirties.

「But big sis. Wouldn’t the Orc subjugation fail then?」
「So what then?」

The woman replied frankly to the man’s voice.

「But then……that, if the Orc subjugation fails, the city of Gilm……」
「Calm down Al. Nothing major will happen to the city of Gilm even if the Orc subjugation fails. If the going gets tough, they can just get reinforcements from the country.」

In that situation, it will probably give the nobles faction an opportunity that they’ve been looking for, she murmured in her head.

The woman’s name was Seryl. She was a C rank adventurer. With Al and Sunyi, who were in the same wagon, and the man who was in the driver’s area, Murgas, she led the four of them in a party called Dark Night’s Star. Usually, these four people wouldn’t receive a subjugation request for Orcs, let alone ones led by a rare species or higher rank species. Then why had they received this quest? It was because they were aiming to steal Rei’s item box.

If you searched the world, item boxes were rare. You would be able to make a mountain of money if got your hands on one. A numbing feeling flowed down Seryl’s back by just by thinking of it.

(And I’ll be able to leave this dangerous frontier area with the money. I would live a wealthy life in the Imperial City.)

Seryl was already in her thirties, she wouldn’t be able to continue her adventuring work for much longer. She had already given up on ranking up to rank B. She was only at a C rank caliber.

And at this time, a rookie in his mid teens had appeared. When she heard that he had an item box, Seryl had made up her mind. She had to take the item box at any cost. No, it should have been something she should have had in the first place. Because she had worked so hard for so long.

Seryl was convinced, she ordered three subordinates, who were currently her party members, to investigate Rei’s actions. And, with that timing, they happened to hear Rei participating in the Orc subjugation, with that, they also decided to join.

「But you know, big sis. That Rei brat, didn’t he have the ability to take down the Claws of the Hawk by himself?　Even without the Griffon they said……」
「Use your head a little, Al. We don’t have to defeat that rookie fairly from the front. There’s no problem even if we steal it while he’s asleep. When he’s fighting we can surprise attack from behind. Any means possible.」

Seryl had a smile with meaning, but Al, who had an honest mind, didn’t see it.

Regardless of whether Rei was protected or not, Al had an attachment to the city to Gilm. That was why he didn’t want to obstruct the Orc subjugation quest.

(In addition, he defeated Vargas quickly. I was told that Vargas, even if it was only combat power, was a C rank, no mistake.)

Al suddenly, thought about what Murgas, who was sitting in the driver’s area, would do.

Murgas was basically a timid person, because of that, he was scared of the existence of the Griffon, that’s why he had volunteered to keep a lookout at the driver’s box so he could perceive any actions even a bit sooner. As a timid person, if he sensed the state of the Griffon to be strange, he would probably give a shout into the wagon before running away quickly.

「……Ah.」

Meanwhile, Sunyi, who had been quiet until now, let out an unexpected voice.

「Anything, Sunyi?」
「Sis……that, Griffon……」
「Griffon?」

Griffon, the tension couldn’t be concealed when that word was said, Seryl prompted her to continue.

「With one kick, it just scattered a pack of Fang Wolves.」
「-!?」

Seryl and Al suddenly stood up from their seats and went to the window at Sunyi’s words.

Looking ahead, they saw a pack of Fang Wolves, wolves with a distinctively larger fang, being trampled by a Griffon.

With a single swing of its claws, a neck was severed, thrusting its beak at another wolf, it pierced another head, a wolf that tried to sneak around and bite his tail had its body crushed by the lion like feet.

「It’s taking on a pack of Fang Wolves so easily……」

Al leaked a voice of blank surprise at the fight.

Speaking on a rank basis, the Fang Wolf was an F rank monster, it wasn’t strong by itself. However, they are the only wolves that turned into monsters and still formed groups to hunt. Because of its low rank, adventurers who just registered with the guild assume that a Fang Wolf subjugation isn’t that hard, because of that, there would be cases of the hunters becoming the hunted several times a year.

F rank is still F rank, even if it formed groups, it was only E rank. But no matter what rank it was placed at, the degree of risk was D rank equivalent.

It may be possible to defeat a pack as a C or D rank adventurer party. But, to fight easily, to the point of overwhelming them, it couldn’t be called a fight like that. But looking out from the wagon, the Griffon seemed to be unhurt.

Seeing the figure of the Griffon, Sunyi, who had been deriding Al for his timidity, had the thought pass through her head of what would happen if they messed with the rookie and failed.

「Big sis……」

The voice of Sunyi that called out to Seryl had traces of fear and fright.

It wasn’t good the way things were going. Their minds may have given up before they could take the item box from Rei. Seryl who determined that, spoke up loudly.

「Both of you, there’s no need to be scared. Though I said it before, our aim is only to take away the item box. Even if you say how strong the Griffon is, there’s no need to fight them head on. You only need attack him by surprise, take away the item box and run away quickly.」

Naturally, because they would run away from the subjugation duty, the fate of Gilm would be involved, if they did carry it out, it would be unlikely that they would be able to stay in the city of Gilm. However, Seryl intended to live off by selling the item box, escaping to the Imperial City and retiring comfortably. She would possibly be put on the Adventurer Guild’s wanted list through the Gilm branch but she was a C rank and had confidence in not being defeated by local adventurers. As soon as she got the money from selling the item box, she would hire a strong bodyguard, she may even be able to apply pressure on the guild by siding with the nobles faction.

Even if the guild called itself an organization independent of the country, in the end it was still the country’s land, Seryl expected that they wouldn’t put her on the wanted list if they didn’t want to get into trouble with the nobles faction.

When she pictured her purpose and bright future in her head again, even the sense of fear from the scene of the the Griffon’s slaughter was wiped away.

Starting to speak, she clapped the shoulders of Al and Sunny, who were looking anxious, with a ban~ ban~ sound .

「Come on, it’ll be okay. First is the camp tonight. If it goes well, we’ll be able to take away the item box and quickly run away before we reach the Orc settlement. Look for a good opportunity. 」

At a distance a bit further away from where Seryl was speaking, Set was pecking meat from a Fang Wolf that was double the size of the others in the pack.