There were roughly eight or nine carriage parked in a wide empty clearing in the middle of the forest.

“...I think this should be enough.” Nainiae muttered to herself, or to me, as she stopped our carriage next to the others, putting on a mask that struck me as incredibly familiar.

“Nainiae?” I looked at her, the mask was the one I had worn when I had met her, saved her, helped her kill Astroa; where did she get that mask…

“Y-Young Master--Lady Iris gave it to me as a gift. She said that since it was something you used…” Nainiae looked down, her shoulders trembled.

“She knew about it--” I was genuinely surprised, I had no idea how my mother could have figured it out…and did it mean that she knew that I was stronger than people thought--if so, how come she never said anything.

I felt warmth when I thought of Iris, how much she loved me as a mother--and other, things…

I coughed and brought my mind back.

Nainiae looked scared, her eye meeting mine and darting back to the ground, her shoulders shivered, “I-I didn’t tell her about you, Young Master.”

She looked up at me with an imploring look, and dewy eye.

Smiling reassuringly, I slowly stroked her fluffy hair, “I know. I trust you, Nainiae.”

“Thank you, Young Master…” She murmured, her eye glued to mine. She reached out with one small hand towards me, stopping before contact, like she was worried about touching me.

I stopped after a few moments, “You should probably greet our new traveling companions.”

“Yes, Young Master!” She nodded firmly, her mask covering the burned half of her face--showing only her beauty.

She quickly hopped down and approached the people gathered near the other carriage where other people gathered.

“Excuse me.”

The people gathered around, engaged in loud chatter, all stopped talking and looked at Nainiae.

When they saw her in a mini-skirted maid uniform, they all tilted their faces, though they had differing expressions.

“A maid? She’s a maid, right?”

“What’s a maid doing here?”

“What are the mercenaries doing?”

“Hey, hey. It’s not like an Orc showed up. Why are you getting angry?”

Two of the people had strange reactions, it seemed like a couple--the girl wanting Nainiae to be taken away, probably because of the way that the man stared at Nainiae’s large chest and long, slim legs.

It seems that the mask that Iris prepared for her worked well, she was able to avoid giving off a terrible first impression.

Sighing in relief, Nainiae went straight to the point, “Are you all on your way to Rainfield?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?” One of the men spoke up.

“In that case, will it be alright if we followed you? This is the first time I’m traveling to Rainfield, so I’m unsure of the path…”

Having heard her words, and seeming to be drawn towards her sweet voice and polite words, the surround people exchanged glances and then looked at her.

“Are you alone?” The same man spoke--he seemed to be their spokesman, maybe the leader.

“No, there is another.”

When they heard her response, they all exchanged gazes again.

Some were shaking their heads.

It seems that not everyone was in agreement.

In the middle of the new commotion, a young man, who seemed to be the spokesman, smiled and asked, “Excuse me, if the person that you are traveling with a noble--we will have to ask the name of the Family. It would be even better if you could show us identification.”

“Identification?”

“To put it bluntly, it could be possible that you’re trying to scam us, get it?” A boy appeared out of the group--he appeared to be the youngest of them all, and he was glaring at Nainiae.

“Ugh, the runt is talking like this again. Excuse me miss, please don’t think of him too badly. It would be very bad if we were to be infiltrated by bandits--that’s the reason why.”

“I see.” Nainiae nodded, her expression unchanging.

Looking from their perspective, Nainiae and Riley were unknown, and could be bad people. They had no idea of knowing who we were--to put it bluntly, she wouldn’t be surprised if they mistaken for bandits.

“I understand, we are the ones asking you the favour of allowing us to join you. I don’t see any reason why we can’t show you something like identification.” She nodded, sending her Mana into the leather bracelet and opened the Space within.

The people who witnessed the extra dimensional space, opened their eyes widely in surprise.

“My Young Master is at our carriage at the moment, so I can’t introduce him to you. However, I believe that you have at least heard of him,” Having finished her explanation, Nainiae put her hand inside the space and pulled out a badge that symbolized Iphelleta House, showing it to the gathered people.

“This symbol is from the Finn Iphelleta House from Solia--famous for it’s swordsmanship!” One of the older men was well informed.

“Yes. My Young Master was heading to Rainfield for a vacation. However, because I only recently started this job…” Nainiae said in an embarrassed tone as she placed the badge back into the space.

She stayed silent as the people gathered closer together, murmuring quietly to each other.

“Alright.” The spokesman said.

***

After talking to the group for a while, it became apparent that the carriages didn’t belong to a group of vacationers, but were instead--

“We aren’t famous, so I’m not sure if it’s worth mentioning to you, but we’re a small trading company that was only recently established. We happened to have business in Rainfield, so we are on our way there to sell goods that are in peak season.”

It was summer, with the immense heatwaves just beginning.

Because of this, people from all over the world were coming to Rainfield. If the group succeed in selling their merchandise, there was the potential for a good profit--which was the explanation given by Reitri, the group’s representative.

I had come over and joined the group due to boredom, got a sandwich, it was the same as what everyone else was eating.

As I ate the sandwich, I felt a gaze glaring at me from the side, and I turned to look right back.

“Do you have something that you wish to say?” I asked.

Facing me was a younger boy with irritation in his eyes, “You’re supposed to be Nobility, from a Count’s House. Don’t you have a conscious?”

“What is this kid talking about?” I turn my head away and asked Reitri.

“Ahaha, my apologies. Horai is still young…and he grew up in a city without nobles, so he isn’t used to these kinds of things. Please, understand.”

Having heard Reitri’s words, Horai, the red-haired boy with stern look in his eyes, got up abruptly with a frustrated look on his face, “Uncle! Are you a tool? You are a merchant…You should know--If you give something, you should get something in return!”

“Horai, you…”

“Uncle…you don’t know anything! Damn it!” The boy yelled and turned around--his teeth gritted, and he started running.

“Horai!!” Reitri hurriedly got up, putting forth his hand--but he then looked back at Nainiae and I, scratching the back of his head with an awkward expression.

“I’m sorry. He is still young…”

I saw Horai trip over a wrong while running, before jumping up again, and I smiled, mumbling, “Indeed, it shows.”

“He is like that because he is the type who only believes what he can see in front of him. Does he know that his business right now? Making connections.” I spoke with a laugh.

“Hahaha. Was it…that obvious?”

“It’s one of the most basic skills of a merchant, so…”

He laughed at my words.

With only a few sandwiches and glasses of brown sugar beer--with just those, Reitri had gotten the opportunity to make an impression on someone from Iphelleta House in person.

“I see that you don’t have many carriages. Huh? Weren’t you going for a big score? These few carriages aren’t very big. What do you plan on selling in Rainfield?”

“Ahh, they are umbrellas.”

Since it rained endlessly in Rainfield, if Reitri was sell simple umbrellas--it wasn’t a particularly good choice.

“It’s not just an ordinary umbrella. It’s made to be a little special, it could be considered an invention.”

“Is that so? An invention…”

“Would you like to see it?”

“No thanks.”

He originally had a bright look on his face when he offered to show it to me, but when he heard my simple reply--he seemed disappointed.

“What about guards?” I asked this to change the subject…and because I couldn’t see anyone around who looked like mercenaries or knights around the carriages--though there were some in the trees, “Are the five people on the outer perimeter all?”

“Yes.”

“Mercenaries?”

“Yes. But, this is my fourth time traveling with them. How should I say this? Quality over quantity, I guess. It feels like they are each worth one hundred normal guards--I much prefer this arrangement, and it helps saving on food.”

Having him explain with a smile, while scratching his head, I smiled.

Suddenly, footsteps rapidly approached.

“...Hey! Mr. Reitri!!”

Everyone’s gaze, including both Nainiae and I, was drawn to the location of the voice.

“Uncle! Uncle! Look what Basil hunted! Look!”

Horai, who had run off earlier, was obviously among the people returning; his face was full of excitement, he seemed to have seen something intriguing.

“Mr. Reitri, I don’t think that this place is good. I think that there are Ogres roaming around…I killed one that was coming this way, but if it had a partner.” A boy was walking at the front of the group, holding the head of a Monster.

It was an Ogre’s head.

The boy, who had the Ogre’s head in his right hand, quickly moved it to his left and moved his hand towards the spear that was hanging on his back.

“...What’s this? An unwelcome guest?”

Nainiae, who was standing by my side, narrowed her eyes. I poked her in the side, with my elbow.

“Ah…no! They’re guests!” Reitri hurriedly got up, waving his arms around.

The boy let go of the spear and sighed, “I was worried that something happened while I was out and killing the Ogre.”

“No! Basil! These guys are unwelcome guests!”

“What? Are they?” Hearing Horai’s words, the boy wasn’t sure what to make of the situation, so he looked back at Reitri.

“No!” Reitri immediately denied the annoying kid’s words. He walked right up to Horai, and slapped him on the back of the head.

“They are guests, from high nobility!”

The boy with the spear was laughing from the expression of Horai, who was teary-eyed after being gently smacked in the back of his head by Reitri, tilted his head to the side, “High nobility?”

“Ahh, that’s right, I haven’t made introductions yet.” Reitri cleared his throat, “This is Mr. Nara Basilisk, the representative of the mercenary group called ‘Lightning Boulder’. He is currently my trading company’s guard.”

Reitri finished introducing Nara Basilisk, the boy with the spear. He turned his head to introduce me, “This is…”

“...Iphelleta.” The boy named Basilisk spoke first.

“You--knew?” Reitri asked.

Having heard his question, Basilisk pointed to the badge on my shirt, narrowing his eyes, “That symbol. It’s the symbol of Iphelleta House, the House of a Count, right?”

I tilted my head to the side and asked, “So what?”

“...!”

At my words, Basilisk moved his hand towards the spear on his back.

Nainiae noticed, using Blink--a close-range Teleportation Magic--and appeared in front of me in the blink of an eye. Her visible eye was open widely and her right hand was raised.

Basilisk drew his spear in an instant, his stance ready to thrust--Basilisk suddenly murmured a name, “Ian…”

“What?”

Why would he speak about that annoying old man?

“Ian, the Mercenary Hero--I heard that he is currently residing at Iphelleta Mansion. Is that right?”

Having heard the question, Nainiae tilted her head slightly.