Under Exil’s evening light, Rei and the others were walking through the city after selling the materials, proofs of subjugation, and any magic stones the didn’t need to the guild.

  The sun would fully set and night would fall in a few hours, but the heat would not change.

  No, rather, as if to assert itself one last time, the sun’s rays seemed to bring an even more intense heat to Exil.

  That said, the people walking the streets were still filled with energy, as if the heat didn’t matter to them.

  「Rei, it’s a bit of a detour, but why don’t we stop by that bakery?」


  「Gurururu~!」


  Hearing Elena’s words, Set gave a cry in agreement before Rei could say anything.

  The conversation regarding the fruit they had eaten today must have reminded him of the bread they had eaten from the bakery.

  「That’s fine with me, but……」


  Rei glanced towards the evening sky and spoke while stroking Set, who was pulling on his Dragon Robe with his beak.

  「It’s evening now and probably quite crowded, especially since it’s a bakery. There will be a lot of hungry customers like us, or people who will be buying bread for dinner.」


  Set seemed to understand Rei’s words. He opened his beak and released Rei’s Dragon Robe while giving a sad cry.

  「Guru~……」


  His sad expression made Rei feel guilt in his chest, despite not having done anything wrong.

  It seemed to be the same for Elena. She also stroked Set as she spoke to Rei.

  「Why don’t we just head over for now? If it’s too crowded we can give up. Besides, I want to buy something for Yellow.」


  「Can’t Tufal do it?」


  Rei asked as he recalled the person who had been their carriage driver on the way to Exil. However, Elena shook her head with a smile.

  「Tufal isn’t in Exil right now. It seems he had a friend in a village not far from here. I’ve sent him there to give him some time off.」


  「……I understand.」


  From what Rei knew, Tufal was a carriage driver, or rather, someone who served as a carriage driver for Duke Kerebel.

  It wasn’t likely that Tufal would leave Exil without Elena, the daughter of Duke Kerebel.

  However, Elena must have seen Rei’s expression and guessed what he was thinking. She gave a small smile before speaking.

  「Tufal hasn’t had time off for a while. Anyway, you and I have no plans to leave Exil for now, so there’s nothing for him to do here. I thought I’d take this opportunity to let him have a leisurely rest. He was definitely reluctant at first, but, in the end, there’s also my own wishes.」


  Rei nodded without realising anything.

  Although Elena was too shy to say it herself, the main reason Tufal had agreed to go on vacation wasn’t to take a break but rather for Elena and Rei to be able to spend time alone together.

  Recalling what Tufal had said to her just before he had left, regarding the progress of her relationship with Rei, Elena’s cheeks flushed light red.

  「Elena? Are you okay?」


  The fact that he was so insensitive to romantic matters but could even notice the smallest anomaly with Elena was part of what made Rei, Rei.

  On the other hand, despite having kissed several times, Elena was also unable to approach Rei aggressively.

  This might possibly be a reflection of the fact that she had preferred to train herself as a child rather than appear at social gatherings, resulting in the surfacing of her lack of familiarity with romantic relationships.

  「N-No. It’s nothing. If we’re going to the bakery, we don’t have time to talk here. Let’s get going before they sell out.」


  Saying that, Elena grabbed Rei’s hand and pulled him down the street.

  Rei had no idea what was happening as Elena’s cheeks flushed a slightly different red. Set followed after them, hoping to taste more of the delicious bread as they headed for the bakery.

  「What……is this?」


  Elena’s voice disappeared into the surrounding noise.

  Her voice was only heard by Rei and Set, who were right beside her as she pulled them along.

  From what they could tell, people that seemed like Exil’s guards were standing around the bakery, which was their current destination. Rei, Elena, and Set immediately became alert, ready to move immediately if anything happened.

  However, rather than protecting the bakery, it seemed like the guards were surrounding it.

  「What happened to the bakery?」


  Rei asked the onlookers who were some distance from the guards.

  One of the onlookers seemed to recognise Rei……or rather, recognise Set, who was with Rei, and spoke as his pupils shrank.

  「Oh, it seems that robbers are holed up in the store and have taken the customers and employees there hostage.」


  「……Robbers, huh. Another troublesome event in a troublesome location.」


  Rei clicked his tongue when he heard about the robbers.

  The fact that there were robbers wasn’t strange to Rei, since bandits existed everywhere.

  Exil was a labyrinth city, so there were many adventurers who gathered here. Naturally, there would also be a certain number of bad behaving adventurers.

  That said, most adventurers wouldn’t actually try to do anything like robbery unless they were confident in their own skill or had no idea what they were doing.

  Most skilled adventurers would earn more just by diving into the dungeon, so the only people who would cause such a commotion in Exil would be those who had excessive confidence and had come to make some quick money only to find that they lagged behind.

  「The building is completely surrounded! There is no escape! Come out quietly!」


  「Screw you! I’m……I’m not someone who should end up like this! It’s all just luck, bad luck! Damn it!」


  Hearing the shouts, Rei more or less understood what was going on as he gave a sigh.

  (It’s the typical turn of events. ……Well, what to do.)

  Because of the fact that there had been a robbery, it probably wouldn’t be possible to buy bread to eat today. However, Rei also felt bad to abandon the bakery employees and just go home.

  (I also want to avoid the robbers killing any of the employees or causing the bakery to collapse, given how good the bread is. And……)

  He glanced over at Set, who was pulling on his Dragon Robe with his beak.

  It seemed Set was also worried for the bakery employee who had been kind to him.

  Can we help? Set seemed to appeal with round eyes as Rei stroked him.

  (It would also be bad to abandon someone who was kind to Set.)

  Thinking in his head, Rei looked over at Elena.

  Elena understood everything agreed with Rei’s thoughts as she nodded back silently.

  「If that’s the case……I’ll have to talk to the guards first.」


  It would probably be a problem if they rushed into the bakery without talking to the guards first, so he pushed his way through the crowd.

  「Stop, stop. The area around here is currently……」


  When one of the guards approached Rei to stop and warn him, Rei presented his guild card.

  The B rank label on the card seemed to catch the guard by surprise, but he must have realised from Set that Rei was the rumoured Crimson. He started to speak in a tone that was meant for adventurers and not ordinary people.

  「Since you’ve gone to the trouble of coming over here, may I assume that you would like to assist us in this incident?」


  「Yeah. The bakery is a store I like a lot. I don’t want to see any of the staff or the owner killed or the bakery destroyed over this.」


  「Guru~!」


  That’s right! Set gave a cry in agreement immediately.

  Elena nodded as well.

  The bread they had eaten here was delicious and the staff had been pleasant.

  The bakery clerk had even gave Set an extra piece of the delicious bread made from labyrinth ingredients that were sold at a price that barely made any profit, although still expensive.

  If they had the ability to help someone who had been nice to them, they would do so. At least that was what Rei, Elena, and Set thought.

  「Please, save my dad!」


  「Please, we are indebted to that bakery.」


  「Big brother, can you help my older sister?」


  The people in the surroundings, who had been listening in to Rei and the guard’s conversation, started to call out to him.

  「……Give me a minute. I will ask the captain.」


  Saying that, the guard walked over to the bakery.

  A few minutes later, he came back, accompanied by a middle aged man in his forties.

  「I’m Captain Plato, commander of the security force in this area. I’ve been told you are willing to help us with anything we need……there will be no reward, and even if there was, it wouldn’t be much, you are aware of this? Are you still willing to help us?」


  「I’m not looking for a reward. I just don’t want the bakery to go out of business.」


  At Rei’s reply, Elena nodded and Set gave a cry.

  Hearing that, Plato nodded with a small smile.

  「I see, so you’re also a fan of the bread the old man makes. If so, you are my friends. ……Thank you. I’ve been indebted to the old man for a long time. I want to rescue him and his daughter, Latio, as well.」


  Rei was surprised for a moment when the captain bowed his head.

  However, he nodded quickly. If the bakery made such good bread, it wouldn’t be a surprise for the captain of the local security force to also be a fan.

  「Yeah, leave it to me. I’ll help out as much as I can. And, to be honest, the bread there is a much better reward than money.」


  「Kuku, definitely. The old man’s bread is reward enough. I understand. I’ll ask him to give you some more when we rescue him.」


  Set a happy cry at Plato’s words while Rei and Elena became motivated as they recalled the taste of the bread they had eaten several days ago.

  「You’re strangely hungry for a B rank adventurer. Well, at your age, its fine to eat more. So……rewards aside, how do you plan to resolve this matter?」


  Looking at the bakery with a serious expression, Elena asked Plato.

  「How many robbers are inside?」


  「Three. All of them are former adventurers with some level of skill.」

  「Then that means……」


  Elena took a quick glance at the area around the bakery to make sure it was safe.

  「If it’s me and Rei, we can normally manage taking out three people.」


  After saying that, she stopped as she looked up at the sky.

  Rei understood what Elena was thinking of and asked Plato.

  「Can we get permission for Set to fly inside Exil? I’ll sneak in from above.」


  「Above? ……Oh! They would definitely not expect it.」


  The most common way to fly in Elgin was by Dragon Knights, the fact that Rei could also fly on Set was the most effective card they could use to surpise the other party.

  「So, Elena will take them by surprise after I rush in from above and throw them into confusion.」


  The robbers who were holed up inside where only failed adventurers after all.

  「I understand. I’ll give you permission. Please start immediately. They are getting impatient and I don’t know what they’ll do.」


  Rei and Set nodded at the captain’s words and left the area with a guard to stop the robbers from noticing them fly up.

  In addition, the reason why a guard went with them was to let other people know that they had been given permission to fly within the city and to avoid people bothering Rei because of htat.

  『……』


  Rei and Elena looked at each other for a moment and gave a small nod to confirm each other’s intentions before starting their raid on the bakery.