"Fuu... It feels long even though it’s long."

"Yabe, what are you even saying?"

The carriage journey to the royal capital feels long — and it really is long — so I ended up complaining without thinking. Irina scolded me for it.

"Hahaha, I just meant the royal capital is really far away."

We were almost at Tarbarne, the largest town in the Tarbal territory.

Well, "almost" in carriage speed. It would probably take another 3 to 4 hours.

We had been traveling for several days since leaving Fortress City Felbane.

We stayed overnight twice in villages within the Coluna Frontier Count’s territory.

For some reason, not only Lord Fenberg but also his wife and Luciana were heading to the royal capital together. We were riding in what seemed to be the Coluna Frontier Count house’s best carriage. Even with the six of us — Lord Fenberg, his wife, Luciana, me, Irina, and Sarina — there was still some room. It looked like it could fit up to eight people.

While I was mentally dying in Fortress City Felbane (going around to all the churches), Sarina had apparently spent most of her time at the Alchemists’ Guild. As an alchemist herself, she was a member and could apparently take on work even as a walk-in at branch offices. They were always short on people for things like making recovery potions. She worked for about a day and a half and proudly earned 7 silver coins.

She didn’t seem to know I had donated 2,000 gold coins. Well, she had been holed up in the Alchemists’ Guild doing part-time work the whole time.

...It’s important to earn money yourself. Yeah.

"Lord Fenberg! A swarm of Killer Ants has appeared from the forest on the left! There are over 30 of them!"

"What!?"

A knight escort rode up to the carriage and reported.

"Killer Ants?"

"You don’t know them, Lord Yabe? They have extremely hard exoskeletons, making them resistant to weapons and magic. They’re ferocious creatures with powerful jaws that can bite through anything. Over 30 of them... This is bad. Can we detour?"

"It’ll be difficult. It looks like a party of 5-6 adventurers is already being chased. If they get wiped out, the ants will head straight for us. From our current position, we can’t head toward Tarbarne. It’s too dangerous. The knight order will hold them here — Lord Fenberg, please retreat to the village behind us immediately!"

The man trying to organize the escort knights seemed quite capable.

"My lord, what should we do?"

The butler asked. He must have served the Coluna house for a long time. Even in this situation, he remained calm. The Coluna Frontier Count house... really is impressive.

"Father..."

"Dear..."

The wife and Luciana looked at Lord Fenberg with worry.

From his expression, it seemed that 10 escort knights would have a hard time annihilating over 30 Killer Ants.

"Is it that difficult for the escort knights to wipe out the swarm?"

"...Yes... Most likely none would survive."

Lord Fenberg frowned deeply.

"I see. Then I’ll go."

"Lord Yabe!"

"It’s dangerous, Yabe-sama!"

Both Lord Fenberg and Luciana tried to stop me, but it sounded like the adventurer party was in trouble too.

"Irina, I’ll be back."

"Be careful, Yabe."

"Yeah."

As soon as I said that, I opened the carriage door and leaped outside.

Borrowing Sylphie’s power, I soared through the sky like an arrow, heading to rescue the adventurer party.

"No good! I’m out of magic!"

"Run! Run toward Tarbarne!"

"How many do you think there are!?"

"Then do you want to die here!? If you don’t, then run!"

The men shouted as they ran toward the highway.

It looked like a party of six adventurers.

Two women — a ranger-like girl with a bow who seemed young, and an older sister-type thief.

The other four were men (miscellaneous).

Behind them, a swarm of Killer Ants was chasing with terrifying momentum. It looked like something that could cause trauma.

"Kyauh!"

The lightly armored girl with the bow tripped.

"Patti!"

A young man behind her shouted, but a Killer Ant was already right in front of the girl called Patti.

"Ah..."

The girl sensed certain death.

A torrent of magic was unleashed!

Stone spears — or pillars — suddenly erupted from the ground beneath the Killer Ants in front of her, blowing them away.

A person in a white robe gently descended in front of the girl.

"Are you okay?"

A very gentle, soothing voice.

"Y-Yes, I’m fine."

"Good, I’m glad."

Saying that, the figure raised a staff embedded with a red gem.

"I’ll clean up the rest. Belhia! Lend me your power."

『Ara, you’re calling on me again? I’m so happy I’ll give you special service~』

Belhia-neesan appeared with a seductive aura and hugged me from behind. Of course, since the other adventurers were present, she wasn’t manifesting visibly to everyone — only I could see her.

"Save the service for later... Here we go! !"

The ground beneath the Killer Ants turned into quicksand and began swirling.

The rampaging Killer Ants lost their footing as the ground became like an antlion pit. They were swallowed by the swirling quicksand and disappeared.

『Fufu... Yabe-chan has become able to use my power so freely... How wonderful~』

"Belhia-neesan, I’m grateful for the praise, but you’re being a bit too seductive."

I stopped the quicksand vortex and returned the ground to normal. Not a single Killer Ant remained.

The girl called Patti stared wide-eyed at the spot where the swarm had vanished, then looked at me in astonishment.

The other adventurers, who had been stunned, finally realized they had been saved and came running over.

"Patti! Are you okay?"

A young man who looked like a mage ignored me and rushed to help Patti up.

Heh, young love.

"Sorry, you saved us. You must be one hell of a mage. Taking out that whole swarm of Killer Ants in one go..."

The man who seemed to be the leader of the adventurer party spoke to me.

"I’m working hard the normal way without cheats, so I take magic pretty seriously."

"Uh... I don’t really understand what you’re saying, but..."

"How are your injuries?"

"Nah, nothing serious. Thanks to you, we’re alive. Still... what a shame."

"What’s a shame?"

"Well, we’re grateful to be alive, but those Killer Ants sell for a really high price. Their exoskeletons are extremely hard yet light, so they’re very useful for spears and armor."

The leader-looking man looked regretful.

"What!? Is that true!? Damn, I prioritized avoiding danger and forgot about securing materials. That really is a shame."

"No, your judgment was correct. Without you, our party might have been wiped out. My mage’s fire spells had no effect at all, and my sword ended up like this."

Probably because I looked genuinely disappointed after hearing the materials sold for a high price, the leader showed me his broken sword while saying my decision was right.

"...It’s snapped clean off at the base."

"Yeah, it was really bad. Thanks for saving us. Normally I’d want to thank you properly, but right now we don’t have much on hand."

"Don’t worry about it. The information that Killer Ants sell for a good price is enough. Next time I’ll hunt them all down and pile them up at the guild!"

The man gave a bitter smile as I laughed heartily. Maybe he thought I might actually do it?

"I’m Rigen. I’m the leader of the C-rank party affiliated with the Tarbarne Adventurers’ Guild. When you get to Tarbarne, please stop by the guild and visit us. There’s a great restaurant. I’ll treat you as thanks for saving us."

"Oh, I appreciate the offer, but I’m pretty tied up. If I have time, I’ll drop by, but don’t worry about it."

"...By the way, you came out of that super luxurious carriage. What was that about?"

"Ah, that’s the Coluna Frontier Count house’s carriage. The lord himself is riding in it."

"Geh!"

"No way!"

"You’re a noble!?"

The adventurers all reacted in shock.

Well, I know I don’t look noble at all, and technically I’m not one.

"No, I’m not a noble. I’m just a guest."

"Still, being invited as a guest by a Frontier Count..."

Actually, I was invited by the King!

But saying that would probably cause more problems.

"Yabe, are you done? Lord Fenberg says we can depart if there’s no issue."

"Got it. Let’s go then. See you later."

I waved lightly and returned to the carriage.

"Wow... We were saved by one hell of a guy."

Rigen could only stare in admiration at the robed man walking away.

Patti, on the other hand, couldn’t say a single word as she watched Yabe’s back disappear.