"Now that I think about it, back then, you also transported monsters through the air."

As I levitated the cage carrying the fourteen bandits, Fleur muttered to herself. Back then… Oh, she must be talking about the first time they bought game from us.

We had pretended to drag it along with ropes, but it seems Fleur had seen through it.

The cage was a simple construction, just a platform with evenly spaced pillars and a lid on top. Of course, I had reinforced it with enough magic to ensure it wouldn’t break from any ordinary impact. I had also secretly deployed a magical disruption field, making it impossible to use magic inside.

After securing all of them inside, I formed pillars at the entrance, making it look like a doorless floating cage.

"We won’t say anything anymore…"

Ever since I had prepared to launch magic at the bandits, the members of Crimson Sword had gone noticeably silent. Now that they had finally restarted their thoughts, this was all they had to say. While I appreciated them not asking too many questions, Frelis bombarded me with questions about magic instead.

"Is that the commercial city?"

Running alongside the carriage at the back, Rio pointed ahead.

"Oh, it's huge."

The stone walls were similar to those of the craftsman city, Raven, but as expected of a commercial city, the scale was entirely different. I could even see guards stationed on top of the walls. A small line of people was forming at the city gate, but it seemed short enough that our turn would come soon.

As we joined the queue at the back, the adventurers who had been in line before us turned their startled gazes toward us. Looks like Nir and the floating cage behind us were drawing attention.

"What… is that?"

Just before it was our turn, one of the guards approached us. He must have come ahead to inquire about the situation.

"We were attacked by bandits, so we captured them," Alyssa explained, taking care of the interaction.

"But… this cage… how exactly…?"

"That boy over there, Shu, made it, so if you have questions, ask him."

…Or so I thought, but she casually passed the responsibility onto me.

"Ah, so you’re the one who made… this cage?"

A guard holding a long spear approached me at the back of the carriage and asked.

The way he bent down with his hands on his knees to talk to me was a little irritating, but I made sure not to show it on my face.

"Yes, I did. There are fourteen people inside, so I’d appreciate it if you could quickly take them into custody."

"Ah, yes, of course."

He straightened up at my response and glanced around at the others before continuing.

"Just to confirm, you were all attacked by these men in the cage?"

"Yes, that’s correct."

As he nodded at the confirmation, Fleur, seated next to the coachman, also voiced her agreement.

"Now that I take a closer look, this is a carriage from the Rashiyu Trading Company… I was so focused on the cage that I didn’t notice."

"Indeed. Now, please handle the bandits."

"Understood. Leave it to us."

The guard saluted and hurried back to the gate. Following that, it was our turn to proceed with the entry procedure.

"This creature… Whose familiar is it?"

"Ah, that would be me."

"Could I see your guild card?"

"Here you go."

We had a bit of a hassle with Nir.

"Leaving this cage here would be a problem, wouldn’t it?"

When I asked the gatekeeper, he gave me an awkward look.

In the end, about ten guards gathered to take the bandits into custody, and we had to wait for an hour before they finished.

"Thank you for your hard work."

By the time we entered the city, the sun had begun to set, casting an evening glow over everything.

"I’m exhausted."

"Well, you did great."

Even after I opened the cage’s entrance, none of the bandits made a move to leave, so I had Nir drag them out one by one.

"So, I guess this means the request is complete."

"Yes. Thank you very much. Here is the completed request form."

At Alyssa’s words, Fleur handed over a sheet of paper.

"Got it. This was a learning experience for us as well."

"Indeed. If we meet again, let’s work together."

"Ufufu, thank you for everything."

"No, thank you. With this, we can take on escort missions on our own from now on."

"Haha, make sure you don’t get underestimated at first glance."

"Ahaha, I’ll keep that in mind…"

I wasn’t sure how to go about that, but I figured things would work out.

"Thank you, everyone."

Rio also expressed her gratitude to everyone before we finally parted ways.

"Lord Shu, Lady Rio, what will you do now? If you’d like, I can recommend an inn."

As we watched the members of Crimson Sword leave, I was considering where to stay when Fleur made a timely offer.

"That would be great. I’ve never been to this city before."

"…Huh? But you’ve been to Raven, haven’t you? There shouldn’t be any other routes to get there…"

"Uh, well…"

Oh, right. Normally, people wouldn’t travel from Fenrir’s village through the forest to get here. But there wasn’t really a need to keep it a secret from Fleur. In fact, maybe I should ask her about that mysterious tower in the forest.

When I revealed this to Fleur, she just let out a dry laugh. Apparently, she had never heard of a massive tower in the middle of the forest.

Seriously, what is that tower?