「……Phew.」

As a result of having its head cut off from the neck, blood began to spurt copiously from the cut, just like the first Gamelion that was killed in the forest.

As he didn’t like the blood spraying around, Rei took some distance from the dead body of the rare species Gamelion.

「Gururu~」

Beside him, Set, who had landed the fatal blow on the head of the rare species earlier, gracefully descended to the ground.

「You did a good job. The timing couldn’t have been better.」

Rei stroked Set’s throat while thanking him.

「Guru~」

Although as a Griffon he had the upper body of an eagle, Set purred happily like a cat as his throat was stroked.

Disregarding his size, he looked like a spoiled kitten fawning over his master.

「Heeeey-!」

While stroking Set in thanks, a voice called out from the distance.

Turning towards the direction of the voice, Hasta and the four adventurers who had retreated to the forest were running excitedly towards Rei.

「Hey, hey, hey, hey, that was amazing. No. I heard from Hasta that you were the Rei from the rumors in the city, but you’re a lot stronger than in the rumors.」
「Yes, yes. I didn’t expect a rare species could be taken down by a single person. No, I didn’t think a single person could defeat it, even with a Griffon.」

Following the male warrior that had called out to Rei when they passed by each other, a male archer wearing thick cloth armour called out.

「Truly. I never thought that I would encounter the rare species that had been talked about.」

Next, a mobile female warrior equipped with a spear and leather armour chimed in..

「No, seriously. I thought my life would end here.」

Last to speak was a man about the same age as Hasta, wearing a robe and holding a cane.

Throwing a few words of thanks to Rei and Set.

Meanwhile, Rei turned towards the man with with the cane, who should be a mage.

(Most mages are shocked when they first see me……this is different. In that case, is his ability to sense magic power as low as me?)

While thinking to himself, he shook his head as if it was nothing.

「If you want to say thanks, thank Hasta. He was the one who decided to help you.」
「That-! I did ask you to help, but it was actually Rei who killed the rare species! I was only able to fight an ordinary Gamelion……」

At Hasta’s hurried words, the leader of the adventurers raised a laugh and slapped him on the shoulder.

「Ahahaha. There are few people who can do anything about a Gamelion by themselves. One of the few exceptions is Rei over there.」

While cheerfully laughing, he put on a serious expression as he turned back to Rei.

Seeing the situation, his other three party members gathered near him.

「Thank you for your help this time. I’m Socrus, leader of the C rank party Wind’s Blades. The archer over there is Uruipuka, the one with the spear is Jure and the mage is Koteshi.」

At Socrus’ words, each party member bowed their head as they were introduced.

Looking at Wind’s Blades, it was not an exaggeration to say that they had had a narrow escape from death. If Rei hadn’t been there, they understood that there was no doubt they would have ended up in the stomach of the rare species. Even if Hasta tried to help, he would only serve to increase the rare species’ lunch by a small amount.

「As a said earlier, don’t mind it. ……However, this rare species since I killed it right?」
「Eh? Ah, of course it is. Do you need money or something?」

Socrus unintentionally asked in surprise.

At that question, Rei shook his head with a wry smile as he replied.

「No, I don’t any problems with money.」

At Rei’s words, Hasta, who was currently troubled by money issues, gave an envious look. However, realising his expression, he turned and looked away.

「But still, you saved our lives, we can’t just not give anything back. ……If it were possible, I would have liked to hand over the Gamelion we took down……」

Socrus shrugged his shoulders with a bitter smile.

Any how, they had been chased by the rare species. They had no luxury to pull the cart that had been carrying the Gamelion they had killed earlier. He gave a sigh in complaint as it would probably have ended up as another monster’s lunch by now.

「Hey, Socrus. Just consider that we are alive. Regardless of the Gamelion we killed, the cart should still be safe……I hope. In the end, isn’t the cart just something borrowed? If it’s broken, we’ll just have to pay for it……」

It was the Jure, the one with the spear, that tried to comfort Socrus. However, her tone sank back down when she thought about after they returned to the city of Gilm.

As the atmosphere darkened as Uruipuka and Koteshi thought about the same thing, Rei spoke up again.

「Ahh, I see. If you really want to thank me, it would be nice if you could treat me to some food back in Gilm.」
「……Is that okay?」
「Ah. Or rather, given the possibility of your cart’s reimbursement, you should refrain from extra expenses.」
「Well, that’s true.」

With that said, Wind’s Blades didn’t know how much Rei and Set could eat, so they accepted the proposal easily.

「Even so, I had heard rumors about you in the guild……but it’s still amazing. I really can’t believe that you’re rank D.」
「No, I thought that your magic was much more amazing. It’s impossible for me to use a fire magic that has that much power.」

Hearing Socrus’ words, Koteshi followed with praises about the magic used by Rei, who was younger than him.

「Hey, now’s not the time to relax! One way or another, we have to get the cart!I hope it’s safe. ……Anyhow, we’ll have to get going!」

While shouting, Jure held her spear in her left hand while pulling Socrus’ ear with her right hand as she quickly moved.

Of course, Socrus didn’t want his ear torn off and quickly followed after Jure.

「That hurts, hey Jure! It hurts. My ear, my ear! You’ll tear it off!」
「Shut up! Now that the dead Gamelion is eaten by other monsters, if even the cart is destroyed, our work this time will be in the red, a deficit! Moreover, completing requests will be much harder into winter, we won’t survive the winter if we have a deficit here! I refuse to take on subjugation requests in the snow like last year. One way or another, we will save up enough to spend winter warmly!」
「I understand. I understand! Please don’t disgrace us in front of people we have met for the first time!」
「Wait, wait. Don’t act rashly on the plains here without my magic!」

Koteshi chased after the two of them, leaving behind Uruipuka, who gave a small bow.

「Pardon me, I’ll have to excuse myself as I can’t leave those two as they are. ……Truly thank you for helping us out this time. ……When Socrus treats you two, eat as much as you like.」

Saying that with a smile, he chased after the other three people.

(……Socrus aside, it seems that Uruipuka know about how much Set and I eat for a meal. He doesn’t seem to want to tell his leader though, quite strangely malicious.)

With a wry smile, he spoke to Hasta, who was watching Wind’s Blades as they left.

「Now then. It was quite unexpected that I managed to take down a big game like a rare species. Should we head back to the city of Gilm?」
「Ah, yes. I agree. Given the size of the rare species, it should have much more meat than an ordinary Gamelion.」

For Hasta, running into a rare species was honestly the worst thing that could happen. Nevertheless, with Rei’s help, the massive rare species was taken down. Just looking at the results, you could say he was quite fortunate.

(Calling out to Rei at the guild was a really good idea……)

While Hasta praised his past self, Rei stored the tail and head that he had cut off into the Misty Ring.

The only thing that remained was the body that was still bleeding from the neck due to its large size.

「Ah……what do you want to do? Do you want to drain the blood here? Or do you want to drain it after returning to Gilm?」

At that question, Hasta seemed to be a bit guilty as he replied.

「From a safety perspective, it would be better to quickly collect it into Rei’s item box and drain it in the city……however, since it’s so big, it will be hard to put it where monsters are usually dismantled near the dining area and it will take a long time to drain the blood. Because of that, I’m sorry, but could I ask you to drain the blood here?」

(Well, that’s fine with me since there’s a possibility of getting a magic stone that Set or the Death Scythe haven’t absorbed yet.)

While thinking to himself, he asked Hasta with a serious expression.

「If you want to, I don’t mind……but, there is also the possibility that other monsters will come, attracted by the smell of blood. Of course, you are ready for that right?」
「Yes. I won’t be able to do anything by myself if a rank C monster like a Gamelion comes out, but if it’s something like a Goblin, there are absolutely no problems.」

With Hasta’s words, they waited for the blood to all drain out after Set forcibly turned it upside down.

「Even so……I never thought that we would run into the rare species we had heard about as we were leaving the city.」

Was that a flag by any chance? Rei muttered to himself.

「I agree. My father might not be able to stand up due to surprise if I showed this to him.」
「Hey, hey, your goal is to provide cheap meat to your parents’ eatery. So if it had to be closed due to your head chef, you will be slow to return the debt, which is the whole reason you’re doing this.」
「Ah, that’s true. But even if my father had to take a day or two off, I feel like I want to do it……」

While exchanging jokes with each other and continuing to talk as if they didn’t care, they kept a watch of the surroundings since this was an area filled with monsters.

Of course, they could only do this because they trusted each other to some extent. Otherwise, either one of them would have told the other to watch the surroundings carefully.

Hasta looked at the place where Rei had killed the rare species. Hasta had reached rank D a year before Rei, so Rei knew that he was a veteran. And above all, the two of them still had the most reliable Griffon, Set, who was monitoring the surroundings as he lay on the ground near Rei.

「By the way, you said the meat of a Gamelion is delicious, but what kind of dish would suit it specifically?」
「Well. There are a variety of recipes, but the one I like best is a simple bake with salt. The skin is baked crisply and the meat is a little tougher but its quite chewy. A lot of meat juices spread in your mouth……」

As Hasta described the taste of Gamelion meat with an expression of bliss, Rei unexpectedly swallowed his saliva.

「However, the most popular dish in the eatery is the Gamelion stew. Probably because it had plenty of nutrition when the fat from the meat melts into the soup and is eaten with vegetables……there are people who will have several servings of the soup.」
「Both of them sound delicious.」
「Ahahaha. In any case, the meat itself is from a C rank monster, which is more delicious than your average meat. I guess it’s because it’s also limited to this time period. Ah, that’s right. When I get back to Gilm, I’ll ask my father to give me some of the food cooked from the Gamelions we killed. Thinking about the amount that Rei eats……I probably can’t give you that much, but I should be able to pass you some of the stew I mentioned earlier.」
「……Is that okay? Our purpose coming out to hunt Gamelions this time was to return your eatery’s debts.」

At the unusually words of worry that Rei asked, Hasta nodded with a big smile on his face.

「Yes. After all, because Rei killed a rare species, even if my father cooked up the Gamelion dishes, the might still be meat left over. That was because I had originally planned to only hunt one Gamelion.」
「I see. If you say so, I will kindly accept your offer. ……Ahh, that’s right. Then you might be able to use the Gamelion meat for the dish I had talked about.」
「That is……please do that!」

Hearing about other potential dishes, Hasta gave a deep bow.

 

 

In the end, attracted by the smell of the Gamelion’s blood, they were attacked by several Goblins and Poison Toads. Nevertheless, Hasta finished them off quickly.

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