「Hmm? ……Mmm……」

Rei got up in his bed as the dazzling morning sun fell into his room.

It was the day after the party celebrating his promotion and he had stayed up late, only returning to the inn close to midnight.

Considering that, it was quite amazing that he had woken up while it was still morning.

Throwing his clothes into a laundry basket, he took out a new shirt from the Misty Ring as he got dressed.

Walking out of his room and heading to the dining area, he saw only a few people eating breakfast as it was already past that time in the morning.

However, when the guests of the Dusk Wheat who were still around saw Rei, they started talking among themselves.

「Hey, that guy in the robe, did he get promoted to B rank yesterday?」

「Yeah, he’s the one. I heard about it this morning from an adventurer I know well.」

「B rank, huh. I’d try to hire him as an escort if I could.」

「That’s true. You won’t know what kind of monsters might attack in this area near the frontier. And even outside the frontier, having a B rank adventurer as an escort would give you peace of mind in the event you are attacked by vicious bandits, it would also affect your merchant ranking as well.」

「……That said, with how he looks, most people wouldn’t believe him if he said he was a B rank adventurer unless he showed them his guild card.」

「You’re right about that. In fact, I heard that he got dragged into a lot of trouble when he first came to this city because people underestimated him based on how he looked. Most of them regretted it though.」

Rei took a seat as he heard the voices of lone merchants and merchant caravans talk about him from either side.

As if waiting for him, Lana, the inn proprietress, walked over with a smile.

「Good morning. I heard you had a big night last night.」

She placed a glass of cold juice on the table as she greeted Rei.

「Yeah, good morning. I would like breakfast please.」

「You must have eaten and drank until late yesterday, would you like something light for breakfast? Or just a regular one?」

「I’d like a regular breakfast please.」

「Yes, I understand. ……Rei-san, congratulations on your B rank promotion.」

Giving one last smile along with her congratulatory words, Lana returned to the kitchen.

Seeing her leave, Rei drank the fruit juice on the table while waiting for food to be served.

However, as he waited, about 10 people in the room kept glancing over at him. Eventually, one of them stood up and walked over to Rei as if he had made up his mind.

「Um, you are Rei-san, the adventurer who was promoted to B rank yesterday, right?」

The man in his late twenties asked in a polite tone. He couldn’t underestimate Rei as, despite looking like a kid in his mid teens, Rei was still a B rank adventurer.

「Yes, you are?」

Rei prompted the man to continue as he drank his fruit juice and observed him.

(He looks pretty young. But if he’s staying in the Dusk Wheat in Gilm, he has to be rich in some way……a merchant?)

Rei’s words seemed to ignore the face that he was much younger than the man, but the man didn’t seem to mind as he bowed his head.

「Actually, I was wondering if you would accept a request.」

「A request?」

「Yes. My name is Prizon. Although I look like this, I’m actually a merchant. I wanted to ask if you, as a B rank adventurer, could be my escort……what do you think about it?」

As soon as the man called Prizon said that, the other merchants in the dining room all turned to look towards him with sharp eyes.

They all looked at him as if they were praising him for outsmarting the rest of them while having looks as if they had let something get away at the same time.

「An escort, huh? For how long exactly?」

「Eh? No, I mean, just for a short while……2 months if possible.」

After hearing that it would be for two months, Rei shook his head.

「I’m sorry, but I can’t accept your request.」

「Why is that? I haven’t even spoken about the details of the offer yet……is there something not to your liking?」

「No, not at all. Well, it’s true that I wasn’t originally keen on accepting an escort request, but I actually have some pre-arranged business to attend to soon, so I’ll be out of the city for a while.」

Yes, he had promised to head to the Labyrinth City with Elena back in spring, there was only one month to go.

Because of that, he had to leave Gilm with Set and it would be impossible for him to accept a request that would take several months.

「……Is that so, well that’s too unfortunate.」

Prizon let out a sigh as said that and walked back to his table weakly.

The other merchants who were watching them probably heard Rei’s reply to Prizon when he refused and didn’t make any other invitations to Rei.

They did want to get to know Rei better, as he was a B rank adventurer. However, the aura around Rei made it hard for them to approach him.

After that, Rei ate a simple breakfast made up of bread with nuts in it, bacon and vegetable soup and an omelette before thinking about his plans for the day.

(First of all, my highest priority is to absorb the Bicorn magic stones. As for buying and selling Bicorn materials……well, there’s no rush, so I can do that later. In that case, where should I absorb the magic stones……no, if I want to do that near Gilm, it has to be that place.)

What crossed Rei’s mind was a small clearing surrounded by trees, where he had gone to absorb magic stones many times before. There was a certain amount of space there and even if someone walked by, there was not need to worry about being seen as they absorbed the magic stones due to the trees surrounding it. It was the perfect location for that.

Finishing his breakfast as he finalised his plans for the day, he moistened his throat with the cold tea that was served alongside his breakfast.

Cold tea was an ordinary drink in the Dusk Wheat inn, but this was only possible because the Dusk Wheat was a high class inn. In lodging where ordinary adventurers stayed, magic items to cool drinks would be too expensive to use.

That said, if there was someone who could use water magic, it would be a different story.

「Thank you for the food. It was delicious, I look forward to dinner.」

「Thank you.」

Rei headed towards the stables after Lana’s response, ignoring the merchants who looked at him leave regretfully.

 

 

「Hmm, it’s been a while since I’ve been here……it’s hot though, as expected of summer.」

「Gurururu~?」

Is that so? Set seemed to ask Rei with a cry.

Rei judged that Set couldn’t tell the difference because he was a Griffon and looked around.

A clearing surrounded by trees. That was where Rei and Set were right now.

Although it was hot, it was still only mid morning, so it still wasn’t the hottest time. In the first place, since Rei was wearing the Dragon Robe, which could regulate his temperature, saying it was hot or cold was nothing really more than small talk.

「Well, we’ve come all the way here. Rather than wasting our time for nothing, let’s just get one with what we’ve come to do.」

Saying that, he took out a Bicorn’s magic stone from the Misty Ring. As a D rank monster, the magic stone was only a few cm in diameter and couldn’t be compared to the Lemrace’s magic stone.

「Set.」

Tossing the magic stone at him with that word, Set caught it in his beak and swallowed it.

And……

【Set has acquired the skill 『Poison Claw Lv.3』】

An announcement echoed in his mind as usual.

「Poison Claw, huh? Well, I guess it’s appropriate if you consider a Bicorn’s horns.」

Their two horns were poisonous and Rei had seen Goblins scratched by them immediately slow down before being devoured by the herd of Bicorns. Thinking about that, it was only natural that the skill level of Poison Claw would increase.

「That said, Poison Claw. There’s no way to test it on a tree or something like that. I guess we’ll have to find some monsters later.」

「Guru~」

Set nodded at Rei’s words in agreement.

Seeing that, Rei smiled.

「Gurururu~?」

What’s the matter? Set seemed to ask as he tilted his head. Rei stroked Set’s back as he replied.

「It’s nothing, Fire Breath was your strongest skill until now, but Poison Claw is now also level 3. I had considered Poison Claw to be a utility skill, but if it’s strong enough, it might be useful as a basic attack. ……However, I have no idea what the maximum skill level is.」

Giving a sigh, Rei took out another Bicorn magic stone from the Misty Ring.

「Now then, if Set can acquire a skill, I can expect the Death Scythe……to do so as well!」

Throwing it into the air, Rei struck it with the Death Scythe. The magic stone disappeared after being cut by the blade……

【Death Scythe has acquired the skill 『Corrosion Lv.2』】

The announcement echoed in his mind.

「Huh, well, it’s true that corrosion and poison might be similar……but honestly, it feels out of place.」

Rei muttered to himself as he sighed.

As an adventurer who collected magic stones, the opponents he would usually fight were naturally monsters. Corrosion was useless unless the enemy he fought had metal equipement.

Of course, some humanoid monsters, such as the Orcs he had fought before, had metal equipment. However, the overwhelming majority of monsters used their own bodies as weapons.

Considering that, Rei’s sigh was quite understandable.

However, since he would be heading to the Labyrinth City, there was a chance he might get dragged into trouble with people that either didn’t know him or wanted to cause trouble due to Elena’s looks, who would be going there with him. Encouraging himself by thinking that it would be a useful skill when fighting against such people, Rei changed his line of thoughts.

「Well then. I can’t check how Corrosion has improved, so I’ll have to check Poison Claw first.」

「Gururu~」

Nodding at Rei’s words, Set crouched down with his back facing Rei.

After Rei got on Set’s back, Set flapped his wings after several steps and soared into the sky.

Their actions could best be described as in sync with each other.

「But, even if I want to check the effectiveness of Poison Claw……the last time Set used it was when I went into the dungeon with Elena. If I consider that, Poison Claw is hard for other people to notice, so it should be fine to use it normally. Of course, I can’t let anyone see a monster slowly dying from poison if they don’t know anything about Set.」

Currently, the only people who knew that Set was different from ordinary Griffons were Elena, Ara and Scorching Wind. The only non-human who knew was Grimm, the Lich. In front of anyone else, he couldn’t reveal that Set was special compared to other Griffons.

「Gururururu~!」

As Rei thought to himself, Set gave a cry to draw his attention.

Following Set’s line of sight, he looked down at the plain below and saw a group of 10 Goblins.

「Goblins. ……Well, I did see them dying from a Bicorn’s poison, so that’s some indication. If possible, I would have preferred a higher ranking monster though.」

「Guru~」

Set gave a cry as if to tell Rei to not ask for too much.

Rei nodded as there was nothing he could do.

「Let’s do it then. Use King’s Awe first to stop the Goblins from moving. If they scatter and run, it will be troublesome for us to test anything.」

With Rei’s words, Set gave a cry before diving towards the Goblins walking along the plains.

「Gururururururururu~!」

The moment King’s Awe was used, all the Goblins froze in place.

……Some of the Goblins just straight out died from the shock.

Then, against the Goblins that had froze in place, Set activated Poison Claw and swung his claws.

「Guru~」

However, with Set’s overwhelming strength as a Griffon compared to a Goblin, Set’s claw just crushed the Goblin’s body, scattering it’s internal organs, blood, flesh and bones all across the grass.

Seeing that, Set’s shoulders slumped involuntarily.

But, as if thinking that it was pointless to stay like that, Set activated Poison Claw again as struck out at another Goblin.

This time, he did so gently so as to not kill it in a single blow.

The Goblin was scratched by Set’s claws in an attack that couldn’t really be called an attack.

But……within 5 minutes, the Goblin was in agony and after another 3 minutes, it spat blood from its mouth as it collapsed.

Set tried the same thing on the other Goblins and there were some differences, but they all died within 10 minutes of being poisoned.

Rei gave a sigh as he looked at the Goblins lying on the ground.

「The strength of the poison has definitely increased. Although it has gone up in strength……it’s a little hard to tell exactly how powerful it is though when only dealing with Goblins.」

He wanted to test it on other monsters if possible, as he thought to himself.

************************************************

【Set】

『Water Ball Lv.2』 『Fire Breath Lv.3』 『Wind Arrow Lv.1』 『King’s Awe Lv.1』 『Poison Claw Lv.3』 new 『Size Transformation Lv.1』 『Tornado Lv.1』 『Ice Arrow　Lv.1』 『Optical Camouflage　Lv.1』

【Death Scythe】

『Corrosion Lv.2』 new 『Flying Slash　Lv.2』 『Magic Shield　Lv.1』 『Power Slash　Lv.2』 『Wind Hand　Lv.2』 『Terrain Manipulation　Lv.1』

Poison Claws: Secrets poison from claws to poison injured enemies. The strength of the poison varies with level.

Corrosion: Corrodes metal objects if they are cut several times. The number of cuts required decreases as level increases.

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