Since it was a dungeon with only two floors, Rei had almost no trouble making his way back to the entrance.
A few Goblins appeared, but they were quickly dealt with by Rei.
He left their corpses as they were, just as he had done before, thinking that Slimes would eventually clean them up.
He couldn’t deny the possibility that other monsters remaining in the dungeon might eat the Goblin corpses out of hunger, but that soon wouldn’t even matter once the dungeon collapsed.
(Goblin Undead……there probably wouldn’t be much demand for them.)
Rei thought to himself while climbing the stairs leading back out.
Soon, the gap in the rocks he had passed through when entering the dungeon came into view…… Emerging from the dungeon, Rei saw that the sky was already growing dark, and campfires lit to keep out the cold.
「Gurururu~!」
Set, who had sensed Rei’s presence and magic power as he made his way out from inside the dungeon, ran over while giving happy cries.
Rei gently patted Set’s head as he rubbed against him.
Set didn’t seem to be in a bad mood at all, perhaps because he hadn’t noticed the skill acquisition yet, or maybe he just didn’t care.
When a creature as massive as Set moved, the surrounding soldiers naturally noticed.
Since they had seen Set instantly slay the monsters emerging from the dungeon several times, reacting faster than anyone else, it was only natural they kept an eye on his movements.
「Rei? How was the dungeon……」
Seeing Rei playing with Set, Ranga asked, relieved that it wasn’t a monster coming out.
Rei continued to pat Set’s head as he took the two halves of dungeon core out of the Misty Ring.
Ranga didn’t seem to know what it was at first. He stared at the dungeon core in Rei’s hand for a few seconds……before finally realising what it was and speaking hesitantly.
「Rei, could that be……」
「Yeah, it’s the dungeon core. It’s been cleared.」
「……Guru?」
The dungeon core? Set gave a cry as he looked at the semi-spherical metallic objects in Rei’s hand.
「Sorry, Set.」
Since they were in front of Ranga, Rei couldn’t specify what he was apologising for, but Set seemed to understand what Rei wanted to say. He rubbed his face against Rei as if to say, Don’t worry about it.
Set was disappointed that he couldn’t get a skill from the dungeon core, but he didn’t think Rei had destroyed it just to be mean to him.
He vaguely understood that there must have been some unavoidable reason for this.
Set rubbed his head against Rei as if to comfort him, showing that he didn’t mind.
Rei must have understood Set’s feelings as well. He smiled and patted Set in return.
「So, Rei. About clearing the dungeon……could you tell us what happened?」
Ranga, who had been watching Rei and Set interact, called out to Rei, likely sensing that things had settled down.
Rei nodded in response to Ranga’s words.
「Yeah, no problem. I don’t really have that much to talk about, though.」
「Well, I suppose not. This dungeon hasn’t been around for long, so it probably isn’t very deep. ……Which is probably why monsters keep coming out of it.」
Ranga’s gaze turned towards the side of the rocks that served as the dungeon entrance.
Piled up there were the corpses of Goblins, numbering well over twenty.
Seeing crystals attached to some of those corpses, Rei looked at Set, who was staring at him with round eyes as if asking to be petted more.
There was no longer any need to hide the fact that Set was a rare species.
However, he still preferred not to let too many people see Crystal Breath, which encased the opponent in crystal.
Crystals were useful alchemy materials and could also be used for accessories.
If someone was blinded by greed, they might try to mess with Set.
(Well, it’s my fault for not telling Set not to use Crystal Breath……actually, if there was someone foolish enough to mess with Set, they’d probably be after Set himself rather than the crystals.)
He averted his gaze from the Goblin corpses and returned to his conversation with Ranga.
「So, how was it? If you noticed anything after clearing the dungeon, I’d like to hear about it.」
「……Let’s see. Just one thing. You mentioned that Gamelions are hard to find in Gilm this year?」
「Hm? Ah, yeah. Since they’re hard to catch, Gamelion meat is quite expensive even if you buy it at a store. They’re an ingredient you can only eat at this time of year, so……wait a minute. For you to bring that up here, does that mean?」
Ranga, who had been casually replying to Rei, widened his eyes mid-sentence as if realising something.
The other soldiers who had been listening silently reacted similarly, all directing surprised looks at Rei.
Receiving their gazes, Rei nodded and recounted what he had seen in the hall with the dungeon core.
「Yeah, in the space where the dungeon core was, Gamelions were packed so tightly that there was basically no room between them……well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it was definitely crowded enough to seem like it. I didn’t count them properly so I can’t say for sure, but I think there were over fifty of them.」
「……Wow. To think the reason there were so few Gamelions this year was hidden in a place like this.」
Hearing Rei’s words, not only Ranga but the other soldiers all wore expressions of astonishment.
Gamelion meat was something that could only be eaten at this time of year.
Of course, if it was processed it into dried meat or the like, it was a different story, but the taste would inevitably be inferior compared to fresh meat.
Because of that, many people had been feeling quite sad, thinking they wouldn’t be able to eat much Gamelion meat this year.
「Th-Then……are you thinking of selling the Gamelion meat on the market?」
Knowing just how massive Rei and Set’s appetites were, Ranga asked somewhat nervously.
Rei thought for a moment at Ranga’s question, looked over at Set, and then nodded reluctantly.
「Maybe about ten of them.」
Initially, Rei had planned to sell about half of them on the market, but talking about it now sparked a little bit of greed.
The fact that Gamelion meat was unbelievably delicious for a C rank monster was a big factor.
「Hmm……ten. Well, considering the size of a Gamelion, I think it will have some effect, but……」
「Well, since the dungeon has been cleared, there shouldn’t be any more Gamelions summoned inside, so even though it’s a bit late, I think we’ll start seeing Gamelions from now on. Besides, considering I only killed about fifty in the end, it’s entirely possible that the Gamelions are just appearing late this year.」
「Could that also be related to the dungeon?」
「I can only say it might be related.」
The topic of Gamelions ended there, and the conversation shifted to other aspects of the dungeon.
「Still, it was a dungeon with a lot of Goblins.」
「Ah, yeah. The fact that it was newly formed probably had something to do with it. If more time passed, I think other monsters would have appeared too.」
「There were Ogres, but they were considerably shorter than the Ogres I know.」
「That’s probably also because it’s a newly formed dungeon.」
「As someone fighting them, I didn’t mind, but……the materials aren’t worth as much, right?」
Ranga smiled wryly and nodded in response to Rei’s question.
「From what I’ve heard, that seems to be the case. As for Goblins, no matter how many you collect, they’re practically worthless.」
Hearing Ranga’s words, Rei was truly glad he hadn’t bothered to collect any Goblin materials.
「Ah, right. Give that to Rei.」
At Ranga’s call, a few soldiers brought over a palm-sized leather pouch.
Rei took it, and while wondering what it was, he looked inside to find crystal fragments.
Most of them were only about the size of a fingertip, but with this many, it was guaranteed to fetch a decent amount of money.
Rei glanced at Set, the source of the crystals, and handed the leather pouch right back to the soldiers.
「No, you guys can have this.」
「……Are you sure?」
「Yeah. It seems Set caused you some trouble. Consider it a token of my gratitude for taking care of him.」
「I see. If you insist, we will gratefully accept it. We’ll use the money from selling these crystals to hit the tavern when we get back to Gilm. It should be enough to cover a night of drinking for all of us. Thank you.」
Ranga gave a small bow, but when he raised his head, a sharp light resided in his eyes.
It wasn’t his usual stern but good natured face, but the expression of a man in the position of commanding Gilm’s guards.
「So, Rei. Could it be that Set is a Griffon higher species or rare species?」
For Ranga, this was something he absolutely had to ask.
Depending on the answer, he might need to report it to Daska.
He had even been thinking of ways to extract the information if Rei tried to hide it, but……
「Hm? Ah, yeah. Set is a Griffon rare species.」
Rei answered Ranga’s question easily.
Perhaps surprised by this, Ranga slightly widened his eyes, looked at Rei, and spoke again to confirm.
「Umm, just to be sure, let me ask one more time. We can safely assume Set is a Griffon rare species, right?」
「Yeah. ……I see, come to think of it, you’ve been stationed out here for a while. It makes sense you wouldn’t know. I’ve already reported this matter to Daska-sama. When we participated in the civil war in the Bestir Empire, Set used his skills in front of a large crowd. I had been keeping it a secret until now, but since that happened, hiding it was impossible.」
「……Eh?」
Despite his stern face, Ranga had a rather unique expression of utter bewilderment.
Feeling a somewhat heartwarming sensation at Ranga’s reaction, Rei continued.
「It probably……has spread throughout Gilm, not just to Daska-sama.」
The reason he thought that was because of the people who had come with him to Gilm.
The former guerrilla unit members had seen Set use his skills normally, and even those who had come with them had seen Set fight when they were attacked by bandits and monsters during the journey.
Normally, that information wouldn’t spread through Gilm so easily, but the network of people who doted on Set was vast.
Naturally, there was a very high possibility that there were several Set lovers inside the lord’s residence, and it was entirely possible that information would leak from there.
And once the information leaked out of the lord’s residence, it wouldn’t take long for it to spread to the Set lovers throughout Gilm.
Of course, even the people in the lord’s residence wouldn’t leak the information if it was crucial to Gilm’s security.
However, since Rei himself was no longer trying to hide the information about Set, the level of secrecy wasn’t that high.
Hearing Rei’s explanation, Ranga and the other soldiers nodded in understanding.
「……I see. Indeed.」
Precisely because they lived in Gilm, they likely knew just how much influence the faction of Set lovers held.
「Anyway, I understand the situation. Since Daska-sama knows, I have no intention of saying anything about it. So, what are you going to do now, Rei?」
「What do you mean?」
「It’s already getting dark, and if you leave now, the gates will be closed…… Ah, wait. With Set’s speed, you could still make it in time.」
Looking around, it had still been faintly light when he came out of the dungeon, but it was already completely dark.
Checking the pocket watch taken from the Misty Ring, it was past 5:00 PM.
Even if they left now, there was no doubt they could easily make it in time with Set’s speed.
Should he spend the night here and head to Gilm tomorrow morning, or should he ride Set back right now?
Considering the two options……he made his decision without hesitation.
「I’ll head back to Gilm. With the magic tent, this cold wouldn’t be that bothersome, but I’d rather sleep soundly at the Dusk Wheat Pavilion if possible. Besides, I want to deliver the report about clearing the dungeon to the guild as soon as I can.」
「Hmm, that makes sense. ……Then, I’m sorry to ask, but could you wait a bit? I’d like you to deliver a report to Daska-sama stating that the dungeon has been cleared.」
「Understood. Try to be as quick as you can.」
Hearing Rei’s response, Ranga nodded and immediately started drafting his report.
Of course, it wasn’t an official report, but just a preliminary notice that the dungeon had been cleared. Lucky for Rei such a report didn’t take that much time to write up.