After spending some time relaxing and looking at the magic stones he had recently collected, it was close to the time Rei would normally go to sleep when someone knocked on the door to his room.

Rei understood that he was an adventurer whose name had spread to a certain extent. That was why he wasn’t surprised that someone might come to visit him at this time, even if it was still a bit too early to call it late night.

(Is it some urgent request……or someone trying to make a name for themselves by defeating me, or perhaps something else? Well, I wonder who it is?)

After making sure he could manage at least a minimum level of response no matter what happened, Rei went to the door and called out to the person on the other side.

「What is your business?」

「I have a private matter to discuss. If it’s alright with you, could you please let me into your room?」

The voice was entirely unfamiliar to Rei. It probably was someone he had never met before, Rei thought as he opened the door. Standing before Rei once the door opened was, naturally, a completely unfamiliar individual.

「……Who are you?」

At Rei’s words, the man, who looked to be in his mid-twenties and was was of average height and build, bowed deeply.

「Nice to meet you, Rei-san. My name is Siest. The truth is, I have brought a proposal for you, Rei-san, from a certain individual. If you don’t mind, could you please listen to what I have to say?」

「……Well, fine. But it’s a bit awkward to talk in my room, so would it be alright if we spoke in the dining hall instead?」

「The dining hall? I would prefer it if others didn’t overhear our conversation if at all possible.」

「Even if you say that, the only other option is my room, you know?」

「Yes, I don’t mind. In fact, it would be a great help if we could do so. Being allowed inside the room of the famous Rei-san would bring me nothing short of pure joy.」

Rei directed a look of slight exasperation at Siest, who was exaggerating his joy, but he invited him inside the room anyway. Letting a man he had just met for the first time into his room was careless to the extreme. However, in Rei’s case, as long as it was an ordinary opponent, he had complete confidence that he could immediately handle any unforeseen circumstances. That was assuming the opponent wasn’t someone like Noiz, the S rank adventurer he had fought in the Bestir Empire.

「Alright, come on in. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything like a sofa, so please take a seat on that chair.」

Rei spoke as he invited Siest inside and sat down on the bed. Siest’s expression stiffened for a split second, but he completely erased it the next moment as he spoke.

「Thank you very much. Well then, excuse me.」

Saying that, Siest walked in and sat down on the lone chair in the room. After confirming that, Rei immediately spoke up.

「So, what did you come here for at this time, even if it’s not exactly late night? And to see me, someone you’re meeting for the first time.」

「Yes. The truth is, it’s about Keep-sama, the opponent you will be fighting in a duel in three days……」

As soon as the man said that, Rei felt a slightly bad feeling. However, he didn’t voice his thought, prompting him to continue with his gaze.

「He says he wishes to recruit you, Rei-san. Furthermore, he offers to pay several platinum coins as an advance payment.」

「As I thought.」

The contents of the proposal were exactly what he had loosely anticipated and Rei responded with a sigh. Hearing Rei’s words, Siest likely didn’t understand their meaning, as he turned a puzzled look towards Rei.

「In other words, he realised that once the duel actually takes place, defeating me is impossible, so he’s trying to bribe me, right? And he’s politely offering a mere few platinum coins at that.」

To a commoner, a platinum coin was undoubtedly a massive amount of money. However, to an adventurer who possessed abilities above a certain level, they were by no means rare. And above all, a considerable number of platinum coins lay inside the Misty Ring. The most recent addition would be from the Gamelion hunt that took place just the other day. During the hunt, he had extorted several platinum coins from the adventurers who had attempted to steal the carriage Rei rode in……or more accurately, the carriage of the former guerrilla force. For someone in Rei’s position, being told to betray Mouet for a few platinum coins was a joke, a laughable matter.

「In the first place, if I win this duel, half of the Earl Eliel family’s property will belong to the Baron Cisne family. If that happens, I don’t think the amount paid to me for winning the duel will be a mere few platinum coins, you know?」

「That is……however, the opponent is the Earl Eliel family, you know? If things proceed with the duel like this, it will cause various inconveniences for you as well, Rei-san……」

As Siest was about to finish his sentence, Rei smiled as he spoke.

「Do you really think so? I shouldn’t really say this, but as long as I’m in Gilm, I don’t think I’ll face any inconveniences. It would be a different story if I went to the Royal Capital, though. Besides, if things truly reach a dead end, I could easily vanish from the Mireana Kingdom altogether. After all, I’m just a free adventurer with no ties.」

In reality, it wouldn’t be anywhere near that simple. In the first place, if he ended up fleeing the Mireana Kingdom, it was certain that it would become difficult for him to see Elena. Although he didn’t speak with her every single night, he conversed with Elena quite frequently through the Paired Orbs, but even so, it was only natural for him to want to meet her directly if it were possible. However, Siest, who was completely unaware of that, could only look on in pure surprise at Rei casually talking about abandoning the Mireana Kingdom.

「Well, our conversation is officially over. Now, please leave. I can easily guess who your master is from what you’ve just said, but I won’t bother prying into it.」

Since the man had brought a proposal for Keep to employ him, it was incredibly easy to guess who Siest was doing this for. However, knowing that stating it aloud would only lead to troublesome complications, Rei simply brushed it aside.

(Even so, to think they would try to bribe me first. I thought they would target the Baron Cisne family instead…… Did I guess incorrectly?)

Looking at the man before his eyes, Rei harboured complicated emotions, feeling relieved by his own wrong guess while simultaneously feeling disappointed. In reality, they had already carried out an attack, and it was precisely because that raid had failed that they resorted to the method of bribing Rei, but there was no way for Rei to know that.

「A-Are you serious!? The opponent is the Earl Eliel family, you know? They are nobles who hold a certain degree of influence even within the Royalist Faction. And yet, you are refusing a request from their next head!?」

Siest must have found the words coming from Rei’s mouth entirely unbelievable, he spoke with his eyes wide. However, Rei just replied with a ferocious smile.

「Why on earth should I go out of my way to serve a guy like him? If someone wants to command me, they should display their own strength instead of relying on their parents’ authority or family assets. If they do that, I might consider it. ……Though an ordinary person wouldn’t be capable of handling someone like me anyway.」

Rei spoke with a smile on his face, entirely unable to imagine a scenario where he would serve a noble. In the first place, he frequently engaged in independent, sometimes completely arbitrary actions. He firmly believed he was someone that could only work effectively when working alone. If he had to coordinate his movements with other knights, he wouldn’t be able to display his abilities to his heart’s content.

「……Understood. If you are going to go that far, I shall take my leave now. However, please understand that an opportunity like this normally never comes along.」

Looking at Rei with an expression that showed he couldn’t understand why Rei would make such a decision, Siest stood up from the chair, bowed, and left the room. Watching him leave, Rei took off his Dragon Robe, stored it inside the Misty Ring, and laid back down on his bed.

「Well, the fact that they tried to bribe me means they’ve realised exactly who I am. Though I feel like their reaction was a bit slow.」

As he considered what to do the next day, Rei pulled a book out from the Misty Ring and began to read it.

 

 

「……What? Say that again.」

The words that echoed through the room carried a tone as though the speaker completely failed to comprehend what they had just been told. Hearing that, Furtos wiped away the sweat forming on his face with his clothes. The sweat forming was not due to the heating magic item present in the room, but rather because of how tense he was feeling.

「Rei has refused to accept your employment, apparently.」

「……What is the meaning of this? What on earth is going on? I am the next head of the Earl Eliel family! To think a mere adventurer dares to refuse an offer of employment from me? Who does that man think he is!?」

Along with a bellowing shout, a fist swung down as it struck the desk. His skin split and bled, but Keep continued to shout, showing no signs of feeling the pain due to his agitation.

「You’ve got to be joking! I go out of my way to offer him employment, he dares to refuse it!? Damn it, playing such a ridiculous prank on a noble, I will absolutely never forgive him!」

As far as Keep was concerned, it felt as though he had gone out of his way to extend a hand to an adventurer only for it to be bitten. To him, his position as a noble had essentially been insulted by a mere adventurer, and there was no way he could ever forgive Rei.

「Furtos! Find someone who can kill that guy……that lowly wretch named Rei in the duel! I shall make him pay for the crime of insulting me with his life!」

Keep commanded Furtos with eyes filled with rage, but Furtos could only shake his head in response.

「Have you forgotten, Keep-sama? The reason we attempted to bring Rei over to our side in the first place was precisely because we couldn’t find anyone capable of defeating him. That remains unchanged even now. Gilm is the stronghold of the Neutral Faction. Our influence as the Royalist Faction, and our influence as the Earl Eliel family, cannot be fully exercised here.」

「Grrrr……then what do you expect me to do! A strong adventurer in Gilm…… No, wait. If we can’t hire a strong adventurer here, there’s no need to be fixated on Gilm. If I remember correctly, there were other cities nearby, right? Somewhere called Abuero and Sabrusta……」

Keep wore a smile, believing he had thought of a strategy for a sudden turnaround, but what he saw was Furtos shaking his head once more. When he realised they had to fight Rei, Furtos had considered that option as well. However, he had no choice but to immediately reject the thought.

「Keep-sama. This is Gilm. In other words, this is a place where adventurers whose strength rivals that of the Royal Capital gather. If you ask whether adventurers from other cities would be capable of holding their own in a duel against Rei, who is famous as a top expert even within Gilm…… Moreover, we have almost no time left on our hands.」

「You’ve got to be joking! Even so, we have to do something about it! At this rate, half of our family assets will be stripped away!」

Keep screamed, but as far as Furtos was concerned, he wanted to ask why on earth Keep had resorted to wagering half of their assets in the first place.

(If only he hadn’t legally processed it and kept it as a mere verbal promise, we could have made any number of excuses.)

Even as Furtos thought bitterly in his mind, Keep’s bellowing shouts echoed through the room. Ignoring them, Furtos desperately tried to think of a way to break the deadlock when Keep suddenly stopped moving as if he had thought of something. Furtos felt a foreboding premonition at his master’s behavior, but he spoke up anyway.

「Keep-sama, what is wrong?」

「……The only reason I’m in this situation is entirely because there is a document stamped with my blood currently under Margrave Rowlocks’s possession, right?」

「Eh? Well, yes. It is a fact that because that document exists, we are in a situation where we cannot make excuses.」

「In that case, wouldn’t it be fine if we just did something about that document? Yes, for example, by having some thief or something sneak in and steal it.」

「That’s impossible.」

Furtos immediately rejected the idea as he suppressed the urge to shout “You’ve got to be joking!”.

「Don’t you know that’s where the Margrave lives? Naturally, it is well guarded. In particular, the knights of the Margrave Rowlocks’ territory are renowned as elite fighters. There is simply no way we could manage to slip past their eyes and sneak inside.」

Furtos didn’t voice his additional thought, that he had considered the possibility that Daska had already seen through their plans. It wouldn’t be strange for him to guess that Keep would resort to such a short-sighted action.

「Then what do you expect me to do!」

「That is……」

「You have no alternative plan, yet you have so many complaints! But, if raiding the lord’s residence is difficult, why don’t we just wipe out Gilm entirely? If we hire people to set fires all across the city at once, a duel will be the least of everyone’s concerns.」

「Please stop! If you resort to such an action, the Earl Eliel family will face total ruin!」

「That is why I’m telling you, if you want to complain, bring me an alternative plan!」

Even when shouted at, no alternative plan came from Furtos’s mouth. However, even so……he could absolutely never permit actions like sneaking into the lord’s residence or setting fire to Gilm. If Keep resorted to such measures, it was certain that not only Keep’s life, but his own life would be endangered as well. In order to protect his own life, there was only one thing Furtos could do.

「Understood. I shall look for someone possessing the strength to defeat Rei. So please, refrain from any reckless behavior.」

Only a few days remained until the duel. During that time, he had no choice but to somehow prepare an individual capable of matching Rei. Keep nodded in satisfaction at the words that came from Furtos’s mouth. This was because if they could find an opponent who could defeat Rei, there was no need to worry.

However, Keep was completely unable to comprehend exactly how difficult that would be to achieve. That was precisely why he firmly believed Furtos’s proposal would be entirely fulfilled as he spoke.

「You should have just said so from the start. Very well, I leave it to you.」

 

……And so, time flowed steadily onward, and the day of the duel officially arrived.

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