Rei, Freon and Brazos decided to take a subjugation request for Harpies, which had a nest at the summit of a mountain relatively close to the city of Gilm and had been attacking travelers, merchants and adventurers.

「Ah, the three of you. Have you decided what request to take?」

Freon nodded at Lenora’s words.

「Ahh, I’ve decided to take up this request with the three of us.」

When Freon handed of the the sheet she had taken from the rank B request board, Lenora raised her eyebrows slightly.

「A rank B request, is it? So Rei-san is temporarily joining Crushing Warriors?」
「Ah. I can’t accept a rank B request otherwise.」
「You have no problems with that, Rei-san?」

Lenora glanced at Rei. Since Rei had mostly acted solo, she was concerned that he would be able to fit in to a party, even if it was only temporarily.

Nearby, Kenny looked at Lenora enviously. But, if anything, Lenora consider Rei to be someone like a younger brother.

「I have no problems. Although it is unusual for me to temporarily join other parties, this isn’t the first time either.」

As Rei said that, he thought about the time they raided the Orc settlement, the rank up test and the time he followed Elena into the dungeon.

However, Lenora disagreed.

「Just now, I’m sure you were thinking about the Orc settlement raid, but that was special. With the number of people in that raid, you can’t really say you were working with another party.」
「……Didn’t I escort someone for a nominated request?」
「Was it a party of adventurers?」
「……」

When this was pointed out by Lenora, Rei gently looked away. Still, he stubbornly kept going.

「I formed a party with other people for the rank up test.」
「I know about the rank up test, but that was mostly a temporary party formed by adventurers who had been working solo.」
「Ahh, Miss Lenora. Don’t bother him too much. It will be fine, him and us are drinking buddies. We’ll get along together.」

Looking at the face of Brazos, who interjected with a wry smile, Lenora gave a sigh.

「I understand, I’ll believe it if Brazos-san says so. Then, the Harpy subjugation request has been accepted by Crushing Warriors.」

Saying that, Lenora filled in the necessary information into a document. Finishing that, she turned to Rei, as if suddenly remembering something.

「Ah, that’s right. Regarding the request for stripping materials. It was accepted as rank D. What will you do regarding the fees and rewards? Do you want to pay it now?」
「Ah. How much is it?」
「Since it’s rank D, the commission is 1 silver coin.」

At Lenora’s words, he took out a bag of coins from his pocket and gave her a silver coin.

「Yes, that’s right. Then, do you mind if the conditions of the request are kept the same as before and interviewing the people who take 」
「Please do. However, as you know, I’m going on a Harpy subjugation request now, it would be a big help if the interviews could be scheduled for after I get back.」
「I understand. I will add a note for that. Crushing Warriors, Rei-san, we will wait for your safe return.」

Lenora sent the three of them off with a bow as they left the guild.

「Rei-kun, please be careful!」

Kenny’s voice could be heard through the guild as they went out.

「Hahaha~. You’re very popular, hey.」

Freon smiled and slapped Rei on the back with a ban~ ban~ sound once they were outside the guild.

「No, I don’t think that’s the case. If anything, my partner is the one treated like that.」
「Still, an adventurer that Kenny likes, it’s enviable. Proof of that was when she was looking at Lenora jealously.」

After gently shrugging off Freon, Rei looked around.

「So what will we do? Do you want to rent a wagon?」
「Huh? I don’t think so. It’s not a distance that will take many days to get to. We’ll walk, we’ll walk.」
「That’s right. Because the rewards for this request are small in the first place, it’s best that we avoid unneeded expenditure.」

Freon shook her head at Rei’s question and Brazos agreed with her.

「No, I thought it would be better to finish this request as soon as possible to take another request. That way, wouldn’t the compensation increase?」
「Well, there’s that way of thinking. But this time, since you’re part of Crushing Warriors temporarily, do you mind following our style?」
「……I don’t have any money problems right now so that’s fine.」

They kept talking as they walked towards the guild’s carriage and horse waiting area. There were a lot of children gathered around Set as usual.

There were also some adults, who had brought some dried meat for the purpose of feeding to Set.

While Freon and Brazos were surprised by the crowd, Rei walked towards the children, familiar with the situation.

「Sorry, I have to leave for a request today. Since I’ll be heading out of the city, Set won’t be here tomorrow. Don’t feel disappointed if you come to the guild.」
「Ehhh~, Set won’t be here tomorrow?」
「Hey, hey. It can’t be helped. Rei is an adventurer and Set is his companion.」

At the complaints of a 10 year old boy, a middle aged man, probably his father, calmed him down.

As Rei watched the situation, as people gathered round to feed Set. He stroked Set before speaking to him.

「Hey, Set. We will be going out on a request.」
「Guru~」

Giving a small nod in understanding, Set got up from his lying down position.

Rei suddenly noticed something as he watched Set.

「Set, have you gotten bigger?」
「Guru~?」

Set tilted his head at Rei’s words. He seemed to be larger than when he was first created by the Magic Beast Art, although only bit a small amount.

(Well, since it’s been a while since he was born, it wouldn’t be strange for him to become bigger……I guess?)

While thinking like that, he joined back up with Freon and Brazos, who had surprised expressions as Rei stroked Set’s back.

「Gurururu~?」

Who are these two? Set seemed to ask as he tilted his head.

「We will be taking this request with these two people. It’s a Harpy subjugation request at a nearby mountain.」

Finally pulling herself together at those words, Freon gently reached for Set.

「Umm, I’m Freon. I’ll be relying on your help to deal with the Harpies. I’ll be in your care. ……Rei, will it bite? It’s beak looks very sharp.」
「There’s no problem unless you try to doing something to him.」
「I-Is that so……？　Seeing how sharp it looks, I don’t want to think about how hard it would be to escape if I got caught.」
「Did you see the scene before?　He’s very popular with the children in Gilm. You don’t have to worry about your actions too much.」
「……I-I know.」

While saying that, Freon’s hand gently stroked Set……

「Uoh~, what’s with this fur coat. It’s amazingly smooth!?」

She gave a voice of surprise at the silk like smoothness.

「Hou~, hou~, it certainly looks smart when you see it’s eyes.」

Next to Freon, who was surprised, Brazos reached out to stroke Set’s head without hesitation.

「Hey, Brazos. You look calm. Look at its beak and claws.」
「Hahaha~. Although they may look dangerous, his eyes look intelligent. As expected of an A rank monster.」
「Guru~」

Of course, Set seemed to say as he gave a small nod.

「Mm? This Griffon. Did say his name was Set? Could he possibly understand what we’re saying?」
「Ah. Set can understand what we say reasonably well.」
「I see. As expected of an A rank monster.」

Nodding in admiration, Brazos decided that that was enough for introductions with Rei and Set and turned to Freon before speaking.

「Now then, let’s meet up and the main city gate after we finish our preparations. The plan is the attack the Harpies while they’re sleeping, are there any objections?」

Freon silently shrugged her shoulders and Rei shook his head.

「There are no objections. Anyway, there will be fewer Harpies out hunting as they will have all gathered together to sleep. ……By the way, do Harpies have good night vision?」
「I don’t know. If their head was a birds, it might be the case, but Harpies have the body and head of a woman while their arms and legs are a bird’s you know? 」
「……I see. I was just thinking that a night attack would be great if they don’t have night vision.」
「Speaking of that, what about Set?　Even if he’s a Griffon, doesn’t he have the head of an Eagle?」
「No, Set has good night vision. I don’t know if it’s due to his magic power of if it’s because he’s an A rank monster.」
「Gururu~」

Set gave a happy cry. But to Freon, who wasn’t familiar with Set yet, his cry seemed as if he was displeased and she took a step back.

Brazos looked at her with an amazed look but decided that they wouldn’t get anywhere if they stayed like this. He clapped his hands to gather everyone’s attention.

「Listen up, we’ll gather at the main city gate in about an hours time. After that, we’ll head for the Harpies’ mountain and conduct a night attack tonight. After that, we will stay for the night and return he tomorrow morning. Hey, hurry up. You’ll be a burden if you arrive late.」

Saying that, Brazos quickly started moving away from the guild. Freon gave a sigh before scratching her head and chasing after him.

「Rei, you should prepare properly. If you arrive late, you’ll become a burden to the rest of us.」

Briefly saying that before leaving.

(No, well. Since I have the Misty Ring, I don’t have an issue with carrying anything……)

As of now, most of his belongings were kept inside the Misty Ring, which was on his right arm. He didn’t really need to prepare anything before heading for the mountain.

「Ah, no. That’s right. Harpies can fly in the sky, I should prepare other counter measures aside from Set.」

At that moment, he thought of the spear he had thrown in the dungeon and how effective it had been. With the weight of the spear and Rei’s strength, the spear exerted a power close to that of a siege weapon. What he needed weren’t expensive spears. Since they were disposable, it didn’t matter if they were crude spears that costed next to nothing. No, if you considered the cost effectiveness, cheaper spears would be better. Ultimately, he could also use a random stone from nearby. Hover, spears had a higher attack power than stones as they had a spearhead, which was why he wanted to use them.

「Well, I have some time so maybe I should take a look for some spears at the weapon shops.」

Muttering to himself, he went with Set to a weapons shop not far from the guild.

(Speaking of that, the child I helped a while ago said that his father was a blacksmith……well, I don’t have much time today so maybe I will visit him after the Harpy subjugation is completed.)

Thinking to himself, he entered a weapons shop about 10 minutes walk from the guild. ……Of course, Set had to wait outside because of his size. It seemed that he was already familiar with these situations and lay down at a spot to not disturb the street as he waited for Rei.

「Welcom-……」

The shop owner paused abruptly as he was about to call out to Rei, who had just entered the shop. Giving a confused look a the shop owner, Rei headed towards the place where all the spears were lined up.

There were lots of spears including practice spears, ceremonial spears, decorative spears and plain spear with no ornaments, which were used by soldiers.

With that said, what Rei was looking for were spears used by soldiers. To be exact, because he was planning to use them as disposables, he didn’t care about the expensive spears.

Picking up a spear that was made for soldiers, he held it in his hand to check its weight distribution.

It wasn’t a stance that was often used by warriors who used a spear. Instead, it was closer to that of an athlete in a javelin competition.

「Hm, I see. That’s what I was looking for.」

After that, he went towards the counter with a satisfied expression after selecting 5 spears that would have been used by soldiers. But……

「Sorry customer-san. Actually, all those spears over there have already been purchased and are awaiting delivery. I can’t sell them.」

The shop owner bowed his head apologetically.

「What? Then why do you have them in the shop front?」
「That is……since there’s a lot, I don’t have anywhere else to put them. I would actually want to put them into the warehouse, but I was told to have them ready to be picked up at any time.」

The shop owner kept talking without giving Rei a chance to speak.

「Because of that, I was thinking about closing the shop now because I will be busy with that for a while. I’m sorry but……」

The shop owner, who seemed to be in his thirties, bowed his head many times as he apologised.

Thinking about the situation in his mind, Rei was aware that he would be lucky if he could replenish his spears and left the weapons shop and headed for the main gate without saying anything in particular.

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