「Now then, if we open this door, it will start the climax to this ridiculous uproar. Are you ready?」

The dance hall on the second floor of Bolton’s mansion. Rei muttered, standing in front of the large door.

「I don’t have any issues. I want to settle this uproar faster so that I can take my time drinking.」
「I’m ready at anytime as well of course. Seriously, I’ve already decided to follow through with this stupid uproar. 」
「I’m sorry. You got rolled up in my family issues.」

Galahat bowed his head to Freon, who was complaining with a sigh.

「Well, it’s not your fault. In the first place, Azoth Firm……no, Bolton, made an absurd demand to Rei.」

At Galahat’s words, Freon continued speaking hurriedly.

「Leave Galahat-san’s escort to me. However, don’t expect me to be able to do much in a fight.」

Murt said that as he held his halberd

「Gurururu~」

Because it was a staircase for humans, Set flew directly to the second floor with his wings and gave a cry.

Giving a wry smile towards his companions, who had no sense of tension, Rei tore the doors to the dance hall wide open……the next moment, he sensed something flying towards him and swung the Death Scythe in reflex.

Kin~, the dagger gave a metallic sound as it was blocked.

「Wow, seriously. Cutting right through the door and blocking my dagger.」

An astonished voice was heard.

As the voice said, Rei had swung his Death Scythe, tearing through the door to the dance hall and blocking the dagger that was thrown at him. What was surprising was how Rei had cut through the door and blocked the dagger in a single attack. That said, to Rei, doors and walls were not something that could be considered an obstacle.

It might be said that Rei’s power wasn’t something expected by the people waiting in the dance hall. Brazos and Freon already understood that Rei was someone outside the standard. It wasn’t too surprising to Galahat and Murt either, who had been watching when Rei had met Bolton. Because of that, they all entered the dance hall without saying anything in particular……

「H-Hiii-!」

One of the people who had been waiting for Rei was a middle aged woman in her thirties or forties, who looked like a mage as she held a cane in her hands and wore a robe. She suddenly screamed and stepped back.

「……」

This person, what was she doing. Thinking the same thing, her companions turned away from Rei to look at her. The female mage felt that there was an absolute predator in front of her, she looked towards Rei with a fearful gaze, as if looking at a predator.

(……Ah.)

Seeing the female mage, Rei thought that she might have seen his magic power.

「It seems we won’t have to worry about the mage. In that case, who’s left……」

Rei immediately lost interest in the middle aged mage and turned towards the other adventurers who had been waiting in the dance hall.

There was a male thief, who had thrown the dagger earlier, a swordsman wearing leather armour made from monster skin, two spearmen in metal armour and another man who could be considered a heavy knight, wearing full plate armour and wielding a halberd. There was also an archer with a bow. A total of 6 people.

「Brazos, Freon, Galahat. Among the ones you know, is there anyone we should watch out for?」

Readying the Death Scythe, Rei asked Brazos and the others while observing their opponents.

Freon and Brazos were experienced enough to be considered veterans in the city of Gilm. And with high rank of rank B, Galahat had formerly been coworkers with the adventurers in Azoth Firm.

It was Freon who spoke up first.

「The swordsman and the two spearmen look familiar. Snow Field Wolves is a party that should have ranked up to rank C recently. Although their rank up is recent, they are talented so be careful.」

Galahat spoke, following on from Freon’s words.

「The male thief who threw the dagger is the person who manages the thieves hired by Azoth Firm. If I remember correctly, his name was Tenda.」
「The archer is the person who targeted me when I was looking for Rei in the back streets. Possibly, he might be the archer that Rei didn’t attack when we were at the front of the mansion.」

Murt said that as everyone else stayed quiet.

「Who’s the man in full plate? From what I felt, he seems to be the most skilled.」

In Rei’s sight was the heavy knight holding a halberd. The movement of the others was good but Rei felt that that man had an aura several levels above the other adventurers.

「……No, I don’t know. If there were any unusual adventurers wearing full plate, it would spread around immediately.」

Anyhow, adventurers had to move around to do requests with their own strengths. During that time, if an adventurer showed up wearing full plate, which weighed 10’s of kilograms, rumors would spread fast. But Brazos and Freon did not recall hearing rumors of such a strange adventurer.

(Well, there are also some strange adventurers who wield large scythes taller than themselves. But I didn’t think that there would be many adventurers wearing full plate mail.)

While thinking to himself, Brazos looked towards Galahat.

「Do you remember anything? Since you were co-workers, people who stand out should be talked about right?」

Even though he was asked, Galahat shook his head slightly.

「I don’t remember. I think that if he was as conspicuous as he is, I would not forget seeing him ……in that case, was he hired in a hurry in the past few days that I was out? Murt, you know?」
「No, I don’t recognise him.」
「Hey, hey, hey, hey, how come you’re just talking among yourselves here? We’ve been waiting here all day you know? At least let me have some fun with the Griffon from the rumors……yo-!」

Saying that, Tenda, who led the thieves in Azoth Firm, dashed forward with a dagger in both hands, quickly closing the distance.

「Well then, I’ll deal with the thief first. You all hold on until I finish with him! Set, deal with the archer! Murt, guard Galahat. Guard your position!」

Holding up the Death Scythe to intercept the thief coming towards him, Rei called out to Brazos, Freon, Murt and Set. Rei didn’t wait for Tenda and went forward.

「Haha-! Something that long is useless when the distance closes! You’re an interesting guy as the rumors said!」

Fierce……Tenda attacked Rei with his daggers, feinting from side to side with an amused smile.

(I see, is he the type of person that Galahat mentioned in the hideout that loves to fight?)

Thinking to himself, Rei watched his distance and timing as their fight started.

Guessing left or right. If Rei thought it would be below, Tenda would unexpectedly attack from above. An ordinary person would be at the mercy of the feints. However, his opponent was a bad match up this time.

「Haah!」

In any case, Rei’s large 2m long scythe was swung side to side and up and down as if it was a branch of a dead tree. Even if Tenda threw in some feints, it was easy to work around them as the Death Scythe was a magic item which had the effect of letting Rei wield it without feeling its weight as long as it sensed his magic power.

「Well, you’re certainly a monster as rumored, this is.」

In the first 10 seconds, he had a smell of a hunter seeing a responsive prey. In the next 10 seconds, he realised that his opponent was unexpectedly tough and switched his mode from playing around to attacking seriously. Another 10 seconds later, even if he attacked, his daggers couldn’t hit anything. He was surprised that Rei could dodge everything.

Even if Rei had little opportunities to fight someone using daggers as weapons, concentrating on reading Tenda’s motion to avoid his attacks. Before long, Rei took a sharp breath and made a big swing.

「Fu~!」
「-!? Tch!」

Tenda had received several attacks from the Death Scythe so far and understood the toughness of the weapon as well as Rei’s monstrous strength as he suddenly crouched.

(Certainly, your attack has tremendous power. However, there’s no point to an attack if it doesn’t hit anything! My daggers will apply paralysis poison on your legs if you swing and miss……）

Yes. Tenda was going to attack Rei’s legs as soon as Rei’s attack passed over him. Although Rei was covered in a robe which seemed to have some sort of magic effect, with his skill, he could cut through the robe just to leave a scratch on Rei’s legs.

This was certainly a valid strategy. ……However, that was under the assumption that his opponent wasn’t Rei.

At this point, Tenda had made two mistakes. First of all, Rei’s robe was definitely a magic item, but he didn’t know what it was. It was made from two layers of dragon skin from dragons that had lived for several hundred years. Dragon scales were also placed in between the two layers of dragon skin. It boasted an overwhelming defensive power, even compared to full plate mail. Even if Tenda tried to stab his dagger into Rei’s legs, the tip would never pierce through the Dragon Robe.

Then there was his biggest mistake. That was to underestimate Rei’s physical ability. In the end, Tenda was a C rank adventurer. However, he took pride that his skill had reached the B rank level. Even if he fought against Galahat, a B rank adventurer, he was strong enough to fight on equal terms. But even though he was that skilled, he was still C rank. Honestly, it was because Azoth Firm told him that he would stand out too much if there was a B rank adventurer other than Galahat. In particular, Tenda held the position of the leader of Azoth Firm’s thieves and often had to do a variety of dirty jobs. For that reason, he was requested that he shouldn’t draw too much attention to himself. He remained at C rank in exchange for a huge reward each month.

That confidence slowed Tenda’s judgment. The Death Scythe made a whoosh sound as it swept through the air above the crouching Tenda……the next moment, as he tried to stab his daggers, smeared with paralysis poison, into Rei’s legs, Tenda’s consciousness sank into darkness as a strong impact hit his side.

「Your target was good……but.」

Rei didn’t do anything complicated. All he did was to quickly change the direction he swung the Death Scythe as it passed over Tenda’s head.

Normally, for someone using something as long as the Death Scythe, it was a movement that followed an impossible trajectory. It was the effect of the Death Scythe as a magic item, reducing its weight to a pair of chopsticks, that allowed this unique attack to be made.

Blasted about 10m away, Rei briefly glanced at Tenda, who had collapsed and fainted due to the shock and pain from his broken left ribs before checking the fights everyone else was in. The male archer had already been taken to ground by Set and was in a state where he couldn’t move with Set’s right foreleg on his back.

(As expected, even if he’s an able archer, he can’t take on Set.)

Rei gave a wry smile.

In fact, the male archer had shot several arrows as Set flew around, fully utilising the size of the dancce hall. However, most of them were evaded or blocked with his claws. The moment he tried to pull back his bowstring to shoot another arrow, he had the terrible experience of being tripped by Set’s tail while being attacked by Set’s beak. He was now in a state where he couldn’t move because Set’s right foreleg was on top him.

Next, he turned to look at Freon and Brazos.

Although they were at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, they were still two veteran C rank adventurers who had weapons advantageous against spears. The swordsman acted as the front line for his other two party member in close combat.

The two sword wielders clashed. The sword of the swordsman from Snow Field Wolves was parried by Freon’s sword. Freon tried to seize the opportunity to attack his torso but was blocked by a spear. Brazos’ Earthshaker Hammer smashed against the spear targeting Freon as another spear stabbed out towards Brazos.

As far as Rei could see, they were in an almost equal stalemate.

（……They equally matched? Wait.)

Rei recounted the number of enemies that had been waiting for them and looked around the dance hall again.

The middle aged woman who had sensed Rei’s enormous magic power was still mumbling incomprehensible words, unable to get up.

(That mage will not be a problem for the time being.)

Thinking to himself, Rei looked away from the woman……

「……」

Rei matched looks with the man holding the halberd, who stayed silent as he looked at Rei.

No. Naturally, he was wearing a helmet that was hiding his whole face, so Rei didn’t know if he was looking back at him. However, Rei instinctively felt that he was looking back.

The man looked around to check that no one could interfere in his fight with Rei. Confirming that, he swung his halberd.

Roar-!

The noise from the wind was quieter than when Rei swung the Death Scythe. But that was still incredible for an adventurer……in addition, it wasn’t a sound that could be made by the adventurers under C rank hired by Azoth Firm.

「……」

Holding his halberd silently, he took a step towards Rei. Slowly, he took a second step, followed by a third. Steadily closing the distance to Rei.

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