The next day, after finishing his visit to the library, Rei made his way to the Adventurers Guild shortly after the morning bell rang. Naturally, Set waited patiently in the designated area for carriages and tamed beasts outside the building.

「It’s quite different from how it was the day before yesterday.」

Unlike his first visit, when only a handful of requests were posted on the board and the hall was mostly empty, the tavern area was now bustling with people.

While it was busy……it wasn’t completely overcrowded. A considerable number of adventurers were standing in front of the request boards, eagerly searching for jobs appropriate for their rank.

It was an unexpected development for Rei to find the Adventurers Guild so busy in the morning. However, it made perfect sense when he thought about it, as adventurers accepted requests in the morning, carried them out during the day, and returned in the evening to claim their rewards. Operating during the daylight hours was simply the safest and most practical way to make a living.

Though there were some adventurers who specialised in undertaking night-time requests, they were a distinct minority.

「Hey, look at the kid wearing the robe. Is that the guy who took down Vargas’s party all by himself?」
「……What? But I heard there wasn’t much of a size difference between him and Vargas!」
「That’s not what I heard. The rumour I got said it was a delicate female adventurer……」

Ignoring the curious stares and whispered rumours from the adventurers looking at his unfamiliar figure, Rei searched through the F and G rank requests pinned to the board.

That said, Rei had very low expectations for G and F rank requests. After all, there wasn’t much point in using the Magic Beast Art to absorb the magic stones of incredibly weak monsters. He wanted to accept a subjugation request for a decent monster, something that Set and the Death Scythe could actually absorb a useful skill from. That was Rei’s primary goal.

「But, still……these are mostly just basic errands for beginners.」

Rei scanned the contents of the G rank requests: deliver the meat of a Fangboar or a Horned Rabbit, collect medicinal herbs to brew basic potions, or gather specific materials used to make anaesthetics for serious injuries. The rest were all incredibly similar.

Seeing the available options, he let out a disappointed sigh. Even when he found a request somewhat close to what he wanted, the target monsters were simply too weak. In truth, creatures like Fangboars and Horned Rabbits were essentially just common beasts, much like the wolves he had fought in the forest, and they weren’t true monsters. G rank requests basically consisted entirely of these mundane tasks. Originally, these requests were designed purely as training wheels for people who had just ranked up from H to G and had only ever done safe errands inside the city walls.

Giving up on the G rank board, he moved over to look at the F rank requests.

Goblin subjugation, delivery of Slime magic stones, and Poison Toad subjugation. Most of the available options were either subjugation requests for weak, low-tier monsters or simple material delivery tasks.

「Well, at least they’ve got some classic options over here. When you talk about fantasy, Goblins are an absolute must.」

Muttering quietly to himself, he read the details of the Goblin subjugation request.

Goblin subjugation was a permanent, constantly recurring request. The official proof of subjugation required was the right ear of a Goblin. The minimum required number of subjugations to complete the request was five. The listed exchange rate was 3 copper coins per ear.

Even for a request aimed at low-ranking adventurers, the reward was incredibly cheap. Rei unintentionally knit his brow. Five ears only amounted to 15 copper coins, or in other words, 1 silver and 5 copper coins. Staying at the Dusk Wheat Pavilion cost Rei 3 silver coins a night, primarily because it was a high-quality inn. Beginners who had just registered with the guild usually stayed in cheap, rundown inns that only cost 5 copper coins a night. Because the pay for early quests was so abysmal, it was common for novices to form parties just to split their basic living expenses.

With his immense magical talent and the funds he had acquired, Rei existed on a completely different level from a normal novice adventurer.

He tore the Goblin subjugation request off the board and brought it to the receptionist with the ponytail, the same woman who had helped him when he first registered.

Some of the surrounding adventurers watched him with surprised expressions. Since they knew he was capable of defeating four veteran D rank adventurers completely single-handedly, no one expected him to casually accept a request to subjugate Goblins, one of the weakest monsters in existence. If Goblins existed, it was definitely a fantasy world, so no one would have ever guessed that Rei had picked the request purely for such simplistic, trope-driven reasons.

It was highly probable that Set and the Death Scythe would not experience any growth whatsoever from absorbing the magic stones of F and G rank monsters. However, familiarising himself with the local monster ecology wasn’t a bad decision.

Goblin

A race of demi-human monsters with the stature of a human child. They possess green skin, an angular forehead, and short, stubby fingers. Weak as an individual, a single Goblin can easily be defeated by any human reasonably accustomed to fighting. However, they possess a strong herd mentality and prefer to act in large groups. In addition, while their intelligence is quite primitive, they are smart enough to arm themselves with weapons they scavenge or steal.

While handing the request form to the receptionist, Rei pulled the basic information about Goblins from Zephyr’s ancient knowledge.

「The Goblin subjugation request. While there shouldn’t be any problems given your demonstrated strength, please be careful not to let your guard down.」
「Ah, thank you. Do you know where the Goblins are currently located?」
「Well, regarding that, they seem to be appearing frequently near the forest running alongside the main highway leading to the city of Gilm. Recently, they have started attacking merchants and travellers heading to the city in large groups.」
「Do the Goblins in that area possess any higher intelligence?」
「No, usually they don’t. Nevertheless, there is always the possibility that a rare species has been born among them.」

A rare species was an individual born with some kind of sudden mutation. In the case of a rare species, they typically boasted a much higher intelligence than a normal monster of their kind and were generally treated as being one rank higher than the standard guild classification. In other words, because a standard Goblin was an F rank monster, a Goblin rare species would be the equivalent of an E rank monster.

Having his request officially processed by the receptionist, Rei exited the guild.

Though Zephyr’s knowledge had proven severely outdated recently, the standard fantasy Goblin had apparently remained completely unchanged over the thousands of years since the ancient magician was alive.

「Guru~」

Seeing Rei walk out of the guild doors, Set stood up and gave a happy cry.

The people walking past gasped and quickly scrambled away when the massive Griffon suddenly stood up. Ignoring the terrified crowd, Set trotted up to Rei and affectionately rubbed his head against him.

「Gururu~」
「Sorry for the wait. Let’s head out immediately.」
「Gururu~!」

Set gave an eager cry in response. Together, the two of them walked down the main street toward the city gates.

「Hey, it’s only been a few days since you arrived, but rumours of your activities have already reached us all the way out here.」

Ranga, who was standing guard at the side of the gate, called out with a wry smile as soon as he saw Rei and Set approaching.

Activities. Rei immediately thought about the incident with Vargas and couldn’t help but smile wryly himself as he pulled his adventurer’s card from the Misty Ring to show Ranga.

「I’ll just say this, I only did that because I got dragged into a mess by a group of fools.」
「……I heard you didn’t just take all their money, but you stripped them of their weapons as well?」
「Ah. That’s because the agreed-upon terms of the bet included their entire properties. It was only natural.」

He unclasped the 『Necklace of Subservient Monster』 from Set’s neck and handed it to Ranga for inspection.

「I almost feel sorry for them……the members of Claws of the Hawk passed through these gates a little while ago, equipped with cheap weapons several grades lower than what they used to carry.」

Listening to Ranga speak while shaking his head, Rei felt genuinely surprised.

(That party went straight back out of the city as soon as they could? They actually have more guts than I expected.)

「No problems here. Safe travels, then……well, worrying about you is probably completely unnecessary since you have a Griffon watching your back.」
「Ah, maybe. Alright, Set. We’ll scout from the sky first.」
「Guru~」

Hopping onto Set’s back, Set took a running start of several metres before heavily flapping his massive wings. They quickly soared into the sky, completely disregarding Ranga’s shocked expression.

「Gurururururu~!」

A short distance away from the city of Gilm, Set let out a loud, echoing cry, as if finally releasing all his pent-up stress. Rei gently stroked his back while thinking.

(If you think about it, it really hasn’t been that long since Set was born. Even if his birth was a special occurrence brought about by the Magic Beast Art, his stress must have piled up after being confined to a stable for days right after coming into the world.)

Though Rei had brought him out of the stables when he went into town, navigating the narrow streets, being completely unable to fly freely, and constantly dealing with the fearful, staring eyes of the public must have been incredibly stressful for the Griffon.

Realising this, Rei decided that once this request was finished, he would try to take as many requests outside the city as possible starting tomorrow.

Rei’s original purpose was to foster the growth of Set and the Death Scythe, so officially working as an adventurer wasn’t strictly necessary. However, the guild was the best place to gather reliable information and accept high-ranking monster subjugation requests. For Rei, quests provided a highly useful framework. But even if a highly desirable, high-rank monster subjugation request appeared, as a G rank adventurer, he wouldn’t be allowed to accept it. Thinking about it logically, his current main objective was to rapidly raise his guild rank by completing requests.

While he was pondering his future plans, the forest running along the highway that the receptionist had mentioned came into view. Although it would have taken a normal adventurer several hours to walk to this forest, it took Rei a mere ten minutes riding on Set’s back. Travelling with a Griffon……no, travelling with Set, offered an absurd level of mobility.

「Set, can you see any monsters down there?」
「Guru~」

Set shook his head back and forth as he glided through the sky. From Rei’s vantage point, the forest was incredibly dense, and the thick canopy of leaves and branches completely blocked their view of the ground below.

「Even though launching a quick surprise attack from the sky would be ideal……I guess there’s no other way. Set, land on the ground.」
「Gururu~!」

Giving a short cry of acknowledgement, Set gently adjusted his wings and gracefully touched down on the dirt path, landing with an elegance that perfectly highlighted his lion-like lower half.

There happened to be a few merchants and travellers near their landing point. As Rei slid off Set’s back, he saw them immediately turn and sprint back towards Gilm in absolute terror.

(……Ranga is probably going to have to explain the situation with the Griffon to them once they reach the gates.)

Smiling wryly at the thought of inadvertently increasing Ranga’s workload, Rei immediately shifted his focus to scanning their surroundings.

「We won’t accomplish anything just standing out here. Come on, Set, we’re heading into the forest.」
「Guru~」

With Set raising a cry of agreement, the two of them stepped directly into the dense treeline.

Originally, Rei and Set were at a severe disadvantage when fighting in the narrow confines of a forest. However, since their targets this time were merely Goblins, Rei judged there was no need to be overly nervous as they ventured deeper into the woods.

They walked steadily for about an hour after entering the forest. Suddenly, Set, who had been walking slightly ahead of Rei, stopped dead in his tracks.

「Gurururu~」

They immediately went on high alert, carefully watching their surroundings. As expected, even though they were relatively close to the highway, the massive trunks and thick canopies of the ancient trees blocked out most of the sunlight. The forest interior was dim and shadowed, even in the middle of the day. Although the ambient temperature had risen considerably, Rei didn’t feel the sweltering heat thanks to the Dragon Robe. For a normal adventurer, the oppressive heat and resulting sweat would have rapidly increased their fatigue.

「Gururu~!」

Suddenly, Set gave a sharp cry, instantly conjured a 『Water Ball』, and fired it directly into a dense patch of grassy bushes nearby.

The very next moment……

「Gyi~!」

An unpleasant scream erupted from the bushes, and twenty Goblins immediately burst from the undergrowth, revealing their ambush.

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