The person was wearing a cloak and had a long cane in his hand, he appeared to be a mage. He gave off the atmosphere of a veteran mage.

From Rei’s glance, he appeared to be in his fifties and a long beard extended from his chin. Wrinkles covered his face but were well matched to his aura of a mage.

He was a mage worthy of being called one. That was Rei’s first impression of Seis, Baar’s guild master, who currently stood before him.

Also seeing Rei’s appearance, Seis was shocked in his mind.

(This magic power……is he really a human?)

Standing in front of him, Rei looked like an ordinary boy at first glance. ……No, with his small build and body wrapped in robes, he looked delicate compared to a warrior. But as he was wrapped in a robe, he looked close enough to be an apprentice mage. But……

(I don’t think he’s trying to deceive me.)

Indeed, at first glance, you could only see Rei as an apprentice mage, but that was only to people below a certain level of ability. For example, he looked completely different to Seis, the guild master of Baar.

(That robe seems to have a concealment effect. In other words, it’s hiding its effect as a magic item. And he has Shoes of Sleipnir that will allow him to move fast and walk in the air. The bracelet on his left arm seems to be a magic item of some sort. The bracelet on his right arm should be an item box.)

Just by looking at him for a few seconds, he could tell that the boy standing in front of him wasn’t an ordinary person. Above all, he could feel a tremendous amount of magic power from him. Yes, it was the same feeling as when he first saw the ocean.

「……Guild master?」

The receptionist called out to Seis, who had been staring at Rei, seeming to be thinking about something.

「Ah, no. Sorry. Are you Rei? I am Seis, guild master of Baar. I’ve heard stories about you from Marina. Thank you for coming.」

「Stories……?」

Rei asked while grasping the proffered hand.

At Rei’s question, Seis replied with a small nod.

「Guild masters are able to contact each other individually, she told me about you after you left Gilm.」

「……Ah.」

Rei gave a voice of assent after realising how Southernus had information on him even though the city was blockaded.

「Well then, I would like to hear about various things in Gilm, but unfortunately we don’t have the time for it. Could you bring out the Aurani grass powder you brought right away?」

「No problem. Where do you want me to place it?」

「Please put it in front of the request board. If you put it there, we’ll be able to get right into making medicine after calling the pharmacists and alchemists over.」

Nodding at Seis’s words, as soon as he walked over to the request boards, he started taking out the wooden crates, packed with bottles of Aurani grass powder, one by one. Potions for recovering magic power, potions to heal injuries and other materials used to produce medicine for Magic Fever were also taken out.

「Oh, I’m grateful that the Aurani grass powder is separated into individual portions. Although the recipe to produce the medicine for guaranteed recovery is almost unchanged, it can’t be made in large quantities at the same time because of the magic power that has to be added when making it. Because of that, its usually made by a group of several people……no, as expected of Marina.」

Seis nodded in admiration.

Hearing that explanation, Rei realised why the Aurani grass powder was divided into small portions. Lastly, he took out the huge pot that was given by Dishot.

「……This is?」

A smell drifted from the pot, attracting the gazes of the staff members who had gathered in the guild. Among them, Seis, who was closest to Rei, asked with interest.

「This is a dish that was recently created in Gilm. For now, since the guild will be busy in various ways, you can eat it to restore your strength.」

As Rei said that, he scooped up a serve of meat, vegetables and plenty of udon, handing it over to Seis along with a fork.

Normally, if udon was left untouched in soup, it would get soggy and lose its taste. However, Rei had the Misty Ring. Immediately after the dish was cooked, it was brought to the guild, so the udon was still chewy.

「That is, what is this long narrow thing?」

「It’s Udon, it’s an ingredient that was recently created in Gilm.」

To be exact, it was a few days ago rather than recently, but of course Seis had no idea.

At the ingredient which he had never seen before in his life, Seis rolled some up on his fork and brought it to his mouth in interest.

「……This is, delicious.」

「It seems to suit your taste. Well, if you want to eat the genuine thing, please try it if you come to Gilm. ……Here, you too. I have a whole pot of it.」

At Rei’s words, the guild staff gathered together after their guild master, Seis, affirmed its deliciousness.

Rei served everyone a bowl of the soup and handed them a fork.

Anyhow, even though it had only been several days, the city had been blockaded and food rationed. Naturally, it was impossible for distributed food to be enough for them to eat until they were full as they had no idea how long the city would be blockaded for. Because of that, although it wasn’t so bad that they were starved, they wouldn’t miss out on an opportunity to eat and relieve themselves from the mental stress.

It wasn’t just the guild staff, but the pharmacists and alchemists who came to the guild to collect the materials that Rei had brought. Each of them ate 1-2 bowls until they were full before going back to their workshops with the Aurani grass powder and other necessary supplies to produce the medicine.

「Now then. Rei, was it. Could you come over here for a moment?」

Seeing the large pot being emptied, after the guild staff washed up the dishes in the bar area and let Rei store them back into the Misty Ring, Seis called out to him.

「Is there still something left? I thought that this would be the end of the request I was given.」

「Naturally, the request that you were given has been successfully completed by bringing the supplies here. However, we have a separate request for you.」

「……A request?」

Rei was able to roughly guess what they meant at those words.

(With my magic power, I don’t need to worry about contracting Magic Fever. In that case, it’s probably to do with investigating the cause. ……Well, I can’t leave the city for a week anyway until the Magic Fever pathogen is cleared from my body. So I have nothing to do in the meantime, it’s better than not having enough time though. However, they can’t really leave the investigation to me since it’s my first time in this city.)

「Yes. ……Well, from your expression, you seemed to have guessed it already. Come with me.」

While looking at Rei admiration at his clear observation, Seis walked behind the counter. After giving a small sigh, Rei followed after him.

 

「Now then, I think you have a general idea of why we’ve come to this room.」

Similar to the guild master’s office in the Gilm guild branch, the office was located at the top of the stairs behind the guild counter. Seis sat down on the sofa for guests as he spoke.

「Do you want me to investigate the cause of the rapid spread of the illness?」

「Yes. You caught on quite quickly.」

「……But as you know, I’m an adventurer from Gilm. I arrived in this city about an hour ago, even if I investigated the cause of the spread of Magic Fever, I think it would be very difficult to find anything.」

「Of course I will lend my help as well, after this I will be meeting the deputy lord of the city, I can have you follow me along under the position of an assistant.」

The two of them stayed silent as they waited for each others response.

However, in terms of life experience, Rei couldn’t even reach Seis’s feet. Because of that, it was Rei who spoke first.

「Can I regard this as a request?」

「Yes. Naturally you can consider this a request.」

「What about the reward? It’s a request that may save the city from a crisis. I suppose I would get a corresponding reward?」

As an adventurer, it was only natural that he asked that question. Seis, the guild master of Baar, nodded in response.

「Of course. Adventurers are rewarded for taking on requests. ……But as you can see, the city is currently in a state of emergency. Even if the cause of the Magic Fever is found, there won’t be much money as we’re currently in a state of shortage. With that in mind, something other than money……is that okay?」

Seis asked as he looked at Rei, but Rei nodded without hesitation after a few seconds.

「Even if you gave me money, I don’t spend that much, so I would appreciate that greatly.」

Rei didn’t have to worry about the usage of weapons and armour compared with other adventurers, so he had an overwhelming advantage from a monetary perspective. Other adventurers would have to replace, repair or adjust broken weapons or armour and it wasn’t uncommon for more than half of the rewards earned on a request to be spent on maintaining equipment. Sometimes, if it went badly, they would need to spend more than they had earned from the request.

Rei didn’t have to worry about any of that. Even if he did spend, it was mainly accommodation costs and food expenses for Set. Books with knowledge necessary for adventurers and tools that looked to be convenient he bought only on rare occasions. Considering all that, he had also completed several relatively large requests and nominated requests. From the materials and proofs of subjugation from defeated monsters and selling magic stones that he didn’t absorb using the Magic Beast Art, he had a lot of money with him.

「I see. Then as a reward for this request, we can give a magic item or something of the like……how about that?」

「……What kind of magic item specifically?」

「Well, wait a moment.」

Saying that, Seis started to look around the shelf in his office, eventually taking out a dagger and bringing it over.

The sheath that held the dagger was small but had several blue gems embedded into it. At first glance, he could tell that it was something valuable. However, it’s value was to the end, purely artistic. It didn’t seem to be the kind of magic item that could be used in real battle like Rei was looking for.

Seis must have seen his disappointed expression. He placed the dagger on the table while smiling.

「You seem to have a disappointed expression?」

「Although I do have a personal hobby of collecting magic items, it’s limited to magic items that can actually be used in battle. I’m not interested in magic items as art pieces.」

Hearing those words, Seis handed the dagger to Rei while smiling.

「Certainly, this dagger can’t be used in an actual fight. However, it is one of the most helpful things for someone living as an adventurer.」

「……It’s useful?」

「Mm. Well, the proof is when you try it. At magic power……whoops, wait a moment.」

When he handed over the dagger, Seis put a cup on the table in front of Rei.

「……What do I do with this cup?」

Although Rei said that in puzzlement, Seis looked towards the dagger disregarding it.

「Pull it out of the sheath, point it at the cup and pour magic power into it.」

Rei unsheathed the dagger as prompted.

The dagger didn’t lose out to the sheath in decoration. It had a beautiful white blade. It had a slight blue tinge as it shined.

Following Seis’s prompt, he pointed the tip of the dagger towards the cup and poured magic power into it.

The next moment……

Choro~, chororororo~.

It was little by little at first, but eventually the water that was flowing out from the tip gained momentum.

「This is……」

「Dagger of Flowing Water. It is a magic item with the ability to literally create water if you supply it with magic power. ……However, it seems you don’t have a very good aptitude for water.」

「I don’t have an aptitude for water?」

Regarding that, Rei knew it himself. His magic tended towards fire specialisation anyhow.

Yet, he was still interested after being told that he had no aptitude and frowned his eyebrows slightly. Seeing Rei’s reaction, Seis gave an unexpected smile.

「Hahaha. It seems that the owner of such a mighty amount of magic power like you can still be troubled. Can I have it for a moment?」

「Hm? Yes.」

Rei handed over the Dagger of Flowing Water.

Receiving it, Seis put another cup on the table a bit further away……

「With the aptitude for water magic, you do tricks like this. ……Haah!」

Seis poured his magic power into the Dager of Flowing Water. The next moment, water spurted out from the tip of the dagger, it swung down like a whip……and crushed the cup the next moment.

「That is…….it’s certainly amazing.」

Seeing what could be called a whip of flowing water, Rei murmured to himself.

「How about that? Though you can’t use it as a weapon, there will be times where you will be in a party, so you can pass it to your friends at that time. Or, you might need to take a break or camp for the night during a request, you won’t have anymore troubles with water. Ahh, I can also tell you that the water produced from this Dagger of Flowing Water changes taste depending on the magic power of the person who activates it. Perhaps if it’s someone with magic power of your level, it will be quite fine water you will be able to produce, something like spring water. ……What do you think? I think that is a good enough reward for this request.」

Nodding at those words, Rei was about to accept the request. Suddenly the door to the office was opened and a somewhat amicable voice spoke up.

「Hey, what are you doing in an emergency like this?」

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