「Kyu!」

Today, it wasn’t the dazzling morning sun or a knock on the door that woke him, but a cute cry.

「……Hmm……」

The first thing that greeted Rei when he opened his eyes was a small dragon about 20cm in length. It was Yellow, the dragon that Elena had created as a familiar.

「Ahh……what’s wrong?」

「Kyu!」

Yellow looked at the direction of the window at Rei’s sluggish question.

「Kyu!」

Continuing on, he looked at the letter on the table……the letter Rei had written to Elena.

Rei, who was watching on, finally understood what Yellow wanted to do. In short.

「You want to go back to Elena?」

「Kyu!」

At Rei’s question, Yellow gave a small cry.

Seeing that, Rei brushed his head lightly before reaching for the piece of cloth that was used to wrap up Elena’s letter.

「Here, come over for a moment. I’ll do the same as when you brought Elena’s letter over, it will keep it from being blown away by the wind.」

「Kyu!」

Hearing Rei’s voice, Yellow flew over to Rei’s knees, lightly flapping his wings.

Seeing that, Rei leaned over.

(The size of its wings is less than 10cm, but it can still fly through the sky with them.)

He thought about that, but saying that, it was the same for Set. The wings that grew from Set’s back torso of a lion were large, but they still shouldn’t have been enough for a giant over 2m in length to fly just by flapping its wings.

(Well, no matter how I think about it, it’s not aerodynamically possible, I guess it’s better to say they fly using magic.)

While thinking to himself, he wrapped up the envelope containing his letter with the piece of cloth before wrapping it around Yellow’s torso and tying a knot.

「Even so, I hope you’ll fly a bit slower. You arrived yesterday and are heading back today……you’ve been rushing around for a while.」

「Kyu!」

Yellow shook his head at Rei’s words. Because it was only this large to begin with, his flying speed wasn’t that fast. Of course, it was still much faster than traveling along the ground, but it was still nothing compared to the speed of other monsters that flew through the sky. In that sense, even though it was by chance, it was quite fortunate that Yellow had gained the ability to become invisible. But even with that ability, it would take some time to get back to Anessis where Elena lived. It could be considered a blessing in disguise that it was a familiar, as a result, it wasn’t necessary for it to eat any food and he didn’t have to worry about eating. However, there was a risk that it would disappear if the magic power that Elena had given it ran too low.

In the end, it was impossible for Rei to command Elena’s familiar, and with a short cry, Yellow jumped out the open window.

「Heh. As expected of a dragon.」

Rei watched Yellow as he saw him fly out the window.

It took him a few seconds to turn invisible with its special ability, but during those few seconds Yellow was small enough that he could go on his way without being noticed.

And because Yellow had turned invisible, Rei’s sendoff also ended. He shivered for a moment at the cold winter wind that blew into the room before he immediately closed the window and put on his Dragon Robe. Then, quickly getting ready, he ate a meal at the cafeteria before taking Set out into the city.

Of course, his destination was the noble district where Baron Cisne’s residence was, as per the request he received yesterday.

People who were walking through the city were wearing robes and coats, enduring the cold and hurrying around quickly while dyeing their breath white.

Rei and Set walked through the city like that. After all, Rei had the Dragon Robe which blocked off all the cold, and to Set, this degree of cold was barely noticeable. He looked very out of place given the harsh environment, but it was obvious who he was as he had taken Set with him, so not too many people paid attention to him as he walked towards the noble district.

He had visited the noble’s district previously during the incident with Bolton, so he arrived there without any particular issues.

Some adventurers, who had been hired as gatekeepers, kept a lookout for any suspicious people trying to enter. But as they already knew Rei’s face, they passed through without any problems. After all, it was Rei and his Griffon, Set. The case with Azoth Firm that had happened a while ago was also very famous.

「Uhh, follow this road to the left……the third house? There is a bronze statue of an owl at the gate, so it should be easy to spot……ah, this is certainly the one.」

Rei, who was walking along the road, found the mansion he was looking for using the map Kenny had given him yesterday. But……

「Wow.」

「Guru~」

Rei involuntarily raised a voice of surprise, and Set gave a cry in agreement.

After all, the residence that Rei was looking at was clearly smaller than what he had expected to see after hearing of a noble’s mansion. It was probably only 1/5 of the size of Bolton’s mansion, which he had previously got caught up in a disturbance at.

Of course, it was still quite large compared to the homes of the general residents of the city, but it was still unexpected to say the least.

And unlike the residences of other nobles, there was no sign of a gatekeeper at the gate of the small mansion.

「……Well, Set. How should we do this?　Do you think it’s fine to just enter ourselves?」

「Guru~」

Even though he asked Set, Set could only look back at him puzzledly, not knowing how to reply.

「As an adventurer who is supposed to be promoted to rank C, I can’t just intrude into a noble’s residence without permission.」

To be exact, whether this request was a success or a failure, he would only reach rank C after reporting back to the guild. Because of that, Rei’s current rank was still rank D.

(Anyhow……)

Rei looked into the mansion from outside the gate and gave a involuntarily sigh.

Looking at what could be seen from the outside, the mansion was properly maintained, at least the parts that could be seen. As for the areas that couldn’t be seen from the road in front of the mansion, they were hardly maintained and left in a state of neglect……although not completely dead, there was quite a large amount of dead grass and trees. Perhaps if he had come to the residence in summer, there would have been a lot of weeds.

(The scale of the house and the state of the garden. Given how they look, it’s not unreasonable that the reward is so low. It would probably right to say that Baron Cisne is poor. In that case, the condition for raising this request to rank C might have been discussed between the guild and Baron Cisne in order to both get what they wanted……something like that?)

Even though he had thought about it, he couldn’t just head back, nor could he enter the residence without permission. Because of that, Rei, who was just standing in front of the mansion, became an unnatural presence……

「Hey, you. What are you doing there!」

And in that situation, there would of course be adventurers who had been hired to patrol the noble district.

Approaching Rei were a total of 3 people, a man in his 30’s and a man and woman in their 20’s. Each of them wore a matching armour and sword.

(As expected, nobles like boasting of their wealth, or maybe because they would look strange wearing different equipment……actually, that’s probably the reason.)

Rei called out while thinking of that to escape from reality.

「Ahh, I’m not a suspicious person.」

「No, no, I think aimless standing in front of a noble’s residence is suspicious enough.」

The man in his 20’s quickly replied at Rei’s words.

His tone was light, but his eyes were observing Rei vigilantly. He moved his hand to the handle of his sword, ready to pull it out as soon as anything happened.

「……I will ask first, but why are you standing in front of this mansion?　It also looks like you’ve been standing here for a while.」

Seeing that the snow that had fallen at the front of the gate had all been stepped on the, the female adventurer asked.

「A mage with a Griffon. If I remember correctly, you’re that adventurer, Rei, right?」

Perhaps he knew about Rei. When asked by the man in his 30’s, Rei replied.

「Ahh. I’m Rei, a rank D adventurer. I received a request from Baron Cisne today……but as you can see, there’s no gatekeeper. I was troubled as I can’t just walk into the mansion without permission.」

「Ahh.」

The man in his 20’s smiled in understanding at Rei’s words. However, that smile was something that would be best called a bitter smile.

「……Just in case, let me check your guild card. I think there’s basically no doubt since you have a Griffon with you, but just in case.」

「I understand.」

The man in his 30’s listened to Rei’s explanation, and seeing that the man’s attitude had relaxed, Rei took out his guild card from the Misty Ring and handed it over.

(Seeing this, it seems that the poverty of Baron Cisne is quite well known.)

「I have confirmed that you are a rank D adventurer, Rei. But, I think that if you just stay here as things are, you’ll still be called out by the others on patrol aside from us……what do you plan to do?」

「No, even if you say that. I’ve received a request……」

As he was replying to the man in his 30’s, who appeared to be the leader of the adventurers, a shadow rushed out from the other side of the road towards Rei and entered his line of sight.

「I’m sorry. Are you an adventurer from the guild?」

The person called out loudly while running. In terms of age, she was a girl in her mid teens, no different from Rei. Under the coat she wore was something that looked like a maid uniform.And in her hands was a bag containing food that she had just bought……

「Apologies for making you wait. I’m a maid who serves Baron Cisne, Ashiekyaaahhh!」

「Oh!」

The female adventurer supported the girl, who gave a cry as she was about to fall over.

「……Ashiekya is a rare name.」

「No, it’s not the same.」

The young man whispered as the man in his 30’s retorted.

The female adventurer spoke while holding onto the maid so that she didn’t fall.

「Are you okay?」

「Ah, yes. Sorry for the inconvenience……」

「It’s fine. But it’s snowing and slippery, so don’t run too much.」

「Yes, thank you.」

The maid repeatedly thanked the female adventurer who supported her while bowing her head.

The younger male adventurer, who had been looking at her with some amusement, finally spoke after calming down.

「This person is an adventurer called Rei, he told us that he’s received a request from Baron Cisne……speaking of what you just said, you’re a maid from Baron Cisne’s residence right?」

「Ah, yes. That’s right. I was going to meet with you, but I had forgotten to buy some food. ……Ah?　Wow, is this the rumored Set-san? Nice to meet you.」

When the maid answered Rei’s question……for some reason, she then went over to Set.

「Uwa~. It’s really a Griffon. I’ve only heard about him.」

The influence of Rei coming to the noble district several times before was that rumors of him had spread even here. That was what Rei had thought, but it really wasn’t true. Nobles all knew that Duke Kerebel, a central figure in the Nobles Faction, valued Rei highly. In addition, he had tried to reel him in due to the relationship he had with the General Princess, the symbol of the Nobles Faction. With regards to the largest faction, the Royalist Faction, Rei was being watched by them with great interest and they had intentions of making contact with him. It went without saying that the lord who governed this city was a member of the Neutral Faction.

「Ahh, I’d be glad if you could ignore Set for now. Well then. I’ve been asked to provided combat training……」

「Ah, yes. That’s right. My master had entrusted me to request combat training for the young master.」

The maid bowed her head with a smile.

In order not to get in the way of her work, her blue hair, which was now fluttering, was trimmed to above her shoulders.

She gave off a naturally warm atmosphere as she smiled and turned to Rei.

「Well, so you can confirm that this person is the one you’ve requested for?」

「Yes. I guess so.」

At the female adventurer’s question, the maid answered with a smile.

They judged that there was no longer an issue after seeing the situation. Among the three of them, the middle-aged man who seemed to be the leader nodded his head.

「There’s no problem with that. Well, we are sorry for this. We still have to continue patrolling.」

「I understand. We apologise for the inconvenience.」

The maid bowed towards the three people again as they went on their way.

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