「……Were those guys serious?」

Rei muttered to himself as he looked at the unconscious members of Ogre’s Heart who were lying on the floor.

His expression was one of surprise rather than amazement.

The members of Ogre’s Heart had confidently challenged Rei, but all of them had been easily beaten back by Rei’s bare handed attacks without the Death Scythe and were knocked out on the spot.

What Rei was surprised at was how weak they were. He hadn’t thought they would be strong from their tone, skill and actions, but they were still much weaker than what Rei expected. Rei had thought they were pretending to be weak. Even though he had his doubts for a moment……in the end, that was apparently their true strength and Rei quickly knocked them all out.

「Don’t say that. It might look like that since you work in Gilm, but the adventurers from Gilm are some of the best in the Mireana Kingdom you know?」

Rei frowned involuntarily at Rhodes’s words.

「Even then, they’re weak. They’re too weak. Even Goblin’s Drool was more responsive.」

「Goblin’s Drool……you also called these guys Goblin’s Gallstones, do you have a grudge against Goblins?」

Rhodes turned to look at Rei with an astonished expression.

「No, not really. But……it just ends up like this.」

「You two, you’ll have to stop talking for now and think about what’s next. No, rather, there’s something we have to do first.」

Saying that, Min gave a deep bow towards Rei.

「Hey, mum!?」

「Rhodes, bow to Rei as well. Whatever their reason was to capture us, it was for a scheme against Rei. And even Elk……thank you. I’ll return this favour at any cost.」

「Don’t worry about it……I won’t say that, but it’s fine. There is something I’d like to ask you for later, so help me out then.」

「……Thank you.」

With his head bowed, Min thanked Rei again. Seeing that, Rhodes was compelled to follow suit and gave a bow beside Min.

「Thank you for saving us. I will return the favour one day.」

Rhodes thanked him while giving off a tough expression.

Rhodes understood that Rei was better than him. Still, losing out to someone younger than him was something he didn’t feel good about and was one of the reasons why he couldn’t answer honestly.

However, while Rei was definitely stronger than Rhodes in terms of combat, it was also true that Rhodes was better than Rei in his overall capabilites as an adventurer. Part of the reason was because Rei specialised in combat, but Rei was also not good at socialising and had very little experience with investigation and escort requests and was below Rhodes in that aspect. However, Rhodes had been mislead by other people that the biggest factor of an adventurer was their combat power.

「We’ll leave the formalities for later. ……What should we do with these guys?」

Rei looked at the members of Ogre’s Heart, which he had named Goblin’s Gallstones.

Fortunately, the problem of Ogre’s Heart was shortly resolved.

「Rei, you’re safe……? I’m not going to ask.」

With sword in hand, Bilt rushed into the room. At the same time, the other members of Azure Blades appeared from behind him.

「Ah. In a way, things went according to plan……until they showed up. It couldn’t be helped, I had to knock them all out.」

「Ah right……even if they have the larger numbers, they’re still rank E adventurers. They can’t beat Rei who is a rank C……and also works solo. I really wanted to show them the difference in strength.」

The words that came from Birke after her brother were unexpectedly cold as Ogre’s Heart had previously tried to mess with them because they were younger and had less members as a four man party.

「That’s right. We had gotten tangled up with them before……but I thought that we should stop that after we ranked up. Messing around with Rei, who’s a higher rank than us, and getting beaten back down. They seem to like trying to kill themselves……they should have entrusted all their belongings to us before trying to commit suicide.」

「Hey, they’re not dead. Not dead.」

Begriff retorted with a cold sweat at Carla’s response.

「But, they ignored the Guild Master’s request and this it what happened? I don’t think they’ll be able to pay off the fine this time.」

「That’s for sure. I don’t think it will go as far as being expelled from the guild, but they’ll probably drop a rank or be forced to take on specific events.」

Bilt nodded at Carla’s words.

(Even if you’re covered in armour of muscle, you can’t block blades from swords.)

Rei thought to himself as he listened into the conversation between Azure Blades.

「Gurururu?」

And just at that moment, Set peeked in from the other side of the window that Rei had crashed through.

「Ahh, don’t worry. Thanks Set, we’re already done.」

Because of Set, Rei had been able to launch his surprise attack. Knowing that, Rei reached out the window with a smile to stroke Set’s head.

「Sorry for troubling you, Set. Thank you.」

Min gave a bow towards Set and Rei with a smile.

Set and Min had got along with each other from the first time they met, so Set gave a cry in response……

「That, Set. Thanks……」

「Guru!」

Rhodes also called out to Set as soon as Min finished, but was met with a sharp cry and a glare.

Set was still not on good terms with Rhodes, who as opposed to Min, hadn’t made a good first impression.

「Ah……mm. I’m sorry. This is not my place to say anything.」

As Rhodes couldn’t really complain against Set, who had helped him, he quietly left it as it was.

After watching them for a while, Bilt eventually spoke up.

「So, for now, leave Ogre’s Heart to us. Rei and the others should go to the guild. Can you tell the Guild Master that this is all finished? The two hostages probably want some time to relax as well.」

「That’s true. If I could leave them to you, it would be a great help.」

As expected, as a woman, being held hostage must have been painful in many ways. Min nodded at those words as Birke and Carla, who were both also women, looked at her sympathetically.

Eventually, Azure Blades were left to clean up the area while Rei and the others left for the guild.

(……Speaking of which, there weren’t any Demon Soldiers in the end. Well, it’s not surprising considering the Bestir Empire considers information about them as important and confidential……I guess?)

Rei, who had that question in his mind, decided that Demon Soldiers just hadn’t been mobilised to this place this time.

 

 

(I see. So that’s the Rei who has been disturbing the activities of the shadows in this area again and again. Certainly, his strength is very high……but that’s all. Rather, it’s the Griffon with him that we need to be careful of. There were some moments where the Griffon noticed me.)

About 5km away from the building where Min and Rhodes had been held, there was a man who was lying within the darkness of the night.

From this location, 5km away, he had watched the entire turn of events with his naked eyes.

Of course, this wasn’t something ordinary people could do. Even the Elves or Dark Elves, who were skilled with the bow, or Beastkin, who had much better sight than humans, or Dwarves, who were used to living in underground locations, would not have been able to watch from this distance. In addition, it was night time as well.

However, despite being outside the range of his senses……Set still instinctively felt the existence of the man. As a result, after launching Rei into the building, Set had continued to fly around the sky and keep a watch on his surroundings in order to prevent anyone from escaping.

(Either way, this was half a failure and half a success. The best result was that Rei and Elk fought. Still, was able to evaluate part of his skill. And his companion, that Griffon. ……When we see each other on the battlefield, it will better to take him down underhandedly instead of hitting him straight up. Fighting someone like him properly is too exhausting.)

Thinking to himself, he disappeared from the shadow of the building and vanished into the darkness of the night.

「Nothing will stand in the way of my Empire from getting the blessings of the sea.」

As he left he muttered some words that seemed to hold some obsession.

 

「Rei-san, it’s great that you and the two members of Axe of the Thunder God are safe. I heard there were some problems at the location.」

Verde, the Guild Master’s secretary, greeted Rei at the entrance when they returned to Abuero’s guild.

Min was the only person who could feel a slight softness in her tone despite her lack of expression. At the very least, Rei and Rhodes didn’t seem to notice any changes. However, unlike Rhodes, Rei had only just come to this city and had only met her once, so it was no surprise.

「It’s been a while, Verde. I’ve troubled you this time.」

「……Verde-san, it’s been a while.」

Rhodes, who understood why his mum was bowing and that he was the biggest reason why both his parents had been trapped, also bowed with a red face at his blunder.

「No, don’t worry about it. Our city has been helped several times by Axe of Thunder God. Even if it’s just a bit, we would like to return the favour in any way possible.」

The words she said were very sincere, but none of them could tell if she was talking to Rei or Rhodes because of her lack of expression.

「W-Well. Anyhow. In the end, one of the three men was killed by their compatriots. Another committed suicide with poison or something similar. Only one was caught alive……Set.」

「Gururu~」

Set appeared with a cry. On his back was an unconscious man in black. However, he had been gagged to prevent him from committing suicide by biting his tongue, he was also prevented from moving by rope……the rope was tied so tightly around him that the man would only have been able to move his head and the tips of his fingers and toes.

「This is……」

At the unexpected scene, Verde was surprised for a few seconds as she turned to look at the captured man.

「It’s to stop him from committing suicide. We would be in trouble if he broke out from the ropes.」

Even though Min said that with a smile, Verde just nodded a little without a change in her expression.

「I’ll keep guard over the man here, so please go to the Guild Master’s office.」

「I will do that. I have to report what happened clearly. ……Oh, yes. The problem you mentioned earlier……Goblin’s-, wait that’s not right. Ah, right. The members of Ogre’s Heart tried to rush into the spies’s hideout. I decided that the two of them were in danger, so I burst in first. I supressed the spies, but shortly after that, Ogre’s Heart rushed in and tried to grab the spy that we had captured. In the end I had to knock them out. They might have suffered some fractures, but there weren’t any fatal injuries, so you don’t need to worry.」

「That is……sorry. I apologise for the inconvenience.」

Rei and the other two headed for the Guild Master’s office as Verde saw them off with no expression.

 

「Min! Rhodes!」

A voice was heard as soon as they entered the office. The voice that came from the communication crystal on Tirage’s desk belonged to Min’s husband and Rhodes’s father.

「Elk, we’ve caused you some trouble this time.」

「Dad!? ……I’m sorry.」

The two of them apologised to Elk, who’s face was projected on the crystal.

Tirage looked at them with a smile.

「The most important thing is that you’re both safe. That both members from Axe of the Thunder God who were taken hostage are safe.」

「I’m sorry, Guild Master. For this to happen to us in a different city……」

「No, no, don’t worry about it Min-san. The ones who decided to cause trouble in this city was the other party anyway. To be honest, I’m not happy to be taken so lightly either.」

「G-Guild Master?」

Rhodes spoke up unconsciously at the words Tirage spoke with a smile.

It was an unexpected reaction from someone like Tirage, who was well known for his warm personality.

However, it was impossible for Tirage to assume the position of guild master with just kindness. Behind his gentle face were definitely sharp fangs. The members of Ogre’s Heart didn’t realise that, and neither did Rhodes.

「Anyway, let’s hear the report. I would like to thank everyone who helped the guild out with this dodgy case.」

Even though Tirage had a gentle smile on his face, Rhodes still retreated a step back at his aura.

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