「Gurururu~!」

Hearing this sound, Reiji woke up to the feeling of touching a strange, warm, feathery coat.

「……Huh?」

He looked around while rubbing his head. The first thing that entered his vision was an abundance of feathers. Whoever the feathers belonged to had laid them down as a body pillow for Reiji, almost as if to protect him.

Then he noticed it. He looked straight ahead while stroking the feathers. A presence looked back into Reiji’s eyes, staring at his face anxiously.

「……」
「……」

Each of them slowly and carefully stared at the other’s face in silence.

A sharp, black beak and a pair of blue pupils were reflected in Reiji’s eyes. The blue eyes examined Reiji’s condition with a hint of worry.

It had the exact same eyes as his own. The next moment, it moved right in front of Reiji’s face. The bird had snuggled its head right up against him.

「Guru~」

This gesture, so much like a pampered cat, made him instinctively pet its head while smiling.

He continued to pet its head for a bit. As he did, Reiji unintentionally stopped and took a look at the creature in its entirety.

「Guru~?」

What’s wrong?

The bird seemed to say as it tilted its head to one side. He directed his gaze to where it was leaning. The feathers he had expected to see were absent, and instead, there was thick, silky fur.

A lion……he thought.

It was definitely a lion’s body. However, the forelegs were sharp, like the claws of a raptor. A raptor with a lion’s body……no, an eagle’s head and claws, and though they were currently folded, there were wings growing from its back. Reiji knew the name of this mythical beast.

「A Griffon.」
「Guru~」

That was the correct answer. He rubbed the eagle head as he spoke. As he muttered the word, Reiji finally recalled why he had fainted.

「I see, I completed the ritual for the Magic Beast Art……in other words, this Griffon is my magic beast.」

Now understanding what the Griffon was, he turned his gaze back to it. The lion’s body was packed with a sense of coiled power, while the eagle’s face managed to look both adorable and sharp. Even with its wings folded, it was about 2m in size.

Naturally, Reiji’s knowledge of Griffons came from games and novels. In those stories, Griffons were always ferocious and aggressive. However, the Griffon in front of him wasn’t like that at all. As he rubbed its face, instead of looking ferocious, it acted more like an affectionate kitten.

「Maybe it’s different from other Griffons because it was created using the Magic Beast Art.」
「Guru~」

As he muttered that, the Griffon let out a perfectly timed cry from deep in its throat.

「……Do you understand what I’m saying?」
「Guru~」

Just as he guessed, the Griffon cried out again.

「Wait a minute.」

He pulled up Zephyr’s knowledge while continuing to stroke the Griffon’s head.

According to his memories, the capabilities of the resulting magic beast varied depending on the amount of magic power absorbed by the magic formation. In other words, this friendly Griffon’s high intelligence was a direct result of Reiji’s vast magic power. Even if its vocabulary was limited, it clearly had the ability to understand human speech.

「I see, I think I get the gist of it. ……First of all, let’s give you a name.」

For some reason, the Griffon had been looking at Reiji with expectant eyes from the very beginning. According to the procedures of the Magic Beast Art, the existence of the magic beast is only fully established after it is given a name.

「A Griffon, the sky, a storm……how about Set?」

Set. It was the name of a god from Egyptian mythology, a god that governed storms. Moreover, according to the lore Reiji knew, it was a god that symbolised great strength and governed fighting and war.

Looking at the powerful Griffon before him, whose very existence was tied to protecting him, Reiji felt the name was a perfect fit.

「Gurururu~!」

The Griffon gave a happy cry from deep in its throat, seemingly pleased with the origin of the name ‘Set’.

「Alright. From today on, you are Set. I am Reiji. ……No, that’s not right. That was my old name.」

He thought about it while petting Set’s head. The person known as Saeki Reiji had been crushed by a steel frame and died. The person standing here was a fusion of Saeki Reiji and Zephyr. Even if Reiji was the dominant personality, using the name Saeki Reiji felt out of place now. Furthermore, based on Zephyr’s knowledge, he knew the name Saeki Reiji wouldn’t sound natural in this world called Elgin.

「Reiji……that’s right, from now on, my name is Rei. Nice to meet you, Set. My name is Rei.」
「Gururu~!」

The moment he said that and Set answered, a list of skills surfaced in his mind.

「What is this?」

Words had suddenly appeared in his head. To Rei’s modern sensibilities, it looked exactly like the status screen of a video game. ……It didn’t display familiar stats like STR or power, but was instead split into skills and their descriptions. The name displayed at the top wasn’t Reiji or Rei, but Set.

He hurriedly pulled up Zephyr’s knowledge.

「……Of course. This is Takumu’s work.」

It seemed Takumu had added this skill list feature when they were developing the Magic Beast Art. It allowed the user to mentally display the skills their magic beast had learned from eating magic stones. Exactly the kind of thing you’d expect from someone who came from Japan. Incidentally, the only other item in the room with a similar mental-display feature was the Misty Ring.

「Well, it’s definitely convenient to have.」

He had gone through a lot of trouble to end up in a different world. Smiling wryly at the situation, noting the lingering influence of Japan, he stood up alongside Set.

「Gururu.」

Set then held out an elongated object in his beak, offering it to Rei. The object had been hidden in the Griffon’s shadow.

「Is this……a scythe?」

A scythe, and definitely not the kind used for cutting grass. The handle was about 2m long, and the curved blade was a full 1m in length. It looked exactly like the weapon wielded by the Grim Reaper.

「Well, what am I supposed to do with this?」
「Guru~」

This is yours, Set seemed to say as he presented the scythe.

Since it didn’t seem right to make Set keep holding it, Rei took the massive weapon.

The handle was black, and the blade was black. The entire large scythe in his hands was a uniform, jet-black colour. Then, a thought struck him.

「This scythe wasn’t here when I first entered the laboratory. That means it must have appeared while I was unconscious. ……There is one possibility, though.」

How many times had he done this today? Once again, he accessed Zephyr’s knowledge, and the answer presented itself immediately.

「The Magic Beast Art is the cause again, isn’t it?」

According to Zephyr’s memories, a vast amount of magic power is discharged during the creation of a magic beast. If more magic is released than is actually needed to form the beast, the surplus magic power coalesces into a magic item. Naturally, this was another feature Takumu had deliberately added with his magic.

However, when Zephyr and his organisation used the art, all their magic power went directly into forming the beast, so a magic item had never actually been produced. In other words, it was a function Takumu had added just for fun. It had finally triggered only because of Rei’s absurdly massive magic power.

「So, it turned out like this because Takumu was involved……」

With the large scythe in hand, Rei mentally muttered the word Status. Unsurprisingly, the stats for the magic item appeared in his mind.

『Death Scythe』

「Seriously, it has the exact same name as the Grim Reaper’s scythe. That feels a bit too dark, couldn’t he have changed it a little?」

Even so, he couldn’t really complain to Takumu, who was long gone from this world. Reading the description of the Death Scythe, Rei let out a dispirited sigh.

* First ability: Magic casting. Because it was a magic item forged from Rei’s enormous magic power, its base performance was exceptionally high.
* Second ability: Like Set, it could acquire new effects by absorbing magic stones. It was also possible for the scythe to simultaneously learn the exact same abilities that Set did.

* Third ability: Weight reduction. This only applied to someone with the exact same magic wavelength as the Death Scythe. In practical terms, this meant both Rei and Set could wield the Death Scythe without feeling its actual weight.

* Fourth ability: The basic cutting power and durability of the large scythe would increase when supplied with magic power.

This was the status list displayed in his mind.

「Honestly, a weapon like this has to be incredibly rare, right?」
「Guru~」

(You’re right,) Set seemed to cry in agreement.

「The magic casting effect is definitely good. It’s great, actually, but……normally, shouldn’t a surplus weapon be a sword or something? Why a giant scythe?」

An expert-quality magic weapon was overwhelming, but a scythe seemed difficult to actually use in combat. That was Rei’s initial impression of the Death Scythe.

「Well, I got this powerful magic item out of the deal, so I guess I have no choice but to master it.」

He lifted the Death Scythe, immediately feeling the effects of the weight reduction.

Normally, a piece of metal this size should have weighed somewhere between 10kg and 20kg. Right now, however, Rei could barely feel the weight of the Death Scythe in his hands. It felt like it only weighed about 100g.

「This really is amazing.」
「Guru.」

Set agreed, giving a deep, rumbling cry.

「Now then, the main goal of safely inheriting the Magic Beast Art is done……what do we do now?」

Rei muttered to himself while petting Set’s silk-like fur. Now that he had achieved his primary objective, he knew he couldn’t stay in this building forever. Aside from drinking water, there was only enough food left for about ten days. If he didn’t set out for a village or town soon, the legendary successor to the Magic Beast Art was going to die of starvation on the side of the road.

「Wait, no. That ten-day estimate doesn’t include the amount of food Set needs to eat.」

Even if he was created by the Magic Beast Art, Set was a living creature that needed food to survive. Given that Set was over 2m large, the remaining supplies probably wouldn’t even last them a single day. At best, they had two days of food left.

「With that in mind, we need to find a town or village as soon as possible, but……」

According to Zephyr’s knowledge, a powerful ward using spatial magic had been set up to prevent monsters from entering the immediate area, but the surrounding forest was apparently teeming with brutal monsters. If anyone asked why they built a mansion in such a dangerous place, it was because this location served as a hidden refuge for Zephyr. They had erected a strong ward specifically to keep the vicious monsters out, ensuring the immediate vicinity remained safe while simultaneously using the dangerous monsters outside as a natural defence against human enemies.

「That’s all well and good for them, but I wonder if I, a total beginner to this fantasy world, can actually make it out of a monster-infested forest……just thinking about it gives me a headache.」

Grumbling to himself, Rei let out an unconscious sigh.

「Gururu~!」

With a loud flapping sound, Set extended his 2m wide wings. Rei lightly shook his head.

「It’ll be a bit difficult to just fly out of here. According to my memories, there might even be dragons living in this forest.」
「Guru~……」
「Don’t worry about it. We don’t even know how much combat power you and I actually have yet.」

He said that to comfort Set, gently stroking the Griffon’s head.

「It would have been great if Takumu had made things other than skills visible on the status screen. ……But I can’t exactly change that now. Wait a second. Maybe there’s a useful magic item inside the Misty Ring.」

Saying that, Rei walked over to the jewellery box holding the Misty Ring, with Set following close behind.

「Gurururu~!」

When he saw the jewellery box, Set let out a happy cry. Seeing the Griffon’s reaction, Rei recalled the legends about Griffons loving to collect treasure.

「Set, you can play with the jewellery box for a while.」
「Guru~」

At Rei’s words, Set joyfully began rubbing his cheek against the ornate box. Watching the scene with an amused smile, Rei slipped the Misty Ring onto his right arm. The Misty Ring, which had previously looked a bit large, immediately shrank to fit Rei’s wrist perfectly.

「Um, to display the item list……ah, right. I just have to think about it.」

A massive list of items and materials flooded his mind, with an incredible number of entries. However, as Rei scrolled through the list, he involuntarily put a hand to his head in frustration.

「There are definitely a lot of magic items made from rare materials that probably have incredible effects. But is there any actual food in here? Dragon bones, the horns of an elder devil……can you even eat a salamander’s tail? Come to think of it, if they were planning to find a successor to the Magic Beast Art, shouldn’t they have prepared some food for the magic beast they knew would be created?」

To break the stalemate and find the necessary magic items, it seemed his only option was to rely on Zephyr’s knowledge again. Digging through the memories, he found a reference to something called the 『Orb of Examination』. It was an item used to check a user’s magic aptitude.

Zephyr had declared that Rei possessed some of the highest magic power in the world. He retrieved the orb from the Misty Ring to check exactly what type of magic he was suited for.

「If I can use water magic, we won’t have to worry about drinking water on the road. Hopefully, I’m compatible with it. After that, maybe spatial magic or alchemy, since those can improve the properties of magic items.」

He placed his hand on the orb, visualising his magic aptitude. A symbol representing his elemental affinity would appear on the orb. For example, if a water droplet appeared, it meant Rei had the water magic compatibility he was hoping for. A door represented spatial magic, and a flask symbolised alchemy.

In the end, only a single symbol reflected in Rei’s expectant eyes, which was the symbol of a flame.

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