「The weather is great.」

「Guru~」

At Rei’s words, Set gave a cry.

Set was currently fly through the sky, about 30 minutes away from Gilm, as the spring sun gently shined down.

There was probably a warm breeze blowing along the ground. Unfortunately, Rei and Set were flying through the sky, so there was a strong wind blowing against them

As for where they were heading, Rei and Set were currently on their way towards the port city of Emoshion to defeat a sea monster that the guild master, Marina, had told them about the day before and claim it’s magic stone and bounty.

Because it was still early in the morning, only ordinary animals like birds could be seen around them and there were no monsters. Rei had seen adventurers leaving Gilm in the morning moving along the ground. But with Set’s speed, after flying for 30 minutes, they had long left them behind.

「Here, Set. It’s going to take us a few days to get to Emoshion, so let’s take it slow. This is also a good time to take a break, so I feel like doing some sightseeing.」

Saying that, Rei took out a sandwich from the Misty Ring and gave to Set, who turned his head around.

「Gurururu~?」

Set gave a cry as he ate the sandwich, as if asking, ‘Can we really take our time?’, as he looked at Rei with round eyes.

Guessing Set’s question, Rei spoke as he gently stroked Set’s neck.

「Of course, it might be a problem if we’re too slow, but in any case, the monster always stays in the open sea and doesn’t come over to the shore. I don’t think there would be anyone other than us who could kill it. Of course, there’s always the possibility of adventurers going out to sea on a boat, or directly firing a high power magic attack at it from the port……」

Although he said that, Rei still felt it was a difficult task.

(Large boats can’t make tight turns, and if it is targeted from below, it can’t do anything about it either. On the other hand, if they used a small boat that could make tight turns, it would capsize as soon as are any big waves. In that case, the mostly likely thing to happen would be to try and shoot a high power magic attack at it from the port into the sea. But in that case, most of the power from the attack will be blocked by the sea. What’s left is water magic……but that will probably end up the same.)

Thinking that far, he realised that his thoughts also applied to him and Set and couldn’t help but sigh.

Rei was only good at fire magic, so he was at a great disadvantage attacking monsters in the sea as his methods of attack were quite limited.

「Maybe Set’s Wind Arrow and Tornado would be effective? Since King’s Awe is still at a low level, it probably won’t have much effect on higher ranked monsters, like what this one seems to be. Water Ball is out of the question. ……Ah, thinking about it, maybe Poison Claws would be the most effective?」

「Gurururu~」

After eating the sandwich, Set gave a cry, as if saying ‘Leave it to me’.

「In my case, Corrosion……can’t be used since monsters don’t have metal equipment. Terrain Manipulation is not useful in this case either. As for Wind Hand, can I combine it with Set’s Wind Arrows or Tornado? The only remaining options are Flying Slash and Power Slash which deal direct damage……direct damage? Direct damage. That might be the best way.」

「Guru~?」

What’s wrong? Set seemed to ask as he gave a cry. Rei stroked Set’s back as he spoke.

「Certainly, the effect of fire magic would be far weaker in the sea, but fire magic doesn’t work from the outside, I can just burn it from the inside with something like 『Dancing Fire Snakes』」

Rei guessed that stabbing an enemy and then casting 『Dancing Fire Snakes』 inside their body to burn them up from the inside should also work against an enemy in the sea like that monster.

「Guru~……Guru~?」

Set nodded at Rei’s words before suddenly turning a sharp eye towards the ground.

Down there, although it was a bit off the road……or rather because they were off the road, a group of 30 people had surrounded and were about to fight two travellers or adventurers.

「Gururu~?」

What are we going to do? Rei thought for a few seconds before replying to Set.

Originally, he wouldn’t care too much about others being attacked by bandits. No, rather, since they had travelled so far from the road like this, you could say that they only had themselves to blame. And even if they were attacked by bandits, the only reason why they would be that far off the road would be because they were confident in their own strength.

However……

「Hunting bandits sounds quite nice.」

The bandits he had killed during his rank up test had a large amount of weapons and armour. They didn’t have any magic items for Rei to collect, but weapons were weapons……in particular, Rei could store the spears into the Misty Ring and take them out to throw, so that wasn’t an issue. Best of all, it was cheaper to get weapons by killing bandits and no one was going to complain if he killed them.

「It’s not a bad thing to have more money.」

Emoshion was the largest trading port in the Mireana Kingdom. It was true that it would be better to have more money if he came across a magic item he wanted to buy there.

「In that case, let’s help out those people attacked by bandits.」

「Guru~」

Nodding at Rei’s words, Set flapped his wings as he started to descend to the ground. But the next moment, Rei’s eyes went wide in surprise.

「Uoooooh-! Go and die-!」

One out of the two people that Rei thought were being attacked started attacking the surrounding bandits as he swung a massive weapon.

Looking for both mobility and defence, he wore a set of armour made from both leather and metal. In his hands, he held an axe with a long shaft. It was a weapon better known as a poleaxe.

「Hey, don’t poke that thing at me!」

The woman behind the man who was brandishing his weapon blocked a bandit who had tried to circle around the man.

There was a sound of something cutting through the air followed by a crack.

「Gyaaaaaah-!」

At the same time, the bandit that had been trying to attack the man with the poleaxe started screaming as he rolled on the ground.

He had been wearing a bandit like set of weapons and armour, a set of leather armour to be exact. However, the weapon swung by the woman had hit a place not covered by the armour, tearing his skin and into his flesh. Yes, her weapon was a whip with sharp thorns at its tip.

「Oraaa-! Who did you think you were attacking, go and die!」

Hearing the bandit’s screams, the man with the poleaxe swung it with a shout, easily cleaving through the sword the bandit had raised to protect himself and slashing through his neck.

「Hou, he’s quite good.」

Rei, who was watching from above, muttered in admiration.

Despite having a blade, an axe was basically a weapons used for smashing things. With a shaft longer than that of an axe, he had still managed to use such an unwieldy weapon to cut off the bandit’s head instead of smashing it. From what Rei could see, he was someone with considerable skill.

「But, in that case……is this a territorial dispute between bandits?」

Rei thought that for a moment, but immediately changed his mind after seeing the large bag at the feet of the woman, who was making extraordinary attacks with her whip.

「Are they adventurers or travellers? ……Well, I guess they’re adventurers.」

「Guru~?」

What do we do? Set seemed to ask as he turned his head around.

If they had been merchants or ordinary travellers, he could hunt the bandits as per his original plan. However, since the people fighting the bandits were probably adventurers like Rei, he didn’t want to be mistaken for a bandit if he came too close.

He was wondering what to do when……

「Hey, you’re not a friend of their’s right? Then I’d like you to help us!」

The woman wielding a whip called out when she saw Set flying in the sky.

Rei was surprised at the woman’s actions in two ways.

First of all, Set had been flying about 20m above the ground, he wasn’t at a location that would normally be noticed by people fighting on the ground. Second, it was clear at a glance that Set was a Griffon, yet she still called out without fear.

「……Interesting.」

He had been about to give up and just leave, but the woman who had called out to him had caught his curiosity. Rei signalled Set to land on the ground.

「I thought so. I thought it was strange for a Griffon to appear in a place like this, is it tamed?」

Seeing Set land on the ground without a sound, the woman muttered as she swung her whip.

Likely trying to be friendly, she talked to Rei with a smile. However, in the midst of all this, her whip was swung side to side, gouging out eyes, cutting throats and tearing the flesh from the weapon wielding arms of the bandits. From Rei’s point of view, she was hurting the bandits with remarkable brutality.

In addition, the man with the poleaxe brandished his weapon as if the bandits had no armour or shields, cutting through both weapons and bandits together.

Each of his attacks had tremendous power with some bandits sliced in half at the torso, bisected in the head or just simply beheaded.

(Even though he’s probably not as strong as Elk, he would still be stronger than Ara.)

In his mind, Rei thought of the axe wielding friends of his.

It seemed that the man was so engrossed in fighting that he hadn’t heard the womans voice or even noticed Rei and Set.

Seeing Rei and Set……or to be more exact, seeing Set, the bandits immediately tried to run away. However, the woman refused to let them run as she swung her whip at them one after another, tearing the knee ligaments and other tendons of those who tried to run away.

「If you’ve tamed a Griffon, you can’t be an ordinary traveller, right? Are you a fellow adventurer?」

「Yes, I’m Rei, an adventurer from Gilm.」

「The city of Gilm!? How did you get here from somewhere so far……ah.」

She probably didn’t realise Set’s speed. The woman looked at Rei in shock as she swung her whip following her previous tempo, accidentally striking a bandit in the groin and causing him to pass out in agony.

「……Oops. I didn’t mean to attack such a dirty place. Or rather, as a bandit, you should have been prepared! Seriously, trash bugs should know their place and do nothing more. You think so too……right? Uh, Rei, was it? I’m Miroir. The guy rampaging over there is Egret. Nice to meet you.」

Miroir spoke as she continued to swing her whip to kill the other bandits alongside Egret.

When Egret swung his poleaxe, bandits would die in groups. At best, the bandits would be seriously injured and slowly die as they bled out on the ground. Considering the cruelty, it might have been better for them to be killed by Egret in a single attack.

「Miroir and Egret? I was just travelling by and thought you were being attacked by bandits. ……Looking at it now though, it doesn’t seem like you need my help. I’ll ask just in case though, do you need a hand?」

The woman thought about Rei’s words for a few seconds before swinging her whip and smashing the ankle of a bandit who was trying to run away.

Miroir gave a small nod as she saw the bandit tumble to the ground.

「Yes please. It won’t be great if the smell of blood ends up attracting monsters if the fight here drags on for too long, so I’d welcome you if you could give us a hand.」

「Then, I can take half the share, right?」

「……Half the share? They don’t have anything particularly worth much as you can see though?」

Miroir tilted her head at Rei’s words. That action might have made her look cute if it wasn’t for the whip covered in blood in her hands. That imbalance only served to give a scary feeling.

Looking at Miroir, Rei spoke as he took the Death Scythe out from the Misty Ring.

「If we go to the bandit’s base, I’m sure they would have accumulated a fair amount of supplies and treasures.」

Both Miroir and the bandits were shocked at Rei’s words.

Or, maybe they were just surprised at Rei taking out a huge scythe from the Misty Ring. Either way was fine for Rei.

「Set, we’re going!」

「Gururu~!」

At Rei’s shout, Set gave a cry and attacked with his wings spread out as Rei dashed towards the bandits with the Death Scythe in hand.

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