「Hey, it’s fine right? Take us to Emoshion as well. Even if we look like this, we’re still B rank adventurers you know? We’ll definitely be able to help.」

Egret slapped on Rei’s shoulder as they walked through the city.

Of course, Rei was wearing his Dragon Robe, so he wasn’t hurt. Still, he felt some of the impact. Rei replied with a slight frown.

「You’re basically travelling around without taking on any requests right? Then you don’t need to follow me. Since you’ve cleared my doubts about the bounty on your heads, why don’t you just go somewhere else?」

「That’s why you should bring us along to Emoshion. You’d have more strength on your side that way, right? right? right?」

「Not necessarily. Or, do you have some way to fight a monster in the sea? Can you fly or walk on water?」

「Ahh? There’s no way we can do that. But, if you’re dealing with a monster in the sea, you can always rent a ship.」

「Hey, Egret, I don’t want to fight against such a monster.」

Realising that her party member just wanted to fight a monster, Miroir kicked Egret in the back.

However, that was probably something that just happened every day. Egret was completely unconcerned about it as he kept pestering Rei.

「Hey, listen okay? It’s not like this was a request that needs to be accepted. This is all just a coincidence. That’s all.」

It had already been close to an hour since Rei had treated them to a meal as an apology for suspecting that they had a bounty on them. Since then, he had been endlessly bothered by Egret. Eventually unable to stand it any longer, Rei spoke up with a sigh.

「Fine, I won’t stop you.」

「Really-!?」

Egret had a grin on her face while Miroir looked annoyed.

Miroir had confidence in her own skills. However, if you told her that she had to catch a monster in the sea that had sunk several ships, even she would start to question it.

As Rei had said, in the sea, their means of attack narrowed significantly.

「Yes. I won’t stop you. So you can go to Emoshion however you like. I’ll be going there by myself.」

Although he agreed to let them follow if they wanted, Rei was obstinate about parting ways with them.

「Eh? Hey, wait a moment. There’s no need to split up. Why don’t you go with us?」

「I refuse.」

「But, why……」

Even though Egret wanted to push further, Rei continued to speak as he looked towards the city’s main gate.

At the end of his line of sight were the guards that had handled the procedures to enter the city for them when they had first arrived.

「In the first place, I’m getting there by flying on Set. How are you supposed to follow me? You’re not suggesting that I walk with you, are you?」

「T-That is……」

Hitting right on the mark, Egret was at a loss for words. However, after looking troubled for a few seconds, his face brightened up as if he had thought of a good idea.

「Then, if Miroir and I both fly on Set, it will be fine right!?」

「You idiot! Don’t drag me into this, how many times do I have to tell you!」

At last, reaching the limit of her patience, Miroir slammed a powerful kick into Egret’s back.

He probably wasn’t hurt as he was wearing plate mail, but he couldn’t stop the impace as he stumbled forward several steps.

But even then, Egret didn’t seem to care as he looked at Rei with a hopeful expression.

「I refuse.」

「Why not!」

He really hadn’t thought that his suggestion would be rejected. His face turned red, possibly out of anger, resentment or indignation?

However, Rei just replied to Egret with a sigh.

「To begin with, Set already has to do his best to carry me when he’s flying. Let alone lighter, each of you are probably heavier than me.」

After being told she was heavier than Rei, Miroir looked away in disagreement.

Even though she was an adventurer, she still wasn’t happy to be told that she was heavy as a woman. That said, she was being compared to a kid in robes.

On the other hand, contrary to Miroir, Egret was surprisingly convinced. After all, he was wearing plate mail and carrying a poleaxe. Above all, he was more than twice Rei’s build……it was clear that he probably weighed three times as much as Rei.

「……That’s true.」

By the time Egret nodded, they had arrived at the main gate. The guards received their guild cards and quickly completed the process for them to leave the city.

Whether it was because they were guards or because they honestly wanted someone followed by a Griffon to quickly leave the city, the process was completed quite quickly.

While guessing their thoughts, Rei didn’t care too much as he placed his guild card under his robes before storing it into the Misty Ring.

「As long as you get there on your own, but I won’t stop you from going to Emoshion any more. But as I said just now, I won’t be working together with you. In the first place, why do you want to go to Emoshion? You don’t need money, do you?」

Rei had already heard from them that when they had set out from their home city, they had brought with them the rewards they had earned as B rank adventurers. In that case, why would they go out of their way to go hunt a monster that had sunk several ships at sea? Rei asked that question, but Egret’s reply was very simple.

「That’s because there’s a strong enemy there.」

Like a mountaineer saying that he climbed mountains because they existed, Egret went straight to the point. Hearing that, Rei could only sigh.

He decided that there was no point in saying anything more. Standing next to Egret, who looked very proud at what he had just said, Miroir held her hand against her forehead as if she had a headache.

Looking at the two of them, Rei quickly decided that he would only suffer further if he continued to stay with them.

「Fine then. We’re going there separately after all. If you arrive in Emoshion before I kill the monster, then you can help out.」

From here to Emoshion would take less than two days flying on Set. However, if you were to walk there, it would take close to half a month. Rei had told them that while considering the time it would take for them to get there. Miroir, who didn’t want to fight a huge sea monster, smiled at his words. However, Egret also smiled for some strange reason.

(……Well, I guess that’s fine.)

Rei didn’t know what Egret was thinking, but he thought it was best not to get involved with them any further. Rei started to move off the road, without asking the reason for his smile.

Miroir and Egret looked on in interest at Rei’s actions.

Leaving the road, Rei eventually reached a plain, covered in a green carpet due to the spring season. Telling the two of them to cover their ears, he took a deep breath……

「Set-!」

Rei gave a loud shout that echoed into the surroundings.

As Miroir and Egret frowned slightly at his loud shout, despite covering their ears, Rei heard the flapping of wings.

「Gurururururu~!」

Set spread his wings wide as he descended to the ground.

Rei caught Set as he came down……before being pushed straight into the ground. Set gave a cry as he rubbed his face against Rei.

「Gururu~, Guru~, Gururu~」

While stroking Set’s head, Rei took a cloth out of the Misty Ring to wipe Set’s beak.

It seemed that Set had found something to eat for lunch as his beak was stained with monster blood.

Still, considering that he hadn’t heard an announcement that he had learned new skill in his mind, it seemed the monster must have been pretty weak.

「……All right, this is it.」

As Rei continued to stroke Set’s head, he turned towards the other two that were looking on in interest.

「I’m going to leave with Set now, so looks like it’s goodbye.」

「Guru~?」

Is it fine? Set seemed to ask as he tilted his head. Rei nodded as he scratched Set’s head.

「Ah, like you thought Set, they didn’t have a bounty on them. Well, they’re too thickheaded for that.」

「Hey-! Egret aside, I’m not that thickheaded!」

「Is that so? ……Well, yes, I guess so?」

「It is so!」

「……Okay.」

Rei gave in to the pressure from Miroir.

To Rei, Miroir was pretty strong to be able to use a whip as her main weapon, ignoring himself of course. In the first place, compared to scythes, whips were a much more common weapon. Not to mention its appearance, a large scythe had many problems when it came to using it as a weapon.

The only reason he used the Death Scythe was because it was a magic weapon and also due to his own physical ability.

「Anyway, I’ll be going now. If you’re serious about going to Emoshion, you’ll have to hurry. Before I kill that monster lurking in the sea.」

「Of course! We won’t lose to you Rei, just wait for us to get there!」

He must have thought that Rei was encouraging him. Egret called out to Rei with a smile as Miroir gave a sigh beside him.

Seeing that, Rei got on Set’s back. Set started to run along the ground while flapping his wings.

Flying into the sky as if running on air, Miroir and Egret watched the two of them leave the ground.

Then, as soon as they disappeared from their view, Egret immediately heaved their bagged onto his shoulder.

「Come on Miroir. We have to get to Emoshion as soon as possible so we don’t lose to Rei.」

「Haah……if you’re serious about it. Well, I have to follow you anyway.」

Giving another sigh that had become a habit after working with Egret for so long, Miroir followed after him.

 

 

「Gururu~?」

As they flew through the sky under the soft spring sunshine, Set suddenly turned his head towards Rei and gave a cry.

Was that okay? Rei rubbed Set’s head at the question he seemed to ask.

「If we get involved with someone like that, we’ll definitely get dragged into trouble. Egret in particular is someone who looks like he’ll easily get into trouble.」

Hearing Rei say that with certainty, Set just tilted his head a somewhat doubtfully.

「We ended up taking up some time here. Can you speed up a little?」

「Guru~」

Nodding at Rei’s words, Set flapped his wings strongly.

As he flapped his wings, Set’s speed increased visibly.

Admiring Set’s speed once again, Rei took out his map from the Misty Ring and looked at it. The city he had just stopped by at was the first city along his way. After passing through two more cities, he would arrive at his destination, Emoshion.

「Come to think of it, this will be the first time Set sees the sea, won’t it?」

「Gururu~」

Set nodded at Rei’s question.

While he had been in Japan, Rei had lived deep in the mountains. That said, the mountains were less than two hours drive to the sea. Because of that, the sea wasn’t a rare sight for Rei and he would often go there in the summer.

……However, the beaches he went to weren’t the ordinary sandy beaches that most people thought of, but rather a rocky shoreline.

「Gilm is inland, so there are only river fish. But, there will be many kinds of fish, shellfish, crabs, shrimp and other things in Emoshion.」

「Gururururu~!」

Set gave happy cry at Rei’s words.

For Set, who had barely ever eaten seafood, the city of Emoshion was a very attractive city.

Rei gave a smile as Set increased his speed again while keeping an eye out for any other monsters flying through the sky.

Fortunately, there weren’t many monsters that fly in the sky at the frontier and they had already long left the frontier. Because of that, they flew through the sky like they on tour rather than on constant guard as they flew towards their destination.

At night, there was plenty of space to set up his magic tent, so Rei and Set travelled comfortably all the way to Emoshion.

So, about three days after leaving Gilm……Rei and Set saw it on the horizon as they flew through the sky.

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