Two monsters were currently flying in the sky off the coast of Emoshion as they basked in the spring sunshine that fell from the sky.

The two of them were Shen, the Icebird, and Set, the Griffon. Rei was riding Set as usual but Hendeka was nowhere to be seen.

Shen was only a 1m long Icebird. So, of course, it was impossible for Hendeka, who wore leather armour, to ride Shen.

That said, even if Hendeka was here, there wouldn’t be much point as he had no way to attack the Lemrace in the sea.

(That said, it might have been good if he were able to give instructions to Shen.)

「Kiki-」

「Gurururu~」

Rei looked towards Shen, who seemed to be talking with Set.

Hendeka might not have been around to give Shen orders, but Set and Shen had been able to converse with each other quite a bit.

However, Set didn’t seem to have any plans to do much else with Shen as just gave cries in response.

「……Hah. Well, I don’t know what difference Shen will have.」

Muttering to himself, Rei looked towards the port.

There, several ships were watching and preparing to leave while Rei drew the Lemrace’s attention.

The next moment, Rei felt Set’s body tilt to the side.

「It’s here! Shen, start looking for the Lemrace! Set, focus on avoiding the Lemrace’s attacks like usual!」

「Kikiki-!」

「Guru~!」

Shen and Set nodded at each other while Rei took out the Death Scythe, preparing to intercept water spears at any moment.

The next moment, a water spear pierced through the space Set had been several seconds ago. Two, three then four more spears shot out one after another, shooting out towards Set.

「Set, right!」

The Lemrace seemed to have gotten used to fighting Set over the past few days. As if predicting Set’s evasion, a water spear shot up from Set’s right, bending sharply as tip flew towards him.

It was definitely an effective attack. If the Lemrace had set up a large number of water spears to block Set’s escape routes, it might have been able to hurt Set even if it couldn’t kill him. However, that was only if it was just Set. Right now, Rei was on Set’s back……

「Hah-!」

With a shout, Rei swung the Death Scythe, destroying the water spear that was targeting Set.

Bringing the Death Scythe back to both his hands and killing the momentum from the swing, Rei quickly turned his eyes back to the sea’s surface.

What Rei saw, as a matter of course, was the sea’s surface. He couldn’t see the Lemrace anywhere.

「Kyi, kikikiki?」

The same as Rei, Shen was unable to spot the Lemrace. With a shrill cry, he turned to look around in confusion.

Seeing that, Rei felt something strange.

(Only Set is being attacked by the water spears……?)

Looking around calmly, Rei realised what was strange. Only Set was being targeted by the water spears. Shen, who was flying near Set, was not targetted by any of the attacks.

Of course, since Shen was flying next to Set, many of the water spears flew close by. But in the end, Set was the only one the spears were really targeting.

(Why is that the case? I thought it would just prioritise anything that flew in the sky. ……The only difference between Set and Shen is that Shen is a real monster while Set was created using the Magic Beast Art. Can it somehow tell the difference?)

While Rei thought to himself, Set flew freely across the sky to avoid the water spears.

After doing the same thing for several days, both sides had gotten used to it. The paths of the water spears had become a lot sharper and Set had started to avoid them with minimal movements rather than large actions. And, when countless spears approached in a saturated attack……

「Flying Slash!」

The attack from Rei’s Death Scythe flew out, cutting through several water spears and creating an exit for Set and Shen.

At the edge of Rei’s eyes, several ships had just left the port. Set continued to avoid the water spears as Rei watched on.

Of course, it wasn’t like he wasn’t doing anything in the meantime. Rei looked into the sea to try to find his enemy and even occasionally threw flames into the sea. However, the Lemrace endured it all and never made an appearance even as it continued to fire out water spears.

「If this is all it’s doing, I really have no idea where it is at all……what?」

Rei swung the Death Scythe again, destroying several water spears as Set tilted his body again to avoid several more.

As he continued dealing with those attacks, he noticed another ship leaving the port moving separately from the rest.

It seemed like the owner or captain of the ship didn’t want to pay Rei any money and had decided to leave the port while Rei was fighting. Of course, the request Rei had received had been direct to him. The city of Emoshion wasn’t involved and it hadn’t been a request through the guild, so no one could complain even if an owner or captain decided to do that.

(That said, the trust merchants have in me would take a hit.)

Perhaps the ship that was leaving now was one that had only arrived in the port within the last few days. The captain that had hired Rei had told him that other ships had tried the same thing before, but they had ended up in a lot of trouble and had to return to port. The ones who had guaranteed safe passage if they were paid ended up getting into a lot of trouble with their clients.

That was what Rei thought as Set tilted his body again to avoid another water spear. However, he was astonished when he saw the surprising scene.

It was the ship that Rei had saw previously. However, it wasn’t the ship that had hired Rei. Nor was it the ship that he had boarded previously. It was a ship that had been bought by the adventurers who had gotten into an verbal spat with Rei previously.

「Tch, they’re using me as a decoy to try to find the Lemrace themselves.」

Rei clicked his tongue. At the same time, he swung the Death Scythe and smashed a water spear.

He wouldn’t have heard Rei clicking his tongue, but one of the adventurers on the ship suddenly turned to look at Rei.

Of course, it wasn’t possible for the man to make eye contact with Rei at that distance. However, Rei was still able to see the expression of mockery on the man’s face as he looked up towards Rei.

「Ki? Kikiki-!」

Shen, with eyes peculiar to birds, might have seen the man’s mocking expression as well and gave an excited shrill cry.

Of course, Rei didn’t really care much for them. However, it was also true that since Rei and the adventurers weren’t working together, they could be considered rivals. As a result, it was only natural that they would try to take advantage of Rei.

(But……that doesn’t come without risks.)

「Gururururu~!」

A water spear that shot out to Set’s altitude bent at right angles as it came at Set straight from the front.

Flapping his wings and using Rei’s weight to control his motion, Set dodged the water spear, causing it to spiral away.

If Rei hadn’t had a firm grasp on Set’s body, he probably would have fallen off. Both Rei and Set had held their breaths as they had done their utmost to avoid that attack. Fortunately, because the Lemrace’s attack had only been aimed at Set, Shen had been out of the water spear’s attack range and took some distance from Set.

As Set pulled out of his barrel roll to avoid the water spear, he did a half turn on the spot and turned to face the water spear as Rei looked back towards the sea.

「A-AA-AAAHHHH-!」

「Hey, close the hole! We’re going to sink!」

「Shut up! If you’re going to say that then you should go block the hole first!」

「Damn it, it can’t be helped, tch! I’m going to the bottom of the ship, so you guys better keep an eye on the surroundings!」

Rei heard such shouts.

The direction the voices came from was, needless to say, the ship the adventurers were on. The Lemrace’s attack had left a hole in the bottom of their ship and the adventurers were rushing to patch it up. However, from Rei’s viewpoint, it was only a matter of time before they sank.

Giving a single glance towards the noisy adventurers, Rei prepared himself alongside Set to face the water spears that could shoot out at any time……

After waiting 30 seconds, Rei realised that there wouldn’t be any more attacks and stored the Death Scythe into the Misty Ring.

「Phew, looks like that’s it for today. ……In the end, I couldn’t see the body of the Lemrace today either. It might be necessary to come up with alternative plans.」

「Hey, Rei! If you can fly, help us!」

The man that had been looking at Rei mockingly earlier shouted out towards Set……or rather, towards Rei, who was on Set.

「Guru~?」

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

As Rei and Set looked at the slowly but surely sinking ship, Rei spoke with a small sigh.

「Just head for the ship.」

「Gururu~!」

At Rei’s words, Set flapped his wings as he flew towards the sinking ship. Hovering next to the ship, Rei called out to the adventureres on board.

「Even if you are asking me for help, I’m the only one who can ride on Set and I weigh barely as much as a girl. If it’s guys like you, it would be impossible to carry your weapons and armour.」

「Hey! Then why did you come over! Why!? Did you come to try to pay us back because we tried to use you!?」

「You were the ones who called me over. ……In the first place, don’t you think it’s strange to take advantage of me while the Lemrace was attacking me only to ask for help when you get attacked?」

「What do you know!? Just help us out!」

「……Whew. Okay. Wait a moment. I’ll call for parties with magic ships. If there are two or three of them, you’ll be head back.」

At Rei’s proposal, the adventurers gave a sigh of relief.

However, one of them immediately called out to Rei.

「Wait a moment. So from what you’re saying, aren’t we just moving from one ship to another?」

「Oh, of course. Yours is already sinking after all.」

「Wait, wait, wait! Hold on a moment! How much money do you think it costed to buy this ship!? There’s no way I’ll just throw it away!」

「……」

Not just Rei, the other adventurers on board the ship were also stunned by his words.

Fortunately for Rei though, there was only one person uttering such nonsense.

「Oh……let’s see then. Why don’t you just stay on the ship then? I won’t try to force you to leave, so do what you want. I’m going to call over some parties with magic ships for those who are willing to leave. But, if you insist on staying like that guy over there, I don’t mind.」

「R-Right.」

The adventurers gave a confused response at those words as Rei signalled Set to head off.

「Set, please.」

「Gurururu~!」

「Hey, wait a moment! It’s only natural to help us, but you have to promise to pay us reparations for sinking this ship!」

「Are you an idiot? Why do I need to compensate you when you were the ones who decided to come out to this dangerous area while using me as a decoy? In that case, why don’t I charge you 5 light gold coins to call over people to rescue you?」

「Are you cra-!」

A few other adventurers quickly clamped the man’s mouth shut as if they were scared that Rei might have taken his request for compensation seriously.

「Don’t worry about him! This guy has had a problem with treating his delusions as reality for a while. Of course, we won’t ask for compensation, so please call for help!」

The adventurer who had been looking at Rei mockingly when he was avoiding the Lemrace’s attacks shouted out in a rush.

Even for someone like him, he was feeling desperate when he considered the possibility of drowning.

Even though they weren’t that far from the port, it was impossible for any of them swim all the way back while wearing amour and other equipment.

「……Hah. Well, that’s fine. Then, I’ll call for help, so get ready. ……Don’t let him start spouting nonsense.」

Saying, Rei made his way over to some magic ships a short distance away.

Fortunately, the magic ships could already see the larger ship sinking and several of them had started to make their way over. Because of that, the adventurers on the sinking ship were rescued without any particular difficulties.

……In the end, the adventurer who had been shouting out for reparations ended up being the first to flee the sinking ship, leaving his companions behind as soon as the first magic ship arrived. He left the city of Emoshion soon after, unable to stand the disgusted looks he received from the other adventurers.

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