「……Why are you here?」

It was definitely unexpected. With a surprised expression, he greeted Egret and Miroir, who had suddenly showed up in front of him, as he slid the orb he had next to his pillow.

「Why? Weren’t we all coming to Emoshion to collect the bounty?」

「No, I know that, but……aren’t you a bit too fast?」

It had been less than 10 days since Rei had parted ways with them on the way to Emoshion. It should have taken them at least half a month to reach here from the city where they had split up, so Rei had no idea how they had made it here.

「Hahaha. I put in some serious effort and it ended up like this.」

「……Hah. Well, it is true that we rushed it. We’ve been travelling day and night.」

Miroir grumbled as she supplemented Egret’s words.

In fact, while Egret was still full of energy, Miroir had a tired expression.

Just the expression on her face was enough to convince Rei that they had come all the way to Emoshion with barely a break as she had said.

At t=he same time, an idea popped into Rei’s mind.

(I need a few elite adventurers who can hold down the Lemrace until I get there after Grimm uses spatial magic to transfer it somewhere else. And, from what I heard before, Egret came here because he wanted to fight a strong enemy and not because he wanted to collect the bounty, Lemrace materials or magic stone. In that case……)

Thinking to himself, Hendeka, the tamer, came to his mind again.

He had thought that it would be too reckless to leave the Lemrace to just Hendeka and his Icebird. But, if Egret and Miroir, two B rank adventurers, took the vanguard, Hendeka could support them while Shen provided cover from the air.

(Hendeka used a sword as his weapon, but if he bought a bow or something and provided support from the back……maybe that would work?)

Rei quickly thinking in his mind, he turned to look at the two adventurers before making his decision.

At that moment, both Egret and Miroir felt something go right through them.

In Egret’s case, it was an expectation of battle, while for Miroir, it was a bad feeling she couldn’t shake off.

「You’ve come at the right time. Come in and close the door. We’re in a good spot.」

「Come in you say……this is a very small room. Why don’t we just talk in the dining area on the first floor?」

If she entered the room to discuss things, Miroir felt that she would definitely not be able to get out of it. Miroir said that, but it was already too late. Her partner, Egret, quickly entered the room as he dragged Miroir in with him.

「Look, just come in. It’s definitely small, but even then, there’s still room for the three of us to sit.」

「Hey, Egret! I’m not getting involved with this Lemrace……」

Although she tried to resist, she couldn’t do much against Egret’s pure physical strength as he easily dragged her into Rei’s room.

(……Looking from the outside, doesn’t this look kind of bad?)

From the outside, Egret looked like a man trying to force a reluctant woman into his room. As he thought of that, he quickly whispered to Grimm, who’s dumbfounded expression was projected on the orb, that he would call back later before cutting the connection.

Egret forced the reluctant Miroir to sit on the floor while Rei, as the owner of the room, sat on the bed.

As expected, there was barely any other furniture in the small room aside from the bed. There were no chairs or sofas.

However, he was staying here at a cheap price due to an introduction from Arctos, who seemed to be influential in various ways.

「Well then, let me tell you why you’ve come at a good time.」

Rei nodded at Egret, who leaned his poleaxe against the wall, and told them about the current situation. The lack of information on how the Lemrace attack and what it looked like as well as the adventurers who had come for the bounty and the stalemate they were stuck in. However, for some reason, if he flew over the sea with Set, they would almost certainly be attacked by the water spears.

「Well, that’s definitely a troublesome opponent.」

「But, even though you’ve said or that, since you said we’re in a good spot, that must mean you have some way to deal with it right?」

At first, Miroir hadn’t been willing to hear him out, but she was still a B rank adventurer and eventually grew some interest in it. She turned her eyes to Rei to prompt him to continue.

Catching Miroir’s eyes, Rei nodded.

「Yes. With a little help from someone, I’ve managed to get my hands on a certain magic item.」

「……A magic item?」

Rei nodded again at Miroir’s parrot like response.

「Using spatial magic, it can identify the location of an attacking enemy and forcibly transfer it somewhere else.」

「Hey, what is that! If that’s really true, it’s a magic item with an extremely powerful effect! I think that if the guild or countries knew about it, they would try to use any means possible to obtain it……」

The unexpected words from Rei’s mouth made Miroir shout out. Even though Egret was basically a muscle brain who just wanted to look for strong opponents, it seemed that he was still stunned by the description of a magic item that could forcibly transfer away an enemy that attacked him.

「If you consider that it’s a magic item from a dungeon, then it’s only natural right? However, it’s a one time use item only.」

「Well, if there was such a powerful magic item that could be used over and over again, countries would really make a move. In the first place, what kind of person would be able to get something like that for you?」

Rei continued to explain as he glanced at the stunned Miroir.

「Anyhow, with this magic item, it’s possible to force the undiscovered Lemrace to a specific location. The problem is that while it’s possible to transfer it somewhere, it can’t transfer me as well. In other words, after transferring it somewhere, I’ll have to fly over on Set.」

Egret nodded with a ferocious smile at Rei’s words.

「I see. So, until you get there, Miroir and I will have to deal with the Lemrace, right?」

「Yes. Of course, I’m not asking you to hold back. If you can kill it before I get there, I don’t mind.」

「Heh, that’s what I’m talking about. It was the right choice to come to this city. Hey, you think the same, don’t you?」

Miroir gave a sigh at Egret’s words as he leaned against the wall beside her.

「Well, that’s all fine for you since you can fight such a strong enemy. Against a monster that can destroy ships from under the sea……under the sea?」

Miroir suddenly realised something as she responded to her partner in a dumbfounded manner.

「Hey, Rei’s magic item forcibly transfers the target, right? So, if we don’t want to move it too close to the city, we can move it somewhere further. Of course, we can’t just move it to some other place in the sea. It should be somewhere in a desert or forest. Or maybe even the capital of the Bestir Empire, which Rei had fought against a short while ago.」

She felt like she had just come up with a good idea, but Rei silently shook his head.

「Unfortunately, it’s impossible to transfer it that far. Because of that, I was looking around for somewhere near the city of Emoshion, and that……is how things have been going.」

「Ahh……I see. As expected, it’s impossible for such a magic item to be that powerful.」

Rei nodded at Egret, who was listening in next to Miroir.

「Well, that’s the way it is. In any case, as I said, I would like you to stop the monster from trying to go back into the sea. There’s one more person who I’d like to help, which I’ll explain later. Well, as I mentioned previously, if you can kill it, kill it. But if that isn’t possible, just focus on stopping it until I arrive with Set. That’s what I’m thinking of at the moment. Do you have any thoughts?」

「Who’s the other person? Are they so good that even you want them to join?」

If he was a competent adventurer, I’d like to have a bout with him. Egret asked with that intention as he gave a ferocious smile. However, Rei just shook his head.

「He’s not that strong himself. He’s a D rank adventurer.」

「Wai-, hey, hey, hey, hey. Why would you bother with such a low ranked adventurer……if he’s stronger than his rank, like Rei, then that would be a different matter. But from what you’ve said, that doesn’t seem to be the case.」

Maybe he was grumpy that he wouldn’t be able to spar against a strong person, Egret looked kind of sulky as Rei spoke with a slight smile.

「Sure, he’s not strong himself. But, he’s a monster tamer, like me. He’s tamed an Icebird.」

「If I recall correctly, Icebirds……」

「Hey, it’s that one. It’s a monster that comes out in winter. By itself, it’s a D rank monster, but in flocks, they are treated as C rank.」

「Ah, they are strangely intelligent for a monster.」

「That’s right. If you’re not careful, it might be even smarter than you.」

Miroir muttered sarcastically, but Egret just laughed as if had gone over his head.

「Even I know the importance of working together with others.」

「……That’s true.」

Miroir gave a wry smile at his expression that seemed to not realise the sarcasm.

Seeing the two of them like that, Rei brought the coversation back on topic.

「Anyhow, the tamer is an adventurer called Hendeka. Considering that he’s tamed an Icebird, a monster that can fly in the sky, it will be of great help to keep the Lemrace in check. He’s not an idiot who will lose himself in excitement.」

「Well, you’re in charge of this. If you say so, I don’t mind……he won’t drag us down, right?」

「I can vouch for his ability.」

「In that case, I have no objections. But I’ll say this now, if he drags us down, I’ll cut him off right away.」

「Ah, I’ll make sure to let him know. So, about splitting the rewards……」

「Of course, we’ll get what we deserve, I assume?」

Rei nodded at Miroir’s question.

「Naturally. However, I’m going to use a magic I only just got. As for my share, it’s fine with you two even if it’s the largest?」

「Ah, yes. As long as I can fight a strong enemy, that’s enough for me.」

「Hey, Egret. You should at least pay some importance to money. ……Well, I’m sure this plan wouldn’t work without Rei’s magic item. ……Rei, let me take a look at that magic item.」

「I’m sorry, but it’s a fragile magic item. I can’t let touch it, but I can let you take a look, do you mind that?」

As expected, Rei couldn’t show them the non-existent magic item that formed the core of his plan.

Of course, since the forced transfer would be carried out by Grimm instead of a magic item, he decided to take out something that had been stored in the Misty Ring to trick them.

The next moment, Rei’s right hand held a crystal orb about 5cm in diameter. Miroir and Egret’s eyes went wide when they saw it.

「This……is a magic item for forced spatial transfer?」

「What is this……it doesn’t seem to look very powerful.」

Fortunately, whether it was Miroir or Egret, they were both pure warriors that couldn’t sense magic power. After all, the crystal orb it Rei’s hand was nothing special. On the contrary, it was just something he had bought at a general store in Gilm.

Showing the crystal to them for about 30 seconds, Rei stored it back into the Misty Ring.

That was because he wanted to avoid them realising anything was wrong.

「Well, most of the plan has been decided. I’ll just talk to Hendeka afterwards……if you don’t mind, how about we meet in front of the guild at 9am tomorrow morning?」

「I don’t mind, but……where should we stay? I’ll say this, but we can’t have three people in this room. I also don’t want to stay in a room with two men.」

「Well, this is definitely a small room.」

Looking around the 3 tatami sized room, Egret spoke with an interesting smile. However, Rei just shrugged his shoulders.

「At any rate, there doesn’t seem to be any spare rooms left in this inn, so we’ll just have to deal with that. It’s hard to find inns with available rooms because of the large number of adventurers who have gathered due to the Lemrace.」

「Ahh……there definitely were a lot of adventurers. Miroir, let’s quickly go find an inn.」

「Yes, I don’t want to have to camp outside the city tonight. ……Then, Rei. We’ll see you at the guild at 9am tomorrow morning?」

「Yes, that’s around the time I’ll be meeting up with Hendeka. I’ll be in your care.」

Thus, with the plan to defeat the Lemrace set out, Egret and Miroir went out into the city to find a place to stay.

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