「How about here?」

A green clearing, peculiar to this time of the year as the seasons changed from spring to summer, was spread out in front of Egret’s eyes.

It was located about 30 minutes away from the highway and there weren’t any people in the area aside from Rei’s group.

Seeing the surrounding area, Miroir seemed to agree with Egret. Nodding, she turnd to look at Rei.

「Maybe? I don’t think there should be any problems. It’s away from the highway, so we won’t have to worry about dragging travellers into it.」

Saying that, Rei nodded as he continued to speak with a smile.

「And here, we won’t have to worry about other adventurers aiming to collect the bounty intruding.」

「Hmm, we definitely won’t need to worry about that, but I’m concerned about how big the Lemrace might be. It’s fine to move it here, but if the monster is big enough that it can be seen from the highway, other people would naturally see it.」

「But, even though you say that, it’s the same anywhere else, right? Since we don’t know how big the Lemrace is, we’ll have to consider this place acceptable.」

While hearing Hendeka’s response to Miroir, Egret turned to look at Rei.

「Well, Rei is the one in charge of all this, so what are your thoughts Rei?」

「I don’t have any particular problems with this place. We’ll continue to look around a bit more after this, but for now, this is the most likely location.」

Rei was satisfied with the location. It was located far from the road and wasn’t easy to find. Considering the surrounding area was grassland, it would work in favour of Set and Shen, who could attack from the sky.

「I had considered the possibility of intruders, but I don’t think that will be a problem.」

Rei nodded as he thought of the group from earlier.

In the end, the group had been attacked by monster and didn’t continue following them, so he wasn’t particularly worried. However, it wasn’t a mistake to consider countermeasures against such people as the same thing might not happen next time and they might be targeted again after today.

「That said, those guys are probably aiming for my item box, so I don’t know if they’ll try to interfere in a fight against the Lemrace.」

「……In that case, why did you go out of your way to use your item box in the city?」

Miroir asked in a somewhat dumbfounded manner. However, Rei just shrugged his shoulders as he replied.

「It would be stupid to be scared of using such a convenient magic item. If I was going to do that, I might as well not use it from the beginning. At the very least, I don’t want to have to use a magic item that I have to be careful and scared using every time.」

「But, a group of them might come to try and take it from you?」

「Then I just have to give them what they deserve.」

Saying that much, Rei gave a grin.

(However, there’s a high chance they’ll just end up getting attacked by monsters like the group from before.)

Since what Rei was mostly looking for were magic stones, he would often go to dangerous places to complete requests. Since others couldn’t attack him in a city’s streets, if they wanted his item box, they would have to go to wherever Rei was. It was obvious what would happen then. Even if they could defeat any monsters that attacked them, they would soon realise with regret that there was a reason Rei had a title if they tried putting their hands on him or Set.

And if they tried other means to get to him, Rei was under the protection of Daska, Margrave Rowlocks.

If anyone ignored everything to still try to get him, Rei’s last resort would be to leave.

In the end, the Mireana Kingdom would lose a C rank rare talent, the A rank Griffon that followed him as well as his item box.

「Woah, Rei has a scary look on his face.」

Seeing the look on Rei’s face, Egret hurriedly spoke with surprise as he tried to divert the topic.

「Anyway, why don’t we continue looking for places to transfer the Lemrace to. If we find any place better, we’ll use that as the place to fight it.」

Both Miroir and Hendeka didn’t understand what had happened. They just followed after Rei without asking anything, along side Egret, Set and Shen, who was on Set’s back.

 

 

「Ahh, in the end we couldn’t find anywhere better than the first spot.」

As the sun started to set, Egret’s dull words echoed along the highway.

Behind Egret, the rest of the group nodded as they walked.

「Well, we were limited to places near Emoshion. It was inevitable that it would narrow our choices significantly. Rather than that, we should consider our strategy. How much time do you all need to prepare?」

The first person to answer Rei was Egret.

「I’m always ready……even right now.」

「You’re stupid you know……we can’t just start now. Ah, I’ve got to buy some potions and maintain my weapons, so I should be ready after tomorrow. What about Hendeka?」

「U-Um, that’s right. Aside from Shen, I’ll be using a bow, right? Then I would like some time to buy a bow and some arrows and maybe just pratice a little bit.」

Aside from being the weakest one, Hendeka also had some anxiety after being asked to use a bow at short notice, so he asked Rei if he could have some time to practice.

Seeing Hendeka react like that, Rei asked a question that he had just thought of.

「By the way, have you ever used a bow?」

「Ah, yes. When I was back at my village, I used one to go hunting several times, so I have some pratice with it.」

「I see. ……Then, I’d like you to pratice for a day to get back into shape. We’ll deal with the Lemrace the day after tomorrow. Does anyone have any other thoughts?」

The three of them nodded silently at Rei’s question without any objections.

Seeing them nod like that, Set and Shen also nodded, which gave everyone a warm feeling.

「Alright, then it’s decided. Each of you will get ready tomorrow. We’ll assemble at the guild at 9am the day after tomorrow.」

「Fufufu~. We’re finally fighting the Lemrace. I wonder how strong it is. I’m looking forward to it.」

「Haah, why am I even following this guy? But, if I’m not there, he’ll probably just run wild and cause trouble.」

「Fuuu~……haaa~……calm down, calm down. First of all, I have to pratice with a bow tomorrow so that I can play as active a role as I can.」

「Gurururu~?」

「Kiki!」

As the rest of them aside from Rei regained their energy, Set turned to Shen on his back and seemed to say something, to which Shen replied.

Seeing them act like that, Rei realised that he had become less tense about having to do the most crucial part of the plan……when something suddenly caught his eye and stopped him in his tracks.

「That’s……」

「Hm? What’s wrong?」

Egret asked after seeing Rei stop. But Rei just stared at one point without answering. Seeing the large amount of red scattered on the road, Rei nodded as if convinced of something as he looked towards Egret.

「No, it seems like there was a large fight that happened a bit further ahead.」

「Enemies!?」

「You idiot! He said that it had already happened. I mean, in the first place, you can’t hear any shouting, so the fight must definitely be over.」

「……Ahh. That’s true. Well, I haven’t moved my body around today, so it would have been just right if there were monsters.」

「Wow, as expected of a B rank adventurer, Egret-san. You have a completely different way of thinking than me.」

「Well, I guess you’re right. Hendeka, if you ever reach a higher rank like me……」

「Don’t teach him wrong things!」

Angered by Egret’s behaviour, Miroir cracked her whip at the ground near Egret with a loud snap.

「Hendeka, this kind of muscle brain is very rare among B ranks. He’s just a special one.」

「I-I see……is that so?」

At Miroir’s words, Hendeka had a somewhat happy……yet regretful expression at the same time.

As he watched the exchanges between the three of them, Rei continued to move forward until they eventually reached the spot covered in blood.

「Hey, there definitely was a big fight here. From the amount of blood, there must have been at least 40 people on both sides?」

Egret muttered as he looked around. Those who had fought here had been careful to not let any of the corpses become undead. Whether it was fire magic or just fire, there were traces of dead monsters and people being burnt a short distance away from the road.

(Well, if they left the dead bodies here and they turned into undead, who knows what kind of penalty the people who left the bodies here would face. Especially the ones who were following us. It looks like they’re hiding something in the dark.)

Muttering to himself, Rei looked around with Egret.

「It looks like a group of Goblins attacked them.」

「Yeah.」

Egret spoke as he turned towards a Goblin’s arm, which seemed to have been missed after it was killed. Rei nodded as well.

「Goblins, if they were adventurers who were gathered in the city, it shouldn’t have been too big of a threat…….that is what I would have expected, but……」

Egret spoke again. This time, he was looking at a sword which had broken in the middle of the blade.

It must have been left by one of the adventurers who had been fighting here. Egret frowned his eyebrows as it saw it.

「Judging from the condition of the sword, which had barely any rust, it had probably belonged to an adventurer. In that case, it seemed like the adventurers had also suffered some losses. Would such proud adventurers who had come here for the Lemrace lose to Goblins?」

「In that case, could there have been a high ranking or rare species?」

Miroir asked, but Egret shook his head.

「No, there was probably something dragging them down. Look around the road. The fight looks like it was gathered around one place, as if they were protecting something.」

Even though Miroir called him a muscle brain and a fighting maniac, he was still a B rank adventurer who could judge what had happened based on footprints and traces of battle around the road. No, rather, maybe he was able to see that because he was a fighting maniac.

「Well, now that you say that, that was definitely the case. Anyhow, the people who had fought here were the ones who had been following us right? In a sense, they got what they deserved.」

「Eh? I-Is that really okay?」

Hendeka asked somewhat timidly, but not just Miroir, even Egret and Rei nodded in response.

「Whatever happened to the people who were following us, they deserved it. If they were just adventurers who were hired to escort someone and not those who were targeting us, then it’s just normal adventurer work to have to fight Goblins.」

Saying that, Rei started to head back towards Emoshion. Hendeka followed after him without saying anything further.

 

 

Returning to Emoshion, the group parted ways after agreeing to meet in front of the guild at 9am the day after.

Shen, who had been riding on Set’s back, was reluctant to part and resisted to the very end. However, Rei found it impressive that Shen eventually left after making a sad cry, probably because he didn’t want to be left behind by Hendeka.

Aside from Rei, Miroir also had a bright smile on her face when she saw that.

「Well, if we’re taking out the Lemrace the day after tomorrow, then we will only be working with each other for a few more days.」

Muttering to himself, Rei sat down on his bed in his room at the Blue Sea Coral inn.

Rei had wanted to go to sleep right after he finished eating, but he couldn’t do that as he took out his crystal orb from the Misty Ring and started to pour magic power into it. Eventually, a skull with a crown was projected onto the crystal.

『Hm? Oh, it’s Rei? Since you’re contacting me, I assume you’re ready to deal with the Lemrace?』

「That’s right. It’s not that detailed, but I’ve come up with a plan. So about forcibly transferring the Lemrace……are you fine with the morning after tomorrow?」

『Hmm, the morning the day after tomorrow. ……That’s fine. Do you mind if I join you when you head out to sea?』

「It would be a great help. After that, I’d like you to transfer the Lemrace……all you need is to be able to see where it has to go, right?」

Whether it was spatial magic or spatial sorcery, Rei couldn’t use it, as he was only suited to fire magic. Because of that, he asked Grimm, who nodded back with laughter.

『Well. I’m not too worried about that. When I use spatial magic, I have a technique that allows me to move it to the place you are thinking of in your mind.』

「Oh, you can do that with spatial magic?」

Listening to Grimm, Rei spoke unthinkingly at the convenience of spatial magic. However, Grimm just laughed in response.

『Hohoho~. Of course, it isn’t possible for an ordinary mage. Although I may not be the best user of dark magic, I have still studied for thousands of years. Hmm? Oh, I’m sorry, but I’m in the middle of an experiment right now. I can’t talk for too long. Well, I’ll meet with you off the coast of Emoshion the morning after tomorrow.』

Saying that, Grimm’s figure disappeared from the orb.

Rei returned his orb back into the Misty Ring and lay down on his bed as he thought about the fight that would take place the day after tomorrow.

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