Rei and Set went over to the port as soon as they could after collecting the harpoon for catching monsters and the barrels of scrap metal from the blacksmith.

When they got to the port, Rei was surprised.

His surprise came from the fact that there were almost no adventurers at the port anymore. Most people there were just loading cargo onto ships.

The few remaining adventurers were probably those who had been hired to escort the ships.

The number of ships docked at the port had now decreased to a number that he could see them all in one glance. It had only been two days since the Lemrace had been killed, but the information seemed to have spread everywhere. The ships that didn’t want to pay any more docking fees had already all left.

Of course, as for the ship that left first early yesterday morning, it was a really risky departure. As the remaining captains and owners of the ships still docked gathered to watch, the ship that couldn’t stay in the port any longer financially received some money from the guild, city administration or other ship owners to become the first to leave the port. As for the results, they could be seen by looking at the port now. The merchants who had profits highest in their minds had all already left, there were even some new ships that had entered the port.

「When you think about it, the ship that arrived yesterday was really lucky.」

It was definitely lucky of them to be to able to enter the port without having the Lemrace attack them.

With that in mind, Rei spoke to the guard who was assigned to handling the procedures to leave the port.

「Not at all. Rei, was it? Thanks to you, the port has finally settled down.」

「It was crowded when I first came, so I thought that was how it was usually.」

Making some small talk, Rei handed over his guild card and Set’s Necklace of Subservient Monster before getting permission to leave.

「All the procedures have been completed. So, why are you going out to sea when the Lemrace isn’t around anymore?」

「Gilm is based inland. I’ve always wanted to try hunting sea monsters. I can also sell the materials at the guild.」

Hearing Rei’s words, the guard seemed to be surprised.

As a guard, he didn’t really understand Rei’s desire to hunt monsters. Especially because even though Rei hadn’t received the bounty prize for killing the Lemrace yet, he had heard rumours that Rei had earned a lot of money from selling the Lemrace’s materials.

Rei might not have noticed the guard’s confusion, but he looked towards Set, who wanted to quickly fly out to sea.

「Besides, I have to prepare food for Set.」

The guard, who had heard the rumours of how much the two of them had to eat, looked convinced.

Although they were just rumours, he had also heard that the food stalls Rei and Set bought from had all their income increase by 10% recently.

Of course, Rei hadn’t actually spent that much money, which was why they remained rumours. But even so, the guards that had seen Rei and Set shop in the city believed them.

「Well, he’ll definitely need a lot of food for each meal. ……All good, you can go. However, if it’s possible, it would be a great help if you left the city first and then wrapped around to the sea instead of directly leaving from the port. This is mainly a place to handle ships leaving the port.」

Rei’s eyes widened slightly a the guard’s words.

Up until now, he had always flew out to sea directly from the port to attract the Lemrace’s attention, so he hadn’t really considered that.

「My bad, I’ll keep that in mind tomorrow.」

「Haha, please do so.」

Hearing the guard say that, Rei was about to get onto Set’s back when he thought of something and called out to the guard again.

「Speaking of which, do you know what happened to the parties that owned magic ships? I’m sure there were quite a few.」

「Hm? Oh, most of them left Emoshion yesterday. Some are still around, but most will be leaving soon as well. Having a magic ship means they all have a certain level of strength and there are other places where they can make money. Either by catching people with bounties or by selling the materials of monsters they kill.」

「……Is that so?」

Rei looked slightly disappointed.

Although Rei was mainly interested in collecting magic items that could be used in combat, a magic ship was something he still wanted. It would be an indispensable item if he ever needed to kill monsters at sea together with anyone else.

(I hope that Set will eventually be able to carry more people than just me……well, I’ll just have to hope he grows up soon.)

「Is there anything wrong?」

「I was just wondering if any of them would sell their magic ship. As for money, I’ll have plenty after collecting the Lemrace’s bounty as well as from selling its materials. Well, that said, it will be a while before I can collect the bounty.」

「Ahh, I see. But magic ships are quite expensive……or, should I say, scarce. I don’t think anyone would sell it so easily. I think it would be easier to try to buy one at a shop that sells magic items.」

Nodding at the guard’s words, Rei got onto Set’s back.

「It can’t be helped, I’ll just have to give up on getting a magic ship for now.」

「Well, those kind of magic items are rare. It’s not something you can get easily just by wanting it. There’s a rumour you can find them in dungeons and some other areas though……」

「……Dungeons.」

The figure of Elena passed through Rei’s mind.

(I was going to try and find a magic item like the Twin Orbs, but if I could get a magic ship, that would also be good.)

As Rei thought of that, the guard called out to him just as he was about to give Set the signal to leave.

「I’ll pass the Necklace of Subservient Monster over to the main gate, so when you come back, go through the main gate instead of the port.」

「Ah, that would be a great help. Set-!」

「Gururururu~!」

Rei thanked the guard briefly before lightly kicking Set’s sides to signal him. Then, the next moment, Set gave a loud cry and flapped his wings, moving like he was running into the air.

Looking up from the ground, the guard was seriously troubled by the eyes that focused around him due to Set’s cry.

 

 

Rei looked towards the surface of the water from time to time as he saw the sea stretch out to the horizon.

His goal was to look for monsters, but after flying for about an hour, fortunately or unfortunately, he had yet to find any.

「Gururu~」

Even though Set had given a enthusiastic cry as they left the port, he had started to get bored after failing to find any monsters. Are we still going to look for one? Set seemed to say as he turned to look at Rei and give a cry.

「Well, if we still can’t find any monsters in a little while, we can go back to land and take a break.」

「Guru~」

Set nodded at Rei’s words and flew through the sky after regaining his energy.

Rei and Set were completely unaware of this, but in fact, there were barely any monsters around Emoshion right now. It was not just the sea, but on land as well. Why? The reason was simple. It was because Rei had relied on Grimm to move the Lemrace.

The magic Grimm had used to find the Lemrace was like a sonar and the magic used to move the Lemrace had happened immediately after that. With the overwhelming amount of magic power the Lich had used, all the monsters in the surroundings had become scared and fled. Because of that, it was a bit of an irony that Rei was now unable to find any monsters after finally killing the Lemrace.

「Hmm, there really are no monsters. You can’t see any either Set?」

「Guru~」

Set gave a cry as if to say he was sorry.

Rei stroked Set’s back to tell him not to worry.

「Since we still can’t find any, why don’t we go take a break? If we can’t find any monsters near Emoshion, we’ll probably find some further off the coast. ……I hope.」

As Rei tried to believe the words he was saying, Set suddenly looked down……and gave a sharp cry towards the sea’s surface.

「Gurururu~!」

「Did you find a monster!?」

Rei followed Set’s eyes, but all he saw were two ships. That wasn’t strange in itself. There were trading fleets with up to several ships in a group. But, the distance between the two ships was very close. In general, the distance between two ships would be between several hundred meters to a kilometre. However, the ships that Rei could see where almost touching each other. It was clear at a glance what was going on when he saw arrows and magic flying between the two ships.

「Pirates?」

Originally, pirates roamed around this area. As this was an area near Emoshion, the largest port city in the Mireana Kingdom, there was no better place for a pirate. However, the Lemrace had showed up and started to attack ships.

If it only attacked ships that were heading to or departing from Emoshion, that would have been fine. But it wasn’t possible for a monster like the Lemrace to tell ships apart. As a result, a considerable number of pirate ships had be sunk as well. As a result, the pirates had decided it wasn’t worth the risk and withdrew from these waters. However……

「It hasn’t taken them long to come back. Maybe they secretly have people in Emoshion? ……Well, are they lucky or unlucky. No matter how I see it, I can only say they are unlucky. Set-!」

「Gururu~!」

In response to Rei’s call, Set dived towards the ships.

They might have noticed Set approaching them. The arrows and magic attacks stopped from one ship as cheers started to be heard from them

「If they’re happy to see us, they must be the side being attacked. In that case……」

Signalling Set, Rei landed on the ship that seemed to belong to the pirates and called out to them.

「I’ll ask first, are you pirates?」

At his voice, most of the people on board the ship immediately turned their eyes to him as a few of them clenched their teeth.

Knowing that the Lemrace had been killed, the pirates had come back to this area. Of course, most of them knew about the adventurer who had killed the Lemrace. Naturally, they had heard about the Griffon he had tamed as well. They didn’t think they would be able to defeat the adventurer who had killed the Lemrace, which was why they clenched their teeth.

What was unfortunate for them was that they hadn’t been able to get too much information from the pirates that were hiding in Emoshion. Because of that, the pirates in Emoshion had been unable to tell their friends that aside from having a Griffon follow him, Rei had contributed so much in the war against the Bestir Empire that he ended up receiving a title. As a result……

「UOOOOOH-! DIEEE-!」

One of the pirates threw a hatchet towards Rei in a desperate attempt to kill him instead of surrendering quietly.

However, the spinning hatchet didn’t reach Rei before it was knocked down by Set’s forefoot.

「……Hah? It looks like you don’t want to surrender quietly. Do you want to become seaweed fertiliser here?」

Saying that, he took a spear out from the Misty Ring. The next moment, Rei threw it towards the feet of the pirate who had thrown his axe, breaking through the ship’s deck and disappearing below.

「Well, what are you going to do? I’ll ask you again. Do you want to fight and have me sink your ship, or will you surrender and be sold off as criminal slaves? Choose what you want. I’m not short of money right now, so I’m fine either way.」

After seeing Rei’s attack, they must have realised they didn’t stand a chance. Rather than sinking into the sea and dying……most of them chose to surrender. Even so, a few of them attacked Rei, trying to escape the fate of becoming criminal slaves. However, they were all knocked unconscious after Rei broke several of their ribs with a swing of a spear.

In addition, the reason why most of the pirates chose to surrender was because Rei had said they would be sold as criminal slaves instead of saying he would kill them, so he probably wouldn’t kill them unnecessarily.

The ship that had been attacked hadn’t suffered too much damage and gave Rei a reward to thank him before continuing on their voyage. As for Rei, he returned to Emoshion’s port on the pirate ship.

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