「Well, I’d better get going.」

「Ah, see you later. Do you still want your room after you collect the bounty?」

「Well, I think I’ll stay for another day or two, so you can keep the room as it is.」

「Understand. I look forward to your souvenirs.」

As Rei left the inn, the inn keeper’s daughter saw him off with a mischievous smile.

The city of Emoshion had been in a festive mood for several days following the defeat of the Lemrace. But, after 10 days, things seemed to have settled down and almost all the ships that had previously been unable to leave the port had left, soon replaced by new ships arriving at Emoshion.

Yes, today was the 10th day since Rei had killed the Lemrace, which meant that the guild would recognise the Lemrace’s subjugation if there had been no further damage.

……That said, there were now several cases of pirates attacking ships as it seemed they had various people collecting information from within the city. It seemed that the pirates Rei had captured had only been the tip of the iceberg.

「Well, I wasn’t hired to hunt pirates, so I can tell the adventurers of Emoshion to do their best.」

If Rei were to deal with those pirates, he and Set would have to escort ships out or continue to patrol the waters off Emoshion. There was little need for him to head out to sea now since there weren’t any monsters showing up. It might have been different if the guild had given Rei a request to patrol the waters, but Emoshion’s guild couldn’t do that as they would lose a lot of respect if Rei, an outsider, had to solve all their problems. In the end, the only way to deal with pirates was for the ship owner to hire adventurers from Emoshion’s guild to deal with them as usual.

「Gurururu~」

What’s wrong Rei? Set seemed to ask as he tilted his head. Rei replied with a smile as he stroked Set’s head.

「It’s nothing. Rather, we’ll be heading back to Gilm when the matter of the Lemrace is over.」

「Guru~」

Set nodded as he looked at the surrounding seafood stalls and food stalls cooking okonomiyaki that had spread around recently.

With the money he got from selling the Lemrace’s materials and the rewards from capturing a pirate ship, he had used it all up buying seafood such as fish, crabs, shrimp and shellfish. Even if he had to live by only eating the ingredients stored in the Misty Ring, it was enough to last him several months……at best, he had enough to eat for the next year.

Also, since they now knew the way here, Rei and Set could also come back here to buy more ingredients and dishes if the Misty Ring ever ran out.

As he kept walking, Rei eventually met up with Egret, Miroir and Hendeka who were in front of the guild building. Shen, the Icebird, was perched on the roof of a nearby building.

「Oh, Rei. It’s been a while.」

「Ahh. You haven’t changed much……no, your weapon is different. Is that the poleaxe you requested to be made with the Lemrace’s fang?」

Rei asked as he looked at the poleaxe Egret was carrying. It was a white coloured poleaxe with a shaft that looked like it was made by carving the fang of the Lemrace. The fang also seemed to have been used as a material in the forging of the blade.

「The Dwarven blacksmith had complained about it a lot. Still, a poleaxe is best for me. Compared to the one that was ruined by the Lemrace, this one is a lot stronger.」

Egret stroked his poleaxe with a satisfied smile as Miroir sighed in amazement next to him.

「I guess it can’t be helped that you needed a new weapon since your old was was destroyed……but the materials that were used were quite expensive. Thanks to that, I was forced to do a lot of guild requests over the past 10 days.」

「……Guild requests? Did you manage to get any requests? I haven’t seen any monsters around recently.」

「There are certainly not a lot of subjugation requests. However, there are still quite a few requests within the city. Especially since a lot of ships are coming in now that everything is cleared up. The requests to help them carry things also paid well.」

「I didn’t think that B rank adventurers would take up requests like carrying goods.」

「We also did several requests to hunt pirates. But, after we damaged their ship, they would just run away.」

「That’s right. For the pirate hunting quests, Shen made it very easy.」

Miroir patted Hendeka’s head with a small smile.

Rei’s eyes widened for a moment at their somewhat casual interaction, but quickly nodded his head in agreement.

「So, you formed a party?」

「Well, even if Hendeka looks like this, he’s still reliable.」

「Oh, no, I’m nothing much compared to the two of you……」

Hendeka looked embarrassed by Miroir’s words, but the expression on his faced looked like something more than he would show to his fellow party members.

「Hey, are you two……」

Hendeka froze at at Rei’s words. Miroir also lost some of her composure, though not to the same extent as Hendeka.

After seeing their response, Rei finally understood the exact relationship between the two.

「I see now, you didn’t just party up, you’re going out with each other.」

「……Ahaha. Did you find out?」

「Well, I don’t think it’s a secret. Isn’t that right?」

Egret replied to Miroir’s shy response.

As for Egret himself, he didn’t seem to have any issues with Hendeka joining his party or becoming a couple with Miroir, his partner.

「I thought you two were actually a couple.」

「Ack, no, no.」

「That’s right. I can’t imagine being like that with Miroir either.」

Miroir burst out at Rei’s words. Egret agreed with her as he nodded.

Rei was convinced that the relationship between them was purely that of friends.

(It’s often said that pure friendship between men and women isn’t possible……but these two are rare exceptions I guess.)

「Ahaha. As for me, I’m happy to be with someone I like.」

「Kikikyi~!」

Shen gave a happy cry as if to give his blessings to Hendeka, who laughed shyly.

If they were to have such a conversation in front of the guild, it was only natural to draw the attention of others around the guild. Various adventurers gave them warm looks, jealous glances and expressions wishing them happiness.

Hendeka probably noticed Miroir’s cheeks go red as she reflexivly reached out for the whip at her waist……

「L-Look. Miroir-san. Let’s go inside the guild. It’s the day we can collect they bounty, so it’s no good to cause a fuss!」

「……H-Hmph. It can’t be helped. Come on Egret, you too Rei. Let’s go.」

After saying that, Miroir and Hendeka entered the guild.

As he watched the two of them go inside, Rei had an amused smile on his face.

「Heh~, isn’t Miroir……」

「Are you surprised? I was surprised as well. But I guess it makes sense if you think of Miroir’s personality as an older sister and Hendeka as someone who makes mistakes sometimes.」

Egret gave a small shrug before the two of them went into the guild as well.

 

 

The moment Rei entered the guild, the receptionist at the counter, who was already used to this, went to call Roseus. As it had been 10 days since the Lemrace had been killed, Roseus had been expecting them and invited them up to a meeting room as he came out from behind the counter.

「Welcome. I’ve been looking forward to seeing you all.」

「If you say that, I assume there’s been no further damage from the Lemrace?」

The city of Emoshion had already started moving under the assumption that the Lemrace had already been killed. It was the same for ships, so if the Lemrace were to really reappear, there would definitely be a huge fuss. Yes, such an event would be clear to Rei as he was in the city. However, such a commotion never occurred, so he already knew the answer to the question he asked. In a sense, Rei’s question was a bit of an accusation towards the guild and city’s higher administration who were suspicious of his words. However, Roseus nodded seriously at Rei’s question.

「Yes, that is correct. Thanks to that, it is enough proof that the Lemrace has been defeated, so it’s not too bad for Rei-san and the rest of you, right?」

「Well, I guess so.」

Smiling at each other, Roseus softly took out a small cloth pouch from his pocket.

Hearing the clinking sound when it was placed on the table, it seemed to contain something hard. Egret gave a whistle as he guessed what was inside.

「2 light gold coins……did you split it into 20 platinum coins so that it would be easier to divide up?」

「Yes, I heard the 4 of you planned to split it up. I thought it would be better to do this than for you to have problems.」

「Thank you very much.」

Rei expressed his gratitude for Roseus’ thoughtfulness. Egret and Miroir both gave their thanks while Hendeka, who had never seen a platinum coin before, froze up just by seeing the pouch.

What would have happened to him if it hadn’t been platinum coins in the pouch but 2 light gold coins, which had been the original bounty prize?

For a moment, Miroir wanted to see what her lover would have looked like, but immediately shook her head as she started to think about how to split it.

「Rei, I’m getting a bigger share of the money because I didn’t need any of the materials, right? Hendeka as well.」

「Yes, I don’t mind.」

Nodding at Miroir’s words, Rei poured out the contents of the pouch and split them into four equal piles, each of them sparkling white like their name.

Rei pushed the four piles to each of them.

「First of all, 20 platinum coins. Out of that, Miroir and Hendeka wanted a bigger share of the money……」

Rei took two platinum coins from his and Egret’s piles and moved them to Miroir and Hendeka’s piles.

Rei and Egret both got 3 platinum coins while Miroir and Hendeka received 7 each.

「Is this okay?」

The other three nodded at Rei’s question without any objections.

「There are many parties that fallout over dividing rewards, but you guys don’t seem to have any issues.」

Roseus smiled, but Rei really didn’t lack for money as he had sold off all the Lemrace materials that he didn’t intend to use himself. Furthermore, he had received a reward for capturing a group of pirates. In that sense, he had made a huge fortune since coming to Emoshion……though most of that had been used to buy up food and ingredients. As for Egret, he just wanted to fight a strong enemy. He didn’t have any issues as he was able to get himself a new poleaxe. The remaining two, Miroir and Hendeka, were both satisfied with their share of the prize money.

「Well, there aren’t many of us to begin with. Now that we’ve been paid out the bounty, I guess that’s about it?」

「Yes, the guild doesn’t have any further issues. To be honest, if it were possible, it would have been better for adventurers from Emoshion’s guild to have killed the Lemrace from the perspective of honour……having said that, removing the cause of the problem takes a higher priority over our honour when people who need to use the port start to run into trouble. I can’t thank Rei-san enough. Also, as promised, I will let you know as soon as I have any information about rare species.」

Saying that, Roseus gave a polite bow before seeing them off. There wasn’t any point in them continuing to stay in the meeting room, so they all went downstairs and left the guild.

「……So, we’re going to leave the city as soon as we collect our belongings from our inn, what about you, Rei? Would like to work together for a bit longer?」

Egret, with his poleaxe on his back, asked Rei. Rei thought for a bit before shaking his head as he stroked Set’s head.

「No, I’ll be staying here for a little longer. There are still some things I want to buy.」

「Is that so? I understand. Then, this is goodbye.」

「Yeah. You guys take care.」

「Take care as well Rei……is what I’d like to say, but I think you’ll be fine regardless of what I say.」

「Ahaha. What Miroir-san said is true. But, thanks to Rei-san, I was able to learn many things. Thank you very much. Come on, you too, Shen.」

「Kiki~! Kikiki!」

At Hendeka’s words, Shen, who was sitting on Set’s back, gave a short cry towards Rei.

「Gururu~」

Set also gave a cry of farewell to the four of them. Thus, the extraordinary temporary party that was formed to subdue the Lemrace disbanded.

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