It was the day after Rei and Set’s last day in Emoshion. Rei was at the main gate, going through the formalities of leaving the city. The weather was sunny, as if to bless their departure.

「Rei-san, thank you for your help with this matter. As soon as we here any information about rare species, I’ll send it to Gilm’s guild.」

Roseus bowed his head as the daughter of the Blue Sea Coral inn’s innkeeper spoke with reddened eyes.

「You must come back again. Absolutely!」

「Hmph, you’ve given me some ideas for an interesting weapon. Come see me again any time. I’ll keep some barrels of scraps for you.」

「I look forward to okonomiyaki becoming dish that spreads out from this city to the surroundings……no, I hope it becomes a dish that spreads out to the whole world.」

After her, the Dwarven blacksmith and Arctos also spoke to Rei.

Nodding at their words, Rei recieved his guild card back from a guard and stored it back into the Misty Ring.

Since the Necklace of Subservient Monster, that had been hung on Set’s neck, had already been returned, there wasn’t anything else he still needed to do.

「Well, if I ever want to eat more delicious seafood again, I’ll drop by.」

「Gururururu~」

As Rei said his goodbyes, Set gave a reluctant cry, maybe because he felt some attachment to the various seafood dishes he had eaten while in Emoshion or because leaving the people who had cared for him..

「Oh, I almost forgot. Here, have this. If you’re heading back to Gilm, you’ll have to camp outside. Please have this for lunch.」

Arctos handed Rei a hefty basket. Folding back the cloth cover, he saw a large number of sandwiches.

There were particularly many shrimp sandwiches as Arctos knew what Rei liked after he had visited his stall several times. The amount might be small considering Set, but that was unavoidable considering how much he could eat.

「Arctos-san, we also prepared a lunch box……I even made it myself.」

The innkeeper’s daughter complained to Arctos before murmuring to quietly.

「No, it’s a great help. I’ll have to spend several nights outside on my way back to Gilm. With my item box, the food won’t go bad.」

As he said that, Rei stored the basket of sandwiches into the Misty Ring and got on Set’s back.

「Well, I guess I’ll get going. I’ve been in all of your care. Set!」

「Gururururu~!」

At Rei’s words, Set flapped his wings and ran up into the sky.

Those who had come to see him off were stunned at Set’s speed, which was faster than they had expected. But, they eventually went back to their daily lives, which had changed in various ways after their meeting with Rei.

 

 

A few hours after leaving the city of Emoshion. Rei, who was thinking about stopping to have lunch, frowned somewhat unpleasantly at the intense sunlight shining down on him and Set.

「Hmm, I’m glad that the weather is nice……but as expected of this season, the sunlight is strong.」

「Gururu~」

The reason he hadn’t minded it for so long was because the Dragon Robe was able to regulate its temperature to some extent. As for Set, as a Griffon, he didn’t care for this level of heat.

Spread out on the ground below them was a green carpet. Sometimes, adventurer parties comprising of several people could be seen.

「They’re a bit off the road, but if they’re here……maybe that’s what they’re looking for.」

There was a group of about 20 Fang Boars located a few kilometres away from the adventurer party. Although it wasn’t a monster but an ordinary animal, Fang Boars were well known for the taste of its meat. For low ranking adventurers, it was a delicious target in the literal sense.

「Gurururu~」

Set, who was looking at the Fang Boars, gave a cry.

Seeing them made him hungry, so he wanted to go hunt them. That’s what he seemed to say.

「It’s no good. Those Fang Boars have already been targeted by those adventurers. As expected, we can’t just steal their prey.」

「Guru~……Gurururu~!」

I want to eat, I want to eat! Rei gave a wry smile towards Set, who seemed to want to say that as he turned his head back, before they gradually moved away from the adventurers who were aiming for the Fang Boars.

It wasn’t possible for the adventurers on the ground to have heard Set’s cry, but they raised voices of surprise as they pointed towards the Griffon flying in the sky. Rei noticed that, but ignored them as they continued to fly on.

Soon after, rushed by Set, they landed near a small river a short distance away. Rei took out the large basket of sandwiches that Arctos had given him.

「Here, just eat this and calm down.」

Washing his hands in the river, Rei placed a few sandwiches on a large leaf instead of a plate and handed it over to Set.

「Ahh, this is cool and comfortable.」

Rei muttered to himself after lowering his hood with his hands, which were still wet with the river water, as he breathed in the early summer air.

After moistening his throat with the cold water, he placed his hands back into the river and enjoyed the coolness for a minute before he heard Set give a cry from behind.

「Gurururu~」

Smiling at Set’s invitation to eat sandwiches with him, Rei stopped playing around with the water as he started to eat his sandwich alongside Set.

As expected of the sandwiches made by Arctos, every sandwich was made with time and effort. Rei and Set were both able to enjoy them deliciously.

……That said, most of the sandwiches were okonomiyaki sandwiches. In other words, Rei, who considered okonomiyaki to be a dish of its own, passed those sandwiches to Set while he ate the seafood salad sandwiches, chicken and vegetable sandwiches and boiled egg and bacon sandwiches himself.

After about 20 minutes, the 10 servings of sandwiches had all gone into the bellies of the two of them. After that, Rei took a break to eat some sweet and sour fruits, which were similar in sharp taste to mulberries, near the river for dessert. Set went into the river and used his forefeet to throw fish out of the water, which were cooked by Rei’s magic before being given back to him as a snack. By the time Rei had dried out Set’s fur, it had nearly been 2 hours.

「……Looks like we’ve been playing around for too long.」

「Gurururu~?」

Is that so? Set seemed to ask as he tilted his head. Rei smiled, but if they kept playing around like this, they would end up having to stay the night here, so he called out to Set.

「If we keep going like this, it will take us too long to get back to Gilm. Let’s move a little faster from now.」

「Guru~……Gurururu~!」

Even Set somewhat missed Gilm, so he easily nodded at Rei’s words and lay down on the ground so that Rei could get on his back.

「All right, let’s go!」

「Gurururururu~!」

Set, who had eaten lunch, dessert and even had grilled fish as a snack, gave a cheerful cry as he took a few large steps, flapped his wings and flew up into the sky.

With 1, 2 then 3 steps, they rose into the sky as if running on air.

On Set’s back, Rei looked at the sunlight rather unpleasantly, which had only gotten stronger into the afternoon.

The heat itself wasn’t an issue, but the glare was strong enough to blind Rei’s sight.

「Guru~」

Even Set, who had been relaxing by the riverside a few minutes ago, found the intense sunlight to be uncomfortable as he gave a sullen cry.

Set, who was a Griffon, didn’t have issues with his body temperature. However, he was still dazzled after being exposed to the glare of the direct sunlight.

「Maybe it would be better to rest during the day and fly at night.」

He suddenly thought of desert travellers, who rested during the day and travelled at night when it was cooler as he muttered to himself. However……

「Guru~?」

So you want to take a break? Set seemed to ask as Rei shook his head in response.

「No, let’s keep going. If we are stopped by something at this level, we won’t be able to go very far in future.」

「Guru~」

While gently stroking Set’s back, Rei took out some more of the mulberry like fruit from the Misty Ring and offered it to Set.

After seeing Set eat them up in a flash, Rei took out some for himself as he brought them to his mouth.

The fruit was about three times the size of the mulberries that Rei had eaten in the mountains back when he was on Earth, but the sweet and sour taste was definitely the same as the mulberries Rei knew.

「All right, it’s only a few days to Gilm. Let’s do our best!」

「Gurururu~!」

After eating the mulberry like fruit and regaining his strength, Set gave a cry at Rei’s words, flapping his wings as they flew through the sky.

 

 

「Hmm, I guess it’s time to stop for the night.」

「Guru~」

It had been about five hours since they had finished their lunch and left. It wasn’t quite dark yet, but the bright red from the setting sun created a scene that seemed to cover the whole sky.

Watching the sombre scene of an early summer sunset, Rei, who had decided to stop and camp for the night a little earlier, called out to Set to land.

Fortunately, there was a grassland below and there was no trouble in finding a place to stop for the night. Ferocious monsters might attack at night, but with the magic tent given to him by Daska after the war with the Bestir Empire, he wouldn’t be bothered by low ranking monsters.

Hearing Rei’s words, Set flew towards the ground and landed with barely a sound, as expected of a Griffon, and took a few steps to stop himself before Rei got off his back.

「Now then, let’s quickly do this.」

Muttering to himself, Rei took out his magic tent from the Misty Ring and poured magic power into it. The next moment, the tent expanded in front of him.

「Set, what do you want to do?」

「Guru~……」

Rei asked if Set wanted to go inside, but Set shook his head as he looked towards the sky.

Rei nodded at Set, who still wanted to play for a while as he wagged his tail and gave a cry.

「I understand. Just come back before it gets dark. Ah, if you catch any monsters or animals that can be eaten, please bring them back. I’ve bought a lot of food from Emoshion and I also have a lunch box from the proprietress of the Blue Sea Coral inn, but it would be better to be conservative.」

「Guru~!」

Leave it to me! Set seemed to say as he gave a sharp cry, flapping his wings after a few steps before leaving.

(One way or another, since we spent most of our time today flying, it seems that Set has accumulated quite some stress.)

While thinking to himself, Rei went inside the magic tent.

The inside of the tent was about 10 tatami size. Unlike the magic tent Elena had, there was no kitchen, but there was still enough space to fit it out for a single person to stay in.

「Well, if I need to use fire to cook anything, I can do that outside. I also have water here.」

Placing a cup on the table in the room, he poured magic power into the Dagger of Flowing Water, which he had taken out from the Misty Ring. The next moment, water began to trickle out from the tip of the dagger. This magic dagger that could produce water had been given to him as a reward for his previous request. However, Rei’s aptitude only lay in fire magic, so he couldn’t use it as a water whip like its previous owner had. That said, the taste of the water became better the more magic power that was used. Because of this, when Rei used the Dagger of Flowing Water, he could only use it to create pure drinking water. However, its taste was so good that even the royal family might not have tasted such water before.

「Ahh, delicious.」

Rei was satisfied with the taste of the cold water that moistened his throat. He was about to drink a few more cups of water when he suddenly noticed Set outside the tent.

「What’s wrong?」

「Gururururu~!」

Take a look, take a look, Set seemed to say as he gave a cry. Rei left his cup on the table as he went out.

Outside, lying on the ground, was a huge……yes, huge, Fang Boar, about the same size as Set.

「This is……it’s rare to have such a large Fang Boar.」

「Guru~!」

It’s amazing! Set seemed to say with a proud cry. Rei stroked Set’s head as he took out a dagger from the Misty Ring to disassemble it.

Fang Boars weren’t monsters, but their meat was a popular food and its characteristic fangs were a cheap material.

「However, with regards to the meat, most of it would probably fit into Set’s belly.」

「Gururururu~!」

Set gave a happy cry at Rei’s words.

After that, Rei quickly disassembled the Fang Boar and heated up a metal plate on a campfire he had created with magic before grilling the meat to eat it.

While cooking the meat, he also took out some seafood that he had bought in Emoshion to eat while waiting.

After eating a sumptuous meal that one wouldn’t think of while travelling, he slept……this continued for several days. Eventually, the city of Gilm came into Rei’s eyes as he flew on Set’s back.

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