As sunlight poured in through the window, Rei woke up from his bed and sat up.

「Hmm? Hm? Hmm?」

He looked around several times in confusion and frowned as he wondered why his 3 tatami sized room wasn’t mostly taken up by his bed before realising he wasn’t at the Blue Sea Coral inn anymore where he had stayed in Emoshion.

「That’s right, come to think of it, I’m back in Gilm.」

Muttering to himself, he gave a stretch as he looked around his now nostalgic room in the Dusk Wheat.

That said, he didn’t have much in the room. Usually, if one stayed in an inn for a long period of time, there would naturally be more personal items. But in Rei’s case, most of his personal items were just stored in the Misty Ring, so there was only the bare minimum items necessary in his room.

Getting dressed, he put on his Shoes of Sleipnir and Dragon Robe before getting ready to leave.

「Well then, I’ll head to the guild after breakfast.」

Saying that, he left his room and went downstairs to eat breakfast.

 

 

「……Am I too early?」

Rei muttered to himself as he entered the guild and looked at the adventurers inside.

After finishing breakfast at the inn, Rei had headed to the guild with Set as usual, buying and eating various food from stalls along the way.

However, after coming to the guild in the morning for the first time in a while, there were more people than Rei had expected.

(No, doesn’t look like it? It’s been a while since I’ve been in Gilm, so maybe it just feels that way?)

Rei thought to himself inside in his head. However, the receptionists, including Lenora and Kenny, were all busy dealing with the adventurers. As far as he could tell, it would be best to wait a bit longer before trying to speak with them. Since he didn’t have anything else to do, he decided to take a look at the request posted on the request board.

(Subjugation, escort, collection, well these are all common ones. As for the others……?)

As he looked around, a D rank request posted on the request board made his eyes widen slightly.

It was a request to act as training partners for the city guards.

(A training partner……why is this here? Aren’t the guards good enough?)

Looking closely at the request details, it seemed the guards wanted the adventurers to pretend to be bandits.

It seemed like the training was to have the guards fight off bandits who attacked the city.

「……I see, well that’s interesting.」

「No, please don’t. If someone as crazy as you takes that request, the guards will definitely lose.」

Hearing that voice from behind, Rei turned around and saw a man with a stern face.

「What’s the captain of the guards doing here?」

「I had meetings regarding various requests. I didn’t expect someone like you to consider a request from the guards……」

「No, I don’t plan to take that request. I’m just looking for something to pass the time. Look, it seems like they’re still busy over there.」

Rei replied to Ranga as he looked towards the counter.

There were still adventurers in line as Kenny and Lenora dealt with them busily.

「Didn’t you come back yesterday? I thought you were going to take it slow and relax.」

「No, I came here yesterday to see the guild master, but she wasn’t in.」

「Heh. ……Speaking of which, there’s been a lot of people who’ve come to Gilm in hopes of meeting with you, have you met any yet?」

At Ranga’s question, Rei though of Marka and Coan, whom he had become friends with yesterday.

However, he had only met with the two of them and there hadn’t been anyone else since.

To be exact, the fact that Marka, the daughter of Duke Quent, had met with Rei had caused a certain amount of deterrence. If Rei refused Duke Quent’s invitation, what chance did they all stand……something like that.

Of course, not everyone had given up. But since Rei had now returned to Gilm, many people were now thinking of ways to collect information on him that they could use to their advantage in negotiations.

Fortunately or unfortunately for Rei, who didn’t know about any of this, the people who kept their eyes on him but didn’t try to contact him were probably cautious because of Duke Quent.

「No, I haven’t. Well, I guess they have a lot of considerations to make. Did anything interesting in the city happen while I was away?」

「Anything interesting……well, there were a lot of small disturbances, but nothing major.」

Of course, there had been plenty of disturbances with those who had wanted to use any means possible to get Rei to serve them or give concessions. The result had been a struggle in the dark, which Ranga, as the captain of the guards, knew about but didn’t want to tell Rei.

As the captain of the guards, Ranga was also a resident of Gilm. He knew exactly what it meant for someone as strong as Rei to be at the frontier.

「Anyway……looks like it’s about time?」

As Ranga said that, Rei also glanced towards the counter.

It was true that there were still a few adventurers at the counter, but only Kenny was busy and Lenora didn’t have anyone at her counter.

It seemed like there hadn’t been any changes in the popularity rankings of the receptionists. Of course, Lenora was also popular, but she didn’t have fans comparatively due to her stricter character. Kenny stood in contrast with her outgoing character and was significantly more popular than Lenora among the adventurers.

「Well then, pardon me. Good luck with your work with the guards.」

Rei waved his hands as he parted ways with Ranga and walked over to the counter.

Of course, he went over to Lenora, who didn’t have to deal with anyone else at this moment.

That said, Lenora wasn’t exactly free. She still had work to do organising and checking documents for received requests.

Still, he called out to Lenora because she and Kenny were the receptionists he knew best at the counter.

「Lenora, can I meet with the guild master?」

「Ah, Rei-san. Yes, I told her yesterday so it’s fine. Fortunately, she’s in her office right now. I was told to bring you over when you arrived. Please follow me.」

Rei followed Lenora behind the counter.

In front of Kenny, who was looking at Lenora grudgingly, a male adventurer in his twenties was trying hard to invite Kenny out for a meal……he had only just come to Gilm recently and had no idea that Kenny liked Rei, meaning that all his efforts were in vain.

(Seriously, just finish talking and go on your request. Because of you, I didn’t have any time at all to talk with Rei-kun.)

However, she couldn’t say that out loud as a receptionist and just thought that in her mind as she continued as the man continued to try inviting her out.

It might have been better for her to just decline him bluntly, but the man wasn’t being particularly aggressive about it, so she couldn’t respond so rudely as she watched Lenora walk past her.

 

 

「Guild master, I’ve brought Rei.」

Despite being on the receiving end of Kenny’s jealous gaze, whether she had deal with that too often or not, she ignored her and went up to the stairs to the second floor behind the counter and knocked on the door to Marina’s, the guild master’s, office.

「It’s not locked, come in.」

Lenora opened the door after hearing Marina’s reply and entered with Rei.

Inside the room, Marina was writing on some documents at her desk. Seeing Lenora and Rei enter, she immediately glanced at them before speaking.

「Pardon me, please wait a bit longer until I finish this document. Lenora, use the utensils over there to brew Rei a cup of tea.」

「Yes.」

Following Marina’s words, Rei sat down on the sofa while Lenora used some utensils near the table to prepare some tea.

The pot with hot water was a kind of magic item that had the effect of keeping water at the optimal temperature for making tea. It wasn’t a common item, but was reasonably priced for a small wealthy family to buy. It’s best functionality was that it could keep water warm for several months off a Goblin’s magic stone. That said, when the magic stone ran out of power, it would need to be replaced.

「Here, Rei-san.」

Taking a sip of the cup of tea, Rei was surprised at its flavour.

「These tea leaves are basically only available from the Royal Capital.」

Lenora said that with a small smile and made a second cup of tea for Marina before giving a bow and leaving the office.

Rei watched her leave as he brought his cup of tea to his mouth.

In the room, only the sound of Marina writing on paper could be heard……after about five minutes, Marina’s work finally came to an end.

「Pardon me for keeping you waiting. ……Now then, sorry for having you come all this way, I’ve heard mostly what happened from the guild in Emoshion. However, I wanted to hear a report directly from you……you’ve come here with that in mind, haven’t you?」

As usual, her chest and back showed a lot of skin and her evening dress seemed to show it off as she sat down on the sofa opposite Rei.

She then crossed her legs, as if inviting Rei from an outsider’s perspective.

Rei was almost sucked in by Marina’s appearance and quickly looked away as he spoke.

「Yes. As for the Lemrace, it has been safely subjugated. You were right, it was a good vacation. Aside from the Lemrace, I was also able to buy a lot of seafood. I was also able to cook something good there.」

「Oh, I heard about that. Did you spread the recipe for something called okonomiyaki over there? Udon here, okonomiyaki there, I really don’t know if you are an adventurer or a chef anymore.」

Rei smiled back in response. However, his smile was a bitter one.

「I just happened to know about it. However, all I know is just what I read from books, when it comes to actually making them, there’s not enough information.」

「Well, that’s just too bad……that aside, I’ll get to the main point. You used a magic item to kill the Lemrace by forcefully moving it from sea to land, right?」

Rei took a deep breath at Marina’s gaze, which seemed to look into the depths of his heart.

However, there was no way that Rei could say he had been helped by Grimm, a Lich, so he simply gave a small nod as he tried to hide his discomfort.

「Yes, that’s right.」

「Heh. ……I’ve never heard of such a powerful magic item, even though I’m been an adventurer for so many years followed by being Gilm’s guild master.」

「……It’s a magic item I found in a dungeon. Considering that, it’s no surprise that you don’t know about it.」

「A dungeon, huh. The only dungeon you’ve been to was that time you followed the General Princess as a bodyguard. Did you find it then?」

「Yes. There’s no doubt that I got it then.」

At the very least, Rei’s words weren’t a complete lie. After all, it was true that he had received the magic item that allowed him to communicate with Grimm when he went to the dungeon with Elena.

However, his words weren’t exactly the truth either.

「You’re lying.」

It was impossible for him to fool Marina, who had spent many years as an adventurer and guild master.

As she said that, Marina stared back at Rei.

As Rei couldn’t say the truth, he simply looked back silently.

The silence continued for several minutes. As the atmosphere in the room started to get heavy……

「Well, that’s okay. It’s natural for adventurers to have a secret or two. ……However, listen up okay? If it ever harms Gilm or the Mireana Kingdom……I will stop you Rei.」

She said that even though she knew she probably wouldn’t stand a chance of winning.

However……as long as she remained the guild master, she could not hesistate in carrying out her duty.

「I understand.」

Rei probably realised that. He nodded back at Marina, who had been looking at him with sharp eyes until a moment ago.

「Then. That’s fine. Well, I don’t think you would do anything to this city.」

Marina returned to her seductive aura and crossed her legs as her serious expression from earlier vanished.

Her half exposed thick brown thighs tried to suck Rei’s gaze in, but thanks to her many years of experience, her underwear wasn’t visible.

Smiling at Rei, who’s cheeks had gone slightly red, Marina spoke up.

「So, Rei. It’s about time for you to take the B rank test.」

Marina got to the main point she wanted to discuss with Rei.

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