A grassy plain stretched out below, with white and brown dots located across the green carpet.

They appeared as dots due as Set was looking down from a considerable altitude, but the white and brown dots below were actually Bicorns lying down on the plain.

「Gururu~……」

Usually, he would be working with Rei, but now he was by himself. While feeling a bit lonely in the current situation, Set gave a small cry as he turned his attention towards the Bicorns below.

Stee’s proposed plan had been very simple, Set would approach the Bicorns without hiding his presence and force them to run towards where Rei and the rest were. Normally, a plan so basic as driving a herd of Bicorns to a location to be hunted wouldn’t work. ……Yes, normally.

However, because a Griffon like Set was herding the Bicorns, the difference was clear. That was why they could guarantee the Bicorns would immediately flee in the right direction after Set approached them without concealing his presence.

Flying through the sky, past the herd of Bicorns, Set flapped his wings……and descended to the ground.

「Gururururururu~!」

Set made it clear to the Bicorns that there was a Griffon after them.

「Hihihihihiiii~!」

As an overwhelmingly superior monster approached their location, the first Bicorn to notice gave a loud roar. The next moment, it stood up from the grass it have been lying on and ran in the opposite direction Set had come from……that is to say, towards the direction where Rei and the others were waiting.

「Gurururu~!」

As Set saw this, he used skills like Wind Arrow and Water Ball to adjust the movements of the Bicorns if any of them tried to run anywhere else other than where the ambush was waiting.

Such actions might have reminded people of sheepdogs if anyone had been watching.

……However, this was a sheepdog with the power of a vicious monster.

「Gurururururu~!」

「Hihii!」

Even if any of them tried to move away from the group, a Water Ball would strike the path in front of it, spraying grass and dirt everywhere. Alternatively, Wind Arrows would be shot out continuously, slicing through the grass before the Bicorns.

As a result, the startled Bicorns ran in a single herd with loud cries towards the waiting ambush.

At one point, the Bicorn leading the herd deviated from the desired destination. Wrapping around them to adjust their movements, the herd of Bicorns continued to run for another 15 minutes before Rei and the others entered Set’s eyes.

「Gururururururu~!」

Set gave a loud cry as he herded the Bicorns towards Rei, who was at the end of his line of sight.

Hearing Set’s cry, the subjugation party readied their weapons as they waited for the approaching Bicorns.

 

 

Going a bit back in time.

After Stee’s plan was accepted, Rei and the others all readied their weapons as they waited for Set to fly off and drive the Bicorn herd towards them.

From the Misty Ring, Rei took out his Death Scythe and a throwing spear. The sheer size of the Death Scythe drew astonished looks from those who hadn’t seen it before. Roble, Stee and Ons each held onto a spear, bow and arrows and daggers respectively as they ducked into the tall grass to wait.

In addition, as for the carriages, they were moved to a location a fair distance away from the designated battlefield so as to not interfere with any fighting.

Although Stee was worried that the carriages might be attacked by other monsters, Roble insisted that it would be dangerous to keep the carriages close to where they would be fighting the Bicorns. However, it wasn’t possible for them to leave someone taking the rank up test behind to guard the carriages. As a result, the reached a compromise where the carriages would be moved to a location still within sight where Rei could rush over to if needed.

「Hey, Rei. Can I have a moment?」

A voice suddenly called out to Rei, who was hiding behind some grass.

Turning his head, he found Alnicht, one of the nobles he was supposed to protect during the Bicorn subjugation.

「What is it? As you know, we don’t know when the Bicorn herd might appear. If you have any business with me, you’ll have to make it quick.」

「Yes, of course. It’s not going to be a long talk. ……So, I’ll be blunt with you. I’m sorry, but I would like you to fail this test on purpose.」

「……What?」

Rei couldn’t help but look straight at Alnicht, not understanding what he was saying.

After waiting a few second to check if the person in front of him was sane, Rei spoke up.

「Why? I’ve heard that Bicorn herds are ferocious and may affect the procurement of materials from Gilm in various ways.」

「That’s why. Actually, I have some connections. It will be profitable for us if the Bicorn herd makes materials from the frontier scarce. What do you think?」

Rei frowned distastefully at Alnicht’s words.

「This request also doubles as my rank up test……no, that’s not the most important question here. So, you’re asking me to deliberately let the Bicorns escape?」

「Of course, I will give you a decent reward. I heard you were collecting magic items?」

「……How did you know?」

「As someone who was planning to negotiate with you, it was natural to look into it. So, what are you going to do?」

When Alnicht prompted Rei for a reply, Rei made his decision without a moments’ hesitation.

「I’m sorry, but I refuse. I might be collecting magic items, but getting to B rank is worth more than whatever magic item you can offer me. You might be the heir to a baron, but there’s a limit to what magic items you can buy with money.」

「Guh……well, that’s fine. There’s no point pressing further if you refuse. It wasn’t a necessity for us to profit. However, I advise you to not tell anyone else about what I just told you if you wish to pass the test.」

Alnicht said that somewhat threateningly, but Rei just shrugged his shoulders.

His eyes had already left Alnicht and had gone back to keeping a lookout out for when Set drove the herd of Bicorns to them.

Alnicht might have judged there wouldn’t be any issues from Rei’s attitude. He left without saying anything further.

(Well, I wonder if that was part of the exam or if it was part of Alnicht’s own desire for money. ……Either way, I think it would be best to just report it to Residence.)

As Rei thought about what he should do in his mind, he soon saw the shape of a horse monster on the other side of the plain.

Looking around, Rei saw that Set’s herding was going well.

Of course, everyone had hidden themselves. Furthermore, since they had no idea how the Bicorns might move, they had naturally spread out their ambush over a large area.

However, just because they couldn’t see the Bicorns didn’t mean they couldn’t hear them.

「They’re coming soon!」

Hearing Rei’s voice, the others all readied their weapons.

Among them, Stee, who used a bow, was able to attack the Bicorns Set was chasing from a distance that was even further than what Rei could reach with his Flying Slash or throwing spears and was entrusted with starting the battle.

Even if all the adventurers here were C rank and Bicorns were no match for them, there was no need to take unecessary risks.

It was true that the Bicorns would shift their course if they realised they were being attacked from a distance. However, as long as Set was chasing after them, it wouldn’t be possible for them to do that. As a result……

「Fuu-!」

When Stee judged that they were within her shooting range of 500m, she shot an arrow that had been notched in her bow.

Considering that the usual effective range of ordinary hunters that weren’t adventurers was around 100m, you could see how good of an archer Stee was. On the other hand, it was because she had the ability that it was possible for her to challenge the rank up test as a C rank adventurer.

The arrow shot from Stee’s bow decended towards the Bicorns as it drew a tall trajectory, striking the body of one of the Bicorns in the herd.

「Hihihihiiiiii!」

The Bicorn gave a cry in pain but didn’t stop. It’s speed slowed down, but it still struggled desperately to get away from the death approaching them from behind.

「Look at that, Stee’s skill with the bow!」

From the tall grass where Roble seemed to be hiinding, a boastful voice was heard. However, Stee didn’t respond as she shot another arrow.

Even though it was impossible for arrows to drop like rain, the arrows continued to drop down towards the herd of Bicorns, one after the other.

And, unfortunately for any Bicorns that were struck by several arrows or hit in their legs, they fell to the ground unable to run any longer before immediately being trampled by the Bicorns running behind them.

Any Bicorns which slowed down and were left behind by the herd were caught by Set, who was chasing them from behind……easily killing them with a strike from his claws.

The herd of Bicorns, either killed or injured by Stee’s attacks, came towards the location where Rei and the others were waiting.

When they were about 100m away, Rei took a spear from where he was hiding and used all his strength to throw it at the Bicorns.

The spear tore through the air, piercing through the body of one Bicorn near the front, only stopping after piercing the body of the Bicorn behind it.

Roble and the nobles who were watching on were astonished by the power and range of the spear that Rei had thrown.

In fact, Stee was so shocked that she forgot to keep shooting arrows for several seconds.

「Stee!」

Hearing Roble’s reprimanding shout, she realised this and hurriedly started shooting arrows again.

Rei was aware of what had happened but prioritised reducing the number of enemies rather than speaking. Taking spears out of the Misty Ring one after the other, he threw them with seemingly inhuman strength, skewering the Bicorns one after the other.

It wasn’t as crazy as the first spear he threw which killed two Bicorns at once. However, he still took out another 2-3 Bicorns.

However, as the Bicorns were desparate to escaped from Set, who was chasing them from behind, a few continued to rush forward without slowing down despite being struck by spears.

Finally……the herd of Bicorns that had suffered countless wounds fell into the ambush that had been set up.

「Oriyaaaah-!」

The first to jump out from the grass where they were hiding was Roble, who was naturally feeling bloodthirsty.

With a 2m spear in hand, he thrust it sharply towards a Bicorn coming straight towards him.

The spear, which was thrust with the strength of a Wolfkin, easily cut through both of the Bicorn’s horns before piercing through its head.

(Heh, so his strength is as good as his mouth.)

Rei swapped the weapon in his hand from his throwing spears to the Death Scythe as he muttered to himself.

And, jumping right in front of a Bicorn……

「Haaaaah-!」

Like a shinigami reaping souls, he cut off the head of a Bicorn.

The blade of the Death Scythe, empowered with magic power, couldn’t be blocked by the horns that couldn’t even stop Roble’s spear. Every time the blade struck, the neck of a Bicorn, which was larger than an ordinary horse, would be cut and a head sent into the air.

After a moments fresh blood sprayed everywhere from the cut, dyeing the surroundings the colour of blood.

The sight of Rei dancing around with his scythe while using fire magic was certainly worthy of his title of Crimson.

At the same time, Roble’s spearwork was brilliant and wouldn’t lose out to Rei. Stee’s arrow’s pierced the bodies of any Bicorns that tried to escape.

Even deadlier towards the Bicorns was Set, who after finally catching up to them, killed them one after another with swings of his claws or sharp attacks with his beak.

「Watch out for their horns!」

Rei shouted out just in case, but in the first place, Bicorns were only a D rank monster. In a herd, they were considered C rank monsters, the same rank as Rei. But after being chased into a panic by Set, it wasn’t really possible for them to work together and fight. ……In the end, Rei cut off the head of the Bicorn that was a size larger than all the other Bicorns and seemed to be leading the herd, finishing the Bicorn subjugation.

[Previous Chapter] [Table of Contents] [Next Chapter]