It was summer, the hottest season of the year. However, it was still early in summer and the mornings and morning air was cool as Rei stood at the main gate of Gilm.

The 6am bell had just rung and there weren’t many people near the gate except for Rei and the group of people who had come to see him off.

Even so, there were already a few merchants heading out the city or adventurers leaving for requests.

In the midst of all this, Rei and his group were very conspicuous.

The sight of Set was enough to make them stand out. However, there was also Lenora and Kenny, the guild’s signature receptionists, Pamidor, the blacksmith with a villainous face and Kumito, who was rubbing his eyes sleepily in Pamidor’s arms. From the Dusk Wheat, only Lana had come to see him off as her husband and son were probably busy preparing breakfast at the inn.

In particularly, unusually, Milein from Scorching Wind was also here. She had come to see Rei off after hearing that he was leaving for the Labyrinth City and was hugging Set as she said goodbye.

If Marka, who had become friends with Rei and Set, was still in Gilm, she would definitely have been here. But fortunately or unfortunately, Marka had already left for the Royal Capital.

Meanwhile, Kenny spoke to Rei with a serious expression.

「Rei-kun, be careful when you go to the Labyrinth City. Okay? Women are wolves, so you have to be careful. ……No, women are more like vixens than wolves. Yes, vixens! So you have to be careful out there.」

「Haah, you……all this……no, just never mind.」

If you’re so worried about him, then why don’t you just follow him? Lenora was about to say that, but stopped after realising that Kenny might actually take her seriously. She didn’t finish what she was saying as she turned to look at Rei.

「Rei-san, I wish you the best of luck as a B rank adventurer of Gilm. The Labyrinth City is quite different in how things work compared to the frontier here. But, I still believe that with your skills, you’ll be able to break through all difficulties. ……However, it would be best for Gilm if you could hold back on beating up other adventurers.」

As for as Lenora was concerned, there was no doubting Rei’s ability as a B rank adventurer. The same was true for many other Gilm adventurers.

Compared to when Rei first came to Gilm, his skills had already become well known and no one would deliberately mess with Rei unless they were ignorant or overconfident.

The Claws of the Hawk that had first messed with Rei when he first came to Gilm had become a sort of legend. That said, they also lamented the fact that the nickname of ‘Goblin Drool’ for their party had spread quite a bit.

The least that could be said was that Vargas’ arrogant personality had somewhat improved about being beaten down by Rei twice and had come to understand his own abilities to a certain extent.

But all this was just in Gilm. Lenora was half convinced that when he went to the Labyrinth City, where almost no one would know of him, he would undoubtedly get into trouble with his personality and Set’s existance.

That said, considering Rei’s abilities, she didn’t think he would get into any trouble that he wouldn’t be able to deal with.

(Besides, there must be a good number of adventurers in the Labyrinth City who were hired as mercenaries in the war with the Bestir Empire. If those people spread the news that Rei earned himself a title……)

That was what Lenora thought.

Also, although Rei hadn’t told anyone, including Lenora and Kenny, him and Set weren’t the only ones going to the Labyrinth City. Elena, the famed General Princess was also going with them. Because of that, they were guaranteed to attract some real trouble.

「Yes. As an adventurer of Gilm, I’ll work hard to not be looked down on.」

At Rei’s words, Lenora gave a sigh.

For a moment, she felt pity for the guild employees in the Labyrinth City and she was right.

Beside Lenora, Lana handed Rei a large basket.

「Rei-san, this is for your lunch. I’ve made a fair bit, so please eat it before it goes off. ……That said, you have an item box, so you don’t really need to worry about that.」

「No, thank you. Food from the Dusk Wheat is delicious, I’ll be sure to savour every bite.」

「Please come back here whenever you return to Gilm. You’re always welcome here.」

Rei bowed his head in appreciation for Lana’s thoughtfulness.

Next to come forward was Pamidor.

One of the merchants nearby who hadn’t heard of Pamidor before involuntarily took a step back when he saw Pamidor smile.

The fact that he was more surprised by Pamidor compared with Set, a Griffon, was a sign that Set had made himself well known. Either that or Pamidor’s face was scarier.

「……Set, see you later. Rei-san, bye bye.」

Kumito sleepily rubbed his eyes and waved as Pamidor carried him in his arms.

「Goodbye. Look forward to the souvenirs I’ll bring back by winter.」

「Yes, I’m looking forward……to……」

Before he could finish his sentence, Kumito fell asleep in Pamidor’s arms.

He had to get up earlier than usual because of the time when Rei was leaving, but it seemed that he had reached his limit.

Pamidor looked at his son with a smile on his face.

He might have thought he was smiling at his beloved son, but everyone else proved otherwise as they took several steps back from him.

「Well, I’ll get going now. I don’t want to be stuck here forever.」

「Yeah, take care until winter.」

Pamidor might have had a villainous smile, but he still gave off a friendly feeling.

「Rei-kun, watch out for vixens. Rei-kun is very attractive.」

Kenny gave Rei some advice with a serious expression.

「Rei-san, take care of yourself. I look forward to hearing about your activities, even if it’s through the guild.」

Lenora said that with her usual serious expression.

「See you again soon. When you come back to Gilm, please come to our inn.」

Lana smiled encouragingly.

「Set-chan, Set-chan, Set-chan……ahhh, it’s going to be so lonely if I can’t meet with Set-chan again until winter. Let’s go to the Labyrinth City together.」

Still hugging Set, Milein stroked his silky back with regret.

「Guru~」

Set gently rubbed his face against Milein before moving away.

「Don’t be stupid. I’ve already told you this before, but two people can’t ride on Set in the first place.」

「What, then how about I go to the Labyrinth City with Set instead of you Rei? Won’t that work?」

「Stop saying all this nonsense……」

Rei let out a sigh or relief when a familiar figure appeared in his eyes.

「Seriously, I knew it was going to be like this. Milein, you promised me that you wouldn’t bother Rei-san when you went to see him off.」

The person who had come over was a middle-aged man in his forties. He held a staff in his hand and was wearing a robe. It was the mage from Scorching Wind and, in a sense, he also served as Milein’s external conscience. It was Sulunin.

「Rei-san, sorry for all the trouble we’ve caused.」

「Don’t worry about it. I think I understand Milein’s love for Set.」

「I’m sorry but I’m going to have to drag her back. ……I’ve heard that the Labyrinth City is a different place compared to the frontier. Please take care.」

「Yeah, I’ve heard a lot about it, so I’ll be careful.」

「Ahhhhhhhhhh, Set-chan. Don’t eat anything strange.」

As Rei and Sulunin were speaking, Milein held onto Set as if she didn’t want to leave. However, she was forcibly dragged away.

(……He’s pretty strong for a mage, huh.)

As he though that, Rei looked at all the people who had come to see him off before saying goodbye.

「Okay, I’m off.」

「Gurururu~!」

Set gave a cry in response to Rei’s words and the two of them walked out the front gate.

Although Rei wanted to take off right away, in the past, Ranga had asked Rei and Set to not take off or land near the city, so Rei had no choice.

『Have a safe trip!』

Hearing the voices behind him, Rei and Set travelled a short distance away and made sure that there weren’t any other people around before Rei got on Set’s back.

「Then, let’s go. To a small village close to Annesis. There’s a guy there who retired from being a knight and opened a bar. I was told to contact Elena from there.」

「Gururu~?」

Set gave a cry at Rei’s word.

Rei didn’t have a detailed map to Annesis, but he decided that if he continued along the road and collected information, they would eventually get there.

(If I had a map, I would have been able to shorten the travel time to the same time it took me to get to Emoshion. However, I can’t really ask to borrow a map for a private trip, can I?)

Thinking to himself, he gently patted Set’s back after getting on.

「Well, the agreed meeting time was only specified as early summer, so it should be okay if I’m a little late……right?」

「Gururu~?」

Will that really be okay? Set seemed to ask as he tilted his head towards Rei on his back.

However, Rei didn’t see it as too much of a problem.

After all, with Set’s wings, even if they took a bit of a detour, he was confident that they would still be much faster than a carriage going from city to city.

「However, if I’m too slow, I might end up getting hit with a sword whip. It would probably be better to hurry a bit.」

Going back on his earlier words, Rei asked Set to fly a little faster.

Set gave a cry and flapped his wings.

Since he was flying, he couldn’t really gauge how fast they were going, but the scenery on the ground flew by quickly.

It was still early in the morning, so there were few travellers and adventurers on the road. There were some who had left Gilm before Rei, but Set had already overtaken them.

All he could see was a green carpet spread out before him with roads running through it.

Occasionally, monsters such as Goblins and Fang Wolves could be seen, but they soon disappeared from his sight after Set flapped his wings several times.

「……It seems like you’ve gotten faster than before.」

Rei couldn’t help but mutter to himself after seeing Set’s speed.

The speed at which the scenery along the ground was passing by was definitely much faster than before.

「Gururu~?」

Is that so? Set seemed to ask as he tilted his his, possibly unaware of the fact.

Anyhow, that was how Rei left Gilm.

After that, they passed through Abuero, the closest city to Gilm, and then onto Sabrusta.

Along the way, Rei spent a night in his magic tent, and even though they weren’t far from Sabrusta, it seemed to be a common area for bandits and they were attacked overnight. However, the bandits couldn’t hide their killing intent and only relied on their numbers. Rei and Set easily dispatched them.

As a matter of course, Rei interrogated the bandits, forcing them to reveal their hideout. He then attacked their hideout and stole everything they had.

At one point, he found a caravan under attack by Goblins even though it was a long way away from the frontier. He helped them out and served as a temporary escort for the caravan until they reached the next city after about half a day. On the way, he was told that he wouldn’t reach the Kerebel Duchy if he continued along this highway, learning of his mistake, Rei hurriedly went back the way he came after escorting them to a city.

During his trip to the Kerebel Duchy, he found a beautiful lake near the highway. Swimming with Set to overcome the summer heat, he caught some fish that were several meters in length. They were attacked by a huge catfish and succeeded in killing it after struggling underwater. However, when Rei went to dismantle it, hoping for a magic stone, he found out that it wasn’t a monster but an ordinary fish, which was disappointing.

However, because the lake was very clean, the catfish didn’t have any muddy smell on it, and after using salt to remove the slime off it, he made it into skewers and soup, which were very tasty.

Like so, after getting lost and taking many detours, they finally arrived at their destination, a village in the Kerebel Duchy, about two weeks after they had left Gilm.

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