「Haaaaaaah-!」

As the long sword swung down, the sunlight glinted off the blade, slightly blocking Rei’s sight.

Was it on purpose or just a coincidence? Rei didn’t know which it was, but he caught the blade slicing down with the shaft of the Death Scythe.

If the Death Scythe hadn’t been a magic weapon, the shaft would have been split in two.

It wouldn’t have been an issue if the long sword had been a blunt one used in mock battles, but the long sword being swung at him had a proper blade and it had the power and speed to kill a Goblin in a single stroke.

But……

「Naive.」

The moment the long sword contacted the Death Scythe’s shaft, the blade was caught in Rei’s momentum and was thrown into the air with a flick of his wrist.

The morning sun, which had blocked Rei’s line of sight earlier, now glittered off the blade as the sword fell to the ground spinning.

Rei caught the falling long sword with the Death Scythe’s shaft as it fell.

It couldn’t be a more complete victory.

There was no other way to describe it.

「Kuh, I lost again……」

Rhodes had been very confident in his previous attack. It could only be considered a complete defeat to have his attack easily sealed by Rei.

It was early in the morning, several hours of napping after the inn had been attacked.

Being given leave to participate in the tournament, Rhodes had request training from Rei, but the result was this scene.

「Your handling of the sword is as good as expected, but neither its sharpness or power are of particular note. If you want to participate in the tournament and play an active role, you’ll need to improve your overall skills.」

Rei said that, but as this was also his first time participating in a tournament, he only had a rough guess as to the level of skill required to pass the preliminary rounds.

(There’s a possibility that the average level will be higher or lower than I expect……but, there’s no point in worry about it now.)

As Rei thought about that, Set, who had been silently watching the fight, came over with a cry.

「Gurururu~」

The reason why Set was here wasn’t that complicated. It was because there was only one place large enough to hold mock battles at the inn and didn’t have many people around, the area near the stables.

There was no way Set wouldn’t have noticed Rei’s approach and he had already come out from the stables before the mock battle had even started.

Normally, animals and tamed monsters wouldn’t be allowed to leave the stables on their own.

However, this was overlooked as they were all part of Daska’s group and, above all, it was Set.

「I’m sorry Set. Were we too loud?」

「Guru~」

It’s fine, Set seemed to say in a cry back to Rei.

Rei stroked Set’s head with a small smile on his face.

Set gave more cries as he surrendered his body to the comfortable stroking. But, when Rhodes approached, Set immediately stopped.

Until a few seconds ago, Set had been like a purring cat in a bad mood, but his gaze changed to one of a large feline carnivore as he looked at Rhodes.

Naturally, Rhodes stopped walking over when he saw Set look at him like that and the two of them ended up in a stalemate.

Rei couldn’t help but sigh as he looked at the two of them, who were still on bad terms with each other.

(The way they first met was really the worst in many ways……)

Rei shook his head as he remembered the first time he had encountered Axe of the Thunder God regarding the Orc Settlement and when they had gathered outside Gilm after that.

It went without saying that their first impressions of each other couldn’t have been worse.

From Set’s point of view, Rhodes was someone who had argued with his partner, Rei, and had also wanted his mother, Min, to avoid getting close to a dangerous A rank monster.

Despite their first bad encounter, if they could come to terms with each other, they might have been able to improve their relationship. However, in the end, they had gotten to this point without any improvement at all.

『……』

Time passed in silence as they tried to keep each other in check.

And, as Rei was about to say something to the two of them.

「Hey, it’s almost time for breakfast. We’re leaving as soon as we finish eating, so make sure you don’t forget your food.」

One of Daska’s knights came over and called out to them.

Rei replied, thankful for the unintended help.

「That’s right. We’re running late. I’m sorry, we’ll be there soon. Hey, Set, you should start eating soon. Rhodes too. You two should really act more like adults.」

At Rei’s words, Rhodes looked at him in shock for some reason.

Fortunately, Set obediently listened to Rei’s words and returned to the stables.

That said, it was only because eating a delicious meal was on a higher priority than his thoughts regarding Rhodes.

「Act like adults……that’s really a line I don’t want to hear from you, Rei.」

「Huh? What’s that supposed to mean.」

「Place your hand on your chest and think about it. You’ll realise soon enough.」

「……I see. Since you’ve said that much, I guess it will be okay to be a little stricter in the next training session.」

At Rei’s response, Rhodes couldn’t help but shout out.

「Hey, wait a minutes. What in our previous fight wasn’t strict already?」

「Who knows. Besides, the stricter teaching means you can become stronger. Isn’t that what you’re after?」

「That’s true, but……」

Seeing that Rhodes didn’t know how to respond, Rei continued talking.

「You’re the one who asked me to train with you, right? I don’t know what you were thinking, but you decided to participate in the tournament and so asked to train with me. I thought you’d be happier if the training was a bit tougher rather than complain.」

Yes, Rhodes had been the one to ask for combat training.

Of course, when Rhodes was looking for someone strong to train with, the first person he had thought of was his father, Elk.

However, Elk had been hired by Daska to guard him. It wasn’t an escort request in name, like Rei’s, but an actual escort request.

In addition, after entering the Bestir Empire, they had encountered numerous malicious stares and their inn had even been attacked the night before.

Considering that, Rhodes couldn’t really ask Elk to train him. His mother, Min, was a mage, so she wasn’t good at fighting with weapons either.

When it came to fighting with weapons, there were still the knights, but the knights were also present to guard Daska, not to mention none of them were clearly superior to Rhodes’ own strength.

Eliminating those options, all that was left was Rei, whose strength was comparable to that of Elk and was only part of the escort in name. Rei didn’t exactly have a lot of time to spare……but he still had more free time than everyone else.

(And yet, he calls me immature when he doesn’t even let me argue with him.)

Rhodes only thought this in his mind as he was certain that saying it out loud would only make his training tougher.

That said, Rhodes hadn’t just picked Rei because he was the only choice left.

If he made it through the qualifying rounds and advanced to the main tournament, he might end up fighting Rei eventually. For that possibility, he wanted to grasp Rei’s habits in battle, even if only a little.

But, the biggest reason was, of course……

The figure of Vihera popped into Rhodes’ mind

His soul had bee stolen at first sight……that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was something close ot that.

(I heard……that she respects combat strength. So, if I could defeat Rei……or……)

Even if it was just a one in a billion chance.

The two of them headed for the dining area as Rhodes hid his thoughts that Vihera would chose him over Rei.

 

 

「This is, well……」

Rei couldn’t help but mutter to himself as he entered the dining area.

A considerable number of chairs and tables should have been destroyed in last night’s battle, but as far as he could tell, there were no traces left.

The broken chairs and tables had all been replaced by new ones and there were no signs of blood on the floor or fragments of weapons and armour.

「Oh, Rhodes. Rei too. Come over and eat quickly.」

The one who called out to them was Elk, who was eating a large amount of bread and soup that was on the table as well as salad, grilled skewers, and bacon steak.

For a moment, Rei and Rhodes were surprised to see that Daska wasn’t with Elk, but then they saw that neither Daska nor Min were with him.

「Dad, is it okay to leave Daska-sama alone?」

「Hm? Oh, right now, the magistrate is here to discuss yesterday’s affairs. Even if I’m there, it won’t do me any good. That’s why I’ll leave it to Min and fill my stomach instead. ……Oh, sister, could you bring these two the same serving as me?」

Elk ordered more food from a waitress without hesitation after Rei and Rhodes got to his table.

「Hey, wait dad. There’s no way I can eat that much!?」

Rhodes half shouted after seeing the amount of food already on the table.

However, Elk just gave a small sigh as he turned to look at Rei, who was ordering an additional serving of stewed beans and tripe with a calm expression.

「Isn’t it fine for Rei?」

「I-have-told-you! Don’t lump me together with crazy people like you.」

At Rhodes words, Elk smiled deftly as he sighed and spoke.

「You know, the reason you can’t beat Rei is because you don’t eat as much.」

「Huh? What has that got to do with anything……」

「There is. Well, not all of it is true, but still, the more you can eat, the more energy you will have.」

「What do you mean, only monsters like you and Rei can do that!」

「……You do want to beat him, don’t you?」

「Ugh!」

Elk’s question put Rhodes at a loss for words.

As he paused to think about it, he saw Rei promptly eat Elk’s portion of skewers as he left the father and son to their discussion.

Turning his attention to the bread the waitress had brought over, he eventually reached for it silently, as if out of desperation.

As expected of the most expensive inn in the city, all the food served was delicious.

Even the bread was freshly baked, fragrant, and soft to the touch.

The rest of the dishes had also been prepared by skilled chefs, so they were much more delicious than what you would normally find in restaurants.

Rhodes had also been exercising since morning, so he must have been hungry. He took a bite from the bread and then a second one before gradually focusing on the food without speaking.

Seeing that, Elk also reached for his own food as if say, ‘see?’.

After just a few minutes.

At first, the three of them ate in silence, but before long, Rei seemed to have had eaten enough for the moment. As he finished eating the last bit of his stewed beans and tripe, he spoke up.

「So, what do you think will happen with regards to last night’s attack? You said that was being discussed right now.」

「Hm? Oh. Well, we’re just planning to lodge a complaint. If we were to make a serious protest here, it would just be a waste of time. Besides, we had been warned of the possibility of an attack before hand and the city guards and knights had also been active in their own way around the inn.」

Since the possibility of an attack was already known, it hadn’t been the end of the matter after the magistrate had informed Daska. They had also kept their knights and guards some distance from the inn, just to avoid annoying Daska.

As the mob had headed for the inn, quite a number had been captured or killed by the guards and knights.

「According to what I’ve heard, some of the people the guards and knights had to deal with also showed greater strength than normal as well as dulled senses of pain. They did a lot more damage compared to the ordinary rioters. ……Ultimately, the magistrate will probably be punished by the lord in some way as they weren’t able to prevent the attack on the inn in the end.」

Hearing Elk’s words as he shrugged his shoulders, Rei and Rhodes continued to while sympathising with the magistrate’s misfortune.

By the time they finished their food, discussions had also completed and Daska’s group was able to leave the city before noon, albeit with a slight delay.

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