The sun had completely set and the moon was hidden behind the clouds, leaving the sky with only a faint light.
A single shadow flew through that night sky, flapping its wings.
Needless to say, it was Rei and Set.
Having cleared the dungeon, Rei was heading back to Gilm.
Ranga, who had been on standby to deal with any monsters emerging from the dungeon, told him it would be fine to wait until tomorrow morning……but Rei, preferring to sleep at an inn if possible, decided to push himself slightly and return to Gilm the same day.
To begin with, the dungeon wasn’t that far from Gilm.
Because of that, with Set’s flying speed, they would soon be back at Gilm.
「Gurururu~」
Seeing the lights in Gilm, Set gave a happy cry.
There weren’t many places that used magic items for lighting, but since it was only just past 5PM, most people were still up and about, making it much brighter than the surroundings.
Besides magic items, many people were probably also lighting fires to ward off the cold.
Both Set and Rei could clearly see those lights as they flew straight towards Gilm.
As the main gate of Gilm came into view, Set flapped his wings and descended towards the ground.
On the ground, a guard noticed the shadow descending from the sky and tensed up for a moment. But upon realising it was Set, he breathed a sigh of relief as he lowered his guard.
Because it was night quite dark around them, it must have been difficult to identify Set.
Upon landing, Set continued walking towards Gilm.
Rei dismounted from Set’s back and the two of them soon arrived in front of Gilm’s main gate.
「Rei and Set, huh. Try not to startle us too much. It gets dark early at this time of year, you know.」
One of the guards called out to Rei.
Perhaps to keep watch over the surrounding area, there were many magic lighting items and bonfires near the main gate, so the darkness wasn’t an issue there.
「We hurried back as quickly as we could, we’re still fine, right?」
The guard who had been on duty when they left Gilm had probably already finished his shift. Rei called out to a different guard.
Perhaps because the guard was also acquainted with Rei, he immediately nodded and began the procedures for entering Gilm.
The other guards were busy doting on Set, petting him while giving him dried meat and sandwiches.
「Gurururu~!」
Some were even giving him warm soup, and Set’s happy cries echoed around.
「Must be tough working out here in the cold.」
「Nah, it’s part of the job. Besides, there are monsters that only appear at this time of year. If a monster like that attacks, we can’t exactly be complaining about the cold.」
The guard smiled as he checked Rei’s guild card and quickly finished the procedures for entering the city.
「Besides, it’s not actually that cold here, you know? Haven’t you noticed?」
「Hm? Ah, yeah. Now that you mention it.」
Rei hadn’t noticed, but there was a magic item near the gate that gave off heat.
It wasn’t exactly warm, but it was enough to take the edge off the cold.
Because the Dragon Robe had an temperature regulating function that made him warm when it was cold and cool when it was hot, Rei hadn’t noticed it at all.
「Well, we’ll close the gates soon enough and go warm up properly in Gilm. Hot wine is the best at times like this.」
While they were having this exchange, the procedures were completed and Rei and Set entered Gilm.
……As they did, the guards expressed regret that they couldn’t pet Set a bit longer, which left an impression on Rei.
Of course, that wasn’t solely because they wanted to dote on Set.
Set’s body temperature was quite warm, and many of them probably wanted to keep touching him for as long as possible.
Understanding that, Rei felt a little apologetic as he left the main gate.
Once inside Gilm, his first destination was the adventurer’s guild.
Rei headed there, thinking it was only proper to report clearing the dungeon to the guild first. Even though it was already dark, it was still only just past 5PM.
Naturally, there were still many people walking the streets, and the food stalls were becoming increasingly busy.
As Set walked through the busy street, it was only natural they would attract attention.
Many residents felt their hearts warm at the sight of Set and offered him bread, skewers, and other food they had.
The stall owners, perhaps knowing that seeing Set eating their food would attract more customers, sold their food to Rei at a discount, and many even gave Set food for free.
While receiving enough food for an ordinary person to eat dinner as well as all of tomorrow’s meals,, Rei and Set arrived in front of the guild.
「Here, Set, eat this and wait a bit for me.」
「Guru~!」
Rei placed the food he had been given on the way here in front of Set, who was lying down in his usual spot in the carriage and tamed monster space, before entering the guild.
As he watched Rei go, Set savoured the sandwich in front of him……and gave happy cries at the pleasant sensation of having his body and head petted by the people who had gathered around him before he knew it.
「Does that feel good, Set-chan?」
「Ah, here, I’ll give you this too, Set-chan.」
「Oh, Set. You’ve got a lot of people around you again today.」
Set felt sheer happiness at the voices calling out to him.
……Although, it was a shame that his favourite person, Rei, wasn’t there.
Upon entering the guild, Rei heard loud voices echoing from within.
However, those voices weren’t from the guild per say, but from the tavern attached to the guild.
Because it was evening, there was quite a diverse group of people present, adventurers just eating a meal, those celebrating the successful completion of a request, and those meeting to reflect after a failing a request, all leading to an incredible amount of noise.
There were also more people in the guild area compared to when Rei had visited in the morning.
Those who had finished their requests for the day had all returned.
Even so, with winter approaching, the number of active adventurers wasn’t that high compared to other seaons.
Most adventurers had already finished their winter preparations.
The adventurers still taking requests now were either those who hadn’t finished their winter preparations yet, or those working for reasons other than the reward, like Rei.
In particular, because Gamelions were scarce this year, many were active specifically to hunt them for their meat.
「Hey, how did it go on your end?」
「No good. We didn’t see a single Gamelion anywhere. Seriously, what’s going on? There’s normally never this few Gamelions.」
「Right? And the Gamelion season is almost over. If we’re unlucky, they might already be heading back to the Forest of Monsters.」
「……So, what? Are you saying we might have to go all the way to the Forest of Monsters to hunt Gamelions? You’ve got to be joking. I love Gamelion meat, sure, but not enough to risk my life for it.」
「I know, right. ……Even if we go Gamelion hunting, we hardly get anything out of it, so the pressure from the rest of the party is getting intense.」
「Ah, I get it, I get it. It’s the same for me. ……So, what are we going to do?」
「About the Gamelions? Hmm, let’s see. We’ll give it five more days. We’ll search for Gamelions for five more days, and if we still can’t find any, we’ll give up. ……Honestly, I really want to secure some Gamelion meat, but I can’t push my party any further than that.」
「Yeah, I figure. My situation is pretty much the same. ……The only saving grace is that we’ve already finished our winter preparations. Hunting Gamelions is practically a hobby at this point.」
「Ugh, seriously? I’m so jealous……」
「……Hey, don’t tell me you’ve been chasing Gamelions without even finishing your winter preparations?」
「Well, Gamelions sell for a high price.」
「You……」
Listening casually to the conversation between the people who could be called Gamelion Hunters, Rei headed towards the counter.
Lenora, who was organising documents at the counter, noticed him walking over to her.
Kenny, who was also organising documents beside Lenora, noticed Rei at the same time.
「Ah, Rei. Oh? Weren’t you going to the dungeon?」
「Welcome back, Rei. Don’t be silly, Lenora. It’s Rei we’re talking about, so he obviously cleared the dungeon already.」
Kenny was as biased towards Rei as ever, but this time, her guess was actually right.
Rei stepped in front of Lenora, who could be considered the receptionist in charge of him, and took the halves of the dungeon core out of the Misty Ring.
At first, neither Lenora nor Kenny knew what Rei had taken out, and they tilted their heads in confusion.
That was only natural. A dungeon core wasn’t something one could see so easily.
Because of that, Lenora asked Rei with a puzzled expression.
「Rei, what is this?」
「It’s the dungeon core.」
『……』
Needless to say, Rei was famous in Gilm.
Because of that, there were a fair number of people eavesdropping on his conversation with Lenora and Kenny.
Those people gasped at the words that came out of Rei’s mouth.
Naturally. Possessing the dungeon core meant nothing other than having cleared the dungeon.
Some among them knew that Rei had only left Gilm earlier that day, and realised that he had cleared the dungeon in less than a day……actually, in somewhere between a few hours to half a day.
「……Eh?」
Lenora and Kenny had the same thought.
Rei had asked Lenora for information about the dungeon that morning, and then headed there afterwards.
Yet he had already cleared the dungeon. If it had been anyone else but Rei who said it, neither Lenora nor the Rei-biased Kenny would have believed it, assuming it was a joke.
But considering what Rei had accomplished so far, it couldn’t simply be dismissed as a joke.
「Umm……Rei, did you really clear the dungeon?」
Kenny asked in place of Lenora, who had fallen silent, caught completely off guard.
Many of the people in the guild area were focused on how Rei would answer, and both adventurers and guild staff had fallen completely silent.
Despite the situation, cheers could still be heard from the tavern, so it wouldn’t be strange for anyone just entering the guild to feel something was amiss.
「Yeah. As you know, that dungeon was newly formed and quite small. Even for me, it wasn’t that difficult to clear.」
Almost every adventurer who heard those words retorted in their minds, “What do you mean, ‘Even for me’!?”
Lenora, unaware of the adventurers’ inner thoughts, came back to her senses as she spoke.
「It’s true that the monsters appearing in the dungeon weren’t supposed to be that strong…… but even so, doing it in such a short time……」
「Well, setting that aside. I have something to report, or rather explain, about the dungeon.」
「……What is it?」
「There were a massive number of Gamelions in the room with the dungeon core. Over fifty of them. It’s just a guess, but I think that’s the reason why the number of Gamelions has been extremely low this year.」
The moment they heard Rei’s words, the adventurers began to murmur.
Naturally. A fair number of adventurers had been aiming to hunt Gamelions.
There were over ten such people just among those currently in the guild.
「Gamelions? ……I see. Because of the dungeon core.」
「Probably. Because of that, I was thinking of selling a certain amount to the guild……」
「That would be very helpful, but are you sure? Weren’t you looking forward to eating Gamelion meat too, Rei? And Set-chan.」
「Yeah. Ranga also asked me to, and a shortage of Gamelions isn’t a good situation for Gilm. ……However, I have a favour to ask in return. I’ll sell ten Gamelions to the guild, but in exchange for the payment for a few of them, I want you to handle the dismantling of the Gamelions that are my share……is that possible?」
Lenora thought for a moment at Rei’s words.
However, perhaps feeling she couldn’t decide on her own, she turned her gaze towards her superior behind the counter.
Receiving her gaze, her superior nodded back without any hesitation.
This was partly influenced by the fact that they quite liked Gamelion dishes, but more than anything, it was because they judged it would be profitable for the guild.
In reality, Gamelions were currently a rare commodity in Gilm, and their purchase price had gone up significantly compared to other years.
If they could save on that cost, they had absolutely no hesitation in gathering guild staff who were good at dismantling to process the Gamelions.
「Understood, Rei. Then we will gladly accept your proposal.」
Having received her superior’s permission, Lenora turned to Rei and delivered the message with a smile.
……The shortage of Gamelions was a factor, but the main reason for her smile was likely because her heart had been stolen by the thought of Gamelion dishes.
As a side note, the letter containing the report Ranga had entrusted to Rei was later delivered to the lord’s residence by the guild.