「Give me your magic items.」
That was Bolton’s request to Rei after meeting him for the first time.
After the troubles with the gatekeepers, he had to wait a while before he was brought to Bolton’s room for their meeting……
But, Bolton said that as soon as he saw Rei enter the room.
On a side note, Set had been lying down on the front lawn after seeing Rei enter the mansion. He enjoyed the autumn sun as if the two frightened gatekeepers didn’t exist.
「……What?」
「Didn’t you hear me? The magic items you have. Specifically, your shoes and that scythe. And above all, give me your item box.」
Is this guy crazy? While thinking about that, Rei looked at the man sitting in front of him.
He left Rei, his guest, just standing their while he was seated. Speaking of his appearance, you could say he was an old man. However, he wasn’t an ordinary old man, but an old man who would greedily keep looking for more power and money. As if to match that, his build was rather solid and made him look somewhat younger than he was.
(In other words, this old guy is causing problems by not letting go of his power.)
While thinking to himself, he just silently looked back and the old man seated before him, who was looking at him.
Regarding the item box, it wasn’t strange that he knew about it as Rei hadn’t kept it a secret since he came to Gimuru. The same was true for the Death Scythe. But……
(He knows about the Shoe’s of Sleipnir, does he.)
There weren’t that many people who knew about them. The most likely possibility was that some information had leaked from the adventurers who had went with him for the Orc village subjugation……
(Well, theren’s no point thinking about it now. Now then, what’s wrong with this old man?)
As Rei thought about how to deal with the person in front of him, who believed that his words always had to be obeyed, a voice hastily spoke up.
「Please wait! Bolton-san, did you ask us to get him for this?」
It was Galahat, who had brought Rei here.
He had a look of reproach in his eyes as he looked at Bolton. But.
「Who said you could open your mouth. The child of a mistress should act like one and do as he’s told.」
Without even glancing at Galahat, Bolton cut him short and ignored him.
Rei could here the sound of Murt, who was standing near him, grinding his teeth.
(A child of a mistress? I see, is seems their family is quite complex.)
Rei compared Bolton and Galahat as he thought to himself.
One was in his sixties, the other was in his thirties. Looking at the difference in age, even if they were half brothers, they were still thirty years apart. As expected, Rei could not help but be surprised.
「……Pardon me.」
Galahat repressed his feelings as he spke and backed down. Giving a snort as if dealing with some trivial matter, Bolton then turned to look at Rei again.
「That’s enough about the magic items. I can make better use of them than you ever can. If you understand that, quickly give them to me. Ah, that Griffon you’re rearing. Leave it behind as well. After selling it or killing it, materials can be stripped from it. It’s a shame to leave it with an adventurer.」
Rei’s cheeks twitched at those words. His gaze towards Bolton had already changed from amazement to a cold look and finally to as if he was looking at a stone on the roadside. Yes, just like a stone that he would barely remember even if he crushed it with his foot.
「What’s wrong? Hurry up. I’m busy unlike adventurers like you. Don’t waste my time.」
「……」
Silently, he opened the Misty Ring’s list in his mind and took out the Death Scythe.
「Ohh, so that is the rumored large scythe. You can tell that it’s of the finest quality just by looking at it!」
Bolton raised a rare voice of admiration after seeing the Death Scythe.
Certainly, the man called Bolton had the eyes of a first class merchant. While most people who saw the Death Scythe thought it was just a large scythe, he could say that it was a magic item without any hesitation. Because he could tell that it could be used to cast magic.
Still, he hadn’t heard much about Rei as a person. Among the adventurers in the city of Gimru, it was already recognised that his partner was something they couldn’t touch.
Rei spun the Death Scythe in his hand and swung the handle out toward Bolton. And as he moved……
「Stop!」
Galahat realised what Rei was going to do and dashed forward to stand in front of Bolton.
Roar-!
The handle of the Death Scythe hit him with full force.
He thought that he could parry the handle with his sword. But……
「Gaah~!」
Galahat had thought the weight of the Death Scythe to be that of an ordinary spear and was blown away as the sword he had used to block it was broken.
Even though he was a big man in his thirties and wearing leather armour instead of metal armour, he destroyed the wall that was behind him as he flew back, going across the corridor and destroying the wall of the room opposite before coming to a stop. Murt was unable to keep up with the sequence of events and could only watach as he was shocked by the power behind that attack.
Galahat’s mistake was due to Rei’s appearance. Even though Rei was a much talked about adventurer, in the end, the rumors only said that he was followed by an A rank monster, Griffon. He was only about 160cm tall, didn’t look to have much muscle and seemed weak. But, the result was that he was knocked through to a second room and now couldn’t move due to his injuries.
「……」
Rei looked at the destroyed wall for only a moment. Thinking that Rei’s pause was an opportunity, Bolton started shouting in his arrogant manner.
「Y-You. What are you doing all of a sudden! Do you know who I am!」
「……Will you get in my way?」
Ignoring Bolton’s shrill shouting, Rei glanced at Murt behind him.
The moment Rei looked at him, Murt shook his head vigorously on reflex. He couldn’t win by himself. On the contrary, he felt like an insect walking by the roadside that could be trampled at any time.
「……I see. Then.」
As soon as Rei saw that Murt didn’t intend to do anything, he looked away. He turned to Bolton, who’s face had gone blue and red in fear and anger.
「Hey, a-are you listening! Do you know what will happen if this outrage you committed gets out!」
「I don’t really care. These kind of looks, and disdain, I’ve experienced many times since coming to the city of Gimuru.」
Rei spoke up, as if ignoring Bolton’s words.
「Besides, it’s not the first time someone has aimed for my magic items. Like Dark Night’s Star.」
That party had tried to rob Rei’s Misty Ring, and as a result, there were annihilated by Rei in the Orc village.
「However, my Griffon……Set, what did you say you would do to my partner? Sell him? Kill and strip materials from him?」
In his hands, he spun the Death Scythe, any furniture in the room the the blade touched was broken, sliced and destroyed. As he spun the Death Scythe, in his hands, he took one step, one more step towards Bolton, who was sitting in his chair and couldn’t move.
「You, you-! You’re just an adventurer, do you think you can go against me in this city of Gimuru! I’m the president of Azoth Firm!」
「What about it? Then try protecting yourself with the power of Azoth Firm. Look, your death is nearing now isn’t it?」
The speed of the spinning Death Scythe in his hand grew faster. To begin with, the Death Scythe already had enough power to knock Galahat away even after he tried to parry it. Now, Rei was increasing its power further by spinning it. To his horror, Bolton finally realised that he had stepped on the tiger’s tail that he should never have stepped on.
However, it was already too late. The existence that brought death was already in front of Bolton’s desk……yes, in the case of emergencies, if he were attacked by thugs or assassins, it was a special desk that could shield him against attacks if he hid under it. But the Death Scythe cut through it like a hot knife through bread.
「Hii~……Hiii~!」
As Bolton started to scream.
「……Please, wait a moment.」
Suddenly……a voice called out faintly but surely. The whirlwind of death stopped moving a fear centimeters from Bolton’s face, which had been distorted by fear.
The person that appeared along with the sound of a wall collapsing was Galahat, who had been blown away to the next room by Rei a few minutes earlier.
The leather armour that was supposed to protect his body had been shredded by the impact, after taking that attack, there was no way he was okay. His ribs had broken and injured his internal organs. If he wasn’t moving, his complexion was pale enough that he could be mistaken for a corpse. At the same time, there were traces of blood around the edges of his mouth. It seems he had wiped away the blood that he had spit out.
But even so……after all that, Galahat was still alive. He could even move despite tanking an attack from Rei’s Death Scythe where he hadn’t held back. Even if it was an attack from the handle and not the blade, there was still the weight of the Death Scythe and Rei’s strength. With an attack that combined the two, he would have already died if he had been an ordinary person.
Seeing the state of Galahat, Rei, who was about to dispose of Bolton, had an expression of surprise.
「Please. That person……spare my older brother’s life.」
However, the surprise disappeared in a moment after Galahat’s words.
「Why would you protect him? He’s lived long enough for no benefit.」
「N-!」
No one had probably ever said those words to his face. Bolton tried to refute those words on reflex but was cut short by Galahat. Yes, the person before him was a reaper that easily take his life. If he spoke something carelessly, Bolton knew that his head would be separated from his body immediately.
「Even such a person……it’s only one parent, but he’s my older brother by blood. ……Gufo~」
It seems that forcing himself to move had given him some internal injuries. He spat out some blood. But he disregarded that as he couldn’t stop now. He spoke as blood leaked out his mouth.
「That aside, even if he’s such a brother……he has built up a high status in the city of Gimuru, that’s a fact. If you kill him……a bounty will be placed on you and you will be chased by the guild……that will happen.」
He couldn’t not help his brother. Galahat came to that conclusion immediately. It would be in Rei’s interests if he didn’t do anything here. It was a decision as expected of a B rank adventurer. A troublesome future passed through Rei’s mind as a thought and he drew the Death Scythe back slightly as he scowled.
「However, if I leave him here, won’t he try to do something to me again? If I consider that, it would be better to dispose of him earlier.」
「……Stop. I will stop him. Even if my older brother does something, I will definitely stop him. So……can you just overlook it, just this time.」
It was like a storm had raged through Bolton’s office. In that room where almost no intact furniture was left, Rei and Galahat’s gazes crossed.
Murt, who was unable to stand up at the entrance to the room and Bolton, who was frozen in fear in his chair. Leaving those two people alive……before long, Rei gave a sigh and stored the Death Scythe into the Misty Ring.
Knowing what that action meant, Galahat’s pale face had a look of relief.
「Just this once. I will overlook this just this once. So you hold your promise that you will never do anything to meddle with me or Set after this.」
「……Sorry……」
The acute pain had probably got to him. Squeezing those words out, he collapsed to the floor.
「Galahat-!」
Although Murt was unable to stand up due to fear, he still crawled towards Galahat. Rei left the room as there was no need to keep looking.
……From behind, Bolton glared at him with hatred.