Chapter 241
Legend Chapter 241
The day after the fight with the bandits . Since then, there had been no other attacks by bandits, and the merchants who had stayed up the night before had breakfast before starting a little earlier as they went along the highway .
Many of the merchants were mentally strained due to having gone through a bandit attack and then being asked to deal with the bandit corpses . The appearance of several merchants dozing off in the carriages was noticeable .
(Well, they weren’t originally frontier merchants, I understand they’re not used to that kind of thing…… . that said, even if we are escorting them, it’s amusing to see them completely let their guards down while sleeping . )
Rei thought to himself as he walked at his usual position behind the carriages with Set .
Looking to the left and right of the carriages, Taenia and Fabel were wary of the surroundings, not showing any signs of drowsiness .
After the fight with the Prairie Wolves and the bandits, they had left the watch to Rei and slept . So as expected of D rank adventurers, unlike the merchants, they didn’t show any signs of drowsiness .
Fortunately, they continued down the highway for several hours without any attacks from monsters or bandits .
「I can see the city of Sabrusta!」
One of the merchants on the leading carriage gave a yell .
At the same time, the merchants who had been dozing in the carriage at the back woke to cheers .
Meanwhile, Rei headed for the front carriage with Set and called out to Alektor .
「With Set, there will be a fuss trying to get into the city again . I think it would be better let Set roam around here, like he did at Abuero . 」
「I agree . Since we’ve come this far, we won’t have to worry about being attacked by monsters or bandits anymore . Rather, I would be very grateful if you could save us the trouble . 」
「Understood . Well, unlike in Abuero, I don’t have to stay in Sabrusta . So I don’t need to split with Set like last time . ……Hey, Set . Go play around for a while . 」
「Guru~ . 」
Set nodded at Rei’s words, spread his wings after a few steps and flew away from the merchant caravan .
Looking back, Rei turned to Alektor and noticed him staring back .
「What’s wrong?」
「No, I thought I heard you say that you weren’t going to stay at Sabrusta……」
「Hm? Ah . Isn’t the escort only up to this city? In that case, there shouldn’t be any problems . 」
「That’s right, but, what are you plans from here?」
The way Alektor had been thinking, he had thought Rei would stay the night in Sabrusta and head back to Gilm the next day . But from what Rei had said, it sounded like he was planning to head back as soon as he finished this request .
Rei nodded without any hesitation, because that was what he had been planning to do .
「Of course . The escort request was only up to this city right? Sure, I might looked around the city for a bit to see if I can find anything interesting, but I’ll definitely start to head back today . 」
「But then, won’t you have to camp overnight again?」
「Hm? Ah, I see . You don’t know, do you? Given Set’s speed when he flies, it will only take me half a day to get back to Gilm . 」
「……I-Is that so?」
Rei nodded naturally at Alektor, whose eyes went wide as he replied unconsciously .
In fact, Rei had already calculated in his mind how long it would take to go back, comparing it to the time he needed to get to Baar .
「However, if it will take me half a day, it’s highly likely that the gates will be closed by the time I get back to Gilm . In the end, I’ll still need to camp for a night . 」
「Then, why don’t you stay a night in Sabrusta and leave early tomorrow morning?」
「I had considered that, but it would be troublesome if Set started sulking again . 」
With a wry smile, Rei spoke as he watched the city of Sabrusta draw nearer .
Basically, back in Gilm, Set slept in the stables while Rei slept in his room . Set didn’t have many complaints about that, but he still looked forward to the opportunity of sleeping with Rei .
In the first place, monsters that appeared along the highway were not considered enemies to a Griffon like Set . Rather, they were more like food . So camping with Rei was closer to a picnic to Set .
「……I see, that’s regrettable . As for me, it’s quite unfortunate that I have to part ways with Rei-san here . But thinking about it, it would certainly be troublesome if Set started sulking . 」
「What, you still haven’t given up on trying to recruit me?」
「That’s right . If I could hire a promising adventurer like Rei-san as an escort, I would be buying more security . I was thinking about renegotiating here . 」
Rei shook his head at Alektor, who was explaining with regret .
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「I think I told you in Gilm, but unfortunately I can’t do that . Only on the frontier can Set and I grow . 」
「……I understand . But if you need anything, please contact me . My merchant group basically operates in the center of the kingdom, our headquarters is in the Imperial Capital, but we’ll probably have a branch in Sabrusta soon as well . 」
「Branch office? Aren’t you travelling merchants?」
「Yes . Of course, our merchant caravans are definitely our main business . But we also manage stores . However, I’ve left that to an old friend and I lead the caravans myself . 」
Even as they conversed, the merchant caravan continued down the highway, eventually arriving at Sabrusta .
After showing their ID and guild cards, they completed the procedures to enter the city . Unlike at Abuero, Set wasn’t around, so they managed to enter without any commotion . And……
「Then, I’ll mark the request as complete here . Thank you very much . 」
Alektor handed over a signed document as proof of request completion .
「I was glad to be able to work with someone like you . It’s a bit difficult since you mainly work somewhere else, but if the opportunity comes up, let’s work together again . 」
「That’s not fair~ . I want to go with Set~ . 」
「Hey, Louise . I’ve known for a long time that you like animals……but why do you cling to Set so much?」
Fabel smiled as she said goodbye . Louise tried to follow Rei back to Set, but Taenia stopped her with an appalled expression .
Having seen this scene several times over the past few days, Rei smiled at the sight .
The surrounding area may have been close to the city gates, but it was winter, so there wasn’t much activity . As such their group was looked at strangely by passersby .
「That’s right . I don’t know if we’ll have the chance again, but if there is, I might ask you to join us on a request again . I’ll look forward to working with you again then . 」
「What are you talking about? As the higher rank, Rei will be the one taking care of us then . 」
Like that, Rei split up with them as he entered the city .
Louise was still complaining from the back, clamouring for Set, but Taenia was holding her down as she scolded .
Smiling at that situation, since he had come to Sabrusta, he decided to look around to see if there was anything interesting .
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There wasn’t anything of particular interest, but there was a street stall that attracted Rei’s attention . If it had been a stall selling ordinary skewers, Rei wouldn’t have paid much attention . However, it was different if the stall sold udon, which had spread all the way from Gilm . In Abuero, he hadn’t looked at the food stalls as he hadn’t the time to go around the city . Rei hadn’t thought that udon would have spread from Gilm all the way to Sabrusta, which was quite far away, and immediately ordered some udon . But… . . after being boiled, the noodles had been simmered in soup and had gone all soggy . It was so sticky that Rei almost couldn’t eat it . He had to flatten everything down before trying to pour it into his mouth .
After walking around the city, Rei hadn’t made any new discoveries aside from magic items and new food, with the exception of bad udon . He bought some firewood and a variety of food for his plans for the night and then headed for Sabrusta gate .
The time was just past noon . Rei judged that he should to be able to make some distance by riding on Set if he left at this time .
「Your ID please . 」
「Here it is . 」
Rei simply handed over his guild card, put on his hood and left the city without any particular issues .
As a guard, he was suspicious of Rei, who wasn’t carrying much with him, despite Rei being an adventurer . However, seeing the letter C on the guild card, he hesitated to ask about it .
Fortunately for Rei, the city guard was one of the ones who had looked through Alektor’s merchant caravan’s ID and guild cards . He remembered that Rei had been an escort of the merchant and decided to trust the C rank written on the guild card . If it had been a thickheaded guard, Rei might have been detained for holding a fake guild card . After all, Rei looked delicate and short, not like a C rank veteran .
「Even if I meet up with Set, if it’s too near the city, it will still cause a fuss . 」
Rei muttered to himself as he walked a short distance down the highway . When Sabrusta was out of sight, he looked around before calling out .
「Set-!」
His call was loud, but not to the extent of reaching Sabrusta . However……
「Gurururu~!」
Obviously, Set had good hearing and couldn’t miss him . He immediately rushed down to Rei with a cry .
Then, Set proceeded to rub his face all over Rei . While patting his head, Rei took out a sandwich with plenty of meat he had bought in Sabrusta from the Misty Ring .
「Here, I’ve kept you waiting . Here’s a souvenir . I think it’s quite good as the shop was doing quite well . 」
「Guru~ . 」
Set ate the sandwich Rei handed over while giving a happy cry . A large number of sandwiches, costing about a silver coin, were emptied into Set’s stomach in a matter of minutes .
「Now then, let’s go back to Gilm . We’ll have to camp out for a night……but we won’t have to worry about guarding anything, so it’s not too hard for us . The cold isn’t really an issue either . 」
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Saying that, Rei got onto Set’s back .
Set also lowered his back quietly to make it easir for Rei to get on .
「So, let’s head back to Gilm . I want to eat udon at the Satisfied Stomach . 」
Rei said that as he remembered the udon he had eaten in Sabrusta .
As for Set, udon was a bit hard to eat, but he didn’t dislike it, so he gave a cry to say that he had no objections .
「You think so too Set? ……Then, let’s go shall we?」
「Gurururu~!」
With a cry, Set flapped his wings and flew up into the sky after a short runup .
Hearing his cry, nearby monsters all scattered in fear of the Griffon, but that was a story that had nothing to do with these two .
A few hours out from Sabrusta . Rei and Set had already passed the place where they had set up camp the previous night and were attacked by bandits . They had also flown past Abuero . However, the sun had already set, and even if they headed for Gilm, Rei calculated that it would be in the middle of the night……so, he asked Set to land on a rocky outcrop near the road .
「Guru~?」
It it fine here? Set seemed to ask with a tilted head . Rei stroked his head with a smile in response .
「There’s no problems here . I had planned to camp out for a night anyway, so I bought some firewood in Sabrusta . 」
Saying that to Set, he took out some firewood and the Death Scythe from the Misty Ring before using magic to light a fire .
Then, putting a pot of stew on the bonfire, he stabbed Icebird meat skewers around the campfire .
The stew was already ready, but since he was used to it, he kept it hot anyway . Taking out some freshly baked bread from the Misty Ring, he shared an extremely luxurious meal, if he had been an ordinary adventurer, with Set .
After eating some dried fruit for dessert, Rei called out to Set, who was lying on the ground without care of the cold winter night .
「……Well then, let’s get on with today’s main event . 」
Saying that, he took out the Icebird magic stones from the Misty Ring .