Legend

After finishing his light meal at the bar, Rei left the guild and saw a group of people gathered around Set.

It wasn’t great. No, rather, it wasn’t bad either, just what he had expected.

However, what he hadn’t expected was a certain female adventurer, who was currently hugging Set’s neck.

It wasn’t that Rei didn’t recognise her. In fact, he recognised her all too well.

Rei unintentionally spoke the name of the female adventurer who had fallen in love with Set and had been present at the Dusk Wheat inn’s stables the previous night.

「You again, Milein……」

「I’m sorry for our trouble causing party member.」

「Ahahaha. That’s our party leader.」

Voices spoke up from the side at Rei’s sigh.

It was a middle aged mage and a female archer in her late teens.

They were the other members of Scorching Wind, the party led by Milein, Sulunin and Ekril.

「Set hasn’t been in Gilm for a while, has he? During that time, Milein felt quite lonely. That’s why, after hearing that Rei-san and Set had returned to Gilm yesterday, she’s been like this. I thought that she would have calmed down after last night.」

Sulunin muttered with a small sigh as Ekril nodded next to him with eyes crossed.

(It looks like an addiction……will she really be okay while I’m in the Bestir Empire?)

Rei suddenly imagined Milein wandering around the city muttering 『Set, Set』 before shaking his head, as if thinking about it would make it come true.

「More importantly, did you come to the guild to collect a request?」

「Yeah, well. Actually……」

「Ah.」

As Sulunin was about to explain the situation, Ekril suddenly raised her voice.

She then looked straight at Rei.

「Ekril?」

「No, regarding tomorrow afternoon, I just thought it would be good if Rei could help me.」

「Oh, I see. Now that you mention it, that is true.」

The next person to perk up and react to Ekril’s words wasn’t Rei……but Milein, who had been playing with Set.

「I agree as well!」

「Seriously……what kind of ears does she have.」

Sulunin gave a wry smile as Milein spoke up loudly while stroking Set.

「Well, that’s Milein for you I guess. ……So, what’s this about tomorrow afternoon?」

「Ah, yes. Actually, a Goblin settlement was found deep in the forest along the highway yesterday……do you know about it?」

Thinking for a fell seconds, Rei immediately nodded back at Sulunin.

「Lenora and Kenny said that they finished the paperwork for that late yesterday.」

「Yes, about that. The Goblin settlement was destroyed yesterday, but it has resulted in a number of Goblins scattering into the forest.」

Sulunin gave a small sigh as he continued.

In all honesty, he had hoped the Goblins would have been completely anihilated without any escaping.

「Anyhow, it’s inconvinient for Gilm to have that many Goblins scattered around.」

「But in the end, it is still only Goblins. So in any case, it was decided this time that the Goblins would be used to train fresh G rank adventurers in parties mixed with more experienced adventurers.」

Ekril followed up from Sulunin’s words.

Adventurers normally started from H rank when joining the guild.

However, H rank was mostly for miscellaneous requests that only needed to be done within the city, such as shopping requests, home repairs, and carrying goods. It wasn’t possible to accept requests that required leaving the city, such as monster subjugation.

In order to accept those kinds of requests, it was necessary to raise their rank to G rank by demonstrating you had enough combat strength to leave the city.

For those who had just rised to G rank, even a Goblin could be a formidable foe, compared to Rei and Milein, who could kill one with a single hand.

The fact that Goblins were humanoind monsters would also make some fresh G rank adventurers hesistate.

The guild must have judged that the Goblins that escaped from the village were at the right level to train the new adventurers.

However, parties like Milein’s Scorching Wind were assigned to watch over them as sending the rookies out on their own might lead to unecessary confusion or injuries.

「Well, we heard about it this morning, so we decided to have a mock battle this afternoon at the training ground to see how the rookies are doing. We finished lunch early before coming over……and found Set when we arrived, which led to what you see now.」

Suluning let out a sigh as he turned to look at Milein, who was fawning over Set as if nothing had happened.

「So, what do you think? Can you help us clear out the Goblins? It will be a lot easier if Rei and Set are both there.」

Ekril was sincere with her request. However, Rei shook his head.

「Unfortunately, there are some circumstances at the moment. I can’t leave the city.」

「Speaking of which, you said you had some urgent business.」

Sulunin had heard the general situation from him the night before, so Rei nodded at his words.

「That’s right. ……However, if it’s the mock battle in the afternoon, I can come along.」

The reason Rei had come to the guild in the first place was to find a quest to pass the time.

In the end, he had lost all motivation due to various events regarding selecting a request.

In that sense, Sulunin and Ekril’s inviation came just at the right time and he had no reason to refuse them.

「Huh? Really?」

It must have been a surprise to Ekril that Rei would agree. She asked back without thinking.

That said, considering the usual reward required to hire a B rank adventurer, it was fair to say that her surprise was only natural.

「Yeah. As I said, I’m free right now. I’m rather grateful for an excuse to move my body.」

「……Rei-san. Just in case, you do know we’re only asking you to participate in a mock battle against the rookies, right? You do know they’re not people you can seriously fight, right?」

Rei nodded back at Sulunin, who asked just to double check, and Sulunin gave a small nod back in response before proceeding to forcibly drag Milein away from Set and over to the training ground.

「Mu……we still have some time, so why don’t you let me play with Set-chan a bit longer?」

Milein muttered as they got to the training ground behind the guild.

She had still wanted to play around with Set and was dissatisfied that Sulunin had dragged her away.

Certainly, as Milein had said, there were several people at the training ground, but none of them were party of the group heading out for the Goblin subjugation the next day.

「Even so, it would be a disgrace for us to be late. ……Besides, take a look.」

As Sulunin pointed over to the entrance of the training ground with his cane, they saw three boys looking around with timid expressions.

They looked to be about the same age as Rei.

That said, Rei’s appearance hadn’t changed at all in the past year.

「Mu, I guess it can’t be helped if they’re here.」

With a big sigh, Milein let out her dissatisfaction before waving at the three people near the entrance to the training ground.

「Hey, come here, come here!」

They seemed to have caught Milein’s voice and the three of them quickly came over.

「Just these three?」

「Yes. As expected, we don’t have enough people in our party to watch 5-10 of them, so we were assigned the same number of rookies as members in our party.」

「Hm? So the three of them aren’t part of a party?」

「That’s what I’ve heard. However, there’s a possibility that they’ll hit it off with each other and form a party because of this.」

At Sulunin’s explanation, Rei had a slight look of surprise.

A battle axe, a spear, and a bow. Their weapons were nicely divided into short range, medium range, and long range.

「I’m sorry, did we make you wait?」

「Hey, that’s why I told you to eat a little faster.」

「B-But……if we eat in a rush, I might choke.」

The boy with the spear apologised politely, the boy with the battle axe suggested that they should have eaten faster, and the boy with the bow said that eating fast might cause him to choke.

The three of them bowed their heads towards Sulunin and the others as they exchanged greetings before looking questioningly at Rei.

She must have noticed their gazes. Milein immediately smiled as she spoke up.

Probably due to her experience as the party lead of Scorching Wind, her fidgeting from just a few minutes ago seemed like it had never happened at all.

「He’s your mock battle opponent today.」

Hearing Milein’s words, the boy with the battle axe turned to look at Rei without hiding his dissatisfaction as he spoke.

「Is this weak guy going to be our opponent? Hey, let me say this as a fellow rookie, but you should train your body a little more before becoming an adventurer, right? When we head out of the city, we have to fight monsters that want to kill us. You should at least be able to protect yourself first.」

「Pft.」

Milein couldn’t help but laugh at the words of the boy holding the battle axe.

Since he was a rookie, it couldn’t be helped that he couldn’t gauge the ability of his opponent.

However, knowing Rei’s skill, it took all she had to stop herself from bursting out in laughter at the fact that there was someone who would speak to Rei like that.

It wasn’t just Milein. Suluning had a troubled expression on his face as his cheeks twitched and Ekril turned to face away to hold her laughter inside.

Seeing their seniors in such a state, they must have wondered what was going on. The boy with the spear spoke up.

「Um, is there anything wrong?」

The boy with the spear asked in a polite tone, displaying his good upbringing.

Behind him, the timid looking boy with the bow also turned to look over at Milein at the others.

「Ahh……I’m sorry. Even though he might look like this, he’s still an active adventurer. It’s true that he doesn’t look very strong on the outside, but he’s strong enough, so don’t worry.」

「Eh? You’re joking.」

The boy with the battle axe, of course, rejected Milein’s words on reflex.

「Hey, wait a moment. Pardon me.」

The boy with the spear pulled the boy with the battle axe back as he bowed his head.

「My companion has been rude. My name is Courage Nelgen」

「Ah, my name is Conomir.」

「……Grusso.」

As they all said their names, Rei suddenly spoke when he realised Courage had a surname.

「You have a surname? Are you a noble?」

「Yes, well. ……That said, I’m the fourth son of a poor viscount family, so I came to Gilm to establish myself as an adventurer. So, if you don’t mind, could you tell us your name?」

If he had been the eldest son, which would have been the heir, or second eldest son, it would have been a different matter. But for Courage, as the fourth son, being a noble wasn’t something he was particularly proud of. He didn’t try to hide it as he asked Rei for his name.

As Rei was about to respond……

「Wait. Unfortunately, his name is a secret.」

Milein suddenly spoke up.

Not just the three of them including Courage, Rei and Suluning also looked at Milein doubtfully. However, Milein didn’t seem to care.

Ekril let out a sigh as if to say ‘here we go again. She turned to look at the adventurers sparring a bit further way as if saying ‘you will only get tired if you try to take her seriously’.

「Hey, Milein……」

Rei wanted to say something but Milein shook her head slightly to indicate she wanted Rei to leave this to her.

For Milein, it wasn’t just her mischieviousness that made her do this.

There were many monsters outside the city that looked ferocious, but there were also some monsters that looked harmless at first glance but were actually dangerous.

Above all, Courage and the two others were rookie adventurers.

In other words, it was clear that most of the monsters they would encounter would be stronger than them.

You can’t measure an opponent’s ability by just looking at them. In order to teach them that, Rei, who didn’t look like a high ranking adventurer at first glance, was the perfect example.

「Since Milein-san has said so, I’ll fight with you properly. Listen, you must remember to surrender properly before you get seriously hurt.」

The boy spoke bluntly, as if he were worried for Rei.

His words and actions reminded Rei of Vosk, who he had met in Exil, and a slight smile appeared on Rei’s face.

However, that must have annoyed Grusso. His glaring gaze grew stronger as his grip around his battle axe grew tighter.

「Mileian-san, let me go first.」

That was what he said to Milein.