Winter night. The campfire that was lit with Rei’s magic continued to burn despite being blown by strong winds.

  After finishing his meal, Rei pulled out a magic stone from the Misty Ring as Set, who had eaten two Icebirds on skewers, lay down in satisfaction.

  It was a Icebird magic stone which he had gotten from Alektor when they had been attacked. Finishing his meal and then absorbing magic stones as if it was a dessert. In that sense, the magic stones could be described as another course in a meal.

  「……No, that’s not right.」


  Rei denied the words he thought in his mind with a wry smile. Then, he gave the magic stone to Set, who was looking at him with shining eyes.

  Set was a creature created using the Magic Beast Art. Naturally, the absorption of magic stones and its essence would make him stronger, so he took the magic stone from Rei’s hand with his beak and swallowed it in one gulp. And……


  【Set has acquired the skill 『Ice Arrow Lv.1』】


  And, as usual, an announcement echoed through his head.

  「Gururururu~」


  Set rubbed his head against Rei, while giving a happy cry at learning a new skill.

  While stroking his head, Rei spoke with a satisfied expression.

  「As expected, since it was a magic stone from an Icebird, the skill acquired would be ice based. ……If fire breath had been leveled up with this, it would have been interesting……no, but maybe there’s a chance that Water Ball could have leveled up because the two magic systems are similar? Or rather, instead of Ice Arrow, it would become Ice Ball.」


  「Guru~?」


  What’s wrong? Set seemed to ask as he tilted his head. Rei shook his head and turned his eyes to a nearby rock.

  「Set, show me the skill you just learned. Aim for that rock over there.」


  「Gururu~!」


  Set gave a sharp cry towards the rock as directed by Rei. At the same time, five ice arrow were created around Set.

  The ice arrows were slightly smaller than the ones used by the Icebirds, which the magic stone had come from, but sharp tip still held the cold light of ice. Or maybe because it was a winter night that it felt like that.

  「Guru~!」


  A cry echoed through the night sky. The next moment, the 5 arrows were quickly shot out, flying towards the rock.

  1, 2, 3, 4. Although the rock was able withstand four ice arrows with its own toughness, crushing the arrows on impact, when the fifth arrow struck it, there was a cracking sound. The next moment, the over 100kg rock cracked where the ice arrow had struck and broke apart, falling to the ground.

  「Guru~?」


  How was it? As Set tilted his head, Rei gave a smile and scratched Set’s head.

  「That’s great, in terms of pure power, it’s more powerful that Wind Arrow.」


  「Gurururu~」


  Set gave a happy cry at Rei’s praise.

  (Wind and ice. Is the difference in power due to one being a gas and the other a solid? Well, this is its power at Lv.1. It’s useful enough.)

  「Okay, next is my turn.」


  Muttering to himself, he took out another Icebird magic stone.

  「Guru~!」


  With Set giving a cry as to say ‘good luck’, Rei threw the magic stone into the air. At the same time, he slashed with the Death Scythe. The magic stone was cut in half by the blade and disappeared like mist. And……


  「……」


  Rei waited silently for a few seconds, but the announcement of a skill acquisition didn’t not sound in Rei’s mind.

  「……Tch」


  「Guru~」


  Seeing Rei shake his head and click his tongue, Set gave a cry to comfort him.

  「Don’t worry about it. In the first place, Icebirds weren’t a high ranking monster. I think the fact that you managed to learn a skill was due to luck. The Death Scythe’s skills are good enough for now. I can do without learning anything new.」


  Rei’s words sounded like he was just trying to make excuses, but it was really what he thought.

  Even if he couldn’t use any skills, Rei could still use fire magic. In addition, he had various magic items as well as his own physical strength and the Death Scythe. He had many ways to attack, but there was no point if he had too many to use.

  「Rather, yesterday’s bandit extermination left me with very little sleep. Can I leave the watch to you?」


  「Guru~」


  Set probably felt that Rei was telling the truth. He gave a short cry before lying on the ground.

  Set told Rei to lean against him to sleep, as he usually did at night. Rei understood that and stroked Set’s back to thank him before leaning back……in a few minutes, Rei was asleep.

  Seeing that, Set also closed his eyes after giving a gentle glance towards the sleeping Rei.

  Of course, Set didn’t actually go to sleep. As usual, he closed his eyes to strengthen his sense of hearing, smell and magic.

  If any monsters or bandits attacked Set, thinking he was asleep, they would pay for their shallow judgement with their lives.

  And, despite being a winter night, Rei slept soundly, surrounded by Set’s warm body temperature.

  「Set, let’s hurry a bit. The cold is fine, but if it starts to snow, it will be a hindrance when flying, right?」


  「Guru~」


  Set flapped his wings greatly at Rei’s words.

  Rei, who had a good night of sleep the previous not, showed no signs of tiredness, though he hadn’t shown signs of tiredness even when he had been tired. As he patted Set, Rei looked to the sky, which was covered with clouds with little sunlight coming through.

  Of course, snow or rain wasn’t fatal for Rei or Set. But just because it wasn’t lethal didn’t mean it wasn’t unpleasant. If they were struck by lightning, even Set would be hurt. However, as a Griffon, he wouldn’t die from it.

  In Rei’s case, he had the Dragon Robe, so he wouldn’t die if he was hit with lightning either.

  But in any case, Rei and Set were in a hurry to reach Gilm before it started to snow or rain.

  Fortunately, they weren’t attacked by any monsters in particular……not long after flying, he saw the familiar sight of the city below him.

  「Phew, we managed to make it somehow. ……Set, we’ll land a short distance away from the city and go from there.」


  Rei called out to Set, remembering that Ranga had previously asked him not to land right outside the city.

  The reason for that was in consideration for people entering the city who might have been intimidated, but it wasn’t necessary to worry about it in the current situation where there were barely any people entering the city in winter.

  「Welcome back Rei-kun, Set. It’s been a while……was the escort only up to Abuero?」


  Ranga greeted the two of them in front of the main gate to Gilm.

  His face was stern as ever and his beard gave a power presence, but his tone was gentle. It was a contrasting appearance and personality that gave a strange feeling to those who met him for the first time. However, Rei had already become accustomed to it after meeting with Ranga so many times.

  Rei shook his head at Ranga’s words as he handed over his guild card.

  「No, it was to Sabrusta. However, since we got there early in the day, I flew back with Set and camped a night out near Abuero.」


  「……Set’s speed is truly fast.」


  Ranga murmured in admiration as took out a piece of dried meat for Set from his pocket.

  Set ate the dried meat and gave a cry.

  Getting his guild card back and collecting the Necklace of Subservient Monster, Rei and Set entered Gilm.

  Looking back, Ranga had enjoyed peaceful days during winter and had gained back the weight he had lost due the accumulated fatigue of dealing with the aftermath of the Bestir Empire events.

  (I hope they don’t try to do anything here again……but I guess that’s not possible. It’s never boring with Rei-kun around. But if this turmoils lets Gilm become more peaceful in future, I’m willing to work a little harder.)

  Ranga muttered to himself as he saw the two of them enter the city.

  「Ahh, delicious. As expected, udon has to be like this.」


  「Was the udon you ate in Sabrusta not as good?」


  Kenny, who was sitting in front of Rei, asked as she blew on her udon, which was wound around her fork, to cool it down before bringing it to her mouth.

  After completing the request procedures at the guild, Rei went to the Satisfied Stomach in an attempt to overwrite the unpleasant memories of the udon he had eaten in Sabrusta the day before.

  At that time, Kenny, who had just started her lunch break, decided to take this opportunity to get out and have a meal with Rei.

  Kenny had wanted to have a meal in a place with a good atmosphere rather than a popular eatery, but she lost out to Rei’s desire to eat udon.

  「Ah. Because the noodles were boiled in soup, the springiness was all gone and it was soggy.」


  (That’s……it was like the time I forgot that I had poured hot water into my cup ramen until 2 hours later.)

  Rei remembered a mistake he had made when he was back in Japan.

  He tried to eat a bit of it, because he couldn’t just throw it away, but it wasn’t very good. In the end, he experience the depressing experience of throwing it away anyway.

  「It certainly didn’t look tasty. I guess they mistook udon for a soup ingredient. I think the recipe must have been miscommunicated along the way.」


  「Probably. I think so too. Well, there might be some people who make their own changes as the recipe is passed on, but that one is an example of a failure. They’ve been teaching people how to make it correctly……but what’s happened is that people don’t listen.」


  Rei recalled the owner of the street stall, who wasn’t so much a craftsman as someone who went down his own path.

  Kenny spoke while giving a wry smile towards Rei.

  「Speaking of which, ordinary adventurers usually don’t take on any requests during this time and will rest their bodies, but Rei-kun is rather strange, taking on requests.」


  「……Well, I guess. It was still autumn when I went out to hunt Gamelions.」


  Thinking about the many commotions that had happened in his mind, he realised that he seemed to be someone who easily got into trouble.

  「Ahaha. I’ve been a guild receptionist for about five years, but it’s unusual for people to get caught up in this much trouble. Of course, in the case of Rei-kun, you’ve profited quite a bit from it, haven’t you?」


  「A magic item. The Thorns Spear I got from the guild master is a great weapon……but unfortunately, my main weapon is the Death Scythe. The Thorns Spear can only be used as a throwing weapon. Moreover, it’s a difficult to use, high-level magic item. In that sense, it wasn’t bad to take on that request to escort those merchants. I received nearly 100 disposable spears as my reward.」


  「Disposable spears, is it. The other day, I heard that some merchant had been going around to blacksmiths and weapon shops collecting spears that could no longer be used……」


  「That would be it. In fact, when I use spears, it’s basically only for throwing, so as long as they could withstand one throw, it’s fine. After it hits an enemy, usually either the shaft or tip would break.」


  Despite saying something cruel, Rei used his fork to pick up some meat in the noodle soup.

  Perhaps it had been boiled for long enough, the fork pierced the meat without any issues and was carried to his mouth.

  Rei looked at his fork with some dissatisfaction while enjoying the taste in his mouth.

  Rei had grown up with the culture of chopsticks. Of course, it wasn’t like he hadn’t used a fork to eat pasta before, but it was a bit uncomfortable to eat noodles with a fork.

  (There’s not much I can do. Regardless of whether I’ve used chopsticks since I was a child, the residents of this city have never used chopsticks. I would be conspicuous if I started using them……well, at least right now.)

  Even in Gilm, a city where there were plenty of oddballs, Rei knew he stood out.

  In that case, he decided that using chopsticks, which were unknown to the people of this world, would be no different and decided to make his own. If he just used the excuse that he learned about it from a book he had read before, he decided that there shouldn’t be any problems.

  【Set】


  『Water Ball Lv.2』 『Fire Breath Lv.2』 『Wind Arrow Lv.1』 『King’s Awe Lv.1』 『Poison Claws Lv.2』 『Size Transformation Lv.1』 『Tornado Lv.1』 『Ice Arrow Lv.1』 new

  Ice Arrow: Create and shoot 5 ice arrows. It has enough power to break rocks if all 5 arrows hit.