Most of the bandits had either been sliced in half at the torso, beheaded or had various limbs chopped off. In the midst of all this, the man with the poleaxe the same height as him turned to look at Rei with a questioning expression.

  「So, Miroir, who’s this guy?」


  「Egret, you. You should have asked that when you first noticed him, not now.」


  「It’s fine. I don’t want to distract myself while fighting. And that monster……seeing how friendly it is to that kid over there, it’s a tamed monster, isn’t it? It’s the first time I’ve seen one like it.」


  At his words, Miroir gave a sigh.

  She knew that Egret didn’t think that much, but she didn’t think that he wouldn’t recognise a high ranking monster like a Griffon.

  Glancing towards Rei and Set, who were interrogating the remaining bandits who were fortunate or unfortunate enough to be still alive, Miroir spoke up again.

  「That’s a Griffon, an A rank monster. Don’t try to mess with it, mind you. There’s no way even you can beat a Griffon.」


  「……Well, I’m not going make any moves against it. But, that kid is more dangerous that the Griffon, isn’t he?」


  「Is that so? It’s true that he demonstrated a great deal of strength in the battle just now, but for me, the Griffon is much more scary.」


  Though she said that, Miroir honestly felt that whether it was Rei or Set, they were both scary.

  She was tall for a woman and was much taller than the kid in a robe who looked like a mage apprentice. However, the huge scythe he had wielded had sliced through bandits in a single swing. In order to interrogate the remaining bandits, Rei was just using the shaft of the Death Scythe to beat them, but it was true that her spine went cold when she thought that he also could have used the huge blade. As for the Griffon, it went without saying.

  「So, who is he?」


  「He seems to be an adventurer from Gilm.」


  「……Ha? What is an adventurer from Gilm doing all the way out here?」


  As Miroir and Egret had said, they were quite a long distance from Gilm. Probably about 20 days travel from Gilm, partially due to their location off the road.

  However, that was only the number of days of travel if they followed the main road. It was only about half a day’s travel for someone like Set who could fly through the sky, ignoring roads and cutting across forests and mountains.

  「I don’t know. But you cat tell right, Egret? You can tell he’s extraordinary just by looking at him.」


  「Yes. I looked at him for a moment when he broke into the battle, it’s true that he’s quite strong……hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey.」


  Egret nodded at Miroir’s words before looking at Rei with an expression of surprise. All Rei had done was to simply store the Death Scythe into the Misty Ring. But Egret, who hadn’t known about it, looked back at Miroir.

  「Maybe he has a spatial magic pouch? No, that doesn’t seem to be the case.」


  「Maybe it’s inside his robes? Because, if he has such a high class magic item, it would cause a lot of troubles.」


  「……Well, that’s true.」


  Although they hadn’t realised that Rei had an item box, they were pretty sure that he had a very expensive magic item like a pouch made with spatial magic. Because of that, Miroir just assumed that it was inside his robes.

  After getting the information he wanted out of the bandits, Rei broke their necks to kill them before coming over.

  Adventurers like themselves aside, as they had a certain level of experience, they were somewhat surprised that Rei could kill the bandits without any change in his expression. A 15 year old kid like Rei looked like he didn’t have any combat experience. That said, they didn’t show any hostility towards Rei……no, rather, he had helped them so there was no need to act defensive around him.

  「Do you know where the bandit’s base is?」


  「Yes, it’s in the forest about an hour from here.」


  「Really? An hour? Even if people are just doing their own things around here, it would get found out really quickly.」


  When Egret muttered that after hearing what Rei said, Miroir sighed as she spoke.

  「In the first place, this place is already off the road. If you consider that, an hour’s walk from here is already more than enough.」


  「Is that so? ……Ah, I still haven’t introduced myself. Thank you for helping us. I’m Egret.」


  「I’m Rei. An adventurer from Gilm.」


  「……Really? I’m not doubting you, but what is an adventurer from Gilm doing all the way out here? If you don’t mind, could you show me your guild card?」


  Egret said he didn’t doubt him, but hiss gaze was still sharp as he looked at Rei.

  Of course, he didn’t think they could win if they fought Rei. But, he was still determined to resist as much as he could……


  「Sure, I don’t mind.」


  Rei easily threw out his guild card as Egret caught it on reflex.

  Looking at the guild card while puzzled by the unexpected developments, he saw that the guild card had definitely been issued in Gilm.

  「C rank!?」


  Egret shouted at Rei’s unexpectedly high rank.

  Speaking of which, C rank was a rank seen among veterans that had been in the business for a long time. But as for whether it was the right rank for the kid in front of them, the answer was both yes and no.

  (Just looking at him, he doesn’t look like a C rank adventurer. However, on the contrary, considering how well he fought against the bandits, he definitely has the skill.)

  After showing Rei’s guild card to Miroir, who was also surprised by the C rank on it, Egret and Miroir both passed their guild cards to Rei.

  However, Rei just tilted his head when he saw their guild cards. He understood that the two of them had great strength from the battle they had just fought. Because of that, he wasn’t surprised to find out that both of them were high ranking B rank adventurers. But, he didn’t recognise the name of the city where their guild cards had been issued.

  「Where is Rusch located? I’ll ask that first.」


  「Ahh……from here, it’s to the far west. It’s a city so far away that can take nearly six months to get to by horse.」


  「……What is an adventurer from such a distant city doing here?」


  Contrary to Egret’s suspicious feelings about Rei earlier, this time it was Rei who looked at the two of them suspiciously.

  Next to Rei, feeling his thoughts, Set lowered his upper body, ready to attack at any time.

  「Hey, wait! We’re not suspicious.」


  「I don’t think someone suspicious would admit that they were suspicious.」


  The thought that passed through Rei’s mind at that moment was the possibility that the two people in front of him might have bounties.

  If an adventurer committed a crime and tried to escape, the guild would put a bounty on their head. Usually, it was necessary to capture criminals alive, but it wasn’t uncommon for heinous criminals to be wanted dead or alive. Rei wondered if they had a bounty on them, but looking an Miroir and Egret, they might have been accused under been false charges. Still, it was a fact that the city listed on their guild cards was more than half a year’s travel from here, so it was normal to doubt them to some extent.

  In this case, it was unfortunate for Miroir and Egret that they hadn’t worked for the guilds of other cities since they registered in the guild at the city they came from. The name of the last city you did work in would usually be recorded on the guild card. If another city had been recorded, Rei wouldn’t have been as suspicious of them. Unfortunately, the two of them had just been travelling around since they left the city of Rusch, so they had no way to prove it.

  However, since the two of them didn’t want to die here, they desperately thought of ways to survive.

  ……That said, it was basically Miroir’s job to think of ways to survive. Egret would only be able to try and protect himself if Rei and Set attacked.

  Finally, Miroir spoke out with a bright expression as she thought of a way to avoid fighting with Rei.

  「That’s right, you can come with us to the nearest city! If we go to the guild, you’ll know right away that there’s no bounty on us!」


  「Oh, that’s right. There won’t be any problems that way. How about that?」


  Egret thought that it was a great idea, but Rei just shook his head slightly.

  「I’m on my way to Emoshion and in the first place, I was flying on Set. Basically, I was going to pass straight by without stopping at the city.」


  「B-But, then what are you going to do at night? Even if you have a Griffon, when you say Emoshion, you’re talking about that Emoshion, right? Isn’t it still quite a distance from here? Are you going to set up camp all the way there?」


  「I have Set, I don’t need to worry about camping outside.」


  Rei said that without mentioning the magic tent he had, but as he was thinking, Set came over and rubbed his head against Rei.

  「Gurururu~」


  Rei was puzzled for a moment at Set’s actions, who was basically trying to tell him that the two of them weren’t enemies. However, giving a small sigh, he stored the Death Scythe away into the Misty Ring.

  「……Eh?」


  Just a few seconds ago Miroir had been prepared to fight against Rei, so his sudden change in attitude made her make a dumbfounded sound.

  「You should thank Set. Anyhow, I’ll believe your words for now and head for the closest city with you.」


  「Ah……ahh! I see, I see, you finally understood that we don’t have a bounty?」


  「You idiot! He’s only trusting us for now!」


  Although Miroir punched Egret in the back of head with her bare hands, she still looked relieved. If they actually went back to the city and visited the guild, it would make it clear that they didn’t have a bounty on them.

  「Anyhow, that is for later. Let’s go to the bandit’s hideout first. Fortunately, all the bandits seem to have come here, so there shouldn’t be anyone else in their hideout.」


  「……Did they really all attack us? That would have been really reckless. Normally, they’d leave someone behind to guard the place.」


  「They seem to have been a small group of bandits. They only moved here recently. In that case, I don’t think they would have too much.」


  Rei sighed after explaining what the bandit he had interrogated had said.

  This was a strange situation to begin with. But even so, Rei still wanted to get something out of it.

  「Guru~」


  Perhaps he felt sorry for Rei, Set brought over a spear that had been lying on the ground in his beak.

  Bandits took care of the weapons they used. It was shining brightly……was something he couldn’t say. Still, it was a spear that was still very much usable.

  「Sorry about this.」


  Thanking Set, Rei stored the spear into the Misty Ring.

  「Hey, Rei. You’ve been using that quite a few times……could it be a magic item made with spatial magic? I remember hearing that they were quite expensive?」


  「No, it’s an item box.」


  『Hah!?』


  When Rei responded lightly, not only Egret, even Miroir was shocked.

  Pouches made with spatial magic were very expensive and were items that ordinary adventurers couldn’t afford……no, rather, they were expensive enough that even a first rate adventurer wouldn’t be able to afford one. Item boxes were even rarer. There was no way they wouldn’t be surprised after being told Rei had an item box.

  「Wait a moment. Is it really an item box?」


  「Yes. ……I’ll say this first, but it registers magic power, so it can’t be used by anyone aside from me. Because it has a self defence function, don’t have any strange thoughts.」


  To be exact, rather than a self defence function, it had Rei had casted magic on it. However, Rei decided that there was no need to tell them that.

  However, unexpectedly, both Egret and Miroir nodded easily.

  「That’s right. If we steal someone’s things, that would make us no different to those bandits.」


  「Right. Rather than that, let’s quickly go to the bandit hideout.」


  You shouldn’t steal from other people, but stealing from bandits was fine. Their thoughts weren’t too far off from Rei’s as he started to lower his guard against them.

  In the end, there was very little money in the bandit’s hideout. It ended up being very empty aside from a few weapons that had been stored there.

  Still, Rei managed to get his hands on several spears and didn’t complain. Neither did Egret, who managed to get some swords as part of his share.

  However, if there was one thing that Rei was a bit annoyed about, it would be that Egret had asked if Rei could carry his swords for him in the Misty Ring.

  Thus, the three of them started to make their way back to the adventurers guild at the closest city.