The current location: the western part of Paladia, the hill area separated by walking distance from a certain village that is closer to its border with the Rubia kingdom. Renji was smacking his lips as he unintentionally recalled the memory of a few months ago while looking at Reis, who was talking to someone not that far from his location.

  Currently Renji was an adventurer. Since he hated being restricted he used his power to live as he liked as an adventurer.

  Hiding his status as the hero, Renji quickly become a well known adventurer. For better or worse he become a small celebrity within the Rubia kingdom.

  The reason why Renji chased after Reis was because he could feel something unusual had happened to none other than the first princess, Silvi Rubia. Maybe Renji’s disposition, being unaware of how scary the outside world was, matched that of Silvi, he became quite close to her due to a certain mission.

  That Renji reunited with Silvi a few days ago in a certain city that he visited for his mission. Renji was quite ignorant to the other’s feelings, but the moment he saw Silvi’s complexion at that time, he snapped. He got no answer no matter how many times he asked her.

  Poking his nose into the other’s problem wasn’t in his nature―― Or so, at least, he thought of himself―― But, worrying about Silvi, he decided to secretly follow her. He then came to know about one of Silvi’s worries during one of her clandestine meetings with Reis.

  When he came to, he was already following Reis after the clandestine meeting. Though it shocked him seeing that Reis was capable of flying in the air, Renji’s physical ability and strength weren’t normal either. Fortunately, since Reis often stopped midway to rest, it was quite easy to follow him.

  （The day has turned dark already and yet…… What the hell is he talking about?　Is the other party his companion?　In that case, if it’s at this distance……)

  Renji strengthened his physical abilities with the power of his divine raiment and focused that power into his eyes to look at Reis and the man that had become his conversation partner―― Lucius.

  （There’s no one else aside from those two. Should I take this chance?)

  No questions asked, on the contrary, he might become a hostage to those two. ――Such possibilities appeared in Renji’s train of thought. ――,

  （!?　They made their move!)

  Reis suddenly went along with Lucius. They were having a friendly conversation, so Renji was quietly approaching their location.

  （Should I…… Go there? )

  According to his estimates, there was several hundred metres between their positions.

  （It’s okay. They won’t be able to notice me. Rather, it’ll be bad if they notice me and then try to escape. In that case, should I defeat them with a ranged attack?)

  Without showing any useless emotion, Renji gripped the divine raiment in his right hand―― a weapon called “Halberd”. And then with his left hand took out a throwing dagger from his bosom pocket, he grasped his weapons and entered a battle ready state.

  And then, several minutes later, Reis and Lucius began moving towards Renji. Their surroundings were completely dark.

  （I’m sure that Reis is the one who met Silvi. In that case, I’m going to aim for the other person first!)

  Renji who hid himself in the shade of a big rock threw the dagger in his left hand towards Lucius. He aimed for the torso. It’ll turn into a fatal wound once it hits, but in the worst case, he wouldn’t be troubled even if his target was to die as he threw the dagger to disturb his opponent’s rhythm.

  The dagger plunged into Lucius’ body, but――,

  「WHAT! ? 」


  The next moment, a loud metallic sound resounded in the vicinity. Lucius swiftly parried that dagger with his unsheathed black sword. Renji stared at that scene with a dumbfounded look on his face.

  「Hahaha, for you to launch a surprise attack without even speaking first. It seems you’ve made your resolution. 」


  Lucius laughed happily.

  「.…… You guys, what are you people? 」


  Renji pretended to be calm as he asked that question.

  「Oioioi, you’re attacking your enemies without even knowing about them, for real?　I thought you’re just a runt, it turned out that you’re just an ignorant brat.」


  Lucius sneered at him with a surprised expression.

  Knitting his eyebrows, the next moment, Renji took out another dagger and flung it at Lucius. But, the dagger got repelled along with another high pitched metallic shrill resounding in the vicinity.

  「HaH, You can’t even control your own emotions! 」


  Lucius closed the distance to Renji with a composed smile on his face.

  「Fuh! 」


  Renji gripped his halberd and set his stance to accept Lucius’ challange. A high-pitched metallic sound resounded in that area the next moment.

  「Hou, splendid physical reinforcement you got there. As expected of the hero bestowed with a divine raiment」


  「.……! ? 」


  Lucius let out a sneer as he pushed his sword against the halberd, and Renji’s eyes opened wide in amazement.

  「Bull’s eye huh?」


  「.…… What do you mean? 」


  「Drop your poor act already!」


  Despite Renji’s attempt to feign ignorance, Lucius just shut him down with a bored face, and――,

  「Whatever, I’m going to enjoy this fight. Now show me all you got. How long do you think you can satisfy my craving for a fight? 」


  He took a step back while snickering at his opponent.

  「Humph, in that case, let me show you the difference of power between us!」


  Renji snorted with an annoyed tone and took a large swing at Lucius with his halberd. The huge halberd whose length surpassed Renji’s height was drawing countless chaotic orbits as it sweaped down towards Lucius. But――,

  「Ouou, I told you to show me what you know!」


  Lucius dodged the attacks with his superb footwork. Renji’s halberd just ended up scouring the ground.

  「CEH! 」


  Renji smacked his lips and started to spin his halberd with an even higher speed, but Lucius dodged all of the attacks with acomposed face.

  「Ha~, just like pearls thrown before a swine huh? Whether it’s his defense or footwork, everything is overly relying on his strengthened physical abilities. The ability of the user itself is just on the level of trash! 」


  Lucius slipped through the gap in Renji’s attacks and sent a horizontal slash with his sword.

  Renji reacted to the attack――,

  「What? 」


  And retreated while furrowing his eyebrows. It seems that Lucius’ words had hurt his pride. Renji never lost even once in a battle ever since he had come to this world. Although his style was self-taught, it reached the point where he could wield his halberd at will to slaughter his enemies with dance-like movements. But――,

  「This is, a self-taught style right? A halberd swung in that way is a threat indeed, but there are too many wasteful movements. And I’m already used to your attacks.」


  Lucius said with a tired tone as he sped towards Renji.

  「Don’t just blabber around, small fry! 」


  Renji had raised the swinging speed of his halberd without even disturbing his breath.

  「Hou, so you can go even faster, huh?」


  Lucius eyes opened wide in amazement.

  「That was plenty enough for the enemies that I fought until now.」


  Renji said with a sneer on his face.

  「I see. But, don’t you think that your movements are still as crude as ever? 」


  「WHAT! ? 」


  Slipping into the small gap between Renji’s attack, Lucius tripped Renji’s feet as they passed by so Renji lost his balance and crumbled to the ground.

  「Oi Reis! Is this the level of the ones called hero’s? 」


  Lucius spoke to Reis who watched their fight from a safe distance with a dissatisfied face.

  「You got it wrong. They shouldn’t be this weak. Though he should be able to wield the power of his divine raiment to some extent, he’s still holding back from what I see.」


  Reis replied while shrugging his shoulders.

  「Eh? Oioi, you’re still holding back even in this kind of situation? Even though it’s okay to probe the opponent, don’t do something like holding back when you see such a difference in our abilities you know. If I felt like it, you would have been dead long time ago you know? 」