LEGEND

Chapter 187

The Dagger of Flowing Water, a powerful magic weapon for those that could master it, or for Rei who had no aptitude for water magic, it could only be used as an endless water source. After given an explanation of its usage, a somewhat exasperated voice echoed into the office.

Turning in the direction of the voice, he saw a man in his fifties. Although he was past his prime, he probably didn’t slack in his training as he had a well built body.

(Who is that?)

Rei reached for the Mithril Knife inside his Dragon Robe while thinking to himself. However, he immediately stopped after remembering this was the guild master’s office.

Whoever it was, he was probably an acquaintance of Seis.

He was proven right the next moment.

「Diarog, you’re late.」

「Don’t be stupid. Since we obtained the Aurani grass powder, I have to give various instructions. I managed to finish all that somehow……」

Diarog gave a big sigh after he spoke to that point.

It wasn’t easy. There was finally a way to deal with the Magic Fever spreading through Baar. He had come to the guild to discuss what to do next, only to see his good friend for many years destroying a cup with a magic item.

「I’m not playing around, I was thinking of making a small request of him. I was planning to give this Dagger of Flowing Water as a reward and was just showing its use.」

「Him?」

Hearing that, Diarog finally noticed Rei and turned to look at him.

Seeing that, Rei gave a nod and asked Seis who it was.

「This is Diarog, the acting lord of this city. He’s also a friend of Marina, Gilm’s guild master, and were in the same party. Diarog, this boy is Rei. The adventurer who delivered the Aurani grass powder from Gilm.」

「Ohh-! You’re the boy who delivered the Aurani grass powder. I’m very grateful. No, I am truly grateful. Many of the residents who have fallen ill with Magic Fever can be saved with this. Although it’s impossible for everyone to survive, a lot less people will die than was previously estimated. No, thank you very much for coming here.」

Diarog expressed his gratitude while striking Rei’s shoulder heavily.

Finding out that the person in front of him was Diarog, the current representative lord of the city, Rei nodded his head.

「I’m Rei, a D rank adventurer from Gilm. I hope it will be possible to eradicate the Magic Fever that is spreading around the city with the relief supplies I brought.」

「Ahh, of course. The adventurer in this city are a bit inferior to those from a city like Gilm, but our alchemists and pharmacists are competitive.」

He boastfully nodded, but in a way this was true.

Gilm’s adventurers were always fighting monsters on the frontier, naturally their skills were polished. Or rather, adventurers who didn’t have a certain level of skill would be killed in fights against monsters and wouldn’t be able to live as an adventurer in Gilm. One of the few exceptions were H rank adventurers who specialised in requests inside the city and didn’t have to fight or those who were lucky enough to be working with more skilled adventurers.

In comparison, alchemists and pharmacists didn’t have such extreme differences between cities. As expected, there would differences in skill due to the ease of obtaining materials compared to that in Gilm, but the skill difference wasn’t as great as that of adventurers. ……Excluding exceptions like the Magic City Osus.

「That’s right. I wanted him to find out why Magic Fever has spread so rapidly around the city.」

「……But, to begin with, he’s not familiar with this city right? Ah, no, of course he’s someone that she has sent over with confidence. I don’t mean to look down on you kid.」

Maybe he thought his words were slightly disrespectful to Rei, Diarog followed up on his words in a hurry.

But seeing the deputy lord act like that, Rei spoke up after shaking his head to indicate he didn’t mind.

「It’s a fact that I’m not familiar with this city, and in the end, I’m still a D rank adventurer.」

「However, you are still the record holder for the fastest to get to rank D after registering at the guild in Gilm right?」

Rei nodded with a wry smile as Seis spoke with a somewhat roguish smile.

「That is true……」

「That aside. Diarog might not know since he can’t sense magic power, but this boy possess and incredibly massive amount of magic power in his body. Since the effect of Magic Fever is decided by the amount of magic power in a person, he should be completely safe. ……If even this kid falls to Magic Fever, then you can consider that no one in this city will be immune to it.」

「……That much?」

Diarog turned to look at Rei with astonishment at Seis’s words.

Naturally, Diarog was an adventurer with a long combat record. He had sharp eyes that could estimate the skill of his opponent and as far as he could see, the boy in front of him had extraordinary strength.

However, Diarog was still a thief and because of that had absolutely no ability to sense magic power. The fact that Rei had a massive amount of magic power that he couldn’t feel made him feel a sense of incongruity. Yes, the same feeling of incongruity when Rei saw a powerful magic item.

「Speaking of that, Marina said that if anything happened, we should ask Rei.」

「……Marina. I wonder for how long she will consider herself as our guardian.」

Diarog and Seis were already in their fifties, but of course, Marina was a Dark Elf and had lived much longer than the two of them. Because of that, when they first became adventurers, including several other party members which weren’t here, Marina had played the role of their guardian. ……However, the leader of the party was Diarog, the thief, for some reason.

「Anyway. Do you have any objections to asking Rei to investigate the cause of Magic Fever? As you said, he’s not familiar with the city, so we will have to ask someone to assist him.」

「Hm, I see. ……Boy. No, Rei.」

「Yes.」

「When you entered the city, there should have been some soldiers blocking the gate, one of them should have been called Southernus. Have you met him?」

Asked by Diarog, Rei recalled the person he had talked to when entering the city of Baar.

「Yes. Because he was the one leading the soldiers, I talked with him for a bit.」

「Good. Then I will get Southernus to assist you. However, I’m busy with the various supplies that have been brought today……tomorrow then. I’ll pick you up to meet with him tomorrow. No, wait. Have you decided which inn to stay at in the city since you arrived?」

「That’s right. Since I can’t leave Baar for a week to see if Magic Fever symptoms develop, I’m thinking of finding a place to stay at. I think Diarog might have seen him when he came to the guild, but I have a Griffon with me. ……I’d like you to introduce me to any inn that is okay with tamed monsters.」

「Ahh, that Griffon. It’s a fine Griffon. When I saw it before entering the guild, I was reminded of a nightmare from when we were adventurers.」

Diarog muttered as his eyes seemed to look at something distant.

「Hou~, how great is that Griffon?」

「Ah. It looks might greater than the Griffon we desperately ran away from.」

「Well, that is……」

In Seis mind, he recalled the appearance of a Griffon they had accidentally encountered in the remote frontier in the past.

That was a time when they were arrogant, proud and believed themselves to be first class adventurers. Even though Marina told them not to attack it, they had scoffed at her and ignored her advice. He recalled the bitter memories of running away in panic from their reckless youth.

「Greater than that Griffon? ……Let me think, in that case, which inns can I refer you to that will accept a Griffon. Do you have any issues?」

「No, I have no issues. That Griffon……he’s called Set, he’s quite friendly if you don’t try to mess around with him.」

「……Friendly?」

At those words which you couldn’t imagine being used to describe an A rank monster, Seis and Diarog were shocked as they looked at Rei.

Although they didn’t say it, their eyes clearly indicated they doubted if he was sane.

Seeing that, Rei nodded with a wry smile at their expected response.

He was easily reminded of how he had been affected by the city of Gilm.

(Well, maybe it’s because this is the frontier.)

At the frontier, where they might be attacked by groups of monsters, as long as they weren’t hostile, they would greedily accept any bit of fighting force they could get their hands on. That was the kind of spirit around the city. If they weren’t so strong, the city of Gilm would have been destroyed by monsters by now.

「Anyway. I’ll take you to an inn where you can stay with tamed monsters right away. The inn is currently taking in people sick with Magic Fever as well, but they should still have some rooms available.」

「Please do that. I’ll have to head back to the lord’s residence to give out more instructions. As I mentioned earlier about investigating the cause of Magic Fever, I’ll get Southernus to go to the inn tomorrow morning to have a more detailed discussion.」

「Yes. Regarding the Magic Fever, if we don’t know the cause, there is a possibility it might also spread to Gilm. Considering that, we will definitely find the cause and deal with it somehow.」

Nodding at Rei’s words, Diarog quickly left the office to give out more instructions to each group at the lord’s residence regarding the distribution of medicine. Rei and Seis slowly left the office after him.

「Hou~, as expected.」

That was the first thing Seis said when he saw the request board on the first floor of the guild.

At the end of his line of sight, the relief supplies had almost all disappeared. The huge pot that had been brought by Rei had been properly washed and placed in front of the request board.

「Ah, guild master. And Rei-san. The food was very delicious.」

A receptionist who saw the two of them bowed with a smile.

「I’m glad to have helped. ……Aren’t there a lot less people around?」

When Rei had first entered the guild, there were already few guild staff, but now there were even fewer left.

Although Rei asked questioningly, the receptionist gave a small nod and replied.

「Yes. They are giving out the medicine produced right away. Because of that, there are even fewer people here now.」

「……I see.」

(It’s true that the sick people are probably not all gathered in one place, so the medicine needs to be distributed individually. Anyhow, even if the symptoms are still mild, those with less magic power still might not be able to stand up.)

Rei nodded to himself as the receptionist turned to Seis.

「Is there anything, guild master?」

「Oh, Rei will be staying in Baar for a while to investigate the cause of the Magic Fever epidemic. Because of that, I’m planning to take him to an inn.」

「Do you really need to do that as the guild master!? I mean, I can guide him if you need.」

「No, there’s no doubt that the guild is currently lacking in human resources. As you can see, you are currently the only receptionist in the guild. Because I’m the guild master, I’m not so busy right now, so I should show him around.」

「……I understand. That’s right, I have to do my best here until the rest of the girls come back.」

The receptionist clenched both her hands to cheer herself up.

Naturally, there were other receptionists in the city, but right now, most of them had either fallen ill with Magic Fever or were nursing people with it and couldn’t come to the guild.

「Well, with the medicine made from the Aurani grass powder he brought, everyone should be back before long. Believe in that and do your best.」

「Yes! Take care.」

Rei and Seis left the guild at the receptionist’s parting words.

「Hou~, that is……as Diarog said earlier, it does look like a high ranking Griffon.」

Seis murmured when he exited the guild and saw Set.

「Guru~?」

Maybe hearing that and feeling Rei come over, Set opened his eyes while lying down and gave a cry as they came over.

Seis almost stepped back for a moment before holding his ground.

Seeing that, Rei stroked Set’s head and back as usual.

「What……I couldn’t imagine. Rei, if you don’t mind, may I try stroking him as well?」

「Yes. There shouldn’t be any problems if you just stroke him ordinarily.」

「……Okay.」

Taking a short but deep breath, he gently reached out for Set’s back.

Set looked at Seis for a moment, but judging that he meant no harm, continued to enjoy Rei’s strokes.

「Ohh, ohh……so this is a Griffon, known as the king of beasts and birds.」

Seis murmured, impressed by the smooth feel.

Approximately 5 minutes passed before he brought himself back to reality and brought Rei and Set to the inn.