LEGEND

Chapter 199

Rei was troubled over how to distribute the two magic stones in his hands. But when he heard a growl from his stomach, indicating his hunger, he gave a sigh and turned to Set.

Looking over, Set had already eaten up the entire block of Orc meat.

Even though he had just eaten that entire block of Orc meat, Set was still looking at Rei hungrily as if the block of Orc meant had only been a snack.

「That’s right. It’s not a good idea to keep thinking while hungry. First of all, let’s eat something.」

「Guru~」

While they had been flying through the sky, Rei remembered that he had said they would be eating Gamelion meat tonight. Set gave a happy cry.

Wanting to eat quickly, Set brought dry deadwood that had fallen from the nearby trees by either carrying them in his beak or rolling them back with his feet.

Rei smiled at Set in amusement, who was displaying his full strength, as he used simple fire magic to ignite the deadwood that had been collected.

「Gurururu~」

Hurry up, hurry up, Set seemed to say as he rubbed himself against Rei.

And with that, Rei took out a chunk of Gamelion rare species meat from the Misty Ring.

「Hey, calm down. It’s a seasonal meat that’s only available during a limited time period. It’s not just for today’s meal so we won’t eat it all up.」

「Guru~……」

Set looked down in sadness as he lay on the ground.

While giving a wry smile upon seeing that, as Rei was also hungry after having to eat rationed food for a while, he started cooking the Gamelion meat immediately.

That said, Rei wasn’t really good at cooking. Considering where he was, he could either make meat skewers or a simple stew with vegetables from the Misty Ring. Because of that, he took out a knife and metal skewer to roast the meat. He then took out some sauces he had bought at store in Gilm that sold processed food ingredients. Speaking of food eaten by ordinary adventurers at night, it was basically dried meat and bread. Occasionally there would be a more elaborate soup with wild grass and dried meat. Compared to those foods, this was a luxurious meal……as for Rei himself, it was normal for him as he had the Misty Ring from the time he started as an adventurer. His menu of Gamelion rare species meat skewers was something that other adventurers couldn’t help but envy.

First of all, he cut the Gamelion meat into bite sized pieces with a knife, he then put the meat onto metal skewers, he sprinkled them lightly with salt before stabbing them into the ground a short distance away from the campfire.

And with the smell of roasting meat, he applied some sauce lightly when smell oil started to drift around.

A few minutes later, when the smell of charred sauce appeared, the grilling was complete. Rei placed the skewers on a plate he took out from the Misty Ring. Rei kept his portion on skewers but removed the skewers from Set’s portion to make it easier for him to eat.

At that point, Set gave a cry to hurry him on as he wanted to eat. The noise from Rei’s stomach made the same assertion.

「……Well, let’s eat now.」

「Guru~」

At Rei’s words, Set immediately started picking up meat with his beak. Rei also grabbed his chopsticks and bit into the meat.

The first thing that spread through his mouth was the taste of burnt sauce. Then, the meat juices of the Gamelion meat flowed out and he finally could taste the flavour.

Rei felt like it would give him enough nutrition for winter. It felt quite greasy, but the next moment the fat disappeared from his mouth, surprising Rei.

「……Hou~」

As for the taste of the meat itself, the best way to describe it would be that it had the freshness of rabbit meat and the richness of pork combined. It felt like sirloin beef as it melted away in his mouth.

(That said, I’ve only eaten sirloin steak a few times.)

Thinking wryly to himself, he took out some freshly baked bread from the Misty Ring and brought it to his mouth.

They continued eating for about 30 minutes. Rei finished eating after grilling several lots of meat and gave a satisfied sigh.

Set was also satisfied with the taste of Gamelion, he lay on the ground happily, occasionally giving a soft cry.

Rei took a break after finishing his food and leaned against Set. But thinking that he would probably fall asleep if he stayed as he was, he fixed his posture while shaking his head.

「Now then, Set. I’m done with my meal and will sleep to rest for tomorrow……but before that, the Gamelion magic stones.」

「Guru~」

Noticing that the mood had changed, Set gave a small cry as he turned to look at Rei.

「I’ve thought about it in various ways, but because I can also use magic in emergency situations, I will take the ordinary magic stones. Set will take the rare species magic stones. Well, I don’t think it’s that big of a difference who absorbs it. If we work together, it doesn’t matter who absorbs the magic stones.」

「Gurururu~」

Set also didn’t want to leave Rei and gave a cry in agreement.

「Okay. First is me. We managed to get the rare species one with a lot of trouble. I’m looking forward to it at the end.」

Muttering to himself, he took the Gamelion magic stone out of the Misty Ring and threw it into the air.

The next moment, the magic stone was split in two and disappeared like mist.

「……」

After that, Rei waited, but the expected message was never heard in his mind.

「Is it a miss?」

「Guru~」

Set gave a small cry while rubbing his face again Rei to cheer him up.

「Don’t worry about it. Fortunately, I learnt how to manipulate the ground from the dungeon core. It’s much better than not learning anything.」

Patting Set’s head that was rubbing against him and enjoying the touch, Rei took out the magic stone of the Gamelion rare species from the Misty Ring.

「Now then. It was no use with an ordinary Gamelion magic stone, but what about a rare species. From past experience, if it is a rare species magic stone, a skill should almost guaranteed to be learnt. Set.」

Instead of throwing it as usual, he held out the magic stone in front of Set, who narrowed his eyes in comfort while being patted.

「Gurururu~」

Set took the magic stone in his beak and swallowed it.

The next moment.

【Set has acquired the skill『Poison Claw Lv.2』】

An announcement sounded in his mind.

「Gururururu~!」

Set raised a cry of joy at his new skill.

Rei stroked Set’s head while being quite pleased that Set had become stronger.

「Even so, Poison Claw Lv. 2 is it? It’s probably because the Gamelion had poison fangs. Set, can you show me it? Ah, of course don’t hurt me with your claws.」

「Gururu~」

Set put his right forefoot in front of Rei and gave a low cry. The next moment, he activated Poison Claw. Rei understood how it worked after seeing Set’s claw turn purple.

「Purple, is it. That reminds me of the fog……no, that fog paralyzed. Ahh, that’s good enough.」

「Gururu~」

When Set gave a second cry, the colour of his claws immediately turned back from purple back to its original colour.

「That was easy enough to understand, but I wonder how poisonous the claws become. The Ogre we fought in the dungeon took about 10 minutes for the poison to go all around its body. In that case……no, I might not be able to make a simple comparison based on size. Any how, I can’t find out unless we find a monster to test it on.」

「Guru~」

I agree, Set seemed to say while giving a small cry.

「In that case, everything we need to check has been checked. I should sleep for the night. Set, I’ll leave the watch to you. This isn’t the frontier, but it is still possible for monsters to come out at night.」

「Gurururururu~」

Set gave a cry, saying leave it to me, and plopped himself down onto the ground. Seeing that, Rei was going to lean against a nearby tree and go to sleep, but Set’s tail stretched out and wrapped around his foot.

「Set?」

「Gurururu~」

Set looked straight at Rei’s torso.

He seemed to say it would be could and that Rei should lean against him to sleep……

「No, it’s fine. You have such kind thoughts. If I’m leaning against you, it will get in the way of you keeping watch.」

「Guru~」

Set gave cry to say that he had no problems with that.

「Then, apologies, I’ll take up your offer.」

If he wore his Dragon Robe, he would still be able to sleep warmly even if it snowed. Nevertheless, if he could on a monster with a warm temperature like Set, he still felt happy about it.

「Tomorrow, when we return to Gilm……I’ll buy various foods from the stalls to eat……」

「Gurururu~」

While giving a soft cry, Set looked at Rei, who like a true adventurer had quickly fallen asleep, before turning his eyes back into the darkness.

The campfire burned near Set and Rei, a crackling sound would sometimes be heard from it.

During that time, Set quietly moved his neck to grab a piece of firewood in his beak and threw it towards the campfire to allow Rei, his favourite partner, to stay a bit warmer.

Slowly, slowly, night time passed until all the firewood had nearly been used up.

「……」

Set gave a sharp gaze into the darkness while not moving his body to avoid waking up Rei, who was using him as a pillow.

There were a couple of Orcs which had come over, attracted by the campfire, but feeling Set’s glare, they understood that they would die if they took a few more steps forward and eventually ran back to where they came from without raising a sound.

Looking at Rei to check that he hadn’t woken up after that incident, Set closed his eyes in satisfaction before searching the darkness again using his hearing and smell.

After that, there were two more occasions where monsters came over, attracted by the campfire or maybe the human near it. But in the end, they all ran away after noticing the presence of Set.

That was how the night was spent. When the morning sun started to rise, Rei finally woke up.

By that time, the firewood they had prepared the previous day had almost all been used up and the flame of the campfire was about to flicker out.

「Fuu~……ahh, good morning, Set」

「Guru~」

Set gave a cry at Rei’s voice.

Stroking Set’s back several times, Rei gave a large stretch before taking the Dagger of Flowing Water out from the Misty Ring to wash his face.

After taking a few minutes to wash up, Rei got ready to leave after having a light breakfast consisting of sandwiches he took from the Misty Ring.

「Mm? Ahh, it seems no monsters came. Or did Set take them out? But if monsters attacked us, I would have been woken up since I was leaning against Set as I slept.」

When he realised there were no dead monsters in his surroundings, Rei muttered to himself.

「Well then, I would like to get back to Gilm by noon today……well, with Set’s speed, we’ll be fine.」

「Gururu~!」

Leave it to me Rei! Set seemed to say as he gave a cry.

Rei glanced at the sky while enjoying the smooth touch of Set’s back.

「……I hope not too much falls.」

It was a bit dim as the sun was just beginning to rise at the end of his sight. And because the temperature was cold in the morning, Rei’s breath created a white mist.

Fortunately it hadn’t started snowing yet, but considering the season was already winter, it seemed just like a matter of time before it would start to snow.

「Well, we should arrive early at the city and stay warm inside the Dusk Wheat.」

Having said that, he had been entrusted with delivering supplies for Magic Fever. Rei understood that he would have to make a minimal report of everything at the very least.

After completing all his preparations, he got on Set’s back before they flew up into the sky.

The first thing he saw was the morning sun completely rising up and the soft sunshine spreading through the clean air. The light could have been described as spring sunshine if it weren’t for the ambient temperature.

Under the morning light, Set flapped his wings through the sky. Fortunately, maybe because it was still early in the morning, they flew back without being attacked by any Sword Bees, which had happened when they had been flying to Baar. About an hour later, they flew past Abuero, near the place they had camped overnight. As Rei handed Set a few pieces of fruit as snacks, who turned his head to receive them……

「Guru~」

At Set’s cry, Rei turned his eyes forward.

Because it was so far, Rei couldn’t see it at first, even with his eyesight. But as the distance shrank, he realised what Set had seen.

A huge wall, standing to surround a city. It was the same as other cities he had seen so far, but the thickness and height of the wall was definitely much greater than other cites he had seen as it was on the frontier.

It was the first place Rei had gone to after arriving in this world. In some sense, the city of Gilm could be called his hometown. The good old city came within Rei’s vision.

「Finally, we’re back.」

As Rei said that with a bit of relief, Set went down to the ground after hearing Rei’s voice.

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【Set】

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