LEGEND

Chapter 210

A forest near the city of Gilm. There was a cave upstream of a river that flowed through it. The cave entrance was camouflaged so that even if adventurers from Gilm came by, they wouldn’t notice it. There were no monsters, much less people, inside the cave. It was a mere cave that could be found anywhere in Elgin. However, if there was only a single difference compared to other caves, it would be the magic formation drawn on the floor of the cave. The magic formation was about 3m in diameter. It was like a marker for the transition stone.

Transition stone. It was a magic item developed by the Bestir Empire that utilised spatial magic, a magic that was known to have a high level of difficulty. Furthermore, the spatial magic used required a magic stone of a high rank monster to be produced, B rank or higher, as well as several rare materials. Because of that, no matter how capable the alchemists of the Bestir Empire were, its usage had various limitations. For example, the weight limit of the transition was about 2-3 adults due to the amount of magic power that a transition stone could contain. It would also be impossible to use unless a specific magic formation destination was prepared. And, the biggest limitation was that the maximum transition distance was about 10km.

Because of that, when the shadows had infiltrated into the city of Gilm, this cave had been prepared as the transition destination for the transition stone ahead of time. And at this time, the magic formation drawn on the ground was flickering intensely.

The blue light flickered between bright and dim. The flickering repeated several times……and the next moment, the blue light scattered into the surrounding.

And when the light disappeared……

「Guru~?」

There stood a Griffon over 2m in size.

「Guru, Gururu~?　Gurururururu~!」

Because the transition had been so sudden, he probably hadn’t realised what had happened. Set looked at the surroundings while tilting his head slightly one way and then the other.

There was only a rock wall around him and a rock ceiling above. The only exit that could be considered was blocked up by dead trees, tree branches and stones to hide it from the outside.

「Gurururu~」

While giving a cry, Set remembers the events that had happened a moment ago. He had felt the activation of some sort of magic or magic item and had slammed into the hut that he had felt the magic come from in order to protect Rei. At that moment, he had hit several people before the surroundings were covered by a dazzling light and the next thing he noticed, he was in this cave.

「Guru~?　Gururu~……Gurururu~!」

He looked around for Rei, but of course couldn’t find him in this place far from Gilm.

Although he became disheartened, he gave a cry to encourage himself.

He would be separated from Rei at night in the inn and he had also experienced a long absence away during Rei’s rank up test. As he remembered that, he first blasted away the rocks and tree branches covering the entrance of the cave with his forefoot.

Fortunately, the entrance was large enough that even Set could pass through. As he went through, he looked around the outside.

Most of trees were bare due to winter while several other evergreen trees came into view.

Looking at the ground, a lot of dead leaves had fallen, maybe due to the snow that had fallen. It was wet and damp.

「Gururu~」

Set looked around as he gave a cry.

However, there was of course no one nearby, and definitely not Rei, who he was looking for.

「Guru~, Gurururu~. ……Gurururururururu~!」

He gave a cry that soon became quite loud……an earnest cry to say that he was here. Most of the monsters that were in the area hid away or fled when they heard his cry, but to Set, that was irrelevant.

Rei wasn’t around. That truth made Set feel discouraged.

「Gururu~……」

He stood where he was and continued to cry out for another 30 minutes but still didn’t see Rei. Naturally, there was no one there to smile back at him and pat and scratch his head or to brush his back.

He stayed at the front of the cave for another 30 minutes.

Even though he felt a bit nervous being separated from Rei, he still decided to stay a full hour before deciding that there was no point to remain there.

「Guru~」

Eventually, he decided that Rei wouldn’t come to pick him up even if he waited where he was and gave a small cry to encourage himself.

Although the location the transition stone had transferred him to was already known due to the confession from the leader of the shadows, Set hadn’t been present and naturally couldn’t know. Because of that, if Rei couldn’t find him without knowing where he was, Set decided to look for Rei himself.

Fortunately, there was some space in front of the cave. Flapping his wings and running several meters, his body eventually floated into the sky as if running on air.

「Gurururururu~!」

I will see Rei soon. Giving a determined cry, he looked down at the ground from the sky.

「……Guru~?」

At this time, an unexpected sight entered Set’s eyes. A high wall that surrounded a city wasn’t far from where he had been just before. If it had been a different city, he might have mistaken it. However, the magic power he felt from inside the city was definitely Rei’s. In other words, the city inside the wall was Gilm.

「Guru~, Gurururu~, Gururururururu~!」

It was a cry full of joy compared to the one he had raised a little earlier. His cry echoed into the surroundings just the same as before.

「Gururu~!」

And giving another cry, Set flapped his wings towards the city he could see in front of him.

Walking along the ground, it would have taken more than half a day……the distance to Gilm was a distance that could take up to a day to get to depending on the speed of travel, but it wasn’t much for Set who could fly through the sky. He would arrive in less than an hour. Set flew through the sky while thinking that, but when he casually glanced towards the ground, he discovered a group of adventurers fighting a monster with his sharp eyes. And, his hearing, as sharp as his sight, picked up the voices of the adventurer party.

「Eeyy-!　If you’re a lizardman, then go hibernate like a lizard!」

A female warrior defended herself continuously from the attacks of several lizardmen. A middle-aged man with a cane in one hand cast a spell while a female archer released arrows to support the female warrior in the vanguard. Set knew the party. It was the C rank party Scorching Wind. The leader of Scorching Wind, Milein, had especially made a strong impression on Set as she had always given him delicious food.

「Guru~……」

Turning to look at Gilm for a moment, he already knew where Rei was and didn’t think Rei had any particular injuries from the magic power he felt.

……Of course, the reason he could feel Rei’s magic power from so far away was because Set had been created by Rei’s Magic Beast Art and their souls were connected by a line of magic. No one other than him could sense Rei’s magic power from such a distance. However, Rei didn’t have the ability to sense magic power and could not sense Set as a result. So this was only a one way detection from Set to Rei.

Understanding Rei’s situation through the line of magic power than connected them, he was lost for a few seconds after seeing Gilm and Milein fighting lizardmen before eventually deciding to land onto the ground.

Normally, lizardmen were rank D monsters that weren’t a real opponent for Scorching Wind, which was a rank C party. However, it was now winter and the ground had gone mushy with snow. This had erased the advantage that Milein had as a speed oriented swordsman.

Lizardmen were vulnerable to the cold of winter, but their bodies would warm up as they moved and their movements were not sluggish. ……That said, once the temperature really started to drop, their movements would become extremely sluggish.

「Hey, Sulunin, is your spell still not ready!?」

「Please wait. Just a bit more……」

「Milein, in front, in front-!」

Milein pressed Sulunin, the party’s mage, for magic. But during that time, the lizardman holding a spear stabbed forward from the side of another lizardman who was fighting Milein with a sword……

「Gururururu~!」

For the three member of Scorching Wind……and, with a cry most familiar to Milein, Set dropped down with his 2m large body. Then, while falling, smashed his forefoot into the lizardman who had been fighting Milein with a sword, shattering its neck.

「Eh!?」

Although Milein involuntarily raised a cry, Set didn’t mind it as he landed on the ground with barely a sound.

Despite his sudden descent and attack from the sky, it was probably because he was a Griffon that his landing was still very quiet.

「Gururururu~!」

And when he landed on the ground, sinking his posture to absorb the impact, he then used that energy to jump up again. He swung his forefoot across the belly of a lizardman who held an axe and shredded its torso.

Glancing at the surroundings to check that there wasn’t anyone else, Set took a deep breath……

「Gurururururururu~!」

With a cry, he spat out a fire breath from his beak.

「Shaaaaa-!」

The moment the flames touched them, the lizardmen rolled onto the ground with their whole body in flames as they screamed.

The good news was that it was currently winter. If it had been autumn, the fire would have spread to the dry leaves and trees.

「-! Now, Sulunin, Ecryll!」

Returning to reality at Milein’s shout, Sulunin fired off a wind arrow while Ecryll shot her arrows from her bow, killing the last few lizardmen remaining.

As for Milein, she swung down her sword at the neck of the lizardman on fire, who was rolling on the ground after losing its footing.

And a few minutes later. At last, Milein finally calmed down and looked towards Set, who was looking around vigilantly, unlike how his eyes usually looked inside the city.

「Set-chan……right?」

「Guru~」

When asked by Milein, Set gave a cry in assent.

On his neck, he wore the Necklace of Subservient Monster, which he was required to wear while inside the city of Gilm. It was safe to say that the Griffon in front of Milein was the Set she knew.

「Gurururu~?」

Are you okay?　Set seemed to ask as he tilted his head.

The feeling of relief from being saved, the joy of seeing Set in front of her and above all, seeing Set’s cuteness, Milein’s emotions exploded.

「Set-chan, Set-chan, Set-chan!　Thank you for your help!　You’re really cute, good looking, strong, cute and cute!」

「……Milein, you’ve said that he’s cute several times.」

With a wry smile at Milein’s appearance, Sulunin gently stroked Set’s head with his cane in his other hand.

He turned to look at Milein clinging onto Set’s neck but didn’t disturb her. Maybe it was the wisdom of an older man. Sulunin spoke to Set while ignoring it.

The Griffon before them that had been at the forefront of events during the surprise attack on the Orc settlement was quite human like……to go a step further, he seemed to be more intelligent than some humans. ……It might have been because of that that Milein had praised him so much up until now.

「Thank you for your help. We know how to deal with lizardmen of this level, but the timing was bad this time.」

「Gururu~」

Don’t worry about it, Set seemed to say as he shook his head.

As Ecryll watched Set from a bit further away, she suddenly noticed something.

「Huh? If Set is here, is Rei also here?　I can’t see him though.」

「……Guru~……」

At those casually muttered words, Set gave a lonely smile with his round eyes and shook his head.

「Hm?　No Rei, just Set?　……That’s strange, he really takes care of you Set.」

「Guru~」

Set turned to look in the direction of Gilm while giving a cry.

Milein’s love for Set might be inferior to Rei’s, but she had confidence that she wouldn’t lose out to anyone else and immediately realised what that gesture meant.

「Ah, that’s in the direction of Gilm. ……Then, is Rei still in Gilm?　And Set was on his way back?」

「Gururu~」

That’s right, Set seemed to say as he nodded his head.

He could feel Rei’s presence and Milein was now in front of him. The Set in front of the three members of Scorching Wind was already back to his usual self and wasn’t like how he had been crying out at the front of the cave about an hour ago.

「I see. I don’t know the reason, but you were separated from Rei. ……Hmm, that’s right. Set-chan. We’re heading back to Gilm now, would it be fine if you went with us?」

「Milein. If it’s Set, can’t he just fly back to Gilm by himself? 　Why bother slowing him down……」

Sulunin reproached Milein, who wanted to travel with Set.

Nevertheless, even if Milein asked Set, it wasn’t just to be with him. It was also because Set’s presence as a Griffon was very useful when traveling outside the city.

「I wonder?　It would be good for him to stay with us for a while……」

「Guru~……」

He turned to look towards Gilm for a few seconds, hesitating……but eventually nodded his head.

Seeing the way he had appeared, they knew that he was probably worried about Rei. But still. Milein hugged Set’s neck as one of her favourite companions. With regards to his immediate situation, Set judged that Milein had a higher priority than Rei and headed back for the city of Gilm with Scorching Wind.

「Wait, Milein, you’ve spent so much money already that our funds for winter have already decreased, please reflect on that a bit.」

「I know. Sulunin is so petty.」

「Milein, you’ve spent your money quite extravagantly. I heard that you declared in the bar last night that you didn’t have anymore money to spend.」

「That-. Ecryll. That’s……」

「I see. Let me hear more details about that.」

Their conversation continued as such.