LEGEND

Chapter 227

「Rei-!?」

Milein screamed.

At the end of her line of sight, she saw Rei expose his back as he covered Baslero from the Icebirds. And……the scene of numerous ice arrows striking his defenseless back.

Considered the injuries one could suffer from ice arrows piercing your back, it could even be a fatal wound. Such thoughts passed through Milein’s mind momentarily.

「That hurt, you sh*tty birds!」

But the next moment, Rei shouted with an angry voice and swung the Death Scythe, instantly slicing the Icebird in two without any resistance.

How powerful and fast had that strike been? It was clear from the fact that the Icebird that had been sliced in two had taken several steps before splitting in half, scattering its internal organs and blood all over the ground.

「Eh? Wai-……huh? What!?」

As far as Milein had seen, ice arrows had definitely pierced Rei’s back. Nearly 10 of them. Nevertheless, he was completely uninjured and could still swing his large scythe as Milein shouted in confusion.

And, the Icebirds around here were not going to miss such a decisive opportunity.

「Kikikiki-!」

Two Icebirds covered their beaks in ice as they stabbed towards Milein.

「Milein-san, don’t let your guard down!」

Arrows from Ecryll and an adventurer with a shield came over to support Milein. Whether or not it was due to their ease of handling, the small shields were made of wood and leather instead of metal caught the beaks of the Icebirds. The next moment, the adventurer swung his shield and smashed the Icebird to the ground, stomping its head at the same time.

「Milein, you’re the leader of the rescue team. Keep it together!」

Returning to reality at the words of the adventurer with the shield, Milein quickly looked at her surroundings.

Almost all the Icebirds had been dealt with, with only twenty remaining. If they paid attention and weren’t careless, it was unlikely that there would be any further casualties.

「Rei, I’m sorry but I’ll leave Baslero to you!」

「I understand……okay!」

With a shout, he swung the Death Scythe again, splattering it’s internal organs and blood into the surroundings.

But that was it. All Rei could do right now was to kill the Icebirds that approached him and Baslero. He couldn’t attack offensively himself.

「Hic……hic……」

That was because Baslero was crying as he held onto Rei’s Dragon Robe.

Yes, the Dragon Robe. It was a magic item that had reduced his injuries to the level of light bruising even though the Icebird had fired ice arrows straight into his back. It was impossible to penetrate and inflict fatal damage on Rei through the robe, that was made with the skin and scales of Dragons, which highly resistant to both physical and magical attacks.

「Stop crying! In the first place, you came along on your own wish! That can’t be helped, but right now, don’t get in our way and keep quiet already!」

Baslero was startled.

At Rei’s angry voice, filled with frustration, he stiffened up for a moment.

Still, he wiped away his tears, endured his fear and didn’t get in the way of Rei as he watched the Icebirds.

His hand still held onto Rei’s Dragon Robe tightly, but it was already much better for Rei that he wasn’t crying during the battle.

「Flying Slash!」

As long as he couldn’t move, Rei had to find some way to increase the range of his attacks. And with regards to magic, it was impossible for him to make an attack with a wide range of effect carelessly due to the current state of the battle. As a result, he chose to use Flying Slash, an easy to use skill of the Death Scythe.

The slash that flew out cut through two Icebirds that he had been aiming at, causing internal organs, blood and flesh to rain down below.

「Kyaa-!? Wait, what!? Eh? Uwa-, blood! Who did that!?」

Unfortunately, Fabel, who was directly under them, had her armour, sword and shield covered by the red blood of the Icebirds.

While hearing that hysterical voice, Rei thought that it was still better than to be attack from above and ignored the shouts as he looked for his next target.

And within a few minutes, he number of Icebirds had visibly declined with only three remaining. When one of the remaining Icebirds noticed that, it have a shrill cry.

「Kikikiiiii-!」

Perhaps it was a signal to withdraw. As soon as they heard the cry, the remaining two Icebirds flapped their blue wings and soared into the sky as they flew north.

「……We, we’re saved?」

Of the escorting adventurers, the spearman murmured unconsciously.

「Uooooo-! We’re saved! We’re all saved!」

Hearing that, one of the sword wielding adventurers gave a shout of joy.

At the same time he raised a shout, the adventurers who had been hired as escorts and the reinforcement that had come with Milein all cheered.

5 minutes later, the joy of surviving had settled down and the adventurers and merchants finally could afford to take a look around.

Feathers, blood, flesh and the internal organs of the Icebirds were spread all over the place. And most importantly, among the adventurers and merchants who had traveled here, one carriage had been completely destroyed to a state that it was no longer usable.

The horse that had been pulling the carriage had been killed. The six adventurers who had guarded the carriage were also all dead as they lay on the ground. The merchants, who had been hiding inside the carriage had met the same end as the horse and adventurers.

「……Six adventurers, was it? It seems the Icebirds aimed for them first because they seemed to be the most threatening.」

「Ugh, ughhh!」

At Rei’s feet, Baslero was vomiting out the contents of his stomach after seeing the corpse of a human for the first time.

At the end of Rei’s line of sight, the merchants, escorts and adventurers who had come with Milein from Gilm collect the dead bodies and cremated them before collecting the goods that were piled up in the destroyed carriage as well as the dead Icebirds lying on the ground.

The reason for cremation was simple. If they were left as they were, they could potentially cause a plague or even become undead. There was also the possibility that they would be eaten by other monsters. They were all cremated to prevent that.

The reason Rei wasn’t cooperating with them was simple. It was because Baslero still refused to let go of Rei’s Dragon Robe. Being unable to assist while Baslero cried and vomited, Rei kept a watch on the surroundings alongside Set.

「……Teacher……」

Baslero turned to Rei and called out after vomiting everything out of his stomach and settling down.

Rei felt Baslero’s look and turned his eyes to him.

「Remember. If you become an adventurer, you will see countless sights like this.」

「……」

At Rei’s words, Baslero looked towards the dead bodies that were being cremated as he held back his nausea.

After about 10 minutes, Rei turned to look at Baslero again.

「Baslero, why are you here? Did you ever consider that you would be a burden if you came here?」

「That is……but……」

He was confident in his own sword skills. That feeling had only increased after the previous week of training. He had also been told he had a natural talent for attacking. It was a fact that he had gained some confidence in his own strength after hearing those words. It was at this time that he had heard there were monsters attack people outside the city. Furthermore, during this time of the year, almost all adventurers were resting instead of working. And, many of those adventurers had been partying during the day in the guild’s bar. Their strength wasn’t enough. It didn’t take Baslero long to reach that conclusion.

Of course, since the number of adventurers in Gilm was enormous, not all of them were drunk at that time. Some adventurers trained and used this rest period to improve themselves while others went to read books at the library to improve their knowledge.

Even the adventurers partying at the guild bar didn’t spend every day there. In the first place, their physical strength and combat skills would decline they weren’t used. It was said in general that if you rested for a day, it would take 3 days to get back to the same level. If they spent their whole winter like that, there was a high chance that they wouldn’t be able to perform at their usual performance when they resumed their work in spring.

Because of that, most adventurers held parties during their break between sessions of training. ……That said, it was also true that there were some adventurers who took the profession lightly and would spend their entire winters in dissolution

Baslero, who wasn’t aware of that, decided that they were short on combat strength. He hid himself in the wagon, thinking that he could support them with his own strength, and come all the way here.

And then the battle actually started. Baslero saw the real thing for the first time in his life. Pieces of flesh being cut away, blood flying everywhere, a scream of despair, adventurers fighting for their very lives.

In such a sight that he had never seen before, Baslero’s heart had been filled with fear.

Still, he had taken up his sword and left the wagon……and all he had ended up doing was being a burden to Rei.

「I……to teacher, I was……a burden?」

「That’s right. It was lucky that I survived. Any other ordinary adventurer would be dead now. ……By your mistake.」

At Baslero’s timid question, Rei nodded without hesitation or forgiveness and thrust the reality before him.

Hearing those words, Baslero’s expression became distressed as tears spilled from the edges of his eyes.

「I’m sorry, I’m very sorry……I, I……」

Rei watched Baslero sob with words leaking out his throat for several minutes.

「Guru」

Set, who was watching the surroundings behind Rei, rubbed his body against Rei and gave a small cry as if to prompt him.

Then, following Set’s actions, Rei gave a small sigh and took his hand out of his robe before placing it lightly on Baslero’s head.

「If you know your own recklessness, that is good enough. Fortunately, this robe of mine is a magic item, those kinds of attacks have little effect.」

Rei said that as he rubbed Baslero’s head.

「Today is the last day I have been requested to teach you how to fight. I wasn’t injured, and neither were you. You now understand how reckless you were and what a battle is like. All things considered, you’ve earned a lot out of it.」

「But, teacher……I, I……」

Although encouraged by Rei, Baslero was still a clever child, more so than other kids his age. How reckless he had been and how dangerous it had been for the other adventurers, including Rei. He couldn’t stop crying because he understood that.

「Ah, I’m sorry to interrupt, but could I talk to you for a second? It’s about the distribution of the monsters you defeated.」

It was the spearman, who was the leader of the adventurers who had been defending the carriage Rei had gone to support. He called out to Rei apologetically.

「The distribution……that’s right.」

Taking his hand off Baslero’s head and looking around, the adventurers had already gather all the corpses of the Icebirds into one place. There was no difficultly in spotting it because there were enough to pile up into a small mountain.

There were over 50 Icebirds that had originally attack the carriages. However, the number of Icebirds in the pile was less than 30. The reason was simple, Icebirds that had been burned by Rei’s fire magic hadn’t left any corpses. Of course, it was also impossible to recover their magic stones, proof of subjugation or any materials. All that was impossible due to the overkill of Rei’s magic.

(And……)

In front of the pile of Icebird corpses, Rei could see some of the adventurers that Milein had brought from Gilm arguing.

It was clear from the sounds of their argument that they were arguing over their share. Fortunately for Rei, his acquaintances, Milein and Ecryll were not participating in the dispute.

That said, as long as they were an adventurer, they would want to be paid for offering their strength. In that sense, it was natural that they would want to argue how much they had done to increase their reward. Rather, Rei was part of a rare group of people that didn’t focus on the reward.

And even for the adventurers who were part of the escort, it was natural that they would want a larger share of the rewards as their equipment had deteriorated to the state that there was a need to replace them. However, there was no doubt that Rei and Set had been the most active participants in this battle with the Icebirds. FOr that reason, the spearman had been sent to Rei as a representatives of the adventurers to ask how big a share Rei wanted.

「Well, if I can get two Icebirds, that’s good enough for me.」

Rei, who wasn’t really troubled with money right now, told the two escort leaders that he would just like the magic stones and some of the Icebird meat.