LEGEND

Chapter 247

Seeing Elk glare at his watcher on the ground with semi murderous eyes, Rei called out to him again.

「So, what do we do now?」

「What do we do? That’s already been decided. We’ll deliver him to the guards and immediately head to Abuero to rescue Min and Rhodes.」

「That’s impossible.」

Rei cut Elk’s words.

When he heard that, Elk turned his semi murderous eyes towards Rei.

「……Why?」

「Think carefully about it. It’s about a day to travel to Abuero. Even if you rush there without caring for the state of the horse, it will still take half a day. By that time, if the man in charge of watching you still hasn’t made regular contact with them, Min and Rhodes will be killed. That’s what I think of it.」

「……」

「More to the point, you’ve broken a few ribs. You could use potions and healing magic to heal them, but you’re still not in good shape.」

「Even if you tell me that, you’re the one who caused those injuries.」

Elk sighed with a bitter smile.

「But then, what do we do? Do I just have to shut up and let them kill Min and Rhodes?」

「No one said that. There are a few steps we have to take first. ……Well, for example, heading to Abuero. Fortunately, with Set, it will only take a few hours. Even if they make regular contact, if it’s only for that duration, we should be able to deceive them?」

「……That’s true. I think so as well.」

A bearded man with a gentle expression interrupted the conversation between Rei and Elk. It was Ranga, the captain of the guards, who Rei was familiar with. Behind him were about five guards.

「Ranga……」

「Seriously, you’re at the center of this trouble again.」

Ranga gave a bitter smile as he looked at Rei. Rei simply shrugged his shoulders as he turned towards the man in black.

「I can’t help it. In the first place, they’re trying to kill me. Isn’t it the job of the guards to take care of suspicious people before they enter the city?」

「Don’t say something so absurd. He came in with Elk, an A rank adventurer you know? We can’t refuse entry or arrest him without any evidence.」

It was hard to fault their carelessness when it had been a A rank adventurer who was based in their city. While saying that much, Ranga gave orders to his subordinates to restrain the man in black.

「Now then, I would like to hear as many details about the events as possible……」

Ranga looked at Elk and Rei, but quickly shook his head after seeing that it was impossible.

That was because Rei and Elk were arguing.

「Then lend me Set. There shouldn’t be any problems.」

「There’s a lot of problems. First of all, you’re too heavy. Set will definitely be tired out and won’t be able to move by the time you get to Abuero. Rather, in the worst case, he might even be exhausted before arriving at Abuero.」

Compared to Rei, Elk’s body was much larger and was filled with muscle. In addition, he wore leather armour made from monster skin and carried the Axe of the Thunder God, a huge weapon, though not as large as the Death Scythe. All together, Rei guessed that Elk weighed over 150kg.

「Then what should I do……」

「……Well, why don’t I go in that case?」

「Wait! Min and Rhodes have been taken hostage you know!? If you’re going to help, it’s natural that I should go as well!」

「I already said, that’s impossible. It’s out of the question for you to ride on Set. The only way Set can fly around without getting tired is when I’m riding him.」

Listening in to the two of them, Ranga frowned when he understood the general situation.

It was very unfortunate that a famous A rank adventurer from Gilm had his family taken hostage by the enemy.

「But your scythe should weigh a lot right? At worst, it should be tens of times heavier than my Axe of the Thunder God.」

「The Death Scythe has a weight reducing effect for its user. In other words, as long as I hold it, Set won’t feel its weight.」

To be more precise, Set and the Death Scythe were both created by the Magic Beast Art and had a magical connection. This allowed Set to carry the Death Scythe almost at lightly as Rei. But, Rei couldn’t explain that as he was still hiding the Magic Beast Art.

But, even when told that, he still couldn’t convince Elk. Elk was silent for a few seconds before he spoke up again.

「Even if you went to Abuero, you don’t know where his friends are hiding, right?」

「You say that, but isn’t it the same for you Elk?」

「No, I stopped by Abuero before coming here. I saw Min and Rhodes then, so I know where they are.」

「Then just tell me. Also, I don’t think they would underestimate you since you are an A rank adventurer. Maybe they’ve moved from where they met you. In that case, your meeting place could only be used as reference.」

One after another, Rei denied Elk’s reasons and Elk eventually went silent when he could no longer defend his reasoning.

Ranga was silently watching them, but spoke up after seeing Elk go quiet.

「As a guard, I would like to hear the situation on what is happening from someone who knows what is going on. ……How about this? Why don’t you talk to the guild master about it?」

「The guild master?」

At Ranga’s unexpected words, Elk asked.

However, Rei, who knew that the guild masters had a magic item that allowed them to communicate with each other, nodded without saying anything in particular.

Elk knew that guild branches could communicate with each other of course. However, he was basically in charge of fighting and all the difficult things were usually left to his wife, Min, so he hadn’t really thought about it.

「Yes. The guild master can also contact Abuero’s guild master. That way, while Rei-kun is riding on Set to Abuero, you can use the guild thieves to investigate and carry out rescue operations immediately.」

「……I see. It looks like I won’t be able to go to Abuero either way. ……Rei, can I leave it to you?」

After closing his eyes for a few seconds, Elk turned to look at Rei.

Despite his ribs being broken, Rei couldn’t see any pain on Elk’s face.

「I know I have no right to ask you this after trying to kill you. If you can help Min and Rhodes, I’ll compensate you with whatever you want. If you want a magic item, I’ll give you the Axe of the Thunder God. If you can’t forgive me, I’ll give my life. So……please! Min, Rhodes……please save them both, they mean everything to me!」

An A rank adventurer and the Axe of the Thunder God. Even in Gilm, Elk was loved by many adventurers for his generosity and carefree personality. Of course, just considering his skill, he was one of the best in Gilm. In the entire Mireana Kingdom, he would still be at the top, just below S rank adventurers. But such a man had thrown away his pride and was bowing sincerely to a boy even younger than his own son.

The spectators who were watching from Rei’s room in the inn and the guards who came with Ranga all gasped at the unexpected sight.

They couldn’t believe it. Was this really happening?

And Rei, who Elk was bowing towards, sighed as he felt the gazes of all the people around him.

「Don’t worry. It’s not like Min and Rhodes are strangers to me. I’ll definitely rescue them……I can’t say that, but I will do everything I can. In addition……」

「In addition?」

「No, it’s nothing.」

Ranga asked Rei. But when Rei shook his head slightly, he didn’t pursue further.

(The Bestir Empire has been messing around with me again and again. No, to be exact, should I say that I’ve been messing up their plans? They must have become quite angry about it and decided to do something about me……but they’re too naive. I’ll mess up their plans this time as well. And they will pay the price for threatening the people I know. The countdown to the war with the Bestir Empire starts now, their soldiers will pay in blood, flesh and anguish.)

「The, shall we head to the guild first? Let’s get Guild Master Marina to get in contact with Abuero.」

「Well, I think it’s better to act than to just think about things here. Rei, let’s go!」

As soon as Rei said that, Elk grabbed Rei’s arm and started to drag him into the city.

「Hey, wait, wait! It’s fine to go now, but what are you going to do about my room! There’s a hole in the wall you know!?」

「-, that’s true. Um……Ranga, could I leave that to you?」

「Haa……I understand. I’ll explain it to the innkeeper. Although I’ll need more details from you later, it’s fine for now. Regarding repair costs……」

Ranga directed his gaze towards Elk.

He probably understood what Ranga meant. Elk spoke without hesitation.

「Ah. Use this.」

Saying that, he took a coin out from the cloth pouch at his waist and tossed it to one of Ranga’s subordinates.

Just one coin? Ranga’s subordinate frowned, thinking that it was just a small sum from Elk. But, he suddenly took in a sharp breath when he saw that the coin was a light gold coin.

「C-C-CCCaptain!?」

The voice was almost like a shriek. That was because that amount of money was enough for a family of 4 to live comfortably for 10 years. If they lived modestly, a light gold coin would allow them to live without working for 30 years. It was no wonder that such a voice would be heard.

「Elk-san, don’t you think this is too much?」

Seeing the light gold coin, Ranga gave a bitter smile. But Elk shook his head.

「No. This is the city’s most famous high class inn and I started a big fight in it. Given its reputation, it can’t be helped.」

Even as an A rank adventurer, it wasn’t easy to earn a light gold coin. But for Elk, who had caused all this trouble for his own purpose, he thought that this kind of expense was a matter of course.

Still, it was obviously too much, but it was probably a side effect from leaving his party’s money management completely to Min.

「……Haa, I understand. If you say that much, I won’t say anything more. You, give this light gold coin to the inn manager and tell them about the situation. Please remind them that Rei-kun is not at fault for this situation.」

「Y-Yes! I understand!」

Ranga’s subordinate headed towards the inn while holding the light gold coin with both hands, as if he were afraid of dropping it.

Seeing him off and deciding that it was fine, Ranga turned to Elk and Rei again before speaking up.

「Well then, let’s go to the guild. We have to take action as soon as possible to rescue Elk’s family.」

「Ah.」

「That’s right.」

「Guru~」

Elk, Rei and Set nodded in order before heading to the guild, led by Ranga.

On the way to the guild, there was a spectacle when Rei forced Elk to drink a potion, that was said to be completely unpalatable, as a form of punishment and healing……Elk, who had no choice, drank the potion halfheartedly.

Night time at the adventurers guild. Inside, the noise was about the same as during the day.

The bar inside the guild had more guests than when the sun was up. They were making noise and drinking as if to forget the winter weather.

And in contrast to the bar was the guild counter. Even during the day there were few people. It was even harder to find people around there at night. Occasionally, there would be some people around due to financial reasons but fortunately there were none today.

「Oh? Isn’t it Elk? What happened? And Rei as well……hey, even the captain of the guards? Did something happen?」

As expected, since it was night time, the person at the counter was not Lenora or Kenny, who were the guild’s flowers, but one of the male guild staff.

It was a rare combination of people to enter the guild and the man looked at the three of them and the guards with a surprised expression.

「Ahh, it’s a bit troublesome. Sorry, but I would like to meet with the guild master.」

「The guild master? ……It seems like it’s something serious.」

At Elk’s words, the guild staff looked at the faces of all the people standing there.

Rei was calm without any trace of disturbance.

Ranga’s expression was slightly strained.

And Elk had a tense expression, unlike how he was usually.

After seeing the three of them like that, the guild staff member immediately came to the conclusion that it wasn’t a small matter and went to look for the guild master.