LEGEND

Chapter 266

「Mm……looks like I’m getting used to this kind of life.」

In the early morning, just as the sun had risen, Rei did some stretches inside his tent within the camp as he got dressed.

More than half a month had passed since leaving Gilm. The Rowlocks army had continued moving towards the battlefield at Selemus Plains as they absorbed troops from nearby cities. Rei, who had been in charge of providing supplies, had started to get used to this life after half a month. Even though he still came in contact with a large number of strangers, the mental fatigue was no longer as great.

「Gururu~?」

He might have noticed Rei. Set, who was lying just outside the tent, thrust his head in from the entrance and rubbed his face to greet Rei in the morning with a cry.

「Ah, good morning. Well then, I heard that we will be arriving at the Selemus Plains around noon today. We’ll only be marching until then. Set, can you do your best for the rest of the day?」

「Guru~」

Set gave a small cry in response to Rei’s words as he stroked Set’s head.

However, since they were already away from the frontier where they could be attacked by monsters at any time, the burden on the scouts, like Set, was much less. Bandits were more intelligent than monsters. Very few of them would do something as stupid as attacking a grouped of armed forces. The few that did were annihilated by the Prairie Wolves before they could actually launch their attack.

Because of that, for a while, Set had also been excused from the group of leading adventurers and had been travelling near the carriage Rei had been riding in.

That said, it was also true that those in the armies dispatched by other nobles that had joined up were also scared of Set. Only those from Gilm had abandoned their fear of him.

Rather, in this case, the adventurers from Gilm were quite unusual. Normally, it would be difficult to get along well with an A rank monster, which would usually be considered a natural disaster.

In that regard, they were probably influenced by seeing Rei and Set working together in Gilm or watching Set happily eat food that was bought in large quantities from the street stalls, despite the pair only having been around for less than a year.

「Fuwahh……hmm……Rei? You seem to be energetic this morning.」

Runo came out of tent near Rei’s. Runo, who had a relatively high rank and was versatile in many jobs, was a useful person in various ways. Because of that, he had taken up the role of a guard for Rei to save himself any trouble before they arrived at the Selemus Plains. After all, as long as he remained as Rei’s guard, he would be able to ride in a carriage and wouldn’t be moved to the front or back of the army, where it was most dangerous during a march. That said, as a guard, he had to maintain Rei’s safety. But despite their identical rank, Rei had an overwhelming advantage in terms of combat. Because of that, while acting as Rei’s guard, he didn’t really have to do anything. Just simply having a conversation in the carriage would net him a reward. It was even a bigger reward than usual because he was acting as a guard for Rei, who was an important person with regards to supplies.

「Ahh. That’s because the daily marching will finally be coming to an end. After sitting in a carriage for almost half a month, I feel that my body has dulled.」

Runo gave a wry smile at Rei’s complaints.

「What are you talking about? Recently, you’ve been exercising your body every night before going to sleep.」

「……But in the end, practice is practice. It would be different if I could at least spar with someone……」

「Hah, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. That’s because you went on a rampage. There’s a limit to how much trouble you can cause.」

In response to Runo’s words telling him that it was his own fault, Rei gave a sigh as he silently stroked Set’s head beside him.

As they were taking military action, war would break out soon after they reached their destination, the Selemus Plains. Because of that, time off was taken during the march in order to keep up their training. Although there were differences depending on who was in charge, different units would have their own training time after lunch, before dinner, after dinner or just before going to sleep. At the beginning of the march, Rei didn’t show up to the training sessions due to his mental fatigue of having to provide supplies, but now, he was actively participating in training to stop his skills from dulling. That said, although he particiapted in them……

(There are idiots everywhere, but I didn’t think that they would target me in particular.)

Unlike soldiers and knights, adventurers were mercenaries. Of course, those who were participating in the war would cooperate with each other. But effectively, each party or solo adventurer, like Rei, acted as their own unit. For this reason, it was normal for training to be carried out by individuals or separate parties. However, an incident occurred about 10 days ago. Of course, adventurers from Gilm, Abuero and Sabrusta, who had heard about Rei, didn’t treat him as a low ranking adventurer. But, some of the adventurers from the armies that had just grouped up with the Rowlocks army didn’t. Needless to say, Rei wasn’t one to be shy, so he broke their hands and feet without killing them…… Naturally, those who saw that because afraid of Rei. It wasn’t too bad, but it was a situation where he could no longer train with them.

However, it was only the people that didn’t know Rei well that would avoid him like that. The adventurers from Gilm showed no concern in particular. Rather, some of the looked at the people who had tried to mess around with Rei in pity.

「……I understand. Then, do you want to spar with me?」

Rei, who had just sighed again, must have looked depressed. Runo, who had just been doing some stretches, called out to Rei unusually.

「That would help, but are you sure?」

「Well, sparring with a strong opponent isn’t bad for me. But if you’re taking this seriously, we can’t hit each other, please go easy on me.」

「Ah, no problem. Then, I’ll request a spar with you after breakfast.」

「Sure. ……Well, today will be the end of our march. Let’s do our best on the last day.」

Along with Runo’s words, Rei headed towards the supplies unit where Keo was waiting to prepare breakfast for 5,000 people.

「Hey, hey, what’s with their food? Why is it so luxurious even though its just rations? Our army rations are just bread, cheese and dried meat right?」

Such a voice echoed around at a place where the adventurers gathered.

Even if it was called an army, it was really a mix of many knights, soldiers, volunteer soldiers, adventurers and more. Of course, each of them would gather with their own kind. In this situation, the adventurers would gather towards the training grounds to eat.

However, since adventurers usually had their own parties and acquaintances, there were countless small groups. One adventurer in one of those groups muttered involuntarily when he saw the breakfast a nearby adventurer was eating.

After all, that adventurer had a sandwich with plenty of ham, vegetables and cheese inside freshly baked bread. They also had bacon and vegetable soup alone with some meat skewers that had the appetising smell of dripping fat.

When the adventurer muttered those words, another nearby adventurer smiled as he spoke.

「What, are you part of the army that joined yesterday?」

「Mm? Ah. Yes, that’s right……but, how did you know?」

The middle-aged male adventurer started to talk with a wry smile at the adventurer’s surprised expression as he shrugged his shoulders.

In the hand of the male adventurer who had brought this up first were typical rations, bread, dried meat, cheese and water.

The two of them looked towards a group of adventurers who were having there breakfast……rather, their food so luxurious that it almost couldn’t be considered breakfast.

「They’re part of the Rowlocks army.」

The Rowlocks army. At those words, the first adventurer stopped moving.

「Could the Rowlocks army, possibly……」

「Ahh. You might have guessed, they’re adventurers from Gilm.」

「So they’re from the frontier. Then, there’s no doubt that they have good skills. ……But, why can they eat such delicious food just because they’re from the frontier? If they’re from the frontier……no, rather, because they’re from the frontier, shouldn’t it have taken longer for them to get here? That is to say, they couldn’t have brought that much food.」

「Well, you’d think so normally. But……oh, look. Here it comes.」

As he ate a piece of bread that had been soaked in water to soften it, he looked towards an open area within the training ground. Though wasn’t happy, the young adventurer followed his gaze without voicing his complaints. As he turned to look, some other adventurers started screaming and shouting as they tried to run away from where they had been eating breakfast.

It appeared with the morning spring sun. That is, a Griffon, an A rank monster.

「H-Hey. What’s a Griffon doing here?」

He asked the adventurer next to him in a whisper, so as to not draw the attention of the Griffon, known as the shinigami of the skies. However, what he got back was a reply with a smirk.

「Don’t worry about it. It won’t attack you. There, look at its neck.」

Hearing the man’s words, he slowly turned his eyes towards the Griffon. What he saw was something familiar. However, it wasn’t something you would normally hang around a Griffon’s neck.

「……Necklace of Subservient Monster?」

「Ah. Surprisingly, it’s a tamed Griffon.」

The man couldn’t believe his words. With an expression as if a large amount of Mythril had just fallen from the skies, he looked towards an adventurer in his mid-twenties that was near the Griffon.

At that moment, it was natural for him to not look towards the person wearing robes.

From the man’s point of view, they looked like a expert adventurer, who had tamed the Griffon, teaching his apprentice.

However, his thoughts were broken by the words of the other adventurer, who saw him looking over with a dazed expression.

「No, wrong person. It’s the one in the robe that has tamed the Griffon.」

「Hah!? Hey, a kid like that can’t tame a Griffon, can he? I can’t even laugh at your joke.」

The middle-aged man couldn’t help but smile at the almost instant retort.

The guy in the robe……most people have the same reaction when talking about Rei. Of course, those who have the skills can see his real strength, those that can see magic power would have their breath taken away by him. However, the man that was listening to him seemed to be neither.

「I guess so. I thought the same as you at first. ……But look at them.」

The middle-aged man called out to the young adventurer as he looked towards the direction of the Gilm adventurers.

The man who had been looking at him turned around and almost dropped his cheese to the ground.

「You have to be joking……?」

Many adventurers around him were looking at Rei with frightened eyes. Some were waving there hands lightly and some female adventurers were rushing over to the Griffon, but those were few.

「No way. Hey, that woman……」

「Ah, it’s fine. That woman has a particular hobby.」

The man was stunned……like the others who had seen this for the first time, as the woman rushed over and started happily hugging the Griffon.

「……Are the adventurers from Gilm a collection of monsters? To hug a Griffon so calmly.」

I can’t believe it. At his murmurs of disbelief, the middle-aged man spoke with a smile again.

When he had seen it for the first time, he had felt the same.

「Maybe in Gilm, this is normal……well, not exactly like that, but to some extent.」

The reason why he had rephrased his words was because there were still a lot of adventurers in Gilm who were surprised to groups of children following after a Griffon.

「In other words, that kid is allowed here because he has a tamed Griffon?」

The man asked as he looked at the Griffon. However, the middle-aged adventurer shook his head slowly.

「No, that kid’s skills are also extraordinary.」

「Huh!? Is that kid that strong?」

「Yes. In fact, some C rank adventurers who joined up 10 days ago had all they hands and feet broken in under a few minutes by him. Besides, he’s the one. The reason why the adventurers from Gilm can have such luxurious meals.」

「……Ha?」

「From what I was told, he seems to have an item box. They said that he’s packed a lot of food into it.」

「……An item box? You’re lying aren’t you?」

He couldn’t believe the words from the middle-aged man. He murmured to himself in shock. But, the middle-aged man silently shook his head.

「There are things in the world you can’t even imagine. Look here, here’s some advice. That kid……don’t try to pick a fight with Rei. He might look like a kid and an apprentice mage, but I heard that he holds the record for the shortest time from registering as an adventurer to reaching C rank in Gilm. It’s hard to believe that he had a Griffon following him, but he also has an item box, which is rumoured to be very few of in the world. He’s even got such a massive amount of magic power that mages are scared of him. He’s a first class monster, a super warrior.」

「……Why is such a monster here……」

「Because it’s war.」

The middle-aged man replied simply to the young adventurer’s question as he continued to finish his breakfast.

The young adventurer who was told that had no choice but to look on in shock at the scene before him.