LEGEND

Chapter 3

「Gurururu~」

Hearing this sound, Reiji woke up touching a strange, warm, feathery coat.

「……Haa?」

He took a look around while rubbing his head. The first thing that entered his eyes was an abundant coat of feathers. Whoever the feathers belonged to had laid them down as a body pillow for Reiji, as if to protect him.

Then he noticed. He looked straight ahead while stroking the feathers. A presence looked back into Reiji’s eyes, staring at his face anxiously.

「……」

「……」

Each of them slowly and carefully stared at each other’s face in silence.

A sharp, black beak as well as a pair of blue pupils were reflected in Reiji’s eyes. The blue eyes confirmed the state of Reiji somewhat anxiously.

It had the same eyes as his own. The next moment, it moved in right in front of Reiji’s eyes. In other words, the bird had snuggled its head up to his face.

「Guru~」

This gesture, like a pampered cat, made him instinctively pet its head while smiling.

He then continued to pet its head a bit more. While petting the bird’s head, Reiji unintentionally stopped and looked at it in its entirety.

「Guru~?」

What’s wrong?　The bird seemed to say as it tilted its head to one side. He directed his line of sight to where it was leaning. The feathers that he had expected were not there, instead there was a thick, silky fur. Lion……is what he thought, it was like a lion’s body. However, the forefeet were sharp like the claws of a raptor. Raptor with a lion’s body……no, eagle’s head and forefeet, though they were folded, there were wings growing from the body. Reiji knew the name of this mythical beast.

「Griffon.」

「Guru~」

That was the correct answer, he rubbed the eagle head as he said that. As he murmured, Reiji was finally able to recall why he had fainted.

「I see, I completed the ritual for the Magic Beast Art……in other words , this Griffon is my magic beast.」

When he understood the existence of the Griffon, he once again turned his gaze back to the magic beast. The body of the lion was filled of a sense dynamism, the face of the eagle was both adorable and sharp. Without its wing folded out, its size was about 2m.

Naturally, the Griffon from Reiji’s memory was something he knew from games and novels. To his knowledge, griffons were ferocious and aggressive . However, the Griffon in front of him wasn’t like that at all. Rather than that, when rubbing its face, instead of looking ferocious, it looked more like a kitten

「Maybe it is different from other griffons because it was created with the Magic Beast Art.」

「Guru~」

When he muttered that, with good timing, the Griffon gave a cry from the depth of its throat.

「……Do you understand my words?」

「Guru~」

As he guessed, the Griffon crowed again.

「Wait a minute.」

He brought out Zepairu’s knowledge while stroking the Griffon’s head.

According to it, the ability of the magic beast produced varied depending on the amount of magic power absorbed by the magic formation. In other words, the friendly Griffon’s high ability was because of Reiji’s vast magical power. Even if it was limited, it might have the ability to understand human speech.

「I see, I’ve roughly understood.……First of all, lets give you a name.」

For some reason, the Griffon had been looking at Reiji with wanting eyes since the beginning. According to the procedure of the Magic Beast Art, the existence of the magic beast is only established after it is given a name.

「Griffon, sky, storm……how about Set?」

Set. It was the name of a god that appeared in Egyptian mythology, it was a god that governed storms. Moreover, according to the description Reiji knew, it was a god that symbolized great strength and governed fighting and war.

Looking at the Griffon before his eyes, whose existence was to protect him, Reiji associated it with that name.

「Gurururu~」

The griffon let out a happy sound from its throat as it heard the origin of Set.

「Right. From today on, you are Set. I am Reiji.……No, it should be different. That was my previous name.」

He though about it while petting Set’s head. The person know as Saeki Reiji had been crushed by a steel frame and died. Here, the person was a fusion of Saeki Reiji and Zepairu. No matter if Reiji was still the major personality, using the name Saeki Reiji carried a sense of incongruity. Moreover, according to Zepairu’s knowledge, he understood that the name Saeki Reiji was not suitable in this world called Elgin.

「Reiji……that’s right, from now on, my name is Rei. Nice to meet you, Set. My name is Rei」

「Gururu~」

The moment he said that and Set answered, a list of skills came to the surface of his mind.

「This is, what?」

Words suddenly appeared in his mind. From Rei’s senses, it was similar to the status screen of a game. ……Familiar things like STR or power were not displayed, instead it was split between skills and their descriptions. The name displayed on it was not Reiji or Rei but Set.

He pulled out Zepairu’s knowledge in a hurry.

「……Indeed, this is the work of Takumu.」

It seems that the skill list had been added by Takumu when the Magic Beast Art was being created. He was able to display the skills that Set had learned from eating magic stones. As expected from something that had spread from Japan. By the way, the only item in this room to have the feature where a list was displayed in his mind when you thought about it was Misty Ring.

「Well, it’s a convenient thing to have.」

With much trouble, he had come to a different world. Smiling wryly at the situation, with the subtle scent of Japan lingering, he stood up with Set.

「Gururu」

Set then held out an elongated object in his beak to Rei. The object had been hidden in his shadow.

「This is……a scythe?」

Scythe, and not one for cutting grass. The length of the handle was about 2m, the length of its blade was 1m, it was suitable to be called the scythe of death.

「Well, what should I do with this?」

「Guru~」

This is yours, it seemed say as it presented the scythe in its beak to Rei.

Because it didn’t seem right to make Set keep holding it, he received the large sycthe.

The handle was black, the blade was also black. Basically the large scythe in his hands had a jet black colour. Then he suddenly remembered.

「This scythe wasn’t here when I entered the laboratory. In other words it must have appeared unnoticed.……There is one possibility though.」

How many times would it be today. Once again, he pulled out Zepairu’s knowledge and the result was found at once.

「The Magic Beast Art is the cause again, is it.」

According to Zepairu’s knowledge, a vast magical power is discharged during the course of making the magic beast. In other words, when more magic than is needed to create the magic beast is released, the surplus magic power seems to produce a magic item. Of course, it was Takumu who had added this with his magic.

However, when Zepairu and his organization used it, all the magic power released went to making the magic beast, apparently a magic item had never been produced. In other words, it was a function Takumu added in for fun. It finally showed it’s effect due to Rei’s massive magic power.

「So, it became like this because Takumu was involved……」

With the large scythe in hand, Rei muttered ‘status’ in his mind. The status of the magic item naturally appeared in his head.

『Death Scythe』

「Eh, it has the same name as the grim reaper’s scythe. That feels dark, can’t it be changed a little?」

That said, he could not complain to Takumu, who no longer existed in the world. Reading the description of the Death Scythe, he gave a dispirited sigh.

First ability, magic casting. Because it was a magic item made with Rei’s enormous magic power, it’s performance was extremely high.

Second ability, like Set, it could obtain new effects by absorbing magic stones. It was also possible to simultaneously learn the same abilities that Set did.

Third ability, weight reduction. Only for the person who has the same magic wavelength as the Death Scythe. In other words Rei and Set could use the Death Scythe without feeling its weight.

Fourth ability, the basic performance of the large scythe would increase if supplied with magic power.

This was the status list that was displayed in his mind.

「This, to be honest, has to be pretty rare?」

「Guru~」

You’re right, Set seemed to cry.

「With the effect of magic casting, it certainly is good. It’s good but……usually, shouldn’t there be a sword?　Why is it a large scythe?」

A magic weapon of expert quality was overwhelming but it seemed difficult to use. That was what Rei felt about the Death Scythe.

「I obtained this powerful magic item with much trouble, I guess there’s nothing I can do but master it.」

He lifted the Death Scythe, the effect of weight reduction could immediately be felt.

Originally, a piece of metal this size should have weighed 10kg to 20kg. However, right now, Rei could barely feel the weight of the Death Scythe. It felt like it only weighed 100g.

「This is certainly amazing.」

「Guru」

Set also agreed, giving a deep cry.

「Now, the biggest goal was to safely inherit the Magic Beast Art……what do I do from now on?」

Rei muttered while petting Set’s silk like fur. After achieving his goal, he understood that he couldn’t stay in this building in the future. Aside from drinking water, there was only enough food for 10 days. If he didn’t leave for a village or town as soon as possible, the result would be the successor to the Magic Beast Art dying of hunger on the side of a road.

「No, that doesn’t include the amount of food Set has to eat.」

Even if you say that it was created by the Magic Beast Art, it still needed food to live. Given that Set was over 2m in size, they probably only enough food for one day. Even at best, there was only two days of food left.

「With that said, it’s necessary to go to a town or village as soon as possible but……」

According to Zepairu’s knowledge, a ward using spatial magic was set up to prevent monsters from getting in, there seemed to be a lot of brutal monsters around the forest. If asked why they built a mansion in such a place, it was because this place was like a refuge for Zepairu. Therefore, a strong ward was set up in order to prevent viscious monsters from getting in, which was why there weren’t any monsters near the mansion. Moreover, it took advantage of the monsters outside to defend against enemies.

「Though that’s good, I wonder if I, a beginner in a fantasy world, can get out of forest where monsters live……just thinking about it.」

As he muttered while grumbling, Rei unconsciously let out a sigh.

「Gururu~」

With a flapping sound, Set extended his wings to 2m, Rei lightly shook his head.

「It’s a little difficult to fly through the sky. Anyway, it seems even dragons have settled here.」

「Guru~」

「Don’t worry about it. To begin with I don’t know how much power you and I have.」

He said that to comfort Set while stroking its head.

「It would have been good if Takumu had made other things aside from skills visible in the status.……But I can’t do it. No, wait a moment?　Maybe there’s a magic item we can use in Misty Ring.」

As Rei said that, he moved with Set to the jewelry box that held Misty Ring.

「Gurururu~」

When he saw the jewelry box, Set let out a happy cry. Rei, who saw that appearance, remembered a legend that Griffons collected treasure.

「Set, you may play with the jewelry box for a while.」

「Guru~」

At Rei’s words, Set joyfully rubbed his cheek against the jewelry box. While watching the scene with a smile, he put the Misty Ring on his right arm. The Misty Ring, which used to be quite large, shrunk to Rei’s arm size, fitting perfectly.

「Um, to display the list……ah, you only have to think it.」

A huge list of items and materials came into his mind, there were a lot of names on the list. However, as Rei scrolled through the list, he involuntarily put his hand to his head.

「There certainly are magic items made from potent materials and likely have strong effects. But is there any food or something?　There are the bones of a dragon, the horns of a elder devil, can you eat the tail of a salamander?　Come to think of it, if they planned to find a successor to the Magic Beast Art, they should have prepared food for Set.」

To break the status quo and find the magic items necessary, it seemed there was no other way but to use Zepairu’s knowledge. As a result, he found what was called the『Orb of Examination』. It could be used the check the magic aptitude of the user.

Rei was declared by Zepairu to have one of the worlds highest magic powers. He took it out from Misty Ring to check what magic he was suitable for as well as his magic aptitude.

「If I can use water magic, then I won’t be troubled with drinking water, hopefully I’m compatible with it. After that maybe spatial magic or alchemy if it can increase the properties of magic items. 」

He put his hand to the orb while imagining his magic aptitude. The symbol of his magic characteristic appeared on the orb. For example, if a water droplet was displayed, it meant that Rei would have the water magic compatibility he wanted. A door represented spatial magic. A flask symbolized alchemy.

In the end, only one symbol was reflected in Rei’s expectant eyes, the symbol of a flame.