LEGEND

Chapter 335

That day, a report was urgently brought to the attention of the people who ruled Emoshion……to be exact, it was subordinates of the nobles, who were the nominal lords, that were astonished.

「What-! The Lemrace has been killed?」

A man in his early 30’s was the first of the group people in the room to raise his voice.

「Yes, that was what was reported to me. It was a report from people on the field, so there shouldn’t be any mistakes.」

At the words from a man in his 20’s, the colour of joy momentarily appeared on the faces of the 10 or so people in the room. However……

「Hm? Wait, wait, wait. It’s great and all that the Lemrace has been killed, but why wasn’t it in the sea, where it lives, and on land instead? No, no one has actually seen what the Lemrace looks like, so if it can move on land, then I can’t say much.」

At those words, everyone calmed down as their faces turned serious.

The people gathered here were the ones who practically kept Emoshion running. It wasn’t possible for them to make decisions without having concrete information. After all, they had to be careful, Emoshion was known as the gateway to the Mireana Kingdom where countless merchants from the sea gathered.

「That’s right. In the first place, is that monster really the Lemrace? The information we’ve been given says that it suddenly appeared not far from the city.」

「As for that matter, it was also reported from the field, the Lemrace was forcibly transferred there using a magic item.」

「……Hah?」

That answer might have been unexpected. All the people in the room looked at the man who had come to report with dumbfounded expressions. It was as if they couldn’t understand what the man had just said.

Even so, the man continued to speak as if he had expected that response.

「In the end, it’s just a report from the field. We should be able to get more information later.」

「……I see. Regardless, if the Lemrace really was killed, there’s no better news than that. It was that adventurer who killed the Lemrace, right? The one with a tamed Griffon that had been acting as a decoy to let ships leave the port.」

「Yes.」

As the man who had come to report nodded, one of the women spoke out as if understanding something.

「That makes sense. If a Griffon is following an adventurer like him, it’s certainly possible that he would have an unusual magic item on him. This adventurer seems to be quite competent.」

「Forget about it. As stated in the report, he’s under the care of Gilm’s guild master. Also, according to the information I have here, he seems to be on friendly terms with Margrave Rowlocks. If you try to snatch him from them, it’s not going to end well.」

The man replied to her, telling her to give up the idea. Hearing that, the woman sighed.

「But, it’s more than worth the risk. He’s good at using long range magic attacks and he has a Griffon that can freely fly in the sky, right? You can’t get much better than that when trying to deal with things like pirates.」

Voices of agreement rose at her words.

Recently, there had been barely any pirate activity due to the situation with the Lemrace. But if the Lemrace was really gone, the pirates would be back to their old business.

The Lemrace could be considered a natural disaster to Emoshion, but it did have the small upside of making all the pirate disappear.

However, there were too many downsides for anyone to appreciate that benefit.

「Even so, considering Marina Alianza’s personality, there wouldn’t be any issues if the adventurer called Rei decided to move here himself……however, if we forced him, things will definitely end badly.」

「……I know.」

The woman grudgingly nodded at the man’s words. Beside her, another woman, who was in her 40’s, spoke up.

「Then, that aside, is it fine to ask the guild to confirm if the Lemrace really has been killed?」

「That’s right. The guild should have the information to find out if the monster that showed up outside the city was really the Lemrace.」

「By the way, out of interest, what kind of monster was the Lemrace?」

When she spoke, all eyes turned to the man who had given the report.

Pressured by the silence, the man spoke up.

「This isn’t confirmed yet, but from the reports from the adventurers who were at the site……it might have been some sort of Sea Serpent?」

「Hah? Wait a moment. I don’t recall Sea Serpents being that big?」

「Yes. That means it was either a rare species or higher ranking species.」

「……I see. In that case, did it have more intelligence compared to the usual Sea Serpents? Well, we’ll get more information from the adventurers guild later. Now, assuming that the Lemrace is really dead, we’ll have to get the ships at port ready to leave. If everyone were to leave at the same time, there would be a lot of confusion.」

「That’s certainly true. Many people would’t want to continue paying the port fees if the Lemrace is gone.」

Like that, the people in the room felt their heads hurt as they thought of the busy days ahead of them.

In fact, starting from the next day, they became so busy that they didn’t even have time to sleep, causing some of them to collapse from fatigue.

The sun had already set and it was nearing the time to start closing the city gates. Despite that, there were still many adventurers waiting outside the gate. They were the people who had seen the Lemrace appear and had left the city right after, eventually helping to dismantle the Lemrace at Rei’s suggestion before finally coming back to the city.

「Your guild card……yes, that’s fine. You may enter.」

「Check mine as well. I’m in a hurry!」

「Ah, please wait. Take your turn. Regardless, anyone who tries to jump the queue will be sent to the back!」

「My guild card……eh? What? Where’s my guild card…… Um……」

「Support, someone call for more support! It will take too much time with just five of us! There definitely must be more people available at the guard headquarters!」

Regardless, there were over fifty adventurers, with many of them having their own horses or carriages. It was so crowded that there wasn’t much space to move easily, even in front of the main gates of Emoshion, the largest port city in the Mireana Kingdom. Needless to say, the guards desperately tried to speed up the process of checking guild cards before letting people into the city, but even then, the remaining number of adventurers didn’t seem to decrease.

Still, many of the adventurers, who would usually cause a fuss in this situation, were in high spirits. The reason they were smiling in satisfaction was because Rei had given them some of the Lemrace’s meat as part of the reward that was promised for dismantling the Lemrace. The party that was going to be held in the guild today was also going to be Rei’s treat.

Originally, Rei hadn’t considered throwing a party. But, after defeating such a huge monster, Egret had said it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to treat everyone to food and drink.

As for Rei, he had succeeded in killing the huge monster known as the Lemrace and had gotten his hands on the magic stone that he wanted, so he could understanding the good feeling. Because of that, Rei finished the process to enter the city one step ahead of the others and headed for the guild with the people he had fought alongside.

「Phew, the Lemrace was really tough. I never thought it would secrete a liquid from its skin that would be able to destroy my weapon.」

「……You’re in a good mood even though your treasured pole axe was destroyed. I don’t want to have to fight that monster again. It’s a Sea Serpent, so why was it so large, brutal and violent.」

「W-Well, don’t mind it too much. Miroir-san, please calm down. In the end, we killed the Lemrace.」

As they walked down the road, Rei looked around as he listened to Egret, Miroir and Hendeka converse with each other,

Those who had arrived back before Rei may have spread the news. The whole city was bustling and people could be seen talking with each other happily.

However, no one had yet to call out to Rei as it seemed, for better or worse, information on who had killed the Lemrace had yet to spread.

(I guess it’s good that there’s no strange commotion or anything. ……Well, if anyone tries to take away the stuff I got, I’ll just deal with them appropriately then.)

As he thought about that, their party continued moving forward, eventually reaching the guild, their destination.

「Set.」

「Shen as well.」

At Rei and Hendeka’s words, the two monsters moved over to the space for tamed monsters.

Seeing Set and Shen head off, the four of them entered the guild.

「Hey, that person.」

「Yeah, it’s Crimson. Then, that means……」

「Are you talking about the monster you saw just before noon?」

「There are rumours that it was the Lemrace, but why would the Lemrace appear on land when it should be in the sea?」

「Is it a kind of monster that can move on land as well? As far as I could see from here, it was clearly a Sea Serpent like monster. In that case……」

「But, why would it suddenly be on land if it’s been in the sea all this time?」

The adventurers in the guild, or those who had come to the bar attached to the guild for an early dinner, saw Rei enter the guild and immediately started to talk about the rumours as they made guesses. However, Rei didn’t care about them as he headed straight for the counter. Egret and Miroir must have become accustomed to this from past experiences as they didn’t seem to care either. Only one person, Hendeka, looked around with a restless expression.

「Come on, calm down. You’re one of the main characters of this event.」

「But, Miroir-san, I’m not really used to situations like this……」

While hearing Miroir talk to Hendeka in the background, Rei called out to a receptionist.

「We’ve killed the Lemrace, what should we do now? We’ve brought proof of subjugation, but since no one has seen the Lemrace in the first place, it can’t really serve as evidence.」

「……Wa-Wait a moment, I’ll call my manager right away!」

Judging that this case was beyond his capabilities, the receptionist hurriedly responded before heading to the back of the guild.

At the same time, those who heard what Rei said raised astonished voices.

「So it’s the Lemrace after all……」

「But, how can they prove it?」

「Who knows? But, the city will finally quiet down. Because of all the adventurers coming in from other places, all available requests were taken and I was wondering what to do from here on.」

Rei continued waiting without any concern about the voices. Before long, a man in his 40’s appeared alongside the receptionist who had left the counter earlier.

「Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Roseus, I’m the assistant guild master in this guild. I heard that you killed the Lemrace……may I hear more details about it?」

「Yes, I don’t mind.」

Rei nodded at the unexpectedly polite words from the man who had come out. Since most of the guild staff he had met until now had stern expressions, he was quite surprised by the man before him.

They were guided by Roseus to a meeting room on the second floor of the guild. The structure wasn’t much different from guilds in other cities. Of course there were many different details. The number of meeting rooms on the second floor and their atmosphere would vary. For example, in Emoshion, which was a port city, the meeting room was decorated with corals and shells. The room was also painted in colours reminiscent of the sea.

Hendeka, who was entering a guild meeting room for the first time, looked around curiously. Egret and Miroir, who had entered meeting rooms like this countless times as high ranked adventurers, had no change in expression. It wasn’t Rei’s first time entering a guild meeting room either, so he didn’t have any particular thoughts about it.

「Well, that’s how you say you killed it……but, I’m sorry, do you have any evidence? After all, no one has actually clearly seen how the Lemrace looked like, so I’m honestly not sure how to deal with this.」

「I guess so. ……Then, how about this?」

Sayinig that, Rei took out the huge, 30cm diameter, magic stone from the Misty Ring and placed it on the table.