Legend

to give up.)

Alektor thought to himself, but fate hadn’t abandoned him yet.

「However……」

Alektor raised his head with a start when Rei spoke.

「Fortunately, it’s winter now and I don’t have too much to do.
So, I can escort you to Sabrutsa……what do you think?」

「Are you sure!?」

「Ah.
But, as I said, it’s only up to Sabrutsa.」

「Yes! Thank you very much! If we can get to Sabrutsa, it won’t be the frontier anymore and Beautiful Raindrops can take us from there.」

「Beautiful Raindrops?」

「Yes, it’s the party of 3 female adventurers.」

Hearing that, Rei recalled the faces of the trio of female adventurers who used a sword and shield, halberd and bow who had fought with Set.

「Beautiful Raindrops, is it.
What’s their rank?」

「They are a rank D party.
It’s quite an achievement for their age.
……However, Rei-san managed to get to rank C at your age.」

「You’re good with compliments.
That aside, about the matter of the request……」

「Yes.
Should I submit a nominated request?」

「Ah, it would be helpful if you could do that.」

「What about the reward? Because I’ve suffered considerable loss in this matter, I would be grateful if you could give a discount.」

Alektor said that with a bitter smile as the losses that he had suffered passed through his mind.

Or, it might have been a remark he made after hearing from Rei himself that he wasn’t troubled for money.
The rewards that Rei requested after thinking for several seconds was much appreciated by Alektor.

「Let’s see.
Then, at least 20 iron spears.
…Ah, with regards to the iron spears, they don’t have to be of high quality.
However, it would be troublesome if handles broke when I use them.
As for the spear tips……」

Rei paused for a moment after thinking about his physical strength.

A rusty tip wasn’t a disadvantage when using it as a long range throwing weapon with his strength.
Rather, it was actually more convenient for him considering the possibility of causing tetanus from injuries due to the rusted spear tips.

「Well, I don’t mind if the tips are a little rusted.
Rather, I would be more troubled if they broke on impact.
And, if we encounter any monsters during the escort, if it’s a monster magic stone I don’t have, I would like you to give me priority for two of them.
Aside from that, meals would be provided?」

「……Let me think.
Rei-san is a rank C adventurer, so hiring you for that much is a bit cheap, is that really okay for you?」

he had asked for the rewards to be discounted as much as possible, but Rei’s reward decrease was still a lot larger than he had expected.
Because it was so cheap, Alektor thought to himself if Rei was planning anything.

However, Rei thought it was a reasonable reward.
After all, Alektor would have to prepare meals for Set, so the overall price wasn’t much greater than hiring an ordinary C rank adventurer.

With regards to the spears, unlike the Thorns Spear, he wanted something disposable and valued quantity over quality.

「Ah, no problem.
And as I said, there’s nothing for me to do during winter.
To some extent it serves as a time killer.
I’ve never been to Abuero or Sabrutsa either.」

Alektor stared at Rei as if looking into the bottom of his heart.
And Rei took that gaze head on.

Eventually, Alektor was the first to look away.

「I understand.
Then, I’ll send a nominated request to the guild tomorrow.」

「……You can’t do it today?」

「Yes.
Actually, I have a business discussion about some goods I have to go to later.
So I’m sorry, but I would be grateful if you could accept the request at the guild tomorrow afternoon.
Of course, I will prepare the spears Rei-san wants for the request.」

「It would be great if you could do that.
So, when exactly will you leave Gilm?」

「It will be the day after tomorrow.
I’ll write it into the request form, but please meet at the main gate when the 6am bell rings.
It’s still a bit dark at that time, but it’s hard to follow the road due to the snow and I want to arrive at Abuero by nightfall.」

This was the first time Alektor had come to the frontier, but he knew that monsters were still active at night.
In particular, it was now winter and monsters that usually didn’t appear would start to show up.
The Icebirds that had attacked them yesterday was exactly an example of that.
Because of that, he planned to leave the city as soon as possible, staying overnight at Abuero without pushing too far, staying overnight on the highway half way to Sabrutsa and finally arriving the day after.

Of course, he couldn’t let his guard down during the day.
Compared to at night, monsters weren’t as active, but there was no option but for Alektor to stay alert as long as the memory of being attacked by Icebirds they day before stayed in his mind.

But even so, Rei had easily buried the Icebirds, and Set, an A rank monster followed Rei.
The number of escorts had decreased with the number of adventurers lost, but in terms of quality, Rei was definitely better.

「Now then.
Well, sorry about this but I’ll have to excuse myself, but please eat the food that was ordered.
It is to celebrate your rank up after all.」

「Thanks.
I’ll see at 6am the day after tomorrow then.」

「Yes, thank you.」

Being able to hire Rei, Alektor gave a smile in relief, bowed his head and stood up from the table before leaving the bar.

Looking at Alektor’s cheerful back as he left, Rei began to reach out for the various dishes on the table.

The noisy adventurers in the bar looked at Rei curiously, but didn’t think too much about it as they continued to merrymake with their friends.
Basically, Rei didn’t have a nice reputation.
Moreover, he wouldn’t be merciful to anyone who messed with him either.
……But that was an expected response, so there was nothing they to say to that.
For that reason, Rei received the treatment of a wild beast which would stay quiet when left alone.

Two days later, Rei’s first merchant escort request began.