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Chapter 20

It was night time on the same day Rei and Set returned to the city of Gilm.

The center of the city of Gilm. There was a mansion there……although it was too large to be called that, the building was too small to be called a castle.

When Gilm was still a frontier city, it was built for the case of a siege if there was an emergency, it was a building that gave a rugged impression.

The master of the building was Margrave Rowlocks, who ruled the streets of Gilm.

The area Margrave Rowlocks governed was not just the city of Gilm but the area around it. However, Gilm was the only city that existed in the area.

Naturally, the actions taken by the successive generations of margraves that ruled Gilm, up to Margrave Rowlocks, were to make the region prosper. However……that is, they were forced to give up building new villages due to the presence of monsters.

When night comes, the monsters outside the city run rampant around the highways. There are no carpenters willing to build houses under that situation. It wasn’t possible for a person to build a house during the daytime and return to Gilm for the night as the next morning, the house would be destroyed.

Although someone had tried to make an outer wall first to prevent that, it wasn’t possible to build it in a day. The next morning, the partially constructed outer wall had been destroyed overnight.

Originally, the city of Gilm was set up as a frontier base for the Mireana kingdom. As for how the city was built with monsters appearing every night, it was done with pure manpower by defeating all the monsters that came out. In order to do that, around half the military force of the Mireana kingdom was gathered here until the city of Gilm was completed, that was the scale of it.

At any rate, the lord of Gilm unintentionally looked up to the ceiling after he saw the details of the report that had been submitted to his office.

Taking a break from his work, he took a sip of wine and took a deep breath.

After that, he looked at his face in the mirror that was in the room.

The face of a middle-aged man in his forties was reflected on the mirror. If anything, he gave the impression of a hard man. Adding to that, his mustache strengthened the impression.

After that, he took another deep breath and returned to his desk to look at the document he had seen earlier.

What was written was that one man had entered the city of Gilm. The city of Gilm was the only city in Margrave Rowlocks’ territory. Because of this, its size was large and there were a lot of people as well. Normally, information about a stranger entering a city would not go to Margrave Rowlocks, who was a feudal lord. Well, if the person was a violent criminal or the heir of a large aristocracy of the Imperial City, it would be a different matter.

However, the contents in the report to Margrave Rowlocks was something that equaled that.

「……A man accompanied by a rank A monster, Griffon, is it?」

After reading it, he reread it again and again. However, what was written therein did not change as he reread it.

「This is neither a dream nor an illusion. Should I be pleased or depressed about this?」

A man accompanied by a rank A monster. The report even read that he was an aspiring adventurer. If the contents were true, the city had just obtained a tremendous combat force.

Unnatural monster movement had been seen recently, purely thinking of it as a boost to the combat force could be considered divine grace.

「But, the timing is too good.」

The Margrave muttered as he looked at the documents……no, glared at them.

Margrave Rowlocks gave a deep sigh and rang a bell that was nearby. A knocking sound immediately echoed into the room.

「Come in.」

「Excuse me. Margrave, did you call?」

Entering the room while saying so was a man in his twenties. The man was a subordinate of Margrave Rowlocks and acted as his secretary.

「Ah. Did you say Ranga was the garrison guard captain? Call him in. I want to hear the story of the submitted report.」

「I understand. At once.」

Seeing his instructions heard, he looked over the report again as the back of his subordinate quickly left the room after saluting.

「Abnormal monster behavior. There have been several rare species confirmed in this time. Will he become the seed of a disturbance or will he be an important help? ……I hope it’s the latter.」

As Margrave Rowlocks muttered, the sound of knocking on the door was heard again.

「Come in.」

「Hah, I’m Ranga, guard captain of the garrison. I heard I was called.」

When he observed Ranga, he saw a intimidating beard and a tough looking face. As he opened his mouth to speak, a smile involuntarily floated onto his face as he saw the figure, similar to his own.

「Umm. I called for you about the matter of the report you submitted.」

「Yes.」

「The report says that a person who tamed a rank A monster, Griffon, has entered the city.」

「That is right.」

「……What kind of person was he?　Speak from your impression.」

To the words of Margrave Rowlocks, the figure of Rei, who had appeared during the day, floated into Ranga’s mind. Because his appearance gave a strong impression, he was able to remember without much difficulty.

「First of all, with respect to his appearance, his height was only up to my chest.」

「That is……rather small.」

Concerning the aspiring adventurer who had brought the Griffon, Margrave Rowlocks had imagined him to be a big man, however it was quite different from his expectations. He nodded his head.

「As for his face, his main features, if anything, were his blue eyes and red hair. His body was wrapped in a robe that seemed to be some sort of magic item, he also had a scythe taller than him as a weapon. In addition, it has been confirmed that he has a item box type magic item.」

「……Really?」

He gave a doubtful look as thought about it to make sure.

Ranga caught the glance and nodded his head.

「Yes. There is no doubt.」

「What, he’ll stand out like crazy.」

Small physique. A robe that is probably a magic item. A scythe taller than him. An item box magic item that is rare in this world. And a Griffon. When he associated those images in his head, it left an impression that stood out from every aspect. Although Margrave Rowlocks thought of the possibility of a spy from another country, such a person wouldn’t be wearing such noticeable clothing.

「What did he do after entering the city?」

「According to the report, he went directly to the Adventurers Guild. After registering with the guild, he seems to have had a dispute with some D rank adventurers.」

Quarreling with adventurers. Hearing that, the Margrave’s cheeks twitched.

「In other words, is the boy’s purpose to crush the adventurers in the city of Gilm?」

「No, according to the information I received, the adventurers seemed to have picked the fight.」

Hearing those words, he instinctively let out a sigh of relief. The existence of adventurers in the city of Gilm was their lifeline, both as a combat force and as the economy. If the adventurers were swept from the city of Gilm for some reason, the city of Gilm would perish in the near future. The words of Ranga were sufficient judgement for him to exhale in relief.

「When I hear about the boy’s appearance, there doesn’t seem to be a feeling of acting to stand out.」

「Yes, I also think so.」

「So, is there a possibility of being a spy or agent from another country?」

「Yes there is. However, I think the possibility is highly unlikely.」

「On what basis?」

「The boy seems to lack common sense, he didn’t even know he needed tax to enter the city. And above all, he didn’t have any gold, silver or copper coins.」

At that explanation, Margrave Rowlocks knit his eyebrows involuntarily. However, it wasn’t due to the sense of crisis earlier.

「He doesn’t know common sense, and he doesn’t have any money either?　……Where has he lived until now?」

Even if there isn’t much, money has spread out enough through the central continent. It is strange to come to the city without a single copper coin no matter how you think of it.

「According to the person, he seems to have lived with his magic teach in the mountains for a long time……」

「But?」

「That is, he used the word magic (Majutsu), not magic (Maho).」

「……What?」

Magic (Majutsu) and magic (Maho). They were both words that represent the same thing, but the word magic (Majutsu) was long obsolete. In the first place, most of the people now don’t even know the word magic (Majutsu) now.

「How far into the mountains was it?」

While muttering, Margrave Rowlocks had almost excluded the possibility of Rei being a spy or agent from another country.

「That is, the person apparently doesn’t know where is was. However, because his magic training has roughly finished, he was thrown out with space magic into the Forest of Monsters to train to become and adventurer or something.」

「Forest of Monsters.」

Margrave Rowlocks gave a low groan. It’s a forest about 10 days walk from the city. If you talk about low rank monsters, you think of the slime or maybe wild beasts which aren’t even monsters. If you look at the highest ranks such as dragons, they inhabit the Forest of Monsters. The Forest of Monsters.

「Yes. He seems to have killed a Water Bear and some Djarums, the fur was sold to pay for the tax.」

「Defeating a Water Bear which is rank C. Well, it’s not so strange a story since he is followed by a Griffon.」

Water Bears are rank C and the Djarum is a monster of rank F. However, if the Djarums are in a flock, the rank of each monster jumps to rank D.

「For the time being, after hearing your story, I judge that there is little possibility of the person being from another country.」

「Yes, I think so myself. Certainly, as a combat force it is quite considerable, but they stand out making it hard for them to sneak about. In that case, they could be a decoy……」

As he thought aloud, he shook his head as he noticed something.

「To begin with, there’s no point in making a person who can control a Griffon a decoy. They’re more likely to use him for something else.」

Margrave Rowlocks nodded at Ranga’s words.

「Ah. I also think so. However, it is also true that there isn’t no possibility. About the boy, Rei did you say?　Keep an eye on him」

「Watch him, is that an order?」

「No, there is no point in giving an order to watch him. I mean to take care of him. At any rate, after hearing your story about his combat power, he seems to be weak in communicating as he only lived with his teacher. It’s difficult to tame a Griffon, I don’t want to lose a precious talented person because of some worthless incident. Be careful with the groups of nobles in particular. If they come into connect, inform me and I’ll deal with it.」

「I understand.」

Aristocratic faction. They are a faction centered around the large aristocracy. In the current Mireana kingdom, the King’s faction, the aristocratic faction and the third neutral faction are in a power struggle. Well, the support ratio was about 6:3:1. Margrave Rowlocks belonging to the minority neutral faction.

However, it was also true that the aristocratic faction frequently meddled with them because their power was small. If they tried to meddle with the boy, Rei, who was accompanied by a rank A monster, Griffon……Margrave Rowlocks had a sour expression as he thought of the possible following events.

The next day, when Rei was in the city of Gilm, a party was fighting a battle against a monster a few hours distance from the city.

「Damn!」

A big man swung down a giant axe while swearing from his mouth.

「Gigi!」

An ant about 1m in length had its head cut as the axe swung down, it continued moving after raising its death cries.

「Vargas!　Don’t be careless!」

A man with a long sword and shield called out to his leader and used his shield to block the ant that lost its head from ramming Vargas. Finally, the battle came to an end as the man quickly cut off the leg of the ant that had lost its head.

「Oi, Vargas!　You’re always being too reckless!」

The man with the long sword and shield, Zorito, yelled at Vargas.

「I know!　But I what I want to know is why we have such small fry as our opponents!」

The axe was swung down in irritation. The axe that swung down gouged into the earth, scattering sand and stone into the surroundings.

「Calm down. Don’t forget we have a debt to pay. If we make a mistake and don’t pay it back, we’ll be wanted men.」

The voice of a man with daggers clicked his tongue in frustration.

Debt. The D rank adventurer group, Claws of the Hawk, was currently in debt.

It all started when they were celebrating after conquering a level of a labyrinth that was filled with magic traps.

Vargas, who was originally uncouth and rude, picked a fight with person who had just come to the Adventurers Guild to register. However, the person they picked a fight with the wrong person. After exchanging verbal insults and betting their money in front of the guild, they had been splendidly defeated. Their weapons and money had all been taken and they were left with fractured bones.

Especially for Vargas, adding insult to injury, the magic item battle axe that he had just found in the labyrinth was taken away.

And, although it was necessary to ask a magician from the medical house, who could use healing magic, to heal them as they were hurt, all the cash the Claws of the Hawk had was taken by Rei, let alone the cost of treatment, they didn’t even have enough money for meals that day.

But, the Claws of the Hawk were a D rank adventurer party. In other words, they had a decent credibility and track record. Thanks to their credibility and track record, they were able to borrow money to cover the costs of treatment and living from the guild. And naturally, the borrowed money had to be returned, because of that, they had undertaken a subjugation request for Soldier Ants.

It should be noted that the debt was purely medical and living expenses, though the weapons they used had been lost to Rei, they had spare weapons they could use.

Because money was borrowed from the guild, it wasn’t possible to avoid paying it. Because the guild can contact all other branches around the world using a magic item, it would quickly be spread if such a thing happened. There would be bounty hunters aiming for them. ……Though in that case, the bounty for capture would be small, still, everyone in the Claws of the Hawk didn’t want this to happen and desperately handled requests.

「Who’s the Goblin Drool?!」

Vargas yelled while denying the dishonourable party name given by Rei.