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Chapter 357

The others watched as Rei and Set rushed up into the sky to scout, taken away by Set’s leisurely appearance before starting work on what they needed to do.

The drivers of each carriage moved them to one place while the guild examiner, Residence, and the nobles, Marka, Alnicht and Orkide gathered about 10m away from the carriages. The remaining three participants, Roble, Stee and Ons stood between midway between the carriages and the nobles, ready to get into action should either side get attacked.

「Seriously, why did they bother to move so far away from the carriages. If you think about how much trouble it is to guard them, it would have been easier if they just stayed there. It would also make it easier to protect them in case something happened.」

Roble clicked his tongue as he stabbed the shaft of his spear into the grassland.

Stee smiled at her lover and spoke up to calm him down.

「It can’t be helped. The target monster in this rank up test is weak. Perhaps guarding them will be graded as part of the test. Don’t skimp out just because you don’t get along with them.」

「Yeah, of course I wouldn’t cut any corners, as much as I would like to. More importantly……」

Muttering that, he turned to look at Ons, who was a short distance away, daggers in both hands as he watched his surroundings.

「I’m not confident in being able to work well together with him. Whatever I say, he’s always silent.」

「……That might be so, but since he’s taking the rank up test, he definitely has the skill. We don’t have a lot of people, so we have to cooperate where we can.」

「Then, why don’t we get that Coan guy to help us? He looks pretty good at what he does.」

「Of course he is, he’s the bodyguard of a duke’s daughter.」

「A duke’s daughter, what is a kid like that doing here……」

To Roble and Stee, Marka was nothing more than a child. In actual fact, she was a skilled mage, but unlike Elena, who was well known as the General Princess, few people had heard of Marka’s name. Because of that, the two of them from Gilm could not have known what the name Marka Quent represented.

「Now then, it’s time for the real thing. What do you think so far?」

Over where the nobles had gathered, away from Roble and Stee. Residence asked the people around him.

「I have no doubts about Rei’s skill. I will need to see the skill of the remaining three when they fight the Bicorns.」

The first to answer was Marka. Rei, her friend, was the first one to be brought up as Residence nodded in agreement.

「Certainly, Rei has the strength to be considered in the B rank. However, as you know, B rank adventurers aren’t gauged only on their combat strength, but also on their courtesy towards nobility and royalty and, above all, their ability to make decisions in times of crisis. Regarding Rei, his skill is unquestionable. However, his manners are a problem. The only thing left is his decision making. However, I’m not sure if I can comment on that right now……let’s see what he can do.」

Marka had a complex expression on her face when she heard Residence’s evaluation.

For Marka, she had a strong desire for her friend, Rei, to pass the test. However, she also was well aware that wasn’t much for etiquette. Marka herself didn’t like formal speech that much as she was still young and didn’t like using complex language. However, she also knew that there were few exceptions like her.

A typical noble would definitely have felt uncomfortable.

In fact, Alnicht, who had originally come to Gilm to try to pull Rei to his side had disliked Rei’s use of words.

(The rest is your decision making. ……Don’t let it get away from you, Rei)

As Marka said that in her mind, Alnicht spoke as well.

「For my part, I would have to recommend the Beastkin called Stee. Unlike her partner, Roble, she seems to be able to demonstrate some courtesy towards nobles. The question is her skill in combat……what do you think?」

When Alnicht looked towards him, Residence, the guild examiner, nodded his head slightly.

「As a Gilm adventurer, she shouldn’t have any problems. We will find out when we get to the Bicorns.」

「Umu. I hope she is capable.」

Orkide, who had been sighing unenthusiastically next to Alnicht was the next to speak.

「So, how about Roble, the Wolfkin?」

「No good.」

Alnicht asserted that without a moment’s hesitation.

「Being strong minded isn’t a bad quality for an adventurer. But he’s too strong minded. He also has a strong attachment, or rather obsession towards his party member, Stee. No, I don’t mind his obsession, but he expresses it too openly. It’s going to be hard considering that.」

The others, including Marka and Coan, were of the same opinion and gave no objections.

With his sharper senses as a Beastkin, if Roble had heard what they said, he would have been angry. However, Marka was talented in wind magic and had deployed a special barrier to stop their voices from leaking out. For better or worse, Roble never heard what they said.

「Then, the last one is Ons……」

There was a wry smile on Residence’s lips as he said that. The reason was quickly brought up by Alnicht.

「……It’s hard. I don’t know what he’s thinking as he’s always silent with his taciturn expression.」

「That’s true. But, he could be more reliable than someone with a loose character? But considering he’s been stuck at C rank to this age, I don’t think we can expect much else from him in future.」

Orkide’s words were spoken with a sigh, but Coan disagreed.

「That said, as a former A rank adventurer, I can tell you that there aren’t that many adventurers who can move up to B rank. Considering that……」

「He might still have a future.」

Marka finished Coan’s words.

「That’s true. However, I don’t think we need to worry about his combat skill. His skill are guaranteed by the guild.」

「Hmm, then what’s left is his etiquette. Since he rarely speaks, I can only say it is unknown. The same goes for his decision making.」

Thus, the nobles who had gathered each gave their own marks to the rank up test participants in their minds.

About five minutes of flight away from where the carriages, nobles and test participants had been left, Rei and Set were flying through the sky.

「……I’m sure they are Bicorns, but……」

Rei muttered to himself as he looked at the herd of horse like monsters with two horns growing from their foreheads.

「Gurururu~」

Hearing Rei’s mutters, Set gave a confused cry.

That was because they were confused by what the herd about 30 Bicorns at the end of their line of sight were doing.

The Bicorns in Rei and Set’s eyes were more than able to take advantage of their numbers as they attacked a group of Goblins.

They either stabbed the Goblins to death with their two horns or stomped them to death with their hoofs after the poison slowed down the Goblin’s movements if they were scratched by their horns.

What was even more tragic was that the Goblin leader, which was larger than the rest of the Goblins. It had its arms, body, legs and even internal organs were devoured by the herd of Bicorns.

Rei had envisioned Bicorns to be similar to Unicorns. However, the fangs that grew from their mouths were so sharp that they were definitely more for biting the flesh off its prey than for eating plants, which was a far cry from what Rei had expected, even with his knowledge of meat eating horses.

(No, now that I think about it, there are carnivorous rabbit monsters like the Gamelion. So I guess it’s not that strange to have carnivorous horses?)

Forcing the thought to the back of his mind, Rei decided to head back to the others after confirming the presence of the Bicorns, which were their target.

It had only taken Set five minutes to fly here, but only only because Set was a Griffon. It would take them about an hour to get here by carriage or a few hours on foot. His biggest worry was whether or not the Bicorns would stay in the same place, but fortunately, the Bicorns had just killed and eaten a group of Goblins and had laid down to rest.

(From the look of it, they should be okay to deal with to some extent. If they can smell us coming towards them, they’ll probably attack. ……What will they do if they sense Set though?)

Rei muttered to himself as he leaned against Set’s back.

It was clear that as vicious as Bicorns were, they would definitely be able to sense the difference in strength and would run away if a high ranking monster like Set showed up.

(Could Marina have known this when she said it would be fine to bring Set along? ……It’s possible. That said, without Set, it would have taken a lot of effort to find the herd of Bicorns. ……No, maybe it wouldn’t with Beastkin and a thief participating in the test? Anyhow, I’d better head back and discuss it with them.)

Thinking that it would be more efficient to discuss it in a group than by himself, Rei signalled Set to go back to where the carriages were.

The first one to notice Rei’s return in the tense atmosphere, where they might be attacked by Bicorns at any time, was surprisingly Ons and not the Beastkin Roble and Stee.

When Ons noticed something approaching from the sky, he tapped the nearby Roble on the shoulder.

「Hm? What’s the matter? An enemy?」

Ons silently pointed towards the sky when Roble gripped his spear and asked.

Looking into the sky in confusion, Roble saw something approaching as well.

He held up his spear on reflex, but gave a sigh of relief the next moment when he saw it was Rei and Set.

「……Is that Rei? Is he back because he’s found the Bicorn herd?」

「I hope so. At any rate, let’s get ready to move. I’ll tell the others first. I think they’ve noticed as well.」

Turning their eyes towards the nobles, they saw Coan point towards Rei as he said something to Marka. Alnicht, Orkide and Residence all turned their eyes towards the flapping wings of Set when they saw that.

「Bicorns themselves aren’t high ranking monsters, so it shouldn’t be a problem. ……However, if they drag us down, that’s going to be a different story.」

「What are you talking about. In the first place, this test covers everything including communication. If we could simply just kill the monsters, they might as well have put a subjugation request on the board and be done with it.」

「……」

Ons nodded in silence at Stee’s words to show his agreement.

Roble couldn’t argue with the two of them and kept silent until Rei and Set returned.

「I’ve found a herd of Bicorns.」

Everyone’s expressions became serious at those words as Rei got to the ground.

The monster they had to subjugate was finally here.

「From here, straight south……about an hour by carriage or so. The herd of Bicorns have just filled their bellies on a group of Goblins and are now resting. There are about 30 of them in the herd. What do we do?」

The only people who paid serious attention to Rei’s report were the others taking the rank up test. Everyone else, including Residence, stood at a distance and just listened in silence.

(Of course, one of the things being tested is how we deal with a herd of Bicorns. So I guess we can’t make careless decisions.)

Stee looked around as she quickly gathered her thoughts.

「Keep in mind that if we start to move from here, they might sense Set’s presence and run away.」

「……I see. Can I assume that if the Bicorns sense Set, they will immediately try to run away?」

「Yes. With regards to that, you can consider it past experience.」

「If they sense Set, they will run. Fortunately, Bicorns always move in herds, so this might work. How about if we do this?」

Hearing Rei’s words, Stee began to think up a plan.