Legend-Novel

Chapter 201

「Woah, it looks cold today as well.」

Rei muttered involuntarily as he left the inn.

Next to him, Set gave a cry in agreement.

Looking around, a thin layer of snow had built up on the ground. But at the very least, it wasn’t snowing right now. Instead there was a warm winter sunshine, melting the snow that remained on the ground and turning it into water.

It had been a few days since he had gotten back from Baar. With the disturbance finally settled, with regards to rest, he had taken plenty of walks with Set and had decided to finally head back to the guild after a long break.

「These past few days have been busy.」

「Guru~?」

Really? Set seemed to say as he tilted his head.

As for Set, he was just happy that his partner would care for him every day.

「Well, you’ve eaten a lot of food from Milein.」

「Gurururu~」

Set gave a happy cry at Rei’s words.

After all, it was well know that Milein really liked Set. Naturally, when she had heard that Rei and Set had gone to a city with an epidemic, she was in bed for several days from shock and worry. Of course, when Rei and Set returned……no, because of her extreme affection for Set, she had being coming over to the Dusk Wheat these past few days with food for Set.

She loved Set so much that she scolded Rei for taking Set to such a dangerous place. A lot of the other people in the inn were quite sympathetic to her state.

With regards to Milein, although it was winter it was still barely snowing, so she had been taken by her party, Scorching Wind, to the guild to take on one last request. Rei and Set were prompted by that to show his face in the guild for the first time in a few days.

「Ah, Set. How are you? I heard you went to a dangerous place. Here, eat this. It’s me treat today.」

「Oh, Rei. It feels like I haven’t seen you for a long time. Hey, how have you been? My skewers. In this cold, freshly roasted skewers are a must.」

「What are you saying. In this cold weather, the soup we make is the best. Rei, there’s some Gamelion meat inside. How about it?」

「In that case, our sandwiches match the soup the best.」

「Hey, you really are shameless, you.」

In such a way, Rei and Set exchanged greetings as they continued down the main street, eating sandwiches, skewers and occasionally stopping for soup.

One of the things that had changed was that one of the stores that sold soup also had udon on the menu now as well. During the week Rei had gone to Baar, it seems that Dishot had taught the recipe to some acquaintances.

(If only they sold it, The Satisfied Stomach would have been able to monopolise the profits for a while. Well, in terms of spreading the production method, this is probably the best way.)

Even if he monopolised it for his own profit, its spread would be difficult if he was the only restaurant selling it. But if he spread the recipe to his acquaintances and they spread it to theirs……and so on, the culture of udon and noodles would naturally spread. Rei didn’t know if the artisan-like Dishot had thought that far, but it was a fact that udon dishes were spreading through the city of Gilm thanks to his decision.

(The time for soba, yakisoba and pasta to be invented may be near. ……If he could, I would like Dishot to explore the production of pasta. Just because of Hasta.)

The appearance of the adventurer of the same rank that had gone with him to hunt for Gamelions passed through his mind.

While thinking about that, he continued to buy sandwiches, a hotdog like snack, skewers, juice and fruits from street stalls to eat with with Set or to store inside the Misty Ring.

When they finally saw the guild, Set went straight to the are for tamed monsters without a sound and plopped himself down.

The children and several nearby adventurers who saw Set flocked towards him as Rei entered the guild.

「……As expected, there aren’t many people here.」

First of all, it was right between morning and the noon. Because it was about 10am there were almost no adventurers near the request board.

As the season called winter had finally arrived, many adventurers had decided to take a break until spring.

And as for what the people taking a break would do……

Rei glanced towards the bar attached to the guild.

The number of adventurers there was what it used to be like at the request board. Although there weren’t as many people at the bar compared to night time, it was still the largest number of people he had ever seen in the guild since he came to Gilm.

「Phew.」

As he gave a sigh and went towards the request board.

「Ah, isn’t it Rei. It’s been a while.」

Someone called out to him from the side.

Turning to take a look, there were three people there.

A male warrior carrying a huge battle axe on his extremely trained body.

A female mage dressed in robes and holding a staff in her hands.

And a male swordsman with a forged body whose age didn’t seem to differ that much from Rei.

Rei naturally knew who the three were. They were the three members of the A rank party with top class combat power in the city of Gilm, Axe of the Thunder God.

「Elk, Min, Rhodes. It’s been a long time. I haven’t seen you for a while, how have you been doing?」

Elk, the leader of Axe of the Thunder God, spoke up with a playful smile as he scratched his head.

「Nothing much, there have just been a nasty monster in another city. So we’ve been out for a while.」

「Nasty monster?」

「Ah. It was a kind of dragon.」

Rei twitched. He stopped moving without thinking when he heard that. After a few seconds, he turned to look at Elk suspiciously.

「A kind of dragon?」

However, it seemed that Elk understood what that look meant. He replied with a smile.

「That said, it wasn’t a S rank dragon like the one you’re thinking of. Although it’s called a dragon, it lacks the wisdom of an actual dragon. It’s a low class dragon. ……However, it still needed more than 5 A rank parties to take it down.」

Hearing that, Rei was convinced.

Although it was a kind of dragon, there was a big difference in level of strength. For example, the dragons that Dragon Knights rode on were called Wyverns, which were one of the lowest ranking dragon species. The kind of dragon that Rei’s Dragon Robe was made from had a level of intelligence above humans and was a high ranking dragon that could even master its own magic, known as Dragon Language. Even higher up, an Ancient Dragon, such as the one Elena’s magic stone had belonged to, was a true monster that had lived thousands of years.

「So, what kind of dragon was it?」

As expected, Rei was interested after being told that they had defeated a dragon. Rei asked Min curiously. Min, who was basically the Thunder God side of Axe of the Thunder God, smiled as she replied.

「So even a boy like you is interested in dragons after all. It was a Rock Dragon we defeated. Even through it was a lower class dragon, it was strong enough for an enemy.」

「Rock Dragon? Judging from its name, is it a land bound dragon?」

「Ahh. Instead of being able to fly, it has a very high level of defence. ……Against physical attacks at least.」

「With my mum’s magic, it wasn’t that hard to beat it.」

For some reason, Rhodes said that proudly as if he had been the one to do it.

Seeing that, Rei had a wry thought.

(It looks like his mother complex is the same as ever. No, wait a minute. That’s why he can be so proud about it……)

「……Did you follow them there by any chance?」

Rei asked cautiously.

Certainly, was a rank C adventurer while being about the same age as Rei. However, he was still only rank C. He was basically nothing compared to monster that required several A rank parties to deal with so there shouldn’t have been anything he could have done.

「Guh-.」

At Rei’s question, Rhodes choked. Elk extended a hand to Rhodes’s back and gave him a slap to help him out.

「Gahahahaha. As expected, I couldn’t take my son to fight a dragon. So at the time of battle, I asked him to protect the base.」

「That’s right. As expected, he can’t deal with a dragon species at only C rank. If it’s just a Wyvern though, it might be possible with enough people.」

「Guh, ugh, shut up. Even if you say that, you’re still rank D. You’re not in a position to say that to someone who is one rank higher.」

While saying that, Rhodes glared at Rei with a flushed expression.

However, although he said that, he remembered Rei’s combat strength that he had seen in the Orc settlement and wondered if Rei actually might be able to do it. But that was only his thoughts.

「Rhodes. Your thoughts are naive.」

The one who said that to Rhodes was Min. She continued to speak in a neutral tone that didn’t carry a sense of femininity.

「According to what I heard, Rei took on a nominated request to bring medicinal ingredients to a city with an epidemic. It was also the guild master’s personal nominated request. The request was also completed successfully. If you think about it, his skill level and contribution to the guild is enough. It is quite likely that his rank will rise in the near future. It might be impossible with this request, but maybe several requests later.」

「Mum……」

Rhodes moved back a step, as if shocked by the words of his beloved mother.

Although Elk looked at his son in amusement, he turned to look at the request board as he thought of something.

「That’s right. Rhodes definitely won’t be able to improves if he keeps holding onto us and letting us carry him. How about it Rei. Why don’t take on a subjugation request together with Rhodes?」

「……Haah!? What are you suddenly saying dad!」

Rhodes reflexively retorted at Elk’s words.

However, Min surprisingly easily agreed with Elk’s opinion.

「I see. Certainly that would be good.」

「Wai-, mum as well. Why are you doing this! As far as work is concerned, did you say that we would be taking a break until spring!?」

「……Rhodes. You are definitely a prominent young adventurer. However, thanks to being with us, you have been able to rank up without much difficulty. You know that there are people who think of you like that, right?」

「That’s……」

Rhodes had no response at Min’s words.

In fact, the other members who formed the party were both rank A. Furthermore, because the two of them were his father and mother, it was unavoidable for some people to think that way.

Of course, as Min said, Rhodes was a young and promising adventurer. You could say his fighting strength was inferior to Rei, who was a newly appeared supernova, there were no others aside from Rei. Especially with regards with attitude and knowledge as an adventurer, since both his parents were rank A adventurers, it wasn’t a mistake to call him a genius that had received special education.

But that didn’t mean there were no people who felt jealous of Rhodes. Most people would comment that it was all due to the influence of his parents who were both A rank adventurers. Of course, as a mother, it wasn’t nice to hear that being said about their child. That was why she thought it was good for him to be able to show that he was a able adventurer on his own.

Having said that, as expected, she also felt uneasy letting her beloved son take on a request by himself. To Min, Elk’s suggestion was a timely offer.

Looking to her side, she gave a wry smile towards the man with the mischievous smile of a boy.

Of course, she didn’t think that her husband, who wasn’t good at thinking about difficult things, had thought that far.

「Alright, if you’ve decided, then you must chose a monster subjugation request right away. Fortunately, it is already winter. I think seasonal monsters will start to come out at this time.」

「Hey, dad! Don’t just push the things forward by yourself!」

「Well, well. Min, you don’t have any problems with that do you?」

「That’s right. You are our proud son. If I consider your skill, I can leave you to solo requests with peace of mind.」

「Mum as well……but, okay. I understand. If mum says so, I will try.」

「Seriously. I can’t do anything about how you cling to your mum.」

Seeing the exchange between the family, Rei, who had been completely ignored, grumbled.

「I’ve just been dragged into this haven’t I?」

Although he had initially come to the guild to take up a request, he still gave and unconvinced sigh as he followed the three of them towards the request board.