Chapter 17
The next day, he went to the library. A little bit after the first bell rang, the figure of Rei could be seen in the Adventurers Guild. Of course, Set waited at the area for carriages outside the guild.
「It's quite different from the day before yesterday.」
The day before yesterday, there were only several requests pasted on the Adventurers Guild board and few people, the number of people drinking in the bar now was much greater.
But although it was busy...it wasn't too crowded. A considerable number of people were standing in front of the board, eagerly receiving quests for their rank.
It was an unexpected development to Rei, that the Adventurers Guild was busiest in the morning. However, it's natural if you think about it, quests received in the morning are carried out during the day, they are returned in the evening and the reward received. This is because the city is the best place to live.
Though there are people who specialize in receiving night quests, they are a minority.
「Hey, the young one wearing the robe. Are you the guy that fought Vargas by himself?」
「...What? I heard there wasn't much of a size difference between him and Vargas?」
「But the story I heard was a delicate female adventurer...」
Taking no notice of the adventurers who were looking at Rei's unfamiliar figure, he looked for F and G rank quests that had been fixed to the board.
That said, Rei had little expectations for rank G and F quests. After all, there's not much point in using the Magic Beast Art to absorb the magic stones of weak monsters. Therefore, he wanted to accept a subjugation quest for a suitable monster, he looked for a monster that Set and Death Scythe could absorb a skill from...that was Rei's aim.
「But, still...well, these are mostly quests for beginners.」
The contents of the requests entered Rei's eyes, G rank quest, deliver the meat of a Fang Boar and Horned Rabbit, collect medicinal herbs to make potions. Gathering materials for anesthetics in case of serious injuries. The rest were all similar.
Seeing such requests, he let out a sigh. Even though there was a quest close to what he wanted, the target of the subjugation request was too weak. With that said, Fang Boars and Horned Rabbits were like the wolves he fought in the forest and were not monsters. The G rank requests were basically all of this form. Originally, the quests were mainly for training people who had ranked up from H to G and had only done quests in the city.
Next, he moved to the F rank board to look at the requests.
Goblin subjugation, delivery of slime magic stones, Poison Toad subjugation, most of the quests were monster subjugation quests for weak monsters or delivery quests.
「Well, at least they've got some over here. Talking about fantasies, goblins are a must.」
Muttering quietly, he read the goblin subjugation request.
The goblin subjugation quest was a regularly requested quest, the proof of subjugation are the right ears of the goblins. The minimum subjugation number is 5. The written exchange rate is 3 copper coins for 1 ear.
Even if it was a quest for low rank adventurers, the reward was cheap. Rei unintentionally knit his eyebrows, 5 ears were 15 copper coins, in other words, 1 silver and 5 copper coins. Staying at the Dusk Wheat cost Rei 3 silver a night, this was because it was a high quality inn in the city of Gimuru. As for beginners who just registered with the guild, they usually stay in cheap inns that cost 5 coppers a night, because of this, it was common for people to form parties with others in similar situations.
With his talent, Rei was an existence far apart from the normal adventurer.
He tore off the paper for the goblin subjugation request and brought to the receptionist with the ponytail that had talked with him when he entered the guild for the first time.
Some of the surrounding adventurers watched with a surprised expressions. Because he could fight 4 D rank adventurers by himself, it was unexpected that he would take the quest to subjugate goblins, one of the weakest monsters. If there are goblins then it definitely is a fantasy, no one would have expected that it was picked for simplistic reasons.
It's highly probable that Set and the Death Scythe would not grow by absorbing the magic stones of F and G rank monsters even if they fought them. However, his decision wasn't a bad one.
『Goblin』
A race of demons with the stature of a human child. They have green skin, an angular forehead and short fingers. Weak as an individual, they can easily be defeated by a human accustomed to fights. However, they have the habit of gathering together and like to act in groups. In addition, while they have a primitive intelligence, the will still arm themselves with weapons they pick up or steal.
While pa.s.sing the quest paper to the receptionist, he pulled information about goblins from Zepairu's knowledge.
「The goblin subjugation quest. Though there shouldn't be a problem with your strength, please be careful not to let your guard down.」
「Ah, so the goblin's location...」
「Well about that, they seem to appear frequently near the forest along the highway to the city of Gimuru. Recently, they have attacked merchants and travelers to Gimuru in groups.」
「Do the goblins there have any intelligence?」
「No, usually not. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that a rare species has been born.」
Rare species are individuals who were born with some kind of mutation. In the case of rare species, they boast a higher intelligence than the normal monster and are one rank higher than the monster information published by the guild. In other words, because the goblin's rank is F, a rare species goblin would be the equivalent of a rank E monster.
Having accepted the quest accepted by the receptionist, he exited out of the guild.
Though the knowledge of Zepairu hadn't been used recently, the standard fantasy goblin, which had existed for thousands of years, could be found in Zepairu's knowledge without any problems as they were around when he was alive..
「Guru~」
As Set found Rei walking out the guild, he stood up while giving a happy cry.
People walking past gasped and quickly moved away when they saw Set get up. Ignoring it, Set went up to Rei and rubbed his head against him.
「Gururu~」
「Sorry about this. We'll go at once.」
Set gave a cry to Rei's words. Together with Set, they walked along the main street to the gate.
「Hey, it's been a few days since. Your activities have already been heard here.」
Ranga, who was at the side of the gate, called out as soon as he saw Rei and Set.
Activities, Rei thought about the incident with Vargas and involuntarily smiled as he took his adventurer card from the Misty Ring to show Ranga.
「I'll say this for now, I only did that because I got involved with a fool.」
「...Not just the money they had, I heard you also took their weapons?」
「Ah. That's because we bet all our property. That was natural.」
He removed the Necklace of Subservient Monster from Set's neck and pa.s.sed it to Ranga.
「I feel sorry for them...each of the Claws of the Hawk went through here earlier before with weapons several ranks below them.」
Listening to the words Ranga said as he shook his head, Rei felt surprised.
(That party, going out of the city of Gimuru as soon as they could...they have more guts than I expected)
「No problems. So then, be careful...well, worrying might be unnecessary since you have a griffon.」
「Ah maybe. So, Set. You can first look from the sky.」
「Guru~」
Sitting on Set's back, he took a run up of several meters while flapping his big wings. They flew into the sky, disregarding the shocked look of Ranga
「Gurururururu~!」
A bit after leaving the city of Gimuru, Set gave a loud cry, as if to release his stress. Rei stroked his back while thinking.
(If you think about it, it hasn't been long since Set was born. Even if his birth was special through the Magic Beast Art, his stress may have piled up by being confined to the stables a few days after birth.)
Though Rei brought him out of the stables when he went out, the narrow pa.s.sages, inability to fly in the city and the fearful looks people gave him must have stressed him a lot.
Thinking about this, when this was done, Rei decided to take as many quests for outside the city as possible, starting tomorrow.
Rei's original purpose was to foster Set and the Death Scythe, so being an adventurer wasn't a necessity. However, information could always be gathered in the guild and high rank requests for monster subjugation given. For Rei, quests gave useful information. However, even if high rank monster subjugation request appeared, as a G rank he couldn't receive it. Thinking about it, his current objective was to raise his rank by doing quests.
While thinking about such things, the forest along the highway that the receptionist had told him about came into view. Although it would take a normal adventurer several hours to come to this forest, it took Rei riding on Set only 10 minutes after leaving Gimuru. However, with a griffon...no, with Set, his mobility was clear.
「Set, do you see any monsters?」
「Guru~」
Set shook his head left and right while flying through the sky. From Rei's eyes, it was a wide forest and the state inside the forest was blocked by the trees.
「Though it is possible to launch a quick surprise attack from the sky...I guess there's no other way. Set, land on the ground.」
「Gururu~!」
Giving a short cry in response to Rei, he gently adjusted his wings and gracefully landed on the ground in a way that expressed the elegance of his lion like lower half.
There seemed to have been some merchants and travelers near the landing point though, Rei saw them sprinting towards Gimuru as he got off Set.
(...Perhaps they would be told about the situation of the griffon by Ranga when they reached the gate.)
As he smiled wryly, thinking about Ranga's increased workload, his focus immediately changed to searching the surroundings.
「I'm not sure what to do from here. Set, we'll enter the forest.」
「Guru~」
With Set raising a cry of agreement, the entered the forest directly.
Originally, Rei and Set were weaker when fighting in the narrow forest. However, as the other party in this case were goblins, he judged that they didn't need to be to nervous as they entered the depths of the forest.
They had walked for about an hour after entering the forest. Set, who was walking in front of Rei, abruptly stopped.
「Gurururu~」
They watched the surroundings to be on guard. As expected, even though it was beside the highway, the trees with large trunks blocked the sunlight from coming in with their leaves and branches. The surroundings were dim even though it was day time. Although the surrounding temperature had increased considerably, Rei didn't feel it thanks to the Dragon Robe, for a normal adventurer, the heat and sweat would increase fatigue.
「Gururu~!」
In this situation, Set gave a cry, created a water ball and shot it at a gra.s.sy place covered with bushes.
And the next moment.
「Gyi~!」
An unpleasant scream was heard from the bushes, 20 goblins revealed themselves nearby