Legend

rowed from the guild.」

「That’s their own fault.
In the first place, don’t you think that the guild is also responsible since they didn’t crack down on such adventurers?」

「Uh, that’s true.
However, there are a lot of such rough people, that is why Gilm is so lively.
Still, there are times when strength is not enough.
Either way, don’t forget that you are now a rank C adventurer from now on.」

「I understand.
Your explanation was very helpful.」

After saying that, Rei left the counter.

「Rei-san, over here!」

Rei headed for the bar located in the guild.
The merchant waved his hand as he called Rei over.

Rei went over to the table where the merchant was sitting and saw several dishes already served.

「Did I keep you waiting?」

「No, no.
If I consider it as an opportunity to talk to an adventurer like Rei-san, this kind of waiting time doesn’t matter.
It seems that you’ve ranked up to rank C.
Congratulations.
This celebration’s on me, so please eat as much as you want.」

「……Hou.
You know that I’ve ranked up.
Not a lot of people know about that.」

Somewhat impressed and somewhat wary, Rei sat down on the seat opposite the merchant as prompted to him.

「That’s because merchants treat information as importantly as their lives.
Now, please go ahead.」

Rei’s eyes frowned slightly when he saw the barrel offered to him.

「I think I mentioned a bit earlier that I don’t really like alcohol?」

「It’s to celebrate your rank up.
Just one cup is fine right? I specially picked a weak wine.」

「……Well, that’s fine I guess.」

Rei waited silently for the wine to be poured into a glass without being distracted by the merchant’s generosity.

「Well, well, I’m sorry.
It would have been best to drink with a beautiful woman, but you’re stuck here with a middle-aged man.」

「Don’t worry about it, the food is delicious enough.
Better than drinking at a shoddy bar.」

To make sure there was nothing in the wine, Rei took several small sips to see if there were any abnormalities within his body.

Of course, Rei didn’t know what drugs or poison tasted like, but he could still tell if his body had any strange responses to it.

However, Rei’s body had been made from the essence of Zepairu’s technology.
It was sufficient enough to resist most poisons and drugs.

And, the merchant, who saw Rei’s actions, smiled wryly.

He could tell that Rei was suspicious of him.
Rei may have tried to conceal it, but as expected, it wasn’t possible for him to hide it completely from a merchant who had been through a lot of negotiations.

(In yesterday’s battle, he showed overwhelming combat strength, but he still has some parts to him that match his age.
Well, at his age, it would be strange to have that much combat strength in the first place.)

Now that he had pulled his hood down, Rei’s 15 year old appearance was revealed.
The merchant hadn’t been able to make out Rei’s face in the fight the day before, but the way Rei ate food still matched his age.

「……So, this meal isn’t really because you want to celebrate my rank up is it? What can I do for you?」

Rei asked the merchant while carrying a Fang Boar skewer to his mouth.

The merchant smiled and spoke up as if he had been waiting for that question.

「I agree.
Let’s start with self introductions.
I know Rei-san’s name, but you don’t know me.」

「Ahh.
It would be helpful if you could do that.」

Nodding, Rei started to eat some vegetable salad to cleanse his palate after eating the skewer.

「My name is Alektor, as I said earlier, I’m the leader of the merchant caravan you rescued yesterday.」

「……Heh~」

Rei stopped eating his salad as he gave a slight sound in admiration.

He had known the man was a merchant, but he hadn’t expected him to be the merchant who led the caravan.

「It’s been hard for you in various ways.」

「Yes.
Definitely……」

Alektor responded to Rei’s words with a slightly gloomy expression in his eyes.

In the first place, Alektor’s caravan only had three carriages and wasn’t considered a large merchant group.
But because of the attack from the Icebirds, one carriage had been completely destroyed.
The death of adventurers was unavoidable, since they had been hired to guard them.
The horse that had been killed by the Icebirds was a painful expense, but still within Alektor’s margin.
However, the carriage itself was completely destroyed to an irreparable state by the attacks of the Icebirds, with all the goods inside mostly destroyed.
The worst part was that even the merchants who had been hiding inside the carriage had been killed by the Icebirds.

In particular, the merchants were like Alektor’s family, who he had been through hard times with together.
With more than ten people killed before him, you could guess how he was feeling in his mind despite the tough appearance he displayed.

And then he met Rei and Set.
When he had been prepared to die……as he started to have those thoughts, they had appeared and swept away the Icebirds.
As a result, it was not unreasonable for him as a merchant and as a person to hold an interest in Rei and Set.

「Fortunately, the damages will probably be covered to some extent by the trade in Gilm.
……Looking at it on a whole though, it’s a deficit now matter how I think about it.」

「In the first place, why did you come all the way over here in winter? In addition, in winter, aside from ordinary monster there are also monsters that only appear during this season, such as the Icebirds from yesterday.」

「……I agree.
Certainly, I normally wouldn’t come to a frontier city like Gilm in winter.
At the very least, if it’s not the frontier, there wouldn’t be as many monster, so we would manage somehow……」

Alektor brought a glass of wine to his mouth with an expression as if he had just bitten into a bitter bug.

It seemed like he couldn’t talk about it without drinking.