Chapter 3 (1/2)
「Gurururu~」
Hearing this sound, Reiji woke up touching a strange, warm, feathery coat.
「……Haa?」
He took a look around while rubbing his head. The first thing that entered his eyes was an abundant coat of feathers. Whoever the feathers belonged to had laid them down as a body pillow for Reiji, as if to protect him.
Then he noticed. He looked straight ahead while stroking the feathers. A presence looked back into Reiji’s eyes, staring at his face anxiously.
「……」
「……」
Each of them slowly and carefully stared at each other’s face in silence.
A sharp, black beak as well as a pair of blue pupils were reflected in Reiji’s eyes. The blue eyes confirmed the state of Reiji somewhat anxiously.
It had the same eyes as his own. The next moment, it moved in right in front of Reiji’s eyes. In other words, the bird had snuggled its head up to his face.
「Guru~」
This gesture, like a pampered cat, made him instinctively pet its head while smiling.
He then continued to pet its head a bit more. While petting the bird’s head, Reiji unintentionally stopped and looked at it in its entirety.
「Guru~?」
What’s wrong? The bird seemed to say as it tilted its head to one side. He directed his line of sight to where it was leaning. The feathers that he had expected were not there, instead there was a thick, silky fur. Lion……is what he thought, it was like a lion’s body. However, the forefeet were sharp like the claws of a raptor. Raptor with a lion’s body……no, eagle’s head and forefeet, though they were folded, there were wings growing from the body. Reiji knew the name of this mythical beast.
「Griffon.」
「Guru~」
That was the correct answer, he rubbed the eagle head as he said that. As he murmured, Reiji was finally able to recall why he had fainted.
「I see, I completed the ritual for the Magic Beast Art……in other words , this Griffon is my magic beast.」
When he understood the existence of the Griffon, he once again turned his gaze back to the magic beast. The body of the lion was filled of a sense dynamism, the face of the eagle was both adorable and sharp. Without its wing folded out, its size was about 2m.
Naturally, the Griffon from Reiji’s memory was something he knew from games and novels. To his knowledge, griffons were ferocious and aggressive . However, the Griffon in front of him wasn’t like that at all. Rather than that, when rubbing its face, instead of looking ferocious, it looked more like a kitten
「Maybe it is different from other griffons because it was created with the Magic Beast Art.」
「Guru~」
When he muttered that, with good timing, the Griffon gave a cry from the depth of its throat.
「……Do you understand my words?」
「Guru~」
As he guessed, the Griffon crowed again.
「Wait a minute.」
He brought out Zepairu’s knowledge while stroking the Griffon’s head.
According to it, the ability of the magic beast produced varied depending on the amount of magic power absorbed by the magic formation. In other words, the friendly Griffon’s high ability was because of Reiji’s vast magical power. Even if it was limited, it might have the ability to understand human speech.
「I see, I’ve roughly understood.……First of all, lets give you a name.」
For some reason, the Griffon had been looking at Reiji with wanting eyes since the beginning. According to the procedure of the Magic Beast Art, the existence of the magic beast is only established after it is given a name.
「Griffon, sky, storm……how about Set?」
Set. It was the name of a god that appeared in Egyptian mythology, it was a god that governed storms. Moreover, according to the description Reiji knew, it was a god that symbolized great strength and governed fighting and war.
Looking at the Griffon before his eyes, whose existence was to protect him, Reiji associated it with that name.
「Gurururu~」
The griffon let out a happy sound from its throat as it heard the origin of Set.
「Right. From today on, you are Set. I am Reiji.……No, it should be different. That was my previous name.」
He though about it while petting Set’s head. The person know as Saeki Reiji had been crushed by a steel frame and died. Here, the person was a fusion of Saeki Reiji and Zepairu. No matter if Reiji was still the major personality, using the name Saeki Reiji carried a sense of incongruity. Moreover, according to Zepairu’s knowledge, he understood that the name Saeki Reiji was not suitable in this world called Elgin.
「Reiji……that’s right, from now on, my name is Rei. Nice to meet you, Set. My name is Rei」
「Gururu~」
The moment he said that and Set answered, a list of skills came to the surface of his mind.
「This is, what?」
Words suddenly appeared in his mind. From Rei’s senses, it was similar to the status screen of a game. ……Familiar things like STR or power were not displayed, instead it was split between skills and their descriptions. The name displayed on it was not Reiji or Rei but Set.
He pulled out Zepairu’s knowledge in a hurry.
「……Indeed, this is the work of Takumu.」
It seems that the skill list had been added by Takumu when the Magic Beast Art was being created. He was able to display the skills that Set had learned from eating magic stones. As expected from something that had spread from Japan. By the way, the only item in this room to have the feature where a list was displayed in his mind when you thought about it was Misty Ring.
「Well, it’s a convenient thing to have.」
With much trouble, he had come to a different world. Smiling wryly at the situation, with the subtle scent of Japan lingering, he stood up with Set.
「Gururu」
Set then held out an elongated object in his beak to Rei. The object had been hidden in his shadow.
「This is……a scythe?」
Scythe, and not one for cutting grass. The length of the handle was about 2m, the length of its blade was 1m, it was suitable to be called the scythe of death.
「Well, what should I do with this?」
「Guru~」
This is yours, it seemed say as it presented the scythe in its beak to Rei.
Because it didn’t seem right to make Set keep holding it, he received the large sycthe.