Chapter 10 (1/2)

「Nn?　Set……is it?」

「Guru~」

When he looked around while rubbing his eyes, he understood that it was early morning as the sun could already be seen.

「Morning. ……I was able to sleep better than I thought.」

While saying so, he got up to ascertain the condition of his body. He had moved around a lot just before sleeping but he didn’t have any muscle pains.

「Gururu~」

He turned around at Set’s voice, a water ball was floating there. It was for him to wash his face.

「Thanks.」

Rei briefly said thanks. After washing his face, he left it to dry naturally as the night before.

He then cooked some Water Bear meat for breakfast at the campfire, which was still burning as Set had looked after it while he was asleep. Sharing the last two Clara Fruits, the preparations for departure were complete.

「Well, I think we should leave soon……you were on lookout last night, are you physically okay?」

「Guru~」

No problems at all, Set cried in response to Rei’s question.

Although a normal Griffon would show some fatigue if it stayed up all night, Set was a Griffon made with Rei’s vast magic power using the Magic Beast Art. He could stay up for a week without problems, let alone one night. Of course, he would have to spend the next few days resting if he did that.

「I see. Then let’s go immediately.」

「Guru~」

Like the time in the forest, Set lowered his back and urged Rei to get on. While holding the Death Scythe, Rei gently stroked Set’s back to show his appreciation.

「Gurururururururu~!」

With a high pitched cry, he flapped his wings, took a run up of several steps and went up into the sky. After reaching a sufficient altitude, Set turned his neck around to look at Rei, who was sitting on his back.

「Guru~?」

Which way to go? Rei pointed south when Set asked. Although he didn’t know if it was reliable, Zepairu’s knowledge indicated that if they kept going south for a few days, there would be a large town……so it said.

Rei had already judged Zepairu’s knowledge as unreliable and only thought of it as a reference. But still, there was a difference between having a reference and not having one.

「To the south.」

「Gururu~!」

Set gave a sharp cry in response to Rei’s words and flapped its wings to take a path straight south.

「……Amazing」

Looking at the view from Set’s back, he unintentionally said those words.

Extending before Rei’s eyes was a blue sky and an endless green carpet. Human constructs such as towns and villages could not be seen as far as the eyes could see.

Even if he said he was born in and grew up in a country town in Tohoku, there naturally were houses in the vicinity. The town could still be commuted to by bicycle. To Rei, the world of nature that extended before his eyes was the first he had seen in his life.

「Gurururu~」

Maybe understanding that Rei was happy to see such scenery from the sky, Set gave a delighted cry and flapped his wings greatly, soaring through the sky.

「……Hmm, I should think of an identity instead of being kept fascinated.」

To begin with, the only knowledge he had of the world was from Zepairu. And as he was unwilling to rely on Zepairu’s knowledge, he wasn’t sure how to create an identity for himself. Rei judged so while half watching the scenery and half working on thinking up a background.

(Firstly, since I have to live as an adventurer, I must be a magician. Because of Set, I must also have a background either as a summoner or a tamer. That background feels a bit simple……）

In the novels, movies and manga that he had seen so far, he recalled something with similar content.

(Amnesia……ha, that’s impossible because of Set. Was I sent to a place I don’t know due to recklessly using teleportation magic?　Perhaps that would work……no, wait.)

A thought crossed Rei’s mind at that moment. It was a manga he had read as Saeki Reiji where a wizard’s apprentice was sent travelling to train himself

The story could fit his current circumstances.

(Because I lived in a secluded place with my master, I’m ignorant about the world……OK. I learnt my magic from my master, not summoning magic but fire magic……ha, it would be troubling if I was asked to summon anything other than Set, maybe I’ll be a tamer. According to Zepairu’s knowledge, tamers seem to exist. So, the general story is that I was teleported by my master to a strange place by space magic for teaching and training purposes, while I was wandering and hunting with my magic beast partner Set, I found a town or village.)

While thinking if there were any contradictions in his thoughts, he muttered softly.

「I shouldn’t have any problems.」

Thinking about it, the large weapon, the Death Scythe could be said to be something which directly trained the magician, the large scythe had a magic body……so it partially true. Because of training purposes he was sent out with no money. Other than Rei, Set was also equipped with a set of expensive magic items so there were a number of strange points. However, Rei nodded without minding it as he was satisfied that the background was persuasive enough.

After several hours, he determined his background. Without anything in particular to do, Rei sat on Set’s back and enjoyed the air travel.

For a while, Rei enjoyed the scenery from the sky, but as expected, he became tired of watching the same endless scenery for hours. Things like monsters attacking merchants or thieves robbing a noble’s carriage. Alternatively, an adventurer being attacked by monsters was a development that existed as well, reality wasn’t so sweet, nothing happened and he was left swaying on Set’s back.

After a few hours. The sun had almost risen to noon, Rei began thinking of searching for monsters to eat.

「Gurururururu~!」

Set raised a cry to draw attention.

「What’s wrong」

「Guru~」

To Rei’s question, Set looked ahead. Following his line of sight, human constructions could clearly be seen……rather than saying that, there were a lot of houses. It was neither a village or town, it seemed to be a considerably large city where tens of thousands of people could live. Probably for anti-monster measures, the city was a walled city with high walls.

As he caught sight of the city, Rei let out a sigh.

「What to say, maybe it was as expected……the city wasn’t in Zepairu’s knowledge, if several hundred years have passed, a city of that scale could be built. In that case, let’s enter the city and gather some information.」

As expected, the city was near. Under his eyes, he could see roads leading to the city. That said, the roads that were trod on by people and wagons were not covered with concrete but with a natural stone pavement. People could be seen trickling along the roads.

(Well, what to do. Firstly, I’ll probably be rejected, no questions asked, if I entered with Set from the sky. Best way is to quietly enter through the entrance……if I get off Set in the near vicinity the gate keeper will probably be cautious. This is rejected as well. Then I’ll land a bit further away and from there walk to the city with Set.)