Legend

"... how did this happen"

About two weeks after the Azot Chamber of Commerce case was cleared up. Ray exhales unexpectedly as the temperature outside is already getting cold, even after late autumn.

Even if the surrounding temperatures get colder... or hotter, the dragon robe itself has the effect of keeping the user comfortable, so it doesn't have a particular effect if it makes it difficult for Ray to walk due to snow.

It is in the guild that Ray is currently present. I've spent the last two weeks or so healing my fatigue, buying the tools I need, or living like reading a book in a library, but I've decided it's time to finish my vacation and come to the guild to get a job before winter really comes.... but looking for just the right request suddenly one adventurer called out to me. And when they asked me for my name and named me Ray, I was suddenly in an unintelligible situation where I could bow my head deeply.

Ray hates the crowd, so the current time I visited the guild is between morning and noon. It is roughly around 10am. Not so many adventurers were in the guild for this reason, but there was still a certain number of them. He suddenly lowered his head deeply in it. Ray and the adventurer with his head down will naturally have no choice but to stand out very prominently from his surroundings. Yes, that's what a spectacle looks like.

I don't particularly care about the fact that it stands out now, Ray, but I still exhale and open my mouth when I am spared the spectacle-like treatment.

"Keep your head up for now"

"So can you listen to me!?

I just need to never lift my head until I hear a good reply, sigh again at those words.

"... ok. I listen a little bit. Right, keep your seats in the tavern. I'll be there as soon as I've done my errands."

"Is it true!? Thanks!

Momentum raised my head well and for the first time I could see what face it looked like to have my head down.

Looks like Ray's the same age... No, if Ray thinks he's about 15, is he a little over 18? He's a young man his age who should already be splendidly independent in this world called Elgin. He has a color of hair that should be described as yellow rather than blonde...... and looks serious somewhere. Equipped with armor such as metal armor parts to reinforce it everywhere. Long sword at hips. But what's different from normal is that the long sword is unusually thin? Naturally, the sheath on which the long sword is laid is similarly elongated than a normal long sword.

A weapon called estock.

Estoc. It is a fine sword that can be described as luxurious compared to a normal long sword as it appears. It is basically a sword specialized in poking rather than slashing, and it cannot imitate taking enemy attacks by itself. No, I guess if I wanted to, I could, but if I didn't recirculate it too well, I'd break it lightly. Even with regard to the penetration, which is the greatest feature of estock, if it hits decent metal armor, the estock itself will break, and it can be said to be the weapon of the Xuan preference that has to be aimed at places such as parts not covered in armor or or joint parts. Not the kind of substitute a beginner would handle at least.

(So... are you an adventurer with some strength?

He whines inside and drops off the back of a man heading to a liquor store inside the guild.

Surely his feet were of those who were mighty.

"Well, there's another commotion..."

About two weeks after the power struggle at the Azot Chamber of Commerce. Finally, in the city of Gilm, the chaos of arms dealership has subsided, and the bustle and noise are returning as usual. It was a confusion that didn't make so much sense to the average person, but it would have been a rather cumbersome mess if the weapon had been made a must-have adventurer. Well, there was that, and Ray was taking a break from vacation for about two weeks.

It is assumed that next spring there will be no doubt about the war against the Bestian Empire, so at least we want to be calm this winter. While thinking that about the brain weather, Ray heads to the counter.

"Haha. That's remarkable, Mr. Ray."

"Hey, Kenny! I don't really say that. So, uh, Mr. Ray. On what business today? You don't seem to have the requisition."

Chirali, and shakes his head small at Lenora, who talks as he looks at Ray's hand.

"No, if you knew anything about that guy earlier, you'd want me to tell you. I've never had an experience where I could suddenly bow my head."

Or maybe if there was an adventurer in the guild I knew Ray, he could have given me information about the area. However, since it is now before noon and ordinary adventurers are asked by each of them, the number of adventurers inside the Alliance is not that high. And none of those adventurers Ray knew.

This is actually quite a number when you become an adventurer who on the contrary only knows Ray unilaterally. Ray was originally prominent in various ways, but his strength and lack of forgiveness are also more known than ever due to his flashy rubbing with the Adventurers of the Azot Chamber of Commerce through the Bornter and Galahat cases. For this reason, the number of people talking to Ray from themselves is small.

"Well, I don't care if you say ability or anything, but if it's good for your general reputation, you can tell me."

"That's fine."

Ray nodding at Lenora's words.

And that's when Lenora tries to open her mouth, trying to push it away and Kenny lets her body break in.

"Oh, well, I'll tell you when I'm free."

"Hey, Kenny!?

"I'm better off hitting people, so I know more about this than Lenora."

Kenny, a cat beast, looks up at Ray with his throat gobbling like a real cat.

... Note that the upward charge is because Kenny is sitting, and when it comes to his original height, Kenny is actually slightly higher.

"Uh, yeah."

Ray turned his gaze toward Chirali and Lenora, but Lenora nodded small when he saw that Lenora would be Lenora too.

"Okay. Then please."

"I'll take care of it. His name is Mr. Hasta. Rank D Adventurer and from this city. I got to Rank D about a year ago now, so I guess I could say I'm pretty much a veteran. As you saw earlier, Ray, you have a personality that feels like a straight line if you think about it. My parents run a dining room near the library."

"Heh, the dining room....... hmm? What about the Rank D Adventurer anyway?

"Hasta, you're a solo, just like Ray."

To Kenny's words, I'm a little surprised, Ray.

Of course I knew there were solo adventurers besides myself. In the words of Ray's own acquaintance, there is a Luno with demonic eyes who can see magic. But it is also true that solo is still overwhelmingly rare. That's why I'm so confident in my arms after all, or if I have personality issues and don't have any members to party with. And do you have secrets that you can't tell others like Ray himself?

"Whatever I say, solo is rare in Rank D. Is there a reason?

"I mean, the reason, Hasta, is because it seems that you went for the adventurer in the first place to help the house. Like I said, my parents are running the dining room. So if you use the meat of your own defeated monster, the cost of the ingredients would be considerably lower, right?

"... I see. If we throw a party and fight, we'll need a share. Most likely, it can be separated by meat and demon stones..."

Kenny frowns slightly at that question that came to his mind as Ray's. At the same time, Lenora, who was listening behind Kenny, was the same again.

"Surely at first, Ray, as you say, there were times when we were partying about the flesh of demon stones and monsters. But you can rub it in your share. In the end, the party dissolved. I was still a Rank E adventurer at the time, but, Hasta, you got quite an arm on your own, so I've been working solo ever since."

"I see. You sure looked like your arm was gonna stand up"

Ray is convinced to remember how his body moves when he leaves for the tavern.

"Almost got it. Let's just talk about it and then we'll decide what to do."

"Yeah. Um... help him if you can, okay?

We headed down to Hasta waiting in the tavern with Kenny's words to tell us a little worried.

"Sorry, let me wait"

"No, I'm fine! I'm sorry I let you take more time than that."

Ray takes his seat again, sideways with Hasta bowing his head to the point where he wonders if he's going to stick his forehead to the table.

"Oh, today I let you take the trouble out of my errands, so I'll give you the luxury. That said... I don't have much money so please do it cheap"

He nods at Hasta, who tells him to smile like he's lit, cooks warm soup and skewers on the approaching waitress, and orders a set of bread. A little early for lunch.... If you try to lay low on fuel, this level of cooking is more of an intermittent meal than lunch.

"Well, so am I."

I guess I was glad it was a cheap set. Hasta had ordered a similar dish again.

And as he sees the waitress head to the kitchen, he lowers the hood of the dragon robe he was wearing to see Hasta's face again.

"Wow, you're really younger than me."

Hasta is unintentionally surprised to see what can be described as Ray's child face. But Ray, already accustomed to such a reaction, opens his mouth without looking particularly concerned.

"Sort of. So, what can I do for you? I guess it's pretty troublesome that we meet and all of a sudden you ask me to keep my head down, huh?

"... Yes. Actually, my parents run the dining room. So my father and mother are using the meat from the monster I defeated."

(Sell me a cheap meat of the monster I keep in mysteries, what kind of flow?

That's what I'd expect, Ray. Somehow I have a 2m long... and a ceto that is getting even bigger these days. A large amount of monster meat is stored inside Ray's mysteries to feed him a full belly against that ceto. Much less but still plenty of oak meat or water monkey meat that has hit me in the dungeon in large quantities. Besides those, Ray has a wide variety of monster meats. That's why I just thought the purpose of Hasta was the meat I had...

"No, you don't"

Having seen Ray's face and understood what he was thinking, Hasta denies it from herself before being told anything.

"I've heard rumors and know that Mr. Ray is following a griffon and is collecting monster meat for that griffon. Maybe that's why they think I'm here, but all I'm asking is for Ray to help me."

"... help?

"Yes. Actually, hang it from fall to winter... yes. There are monsters that have been around since just about this season. That said, it's not near the city of Gilm, it's on a meadow about half a day away."

Meadows half a day away from the city of Gilm. Past Ray's brain when asked that, was a meadow that often passes when he or Seto goes to the places he or she uses to acquire skills.

"Is that the meadow that might be there when we head from the city of Gilm to the side of the Devil's Forest?

"Oh, did you know? That's right. I was hoping you could help me defeat the monsters that come out there."

"... cooperation, hey. Why don't you just give me a request or something?

Hasta smiles bitterly and shakes her head small to Ray, who asks her gaze toward the requesting board.

"When it comes to hiring an adventurer, it costs the money accordingly. Especially the rewards. I can't do it financially right now.... so I decided to go and defeat the monster myself. It's just that I'm a little tough on my own power, so I have the strength, and the rank is the same as mine, and I let Ray speak up for me working solo. Of course there are other reasons why I chose Mr. Ray..."

"I see."

(This is also the guy who tells adventurers to ask directly without going through a kind of guild)

Open your mouth as you whine inside.

"By the way, what kind of guy says monsters you want me to take down until you ask me to help you?

"It's Gamelion."