Legend

Chapter 123

「Are you Rei?」

As he left the inn as usual and was about to head for the guild, two men appeared and questioned Rei.

Although he had the tone of wanting to confirm, their eyes indicated that they were sure he was the person they were looking for.

After all, he was the adventurer with the Griffon, so they couldn’t have mistaken him.

Set ate a skewer while giving a cheerful cry. Rei nodded at the two men, who had been glancing at Set.

「Ah.」

Seeing Rei nod, the two men looked at each other before one of them spoke again.

「Bolton-san of Azoth Firm has summoned you. Follow me.」

When the leader, a warrior in his thirties, told him that……

「I refuse.」

The man was at a loss for words at Rei’s reply.

「What!?」

Indeed that was an unexpected reply. They were at a loss for words.

That was to be expected. They were hired by one of the leading merchants in Gilm and the one that dealt with all the weapon sales. Ordinary cities aside, the city of Gilm was a frontier city and there were a lot of adventurers. As a result, there were many weapon shops to supply weapons to adventurers. They didn’t expect to be refused by someone like this.

「Is that all? I’ll be on my way then.」

Rei saw the men stop at his unexpected reply and kept going with Set……

「Wait. You, do you know who Bolton-san is!?」

「Ah. You just said it earlier yourself, he’s from Azoth Firm.」

「That’s right! Then you know what happens if you refuse his summons right!?」

「That reminds me. I was summoned yesterday and went to the upperclass district and was driven away by the gatekeeper. Why should I respond to his summons again?」

「……What?」

The men was stunned at Rei’s word. Seeing that, Rei laughed in his mind and was about to leave with Set. But……

「Please wait a moment. Regarding that matter, it is certainly our fault. It was rude of us after summoning you. My apologies.」

When he saw the leader of the two bow his head deeply, as expected, he couldn’t just ignore them.

(……That was a bit unexpected. From the rumors I had heard, I had though Bolton or Azoth Firm would be the type to abuse their authority and forcibly get their way.)

He stopped and gave a sigh. If they had been high handed again, he would have just ignored them and head on to the guild. But now, if he ignored the older man, who was wearing high quality equipment, Rei would be seen as the bad person.

「Wait, Galahat-san. There’s no need to bow your head to such a brat!」

One of the men, who was holding a halberd, spoke out to his leader — Galahat — who was bowing his head.

「He was summoned but the gatekeeper drove him away despite that. No matter how you look at it, this is not right. It is natural to apologise.」

「But that’s not Galahat-san’s fault, it’s the gatekeepers’……hey, you!　Do you know how this is?　He’s a rank B adventurer, Galahat-san. Don’t make someone like that bow his head to you.」

He decided saying anymore would be pointless. The who called out to Galahat turned towards Rei with a scowl.

「Murt!　We are inviting him, so show a proper attitude!」

「But!」

At Galahat’s reprimand, the man with the halberd — Murt — tried to say something before clicking his tongue and diverted his eyes.

「That was rude of me. If it’s convenient for you, could you come with me now? I promise not to let anything unpleasant happen like yesterday.」

「Gururu~?」

What do we do? Rei gave a sigh and and stroked Set, who seemed to ask as he tilted his head.

「Okay. I can’t decline after this much.」

(If he had been like Murt, I would have refused immediately and not waste any more time……I didn’t think someone like Galahat would be in Azoth Firm with its bad reputation. In the end it’s pointless to judge people on rumors along. Then, maybe Bolton may not be as bad as the rumors about him……in that sense, I should meet with him at least once.)

「Ahh, that’s a great help. I’ll guide you there at once. Follow me.」

Galahat, ahead with a smile, followed by Murt, Rei and Set.

「Seriously, Galahat-san told me to stop so I’ll leave it at that. You’ll be crushed if you think that you can do what you want just because you’re famous.　Not every adventurer is as broadminded as Galahat-san.」

Murt called out to Rei as they walked. He seemed to be dissatisfied that the person he respected had to bow his head to a child. He looked at Rei in dissatisfaction without hiding it.

「In the first place, if Azoth Firm had let me in yesterday, there wouldn’t have been an issue. Isn’t it unreasonable for you to blame me for that?」

「Ahh!?」

Although Murt glared at him when he heard that……

「Murt!」

He was reprimanded by Galahat, who was walking ahead, before he could reply.

(Indeed, Murt won’t go against Galahat. I don’t know if it’s because he trusts him or because he admires him though.)

Thinking to himself, he followed after Galahat. Eventually, the reached the upperclass district that he had visited yesterday.

And as Rei walked down the same street as yesterday, he saw a few male adventurers walking ahead……

「!?」

Seeing Galahat’s group……or rather after seeing Set, their looks hardened for a moment before sighing in relief.

「Hey, it’s Galahat-san. Is that the rumored guy with the Griffon?　……Mm?　I say, you’re the one from yesterday……」

The man called out to Galahat, who was walking at the front of the group, but immediately noticed a familiar face. This was because they had met just yesterday.

「What, boy. Do you have more business at Azoth Firm today?」

When he said that, Rei finally remembered who the men before him were.

「I met you around here yesterday……」

「Ah. No, wait. That Griffon over there, are you possibly the adventurer in the recent rumors?」

「I can roughly guess what the rumors are, but you’re not wrong. Your equipment seems to be different from what you wore yesterday though.」

When Rei had met them yesterday, they had all been wearing green leather armour. But now, some were wearing metal armour or a mantle. Some were still wearing leather armour, but no one was wearing the green armour from yesterday.

He probably noticed Ray’s gaze. The man opens his mouth with a bitter smile.

「That equipment was prepared by the person who hired me. It seems that he wanted something like his own knights. While I was hired, I was contracted to wear matching armour.」

「Is it different now?」

「Ah well. My contract ended yesterday, so I can wear my own equipment from today on.」

「Rei, you know these people?」

Galahat saw the two of them talking with each other causally and asked, but the other man spoke up before Rei.

「I don’t know him too well. But when he was looking around here yesterday, I told him the location of Bolton-san’s mansion.」

「That is……I see. My apologies.」

「What? Why are you apologising?」

The man was confused by Galahat, who suddenly bowed his head.

「No, Rei actually went to Bolton-san’s mansion yesterday……but it seems the gatekeepers turned him away. Because of that, we’ve bothered you twice. Though you told him the way yesterday, it ended up being pointless in the end.」

「Ahh, I don’t mind. You’ve taken care of me for a lot things. This isn’t a big deal.」

At the man’s words, the men behind him nodded as well.

(It seems this Galahat is quite popular. It seems Murt’s admiration isn’t out of place.)

Looking at them, Galahat’s evaluation rose in Rei’s mind.

「Well then, we’ll be off to the guild to collect our reward. Also, Galahat-san. Don’t let Murt give you a hard time.」

「Ah. You take care as well.」

「I know. When your request is over, come over to the guild to collect your reward and have a drink with us.」

While he spouted complaints at them, there seemed to be some familiarity between Murt and the men.

「Are you close to them?」

Seeing Murt like that, Rei asked Galahat.

From Rei’s point of view, Murt was one of those muscle brained adventurers. He admired Galahat who was stronger than him and took care of him, at the same time, he looked down on Rei, who looked weaker than him. With such a personality, he didn’t think he would look at others he wasn’t familiar with such friendliness.

「-Mm?　Ah, about that. He’s a reasonably skilled adventurer. I think he was definitely rank C.」

Continuing their conversation, they continued walking down the street towards Bolton’s mansion.

「Heh~. What’s the name of his party?　Though I don’t know about him, I do know of rank C parties like Scorching Wind and Crushing Warriors.」

「No, he hasn’t formed a party. He just happened to take a request together with the other people this time. He either joins different parties or goes solo.」

「……Isn’t that unusual?」

Although effort was required to form a party, it was surprising that he would rather go solo than form a party. Rei looked towards Galahat with a surprised expression.

「It certainly is unusual. However, each adventurer has their own circumstances, so it’s not something we should worry about. ……Well then, you can see it now.」

Ahead of Galahat, Rei could see the golden roof. As before the gate were the same two gatekeepers.

Seeing them approach, the two gatekeepers glared at them and raised their spears like yesterday……

「Ah, Galahat-san.」

Seeing Galahat at the front, they breathed in a sigh of relief and lowered the tips of their spears.

「That?　Isn’t that the brat from yesterday……」

The gatekeepers noticed Rei in the group and spoke up in confusion.

Looking at them with cold eyes, Galahat spoke up.

「This is Rei. He should have come here yesterday, right?」

「Eh, yes. He said he wanted Azoth Firm to hire him.」

「No, I don’t recall saying such things.」

Rei cut off Fader, who was trying to brush it off.

「Guh, s-shut up brat!　What did you come here for today!」

Afraid that he would be put into a bad position, he pointed the tip of his spear at Rei……

「GURURURURURU~!」

Set moved in front of Rei and gave a belligerent cry as he glared at Fader with his sharp eyes.

Set’s eyes, which were usually round and sweet, had turned into dangerous eyes when he looked at the enemy.

「Hii, Hiii~!」

Being glared at head on by Set, Fader edged back until he bumped into Sakant, stopping him.

「Fool. Rei is someone who Bolton-san summoned directly. You drove him away at your own selfish judgement. In other words, he’s Bolton-san’s guest. ……The point is, you should have known about that but forgot about it.」

「That is……I didn’t think such a brat could be Bolton-san’s guest……」

Fader desperately tried to smooth over it, but Sakant realised that they had made a grave mistake and had a pensive expression. Seeing the contrasting expression on the two, Galahat spoke out. However, not towards Sakant and Fader, but Murt.

「Listen up. If you act however you want to, remember that you may commit mistakes that can’t be fixed like this.」

「Yes.」

「And Rei. I’m sorry for making you feel unwelcome, I’m sorry. I’ll discipline these two properly so I hope you’ll forgive them.」

「Well, if Galahat says so, then that’s fine.」

「Then, once again. Welcome to the Bolton mansion.」

Galahat gave an elegant bow that did not seem to be a gesture an adventurer could make.