Legend

Chapter 185

「I see it-! It’s Baar!」

Sitting on Set’s back, Rei gave an enthusiastic shout as he saw the city on the ground ahead of him.

In the end, the bandits didn’t attack him again last night and he was able to rest well, wrapped in Set’s fur.

After they woke up in the early morning, the sun starting to rise and get brighter although the surroundings were still dim, Rei and Set quickly flew off after eating a light breakfast. Before the morning sun had completely risen, they had passed over the last village en route to Baar, finally reaching Baar late in the morning.

「Gururu~?」

Set was happy as Rei was happy, but he also looked at the sight ahead. What should they do about the dozens of soldiers he could see at their destination, Baar’s main gate? Set gave a questioning cry.

At Set’s cry, Rei noticed that the city was blockaded, but decided that since he had brought the Aurani grass powder, he had to deliver it.

「Set, land somewhere away from the people blocking the front gate. As expected, if we land right in front of them, there will probably be a fight.」

「Gururu~!」

Set gave a short cry at Rei’s words and flapped his wings as he descended to the ground.

It seems the soldiers also noticed Set. They each cautiously held their spears and swords as they stirred.

While they watched the high ranked monster, the Griffon, Rei jumped from Set without care when he was a few meters from the ground and gave a loud shout.

「I’m Rei! I’m an adventurer from Gilm! I’ve brought Aurani grass powder to make the medicine for the Magic Fever that has spread around the city. Please get in notify Baar’s adventurer guild as soon as possible!」

Rei’s voice echoed into the surroundings.

However, although the soldiers showed a momentary expression of joy at Rei’s words, Rei only looked like a delicate 15 year old. They also noticed he was empty handed even though he had said that he had brought Aurani grass powder. They exchanged confused looks with each other.

One man came forward from the soldiers and approached Rei.

The man looked to be in his twenties but was strangely calm. He stopped about 5m from Rei and spoke up.

「I’m Southernus. I lead the soldiers over there. I would like to ask, you said that you’ve brought Aurani grass powder, but where is it. You seemed be empty handed when I looked over. No, of course, we will be very grateful if you have even a little of it. But, since you said you’ve come all the way from Gilm, you would have brought a reasonable amount right?」

At Southernus’s words, Rei gave a small nod and took out the wooden crate from the Misty Ring.

When the wooden crate suddenly appeared from nowhere, Southernus reached for the sword at his waist on reflex. However, he immediately realised that the crate wasn’t anything that could harm him and he looked over it again.

Inside the wooden crate, there was a large number of small bottles about 5cm tall.

And inside each one, there seemed to be some sort of powder……

「-!?」

At that moment, Southernus realised what was in front of him.

「This is……could it be……」

「That’s right. It’s Aurani grass powder that can be used in the Magic Fever medication.」

At Rei’s words, not just Southernus, the other soldiers who heard it as well started murmuring.

Of course, the reason was partially because of the large quantity of Aurani grass powder present, but above all, it was because of the item box.

「An item box……I see. Well, as far as I can tell, this seems to be the real deal.」

「……Real?」

Rei inquired unintentionally at the words that leaked from Southernus’s mouth.

In response, Southernus bowed his head slightly.

「Sorry. It was just a test. Actually, the guild master from the city’s guild……rather, I heard that an adventurer dispatched from Gilm would come here. However, as you know, Magic Fever that isn’t supposed to occur around here had spread explosively around Baar. Wherever they heard it from, some researchers who were interested in it came over here. Naturally, Diarog-sama rejected their attempts because letting them into the city could put people at risk……」

「Why? Wouldn’t researchers possibly be able to determine the cause of the outbreak?」

「Yes, if that really was their purpose then it wouldn’t matter.」

Hearing those words, Rei realised that there were some complicated circumstances. He changed the topic without pressing any further.

「So, can I head inside?」

「Ah, Ahh. ……Does the Griffon over there attack people?」

Southernus asked fearfully as he turned to look at Set, who was standing quietly behind Rei.

「Guru~?」

What? Set seemed to ask as he tilted his head. But as expected, fearing the existence that was the Griffon he had just met, he took a step back.

Rei stroked Set’s neck while remembering the incident when he came to Gilm for the first time.

「It’s fine. If you don’t try to mess with him, he’ll stay quiet like this.」

「Gurururu~」

Set gave a comfortable cry from being stroked.

While Southernus was still looking at Set as if it was something unbelievable, Rei handed over the Necklace of Subservient Monster that he used inside Gilm.

After handing that over, Rei also handed over his guild card, as per procedures to enter the city.

「Open the gate!」

Following Southernus’s instructions, the soldiers opened the gate that had blockaded the city of Baar.

(……If I had entered from the sky, I wouldn’t have to go through something so troublesome. Well, in that case though, I would probably be treated as an intruder.

「Captain. I will go ahead to the guild first.」

「Ahh. Seis-sama will definitely be pleased to know this. ……I’ll leave it to you.」

A soldier gave a small nod at Southernus’s words and entered the city ahead of Rei.

「You will see the guild if you just head straight along the main street. ……Because of the effect of Magic Fever, the number of people out in the city is getting smaller, head to the guild as quickly as you can. ……Last but not least, thank you for coming to this city.」

Saying that, Southernus gave a deep bow. The soldiers he led followed suit and also gave a deep bow.

Many of them had family, friends or lovers who had fallen ill with Magic Fever. Tears fell from several soldiers who had lowered their heads.

It was obvious that they weren’t tears of sadness but tears of hope from the help that had arrived.

「The only thing I can do is to bring the medicinal ingredients over. After this, I can only leave it to the pharmacists and alchemists in the city.」

「Even so. The medicine cannot be made without the ingredients in the first place. ……You have helped us greatly.」

Southernus spoke words of thanks again as the gates to Baar were closed as well.

When the city’s blocked was finally lifted, would it be because all patients suffering from Magic Fever would have recovered……or, would it be when all the patients had died. Southernus hoped that it would be the former as he watched the gate close completely.

「……He was right, the number of people around is remarkably low.」

Rei murmured as he looked over the streets of Baar from the main street.

Fortunately, it wasn’t like a ghost town where everyone had disappeared. But the number of people around was still a lot less than in Gilm.

The main reason for this was the spread of Magic Fever, but that said, the number of residents in the city was still lower than in Gilm.

Although the city of Gilm was on the frontier, because of the monster materials that could be acquired, people like adventurers, merchants and blacksmiths naturally gathered there. Compared to that, this was only a small city in the countryside, it wasn’t unreasonable that there would be differences in the number of people.

A few residents of the city were surprised by the unfamiliar sight of Rei and Set, but they quickly lowered their heads the next moment

(What?)

Rei was puzzled in his mind. In fact, the information that an adventurer was heading over from the city of Gilm on a Griffon to deliver the medicinal ingredients required to produce the medicine to combat the explosive spread of Magic Fever in the city. This was because Diarog wanted to avoid as much panic as possible. The result was that even though the residents of the city didn’t know them by sight……when they saw the figure of Rei followed by a Griffon, there was a prevailing sense of joy rather than surprise.

Originally, they had wanted to thank Rei directly, but they only stopped because they were forbidden by Diarog in order make the medicine as soon as they could.

Rei didn’t know the circumstances behind it so he wondered about the residents as he walked down the main street as Southernus had directed him. Before long, a large building came into sight. Seeing a sign board with Adventurer Guild written on it, Rei gave a small nod.

「Set.」

「Guru~」

Guessing what Rei wanted to say, Set went over to the location for tamed monsters, the same as he did in Gilm when Rei went to the guild, and lay down.

In Gilm, when Set lay down, adults who like cute things and children would start to gather, but no such thing happened in Baar.

On reason was because Set wasn’t well known around here, but the biggest reason was still the Magic Fever. At any rate, a lot of children didn’t have much magic power and the majority of them in the city had fallen ill.

Lightly stroking Set’s head, Rei opened the guild door and went inside.

「……I see.」

Those were the first words he said.

Normally, guild staff would be working busily. But despite the fact that this was the time adventurers would usually be eating at the bar, there were almost no people in the guild.

There was just one receptionist counter, who appeared to be slightly older than Kenny, and several guild staff behind her. There was no one that could be considered an adventurer around.

However, it couldn’t be helped that no one was eating or drinking at the bar if the city was blockaded and food was under a rationing system.

Still, as expected of guild staff and the receptionist, they gave a smile and a polite nod when Rei entered the guild.

「I’m Rei. I’ve brought Aurani grass powder and other relief supplies from the city of Gilm.」

Surprise. The receptionist froze at Rei’s words. At the same time, the other guild staff behind the counter were the same.

「Could you pass me your guild card just to make sure?」

「Ah.」

Rei nodded at the receptionist, who spoke in a trembling voice, and took out his guild card from the Misty Ring.

『Ohh-!』

The guild staff gave a cheer when they saw him use his item box, which showed that the story they had heard was true.

While watching the situation, Rei handed his guild card to the receptionist thinking that their reaction was reasonable if you considered the situation with Magic Fever.

「Certainly, you are Rei, a D rank adventurer from the city of Gilm. I have verified it.」

Rei spoke again after storing his guild card, which had been handed back with trembling hands, into the Misty Ring.

「So, where do I place the relief supplies I’ve brought? Because it’s a decent amount, I think a slightly larger space would be good.」

「Please wait a moment I will call the guild master over right away.」

After the receptionist said that, the guild staff headed further back in a hurry but was stopped by Rei.

「Please wait. I would like you to hand this over to the guild master. It’s a letter addressed to the guild master of Baar from the guild master of Gilm.」

Rei handed over the letter he took out from the Misty Ring.

The guild staff who recieved it nodded and ran behind the counter.

(If it has the same structure as the guild in Gilm, the guild master’s office should be further back.)

Thinking to himself as he looked inside, Rei turned to another receptionist to get a bit more information about Baar.

As expected of a receptionist, her appearance was better than average. What was different from Gilm was that there seemed to be only a single receptionist.

Was that was due to magic fever or because it wasn’t a frontier city, he didn’t know. The difference wasn’t obvious to Rei, but there was no doubt that he had to gather some more information.

「Magic Fever, was it? I heard that 40% of the residents were ill with it when it was talked about in Gilm. I wonder how far it’s spread now?」

Knowing that question would come, the receptionist shook their head before speaking.

「People showing signs of onset in Baar is now approaching 60% of the residents.」

「……So many?」

「Yes, unfortunately. I think you would know since you’ve delivered the Aurani grass powder here, but Magic Fever will develop if the person doesn’t have a certain level of magic power……」

The receptionist gave a sigh, but someone continued from her words.

「In other words, the threshold for Magic Fever in this case was considerably high.」

Along with those words, a older man in his fifties appeared from behind the counter. Rei could easily guess who he was from the timing of his appearance. His expectations were proved correct from the receptionist’s words.

「Guild master……」