Mult had just shared the details of Galahat’s upbringing and was about to discuss their next steps when Rei suddenly signaled for silence. He tilted his head to listen for a moment, then announced that "guests" had arrived.
"…Guests?" Phron asked. Her tone made it clear she didn't expect anyone worth welcoming; rather, it suggested more trouble had found them.
"They were beaten so one-sidedly by you and Seto at Pamidoor's workshop; haven't they learned their lesson yet?"
"No, they’re quite different from that lot. If anything, they’re closer to mere thugs. Still..."
"Still?"
"It seems they’re looking for Mult. They’re shouting for us to hand him over."
Surprise flickered across the faces of the other three. They stared at Rei, wondering just how sharp his hearing had to be to detect a commotion on the 1F from this room on the 2F.
Phron and Brasso, who had known Rei longer, were perhaps the most shocked. Mult had almost no history with Rei, but having witnessed the near-tyrannical display of power at Boruntar's residence, he found himself simply accepting the boy's impossible capabilities.
"Just how good are your ears, kid?" Phron muttered.
Rei gave a small shrug. "Seto's five senses are sharper than mine."
"No, comparing yourself to an A-rank monster like a gryphon is just wrong," Phron said, sounding exasperated.
Ignoring her, Rei stood up from his chair. "If I leave them be, they'll cause trouble for the inn. I'll go down for a bit and settle things."
"I see. Then I shall go as well," Brasso said, placing his wine bottle on the floor and rising as if eager for a brawl. However, Rei shook his head, stopping the dwarf in his tracks.
"Sorry, but I need you and Phron to wait in this room."
"Hmm? Are you planning to have all the fun yourself, Rei?" Brasso grumbled.
Rei turned his gaze toward Mult, who was sitting up in bed. "There's a high possibility that the disturbance below is a diversion. If that’s the case, we need someone here to protect Mult, right?"
"…I suppose, but Phron and I could go down while you stay," Brasso countered.
"Technically, this is the inn where I’m staying. Since I’m the one who brought this trouble to the staff, it’s only right that I be the one to fix it."
"Nu, put that way, I cannot say another word. Very well. Phron and I shall remain here. Phron, you have no objections, do you?"
"Hah, I had no intention of sticking my nose into trouble of my own accord anyway."
Having secured their cooperation, Rei looked at Mult. "So, there you have it. I'm going downstairs to settle this, so stay here and rest. Oh, if you're hungry, feel free to eat that food."
Rei glanced at the dishes lined up on the floor. Leaving behind Mult—whose stomach growled at the smell of the meal—Rei exited the room.
"…For now, could I have some of that roasted meat?" he heard Mult ask behind him as the door closed.
As soon as Rei reached the stairs, the shouting from the 1F became clear.
"Oi! Just hand over the guy named Mult! It'll be better for everyone if you just obey while we're being nice about it!"
"As I said, we have no guest by the name of Mult. And even if we did, I would never do something as shameful as handing them over to people like you! Please leave at once."
Lana, the landlady of the Dusk Wheat Inn, stood her ground against the nearly ten young men. She spoke firmly, without a hint of fear.
Her daily business involved dealing with rowdy adventurers and mercenaries. Brawls in the dining hall were part of the job; having seen countless such scenes since she began running the inn, the sight of thugs in their late teens to 20s trying to act tough was, to her, no more threatening than the chirping of baby birds.
"Aaah?! What was that, you hag?! You think you can talk down to us and get away with it!?"
The man speaking was likely the leader-like man among the thugs. He had slovenly long hair—messy and unkempt—and a sharp, predatory glint in his eyes as he tried to tower over Lana.
"I am the landlady of this inn. I have a duty to protect the safety of my guests. You could even call it a right."
This second refusal seemed to snap what little remained of the thugs' patience. Or perhaps, feeling humiliated, they finally reached their breaking point. The man standing next to the leader pulled an iron knife from his vest and thrust it toward Lana's face to intimidate her.
Suddenly, a loud crunch echoed through the lobby.
The thugs stood frozen, unable to process what had just happened. Rei, who had been about to throw an iron knife drawn from his Misty Ring, was similarly surprised. He had seen the sequence of events clearly, but he was caught off guard by the fact that a complete stranger had interfered in a problem he considered his own.
Everyone’s eyes turned toward the source of the noise. The man who had been about to threaten Lana was now sprawled on the floor, surrounded by wooden splinters, completely unconscious.
A chair, was it? Rei thought to himself.
Indeed. At the exact moment the thug had lunged with his knife, a chair had come flying from the dining hall. It had whistled past Lana and struck the man with enough force to send him flying and shatter the furniture into pieces.
"…Please leave," Lana said. Despite a chair having nearly taken her head off, her expression remained entirely unfazed. With her stout frame and resolute presence, she radiated the aura of a true "gutsy mother."
"Tch! D-Don't screw with me! You think we're just going to walk away after being mocked like this?! Hey! Who's the bastard who threw that chair?! Come out here right now!" the leader screamed, his voice echoing through the 1F and into the dining hall.
The thugs' greatest misfortune was that the guests staying at the inn today included a caravan led by a man named Vetman, a famous traveling merchant. Vetman’s group was a band of armed merchants who crossed the frontier without hiring external mercenaries. They were all highly skilled combatants who had fended off monsters and bandits alike on their travels, and they were far more capable than your average mercenary band. Furthermore, the Dusk Wheat Inn was Vetman’s favorite establishment in the City of Gilm.
After a journey of over a month through dangerous territory, they had finally arrived. They were in the middle of a celebratory banquet when these thugs had appeared, harassed the landlady, and pulled a weapon. There was no way the hot-blooded merchants would sit idly by.
"Aaah? Sorry, that was me. You've been chirping away like a noisy bird for a while now. We finally reached this city and were trying to enjoy our first feast in ages. If you keep making a racket, I'll skin you alive and turn your hides into merchandise, got it?"
A tough-looking man named Yusra emerged from the dining hall. He didn't look like a merchant at all; he resembled a mountain bandit or a pirate.
"I can't let Yusla have all the fun. I have a bone to pick with you lot, too. If you want a fight, I'll be your opponent," another man said, emerging next. He was in his 30s and wore a pleasant smile, though his eyes remained cold and sharp.
Refusing to be left out, more members of the caravan began to file out of the dining hall. Even other mercenaries and adventurers staying at the inn, along with locals who had just come for the food, began to emerge to see what the noise was about.
"Y-You lot… do you even know who's backing us?! You're just merchants! You think you'll be able to do business in Gilm after picking a fight with us? We have ties to the Azoth Firm!"
The thug leader began to cower, his bravado failing as he realized he was vastly outnumbered. Watching from midway down the stairs, Rei couldn't help but let out a laugh.
"Kukukuku… I can’t… the laughter… Ah, sorry. You were talking so big, but the moment you realized you were outnumbered, you lost your nerve and started hiding behind your 'backing.' Are you guys even thugs? You seem more like street performers to me."
Rei's mockery hit the mark. The tension between the thugs and the merchants broke for a moment as the caravan members burst into laughter.
"Bwahaha! Well said, kid! You're exactly right. Right now, these guys are nothing but a goblin borrowing the dragon's authority."
Veins popped on the thugs' foreheads as they glared up at Rei. "What’s with this brat?! You piece of work, keep spouting that nonsense and I’ll carve up that face of yours!"
"…Try it, if you can," Rei said with a dry smile.
He leapt over the staircase railing, descending five meters to land silently on the 1F floor. He didn't make a sound upon impact.
The merchants watching him sharpened their gazes. From that single movement alone, their instincts as warriors told them that Rei was on an entirely different level of skill.
"Hey," Yusra whispered to the man beside him.
"…Yeah. He's no ordinary kid."
The smiles vanished from the merchants' faces, replaced by focused, wary stares.
The thugs, however, lacked the experience to recognize the threat. They saw only Rei's scrawny frame and the novice mage appearance granted by his Dragon Robe’s concealment.
"…Oi, you. You think a scrawny brat like you can lecture us? Are you sane? If you apologize now, I might let you go. Go home crying and suck your mama’s teat before bed."
"Honestly, I’d like to do just that… but you're guests who went to the trouble of visiting me. It’s only right that I come out to greet you."
"So you are Mult!"
The thugs' eyes filled with greed. They hadn't imagined that the person they were hired to find would be a mere child. They wore crooked smiles, thinking they had stumbled upon an easy payday.
Rei looked at them with pity, then reached into his Misty Ring to draw the Death Scythe.
Normally a spear would be fine, but because of Boruntar's boycott, I don't know when I'll be able to restock. Best to be frugal, he thought.
He gave the Death Scythe a light, experimental swing.
Whoosh!
To Rei, it was a casual movement, but he was swinging a great scythe that weighed over a hundred kilograms. The sheer wind pressure sent the thugs staggering back, and those with the weakest footing collapsed onto the floor.
These thugs were little more than petty criminals who weren't brave or skilled enough to become adventurers. Consequently, they didn't know the rumors of "Rei" that were currently the talk of the guild. And because of the Dragon Robe, Rei didn't look like the famous warrior who commanded a gryphon; he looked like a weak, beginner mage.
The thugs' faces shifted rapidly between red with humiliation and pale with fear as they realized the power of the strike Rei had just demonstrated.
The armed merchants watched in silence, their eyes moving between Rei and the thugs. Unlike the criminals, they were able to observe Rei calmly. They noted how he had pulled the massive weapon out of thin air—meaning he had an Item Box. They watched him handle the heavy scythe with one hand as if it weighed nothing. From the sound it made cutting through the air, they could guess its true weight. They settled in to watch the rest of the confrontation, treating it as entertainment to accompany their drinks.
"Now then, you have two choices. The first is to oppose me here and become rust on this Death Scythe. …Ah, don't worry. I don't intend to let the blade get dirty on the likes of you. The shaft will be plenty."
Whoosh!
Rei swung the scythe again. The thugs winced at the gust of wind. Even if it was just the wooden shaft, they knew a single hit would be devastating.
"The second path—the one I recommend—is that you leave all your money and weapons here as an apology for causing a scene, and then run home. …Well, which will it be? Oh, and just so you know, if you choose the first option, I’ll just take your money and weapons after you’re unconscious anyway."
Rei prompted their choice with a pleasant smile. Insulted as their pride was, the thugs looked at the massive scythe and then at the boy who held it with such terrifying ease. The choice they eventually made was the only logical one, given the overwhelming gap in their strength.