Soft light streaming through the window poured onto Rei's face, and he rolled over in bed to escape the glare.
He looked nothing like the fearsome figure known as Crimson as he shied away from the direct sunlight. Instead, his face held an innocence appropriate for his years—or at least his apparent years.
"Ngh... mmph..."
He rolled over again, but the sunlight followed him, now pouring onto the back of his head. Finally, as if annoyed by the persistent brightness, Rei's eyes blinked open.
"Ah..."
He looked around the room, which felt both familiar and distant. As the fog of sleep lifted, his mind sharpened, and he remembered exactly where he was.
"That's right, I'm back in Gilm."
He wasn't at the Golden Wind Inn in Exil, nor was he inside the magic tent he used while camping. Feeling a quiet sense of relief at being back in the room he had called home for over a year, he gave a long, deep stretch.
Warm summer morning sunlight flooded the room, but the sounds of movement from outside suggested the city was already wide awake. He could hear the faint footsteps of people walking down the hallway.
"Well then... what to do today? I can't exactly leave Gilm until Lord Daskar decides what to do about the Bestia Empire situation."
Rei was still somewhat concerned about the talk of the large-scale bandit group, but he understood that he couldn't leave his post under the current circumstances. Daskar had specifically told him to exercise restraint for the time being.
"Thieves' treasure is usually quite a haul, though... well, whatever. After breakfast, I'll take Seto for a walk."
Muttering to himself, he gave another stretch before getting dressed and heading down to the 1F dining hall.
"Here, Seto. This one's for you."
"Guruuu."
Despite having just finished breakfast, Rei popped a grilled skewer he had bought from a street stall into Seto's mouth. He waited until the beak closed firmly before pulling the stick out. The meat remained in Seto's mouth, leaving Rei with nothing but an empty skewer.
"Guruu? Guruuu, gurururururu."
The meat must have been to its liking. Seto purred and rumbled its throat for more, and Rei offered it another skewer with a small smile.
"You ate so much last night, and you're still hungry? I'm not one to talk, but your appetite is truly something else."
"Guruuu!"
Seto purred as if to say "Of course," and Rei couldn't help but chuckle. He gently stroked its head as they strolled down the street without any particular destination in mind.
Along the way, stallholders, shopkeepers, pedestrians, working children, and adventurers all smiled when they saw Seto. Some offered it snacks, while others reached out to pet it. Many more watched from a distance with warm, knowing smiles.
"Hmm. This city really doesn't change."
Rei watched as a child around 10 years old frolicked around Seto, the words escaping his lips unbidden. While Seto had been accepted reasonably well in Exil, it had lived in Gilm for over a year. There were far fewer people here who showed any fear or rejection toward it.
Though...
Rei caught sight of a merchant-looking man staring in stunned silence at Seto out of the corner of his eye, and he gave a wry smile. The man was likely a newcomer who had arrived in Gilm while Rei was away in Exil. To him, the sight of a Gryphon casually strolling through the city while residents happily fussed over it must have seemed like a fever dream.
As the merchant stood frozen by the impossible sight, a nearby resident began explaining that Seto was a local favorite. Such interactions were a natural part of life here, a uniquely Gilm phenomenon born from its position on the frontier. Perhaps the labyrinth city of Exil would reach that point eventually, given enough time.
Gilm on the frontier and Exil the labyrinth city—the two had much in common, especially their high density of adventurers.
(It's a comfortable place for me, regardless. I've heard that tamed monsters are technically allowed in the imperial capital of the Bestia Empire, but I doubt it has a relaxed atmosphere like this... No, even before that, as long as I'm there, a commotion is bound to break out.)
Lost in thought, he eventually found himself standing before the Guild. Rei considered the situation for a few seconds and decided to head inside to see if there were any simple requests that could be done in the city in a single day, just to kill some time.
"True, I don't have anything better to do today. Seto, I'm stopping by the Guild, so wait here for a bit."
"Guruu!"
Understanding the request, Seto purred and headed toward the tamed monster space along with the children who were running around it. Watching several adventurers exiting the Guild approach Seto to pet it, Rei stepped inside.
The morning rush had already passed, and the interior was sparsely populated. A few adventurers remained in the attached tavern, eating a late breakfast or an early lunch. Some, apparently wanting to escape the heat, were already drinking and making a racket despite it still being morning.
Ignoring them, Rei approached the request board and began scanning the Rank F forms. As a Rank B adventurer, he could technically take Rank A requests as well, but with very few exceptions, high-rank work was either grueling or highly dangerous. Subjugating high-rank monsters, gathering rare materials, or acting as an escort in bandit-infested territory—none of these suited his current needs.
Since he had to leave Gilm within a few days to meet Vihera and Theoreme in the village of Goto, he didn't have the luxury of taking on a long-term contract. He was looking for something light to kill time... when his eyes stopped on a specific request form.
Rank C.
The rank was relatively high, likely because the client was a noble. The task was combat training for the client's son, and the client's name was Muet Cisne.
The content and the name were both hauntingly familiar. In his mind, he saw the image of a child around 10 years old and an Icebird. It was the exact same request Rei had taken back when he was first rising to Rank C.
"...How nostalgic. Well, it hasn't even been a year yet."
He muttered to himself and reached for the form... but just as his hand was about to touch it, another hand darted out from the side and snatched it away a fraction of a second before he could.
"Sorry, but these things are first come, first served."
The speaker was a woman around 20 years old, slightly older than Rei. She was dressed in leather armor optimized for both heat and mobility—the unmistakable look of a warrior. Given that Rei didn't recognize her despite his long history in Gilm, she was likely a newcomer who had arrived while he was away.
Rei generally avoided the Guild during peak hours because he disliked crowds, so there was always a chance he simply didn't know her. However, there was no doubt that this woman and her party—three men and another woman waiting further ahead—were new to the city.
After all, she had just snatched a request away from Rei, who was, in a sense, an untouchable presence in Gilm. No adventurer who called this city their base would ever dream of such an act.
One of the three men reached out to take the form from the woman, but his gaze suddenly shifted to Rei. In an instant, the man froze. Sweat began to bead on his forehead, visible to everyone around.
He was the only member of the party who wasn't a newcomer; he was an adventurer who had lived in Gilm for several years. He recognized Rei's face instantly, and he realized with horror that they might have just incurred the wrath of Crimson.
"Hey, what's wrong? You're sweating all of a sudden. It's summer, sure, but that's an insane amount of sweat."
The woman who had taken the request form asked her companion, who refused to take the paper from her hand no matter how long she held it out.
"...Hey, look. Doesn't the atmosphere in here feel a bit... off?"
"Eh? Really?"
At the man's words, the woman looked around while still clutching the form. Oblivious to the sudden shift in the room's mood, she shook her head, sensing nothing. Had it been a busier time with more adventurers present, she might have noticed the anomaly. Whether it was lucky or unlucky for her, the Guild was nearly empty.
Finally, the man who had been about to take the form took a stiff, mechanical step forward. He didn't walk toward the woman; he walked toward Rei.
"Hey, wait! What's going on?"
Ignoring the confused voice from behind him, the man stood before Rei and bowed deeply.
"I am so sorry! They've only just arrived in Gilm. Please, I beg you, find it in your heart to forgive them this once!"
The woman and the rest of the party were floored. To them, the man now bowing to Rei was an incredibly reliable veteran who knew the city's ropes. Though he wasn't their official leader, he was the backbone of their party. Yet here he was, bowing his head to a boy in his mid-teens who didn't even look that physically imposing.
Rei, for his part, wasn't sure how to react to such a display.
"...Please, raise your head."
He had been slightly annoyed when the form was snatched away, but the woman's "first come, first served" logic wasn't technically wrong. It was a breach of manners, but among adventurers, such petty squabbles were common. He knew he was feared, but he hadn't expected it to reach this level of paranoia.
At Rei's words, the man cautiously looked up. "You'll forgive us?"
"I'm not that angry. However, there are a lot of short-tempered adventurers in this city. If you keep acting like that without reading the room, someone's going to make you regret it eventually."
Rei muttered the advice, entirely ignoring his own track record for being exactly that kind of "short-tempered adventurer." The man nodded vigorously.
"I understand! I'll make sure to give them a proper lecture!"
Watching the man hurry away after a final apology, Rei let out a small sigh. The encounter had soured his mood for request hunting, so he headed toward the tavern instead. If he went outside now, he would just be caught in the middle of the crowd fussing over Seto.
(I'm feared, and Seto is doted on... shouldn't it be the other way around?)
Usually, an A-Rank monster was the thing to be afraid of, while an adventurer was just another person.
(Well, considering how friendly Seto is, I suppose it makes sense.)
He sat down and ordered some light snacks to kill about 1 hour.
As Rei disappeared into the tavern, the veteran adventurer who had bowed to him let out a long, shaky breath of relief. The woman who had snatched the request form approached him timidly, finally realizing that Rei was someone dangerous.
"H-Hey... just who was that kid?"
The man let out another deep sigh and looked her in the eyes.
"Listen... that boy... no, that adventurer is Rei. He's the high-rank adventurer who earned the Crimson's Alias during the Spring War. He's Rank C—no, I think he reached Rank B recently."
"...What?"
The woman stared at him, unable to process the information. The other members of the party were equally stunned.
"Crimson... as in the Crimson?"
"I heard he's the one who travels with a Gryphon!"
"...A kid like that?"
It had been an unfortunate stroke of luck that they had entered the Guild before Rei. Had they arrived later, they would have seen Seto at the tamed monster station and the crowd of people happily interacting with it.
"...If you want to survive in Gilm, remember that name. There are plenty of high-rankers here, but Crimson isn't known for his patience. Rumor has it that during the war, he casually executed an allied noble who tried to cross him—and he was acquitted for it. That should tell you exactly what kind of monster you just tried to cut in line."
The party members collectively gasped as the weight of their near-miss sank in.
When Rei finally emerged from the Guild an hour later...
"Seto-chan, Seto-chan, Seto-chan, Seto-chan!"
The sight of Mirene clinging to Seto's neck greeted him, exactly as it had the night before.