Legend

Accompanied by one of the guards, Rei and Set moved to a location about 10 minutes away to fly up and take the three robbers by surprise.

「Is here okay?」

At the guard’s question, Rei looked around before turning to Set.

「Guru~」

Set gave a cry in response to say it was okay.

「Here is fine. Make sure no one in the surroundings gets hurt.」

「Of course. ……I’m sorry everyone, but he’s going to take off now! We’re here to help the guards do their job, so don’t worry about it. Thank you for your cooperation!」

The guard shouted out to the nearby residents who were looking to see what was going on.

The guard’s shout eased the residents, who were a little concerned when they saw Set, who was now somewhat famous in Exil, being led by a guard.

Set’s master, Rei, was also with the guard, so quite a number of people had been wondering if they had committed some sort of crime and had been caught.

That said, their concern was mostly with Set.

Between Rei and Set, Set had made the far greater impression.

Even so, Rei was reasonably good looking, so there were also a few women who looked at him with worried expressions.

Anyhow, the guard’s shout created a space of about 5m around Rei and Set.

「Is this enough?」

「Yes, thanks. Set can fly within a few steps.」

「Gururu~」

As Rei got onto Set’s back, the guard shook his head.

「No, I’m the one who should be thanking you. If we could have solved it ourselves, we wouldn’t have needed you to step in. Considering that, I’m grateful. ……Please, save the bakery and Latio-san.」

Rei gave a small smile when he realised that the guard seemed to have some feelings for the bakery clerk, Latio, and nodded as he replied.

「The bakery clerk aside, shouldn’t I also save her father?」

「Kuh, um, that’s……of course! Please!」

Not just Rei, even the residents around them who were listening in seemed to have noticed the guard’s feelings. Seeing the warm gazes directed at him, or sharp gazes from those who also had feelings for Latio, the guard’s cheeks flushed red.

「As I said before, Set really likes the bakery. Elena and I also like the taste of the bread they sell. If I can get some bread as a reward, I’ll be happy to help.」

As Rei gave a fearless smile, he tapped Set’s neck to signal him.

「GURURURURURU~!」

In response to Rei’s signal, Set flew up with a flap of his wings and a run up of several steps, as if he was running into the sky.

The guard, surrounding residents, and nearby adventurers all watched in fascination as they saw Rei and Set fly into the sky for the first time.

「Guru~」

Less than a minute after taking off, Set gave a cry from a height of 50m above the bakery.

With Set’s usual speed, he could have arrived in under 10 seconds, but at full speed, he might overshoots, so he flew over more slowly.

Hearing Set’s cry, Rei turned to look at the ground.

He could still see the guards surrounding the bakery to prevent the robbers from escaping. Outside, Exil residents, many of which were fans of the bakery, watched on.

Barely anyone had noticed Set flying up in the sky with Rei on his back.

The only exceptions were Elena, the captain of the guards, and the few guards who had been listening into their earlier discussion.

The reason why the captain hadn’t told the rest of the guards was simple. If the guards all started to look into the sky, the residents would naturally realise there was something above. If that happened, the robbers in the bakery might also notice that there was something in the sky, greatly reducing the success chance of Rei’s attack.

Fearing that, the captain hadn’t told the rest of the guards under him and stopped the ones that knew from telling anyone else.

「……Alright, looks like everything is ready down there.」

「Guru~」

Rei, who had locked eyes with Elena for a moment, who also had extraordinary eyesight, stroked Set’s back as he saw that everything below was good to go.

「Set, needless to say, once we start there can’t be any hesitation. We’ll take down the robbers before they even realise we’re there. I’ll secure the hostages, so I’ll leave the robbers to you Set. If possible, try to knock them out in a single blow and don’t kill them.」

「Guru~?」

Why? Set seemed to ask as he turned to look at Rei on his back.

Set knew that Rei wasn’t someone who avoided killing, but Rei just smiled as he stroked SEt.

「The people in the bakery are just ordinary people. They’re not used to life and death situations. Because of that, if we kill the robbers or badly injure them directly, it might horrify them. If that happens, it could hinder the bakery’s business, right?」

「Gurururu~!」

Perhaps convinced by the explanation, Set gave a small cry of acceptance.

「Alright, we’re all ready then. The biggest advantage of our attack is the surprise. We’ll rush through the bakery’s entrance!」

After saying that, Rei took out his material stripping knife from the Misty Ring, just in case. Set nodded quietly and folded his wings as they plunged towards the entrance.

「KYAAAAAAAAAH-!」

「Hey, over there!」

As they fell from the sky, some people started to notice Set’s presence. Some of the surrounding onlookers started to let out shouts and screams.

Because they were flying and moving fast, it was hard to distinguish Set, let alone Rei, who was on Set’s back.

Regardless, Set flew straight to the ground, only spreading his wings right before he hit the ground. Landing with barely a sound, Set immediately Set plunged into the bakery in a single leap.

The sound of destruction echoed out. However, perhaps because the standoff between the robbers, guards, and hostages that had been happening, the robbers were unable to quickly react to the situation.

「GURURURURURU~!」

「HI-HIIiiIi-!」

A man, shorter even than Rei, who had been watching the outside from close to the door was thrown outside by a single hit from Set.

Fortunately, Set had remembered to follow Rei’s words and the man had only broken a few bones and wasn’t dead.

As Set had swung his claw at the short man, Rei had jumped off his back and closed the distance to a fat man who was pointing a long sword at Latio, the bakery clerk.

The man was surprised by Set’s sudden entrance. But as he saw his fellow robber thrown out, he was brought back to reality and immediately noticed Rei rushing towards him.

「Damn, you-……gah-!」

However, the fact that man attempted to threaten Rei instead of doing anything else was probably one of the reasons he had failed at being an adventurer.

Thanks to that, Rei was able to do what he wanted.

Quickly throwing out the knife in his hand, it sliced through the air before piercing into the man’s right shoulder causing him to drop the sword in his hand.

Rei had only put a moderate amount of strength into the knife throw as he didn’t want to cut the man’s arm right off. However, that didn’t change the fact that it caused an intense amount of pain.

「……-!? I-IT HURTS, IT HURTS-!」

The man was in so much pain that he couldn’t even pull out the knife in his right shoulder as knelt down.

Set, who had thrown the smaller man out, moved right behind him and swung his claw in the same manner.

The man weighed over 100kg, but still couldn’t withstand Set’s attack.

Rei called out to Latio, who had been held hostage, while the guards rushed in to secure the robbers.

「There should be three of them, where’s the third! Your father as well!?」

「Ah……that, in the kitchen……」

Latio came back to her sense at Rei’s words and shakily pointed towards the kitchen at the back of the bakery.

「Tch, Set, wait here. I’m……」

As he said that, Rei pulled another knife out from the Misty Ring and was going to head for the kitchen when……

「AHHH-!」

With a scream, a man flew out, smashing the kitchen door.

For a moment, Rei thought it might have been the owner of the bakery, but there was no way that the bakery owner would be wearing leather armour.

Judging that, Rei caught the man with his foot.

「Kuh-!」

The kick hit the man in the belly and he passed out while moaning.

Seeing this series of events occur, it wasn’t hard to guess who had done it.

The man had probably sneaked out through the kitchen door the moment Set and burst in.

「……Even if you’re going to throw him over, it doesn’t have to be at me, does it?」

「I’m sorry, it just turned out that way. He was holding a weapon up to the bakery owner, so I hit him with quite a bit of force to knock him away……」

Rei called out towards the kitchen, from where Elena appeared, accompanied by the bakery owner.

In her hands, her sword whip was still sheathed.

Seeing that, Rei turned a sympathetic glance towards the man that had flown out.

Sure enough, his leather armour was marred by a spot where the sheath had smashed into him, probably cracking or breaking, if unlucky, several ribs.

「You two are the ones from that time……」

Rei was a bit surprised to hear the bakery owner’s words.

After all, the bakery was quite popular.

Rei expected the store to have hundreds of customers a day and hadn’t expected the owner to remember him after visiting just once.

However, he immediately realised why as soon as he saw Set carry the man that Elena had sent flying out the bakery by the scruff of his neck.

(Well, I guess he can’t forget after seeing Set.)

Latio, had been a hostage just earlier, but in the matter of seconds, everything had been resolved. Coming back to her senses, she went over to Rei, who was lost in thought.

「Um……t-thank you very much!」

Rei, who wasn’t that comfortable with someone giving such a deep bow, shook his head.

「Set likes the bread here. I like the bread here as well. If you want to thank me, just give me some extra bread.」

「Yes! Please wait a moment. I’ll have your bread ready in a minute!」

Saying that, Latio immediately went to get some bread that was still stored safely instead of celebrating their rescue with the bakery owner, her father.

The three robbers that had holed themselves up had probably been very hungry as they had eaten a large amount of bread. However, there was still a fair bit that was untouched.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Elena noticed Latio’s cheeks flush as she went to get the bread and directed a harsh gaze over to Rei.

「Um……yes, here. I chose the best of our bread, so please eat it. So this, that is, if it’s okay……um, could you tell me your name?」

「I’m Rei. Thank you for the bread. Anyway, I’m glad you two are safe. This is only the second time I’ve tasted the bread here and it would be a shame to miss it.」

Saying that, Rei took a bite into a toasted sandwich, crispy on the outside with juicy chicken inside, as he gave another to Set.

The chicken had to have been cooked some time ago, but it still tasted good, which was a testament to the bakery owner’s skills.

「Sorry to interrupt, but do you mind if we secure the robbers? It would also be great if you could cooperate with us for an interview regarding the events.」

Asked by the captain of the guards, Rei nodded as he, Elena, and Set, went straight to the guard station.