The night I left the city of Gilmoo.Ray and Elena had not set out yet before the sun had set in, and had stopped their carriage to a place with a fine view, to prepare for the camp.
　though Elena and Arra rested in a room which stretched out in the carriage, and only three men slept outside.
　and Custe and Ver set up their own tents, and Ray also set up his own tents a little further away from them.

"I'm sorry, Custet's selfishness,"

　Ver approaches Ray, who is setting up a tent, and says so.
　The manner in which he raised his hand and apologized was light enough to make him feel as if he were a nobleman.At least there are few people who see Ver and see him as a member of the same aristocracy as Custe.
　Originally, three men would have set up a large tent and used it, but Custe's strong opposition led Ray to release his own tent in the mistling.
　though it was rather a welcome matter, as Ray did not wish to breathe the same air as Custe, who knew he looked down on him.
　While driving a stake into the tent to prevent it from falling down, he turns his eyes to Veru, who came to talk to him lightly.k.a. light tone.
　There seems to be nothing to call a sense of repugnance toward him like he felt in the town of Gilm, and he shakes his head while feeling doubts inside.

"Why, don't you mind?He and I don't go together in any way.And..."

　He glints at the set that keeps him from falling down by pulling the other side of the tent.

"He doesn't seem to get along with Sett more than I do.Considering the possibility of a strange conflict, it's better to rest in separate tents from the beginning."
"It would be helpful if you could say so.There's something nice about Custe that looks like that.Well, it's very rare to show it to anyone other than the nobility."

　In the meantime, he drives the stake and completes the tent.

"You're an adventurer, you're used to it.
"Is that so?"
"Grull".

　While Ray and Ver are having a conversation like that, Seto sings and gently pulls Ray's dragon robe with a cane.
　Knowing what Seto wants him to do just by the cry, Ray turns to Ver.

"I'm sorry, Seto seems hungry.I'll get rid of the iron snakes I've stored in the daytime, so I'll leave you for a moment."
"Oh, I see.I'll tell you, Mr. Elena, so don't worry about it and come back slowly.If you're always acting solo, you're probably tired of being with people all the time."
"Well, we've been doing some sort of group action in the Oak expedition and in the promotion examinations."

　He said that, and moved to a place a little further away with Seto.
　In the meantime, Ray twists his head inwardly, remembering the conversationed earlier.

(Ver was on my guard yesterday, no doubt.But why would you release your guard in just one day? Arra is similar, but she's more into Elena... or rather, she's attracted to her, so I understand that it's easier to release your guard if you get a suggestion from her.But Ver isn't like that either.What's more, if I could play the role of a thief at this party... well, that'sure.I am only a temporary party agent and a bodyguard from the town of Gilmud, so you needn't poke your nose into it.)

　but somehow Ver's unfamiliar words and deeds remained in my mind.

"Glu?"

　I shook my head lightly at the set, who looked up, and took out the iron snake from the mistling.
　At the same time, the first book I took out in a long time was a book on how to peel off the material.Seto watches the situation closely and waits for the material to be stripped off.and from the end the Gryphon with the lion's body would have looked like a friendly dog.
　I read the book with a smile on my face.

"Well, the proof of the Iron Snake's destruction is that there is no tusks."

　for his head had been crushed by Seto's strength.The fangs are blowing away at the same time as the head.

"Guru..."
"Oh, don't worry.Everyone makes mistakes."

　While stroking the depressed set, he continues to read about the material.

"The material is... leather.Well, it's a snake that's so defensive that it's called an iron snake, and I think it's easy to divert it to protective gear."

　muttered, pulling out the misril knife from his waist.The reason why ordinary knives, which are always used for peeling materials, are not used here is because they are called iron snakes, and with ordinary knives, the blade is hard to pass through and the skin is hard to peel off.
　While protecting the blade of the misril knife by magic through magic, the blade is inserted from the neck of the iron snake and the skin is peeled off with scales.
　Ray used to be very bad at ripping this off, but now he has improved considerably compared to before because he was given tips by Elk, the leader of Raijin's axe, during the Oak campaign.Even now, the skin peeled off from the iron snake has some pieces of meat on it, but it looks like a different person compared to the water bear.

"All right. The rest..."

　After that, they use magic to make a fire, and they start to grill the meat of a snake cut into chunks with a misril knife, using the wood around it as a skewer.The only seasoning is salt, but Seto, in a good mood, fills the freshly baked snake meat with a kuchibashi and fills it in his stomach.I also tried to feed him the magical stones that he had taken out, but unfortunately he didn't acquire any skills.

"Grull".

　Seto eats the meat that Ray cuts while he purrs in a good mood.Then I heard footsteps for four people from behind.
　"I could immediately tell who had come by that number of people, so I was surprised from behind when I was feeding Seto the grilled meat without particular concern."

"...monsters also like cooked meat, though I thought they would only eat raw meat."

　Looking back, the four Elena were there, as I expected.She is looking at Seto with amazement at the grilled meat of Iron Snake.
　At the sound of Elena's voice, with a wry smile, he threw the grilled meat at Seto.

"Gruly!"

　Catch the meat that came flying with a stick and just put it into your mouth.

"Because you've lived with me for a long time, you know that grilled meat tastes good.A regular Gryphon would probably eat raw meat."
"Well, I've fought monsters several times before, but I don't remember eating grilled meat."
"Oh, Mr. Elena,"I remember reading in a book that a fire dragon burns its prey in a firebreath."
"Yes, I hear that many dragon species have higher intelligence than others.It's certainly possible to think that way."

　Elena nods interestingly at Arra's words.
　and Aarra laughed happily at the interest of Elena.
　After watching the situation for a while, Ray sees Seto finish eating Iron Snake's last meat and turns to Elena.

"Now, Mr. Elena,"What is the purpose of coming all the way?"
"Yes, I wish you would do the same thing as I told you in the daytime before the sun went on.

　Kin, and Elena, playing with her fingers the sheath of the connected sword at her waist.Even this casual gesture attracts attention because of Elena's own beauty and charisma.
　But Ray breaks his suction with a wry smile and stands up from the spot to distance himself from Elena.

"Glu?"

　Wonderingly patting Sett's head, telling him that he doesn't have to worry, Ray takes his death size out of the mistling and holds it up.

"All right, a promise is a promise, and I'll go with you.It's a mock battle, and Mr. Elena is my employer, so would it be safe to say that it's a game of pure arms, without the magic of increasing danger?"
"Well, I'd like to see Ray's magic skills..."

　Elena complains, but her words strike Arra.

"Mr. Elena, you are right.What if your skin gets damaged?"
"Well, Arla, calm down.It's that Elena in the first place, and I wouldn't imitate her being so easily damaged."

　Ver told her in a light tone as usual, but her dissent came from unexpected sources.

"No, I agree with her,"
"... Custe, did you eat anything strange?"
"Well, I'm just evaluating his ability.As I said yesterday, he is a good hand, let alone a character. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Is that so?"
"What, you saw Ver yesterday, didn't you?"
"Of course, you saw it, like where Arra ran away and suddenly cut Ray."
"Well..."

　No matter what you say, I could not act like a retort, since it was true that I ran away.However, if they wanted to protect Arra, they would have been overwhelmingly less influential than their own aristocratic group, but they would have to react a little too much because only a few of them went to the city governed by the central figure....whether or not the matter is too much.
　Listening to these three men, Elena gasps and opens her mouth.

"I think you'd better take Ray's advice so as not to worry about them.All right, then let's say we're dealing with each other purely with weapons."

　Elena drew a connecting sword from the sheath of her waist, and turned the tip of the sword towards Ray.
　In response, Ray also holds the death size with both hands so that he can react at any time.

『……』

　Without saying a word, they gradually close their gap.
　The sword and the scythe were more advantageous than the scythe which could be attacked from afar, but the sword of Elena was not just a sword, but a connected sword with both whip and sword properties.Elena would be superior in range.

(However, it is convenient or cowardly to be able to cope with close combat by returning to the state of a long sword...)

　and connected swords at short and long distances.Ray decides that death size is an advantage in the middle distance.
　Perhaps Elena thought the same thing, but just as Ray was about to take a step forward, he wielded his connected sword wide.
　In response to the movement, the blade of the sword stretches and turns into a whip with a blade and attacks Ray.A whip, originally used by a skilled man, may even exceed the speed of sound.It is easy to imagine the speed of the sword, which is not exactly the whip itself, since it was Elena who wielded it.

"Phew!"

　Ray's five senses and physical abilities are far superior to those of humans, so he was able to react to that blow.It wields a death-size movement almost reflectively, and plays the point of a connecting sword swinging at the torso.

"I knew it would be so easy to prevent my blow.

　Elena muttered in admiration, but a bitter smile came from Ray's mouth.

"Thank you, Elena.It's been a long time since I got such a blow, but I'm not happy that I've been left alone, so I'll be here next time!"

　He kicks the ground and reduces the distance from Elena while holding his own size.Then he and Elena repeatedly wielded their connected swords at a breathless rate, and Ray used a death-size blade and handle to play them.

"Why don't you just prevent it?"

　The point of the sword, again wielding the connected sword, crawling on the ground and gliding directly over the ground, to Ray's feet.
　Ray plays the blow with a death-size handle.
　But when Elena returns her wrist, the junctured sword changes its orbit in the air and points its tip at Ray's body.Ray plays it again with a death-size blade and smiles.

"If we avoid it, we can only change the course as we do now, and avoiding it at least at the last minute is not a good move in this case..."

　He plays the connected sword that attacked him again in a death-size is the same as before.But what was different from before was that he wielded his death size with more force.When Elena tries to change the track of a connected sword, the gap between the sword and the connected sword is larger than the previous one.
　And it was not Ray who missed the opportunity.
　He kicked the ground quickly and stepped into his own space.In an instant, Elena enters inside the interval of the connected swords and uses her magical powers to return the connected swords to a normal state, waiting for Ray.

"Huh!"

　The blade of the scythe is passed away with the blade.For Elena, who knows how heavy Ray's blow is, there is no option to take it.It was possible to predict that if the sword was caught or flipped in front of the sword, the arm would become numb like the previous day, and the sword would drop to the ground.

(Surely Ray's blow was incredibly heavy.but, therefore, there should be a gap after a blow with all one's might!'

　A death-size blow passed along the blade.Elena was looking to catch a gap after the blow. . . . .

"What!"

　Shortly after it's ignored and shaken off, the death size is switched with almost no stagnation.
　The magic item's unique ability not to give the user a sense of death-size weight allows Ray to manipulate death-size weights that weigh more than 100 kg as if he were swinging a branch of a tree.

"What!"

　Even so, Elena, who was feared by neighboring countries to be called Hime Shogun, was able to respond to the blow.The blade of the sword is extended with magical force to the connected sword with a reflexive movement...

"The draw,"
"It seems so,"

　A death-size blade touched Elena's neck, and at the same time the point of the sword, stretched like the whip of a connecting sword, was pointed to Ray's side of the head.

"...Oh, a draw with Elena? I've never seen it before."

　I was surprised to see Arla's incredible expression.

「……」Custe learns Ray's ability again and bites his back teeth tightly.

"Oh, my God.I thought you'd be good at it, but that's not it. It's a little unexpected.It's a happy miscalculation."

　Ver opened his mouth in his usual light tone, but with a keen glance at Ray.