"Well, I see," It's a festival... That's certainly not a bad idea. It seems that the bastard of the keep is always talking to the royal nobles in Gilm."

　muttered Dusker, sitting at his desk.
　At the end of Dusker's eye is Ray, who brought the suggestion of a festival.

"I guess he had a pretty obvious personality, and he wanted to make it an established fact to show a lot of acquaintances that he was taking away the Asier."
"Well, if we could do that, it would be a great damage to the Baroness of Cisne. if I could do so."

　Already in Dusker, the winner of this duel was the one in front of him.
　It's only natural that we know Ray's ability.
　In its nature, Dusker must be fair and neutral.
　But as a neutral Dasker, it was only natural that he would take Ray's side emotionally as long as he had been properly formalized.
　Of course, I have no intention of openly favoring a duel.
　If you do that, you'll lose the cause of driving the keep out of the guillem.

"Well, if I could do that..."

　Ray with a meaningful smile.
　In Ray's eyes, keeping was a typical aristocrat in a bad way.
　If such a person can win over a powerful adventurer in this guillem, I have to turn my head around.
　Of course, many adventurers will be blinded by money.
　Even more so, especially if you're not ready for winter.
　But it will be difficult if you ask if you're really going to fight when you know your opponent is Ray.
　If it were a mock battle, fighting Ray would feed him, but a duel would cost him his life.
　And it is common sense in Guillum that Ray is merciless to his adversaries.

"But there's a problem, too." As long as it is a legal duel, the property of the Earl of Eriel will undoubtedly belong to the Baron Cisne. The sum is enormous. That's enough to change the color of my eyes and try to do something about this result."
"The Baroness of Cisne will be targeted?"
"There's a good chance is a good chance. The question is what to do about the area."
"...do you mean we should not win?"
"That's not it,"

　At Ray's words, Dusker asserts immediately.
　Dusker's position requires consideration for the Earl of Eriel, but he still does not need to consider the tragedy of those who live in his own territory.

"Then I can win, can I?"
"Oh, it may be a little troublesome, but I'll do my best. If you fight to your heart's content, that's all right. -- well, it's almost a nightmare over there."

　If you fight Ray and lose, you lose half of your family'
　It's no mistake to say that it's almost confirmed.

"At any rate, sir. I agree to go back and make it a festival. This year, we haven't made much progress in hunting for gamerions, so if possible, we'd like to make a fuss and let that dissatisfaction go away."
"You didn't have a lot of people? When I saw it, there were a lot of people participating in the gamerion hunt.
"Well, thanks to Ray, Gamerion started to show up, but it was a drag in the first half. In the end, it's about 80 percent of the average."
"Then, can't you expect too much Gamerion food at this festival?"
"Well, what do you think?" In fact, now is the time to make money and to serve a lot of Gamerion dishes. Well, that depends on the person who actually opens the shop. I can't force you."
"I see. Then I pray for the Gamerion dish. I hope Baron Cisne and Basrero will look forward to it."
"Hahaha! That's a stubborn thing. Well, I suppose you'll never lose a duel unless you've got a lot of course.

　With a loud laugh, Dusker nods.

"Leave the festival to me. There are many things I'd like to try. I'm sure they're talking to a lot of people about this duel, so it won't take much trouble to get people together."
"Please," I think it's quite interesting to make a snow statue and decide who's the best?"
"Well, let me refer to it. However, I don't have time this time. We have four days left to prepare for the festival, and we don't have time to make snow statues. ... oh, and for a moment, we had better send a bodyguard to Baron Cisne's house. If they realize who you are, they will naturally want to call off the duel itself."

　Dusker's words suddenly sharpen Ray's eyes.

"And in order to cancel the duel, it's easy to lose a duel. But if you try to do something about Ray, it's almost impossible. If that happens, the target would be..."

　Ray could understand the end of the word, even if it wasn't said.
　When the cause of the duel disappears, the duel itself disappears.
　And Baron Cisne is not wealthy, and no knight, soldier, adventurer in his own home.

"That's dangerous,"
"Right? I would normally like to send a bodyguard, but that's impossible for me. If it's the real day of the duel, it's a different story. Baron Cisne's hiring of adventurers would be a burden, however. If that's the case..."
"I have no choice but to move."

　途中で止めたダスカーの言葉を、レイが続ける.

「だろうな. ま、幸いこの戦いで勝てばエリエル伯爵家の財産の半分……というのは難しそうだが、それでもかなりの金額がシスネ男爵家に入るし、お前にも当然ながら報酬として支払われるだろう. だとすれば、護衛として冒険者を雇う程度は難しくないんじゃないか？」
「そうですね、そうさせて貰います. ……では、少し急ですけど、俺はこの辺で失礼させて貰います. シスネ男爵家とギルドに行って、手の空いている冒険者を探してこないといけませんから. 出来ればまだ冬越えの準備が整っていない冒険者で、腕利きがいればいいんですけど」
「無理だろ」

　レイの言葉を、ダスカーは問答無用で否定した.

「そもそも、腕の立つ冒険者なら最初から冬越えの準備に失敗する筈がない. ……いや、冒険者なら癖のある者達が揃っているから、可能性はあるのか？」
「恐らくは、ですが. もっとも、ギルドにいる面子でどうしても無理なようなら、酒場の方で騒いでる奴に声を掛けますよ. 今は酔っ払っていても、明日くらいには大丈夫って奴が多いでしょうし. And..."I stopped talking along the way, but Ray's mind was filled with faces of former squadrons Johanna, Sergio and Marneau.
　He is a well-known partner, and his skill is reasonable. I've just come to Gilmoo, and it's already winter. Even if you rent a house, it would be better if you could afford it, and at the same time you should get used to the guillem quickly.

(Well, if there are fewer people in the guild, why don't we talk to them?)

　Muet decides that he is sure to hire an adventurer to protect Basrero and Assie, let alone himself.
　Of course, if the Baron Cisne family could not afford it, Ray, who could afford it, would have paid for it.
　It is certain that the Baron Cisne family will make a lot of money once the duel is over.

(First of all, Baron Cisne's house.)

　When Ray decides where to go, he bows to Dasker.

"Well, I think we'd better hurry up a little, so I'll excuse myself.
"Oh, be careful,"

　Dasker's tone of voice is far from verbal, as he walks out of the office.
　For Gilm, Ray is an indispensable person.
　If I were to tell you Dusker's honest feelings, a hundred keepers... or a thousand, or a million, are not worth a ray.





"Huh? Fight Ray? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? No, I can't do that." Impossible. Are you telling me to die? Sorry, sorry."
"With Ray? What? Are you insane? Oh, sorry. Are you serious? But if I were to be honest with you, I'd like to ask you, "Is that insane?" Me? No. It might be a good opportunity to fight Ray if it's a mock fight, but it's a duel, isn't it? I don't want to die at this young age."
"Fight Ray... You're kidding me, aren't you? If you do that, Seto will hate you?" It's a little too much of a joke."
"With Ray? ... oh, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'm going to spare my life, too."
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, are you normal? You want me to fight Ray? I don't want to." Oh? Coward? Oh, you tell me funny things, don't you? Then you have to fight Ray. You call me a coward. Of course you can do that, can't you?"
"Re... Rey!? Scratch! Scratch!"

　Furtos used his men to sound out dueling adventurers, all of which turned him down.
　Some might have accepted Ray's offer if he had not mentioned his name.
　But there's no point in beating Ray in the first place.
　If you lose the duel, half of the property in the Earl of Eriel's family will be legally disposed of.
　In other words, as long as we had to win at all costs, we couldn't use a duel agent to run away with just Ray's name.

"d*mn it, what shall I do?"


　In a room where he is alone, Furtos beats his desk with all his might.
　The skin of my fist was torn and blood ran away, but now is not the time to worry about it.
　Reach for the plump chin and figure out how to break through the current situation.
　However, Ray's presence was a bottleneck.
　In the first place, how do you win against an opponent who can fight against the first team alone?
　A duel with an opponent that surpasses quantity in quality...that is, a pure quality match, I didn't see any chance of winning.
　It's not just the Furtos, but the Keeps feel the same way.
　That's probably why he ordered Furtos to hire an adventurer who could beat Ray because he didn't put a blind eye on money.
　If the duel had taken months to reach, it would have been possible to summon Rank S adventurers in the royal capital by rooting themselves to the royal faction and exercising their power, but there was no time for that.
　And... the result is a complete defeat.
　Everyone refused when they heard that the enemy was Ray.
　On the contrary, even now it's not too late, so I was told that I should apologize to Ray and ask him to forgive me.

"If I could do that, I wouldn't be doing this!"

　Why did you come up with such a means as a duel at that time?
　Now Furtos wouldn't beat himself up if he could go back to the past.
　That decision brought us to the brink of ruin.
　It's only in order to cause trouble in Guillum that they...keeps were sent to Guillum, but the current situation is hopeless.
　Originally, this disturbance was the credit of the Earl of Eriel, who belonged to the royal faction...and, in turn, to bring it to that situation, he could not rely on the nobles of the royal faction.
　The legally processed duel duel duel duel duel duel duel duel duel duel duel duel duel duel duel duel duel duel duel
　When you're thinking about what to do from now on.
　Suddenly the door of the Furtos room opens with a loud bang.
　No, it's better to describe it as a kick than an open one.

"What!"

　Enemy!? It's the words that passed Furtos' mind.
　We understand the troubles we have caused in Gilm.
　It would have been natural if someone had come to retaliate.
　But... it was the keep who came into the room.
　However, the expression on his face is anger.
　Shout out his irritation, blushing red.

"What's going on! What's that look at me from the royal barons in Gilm!? I'm the next head of the Earl of Erielle said.

　The words made sense of what had happened.
　He was probably distanced from the royal nobility in Gilm, whom he would have been friends with.
　Furtos is convinced, even as he watches the angry keep.
　Even if you're in that position, you'll do it.
　There's nothing like Ray that can antagonize a natural disaster.
　No, on the contrary, it's the worst.
　Ordinarily, if you are dealing with aristocrats, the common people are reserved.
　But in Ray's case, he's quite free.
　It was obvious that he had neither awe nor respect for the nobles.
　That's why you can raise your hand against the nobility without a hitch."Mr. Keep, the only way to do something about the situation is to somehow keep Ray, the other person's deputy, out of the duel."

　With one determination, Furtos delivers his suggestion to the keep.