CH 561

11-14 minutes

「UWAAH-!」

Apika unintentionally let out a cry at the sight of the giant monster suddenly swooping down from the sky.

Even so, his voice was filled with astonishment without any fear, probably because Apika didn’t know what horrors monsters could bring.

……In addition, most of the monsters that posed a threat to the village of Goto consisted of undead from the Selemus Plains, such as Zombies and Skeletons.

As Set flapped his wings and descended from the sky, Apika probably didn’t feel threatened because he didn’t know what Set was.

Set boasted a large body, many times larger than Apika, but the moment he landed, he went straight over to Rei and rubbed his head against him with happy cries. Seeing Set like that, it was hard to feel threatened by him.

If there had been bandits or other monsters close by, Set would naturally have been on guard.

However, only his beloved Rei and a small child were present.

There was no way Set was going to be wary in such a situation.

「Gurururu~」

「Yeah, I’m sorry for leaving you alone. But, it’s not bad to fly around in the sky without me once in a while, right?」

「Guru~!」

Hearing Rei’s words, Set averted his eyes as he gave a cry.

Seeing that, Rei gave a small smile as he stroked Set’s head.

「Look, I’m sorry. That’s why I came out of the village like this, right? I’ll play with you until evening today, so please cheer up.」

「Guru~?」

Are you reflecting on your actions? Set seemed to ask as he tilted his head and Rei nodded as he stroked Set’s neck.

After that, Rei turned to look at Apika, who’s eyes were shining.

「Gururu~?」

Perhaps noticing Rei’s gaze, Set also turned to look at Apika with a cry.

Apika was surprised by Set’s action for a moment, but matched gazes with Set, who was looking down at him with round eyes, before turning to Rei and asking.

「Hey, Hey, nii-chan. Can I pet him?」

「Yeah, it’s fine as long you don’t get rough with him. Set?」

「Guru~」

Hearing Rei’s words, Set gave a cry as he lowered his head to a position where it would be easy for Apika to pet him.

Apika gently reached out for Set’s head.

The first thing he felt was the fluffy and smooth feel of Set’s feathers.

Apika smiled at the feeling he never wanted to giv eup.

「Waah, waah, waah……hey, nii-chan. What’s its name?」

「Set. Set the Griffon.」

「Set……Set, huh?」

「Guru~?」

Perhaps noticing his name being called, Set tilted his head as he looked at Apika with round eyes.

Apika fixed his eyes on Set.

Was he scared by any chance? Rei was worried about that for a moment, but his worries soon disappeared.

Apika’s face had a big smile on it.

If he had known common sense regarding most monsters, this would have been impossible.

Rei couldn’t help but stroke Set’s head and smile as well when he saw Apika’s smile. He picked up a tree branch that had fallen to the ground.

「Apika, do you want to see something?」

「Eh? What?」

「Take a look, just move away from Set for a moment. ……Set, you ready?」

「Gurururu~!」

Set must have figured out what Rei wanted to do with the branch in his hands. He gave a happy cry and took several steps back.

「……」

Apika watched on with a strange expression on his face.

「Go for it, Set! Go get it!」

Giving a shout, Rei threw the branch in a large arc.

Goto was built on the plains because such an environment was needed to create fields. On such a field, Set quickly ran after the tree branch that had been thrown.

Although he didn’t use his wings and just ran on all fours, he was still faster than the average warhorse.

He continued to dash forward across the ground, despite his eagle claw front legs, which were not designed for running, as he continued to chase after the branch.

「Guru~!」

Set jumped up with a sharp cry.

And successfully grabbed the tree branch in mid air with his beak.

「Wow, that was amazing! That was amazing nii-chan!」

Seeing Set do that, Apika shouted out in excitement.

「Isn’t it? Then why don’t you give it a try?」

「Eh? Is that okay?」

「Sure. I would be great if you and Set could get along. Actually, a frisbee would be good.」

In his mind, Rei recalled the frisbees he had used to play with his dog back in Japan. Unforuntately, no such thing existed in this world.

That said, the shape wasn’t that complicated, so maybe a wooden plate could be used instead.

「A frisbee?」

「No, it’s nothing. ……Look, Set is back. Now it’s your turn.」

「Gururu~!」

「Ah, mm. Alright, Set. Let’s go!」

Receiving the tree branch that was held in Set’s beak, Apika made a run up of several steps before throwing it out.

May because he was still young, the tree branch flew towards a completely different direction than where he had been aiming.

「Gururururururu~!」

Set chased after the tree branch with a cry.

Because Apika was a kid, the branch hadn’t been thrown that high up either.

Even so, Set was fast on the ground and managed to successfully catch it in his beak before it hit the ground.

「Gururu~」

Set gave the branch in his beak back to Apika with a cry.

He looked at Apika with round eyes that demanded praise.

「Ahah, ahahaha. Set, that’s amazing. I can’t believe you managed to catch it.」

Apika stroked Set, who lowered his head to make it easier, with a small hand and a smile on his face.

Before long, several minutes passed.

Moving his hand away from Set, Apika turned to Rei with a twinkle in his eyes.

「Hey, nii-chan. Can I do that again?」

「Yeah, Set has been feeling a little bit cooped up these past few days. Play with him as much as you want.」

「Yes!」

「Guru~」

Apika threw the branch over towards Set again who gave a cry to say he wanted to play.

This time, unlike before, the branch flew out in the direction he wanted.

Running along the ground, Set caught in mid air agains with his beak.

Apika’s eyes lit up at how amazing Set was as he threw the branch out over and over again.

Eventually, after about 20 minutes, even if all he did was throw branches, Apika reached the limit of his physical strength as a child.

「Haah, haah, haah……ah, I’m tired. I’m sorry Set. Let me take a break.」

「Gururu~」

Hearing Apika’s words, Set turned to look at Rei.

Seeing Rei nod, Set lay down on the grass and wrapped his lion tail around Apika’s body as he pulled him over, letting him rest against his body.

「Uwaa……it’s so fluffy. Are you okay, Set?」

「Guru~」

Set nodded of course, and Apika let himself sink into Set’s smooth fur.

Before long, due to the two effeccts of tiredness and comfort, Apika fell asleep while hugging Set.

「Gurururu~」

Set tilted his head as looked at Apika, but before long, he turned to look at Rei, who was watching from a little further away.

Is this okay? Set seemed to ask Rei as looked at him. Rei nodded with a smile as he headed towards Set, which he had been planning to do anyway.

「Guru~」

Leaning against Set on the opposite of Apika, Rei took a deep breath as he looked up into the sky.

Until a few hours agao, he had been flying through the sky on Set, but now a different thought entered his mind.

The blue sky seemed to stretch endlessly. White clouds puffing up like cotton candy.

He could feel the summer heat, but probably because of the wind blowing through the plains, he didn’t feel the same high humidity that was present in Gilm.

(I guess that was why Apika was also able to sleep like this.)

In addition, even within the Mireana Kingdom, there would be differences based in location. The Mireana Kingdom was a large country that covered a vast amount of territory.

Looking up at the sky while thinking that in his head and feeling the wind, before long, sleepiness came to him.

He had slept soundly inside his magic tent, but it seemed such comfort was no match for it.

「Mm, Set……wake me up……in a bit.」

「Guru~」

Even as he heard Set’s response, Rei’s consciousness drifted into darkness.

「……Mm?」

Opening his eyes, his consciousness quickly came back to hi,

The figures of a few people coming over came into view.

「Gurururu~」

「Set……I’m sorry.」

Rei realised that Set was the one to wake him up as he apologised.

Set’s tail stretching out to Rei was proof of that.

The people approaching them were familiar faces. They were villagers from Goto, the ones who first blocked Rei from entering the village when he first arrived, and Ruchard.

However, their expressions weren’t sharp……but rather had expressions that felt somewhat troubled with a bitter smiles on their faces.

「What’s the matter, you have a strange looks on your faces.」

「Hmph, we’re not someone as carefree as you.」

While complaining at Rei’s words, the man stopped.

Set seemed to be the reason he stopped.

However, other than the usual fear and awe, there was also a different look in his eyes as he looked at Set.

It was probably because he could see Rei and Apika using set as a pillow.

「What’s the matter, you ask? A child disappeared from the village, so it’s only natural to look for them, right? Some people were even quick to suggest that Rei-san might have kidnapped Apika.」

Saying that, Ruchard turned to look at the man who had complained to Rei.

The man must have felt uncomfortable at Ruchard’s gaze and spoke up as he tried to justify himself.

「It couldn’t be helped. Both him and Apika had disappeared without anyone noticing. I don’t think anyone would have thought they would be napping outside the village.」

「No, well, I certainly can’t deny that. I just wanted to spend some time with Set. It’s not like there’s anything else I need to do urgently.」

Leaning back against Set, Rei stroked Set’s head as he looked back at him.

Receiving Rei’s strokes, Set gave a happy cry.

If an ignorant person had heard Set’s cry, they might have been terrified.

However, in a situation where Set was being stroked by Rei with narrowed eyes, the villagers didn’t feel fear or awe towards Set.

On the contrary, they seemed to be looking at him with more gentle gazes.

「Mm……mm……huh? What’s wrong?」

Set’s cry must have echoed through his body. Apika looked around as he rubbed his eyes.

When Ruchard and the other villagers came into his eyes, he was startled.

「Apika. Didn’t……I tell you not to go outside the village?」

「That is……」

Apika lowered his head at Ruchard’s words.

Seeing that, Rei interjected with a small sigh.

「I’m sorry, I was the one who took Apika out of the village. Can you not scold him too much?」

「……Rei. It’s true that you took him outside. But I’ve told him many times before to not go out of the village. The problem is how easily he broke the rules by telling others……and to Rei as well, who only just arrived in the village. Sorry, but this is a village problem. I hope you can just leave this to us.」

Saying that, Ruchard slowly walked over to Apika.

Apika also hurriedly separated from Set, who he had been leaning against, as he went over to Ruchard.

Like that, Ruchard raised his hand……and placed it on Apika’s head.

Apika must have thought he would be beaten……or punished in some way at the very least. His eyes went wide as he looked at Ruchard.

「Well, Rei is here, so I wasn’t worried about your safety. But your mum and dad were worried when they couldn’t find you after work. Make sure you apologise properly.」

「……Yes.」

「Alright, it’s fine if you understand. Well then, let’s go back to the village. I’ll tell them to not be too angry at you.」

「Yes!」

「I apologise to you as well, Rei. Apika has caused you trouble. Perhaps it’s because there are no children of the same age in the village that it can’t be helped……」

Rei shoook his head towards Ruchard as he stood up.

「Well, I was able to kill some time as well. So it turned out fine.」

「Is that so? Then, if you don’t mind, would you like to continue playing with Apika from now on?」

As they continued talking, they parted ways with Set before returning to the village, where they discussed various things they couldn’t talk about during the day at Ruchard’s house.