It's been a week since I met Kanade.

　Things have been going well since then.
　Doing requests with Kanade, eating together, sleeping together...

　
　It's just that Kanade doesn't like to have separate rooms and has no choice but to keep them in the same room.

　Be that as it may........

　I had no problems with any of it.

　When I was at the brave party, every day was busy as a storm.
　Not only was I in charge of exploring the surrounding area, carrying our stuff, and other tasks as a Beast Tamer, but I was also in charge of preparing everyone's meals by myself.
　I was also on guard, and I was in charge of waking everyone up in the morning.

　When I think about it now, I was probably being used for my own advantage.

　But that's not the case now.
　I can do what I want to do and....
　I'm ready to make a move for Kanade.

　Thanks to Kanade, I'm really grateful to him.
　I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't had that encounter.

　That's how I was enjoying my free adventurer's life, but...
　An incident was going to happen.

　It was an incident that would, in a way, affect my life.



----------



The Stride Bridge Watchdog?

　As usual, I was at the guild, looking for a request.
　Natalie, the receptionist I had become friends with over the past week, was sighing deeply, so I spoke to her to see what was going on.

　Then I heard an interesting story.

'Yes, it is. For a few days now a rogue has taken up residence on the Stride Bridge in the south of town and has been running amok, playing games with people as they pass by, one after the other.

　It seemed to be deeply troubled and Natalie looked tired.

　By the way, perhaps because we got to know each other to some extent, her tone was a bit broken.
　I'm glad to feel that this is the one I've gotten to know better.

　........I have no other intentions, okay?

Is that a rip-off thing?　Are you a bad person?
That's the hard part...

　At Kanade's question next to her, Natalie made a gesture of pressing her fingertips to her temples.
　'I guess it's a headache.

'It seems that when they see that you're a competent person, they'll start a fight with anyone... it's just that it's not like they're killing each other. It's not like they're just killing each other. Thanks to that... it's strange to say, but so far no one has died.
Hmm, strange case. Why would I do that?
'I don't understand that. They're not robbing us of money or goods, nor are they targeting anyone in particular. I could think of a line of harassment against a particular merchant unit, but that's not the case... Anyway, they seem to be randomly attacking people passing the bridge. Apparently the public is off-target...but that doesn't make me feel safe, and the number of people using the Stride Bridge has dropped dramatically. If this continues, there will be serious traffic paralysis.
I see...

　It's certainly a serious problem.

　The Stride Bridge is one of the bridges that connect the central continent, where this city of Horizon is located, to the southern continent.
　If an incident happens there and people get farther away from the city, logistics will be disrupted.

　Right now, it doesn't seem to be causing much damage since the incident just happened.......
　If left unchecked, the damage would be impossible to ignore.

So, why are you telling us this?
I'm so glad you asked!

　Natalie giggled and crowded over the reception counter.
　Was she this aggressive...?
　Have they been wearing the mask of an outgoing person?
　But it's nice to see a new side of you as you seem to be getting along well.

''This time, the Guild has been entrusted with solving this case!　So there... how's that?　Would you like to take this request?
What? We did?
Meow?

　I'm confused by the suddenness of the story.

　From what I've just heard, it's a very important matter.
　Is it okay for us, who are still E-rated, to accept such a request.......?

This time it's called a special request and there are no restrictions based on rank. It's also possible for more than one adventurer to take on the task. The first one to accomplish the request will get the reward.
Do you think it's appropriate to do that?
At first, we issued it as a request for a higher level of difficulty, but a lot of people got beaten back, and we couldn't solve the problem at all... we couldn't just sit back and do what we had to do.

　I see.
　As for the adventurer's guild, I guess they want anyone to solve the problem.
　According to the story, a lot of adventurers have been reprimanded, so they must be under that much pressure.

''However.......I'm not sure if we can do it....
You can do it. I'm secretly hoping I can do it, you know?
Is that so?
''The cat spirit tribe's Kanade and the beast tamer Rain, who is using such a powerful species!　It's a hot stock in the secondary market right now, right?
What do you think?
Unnecessary?

　Kanade looks up.
　Have you been listening to me?

'Well, um ... there are people out there doing bad things, aren't there?'
Yeah.
'Then I'd like to do something about it. No bad things.

　It's a very typical Kanade opinion.

'Oh, but I respect Lane's opinion, okay?
'Well Natalie, by the way, what's your reward?'
'Listen and be surprised!　What five gold coins!
I got it.



----------



　There's a part of me that was caught up in the reward, but I also really want to help if there are people in need.
　Besides, I've heard that there have been no deaths, so there's no need for Kanade to worry about getting hurt.

　Well, it's also possible that they just haven't happened to appear until now, so we can't be too careful, but.......

　So me and Kanade came to the Stride Bridge.

'Wow, wow, that's a big bridge!　Rain, Rain!　It's so big.

　Kanade was frolicking like a child.
　It's not hard to understand that feeling.

　Between the central continent and the southern continent lies a huge canyon.
　The depth........is unknown.
　There were scholars who tried to measure it, but everyone gave up because of its tremendous depth.

　It's as wide as a city.
　That's how huge the cracks in the earth are, and they are tremendous.

　The bridge over such a place is so huge that it could be mistaken for a castle or a fortress.
　The massive bridge is made up of a series of intricate iron pillars that are further reinforced by magic.
　Not only is it sturdy, but it is also wide enough to serve as a keystone for traffic.
　It's wide enough for four large carriages for the merchant fleet to run parallel to each other.

It's amazing! I've never seen anything like it.
'Huh?　I heard that the Cat Spirit Tribe's home is on the Eastern Continent according to rumors.......didn't the bridge go through?　The Eastern Continent is also separated by a canyon, right?
I didn't come through?　There's a toll on you.
So how did you get to the Central Continent?
Yeah. I ran hard, jumped hard, and jumped over the side of a ravine.

　...he was a hell of a kid.

　Jumping over that huge canyon and all that...
　Once again, I was reminded of the bullshit abilities of the strongest species.

'It's such a big bridge and there's no one there, people, no one.
Maybe they're all afraid of this Watchdog thing.
"Let's give the bastards what they want!
'Yeah. Good luck.

　Crossing the bridge with Kanade.

'What does he look like?'
I don't know ... there's no real testimony left.

　Since there were no deaths, we should be able to get some testimony on the killer...
　It seems that the adventurers who had been returned were all dejected and in no condition to talk properly.

　There is an enemy whose identity is unknown.
　I'm getting a little nervous.

We don't know what's going to happen," he said, "so let's keep our guard up. Let's keep our guard up.
Yeah.

　Walk with caution.
　What was it, about half an hour?

　When we got to the middle of the bridge it finally came.

'Rain, that!'
What?

　A roar that echoed across the sky.
　Wings so huge that they cover the sun.
　A body that cuts the wind and runs through the sky.

　It is.........

Dragon?

　A dragon, one of the most powerful species, has landed in front of us.