After everything was ready, Gauss and his companion waited in Grayrock Town for a few more days.
The weather grew gradually colder over the next several days.
At last, after eagerly waiting, they received the Adventurer's Guild's notice for the final assembly.
On the main avenue of Grayrock Town.
The passersby stayed off the streets, leaving the cleared main road to the Winter Hunt party preparing to leave town.
The townsfolk crowded around windows, watching with curiosity and awe.
Bronze Adventurers, rarely seen in such numbers, now streamed together.
Children were seeing a scene like this for the first time and cried out excitedly.
On the street, the Adventurers gathered in small groups, waiting to board the carriages.
Some Bronze Adventurers had chosen to ride their own mounts.
Standing at the roadside, Gauss glanced toward the front of the party. His attention was drawn almost involuntarily to the figure leading them: Eberhard, the head of the Adventurer's Guild in Grayrock Town.
The man whose intangible presence had once cowed everyone in the meeting room, and whom Gauss had provisionally judged to be the strongest professional he had ever encountered.
He was riding a magnificent white horse.
Of course, what caught Gauss's eye wasn't Eberhard himself, nor the white horse, but the incredible creature at his side.
A griffin!
Perhaps because he was leading the party, Eberhard wasn't riding the griffin.
But anyone with eyes could see how close the griffin was to him.
Gauss wasn't the only one keeping an eye on the griffin mount. In fact, many of the Bronze Adventurers in the party were secretly watching it too.
As mounts went, especially flying mounts, griffins were simply too eye-catching.
It had a lion's body and an eagle's head. Its front half was that of a giant eagle, covered