Eberogi instinctively gasped at the scene unfolding before him.
He had sent the advance unit on the assumption that there might be a trap, but he had told himself he was merely being paranoid—or rather, he had desperately hoped that he was.
The reality that manifested, however, was beyond common sense. A figure who looked like a child stepped out of the carriage, pulled spears out of nowhere, and hurled them with enough force to either skewer or pulverize Eberogi's men.
"C-Boss... We should go help them..."
One of his men spoke up, but the man was barely able to move his mouth, let alone spur his horse forward to actually assist. Still, compared to the other bandits who were frozen in place, he could be considered remarkably brave.
Among the bandits being unilaterally slaughtered by Rei, some carried bows. As long as their business involved chasing down fleeing merchants, caravans, or travelers, bows were an essential tool. Yet, in the scene playing out before Eberogi’s eyes, they were being picked off one-sidedly from beyond their own range by the simple, repetitive act of throwing spears.
Should they help?
Eberogi considered his subordinate's words for a moment, then immediately shook his head. Before his eyes, a fifth bandit had already been struck in the solar plexus; the spear pierced straight through his leather armor, and he collapsed to the ground.
Excluding the advance unit, their remaining strength consisted of twenty cavalrymen. They had infantry as well, but considering how the cavalry was being cut down without a fight, the foot soldiers would surely be wiped out before they could even get close.
Furthermore, a decisive event occurred before the bandits hiding in the grove.
"Guruuuuululululu!"
An existence descended from the sky like a falling star and let out a roar the moment it touched the ground.
To Eberogi, this was an opponent he never wanted to face under any circumstances: the A-rank monster known as the Grim Reaper of the Sky—the Gryphon.
The moment that roar echoed, the remaining bandits in Eberogi's line of sight ceased all movement. He didn't know the exact reason why they had become like that, but it wasn't hard to conclude that the roar was responsible.
If they stayed here, they would be captured too. Eberogi made a swift judgment and barked orders to his men.
"Hey! We're getting out of here, now! If we dawdle, that Gryphon will finish us too!"
"B-but Boss! What about them...?"
"If you want to save them, be my guest. I'm not going. Besides, how exactly do you plan to help? Do you have the confidence to dodge those spears?"
"That's..."
There was no way he had such confidence. If he possessed that kind of skill, he would have been earning a living as a proper adventurer rather than as a member of the Bloody Blade.
"We're leaving."
Eberogi spat out those words and turned deeper into the grove. He judged that while there was a high possibility their presence had been noticed, Rei would be unable to pursue them since he had to secure the bandits who were still alive.
(Damn it, I never expected us to be so overwhelmingly defeated. We might be safe for now, but there's a good chance they'll come after us. It's best to pull out of here as quickly as possible.)
Even Eberogi had expected a few men to be captured or killed, but he never anticipated that all ten members of the advance unit would be neutralized without accomplishing a single thing.
(...What a monster.)
It was precisely because Eberogi was watching from a distance that he understood what Rei had done. It was an attack where he simply relied on raw physical strength to throw spears he pulled out of thin air. However, that strength was something far beyond what even Eberogi, the leader of the Bloody Blade, could ever hope to match.
He was a true monster. If he was such a creature, it wouldn't be surprising if he really was the one who had created that flame tornado Eberogi had seen on the battlefield.
(No, I should say we're lucky that our losses were limited to only ten men. Fortunately, with the money I've earned here, I can afford to buy ten or twenty more horses.)
While forcing himself to accept the situation, he continued toward the hideout deep within the grove. However, at this moment, Eberogi failed to realize something. The very fact that he had encountered Rei here was proof of his own ill fortune; his luck was finally about to run out.
Meanwhile, at a distance from the retreating thieves, Rei was using rope taken from his Misty Ring to bind the bandits who had been rendered immobile by Seto's King's Intimidation.
"Well, that should do it. Is this alright?"
"Ah, yes. This helps a lot. I think this will count for something at least... But are you sure it's alright for us to take custody of all these bandits and their horses?"
"It's not a problem. There would be all sorts of paperwork if I handed them over to the Guard Force myself to get the reward, and as for the horses, I already have Seto."
"Guru?"
Seto noticed his name being mentioned. He gave a slight tilt of his head and looked toward Rei. In his current appearance, there was absolutely no trace of the terrifying beast that had cowed the bandits and horses into submission with a roar just a moment ago.
"Hah... Fine. I understand."
Seeing Seto like that, the merchant man felt it was silly to remain so tense. He let out a small sigh before speaking.
"So, what do we do now? There are clearly too few bandits here compared to what we expected."
"About that..."
I'll interrogate them and make them spit out the hideout's location. Just as Rei was about to say that, he suddenly stopped. Seto had abruptly turned his gaze toward an unexpected direction.
When Rei looked that way, he saw a group indeed heading toward them. They were still far off, but it was a large party of nearly fifty people, including cavalry and infantry. In terms of numbers, they were roughly equivalent to the bandit group that had attacked earlier. Furthermore, the fact that they were coming from the direction of Abuelo was a concern.
"...Hey, just asking to be sure, but are there actually multiple bandit gangs that appear around here?"
As Rei asked this while stroking Seto's head, the merchant shook his head vigorously at the absurd suggestion.
"At the very least, from what I've heard, there's only one group of that size. Any others are small-scale ones of about ten people, but... are those bandits?"
The merchant could also see the group advancing along the highway, though they were still only the size of grains. He asked Rei fearfully.
"Well, let's see. There's definitely a group coming our way, but as for whether they're bandits... Ah, no. That's not it."
Rei cut himself off because he had identified the nature of the group. He recognized several familiar faces among the infantry leading the pack. Furthermore, considering that one of them was Ranga, the Captain of the Guard Force, it was obvious who they were.
"Don't worry, it looks like they aren't bandits. It's the subjugation force sent to deal with them. I recognize a few faces."
"...Really? I mean, can you actually distinguish their faces from this far away? That's amazing."
The merchant murmured in admiration, hearing that there were familiar faces in a group that still looked like mere dots to him.
Seto also seemed relieved to see Ranga. The sharp glint from before had already vanished from his round eyes, and he gazed toward the members of the subjugation force—including Ranga, who often gave him food—with a happy aura.
"We can just hand the captured bandits over to them. It'll be better for them to start the interrogation early anyway. And more than anything, even if they're tied up, you wouldn't want to be stuck with bandits all the way to Abuelo, right?"
The bandits themselves knew what would happen to them after being caught, so they would surely try to escape. Whether they were sold as criminal slaves or executed, there was no happy ending for them. Traidia and the others were merchants doing business in the frontier, so they surely had some mental fortitude, but it would still be exhausting to remain on guard until they reached Abuelo.
"...You're right. Just to be sure, we will still get money if we hand the bandits over to the guards here, right?"
At the words of one of the merchants, Rei, who had confirmed Ranga's presence, gave a small nod.
"Probably. The Captain of the Gilm Guard Force is with them."
"I see, then there's no problem. Is that alright with you, Traidia?"
Traidia agreed without complaint. "Y-Yes. If we can get the money even a little bit sooner, that actually helps."
"For now, let's just keep an eye on the bandits so they don't escape. Since the subjugation force has come all this way, it would be a bad joke if they managed to get away."
"You're right... though I honestly don't think they're capable of running."
Traidia spoke with a wry smile as he looked at the bandits, who were tied with rope and still unable to move due to the lingering effects of Seto's King's Intimidation.
As Rei and the merchants waited for the subjugation force to close the distance, one of the merchants spoke up.
"Hey, Rei. Sorry, but would it be alright if we gathered the horses that belonged to the dead bandits? You said it was okay for us to take them, right?"
"...Yeah, go ahead. Like Traidia said, it's not like the bandits are going to run away."
"Thanks."
While leaving Rei with words of gratitude, the four merchants besides Traidia all moved off together to gather the horses. The horses, which had been rendered immobile along with the bandits, were led toward the carriage by one merchant, while the others dispersed to approach the horses that were watching Rei and the others—specifically Seto—from a distance.
From the horses' perspective, a Gryphon like Seto was nothing but a threat, but perhaps they didn't flee because they believed they would be hunted if they moved. Whatever the reason, the fact that the horses weren't moving was a blessing for the merchants. They kept their distance from Seto to avoid agitating the animals while leading them to the carriage. Meanwhile, Traidia was busy gathering the weapons the bandits had dropped.
Rei glanced in that direction, but since the bandits' weapons consisted entirely of bows and longswords, and none of them possessed the kind of spears he preferred, he said nothing and waited for the approaching party.
"I thought so... When I saw Seto, I figured it had to be you, Rei-kun. Weren't you supposed to be in the Labyrinth City?"
"Yeah, that's already taken care of. It's mostly settled. Anyway, I had some business and came back to Gilm, and then Lord Daskar asked me to help you guys out. Those guys over there are the result."
While explaining the circumstances to Ranga, who had called out to him in a casual tone from the arriving group, Rei shifted his gaze toward the bandits tied with rope.
"Oh? You did this?"
"Yeah. To be precise, I had that caravan over there act as bait. Whether you want to extract information or whatever else, do as you like. Just make sure these people are paid appropriately."
As he spoke, Rei took a letter out of his Misty Ring and handed it to Ranga. It was the letter describing the situation that Lord Daskar had entrusted to him. After reading its contents, Ranga thought for a moment and then gave a small nod.
"If you're lending us your strength, Rei-kun, that's better than anything. I've noted the matter regarding the reward. However, we'll need to find out where their hideout is first."
Rei and the others around him nodded. Amidst this, a knight who had been traveling with Ranga stepped forward.
"You were Rei, weren't you? We're grateful for your cooperation. We must thank Lord Daskar for his consideration."
Rei recognized the knight's face. He was someone Rei had spoken with a few times during the War with the Bestia Empire. Rei let out a small sigh of relief at the knight's attitude. Fundamentally, knights were prideful and valued their reputation. If they learned that an adventurer had defeated the bandits they were targeting, some might have tried to pick a fight rather than acknowledge it. However, perhaps because they were knights of the frontier, or perhaps because they were Lord Daskar's subordinates, it seemed the knight before him and his comrades either didn't care about such things or were at least few in number.
"So, I'd like to get the location of the hideout out of them and launch an attack immediately... Is that possible?"
Rei wanted to finish the tedious work as quickly as possible. Ranga, likely understanding Rei's inner thoughts, returned a small smile and a nod, then signaled his subordinates with a glance.
The Subjugation Force Soldiers understood the silent order. They grabbed the bandits and led them to a spot where the merchants couldn't see. It was an interrogation—or perhaps torture, if they refused to speak. Their actions were born from a desire not to show such things to civilians like the merchants... but that consideration turned out to be completely unnecessary.
The soldier who had dragged the bandits away returned almost immediately and spoke with a look of confusion.
"Captain, um... the hideout's location has been determined."