"Then, we'll take these bandits off your hands. What would you like to do about the money from selling them as slaves?"
"Let's see... how long does something like that usually take?"
The Sablusta guard, his eyes drawn to Vihera despite himself, thought for a moment before answering.
"Since we still need to negotiate with the merchants... I can't say exactly how long. I'd expect at least a few days, though."
"...That's a problem. We were planning to leave as early as tomorrow."
Vihera's expression clouded, but Rei stepped forward.
Having survived countless bandit raids and sold the captives into slavery time and again, Rei knew the fastest way to get paid.
(Feels like I've turned into a slave merchant who does nothing but hunt slaves, though.)
Despite that thought, he felt no guilt whatsoever. The bandits had lived as they pleased, bending others to their will through force. In Rei's mind, they deserved exactly what was coming to them.
"Would it be possible to have the Guard Force buy the slaves at a set price and then sell them to a slave merchant? Is that not an option?"
The guard nodded at Rei's suggestion.
"Doing that would certainly let us pay you immediately, but the amount would be significantly lower under regulations. It would be based on the assumption of the lowest possible selling price. ...Well, since the difference goes to the Guard Force, it would actually help us out."
"He says that. What do you think?"
"I see... I think it's better to get it done quickly, even if it means accepting a bit less. Can we decide on this end?"
At Rei's words, Vihera turned her gaze toward the two merchants behind them.
Since Vihera and Byune were technically in the employ of these two, their opinion mattered.
When merchants were attacked by bandits, how they dealt with the culprits varied. Some who despised bandits would slaughter every last one. Others, like in this case, chose to sell them into slavery—which, by most standards, was considered a lenient response.
Incidentally, there had once been a merchant who preached the way of humanity to the bandits who attacked him and simply let them go. The freed bandits subsequently caused extensive harm to other merchants, and the man who released them was blamed, ostracized by his peers, and driven out of the city.
The expelled merchant then set off for a new village, town, or city—but the merchant information network had already spread the story of how his mercy had allowed the damage to spread. Unable to make a living as a merchant anywhere, he ultimately ended up a farmer.
But to farmers, bandits were creatures who stole their wealth and food, and carried off young women and small children. There was no way a man who had let such bandits go could live decently among them. The crops he grew were bought at rock-bottom prices, and in the end, he met a miserable fate—killed in revenge by a survivor whose family had been murdered by the very bandits he had released.
"Yeah, we don't mind. Actually, it's not that we don't mind—it'd be a real help to us. We still have some leeway for our business talks in Gilm, but arriving sooner is better."
"Right. We'd appreciate it if you went that route too."
With both merchants' permission secured, Vihera finally turned her gaze to Rei.
Though he had only fought briefly at the tail end of the battle, Rei had still participated, which entitled him to a share of the reward. The hideout they had learned about from the bandits contained little of value so early in the spring. Knowing this, the two merchants cast slightly anxious glances at Rei, but he raised no objection and simply nodded.
"I'm perfectly happy with just getting nearly ten spears out of it."
"Nn!"
Byune asserted herself, making clear she shouldn't be forgotten. Vihera apologized quietly and patted her head.
"Ah, sorry. Is that alright with you too, Byune?"
"Nn—... Nn!"
After a moment's hesitation, Byune nodded as well.
Having originally delved into dungeons to earn money, Byune was particular about her earnings. But she apparently judged that rather than spending several days here for a marginal gain, heading to Gilm would offer far more lucrative opportunities. The frontier was dangerous, but that much more profitable.
"Then we'll go with that arrangement."
"...Ah, yes, please wait a moment. I'll bring the paperwork and payment right away."
The guard, who had been staring at Vihera without realizing it, snapped back to reality and hurried off to the station.
In the meantime, Rei and his group completed the procedures to enter the city with the other guards. Set caused a minor commotion when he appeared at the gate, but since Sablusta wasn't far from Gilm, plenty of information about Rei and Set had apparently made its way here, so there was no real cause for alarm.
With the paperwork done, they handed over the bandits—tied together in a chain with rope—in exchange for payment, and the group entered Sablusta.
"Haa... So that was Crimson, huh? He didn't look all that strong, honestly."
"Yeah. But there's no shortage of people you can't judge by appearances, right? Especially anyone based out of a frontier town like Gilm—plenty of high-rank adventurers among them."
Watching the merchant party depart, the guards exchanged these words.
Sablusta was somewhat well-known for its proximity to the frontier, but since Abuelo existed as the city closest to Gilm, famous adventurers rarely chose to base themselves here. It wasn't unheard of, but the vast majority set up in Gilm—or at least Abuelo.
Even so, many travelers passed through Sablusta, which meant that serving as a guard here made encounters with so-called big shots far from rare.
But even with that experience under their belts, the guards never would have guessed at a glance that Rei was such a figure. Without Set, they might have taken him for a rookie who had just registered as an adventurer.
Still, thanks to the proximity to Gilm, rumors about Rei circulated freely. And fortunately, someone at the Guard Force station had dealt with Rei on a previous visit. That was how they had recognized him.
...Though, to be fair, the moment a gryphon was someone's tamed monster, it was obvious enough who that person was.
"Now that it's spring, more people are passing through this area. ...I just hope there's no trouble."
"You think anyone would mess with an adventurer who has a gryphon as a tamed monster?"
"There is one. Right here in town. That problem child who caused a disturbance just yesterday."
"...Ah."
Hearing his partner's words, the figure of a single man flashed through the guard's mind. Someone who had been causing disturbances with alarming frequency lately. Thanks to him, their already busy days had grown even busier.
He should have been the first thing to come to mind. The fact that he hadn't was perhaps a half-conscious attempt at escapism...
"Let's just hope it doesn't turn into anything reckless..."
"Yeah. Sablusta isn't as big as Gilm, but it's still spacious. If Crimson's party is heading for Gilm and departing tomorrow, there's a good chance nothing happens."
The guard spoke as if half-praying. But had he known that Rei was beloved by the god of trouble, he would have realized that prayer was in vain.
"Fight me!"
Rei's group, traveling with Gryphon Seto, caught a break—the innkeeper at the inn the merchants usually frequented in Sablusta, though somewhat frightened, allowed them to stay with Set. Naturally, Rei had paid a deposit as compensation should the gryphon go on a rampage, and had also paid extra for feed. The deposit would be refunded as long as Set caused no trouble.
With lodging secured and evening approaching, Rei and the others headed down to the inn's dining hall for a meal. At that hour, the hall was full of patrons drinking before dinner.
When drunkards spotted a beauty like Vihera—someone who could only be interpreted as a woman trying to lure men—they naturally approached. And when Vihera ignored them, they turned their attention to Rei.
At first glance, he looked like a kid who had just become an adventurer. Wearing a robe, he could pass for a mage—and not even one carrying a staff.
If this had been Gilm, plenty of people would have known the danger of picking a fight with Rei. But this wasn't Gilm. It was Sablusta. And if Set had been present, things might have gone differently—but Set was in the stables.
As a result, Rei got harassed, and just as naturally, the drunkards went down.
Under normal circumstances, that should have been the end of it. The drunkards, while they had harassed Rei and Vihera, weren't particularly malicious. Once they sobered up, they would have felt ashamed of themselves and apologized—perhaps with a hint of fear mixed in—but either way, it would have ended there.
Unfortunately, someone else in the dining hall had watched the entire exchange—not quite a fight, but the whole sequence of events from beginning to end. That person, discerning at a glance that Rei's ability was far from ordinary, approached the table where Rei's group sat and, as his opening words, declared that Rei should fight him.
"..."
For the time being, Rei said nothing and simply observed the man.
His height was just under two meters, his build on the lean side. But that wasn't because he was skinny—his body was tightly muscled, which only made him appear slender.
Judging from the ears growing from his head, he was a wolf beastman. The sharp canine teeth visible when he spoke confirmed it. ...Though a dog beastman was also a possibility.
He looked to be about twenty years old, and his eyes held a savage fighting spirit.
"Hey, it's Magita again. He already caused a duel incident before noon..."
"Poor bastard... oh, but from what I saw just now, that guy seems pretty strong. Maybe it won't be so bad? If Magita loses this time, maybe he'll finally learn his lesson."
"What's he even thinking, pulling this kind of stuff? What a pain. At this rate it's going to get loud and we won't be able to enjoy our meal. I wish he'd take it somewhere else."
Listening to the conversations at the surrounding tables, Rei understood that the man before him wasn't a companion of the drunkard who had harassed Vihera, but rather someone who had caused disturbances time and again.
(In the sense of seeking strong opponents, he's similar to Vihera... but if he's looking for strong opponents, I'd think he should just go to Gilm instead of staying in Sablusta. Gilm has plenty of strong adventurers.)
Rei harbored that question, but Magita apparently grew impatient with his silence. He reached out and grabbed Rei's Dragon Robe, trying to pull him forward.
Naturally, Rei had no intention of letting him grab the Dragon Robe in such a situation. He reached out and seized Magita's arm instead.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I told you, didn't I? Fight me."
"What benefit is there for me in doing that?"
"Who cares? I'm telling you to fight me because I want to fight. You're pretty strong, right? You've got some confidence in your own skills, don't you? Don't you want to show that off to people and bask in the feeling of superiority?"
"I have no such desire. My own strength is something only I need to know. It's enough to make my enemies understand it."
Rei said this while reaching for a skewer of grilled orc meat, but Magita slammed his hand on the table as if he'd been waiting for exactly that.
"That's what I'm telling you—that's me. Fight me. If you don't, I'll be going after various things on my end too."
"...Even if you say you'll 'go after various things'—"
Rei glanced at Vihera and Byune while biting into the skewer.
The two merchants were also present, but they were clearly merchants by appearance—not people who made their living through combat. Which was why the possibility of Magita going after them to provoke Rei couldn't be completely dismissed.
In Vihera's case, Rei was confident she could win without issue even if she fought Magita. And as for Byune, while she might not be able to win, Rei believed she was more than capable of fighting in a way that wouldn't result in a loss.
"Right, then why don't you fight him?"
The voice that suddenly rang out belonged to one of the merchants—the blunt, rough-natured one.
"We've heard the rumors about you. But the only actual fight we've seen was the one with the bandits. If possible, we'd like you to properly demonstrate your real strength."
"I've been traveling with you, but it's not like I've been formally hired as a guard, you know?"
Even as he said that, Rei could easily picture a future where Magita would endlessly harass him if things continued like this. Judging that properly demonstrating the gap in their strength here would ultimately save him trouble, he finally sighed and stood up from his chair.
"Fine. If I remember correctly, this inn has a fairly spacious yard out back. Let's go there."
"Oh? Finally ready, huh? Alright, let's go."
At Rei's words, Magita broke into a delighted smile.