Struck by a swing of Rei's Death Scythe, the man who had charged at him was blown sideways.
Since the blow came from the shaft rather than the blade, it wasn't a fatal wound—but several bones were certainly broken.
"Lord Rei, that one is... no, there's no need to ask, is there."
Ara asked with her Power Axe in hand, but Rei simply shrugged.
"Enemies of this caliber, huh? ...Still, so this is their hideout. It certainly looks the part."
Rei's gaze settled on a cave carved into the mountainside.
Around it, seven bandits lay collapsed on the ground—some unconscious, others dead.
"Well, it can't be helped. Bandit hideouts are the same wherever you go. If there were a mansion built in the middle of mountains like this, now that would be surprising."
Ara spoke as she shook off the blood and scraps of flesh clinging to her Power Axe's blade. Her appearance was such that anyone who knew nothing about the situation would have wondered which of them was the real bandit.
Rei, showing no concern for any of that, opened his mouth to speak.
"If the intel we squeezed out of the bandits was right, these seven were the only ones left at the hideout. There shouldn't be anyone else."
The memory of the bandits who had attacked their group flashed through Rei's mind.
It had been five days since they departed Gilm. Just as Marina had predicted, once they left the frontier behind, bandits had begun attacking in place of monsters.
The massive horses pulling the carriage—large enough to be recognized at a glance—hadn't served as any kind of deterrent.
Well, it might have been a different story if they'd had cavalry escorts or the like, but unfortunately Rei's group was traveling with only Elena's single carriage. That was likely why the bandits had judged them perfect prey.
The fact that Ara was the only one sitting on the driver's seat probably contributed as well.
And above all, Set and Ielo had been up in the sky flying and playing tag instead of staying near the carriage—an oversight that was undoubtedly fatal for the bandits.
The fate that awaited those bandits could only be described as the worst possible outcome.
Nearly everyone riding in the carriage possessed formidable combat ability. The attacking bandits never stood a chance.
As a result, all but a handful lost their lives.
Had there been a town nearby, they might have considered handing the bandits over as slaves. But naturally, no such town existed anywhere in the immediate vicinity. Transporting the bandits along with them would cost time, and with the matter of the World Tree weighing on her mind, Marina had no desire to waste any.
That judgment—also shared by Rei—led to the decision to annihilate the bandits entirely. And since they were at it anyway, they decided to raid the bandit hideout as well... which was why the bandits were now suffering the misfortune of having their base invaded.
"Odoban was against it, but I'm glad we came."
The image of Odoban, opposing the bandit subjugation on the grounds that they had no time to spare, drifted through Rei's mind.
But Marina, who also held the title of Guild Master, had no intention of letting the bandits slip by right before her eyes, even though this fell outside her jurisdiction.
After all, the Dark Elf forest—the homeland of Marina and Odoban—was not far from here.
In other words, the people targeted by the bandits operating in this area were bound to include at least some who were traveling to the Dark Elf forest.
The Elf-kin in general—with some exceptions—tended to be a reclusive people, whether they were ordinary Elves or Dark Elves.
Those who conducted trade with such closed-off counterparts were naturally few in number. For those merchants to be attacked would, through a chain of events, ultimately harm the homeland of Marina and Odoban. That was the reasoning behind the decision.
Even so, Odoban had insisted they should hurry ahead. But in the end, Marina's opinion prevailed, and Rei got to demonstrate the true worth of the reputation that had earned him the name Bandit Eater.
"She's become rather obstinate about something... though I'm not sure why."
"Yeah... mm, she has."
At Ara's words, Rei recalled the way Odoban looked at him.
The expression she'd shown when he removed the Ring of the New Moon was only natural for someone who had directly witnessed power of that magnitude.
If anything, Rei thought it was remarkable that she hadn't collapsed or lost her composure despite directly sensing his mana.
That was probably why, when Odoban later saw Gryphon Seto with her own eyes, she barely showed any surprise—Rei's mana had already built up her tolerance.
However, how Rei felt about someone and how that someone felt about Rei were entirely separate matters. And that gap was what now manifested as Odoban's aversion toward him.
Because Marina trusted Rei, Odoban hadn't taken any concrete action. But had Marina not been present, Odoban would have left the party long ago.
(Well, given that the World Tree's treatment requires an enormous amount of mana, she probably can't afford to cut me loose.)
After a moment's thought, he shook his head and spoke again.
"Anyway, let's search inside this hideout... hm?"
He trailed off mid-sentence, suddenly noticing something.
According to what they'd heard from the bandits who attacked them, the number of bandits remaining at the hideout was seven in total. But...
"There's still another presence deeper inside the cave?"
At Rei's words, Ara—who had just finished wiping the blood and scraps of flesh from her Power Axe's blade—furrowed her brow slightly.
"Are you certain?"
Even as she asked, there was no hint of doubt in her voice.
She knew all too well from past experience just how far beyond the norm Rei's abilities were.
(Come to think of it, when I attacked Lord Rei the first time we met... honestly, saying I got off with my life wouldn't even begin to cover it, would it.)
The memory of their first encounter surfaced in her mind.
She understood it now. If Rei had been serious, she wouldn't be alive today.
Having watched him wield his power without the slightest hesitation—even against nobles—on more than one occasion, the thought struck her deeply.
Rei, showing no sign of having noticed Ara's thoughts, nodded while keeping his gaze fixed on the depths of the cave.
"Yeah. Still, the fact that they haven't shown themselves even after all the bandits out here were killed... either they've got some reason for hiding, or they're just putting on airs."
A scene flashed through Rei's mind: a bandit boss lying in wait for intruders in the deepest reaches of the cave.
...The fact that the boss he imagined looked like Pamidor was, unsurprisingly, because of that vicious face of his.
"What'll you do? We're not turning back... obviously not, right?"
Ara asked as a formality, and Rei nodded as though it went without saying.
"We've come this far. Turning back now would be pointless. There's a high chance the Dark Elves'... no, Marina's clan could suffer if we leave these bandits be."
He claimed it was for Marina's sake, but the thought that he might find some treasure in there was also part of the truth.
Rei wasn't particularly attached to money, but bandits did occasionally possess things that couldn't be bought with coin.
Besides, it was far more convenient to scavenge a large number of spears from a place like this than to buy throwing spears in bulk at a weapons shop.
Especially since Rei primarily used spears as throwing weapons—even a spear with a chipped tip was perfectly serviceable as a disposable weapon.
"...Understood. Let's go, then."
At Ara's murmured sigh, Rei spoke up.
"You don't have to force yourself to come along, you know. You could head back first if you want."
"No. Lady Elena ordered me to accompany you."
That was true, but Elena hadn't assigned Ara purely as a guard.
Well, there was that aspect too, but the stronger intent was to keep Rei from getting distracted.
For instance, finding a Magic Item in a bandit hideout and becoming so absorbed in investigating it—or trying it out—that he lost track of everything else.
The concern was that once he fixated on something, he had a tendency to forget about everything around him.
That was especially problematic right now, when they were heading to the forest of the Dark Elves—including Marina—to treat the World Tree. Defeating bandits was one thing, but they couldn't afford to waste time on anything beyond that.
So it was that Rei entered the cave with Ara, who had been assigned as his watchdog.
Fortunately, the cave didn't branch in any overly complex way. It only split into two paths at a few points.
Rei pressed forward through the cave, guided by the presence he'd sensed.
Ara followed quietly behind him, though her expression betrayed her lingering doubt about whether anyone was actually there.
Of course, Ara could sense a person's presence to some degree.
In the chaos of a battlefield, lacking such a skill meant getting caught off guard from behind. So as someone who stood on the battlefield—whether consciously or unconsciously—most warriors developed some ability to detect nearby presences.
But that only applied within a relatively short distance. Detecting someone deep inside a cave? That was beyond her.
Even so, she followed behind Rei without complaint, probably because—given his abilities—she thought there just might be something to it. And in fact...
"Here."
Where Rei stopped and muttered, there was a cell.
It was likely a place to keep captives taken during raids—either to be sold as slaves or used for other forms of amusement.
Currently, only one person was imprisoned inside: bound hand and foot with chains, blindfolded, gagged, and left lying on the ground.
"How cruel..."
Ara muttered, and in the next instant her face flushed crimson with fury.
Judging from the length of the bound person's hair, she could tell it was a woman.
"Lord Rei, would you mind?"
"Yeah. If I hadn't intended to rescue them, I wouldn't have come this far."
Rei nodded, not letting on that when they'd entered the cave, he'd also entertained the possibility that whoever was leading the bandits might be waiting inside.
Ara didn't seem particularly concerned about that either. She tried searching for a key to open the cell, but found none anywhere.
"Mmgh? Mmmmmngh—!"
Whether she'd noticed the sound of their voices, the bound woman let out a muffled groan.
That only made Ara more desperate to break the cell open, but no matter where she looked, there was no key.
"...It can't be helped. Can you hear me? I'm going to break the cell now, so if you can manage it, could you move toward the wall?"
Whether Ara's voice had reached her or not, the woman—still blindfolded—began crawling toward the wall.
Once she confirmed the woman had moved a safe distance away, Ara readied her Power Axe and brought it down on the cell with tremendous force.
Ara's own Herculean Strength combined with the Power Axe's destructive power. In a single blow, the metal cell was heavily warped.
Perhaps frustrated that she hadn't destroyed it in one strike, Ara swung the Power Axe again—this time with even greater force than before.
A high-pitched metallic clang echoed through the cave.
But that wasn't all. The metal itself was forcibly bent apart, creating an opening large enough to pass through.
(Same absurd strength as always. ...Well, I can't exactly talk about other people, though.)
Rei was impressed by Ara's Herculean Strength—but then realized that terms like Herculean Strength, or perhaps just "absurd strength," applied equally well to him, and a wry smile crossed his face.
Once she had forced open a gap wide enough for a person to squeeze through, Ara moved to enter the cell, but then...
"Lord Rei, I'm sorry, but could you step away for a bit...?"
From that brief phrase, Rei understood exactly what she meant.
A woman in her current condition wouldn't want a man watching.
"Got it. I'll go look for the bandits' treasure—leave the rest to you."
"Yes."
With that exchange, Rei left the room with the cell.
After that, he made a casual sweep of the bandit hideout, storing whatever weapons and valuables he found inside the Misty Ring.
However, for a place called a hideout, there was nothing resembling a major haul. Most of what he found was food and alcohol—and not even the kind that would satisfy Rei, but cheap goods where quantity was the only selling point.
As for the alcohol, Rei couldn't judge the quality with certainty since he wasn't much of a drinker himself. But considering the food included cheap items—even Goblin jerky—it was safe to say the alcohol was nothing high-grade either.
The one saving grace was that there were close to twenty spears.
"...Remarkably poor bandits, huh. Or maybe they'd already sold off their loot?"
Grumbling to himself, Rei decided enough time had passed and headed back toward where Ara was. But when he saw the person who had been in the cell, his eyes went wide.
Brown skin. Pointed ears. The color of her hair was slightly different from Marina's or Odoban's—something that might be described as reddish silver—but there was no mistaking it.
The person standing before him was undeniably a Dark Elf.