Having finished selling the Sand Serpent materials, Rei stepped outside of Gauche with Set.
Leaving the city without having accepted any request was bound to invite suspicion.
However, anticipating this, Rei had told the receptionist when selling the Sand Serpent materials that he had a hobby of collecting magic stones.
The Adventurer's Guild in Gauche had received a certain amount of information about Rei from Marina, but it seemed they had not been informed of his magic stone collecting hobby.
Of course, the reason he had gone outside wasn't solely to collect magic stones from desert-dwelling monsters — there was also something else he needed to do.
(Come to think of it, there was someone at the Bestia Empire's Fighting Tournament who seemed to be of desert origin... but something about them was subtly different. Even among people who live in the desert, there are various differences? Then again, it's possible that those People of the Desert are simply a special clan.)
Gazing down at the Sea of Sand stretching across the ground from high above, Rei pondered this passing thought as he flew through the desert sky on Set's back.
The daytime desert — at an altitude of roughly a hundred meters above the ground — meant the direct sunlight was intense and the wind was strong.
But for Rei, wearing the Dragon Robe, he could carry on exactly as he always did.
"Gurururu!"
The ability to carry on as usual applied to Set as well. It seemed to thoroughly enjoy flying through the sky with Rei, purring in high spirits.
"Set, there's no one around... right?"
"Guruu!"
With nothing but desert as far as the eye could see, there was almost no one who could chase after Rei and his companion flying through the sky.
At the very least, no such person existed in Gauche.
Even so, just to be safe, Rei asked Set — who naturally purred in affirmation that everything was fine.
"Alright. Then land somewhere appropriate. I have a few things I need to test."
At Rei's words, Set purred and began descending toward the ground.
Only about ten minutes had passed since leaving Gauche, but if one were traveling through the desert on foot, they would already be a full day's journey away.
Unlike the Kingdom of Mireana with its roads, this area was desert, so there were no clear paths to speak of.
That naturally meant one had to walk across the sand every time, and it was only inevitable that travel speed would lag compared to moving along a proper road.
Landing in a place where no one was around — right in the middle of the desert — the first thing Rei did was take out the Sand Serpent's magic stone from the Misty Ring.
"...Well, there's only one magic stone here, but... is it alright if I take it?"
"Guruu"
Set, whose skills had leveled up significantly during the World Tree incident, nodded in response to Rei's words.
Gently patting Set's head, Rei took out Death Scythe from the Misty Ring and tossed the magic stone into the air.
Death Scythe's blade flashed, and in the next instant, the magic stone was cleaved cleanly in two...
[Death Scythe has acquired the skill 'Corrosion Lv.4']
Such an announcement message crossed his mind.
"Corrosion, huh. ...Why? Well, the Sand Serpent was said to be poisonous, so is it related to that? But if so, I'd think something like Poison Strike, similar to Set's Poison Claw, would've been fine too."
Rei looked at Death Scythe with a hint of bewilderment, but it was by no means out of displeasure.
Corrosion was a skill with few opportunities for use against monsters that didn't carry weapons, but when facing opponents who wielded weapons, it was an extremely effective skill.
(Well, if I use Corrosion, the weapon naturally corrodes... which means I won't be able to loot weapons from defeated enemies afterward.)
It was a convenient skill, but precisely because of that, it also had its issues — a truly difficult skill to handle.
"But it's level four, so when it reaches level five next, it'll probably become powerful like Flying Slash. ...If possible, I'd like it to manifest an ability that restores corroded weapons to their original state, but... that's probably asking too much."
Rei murmured while gazing at Death Scythe's blade.
Normally, he would test what kind of effect the skill had right here, but Corrosion naturally required something to corrode... and the only weapons Rei had that he wouldn't mind discarding were the throwing spears he kept for that purpose. After some thought, he dismissed the idea.
(The spears would be a waste anyway. I might as well try it out when an enemy shows up.)
With Death Scythe's skill acquisition complete, the next thing to do was one more task — investigating the Sand Ship.
"Set, stand back a little for now."
"Gurururu"
Set purred at Rei's words and put some distance between them.
Confirming that enough distance had been established, Rei took out the Sand Ship from the Misty Ring.
A Sand Ship suddenly appeared in empty space.
If anyone other than Rei and Set had been watching this scene, they would not have been able to comprehend what had just happened.
(Well, or would they think it appeared from behind the sand dune...?)
It was a somewhat forced explanation, but it was more plausible than thinking it had suddenly appeared out of thin air.
"Well, now it's just a matter of whether I can get this Sand Ship moving normally..."
Naturally, Rei had no experience operating a Sand Ship. He didn't even have experience operating any kind of ship.
He had been on a ship before, but whether that experience would help with piloting a Sand Ship was highly questionable.
In other words, Rei needed to learn how to pilot the Sand Ship through self-study, despite using one for the first time.
There were certainly people in Gauche who could operate a Sand Ship, but it was well known that Rei was on good terms with Augusto.
Given that, Rei couldn't imagine anyone in Gauche who would teach him how to pilot a Sand Ship.
If Augusto could use a Sand Ship, things might have been different, but while Augusto's ancestors might have had the opportunity, the current Augusto had no chance to pilot one.
(Not like I can ask Daridora, the owner of this Sand Ship, either.)
Rei pondered inwardly while looking up at the Sand Ship, but given that Daridora was currently trying to choose a path that would avoid antagonizing Rei, if Rei had simply asked Daridora how to pilot the Sand Ship, there was a high probability he would have been taught.
...But Rei had no way of knowing that.
"Set, help me out if anything happens, okay."
Rei said this as a light joke, but Set apparently took Rei's words seriously. It purred energetically, as if to say "Leave it to me!"
"...Alright, I'm counting on you."
Rei hadn't expected Set to take him seriously, but he was naturally happy that Set worried about him.
Having Set carry him up onto the Sand Ship, Rei surveyed the deck.
Normally, since this was a Sand Ship that Sand Bandits had been riding, it wouldn't have been strange for traces of blood from the battle to remain on the deck.
But within the range Rei could see, there were no bloodstains anywhere.
That was likely thanks to Set using King's Intimidation when capturing the Sand Bandits.
King's Intimidation, which had leveled up during the World Tree incident, possessed more than enough power to render the Sand Bandits unable to move.
Of course, not all of the Sand Bandits had been immobilized by King's Intimidation — the few who happened to be inside the Sand Ship could still manage to move — but even so, as a secondary effect of King's Intimidation, their movements were sluggish, making it easy for the guards, including Zarust, to capture them.
Because they had been able to capture the Sand Bandits with almost no bloodshed, the deck of the Sand Ship spread out before Rei was clean.
...Of course, "clean" meant only that there were no bloodstains — the garbage scattered across the deck remained as it was.
"It hasn't been that long since the Sand Bandits started using this Sand Ship. How is there so much garbage?"
On the deck were broken weapons and even half-eaten dried meat.
Various other kinds of trash were present as well, and even from Rei's perspective, it was an astonishing sight — wondering how they could have made such a mess in such a short time.
(Whether I sell it or use it myself, I'll need to clean it up. ...What a pain. Oh, I could just put out a request at the Guild. Fortunately, at this point I can't imagine anyone trying to steal a Magic Item from me.)
Walking across the deck, Rei thought about how to clean the Sand Ship.
Now that it was known he was an adventurer holding the alias Crimson, there should be hardly anyone at the Gauche Guild who would try to pick a fight with him.
The adventurers who had harassed him the day before hadn't shown their faces at the Guild today either, likely frightened by Rei's true identity.
"Well, if they clean it properly, I suppose I can forgive them."
Muttering this, Rei told Set to move away from the Sand Ship and headed inside.
As expected of something made in Magic City Ozos, the hull itself was very sturdy.
It would normally boast an overwhelmingly large cargo capacity compared to a wagon, but Daridora had used this Sand Ship not for practical purposes but as an item to flaunt his wealth.
It had actually been used only a handful of times, and those few occasions included the attack on Augusto... but having it snatched away so easily by Rei could only be described as tragic.
Having previously stormed inside this Sand Ship and thoroughly noted where it was operated from, Rei headed straight for the control room without any hesitation.
It was located in the central part of the Sand Ship's interior, and it was by no means a place where one could see what was happening outside.
But even so, operating the Sand Ship from here was the correct choice. Because...
"...Magic Items all have fantasy-like effects, but this feels more SF-like, doesn't it?"
At the end of Rei's murmured words were four boards — one each on the front, back, left, and right walls.
In the center of the room was a crystal-like object resting on a pedestal, making for a very simple control room with only those two elements.
Rei glanced around the room and felt relieved that, unlike other places, it hadn't been dirtied at all.
The Sand Bandits probably knew that this was the control room — the most important place on the Sand Ship.
"So this is what operates it. ...Is this a magic stone? Ah, I see."
Within the pedestal supporting the crystal was a space, and inside it lay a single magic stone.
At first, Rei didn't understand what it was for, but after a moment's thought, he quickly figured it out.
This Sand Ship was a Magic Item, and to operate it, one had to either channel magical power into it or use a magic stone.
And as for someone who could channel magical power — enough to move a Sand Ship of this size — freely... while a sufficiently powerful mage might be able to, it was utterly impossible for the average Sand Bandit.
"In my case, it's not a problem."
When it came to sheer magical power, there was likely no one above him, not even Elgin. With that confidence, Rei removed the magic stone from the pedestal and stored it in the Misty Ring.
It was a magic stone thought to have almost no magical power remaining, but he acted on the thought that it might come in handy someday.
"...Well then."
Reaching out to the crystal, Rei poured magical power into it.
Instantly, the Sand Ship gave a light vibration and awakened.
The first thing that happened was that the boards installed on all four walls of the control room displayed the scenery outside.
Rei had the same thought as before — that this was more science than fantasy — but it wasn't actually displaying images through anything like a camera. It simply used multiple mirrors created through Alchemy to deliver the outside images to the control room.
In other words, if something — or someone — obstructed the path of those images, the feed would be interrupted.
In that sense, it was undeniably an inconvenient external monitoring device.
"Well, if I'm riding it alone, it doesn't matter. Even if I put someone else on board, I just need to be mindful of that."
Muttering this, it was also a fact that the appeal Rei had initially felt toward this Sand Ship had diminished significantly.
Being able to transport a large number of people at once was nice, but its utility in all other respects was too poor.
For transporting large amounts of cargo, there was the Misty Ring.
For moving quickly through the desert, he just needed Set to carry him.
Since Rei could handle all of those advantages himself, the Sand Ship's only redeeming quality was the ability to transport many people at once.
"And even then, it's limited to the desert... the sandy desert, at that."
If it could travel over the Rocky Desert, grasslands, or compacted roads, that would be one thing, but if it could only move over sand, it was of no use to Rei.
"Maybe I should put it up for auction or something before returning to Gilm."
Muttering to himself, Rei moved the Sand Ship across the desert.
[Death Scythe]
'Corrosion Lv.4' NEW 'Flying Slash Lv.5' 'Magic Shield Lv.1' 'Power Slash Lv.2' 'Wind Hand Lv.3' 'Terrain Manipulation Lv.2' 'Pain Burst Lv.2' 'Penetrate Lv.2'
Corrosion: Corrodes metallic equipment by slashing it multiple times. Higher levels allow corrosion with fewer hits.