Where Rei directed his gaze, numerous Sand Lizardman corpses lay scattered across the desert.
Nearly all of them had fallen face-down—killed from behind after they had judged there was no chance of winning against Rei and tried to flee.
And Rei had done it without barely moving from his spot.
Of course, such a feat was by no means impossible. An archer, or a mage—those two types came to mind immediately.
But what Rei had done was nothing of the sort. He had annihilated the Sand Lizardmen with a spear, hardly moving from where he stood.
Naturally, the four-person adventurer party that had initially been attacked by the Sand Lizardmen had witnessed this scene as well—and precisely because they had seen it, they could not bring themselves to believe it.
(What? What happened? How did he... If my eyes aren't deceiving me, the spear he threw vanished and then came back?)
The man among the four adventurers who had exchanged words with Rei muttered inwardly.
But it was impossible that what they had just witnessed was a trick of the eyes. The strongest proof lay right before them: several Sand Lizardman corpses, slain by a spear, scattered across the sand.
Before the dumbfounded adventurers, Rei stored the Twilight Spear into his Misty Ring. Then he turned and began walking toward them.
...Under normal circumstances, approaching a complete stranger unarmed in a situation like this would be nothing short of reckless. Even if he had just saved them from a monster attack.
However... having witnessed the one-sided slaughter of the Sand Lizardmen, they instinctively understood that if the person before them were so inclined, they would not win even if he were unarmed.
"Well then, is everyone unharmed?"
The hood prevented them from clearly seeing his face, but they could still tell from his voice that he was young.
(Young... no, young enough to be called a child?)
Harboring such doubts, the Adventurer Party Leader spoke up.
"Y-yeah. Sorry, you saved us. None of us are injured. When those things showed up, we judged there was no way we could win and ran."
"Your situational judgment seems sound. ...Though if you knew they were intelligent monsters, you should have anticipated that they weren't simply chasing you."
Muttering this, Rei looked up at the sky. Following his gaze, the four adventurers spotted something flying through the air.
When the figure flying straight toward them became clearly visible, one of the four cried out in terror.
"A g-gryphon!?"
The monster approaching them with beating wings was, while not as famous as a dragon, an extremely well-known creature. The gryphon, feared as the Grim Reaper of the Skies, could be called one of the worst possible encounters in a desert with almost no cover.
Convinced they were about to be killed, the Adventurer Party Leader hurriedly tried to call out to Rei—but before he could utter a word, Rei waved and called out to Set flying overhead.
"Set! Over here!"
"Eh?"
Who had let out that involuntary sound... the Adventurer Party Leader couldn't tell. He thought it might have slipped from his own mouth, but it wouldn't have been strange even if it had.
No, rather, seeing a gryphon... and seeing Rei, who appeared to command that very gryphon, the fact that he was only this surprised could be called an achievement.
While such thoughts flitted through the back of his mind, Set descended to the ground, beating its wings. Rei, greeting it, showed not the slightest sign of fear—as was only natural.
"H-hey. Wait. What's going on here? A gryphon, a High-Rank Monster, shows up, and just when I thought it was all over..."
The spear-wielding woman muttered in bewilderment, and the two adventurers besides the leader nodded in agreement.
But contrary to the four adventurers' common sense and expectations, Set rubbed its head against Rei. No matter how you looked at it, that could only be seen as affection.
Amidst all this, having finished petting the affectionate Set's head, Rei once again addressed the four adventurers.
"Sorry for interrupting our conversation."
Despite having a gryphon—Set—right before their eyes, Rei spoke to them as if it were nothing, and the four adventurers could feel nothing but astonishment.
Still, the man serving as the leader managed to find his voice—undoubtedly because he felt he had to be the one to speak.
"Umm, well... first, let me thank you. Thanks to you, our lives were saved. ...But I know it's a bit much to ask this after you saved us, but why did you help us? As you can see, we're not high-rank adventurers like you. As for compensation..."
The reason they judged Rei to be a high-rank adventurer was undoubtedly because he had Set as a Tamed Monster. Furthermore, the Twilight Spear was a Magic Item that could be recognized as a masterwork at a glance.
Even if the Dragon Robe couldn't be identified as a Magic Item due to its concealment effect, those two alone were enough to judge Rei as a high-rank adventurer.
Above all, the series of maneuvers he had displayed against the Sand Lizardmen made it clear his skill was overwhelmingly above theirs. They could also imagine that his ability to move through the sky during the fight was the effect of some Magic Item.
What would such a high-rank adventurer demand of them... with that thought, it was no wonder he found himself at a loss for words.
The man speaking with Rei cast a brief glance at his companion—the spear-wielding woman. She currently had her face covered with a turban and a face wrap to protect against the sun, but she was unmistakably a woman.
He was worried that Rei might demand to borrow the woman for a night as a reward for saving their lives, and the others apparently shared the same concern. Their bodies went rigid with tension.
However... gazing at the four adventurers, Rei shook his head.
"I don't intend to demand anything. It's just—these Sand Lizardmen were killed by me, so I think it's fair to say I have ownership of them, right?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. That's, well..."
Huh? That's all? Nodding with such thoughts bleeding through, the man agreed.
If he had been told to hand over the Sand Lizardman corpses they themselves had killed, he would have had objections. But every Sand Lizardman corpse now lying scattered across the desert had been created by Rei.
Having had their lives saved, they could never shamelessly demand the corpses of Sand Lizardmen they hadn't even killed—no matter what happened. If anything, he had almost asked if that was really all Rei wanted. Ultimately, he had been afraid the answer would be "Well, in that case..." and hadn't voiced it.
Whether or not Rei noticed the man's attitude, he continued speaking without appearing to particularly mind.
"I see. There are a few other things I'd like to ask of you, but can that wait until after we've dealt with the Sand Lizardman corpses?"
Hearing that there were other requests, the four adventurers tensed up again, but considering the conversation so far, they didn't think Rei would say anything strange... anything that would put them at an overwhelming disadvantage. With slight relief, they waited for Rei's words.
"First, help me gather the Sand Lizardman corpses into one place."
"...Well, that much is fine, but what are you going to do? Don't tell me you're planning to strip them right here? There are a lot of them, so I think you should give up on that."
Even if they gathered them, they couldn't carry them back, so they could just strip the Subjugation Proof Parts and Magic Stones and leave the rest. The man's words, conveying this implicitly, would have been correct under normal circumstances.
But... the word "normal" could never be applied to Rei.
"Don't worry. If you'll help me, that would be appreciated."
"...You mentioned having other things to ask, but you're not going to tell us to carry the Sand Lizardmen, are you? I'm telling you, we don't have the stamina to carry this many."
Whether human or monster, corpses and unconscious bodies felt heavier than their actual weight. Under such circumstances, transporting a group of Sand Lizardmen was absolutely impossible.
If ordered to do so, they would refuse by any means. With such determination, the man spoke, and Rei shook his head before opening his mouth.
"I'm an Item Box User. Now that I mention it, you understand, right?"
"...Huh?"
The man let out a short mutter, looking as though he had no idea what Rei was talking about.
Naturally. An Item Box was a Magic Item of exactly that level of rarity. To be told someone casually possessed one and be expected to believe it immediately was impossible.
Still, the men knew that Rei was by no means an ordinary adventurer, no matter how you looked at it. Besides, if he lied here, it would be immediately exposed. Telling such a lie would only lower their trust in him, with no meaning.
Above all, having witnessed the spear vanish earlier, they couldn't possibly call that a lie.
(In other words, he really has an Item Box?)
Not just the man, but all three of his companions arrived at the same conclusion. While their gazes were fixed on him, Rei, as if to prove the point through demonstration, touched the corpse of the first Sand Lizardman he had killed.
In the next instant, the corpse vanished from before the adventurers' eyes... and once that happened, the rest proceeded quickly.
If it was clear he possessed an Item Box, then granting their lifesaver's request was no trouble at all.
The Sand Lizardmen weren't exactly a massive horde, so gathering their corpses and the tridents each had carried into one place didn't take long. All that remained was for Rei to store them into his Misty Ring, and it would be done.
"Now I just need to collect the Sand Lizardman corpses that Set... this gryphon, killed. I'll go store those. Fortunately there weren't many, so I should be back soon. Rest a bit until then."
Saying that, he retrieved several fruits from his Misty Ring and tossed them over.
The men who caught them stared in disbelief at Rei's casual act of handing over fruit. They were fruits purchased at a stall in Gilm, but unlike Gilm, this was a desert, and naturally their value was higher.
There were fruit trees around the oasis, and those fruits were sold in the market at somewhat high prices. But the fruits Rei had tossed were something none of the men had ever seen before, and if they tried to buy them in Gauche, they had no idea how much they would cost.
To have such fruit tossed to them as if it were nothing—no wonder the men were astonished.
And while the men were still reeling in surprise, Rei mounted Set and departed.
Watching the single person and single beast fly off into the sky, the first to speak was the woman holding a spear.
"This fruit... can we really eat it?"
"Well... he gave it to us meaning for us to eat it, right?"
The slim man muttered, and the last member, a small man, opened his mouth timidly.
"But this fruit... it's something I've never seen before. If we sold it, wouldn't it fetch a considerable amount?"
"Sell it...? It was given to us. Isn't selling it a bit shameful?"
"Well, even prostitutes sell presents they received from men, you know? ...The ring I gave one, too..."
As he spoke, he must have recalled something he'd rather not remember. The small man's expression fell... and in the next moment, he bit into the fruit he held.
It was an act born of frustration, but that action brought an unknown bliss to the man's mouth... no, a mouth-filling pleasure.
What spread through his mouth was an abundance of juice. So much that it made him wonder how that much could be packed inside, filling his mouth to the brim.
Having been chased by Sand Lizardmen and feeling his life in danger, he had been extremely thirsty, making it seem like nothing less than a blessing from heaven.
The juice was sweet but never cloyingly so, and a refreshing sweetness spread through his mouth. Just one bite... he had only eaten a single bite, but even so, it was enough to feel a profound sense of satisfaction.
And yet, the desire to eat more welled up from within his body. Before he knew it, the small man had finished eating the entire fruit he held.
"Phew... that was delicious..."
The man who murmured this with deep feeling was entirely unrecognizable as the same person who, just moments ago, had been suggesting they sell the fruit for money.
Seeing this... naturally, the other three also showed interest in the fruit they held... and before long, all four were simply moved by the taste of the fruit they were eating for the first time.
That sense of wonder would continue until Rei returned with Set.