When that report came in, no one could have stopped the smile that crept onto Daridora's face.
"Is that information true?"
Not wanting to celebrate prematurely, and yet unable to keep a faint glimmer of hope from surfacing on his nervous-looking face, Daridora asked. His subordinate nodded immediately.
"Yes. Our man confirmed that Rei left Gauche together with his gryphon."
"...Just to be sure—you weren't having him surveilled, were you?"
Incurring resentment meant making an enemy of Rei.
Of course, it wouldn't have been a problem if they went unnoticed. But an Alias Holder—an adventurer with a gryphon as a Tamed Monster, no less—there was no way he would fail to notice surveillance.
If they carelessly offended Rei here, it could turn into the worst possible scenario for them.
That was precisely why handling Rei required such extreme caution.
To Daridora's question, the man who had brought the report shook his head in denial.
"It's fine. We didn't go out of our way to set up surveillance. One of the Elema Trading Company's members happened to be passing by the gate and saw an adventurer leading a gryphon walk out."
"...I see. So that's how it was."
A merchant of the Elema Trading Company returning to Gauche had spotted a gryphon inside the city.
Naturally, they would be curious about what had happened and try to gather information.
And when it came to gathering information, the Elema Trading Company—their own organization—held considerable influence in Gauche. Turning to them was simply the obvious course of action.
Even without that particular merchant, given the company's influence in the city, word that Rei had departed Gauche accompanied by Set would have reached them eventually.
"What shall we do, Lord Daridora? The matter of the Tira Trees needs to be set in motion soon... and Rei and Set have already left Gauche..."
The man urged him to act, his gaze fixed on Daridora. But Daridora kept his eyes closed, deep in thought, and said nothing.
The man apparently understood that Daridora was deliberating. He held his tongue and maintained his silence.
And then, after several minutes had passed, Daridora opened his eyes and reached for the cup on the table.
"I can't say for certain that Rei has truly left Gauche. He did say he was just passing through, and that's probably correct, but..."
"But the longer we wait, the more the Elema Trading Company's losses pile up."
"You're right. However, we can't afford to rush and botch things. If Rei is still out there, we could suffer no small amount of damage. If we want certainty, I'd like to confirm he's truly gone before making a move."
"So?"
"Let's wait until tomorrow... no, the day after tomorrow. If Rei hasn't returned by then, we'll move."
I sincerely hope that's how it plays out. As Daridora murmured from the bottom of his heart, the man silently nodded.
Around the time Daridora was wishing with all his might that Rei would never come back, Rei—utterly indifferent to such sentiments—was storing the corpses and tridents of the Sand Lizardmen Set had killed into his Misty Ring and rejoining the four-person adventurer party.
The four adventurers had been savoring the fruit Rei had given them, but even so, the sight of Set descending from the sky snapped them back to reality in an instant.
They had been drifting through what felt like paradise, which only made the return to the present all the more jarring—the surrounding desert now seeming even more bleak and desolate by comparison.
"Did I keep you waiting?"
Rei asked as he slid down from Set's back. The man shook his head.
"No, time flew by in an instant eating that fruit."
"I suppose that's not really an exaggeration..."
Rei had handed over the fruit with a casual you'll probably be bored waiting, so have at it sort of attitude, not expecting it to be received with quite this much delight.
Rarely for him, an expression of genuine surprise flickered beneath his hood.
"I'm glad you enjoyed them. Anyway, about the other favor I mentioned earlier..."
"Hm? Oh, what is it? You gave us fruit that delicious—we'll do whatever we can for you."
Compared to before he had given them the fruit, the wariness in the four adventurers' eyes had dropped astonishingly.
I knew the fruit was good, but I never thought it would lower their guard this much.
Somewhat bemused but figuring this worked in his favor, Rei didn't hold back—but before making his request, he had something to confirm.
"Just to be sure—your base is Gauche, right?"
"Hm? Oh, of course. It's the biggest city in this area. Besides, changing your base in the desert is pretty tough."
"Good, that's a relief."
Rei let out a breath he'd been holding.
If, after all this, it turned out they weren't actually based in Gauche, it would have been rather embarrassing.
Of course, even if they weren't from Gauche, it wasn't as if he would have left them to die when they were being attacked by Sand Lizardmen.
"A relief?"
The man tilted his head at Rei's words.
Rei faced him with a somewhat sheepish expression.
"Actually, I only arrived in Gauche yesterday. But... well, as you saw earlier, I normally get around by riding Set. And when Set flies, it's... quite fast."
At that point, the man put it together. In other words...
"You got lost."
"To put it bluntly, yes. So, if you're heading to Gauche now, it would really help if you let me and Set tag along. You've seen what I can do—I won't be dead weight."
"No, if you're willing to travel with us, that's more than we could ask for, but..."
The man glanced at his companions. The other three had no objections either and immediately nodded.
"So with that, you're more than welcome on our end. ...Oh, this is long overdue, but we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Howl. I lead this E-Rank party, Sand Dust Claw."
After the man who had been talking with Rei introduced himself, the next person—the one holding a spear—spoke up.
"I'm Kaldina."
"Odilon."
"Nicole."
After hearing the slim man and the short man introduce themselves in turn, it was Rei's turn.
"Rei. B-Rank Adventurer from Gilm in the Kingdom of Mireana. And this is my Tamed Monster, Set."
At the words B-Rank Adventurer, Howl and the other three all wore expressions of sheer astonishment.
Gauche had no A-Rank Adventurers, and only a handful of B-Rank ones.
Even those few had almost all been recruited by Daridora with the power of money.
To the people of Gauche, a B-Rank Adventurer stood at the very pinnacle of the adventuring world. It was only natural that they would look at the person before them and think, this kid is...
Of course, having witnessed Rei's strength firsthand, none of them dismissed it as a lie based on appearance alone.
"A B-Rank Adventurer... and from Gilm in the Kingdom of Mireana, no less. That's a remote region famous for gathering high-rank adventurers. Why would someone making a name for themselves there come all the way out to Solrein?"
Howl asked, his astonishment plain on his face. Rei's only response was a light shrug.
There were plenty of adventurers with circumstances they couldn't share. Reading that, Howl didn't press the matter further.
...In truth, the real reason was that the merchants hounding him over the Twilight Spear had simply been a nuisance, but...
"Let's get back to the main topic. If you're okay with me coming along to Gauche, we should get moving. Wait much longer and it'll be dark."
"Huh?"
At Rei's words, all four members of Sand Dust Claw let out a strange, perfectly synchronized sound—as if they had rehearsed the timing.
"Hm? What is it?"
Rei looked at them questioningly, wondering what had prompted that reaction. Howl opened his mouth with an expression that bordered on pity.
"Well, you see... Gauche isn't a distance we can reach today. It'll probably take until tomorrow around noon... no, maybe even evening."
"...Really?"
It wasn't that he doubted Howl's words—it was more that he desperately wanted someone to tell him it was a joke. He turned to the other three.
But they only nodded, confirming that Howl was right.
"Gurururu."
Set purred, as if to encourage him.
At the sound, the four members of Sand Dust Claw tensed for a moment, but since Rei—the man who had saved their lives—was right there, they showed no further signs of fear.
"Set, huh. Right. Considering Set's travel speed, it makes sense it would take until tomorrow."
"Guru!"
As if to say that's right, Set gave a short cry.
"...Is it really that fast?"
Howl asked, having watched the exchange between Rei and Set. Rei nodded.
"Yeah. Set's flying speed is pretty incredible. That's exactly why I ended up this far from Gauche."
"I see. I'm jealous. With that kind of speed, we could reach Gauche a lot faster..."
As the conversation reached that point, Rei suddenly remembered something he had stored inside his Misty Ring.
Something he had used not long ago—and something that would work perfectly fine here in the sandy desert.
"I'd like to offer my Sand Ship for the trip. Would that be all right?"
"Sand Ship!?"
The moment those words left his mouth, all four members of Sand Dust Claw spoke in unison once again.
"Yeah. On my way to Gauche the first time, I ran into Sand Bandits riding one. I took them out and claimed it."
"...Sand Bandits with a Sand Ship should be incredibly rare..."
"I guess that's what you'd expect from a B-Rank Adventurer."
Kaldina and Odilon each muttered, directing looks of admiration at Rei.
Sand Bandits were a notoriously troublesome foe for anyone living in the desert.
Among them, those who possessed a Sand Ship were the worst of the worst.
Rei had defeated such bandits and seized their ship—without it sustaining damage severe enough to render it unusable. For the members of Sand Dust Claw, only sighs of admiration remained.
"Alright, here it comes."
Stepping a short distance away from the four humans and one gryphon, he gave a brief announcement. The next moment, a Sand Ship materialized on the sand.
They were startled to see it suddenly appear out of thin air, but they already knew Rei was an Item Box user.
The impact of the Sand Ship itself, however, was something else entirely. All of their attention locked onto it.
"Well then, let's get moving. With a Sand Ship, we'll reach Gauche a lot faster than on foot."
At Rei's words, everyone nodded and climbed aboard.
"Whoa, there's not a single scratch on it... how is that even possible?"
Kaldina's remark renewed everyone's astonishment.
What it meant was simple: Rei had dealt with the Sand Bandits without letting them lay so much as a finger on the ship. Naturally, that was staggering.
"...It's pretty dirty, though."
Odilon muttered bluntly.
Hearing that, Howl called out to Rei, who was already preparing to get the Sand Ship underway.
"Hey, Rei. Mind if we at least clean up the deck? You saved our lives and now you're providing a Sand Ship on top of that—it's just too much. We'd feel terrible."
"Really? You don't have to go that far, but... well, if you're insisting, I'll take you up on it. I grabbed it as-is from the Sand Bandits, so it's fairly dirty."
And it'll probably fetch a better price if it's clean anyway... But the moment those words left his mouth, Howl and all four of them froze mid-step.
"Um, that... Rei... sir?"
Howl, who until moments ago had been calling him simply Rei, had for some reason added an honorific. Noting that, Rei turned his gaze toward him.
"If I didn't mishear you just now... you said you're going to sell this Sand Ship?"
"That's right. I plan to. Sand Ships can only be used on sand to begin with. My base is Gilm in the Kingdom of Mireana, where deserts barely exist. Keeping it would just be a waste of space, wouldn't it?"
Is something wrong with that? Rei asked. Howl and the other four loudly insisted that yes, something was very wrong—but nothing they said could change Rei's mind.